An input device includes a substrate and a movable object that moves on the substrate. One of the substrate and the movable object includes a magnetic field generator and the other of the substrate and the movable object includes electromagnetic conversion elements provided to detect magnetic fields generated outside of the magnetic field generator.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to an input device for use in inputting an instruction to a personal computer, and in particular, relates to an input device using a position detection signal of a movable object moving on a substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, an input device, which inputs an instruction using position information of a movable object, is known. This input device is, for example, connected to a computer and is used as an input device to input an instruction of a user. Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 7-146102 (hereinafter referred to as Document 1) discloses an input device, in which a hall element is arranged at one end of a lower yoke and a movable object formed of a magnet and an upper yoke slides on the lower yoke. When the upper yoke is located on the hall element, the input device forms a closed magnetic circuit and detects the position of the movable object. In addition, an input device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 10-207616 (hereinafter referred to as Document 2) includes a reflecting plate provided on a movable object so that a user can place his or her finger to slide the movable object, a luminous element arranged below the reflecting plate, and a plurality of light receiving elements which receive lights emitted from the luminous elements and reflected on the reflecting plate. The input device detects the position of the movable object based on the detection signal of the receiving element.
There is a demand for reducing the size and the thickness of the input device mentioned above as in the case of the other electronics devices. However, the input device disclosed in Document 1 detects the position of the movable object by forming a closed magnetic circuit when the movable object approaches the hall element. For that purpose, the movable object has a build-up structure in which the upper yoke is secured on the magnet. The thickness of the input device increases if the movable object having the afore-mentioned structure is arranged in the input device. This does not satisfy the demand for reducing the thickness.
Further, when the upper yoke is used, the input device has an increased number of components and the input device grows in size. This does not satisfy the demand for reducing the size. In addition, the input device disclosed in Document 2 has a structure in which the luminous element is arranged below the reflect plate provided on the movable object and a light from the luminous element is reflected by the reflect plate. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a light path (space) between the reflect plate and the luminous element for reflection. This results in the increased thickness of the input device, and does not satisfy the demand for reducing the thickness.


A method includes receiving, by a question-answer system, a question in a first language and the question in a second language and predicting, by the question-answer system, a first answer to the question in the first language and a second answer to the question in the second language. The method also includes generating, by the question-answer system, a first vector representing the question in the first language and a second vector representing the question in the second language and adjusting the question-answer system based on the first and second answers and the first and second vectors such that when the question-answer system subsequently generates a third vector representing the question in the first language and a fourth vector representing the question in the second language, a distance between the third and fourth vectors is less than a distance between the first and second vectors.

The present invention relates to machine learning, and more specifically, to training a machine learning model for a multi-lingual question-answer system. Generally, question-answer systems use machine learning models to predict answers to questions. For example, a question-answer system may be provided textual information (referred to as a context) and a question related to that textual information. The question-answer system may implement a machine learning model that analyzes the context and the question to determine a suitable answer. The machine learning model extracts text from the context to form the answer. The correctness of that answer may then be evaluated to adjust or tune the machine learning model.
The machine learning model may be trained using training data that includes contexts, questions, and reference answers. Many of these machine learning models are trained in English because English training data is readily available. It may be desirable to train these machine learning models to predict answers to questions presented in multiple languages so that users who do not understand English can use these machine learning models. It may not, however, be practical or possible to train the machine learning models to handle all these languages because training data may not exist for many languages. Additionally, generating the training data for those languages may be prohibitively expensive and slow. As a result, it remains challenging to train these machine learning models to answer questions in languages other than English.

Enhancing multi-lingual embeddings for cross-lingual question-answer system

International Business Machines Corporation


An LED device comprises an LED assembly and a power supply circuit. The power supply circuit includes an AC circuit connecting to the power source, a DC circuit coupling with the AC circuit, a driving circuit and a snubber circuit connected with each other and located between the DC circuit and the LED assembly. The locations of the driving circuit and the snubber circuit in the power supply circuit are exchangeable, i.e., the driving circuit being connected to the DC circuit and the snubber circuit being connected to the LED assembly, or the driving circuit being connected to the LED assembly and the snubber circuit being connected to the DC circuit. The snubber circuit is used for extending a time period for a voltage value of a DC initially applied to the LED assembly to increase from zero to a predetermined value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light emitting diode (LED) assembly and a power supply circuit thereof, and more particularly to an LED assembly having an improved power supply circuit which incorporates a snubber circuit therein for smoothing a varied degree of a voltage value of a DC initially input into the LED assembly.
2. Description of Related Art
LED have been available since the early 1960's. Because of the relatively high efficiency of LEDs, nowadays LED usage has been increased in popularity in a variety of applications, e.g., residential, traffic, commercial, industrial settings. The LEDs are often incorporated into a single lamp for achieving sufficient light output.
Conventionally, a power source is connected to the LED lamp to provide current for the LED lamp. Since the power source used for civil lighting purpose has a large voltage, i.e., 120V or 220V, which exceeds a maximum permitted voltage of the LEDs of the LED lamp, a power supply circuit is required to be connected between the power source and the LED lamp for reducing such a large voltage to a suitable voltage, to thereby protect the LEDs from damage by the large voltage. In addition, since the power source provided by the household outlets is alternating current (AC), a converter is needed which converts the alternating current into direct current (DC) first and then supplies the direct current to the LEDs. Thus, the power supply circuit should be devised to have a function of converting the alternating current into the direct current, as well as reducing the high voltage to a low voltage.
However, for such a power supply circuit, it cannot provide the DC with a smoothly gradually increased voltage value initially supplied to the LEDs. As soon as the LED lamp is turned on, the voltage value of the DC input into the LED lamp varies dramatically from zero to a predetermined value in a relatively short time. Such dramatically varied voltage value of the DC input into the LEDs of the LED lamp may cause damage to the LEDs and accordingly significantly reduce a life span of the LEDs. Even worse, the sharp rise of the voltage value of the inputted DC to the LEDs may destroy the LEDs unexpectedly.
What is needed, therefore, is an LED assembly and an improved power supply circuit thereof which can overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages.


A method for starting an internal combustion engine of a hybrid-electric vehicle having a controller, the engine having a plurality of cylinders, each with at least an intake and exhaust valve, each of which may be held in a position for a cycle of a cylinder, the method comprising of deactivating a plurality of cylinders in said engine in response to a signal from the controller of the hybrid-electric vehicle by mechanically deactivating valves in each cylinder of the engine, the deactivation in response to a request from the controller of the hybrid-electric vehicle and to reduce a number of operating valves in each cylinder of the engine.

Conventional mechanically driven valve trains of internal combustion engines operate the intake and exhaust valves based on the position and profile of lobes on a camshaft. The engine crankshaft is connected to the pistons by connecting rods and to the camshaft by a belt or chain. Therefore, the intake and exhaust valve opening and closing events are based on the crankshaft position. This relationship between the crankshaft position, piston position, and valve opening and closing events determines the stroke of a given cylinder, e.g., for a four stroke engine the intake, compression, power, and exhaust strokes. As a result, engine starting and the first cylinder to fire are affected in part by the camshaft/crankshaft timing relationship and the engine stopping position.
On the other hand, electromechanically driven valve-trains do not have the physical constraints that tie the camshaft and crankshaft together, i.e., there may not be belts or chains linking the camshaft and crankshaft at least for some valves. Furthermore, full or partial electromechanical valve-trains may not require a camshaft. Consequently, the physical constraints linking the camshaft and crankshafts are broken. As a result, additional flexibility to control valve timing is possible when electromechanical valves are used in an internal combustion engine.
One method to control electromechanical valve operation during an engine start is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,765,514. This method provides for closing the intake and exhaust valves then allows the starter to crank the engine. If a signal pulse representing crankshaft rotation through 720 degrees has been generated, an injection sequence for each cylinder and a crankshaft position sequence are set. The injection sequence for the cylinders is initialized when a first crankshaft pulse is generated after generation of a first signal pulse representing crankshaft rotation through 720 degrees. The injection sequence and crankshaft position sequence correspond to the position of each cylinder, whereby the opening/closing timing of each intake valve and exhaust valve can be controlled. The cylinders are set to the exhaust stroke, intake stroke, compression stroke, and power stroke, respectively.
The above-mentioned method has several disadvantages. First, the method traps a volume of air in the cylinder, and as the engine rotates, this volume of trapped air is compressed and expanded until the respective cylinder stroke is set. Mechanical work is required to compress the trapped volume, which in turn increases fuel and power consumption, and can affect engine vibration.
Secondly, the method may produce inconsistent engine crank times. Depending on engine stopping location, up to 720 degrees may be necessary to determine engine position. On the other hand, engine position may be identified relatively quickly depending on where the engine stopped relative to the 720-degree sensor.
The inventors herein have recognized these disadvantages of the before-mentioned approach. The inventors also have considered these limitations and determined that the before-mentioned approach simply focuses on operating cylinder valves based on conventional four-stroke engine operation and crankshaft position. With the exception of closing valves before cranking, the method operates intake and exhaust valves during a start similar to a conventional mechanically driven valve system. The method does not recognize that operation of intake and exhaust valves does not have to assume four-stroke timing during an engine start. Therefore, the approach overlooks opportunities to reduce engine emissions, vibration, and noise.
One embodiment of the present disclosure includes a method for starting an internal combustion engine with at least a valve that may be deactivated, the method comprising: processing a signal indicative of a request to start said engine; closing at least an exhaust valve of at least a cylinder in said engine in response to said signal; and maintaining said exhaust valve in said closed position until after a combustion event in said cylinder. This method can be used to reduce the above-mentioned limitations of the prior art approaches.
E.g., by closing an exhaust valve(s) of an engine before the engine begins to rotate and then holding the respective valve(s) closed until combustion has occurred in the cylinder, emissions may be reduced.
For example, for a port fueled engine with a conventional cam, expelled hydrocarbons can be reduced by delaying fuel delivery during cranking until combustion is desired. Specifically, if the exhaust valves are open when the cylinder cycles through an exhaust stroke during a start, residual hydrocarbons accumulated in the cylinder from cylinder wall oil film or fuel drawn into the cylinder during the last engine shut-down cycle may be expelled into the exhaust system increasing emitted hydrocarbons.
Hydrocarbons that are not combusted during cranking can be a significant portion of the overall starting emissions of a vehicle. As the number of cylinders in an engine increase, e.g., 14, V6, V8, the potential for expelling a higher mass weight of uncombusted hydrocarbons also increases.
The present disclosure may thus provide several advantages. For example, the method can reduce hydrocarbon emissions during a start by retaining residual hydrocarbons until combustion has occurred in the respective cylinder. Further, the method can reduce the amount of raw hydrocarbons that collect on a catalyst substrate that result from engine cranking. If raw hydrocarbons adsorb onto a catalyst, the amount of time before an efficient operating temperature is reached may increase due to the heat of vaporization of the fuel. Therefore, retaining uncombusted hydrocarbons in a cylinder until combusted can increase catalyst efficiency.
The above advantages and other advantages, objects and features of the present invention will be readily apparent from the following detailed description of the embodiments when taken alone or in connection with the accompanying drawings.

Multi-stroke cylinder operation in an internal combustion engine


A method of fabricating an epitaxial silicon-germanium layer for an integrated semiconductor device comprises the step of depositing an arsenic in-situ doped silicon-germanium layer, wherein arsenic and germanium are introduced subsequently into different regions of said silicon-germanium layer during deposition of said silicon-germanium layer. By separating arsenic from germanium any interaction between arsenic and germanium is avoided during deposition thereby allowing fabricating silicon-germanium layers with reproducible doping profiles.

Silicon-germanium (SiGe) heterobipolar technology has generated worldwide interest for digital, analog and RF applications because it combines the transistor performance of III-V technologies with the manufacturability, high yield and low cost associated with conventional silicon integrated circuit (IC) fabrication. At present, SiGe technology development is mainly focused on npn SiGe heterobipolar transistors. However, for high-speed analog and mixed-signal circuit applications a complementary (npn and pnp) bipolar technology offers significant performance advantages over an npn-only technology. Push-pull circuits, for instance, ideally require a high-speed vertical pnp transistor with comparable performance to the npn transistor.
Because of the reduced mobility of holes on silicon, shallower base profiles are required for pnp heterobipolar transistors to achieve an AC performance comparable with that of an npn heterobipolar transistor. Due to the reduced diffusivity and high activation in silicon, arsenic should be the ideal dopant for ultra-shallow pnp SiGe epitaxial base layers. Typically, in epitaxial SiGe base layers the Ge profile overlaps with the dopant profile so that in order to have reproducible process results the interaction between the dopant and Ge has to be minimized. Unfortunately, in case of arsenic as a dopant it has turned out that there is a strong correlation of the arsenic concentration and the SiGe film growth-rate with arsenic flow for nearly all germanium concentrations which would be within the interest of typical silicon-germanium heterobipolar transistors, i.e. germanium concentrations between 1% and 15%.

Method of fabricating an epitaxial silicon-germanium layer and an integrated semiconductor device comprising an epitaxial arsenic in-situ doped silicon-germanium layer


A tube-formed rock bolt is expandable into contact with the wall in a bore hole without stretching the periphery of the rock bolt. The rock bolt has an elongated tube (12) with a closed cross section. The tube is provided with a longitudinal depressed part (13). End pieces (14, 24) are secured to the ends of the tube, and the end pieces are provided with axial channels (15, 35) having peripheries which provide a seal resulting from deformation of material when the rock bolt is assembled by joining together different sections. By connecting one end (30) of the assembled rock bolt to a high pressure pump (39), the entire assembled rock bolt can be expanded at the same time.

The present invention relates to a tubeformed rock bolt. More specifically the invention concerns a tubeformed rock bolt which is formed for being joined to arbitrary length.
In a previously known rock bolt of the above mentioned kind, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,509,889, one can achieve a long rock bolt through entering a rock bolt into a bore hole and expanding it. Then a further bolt is entered on a tube extending from the inner rock bolt and is expanded so that it is fixed on the extending tube. A drawback when setting a long rock bolt comprising several short rock bolts is that one needs a long tool which normally must be bendable in order to set the rock bolt which is to be innermost in the bore hble. Another drawback is that the rock bolt at the joints becomes substatially weaker since the connection is obtained through friction. This force becomes small because the extending tube has small diameter and thus a small outer surface.


An ink comprised of (1) a liquid ketone, (2) a solid ketone, (3) a lightfastness UV absorber, (4) a lightfastness antioxidant, and (5) a colorant.

The present invention is directed to ink compositions and more specifically, the present invention relates to hot melt inks with for example, a melting point of between about 25.degree. C. and about 40.degree. C., or from about 30 to about 35 degrees Centigrade, and which inks are especially useful for acoustic ink printing, processes and apparatuses, reference, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,121,141, U.S. Pat. No. 5,111,220, U.S. Pat. No. 5,128,726, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,371,531, the disclosures of which are totally incorporated herein by reference, including especially acoustic ink processes as illustrated in some of the aforementioned copending applications and patents, such as an acoustic ink printer for printing images on a record medium.
The inks of the present invention in embodiments thereof are comprised of (1) a liquid non-aqueous vehicle, such as a cyclic ketone, with a boiling point of higher than about, or equal to about 150.degree. C. (Centigrade throughout) and lower than about, or equal to about 350.degree. C., and more specifically from about 175 to about 325, and yet more specifically from about 225 to about 300 degrees Centigrade, and with a low acoustic loss which reduces, or minimizes energy consumption, and which acoustic loss is for example, below, or about equal to 60 dB/mm, (2) a solid additive, preferably contained in the imaging substrate, or paper pores and with a melting point of for example, lower than, or equal to about 75.degree. C. and preferably between about 35 to about 74.degree. C. (Centigrade) and with a low acoustic loss, and which acoustic loss is for example, below, or equal to about 100 dB/mm, (3) a light fastness UV absorber, (4) a light fastness antioxidant, (5) and a colorant such as a dye, a pigment or mixtures thereof. More specifically, the present invention is directed to semi-solid hot melt acoustic ink compositions comprised of (1) a liquid ketone vehicles with a boiling point of higher than, or equal to about 150.degree. C. and lower than, or equal to about 350.degree. C., and preferably between about 170 to about 300.degree. C., and with a low acoustic loss to thereby reduce or minimize energy consumption, and which acoustic loss is below or equal to about 60 dB/mm, and preferably is in the range of between about 5 to about 40 dB/mm, (2) a solid compound, preferably a ketone, with a melting point of for example, lower than, or equal to about 75.degree. C. and preferably between about 35 and about 74.degree. C., with low acoustic loss to reduce, or minimize energy consumption, and which acoustic loss is below, or about equal to 100 dB/mm, and preferably in the range of from about 25 to about 80 dB/mm, (3) a UV absorber, (4) an antioxidant, and (5) a colorant, and wherein there can be generated with such inks excellent developed images on plain and coated papers with acceptable image permanence, excellent projection efficiency on transparencies without a post fusing step, and excellent crease resistance, and wherein the inks possess acceptable, and in embodiments superior lightfastness, and superior waterfastness. Moreover, in embodiments of the present invention there is enabled the elimination, or minimization of undesirable paper curl since water need not be present in the invention inks, and it is preferred that there be an absence of water, and when water is not present in the inks a dryer can be avoided thereby minimizing the cost of the acoustic ink jet apparatus and processes.


A system and method are disclosed for creating an electronic demonstration. The method includes capturing video of a demonstrated process that includes a plurality of steps. Each of the steps are analyzed to determine if the steps may be represented by a single frame. In response to analyzing the steps, one or more of the frames of video among the steps that may be represented as a single still motion screen shot may be deleted. The remaining frames are then assembled into an electronic demonstration movie.

Computers and computer technology have greatly increased the efficiency and capability of the individuals who use them. What historically required hours of re-typing and reams of carbon paper 30 years ago, can now typically be accomplished in minutes by a single person operating a word processing application. Spreadsheets, word processors, publishing software, electronic mail, and the like, each add some level of increased capability and simplicity to a user's life. However, with this increased capability a new responsibility has been added to the user: learning how to use this software.
An increase in software training techniques has closely followed the increased use and availability of such productivity software applications. In its simplest form, training is essentially the process of drafting a large user's manual and letting the user read through it to learn the operation of the product. However, a relatively large amount of time may be expended reading through a manual in order to find out specifics on how to operate a given product to perform a specific, desired task. Today, software training, at least in the context of corporations or businesses may be maintained and directed by Information Technology (IT) trainers.
An IT trainer may attempt to train people how to use various software applications, such as email, word processors, and the like, being used at the business. These IT trainers may provide a helpdesk to field calls or questions from employees asking how to perform specific tasks on the software product. Additionally, IT trainers may take a more proactive approach by providing written materials to people explaining and demonstrating the use of the specific product or the steps to take to perform a specific task. One solution for developing such materials would be to write the explanations and steps into a word processing document for distribution to the users. These how-to guides may include screen shots indicating how the product will respond with pop-up windows or dialog boxes along with explanations of what the user should do in response to the pop-up windows, dialog boxes, or the like.
Software applications have been developed to assist IT trainers in creating these instructional materials by recording the demonstrator's or trainer's interaction with the actual software product being demonstrated. Examples of such demonstration development environments include MACROMEDIA INC.'s ROBODEMO™, TECHSMITH CORPORATION'S CAMTASIA™, QARBON, INC.'s VIEWLETBUILDER™, and the like. Demonstration development software allows trainers to record actual simulations of the software to be demonstrated in order to demonstrate that software or how to use a particular feature of that software. The resulting recorded demonstration can then be made available to the users either electronically or on paper. In the electronic media, demonstration applications, such as ROBODEMO™, may record the trainer interaction onto an interactive multimedia movie file that may be played on a user's computer using an interactive multimedia runtime container (iMRC), such as MACROMEDIA INC.'s MACROMEDIA FLASH™ player.
While systems presently available are able to record in full motion, these system are limited in their operation as the ability to edit the recorded files is minimal. In addition, the recording of every single step performed in conducting a demonstrated application in full video without the ability to later alter the recorded video to minimize the file size is inconvenient. Although the recording of every step in full motion may clearly capture every single movement, it produces very large files which often pose problems concerning file size limitations. Often times, not every single step recorded in performing a demonstration process needs to be represented in a full motion video clip.

Automatically scalable presentation of video demonstration content


A tool for shaping non-cured reinforcement fibers into a substantially T-shaped profile, comprising a web-shaping tool and a forming tool, wherein the forming comprises an inflatable diaphragm.

In the production of aircraft, the lightweight construction using fiber composite materials has significant importance in terms of economy and cutting back on CO2 in the operation of an aircraft. In particular, fiber composite materials based on carbon fibers (CRP, CFRP) have reached a significant importance in the production of aircraft. Fiber composite materials have reinforcement fibers which are embedded in a cured matrix material. A difference is made herein between the use of pre-impregnated fibers (prepregs) in which the fibers are finished with a curable matrix material (resin), and dry fibers to which the curable matrix material (resin) is added later. The fibers are in most instances processed in the form of various pre-fabricated semi-finished products, such as mats, woven fabrics, fiber strands. The forming of fiber tiers that have been deposited in a flat manner, thus stacked, into the desired geometry of the semi-finished product (pre-shaping or pre-forming) is an important method step. The pre-forming of semi-finished products from a composite material is generally divided into the sub-classes of discontinuous and continuous production methods. Longitudinal stiffening elements of aircraft structural components are also referred to as stringers. The latter are reinforcement profiles which have various shapes and can be a-shaped, H-shaped, or T-shaped, for instance. Stringers can be of various width and thickness and follow the shape of an aircraft structural component, thus be shaped in a complex three-dimensional manner. The term three-dimensional in industrial use herein is only used when the stringers that are already inherently three-dimensional are not straight or linear ("two-dimensional") but have bends. T-shaped profiles have a web and feet, so as to correspond to the downward stroke and the cross stroke of the letter "T". The web and the feet herein are not necessarily at right angles, but can rather be mutually aligned at a more or less oblique angle.
Such profiles can furthermore be produced from a prepreg or dry fiber material. Roller-press or press-mold processes are known for the production of preformed T-profiles. These processes are not easy to manage when stringers having highly complex geometries or very thick stringers have to be produced, on account of which the processes can be cost intensive and slow.
EP 1481790 A2 herein discloses a method and a tool for shaping supports from composite materials.
A machine having rollers for shaping impregnated woven fabric is disclosed in US 006701990 B1.

Diaphragm tool for forming reinforcement fiber tiers into preformed t-shaped profiles


Signal decoding apparatus, signal decoding method, program, and information record medium are provided and can accomplish not only high-speed and high-capacity communication, but high-accuracy decoding. An initial channel estimation section 31 estimates an initial channel with a pilot symbol added at the beginning of each packet. After a replica of a transmission symbol is generated, for a reception signal vector, CCI components for L transmission antennas are generated. A CCI canceller 33 removes the CCI components from the reception signal vector. After the reception symbol vector from which the CCI components had been removed has been obtained, a division device 34 obtains an instantaneous estimation value. An update condition determination section 35 detects deterioration of a channel response accuracy based on a threshold value. An instantaneous estimation value whose SNR has been determined to be insufficient is discarded. An averaging circuit 36 outputs a channel response estimation matrix at time t+1 obtained by an averaging process and supplies the matrix to a symbol decoding section 13.

The present application relates to a signal decoding apparatus, a signal decoding method, a program, and an information record medium that accomplish for example high-speed, large-capacity mobile communications.
In recent years, as the number of accesses to the Internet through wireless communications has increased, needs of high-speed and large-capacity packet communications have drastically become large. When high-speed wireless data communications are made, since the signal bandwidths become large, communication quality tends to deteriorate due to frequency selective fading.
Against this problem, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex (OFDM) is a communication system that has an excellent frequency fading resistance. IEEE 802.11a/g system, which is a widely used wireless LAN system, performs packet communications according to OFDM. However, wireless LAN is a system expected to communicate at hotspots in offices, which are in a semi-stationary state. Thus, in high-speed mobile environments such as cars, since changes of fading channels are not correctly followed up, communication characteristics deteriorate.
As one of countermeasures to enhance the resistance against a radio transmission environment in a high-speed mobile communication state, signals distorted through multi-path fading are compensated by estimating a radio fading channel. With Channel Estimation (CE) symbols inserted into transmitted signals and received signals, changes of fading channels are estimated. Based on the estimated results, signals are compensated. This countermeasure is described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-271293.
In next-generation mobile wireless access systems, maximum transmission rates of several hundred Mbps to several Gbps are being accomplished. As a technology that realizes such high transmission rates along with high spectral efficiency, Space Division Multiplexing (SDM) is being spotlighted.
SDM is a transmission system of which a transmitter uses multiple antennas, transmits different signals from these antennas, and spatially multiplexes the signals. With this multiplexing, transmission rates proportional to the number of transmission antennas can be obtained without necessity of widening frequency bandwidths.
As a factor that affects transmission performance in SDM, there are signal detection algorithms used for receivers. These algorithms are mainly categorized as two types, one of which is spatial filtering based on Zero-Forcing (ZF) and Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE) criteria and other of which is Maximum Likelihood Detection (MLD). The former has a merit of which the amount of calculation is small and a demerit of which the transmission capacity is low. In contrast, MLD has a merit of which the transmission capacity is excellent and a demerit of which the amount of calculation is huge.
For MLD, a technique that keeps as much transmission capacity as possible and reduces the amount of calculation has been proposed. The inventor of the present patent application has proposed a signal detection algorithm that separates SDM signals according to Multiple-QR-Decomposition (Multi-QRD).
As another important factor of SDM, there is a channel estimation for a receiver. The foregoing signal detection algorithms operate based on channel responses among transmission and reception antennas. Thus, the accuracies of channel estimations of the algorithms that estimate channel responses largely affect the operations thereof. With respect to channel estimations, many approaches have been made. In particular, many channel estimations using pilot symbols have been proposed.
When SDM is applied to a mobile wireless communication system, as a terminal travels, channels change due to high-speed fading, resulting in a new problem for channel estimations. When changes of channels are not able to be ignored against a time period of transmission signals, errors of channel estimations using only pilot symbols become large in the signal time period. As a result, there is a possibility of which transmission characteristics deteriorate. The foregoing related art estimates only a single radio fading channel.

National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Incorporated Administrative Agency


The present invention has an object to manage the manual ingestion (and failure of manual ingestion) of an ingestible object without making the user feel bothered. The present invention includes: a collating unit configured to collate the biological data acquired by a biosensor and the temporal changes of biological data that occur after a medicine is taken and after a medicine is not taken at a medicine-taking timing; and a warning output unit configured to output, on the basis of a result of the collation, information on whether or not a living body has taken the medicine.

Technology has been developed that manages administration of medicines to users. Patent Literature 1 discloses an example of such technology.
The health management system of Patent Literature 1, for example, samples a body fluid from a subject to be examined, checks the health of the subject based on the data obtained from analysis of the body fluid, prepares a medicine to be administered based on results of the health checkup, and optionally administers the prepared medicine to the subject. Additionally, the health management system, if administering a medicine automatically, subsequently stores administration records in a server.

Body condition managing device and body condition managing method


A syringe is depressurized to suck a slight amount of air into the tip portion of a probe of a probe assembly, forming an air layer. Then, the syringe is depressurized again to suck into the probe assembly a sample to be discharged into a reaction container. Accordingly, the target sample to be discharged, the air layer and extruding water are placed into the probe assembly in the named order from the tip portion of the probe.

The present invention relates to a sample distributing method for measuring the steady quantity of the concentrations of chemical components of a sample, such as blood cells, blood plasma, blood serum or urine. 2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, this type of method is applied to a sample distributor which test a body fluid, such as blood cells, blood or urine, or blood transfusion, or a sample distributor which examines the quality of water in rivers, sewerage. A typical sample distributor of this type is provided with a probe capable of sucking and discharging a sample, and a syringe connected to the probe.
The portion extending from the pressure chamber of the syringe to the tip of the probe is filled with air as a pressure transmission medium. The pressuring/depressurizing action of the syringe will therefore act on the tip of the probe via air, so that a predetermined quantity of a sample (e.g., blood cells or urine) can be sucked or discharged from the tip of the probe.
Such a probe is cleaned with purging water in order to decontaminate an apparatus and eliminate a stuck sample.
In a test concerning blood transfusion, blood cells, blood plasma, blood serum or the like is used as a sample, and such samples of different physical properties are often tested at a time. In this respect, a conventional sample distributor uses two probes, which distribute blood cells and blood plasma or blood serum separately.
Sufficient sample purging has not however been done in the conventional sample distributing method, giving rise to a problem of infecting people with diseases, such as virus hepatitis and acquired immunodeficiency, through the samples remaining on or in the probes. The probes may be purged over a long period of time, which however requires a vast amount of purging water and is not so effective.
In addition, the conventional sample distributing method is designed on the premise that a sample is blood serum with low viscosity, relatively clean sewerage, or the like. In distributing samples with high viscosity which contain a surfactant such as blood cells or protein, therefore, air serves as a cushion against the distributing pressure, so that the quantity of the distributed sample will not be steady.
Further, the conventional sample distributing method hardly considers mutual contamination of sucked samples. In other words, in a clinical scientific test which has been the main flow of the conventional blood test, the difference between the lowest value and the highest value of each test item is about 100 fold. In a test of infectious diseases people are recently paying attention, to the difference between the lowest and highest values is approximately 100,000 to 1,000,000 fold. When this type of test is conducted by the conventional clinical scientific testing method, the number of false positive decisions would conspicuously increase due to the mutual contamination between samples.
Furthermore, as the number of probes is determined in accordance with samples with different physical properties in tests involving blood transfusion, the testing apparatus becomes inevitably large and the sample distributing method becomes complex, besides the considerable increase in false positive decisions in the tests of infectious diseases due to the mutual contamination between samples.


A program element has a magnetic layer electrically connected between first and second nodes. At least a portion of the magnetic layer forms a link portion designed to be blown with external laser irradiation. The magnetic layer is provided in the same layer as and with the same structure as a tunneling magneto-resistance element in an MTJ memory cell. An electrical contact between the magnetic layer and respective one of the first and second nodes has the same structure as the electrical contact between the tunneling magneto-resistance element and an interconnection provided in the same metal interconnection layer as respective one of the first and second nodes in the MTJ memory cell.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to thin film magnetic memory devices, and more particularly to a thin film magnetic memory device provided with a memory cell having a magnetic tunnel junction and a program element for storing information in a fixed manner.
2. Description of the Background Art
A magnetic random access memory device (MRAM device) has attracted attention as a memory device capable of non-volatile data storage with low power consumption. The MRAM device stores data in a non-volatile manner using a plurality of thin film magnetic elements formed on a semiconductor integrated circuit, and permits random access to the respective thin film magnetic element.
In particular, it has been reported that provision of memory cells (hereinafter, also referred to as "MTJ memory cells") formed of thin film magnetic elements utilizing magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJ) significantly improves the performance of the MRAM device. The MTJ memory cell stores data as it is magnetized, by a magnetic field generated by a data write current, in a direction corresponding to data to be written. Such an MRAM device is disclosed, e.g., in "A 10 ns Read and Write Non-Volatile Memory Array Using a Magnetic Tunnel Junction and FET Switch in each Cell", 2000 IEEE ISSCC Digest of Technical Papers, TA7.2.
A memory device is generally provided with a program element, such as a fuse element, for the purposes of fixedly storing information necessary for redundancy repair, tuning information of an internal voltage and others. In the MRAM device capable of storing data in each memory cell in a non-volatile manner, it is possible to use an excessive MTJ memory cell to constitute such a program element.
Alternatively, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2002-117684 discloses, focusing on an insulating film forming a magnetic tunnel junction, a configuration for programming information in a fixed manner by causing breakdown of the insulating film.
In the case of forming the program element with an excessive MTJ memory cell, however, data stored in the MTJ memory cell may be lost during heat treatment after completion of a wafer process, through burn-in and packaging steps, before shipment.
As a program element permitting more stable storage of information, a fuse element which can be blown with laser irradiation in a wafer state is known. The MRAM device, compared to a normal memory device, requires additional depositing and processing steps dedicated to formation of the MTJ memory cells. Thus, the number of other steps should be made as small as possible. As such, it is desirable that formation of such a fuse element does not require dedicated manufacturing steps.
Furthermore, the memory device is tested in each of wafer state, packaged state, and others. As such, there is a demand for a program element which can program information accumulatively based on results of the plurality of tests.

Thin film magnetic memory device provided with program element


The present invention comprises a method for forming a biodegradable, thin-walled packing chip from an aqueous pulp of recycled newsprint by contacting the pulp with a mold comprising: (a) a solid core having substantially the shape of the article to be formed and having a minimal number of holes through which air may be evacuated and (b) an air permeable, stretchable fabric which covers the exterior of the core. After forming the chip on the fabric through application of a vacuum, the fabric is separated sufficiently from the solid surface to cause release of the chip from the fabric. The dried packing chip has enhanced packing qualities, is environmentally friendly and provides a significant new use for recycled newsprint.

The present invention relates generally to loose fill packing materials or "dunnage," as they are sometimes referred to, such as packing "chips" or "peanuts," and to molds and methods for forming them.
As suggested by their name "loose fill" packing materials are used to surround an article being shipped within a container or package to prevent movement of the article within the container and to prevent contact between the article's surface and the interior surfaces of the container. Simply stated, loose fill packing material is intended to cushion the article or articles being shipped from the forces which may be exerted on the exterior of the container during shipment. The present invention provides a method for preparing an improved loose fill packing material.
The suitability of any loose fill material is judged by certain functional characteristics. Among other things, loose fill packing material should be strong and have structural integrity, while providing the necessary cushioning properties. It should be light weight and should not nest or settle. The total volume of the loose fill packing should not diminish during shipment and/or storage of the article and container, notwithstanding vibration, shaking or other movements imparted to the container. The loose fill packaging material should be relatively free-flowing and static-free, qualities that enhance the ability to dispense it into the container and around the article during packing. Obviously, any loose fill packing materials should be as inexpensive as possible.
In recent years, expanded plastic foam, primarily polystyrene, has been frequently utilized as loose fill packing material. Although formed into a variety of shapes including, for example, hollow cups, saucers and S-shapes, they are frequently referred to as "peanuts." These plastic peanuts exhibit certain desirable cushioning properties. On the other hand, they also have certain highly undesirable qualities. Principal among these is the fact that plastic peanuts are not easily recyclable or biodegradable and, therefore, are environmentally unfriendly. Whether they come to rest in a neighbor's lawn or in a public landfill, they do not deteriorate. They litter the landscape and take up unnecessary landfill space. Unless reused as packing material, plastic peanuts from an unpacked container are virtually useless. Frequently, plastic peanuts exhibit static build-up, making them annoying to work with. Children and pets may ingest plastic peanuts, causing choking, suffocation, illness or death.
The negative qualities of plastic peanuts have provided incentives to prepare dunnage from natural, environmentally friendly materials. For example, efforts have been expended to make loose fill packing from organic material, such as wood fibers bound together with starch or other adhesives and formed into the appropriate shape. This type of dunnage is relatively expensive to make; the manufacturers have charged a premium in excess of the price of plastic peanuts. These materials have a number of other defects, including the fact that products containing significant amounts of starch may attract rodents or pests.
Attempts have also been made to manufacture loose fill packing from recycled paper, particularly recycled newspaper. Examples are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,997,091 to McCreu, 5,151,312 to Boeri, 5,230,943 to Pregont, 5,372,877 to Kannankeril, and 5,382,325 to Warda et al. The latter patent is assigned to the same assignee as the present invention. These materials are manufactured by molding the individual pieces of loose fill packing material from a pulp of recycled paper and water.
Generally, the molding of paper "pulp" into products, such as egg cartons, has utilized processes like the rotary vacuum forming machine illustrated schematically in FIG. 1.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, cylinder 150 contains molds, such as 160, extending outward from the periphery of the cylinder. Typically, each mold is made from a "screen," i.e., metal mesh, having the shape of the interior of the finished molded article. The cylinder 150 rotates in a clockwise direction as the molds proceed continuously through various stages in the process. These stages are illustrated at positions A through H in FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is not drawn to scale and is for the purposes of comparison only.
At position A, the mold 160 is dipped into the aqueous cellulose pulp 175 in pulp tray 170. Simultaneously, a vacuum is applied toward the inside of the mold in the directions shown by arrows 172 (using equipment not illustrated) to pull the pulp in the pulp tray against the mold screen. As water is pulled through the screen, the cellulose paper pulp is caught on the screen to form the molded article. Water, however, does pass through the screen. The vacuum continues to be applied until a molded article of the appropriate thickness has been formed in the interstices of the mold 160.
As the cylinder revolves further, the screen containing the crude article of molded pulp is rotated out of the pulp tray 170. Additional water is removed by inverting the mold at position E. At position G, it is brought adjacent to a press and transfer drum 180. The drum contains molds 181 which mate with mold 160 and conform with the exterior shape of the molded article. By movement of the drum 180 in a counter-clockwise direction, the mating mold is brought into position (not shown) where it contacts the partially molded pulp thereby pressing the pulp against the screen 160 to form the pulp into the shape of the final article and forcing out excess water. Removal of the excess water is important to minimize the energy requirements of drying, which may constitute one of the most significant costs in producing the molded product. Upon completion of the molding, the press and transfer drum is rotated in a counter-clockwise direction to separate the two molds. As this rotation is commenced, a positive blast of air (sometimes called "blow-off") is directed through the screen 160 (via equipment now shown) in the direction of arrows 182 to separate the pulp from the mold 160. The vacuum then holds the resulting molded article loosely in the mating mold 181 until the press and transfer drum 180 reaches a position where the molded article is released down to conveyor 185. The molded article and others like it are then passed via the conveyor through a dryer 186 for a sufficient period of time to remove the remaining water and produce the finished product.
The cylinder 150 continues to rotate the mold 160 through position H. In position H the mold is brought adjacent to spray-off station 190, where it is contacted with water to clean it in preparation for the next molding step at position A.
Although this process is used commercially, it is far from perfect in a number of respects. Among other things, it is impossible to continuously and reliably prepare multiple, small thin-walled articles, such as loose fill packing material, with this equipment. This is unfortunate, since cellulose packing material is preferably made with the thinnest possible walls. This generally improves its qualities as a packing material. More importantly, thin-walled, cellulose packing material biodegrades completely in a shorter period of time.
The inability of prior art processes to produce thin-walled cellulose packing material is caused, in part, by the fact that the intermediate pulp article prepared on the screen usually contains excess moisture. Excess moisture reduces the structural stability of the formed pulp article, making it impossible to produce a thin-walled article with enough structural integrity to be successfully removed from the screen via conventional blow-off techniques. Moreover, the pressing of molds 160 and 181 (at position G illustrated in FIG. 1) forces the molded article into the interstices of the screen 160. When that article is thin-walled, the subsequent blow-off step is difficult to successfully perform without breaking, tearing or cracking the article. While it might be possible to eliminate the pressing step at station G, separation of a thin-walled molded article from the screen is still difficult. This is further complicated by the height at which such a separation would occur, resulting in destruction or mutilation of the wet pulp article when it lands on the conveyor. Where multiple articles are being molded simultaneously, removal is further complicated by the fact that positive blow-off pressure is lost as soon as one of the articles is removed from the screen.
It is particularly difficult to continuously and reliably prepare a thin-walled article from recycled newsprint and other recycled papers. Generally, newsprint has relatively short fibers which significantly reduces the strength of the wet molded articles during the intermediate processing steps.
It has now been discovered that thin-walled packing chips of paper pulp can be prepared reliably and efficiently utilizing the process of the present invention. As used herein, the term "chip" is intended to mean an individual unit of loose fill packing material or dunnage. Unless otherwise indicated, the use of this term is not intended to imply that the chip has any particular shape. Thin-walled packing chips have improved biodegradability. Surprisingly, the thin-walled packing chips of the present invention also have improved characteristics important to their performance as loose fill packing material.

Method of forming improved loose fill packing material from recycled paper


A floating roof system with lightning protection includes a storage tank and a floating roof disposed inside the storage tank. A shoe seal is installed in sealing contact with an inner side wall surface of the storage tank. A primary seal extends between a rim of the floating roof and the shoe seal. A secondary seal extends over the primary seal and has an end in sealing contact with the inner side wall surface of the storage tank. Several shunts are distributed along a perimeter of the floating roof. The shunts extend over the primary seal and under the secondary seal. The shunts are attached to the primary seal and shoe seal by connections distributed along the shoe seal. The shunts are also attached to the primary seal, the secondary seal, and the rim of the floating roof by connections distributed along the rim.

External floating roof tanks are commonly used to store crude and refined hydrocarbon products in hydrocarbon facilities. External floating roof tanks typically include an open top cylindrical shell and a roof that floats on the surface of the liquid contained within the shell. Floating roof tanks of the external type are open to the atmosphere. To avoid storage tank fires, these tanks are typically required to have protection against ignitions arising out of static, lightning, and stray electrical currents. Environmental regulations also require that seals are fitted between the shell and floating roof for emission control. The current standard is to install primary and secondary seals at the interface between the roof and the shell. The American Petroleum Institute, under API RP 545 standard, recommends installing submerged shunts between the roof and shell every 3 meters around the roof perimeter and installing bypass conductors between the roof and shell no more than every 30 meters around the circumference of the tank. The submerged shunts and bypass conductors are meant to target different components of a lightning strike current. However, submerged shunts and bypass conductors are difficult to install, inspect, and maintain.

Lightning protection system for external floating roof tank


A neural network is trained to defend against adversarial attacks, such as by preparing an input image for classification by a neural network where the input image includes a noise-based perturbation. The input image is divided into source patches. Replacement patches are selected for the source patches by searching a patch library for candidate patches available for replacing ones of those source patches, such as based on sizes of those source patches. A denoised image reconstructed from a number of replacement patches is then output to the neural network for classification. The denoised image may be produced based on reconstruction errors determined for individual candidate patches identified from the patch library. Alternatively, the denoised image may be selected from amongst a number of candidate denoised images. A set of training images is used to construct the patch library, such as based on salient data within patches of those training images.

Machine learning approaches, such as deep neural networks, are trained to perform tasks based on examples. A set of examples provided to a machine learning approach may be referred to as training data or a training data set. Training data can include annotations, which may be referred to as ground truth information and which describe the content of each example in the training data. For example, a machine learning approach can be trained to recognize the presence or absence of a feature in an image, providing the machine learning model with a large number of example images and annotations that indicate, for each of the training images, whether or not the feature is present.

Defense against adversarial attacks on neural networks


A shift control system comprises a diameter-change calculation which calculates the difference between the diameters of the contact circles at present and after a shift to a target speed change ratio and a slip prevention thrust calculation which calculates a slip prevention thrust necessary for transmitting the power through a V belt without slip between the V belt and the drive and driven pulleys. A speed ratio maintaining thrust calculation which calculates a speed ratio maintaining thrust that is an addition to the slip prevention thrust for maintaining the current speed change ratio in constant condition and for transmitting the power without any slip of the belt and a additional thrust calculation which calculates a shifting additional thrust that is added for a contact-circle enlarging pulley to achieve a shift to the target speed change ratio.

This application claims the priorities of Japanese Patent Application No.2000-223684 filed on Jul. 25, 2000, and No.2000-222453 filed on Jul. 24, 2000, which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates generally to a belt-type continuously variable transmission comprising a V belt wound around drive and driven pulleys whose widths are variable, and particularly to a shift control system which controls thrusts directed axially onto the drive and driven pulleys for the speed ratio change of the belt-type continuously variable transmission.
Many types of such transmissions and shift control systems have been proposed, and some are now in practical use. A typical belt-type continuously variable transmission comprises a drive-side actuator, which is used for adjusting the width of the drive pulley (in axial thrust control), and a driven-side actuator, which is used for adjusting the width of the driven pulley (in axial thrust control). In the speed ratio change of the transmission, these actuators are controlled to act on the respective pulleys axially with thrusts that are appropriate for the drive and driven pulleys to achieve their proper pulley widths.
For the purpose of achieving automatic speed ratio change, various belt-type automatic transmissions have been proposed with shift control systems that are designed to control the thrusts of such actuators in correspondence to the driving condition of the vehicle. For example, such a belt-type automatic transmission is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H9(1997)-72397. In this transmission, for the speed ratio change, the axial thrust of one pulley is controlled to a target thrust value while the thrust of the other pulley is adjusted to a value that is a product of the target thrust value and a pulley thrust ratio or to a value that is the sum of a value which corresponds to the ratio and a value which corresponds to the deviation of the rotational speed of the engine.
Various apparatus or devices and methods have been also proposed to control the speed ratio change of respective belt-type continuously variable transmissions. However, these prior-art systems and methods have experienced problems of inferior responsivity and convergency because of constant gains seen in control feedbacks for both upshifts and downshifts or of inappropriate parameters set as feedback.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a shift control system which can control the axial thrusts of the pulleys to optimal values for the speed ratio change of a belt-type continuously variable transmission.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a shift control system which can control the axial thrust of the pulleys to least values necessary for the speed ratio change of a belt-type continuously variable transmission.
To achieve these objectives, the present invention provides a shift control system which controls the axial thrusts generated by drive-side and driven-side actuators (for example, the drive-side cylinder chamber 6 and the driven-side cylinder chamber 9 described in the following preferred embodiment), respectively, to vary the widths of the drive and driven pulleys for achieving a shift to a target speed change ratio. The shift control system comprises contact-circle enlarging pulley determination means (for example, refer to Step S51 described in the following embodiment) and additional thrust calculation means (for example, refer to Step S5 described in the following embodiment). The contact-circle enlarging pulley determination means determines which pulley, i.e., the drive pulley or the driven pulley, is to be the contact-circle enlarging pulley whose diameter of the belt-contact circle is enlarged during the shift, and the additional thrust calculation means calculates a shifting additional thrust which is added for the contact-circle enlarging pulley to shift the transmission to the target speed change ratio. Preferably, the shifting additional thrust is set inversely proportional to the running speed of the V belt.
While the speed of the V belt is high, if the pulley widths were varied quickly, then the resulting shift would be too rapid. However, if the speed of the shift is controlled in inverse proportion to the running speeds of the V belt, then a shift control appropriate for comfortable travelling is possible. Therefore, the shift control system according to the present invention sets the shifting additional thrust inversely proportional to the running speed of the V belt and realizes a good shift control.
Furthermore, it is preferable that the shifting additional thrust be set proportional to the difference between the diameter of the contact circle of the contact-circle enlarging pulley at present and the diameter of the contact circle of the contact-circle enlarging pulley after the shift to the target speed change ratio. The larger the diameter difference between the belt-contact circles of the contact-circle enlarging pulley before and after the shift, faster the speed of the shift being required. If the speed of the shift is controlled proportionally to the diameter difference between the belt-contact circles, then a shift control appropriate for comfortable travelling is possible. Therefore, the shift control system according to the present invention sets the shifting additional thrust proportional to the diameter difference between the belt-contact circles and realizes a better shift control.
The shift control system can also comprise belt-speed calculation means, which calculates the running speed of the V belt, and first gain coefficient calculation means, which calculates a first gain coefficient in inverse proportion to the running speed of the V belt. In this case, the additional thrust calculation means uses the first gain coefficient for calculating the shifting additional thrust.
Furthermore, the shift control system may comprise belt-speed calculation means, which calculates the running speed of the V belt, and first gain coefficient calculation means, which calculates a first gain coefficient in inverse proportion to the running speed of the V belt, from the rotational speed of the drive pulley and the current speed change ratio. Then, the additional thrust calculation means uses the first gain coefficient for calculating the shifting additional thrust.
According to the present invention, the shifting additional thrust, which is added for the contact-circle enlarging pulley to achieve a shift to a target speed change ratio, can be set proportional to the difference between the diameter of the contact circle of the contact-circle enlarging pulley at present and the diameter of the contact circle of the contact-circle enlarging pulley after the shift to the target speed change ratio.
While the diameter difference between the belt-contact circles of the contact-circle enlarging pulley before and after a shift is relatively large, then the shift needs to be carried out comparatively fast. However, if the speed of the shift is controlled proportionally to the diameter difference, then the shift control can be executed smoothly. Therefore, the shift control system according to the present invention sets the shifting additional thrust proportional to the diameter difference and realizes a good shift operation.
Also, the shift control system may comprise diameter-change calculation means, which calculates the difference between the diameters of the contact circles of the contact-circle enlarging pulley at present and after a shift, and second gain coefficient calculation means, which calculates a second gain coefficient in proportion to the difference between the diameters of the contact circles. In this case, the additional thrust calculation means uses the second gain coefficient for calculating the shifting additional thrust.
It is preferable that the difference between the diameters of the contact circles of the contact-circle enlarging pulley at present and after a shift to a target speed change ratio be calculated from the current speed change ratio and the difference between the rotational speeds of the drive pulley at the current speed change ratio and at the target speed change ratio.
The above described features of the shift control system are realized specifically in the following arrangement. A shift control system according to the present invention controls the axial thrusts generated by drive-side and driven-side actuators (for example, the drive-side and driven-side cylinder chambers 6 and 9 described in the following embodiment), respectively, to vary the widths of the drive and driven pulleys for achieving a shift to a target speed change ratio. The shift control system comprises belt-speed calculation means (for example, refer to Step S52 described in the following embodiment), which calculates the running speed of the V belt; contact-circle enlarging pulley determination means (for example, refer to Step S51 described in the following embodiment), which determines whether the drive pulley or the driven pulley is to be the contact-circle enlarging pulley; diameter-change calculation means (for example, refer to Step S54 described in the following embodiment), which calculates the difference between the diameters of the contact circles of the contact-circle enlarging pulley at present and after the shift; slip prevention thrust calculation means (for example, refer to Step S1 described in the following embodiment), which calculates a slip prevention thrust necessary for transmitting the power through the V belt without slip between the V belt and the drive and driven pulleys; speed ratio maintaining thrust calculation means (for example, refer to Step S2 described in the following embodiment), which calculates a speed ratio maintaining thrust that is added to the slip prevention thrust, for maintaining the current speed change ratio in constant condition and for transmitting the power without any slip of the belt; and additional thrust calculation means (for example, refer to Step S5 described in the following embodiment), which calculates a shifting additional thrust that is added for the contact-circle enlarging pulley to shift the transmission to the target speed change ratio, the shifting additional thrust being set inversely proportional to the running speed of the V belt, which is determined by the belt-speed calculation means, and set proportional to the difference between the diameters of the contact circles of the contact-circle enlarging pulley.
While the speed of the V belt is high, if the pulley widths were varied quickly, then the resulting shift would be too rapid. However, if the speed of the shift is controlled in inverse proportion to the running speed of the V belt, then a shift control appropriate for comfortable travelling is possible. Also, the larger the diameter difference between the belt-contact circles of the contact-circle enlarging pulley before and after the shift, faster the speed of the shift being required. However, if the speed of the shift is controlled proportionally to the diameter difference between the belt-contact circles, then a shift control appropriate for comfortable travelling is possible. Therefore, the shift control system according to the present invention sets the shifting additional thrust inversely proportional to the running speed of the V belt and proportional to the diameter difference between the belt-contact circles and thereby realizes an optimal shift control.
Preferably, a first gain coefficient that is inversely proportional to the running speed of the V belt, which is determined by the belt-speed calculation means, is calculated from the rotational speed of the drive pulley and the current speed change ratio, and a second gain coefficient that is proportional to the difference between the diameters of the belt-contact circles is calculated from the current speed change ratio and from the difference between the rotational speeds of the drive pulley at the current speed change ratio and after the shift to the target speed change ratio. Then, the shifting additional thrust can be calculated on the basis of the first and second gain coefficients. As the calculation of the first and second gain coefficients is relatively simple and easy, the shifting additional thrust can be calculated easily.
Also, for varying the widths of the drive and driven pulleys and achieving a shift to a target speed change ratio, a shift control system may comprise contact-circle enlarging pulley determination means (for example, refer to Step S51 described in the following embodiment), which determines whether the drive pulley or the driven pulley is to be the contact-circle enlarging pulley whose diameter of the belt-contact circle is enlarged during the shift; slip prevention thrust calculation means (for example, refer to Step S1 described in the following embodiment), which calculates a slip prevention thrust necessary for transmitting the power through the V belt without slip between the V belt and the drive and driven pulleys; and additional thrust calculation means (for example, refer to Step S5 described in the following embodiment), which calculates a shifting additional thrust that is added for the contact-circle enlarging pulley to shift the transmission to the target speed change ratio. In this case, for the shift, the axial thrust for the contact-circle contracting pulley is set to the slip prevention thrust, and the axial thrust for the contact-circle enlarging pulley is set to a thrust that is calculated by adding to the shifting additional thrust a product which is obtained by multiplying the slip prevention thrust by the ratio of the thrusts for the drive and driven pulleys, respectively, obtained in constant condition.
Also, a shift control system may comprise contact-circle enlarging pulley determination means (for example, refer to Step S51 described in the following embodiment), which determines whether the drive pulley or the driven pulley is to be the contact-circle enlarging pulley whose diameter of the belt-contact circle is enlarged during a shift to a target speed change ratio; slip prevention thrust calculation means (for example, refer to Step S1 described in the following embodiment), which calculates a slip prevention thrust necessary for transmitting the power through the V belt without slip between the V belt and the drive and driven pulleys; and additional thrust calculation means (for example, refer to Step S5 described in the following embodiment), which calculates a shifting additional thrust that is added for the contact-circle enlarging pulley to achieve the shift. In this shift control system, for the shift, the axial thrust for the contact-circle enlarging pulley may be set to the slip prevention thrust, and the axial thrust for the contact-circle contracting pulley may be set to a thrust that is calculated by multiplying the result obtained by subtracting the shifting additional thrust from the slip prevention thrust by the ratio of the thrusts for the drive and driven pulleys, respectively, obtained in constant condition.
In this way, the thrusts applied to the drive and driven pulleys in the shift control are always minimized with the smaller of these thrusts being the slip prevention thrust, and the magnitude of the larger thrust is determined with respect to the smaller thrust for achieving a desired shift. As a result, a relatively small energy is required to generate the thrusts applied to the drive and driven pulleys in the shift control, and fuel efficiency is improved.
For a more specific shift control system according to the present invention, the following arrangement may be adopted. A shift control system according to the present invention controls the axial thrusts generated by drive-side and driven-side actuators (for example, the drive-side and driven-side cylinder chambers 6 and 9 described in the following embodiment), respectively, to vary the widths of the drive and driven pulleys for achieving a shift to a target speed change ratio. This shift control system comprises contact-circle enlarging pulley determination means (for example, refer to Step S51 described in the following embodiment), which determines whether the drive pulley or the driven pulley is to be the contact-circle enlarging pulley whose diameter of the belt-contact circle is enlarged by the adjustment of the width thereof during the shift; slip prevention thrust calculation means (for example, refer to Step S1 described in the following embodiment), which calculates a slip prevention thrust necessary for transmitting the power through the V belt without slip between the V belt and the drive and driven pulleys; speed ratio maintaining thrust calculation means (for example, refer to Step S2 described in the following embodiment), which calculates a speed ratio maintaining thrust that is added to the slip prevention thrust of either the drive pulley or the driven pulley, for maintaining the current speed change ratio in constant condition and for transmitting the power without any slip of the belt; additional thrust calculation means (for example, refer to Step S5 described in the following embodiment), which calculates a shifting additional thrust that is added for the contact-circle enlarging pulley to shift the transmission to the target speed change ratio; basic shift control thrust calculation means (for example, refer to Step S61 described in the following embodiment), which calculates basic shift control thrusts from the slip prevention thrust, the speed ratio maintaining thrust and the shifting additional thrust, the basic shift control thrusts being to be applied to the drive and driven pulleys for the shift to the target speed change ratio; and shift control thrust correction means (for example, refer to Step S63 and Step S65 described in the following embodiment), which executes a correction in which the basic shift control thrusts are reduced until the thrust for either the drive pulley or the driven pulley becomes equal to the slip prevention thrust with the thrust for the other pulley being equal to or greater than the slip prevention thrust.
In this shift control system, the basic shift control thrusts are calculated from the slip prevention thrusts, the speed ratio maintaining thrust and the shifting additional thrust. If the basic shift control thrusts are applied for the shift control, then a shift to a target speed change ratio can be executed appropriately without any slip between the V belt and the pulleys. However, the basic shift control thrusts calculated in this way can become greater than the slip prevention thrusts for both the drive and driven pulleys. If such a case occurs, then, both the thrusts are reduced until either reaches the respective slip prevention thrust. The thrusts reduced in this way can be used for the shift control to achieve the same result. As a result, the levels of the thrusts can be reduced as a whole. According to the present invention, this reduction correction is executed by the shift control thrust correction means, so that a relatively small energy is required to generate the thrusts applied to the drive and driven pulleys for the shift control. This improves fuel efficiency.
As the basic shift control thrusts are calculated from the slip prevention thrusts, the speed ratio maintaining thrust and the shifting additional thrust, preferably, the shift control system may be arranged to execute a correction in which the thrust that corresponds to the speed ratio maintaining thrust is subtracted from the basic shift control thrusts or in which the thrust that corresponds to the shifting additional thrust is subtracted from the basic shift control thrusts.
Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.

Shift control system for belt-type continuously variable transmission


In a melt-type thermal transfer printing apparatus, an ink ribbon is brought into contact with a recording medium. A thermal head presses the ink ribbon. By controlling an electric power supplied to the thermal head, a melt or fusion area of ink is controlled so as to obtain a multi-gradational image on the recording medium. The recording medium is a porous surfaced medium having a multilayered porous layer containing numerous pores having a porous diameter in a range up to about 25 .mu.m.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improvement of a melt-type thermal transfer printing apparatus realizing a multi-gradational printing image using a heat fusible ink and a printing sheet used for this melt-type thermal transfer printing apparatus.
2. Prior Art
Published Japanese Patent Application No. 07125468 A/1995, entitled "Thermal Transfer Recording Sheet and Thermal Transfer Printer Using the Same", proposes a thermal transfer printer and a thermal transfer printing sheet used for this printer.
The technique disclosed in this prior art relates to a recording of a multi- gradational image that is realized by using a porous recording medium which comprises a porous layer having a pore diameter of 1 to 10 .mu.m formed on a base material made of a plastic such as a synthetic paper or a polyester.
However, when the above-described conventional porous recording medium is used as a printing sheet, there is a problem that the touch is different from that of a plain paper or that the price is expensive.
In general, a plain paper made of pulp is not suitable when used for realizing a porous layer because a pore diameter of the resultant porous layer becomes relatively large.
In view of practical aspects, a development is earnestly expected in the field of a printing technology applicable to papers having a porous layer whose pore diameter exceeds 10 .mu.m.

Melt-type thermal transfer printing apparatus and a printing sheet with multiple porous layers


A processing apparatus comprises a register file having a rectangle-shaped contour and including a plurality of registers each of which is comprised of a plurality of register cells, a first operating unit located opposite to a first side of the rectangular contour of the register file, a second operating unit located opposite to a second side of the rectangular contour of the register file which is opposite to the first side, a third operating unit located opposite to a third side of the rectangular contour of the register file which is different from the first and second sides, a first data bus disposed for transferring data between the first operating unit and the register file, a second data bus disposed for transferring data between the second operating unit and the register file, and a third data bus disposed for transferring data between the third operating unit and the register file.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a processing apparatus comprising a plurality of operating units which share at least one register file.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a data processing apparatus including two or more operating units, each of the two or more operating units and a register file are electrically connected to each other via a plurality of bus lines through which data transfer between each of the operating units and the register file is carried out. The plural operating units and the register file are arranged such that they are aligned in only a specified direction and each of the operating units are connected with the register file via a plurality of data bus lines.
Referring now to FIG. 18, there is illustrated a block diagram showing the structure of a prior art processing apparatus provided with three operating units. In the figure, each of reference numerals 10, 20, and 30 denotes an operating unit. Furthermore, reference numeral 40 denotes a register file comprised of a plurality of registers. The operating unit 10 and the register file 40 are electrically connected to each other via a data bus 11. The operating unit 20 and the register file 40 are electrically connected to each other via a data bus 21. Furthermore, the operating unit 30 and the register file 40 are electrically connected to each other via a data bus 31.
In the above configuration as shown FIG. 18, the data bus 31 between the register file 40 and the operating unit 30 is arranged such that it is running across the operating unit 20 and therefore its wiring length is longer than those of the other data buses. Each of the operating units can include a single-function block such as an arithmetic unit (ALU) or a shifter, or a relatively large-scale block constructed of a cluster of those single-function blocks. Thus, as the number of operating units is increased, the lengths of bus lines connecting each of the operating units with a register file are increased, as a corollary to an increase in the number of the operating units, and therefore loads on the processing apparatus such as parasitic capacity and resistance is increased. This results in causing a bottleneck to speeding up of the chip, reduction of power consumption, and improvement in the reliability of such the processing apparatus.
Such the prior art processing apparatus having the above-mentioned structure suffers from the problem that since as the number of operating units is increased the lengths of bus lines connecting each of the operating units with a register file are increased and therefore loads on the processing apparatus such as parasitic capacity and resistance are increased, an increase in the number of operating units causes a bottleneck to speeding up of the chip, reduction of power consumption, and improvement in the reliability of the processing apparatus.

Processing apparatus having reduced bus lengths between operating units and register file


In a road surface condition determining device, when determining a road surface condition, a vibration detection unit, a waveform processing unit and a data transmission unit for implementing a sensing function and a data transmission function are not set continuously to an active state for all tire side device, but at least only one tire side device is set to an active state. Remaining one or more is set to a sleep state. A reduction in power consumption of the tire side devices set to the sleep state can thus be achieved. Further, with regard to the at least one tire side device, since the sensing function and the data transmission function remain in the active state, the road surface condition can be reliably determined based on the road surface data of the tire side device.

A conventional road surface condition determining device includes an acceleration sensor attached to a rear surface of a tire tread to detect a vibration applied to the tire, and estimates a road surface condition based on a detection result of the vibration. This road surface condition determining device estimates the road surface condition by producing data representing a road surface condition based on a vibration waveform of the tire detected by the acceleration sensor and transmitting the data of each wheel to a vehicle body side receiver and the like.
Since the tire side device such as the acceleration sensor is provided within the tire, a battery for the tire side device cannot be replaced readily. It is thus necessary to perform sensing and data communication with limited power of the battery.

Road surface condition determining device, and tire system provided with same


A method for the feeding of long pieces of wood into a disc chipper against a disc (3) equipped with blades in such a way that the piece of wood encounters the bladed disc at a sharp input angle, and a disc chipper. The sharp input angle is achieved by combining with the sharp inclination (.perspectiveto.) of the feeder chute (5) a sharp level slanting angle, whereupon the inclination of feeder chute (5) will be sufficient to feed wood against the blade disc.

This invention concerns a method for the feeding of long pieces of wood into a disc chipper against a disc equipped with blades, rotating around a horizontal axis, in such a way that the piece of wood encounters the bladed disc at a sharp input angle, whereupon the sharp input angle (or the angle between the direction of the piece of wood and the plane of the disc, the angle of the piece and wood perpendicular to the plane of the disc) is achieved by combining with the sharp inclination of the piece of wood the angle around the axis of the disc, i.e. combining with the projection of the angle at the plane of the disc between the direction of the piece of wood and the horizontal direction, a sharp angle of rotation around the vertical axis, i.e. the projection on the horizontal level of the angle between the piece of wood and the plane of the disc. The invention also concerns a disc chipper for the chipping of long pieces of wood, in which the chipper has a disc rotating about a horizontal axis, equipped with blades and with an inclined chute feeder, in which the angle between the chute feeder and the blade disc is sharp, whereupon the sharp angle between the chute feeder and the plane of the disc, perpendicular to the plane of the disc and in the direction of the chute, is formed by combining with the sharp angle of inclination of the chute feeder around the axis of the chute, i.e. the angle between the direction of the chute and the horizontal direction, a projection on the level of the disc around the vertical axis of the sharp angle of rotation around the vertical axis, i.e. with a projection on the horizontal plane of the angle between the chute feeder and the plane of the disc.
The forest industries today commonly use disc chippers to chip wood before further processing. One disc chipper is described in Finnish patent 79799.
When wood is fed in, it encounters the blade disc at an input angle, which is achieved with a horizontally fed chipper by the angle on the horizontal plane between the feeder conveyor and the blade disc, or on a chute fed chipper by the angle of inclination on the vertical plane of the chute. Tests indicate that the chip quality is improved when the input angle between the wood and the blade disc is narrowed.
On a horizontal feed chipper, it is easy to do this, since the change in the angle is done at ground level. The problem with a horizontal feed chipper, however, is that short pieces of wood cannot be fed against the chipper, since a horizontal conveyor cannot be built against the blade disc.
It is difficult to build a steep chute for a chute chipper, as is the feeding of wood. Furthermore, a steep chute results in an irregular feed and feeding at a high feed force. Today there are chute fed chippers on the market which achieve a reasonable chute input angle between a small piece of wood and the blade disc by inclining the axis of the blade disc. The problem with this structure is that all parts have to be installed on a sloping surface.

Disc chipper feeding method and disc chipper


A memory module can be programmed to deliver relatively wide, low-latency data in a first access mode, or to sacrifice some latency in return for a narrower data width, a narrower command width, or both, in a second access mode. The narrow, higher-latency mode requires fewer connections and traces. A controller can therefore support more modules, and thus increased system capacity. Programmable modules thus allow computer manufacturers to strike a desired balance between memory latency, capacity, and cost.

Computers include at least one central processing unit (CPU) that follows instructions and manipulates data. These instructions and data are stored in various types of memory. Managing the flow of information between the CPU and the memory requires considerable processing, which would interfere with CPU operation. A memory controller is therefore provided to manage the flow of information between the CPU and the memory. The memory controller can be integrated with the CPU, or can be a separate integrated circuit.
Ideally, a CPU in operation is never starved of instructions or data. If the communication between the CPU and the memory controller is too slow, the CPU can waste valuable time awaiting information. The speed of a memory system has two essential characteristics, latency and bandwidth. "Latency" refers to the delay between a memory request and information delivery, whereas "bandwidth" refers to the amount of information that can be delivered by the memory per unit time.
Processing speed can be heavily dependent upon memory latency. Memory devices and systems have therefore been designed to minimize latency. However, latency is but one variable in system performance, and the cost of achieving low latency can be prohibitive. Processes that make relatively few requests for larger amounts of information can be, for example, more impacted by memory bandwidth than latency. Computer users may tolerate—or even fail to notice—longer latencies where bandwidth or capacity are more significant factors. Computer systems with longer memory latencies would therefore be in demand if the relatively minor loss of performance was accompanied by significant cost savings, countervailing capacity improvements, or both.
The figures are illustrations by way of example, and not by way of limitation. Like reference numerals in the figures refer to similar elements.

Memory module and system supporting parallel and serial access modes