An adjustable bend connection is provided which desirably extends from the power section of a downhole progressing-cavity-type mud motor. The joint is secured internally so that any reverse rotation of the bend housings that may occur does not result in undoing the bend connection. Torque is transmitted separately from the portion of the connection which is used to secure the angle selected. The output shaft from the mud motor extends internally through the bend connection and through the components which retain the preselected angle. A tool can be inserted with the bit removed to secure or to change the angle desired.

Directional drilling is generally accomplished by putting a bend and stabilizers in the drillstring, which will allow the orientation of the drillbit and, therefore, the change of wellbore orientation. Bend connections can be of the fixed type for a particular angle. These bend connections are assembled at the surface into the drillstring and run in the wellbore and the bit is rotated by a motor so that the deviation is achieved. The bend can be created from the surface if elaborate controls and actuating mechanisms are provided so that a signal from the surface actuates movement downhole to create the bend as desired. Typical of such devices are U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,441,119; 4,374,547; 5,503,235; 5,117,927; and 5,311,952. Some designs depend on rotation to the left to create a bend connection. This design is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,694,914. Other designs involve external wedges which are used to predetermine the angle of the bend. Such a design is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,314,032. Other designs allow the creation of a variety of angles, with an internal bolt to secure the angle selected, coupled with an external thread to connect the two components which are used to create the bend. Typical of such a design is U.S. Pat. No. 4,077,657. This is not a design which is usable between a power section and a bearing section of a downhole motor which has a driveline through it. It is advantageous to place the bend connection close to the bit. Designs, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,077,657, is used in the area of drill collars which are uphole from the downhole motor.
It is desirable to put the bend connection as close to the bit as possible, and the preferred location is generally between the power section of the mud motor, which can be a progressive cavity-type of a motor, also known as Moineau, and the bit. One of the situations that occurs when drilling with a mud motor is that the bit, which is normally driven by the mud motor to the right, will wear out and develop an undersized OD. Therefore, the hole size will be reduced and the lower motor housing can become stuck. When such conditions occur, if the string is released at the rotary table at the surface, accumulated torsion in the drillstring will be released so that a reverse rotation to the left occurs. If the string is picked up at the surface, the bit is released and it rotates to the right and passes a neutral position, which results in a subsequent rotation to the left. Threaded joints in the area of the bend connection of the mud motor can, as a result of this reverse rotation to the left, become undone. These joints are typically the connections with the lowest make-up torque in the whole drillstring and therefore have the lowest resistance to reverse rotation to the left. Accordingly, for bend connections which are disposed between the power section of the downhole mud motor and the bit, it is desirable to be able to select the desired angle and put the bend connection together in such a way that it will not be subjected to becoming disconnected upon reverse rotation of the drilistring, which could result in dropping the bit and the lower parts of the motor in the wellbore. Thus, the object of the invention is to provide a simple design for manual selection at the surface of the predetermined angle which will be employed for further drilling of the wellbore, while at the same time presenting a bend connection that can easily transmit torque, regardless of the angle which is selected. These and other desirable features of the invention will become apparent by a review of the enclosed drawings and the description of the preferred embodiment.

Adjustable bend connection and method for connecting a downhole motor to a bit


Improved devices, systems, and methods for sensing and tracking the position of an eye make use of the contrast between the sclera and iris to derive eye position. In many embodiments, linear photodetectors extend from the iris to the sclera. The eye is positioned between a pair of such linear photodetectors, and movement of the eye from one linear detector toward the other linear detector changes the relative amounts of light striking each linear detector. These pairs of linear photodetectors can accurately sense and measure one-dimensional positioning error and provide feedback to a one-dimensional positioning apparatus, resulting in a simple, highly linear system capable of accurate position tracking.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally concerned with ophthalmic instruments and surgery, and more particularly relates to systems, methods, and apparatus for sensing and/or tracking the position of a human eye. The present invention is particularly useful for tracking the position of the eye during laser eye surgery, such as photorefractive keratectomy (PRK), phototherapeutic keratectomy (PTK), laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK), or the like. In an exemplary embodiment, the present invention is incorporated into a laser ablation system to modify the distribution of laser energy directed at the cornea based on the sensed position of the eye during the laser ablation procedure.
The ability to track or follow the movement of a patient's tissue is recognized as a highly desirable feature, particularly for use in laser delivery systems designed to effect precision surgery in delicate ocular tissue. The eye movements to be tracked include not only the voluntary movements (which can be damped with specialized treatment), but also the involuntary movements which are more difficult to control in a living patient. In other words, even when the patient is holding "steady" fixation on a visual target, eye movement still occurs. This involuntary motion may compromise the efficacy of some ocular surgical procedures, which generally require a rate of precision. In fact, such involuntary movements may occur despite the "total immobilization" of the eye, as such techniques are not fully effective in suppressing involuntary eye motion, and are also rather uncomfortable for the patient. Automatic tracking of the eye may alleviate any need for this uncomfortable immobilization, and may offer a method for more effectively accommodating differing types of eye motion. In other words, augmenting surgery with real time eye tracking may improve the accuracy and speed with which known laser eye surgery can be performed, and may also enable new procedures to be carried out for the first time.
A variety of techniques have been described for tracking eye movements. One general type of eye tracking technique has been called "optical point tracking." Optical point trackers utilize various lens-like properties of the eye to locate optically distinguishable locations (for example, the first, second, third, and fourth Purkinje points). Unfortunately, such optical point trackers implicitly assume that the eye moves as a rigid body. As the eye actually flexes during movement, transient relative motions of lens structure can lead to fictitious optical point position information. In addition, optical point tracking systems are rather complex, and may exhibit large variability between individuals.
Another class of eye tracking techniques generally involve digital correlations and/or pattern recognition. These digital techniques generally require very fast frame-rate CCD cameras and sophisticated processing algorithms. These methods are fundamentally digital, and they generally involve very high frequency update rates. As tracking frequency response is considerably slower than update frequency in digital systems, they tend to be relatively slow. Regardless, digital methods generally do not provide continuous resolution, and often require extremely fast repositioning mechanisms to leave time for complex electronic processing within an acceptable total response time.
A recent promising technique for tracking eye movements takes advantage of the difference in the light scattering properties of the iris and sclera. In this technique, light is projected on to the iris/sclera interface or limbus, and the scattered light is detected by photodetectors to determine the boundary location. The relative position of this boundary can then be monitored to track the position of the eye.
Unfortunately, the limbus is more a transition zone between the cornea and the sclera, rather than a sharp boundary. As a result, techniques which rely on edge detection may lack the desired accuracy, and may not be capable of tracking large amplitude movements of the eye. Another disadvantage of known limbus tracking techniques is the relative complexity of signal processing required to effect tracking. In other words, when the eye moves so that the limbus is no longer in the nominal position, effecting realignment using known tracking systems requires fairly complex manipulations of the photodetector signal to properly instruct the repositioning system. These complex signal manipulations increase overall system complexity, and also slow the system down. Work in connection with the present invention indicates that slow tracking system response and less than desirable accuracies may in-part be the result of tracking system non-linearities. While adequate tracking response may be possible using known "pin-point" limbus trackers with accurately aligned photodetectors disposed precisely along the edge of the iris/sclera interface, providing and/or maintaining such alignment adds additional system components and complexity, particularly in light of the variability of eye geometry between differing patients.
In light of the above, it would be desirable to provide improved eye sensing and tracking devices, systems, and methods. It would be particularly desirable if these enhanced techniques improved tracking response times and sensitivity, but without significant increases in cost or complexity of the tracking mechanism. It would be particularly desirable to provide these enhanced capabilities in a system which was adaptable for use in laser eye surgery for accurately sensing and/or tracking a variety of patient eye movements.


An object of the present invention is to provide an optical device, in which a stress applying on ridge sections caused by the difference of thermal expansion between a metal film of which a ground electrode is formed and a substrate is reduced. In order to achieve this, in the optical device of the present invention, the ratio of the volume of a ground electrode portion formed at the position of other groove to the area of opening part of the other groove is smaller than the ratio of the volume to the area of a ground electrode portion formed at the position except the other groove.

1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical device, in particular, which is used in optical communication suitably.
2) Description of the Related Art
In an optical device using an electrooptic crystal such as, a LiNbO3 (lithium niobate) (hereinafter, simply referred to as LN) substrate, and a LiTaO2 substrate, an optical waveguide is formed in a process in which a metal film is formed on a part of the crystal substrate and thermal diffusion is applied thereon, or proton exchange is executed in a benzoic acid after applying a patterning, after this, electrodes are formed near the optical waveguide. And the optical device is used as an optical control device, which controls light signals transmitting through the optical waveguide by an electric field applied by the electrodes.
FIG. 13 is a schematic plane view showing an optical device that is used as the above-mentioned optical control device. In an optical control device 100, a Mach-Zehnder type optical waveguide 104, which is composed of an input waveguide 101, two parallel waveguides 102-1 and 102-2, and an output waveguide 103, is formed on an LN substrate 108. This optical waveguide 104 is generally adopted in the case where the optical waveguide 104 is used as an optical modulator, and coplanar electrodes, in which a signal electrode 105 is formed above the parallel waveguide 102-1 and a ground electrode 106 is formed above the parallel waveguide 102-2, are formed.
And as in this optical device 100, in the case where a Z cut substrate is used, since the change of refractive index by an electric field in the Z-direction is utilized, the signal electrode 105 and the ground electrode 106 are formed right above the parallel waveguide 102-1 and the parallel waveguide 102-2 respectively. FIG. 14 is a sectional view of the optical device shown in FIG. 13 when seen in the direction of arrows A and A′.
At this time, the signal electrode 105 is formed above the parallel waveguide 102-1 and the ground electrode 106 is formed above the parallel waveguide 102-2 by patterning. However, in order to prevent light transmitting through the parallel waveguides 102-1 and 102-2 from being absorbed by the signal electrode 105 and the ground electrode 106, as shown in FIG. 14, between the LN substrate 108 and the signal electrode 105, and between the LN substrate and the ground electrode 106, a buffer layer 107 is interposed. As the buffer layer 107, for example, SiO2 having the thickness of approximately 0.2 μm to 1 μm is used. In the case where the optical device 100 shown in FIG. 13 is driven at a high speed as an optical modulator, a traveling-wave electrode is formed by connecting a resistor to the terminals of the signal electrode 105 and the ground electrode 106, and microwave signals are inputted from the input side. At this time, the refractive index of each of the two parallel waveguides 102-1 and 102-2 is changed by +Ana and −Δnb respectively, and since the phase difference between the two parallel waveguides 102-1 and 102-2 is changed, therefore, signal light whose intensity was modulated is outputted from the output waveguide 103.
In the optical device 100 using the LN substrate 108 having the electrooptic effect shown in FIG. 13, as shown in FIG. 14, both sides of the parallel waveguides (optical waveguides) 102-1 and 102-2 in the interaction region and the region between the parallel waveguides 102-1 and 102-2 are trenched by etching and the like, and grooves 109-1 to 109-3 are formed, with this, an optical waveguide having a ridge structure is formed.
At the optical waveguide having the ridge structure, compared with an optical waveguide formed on a flat substrate without forming the grooves 109-1 to 109-3, when an electric field is applied through the signal electrode 105 and the ground electrode 106, the electric field applying efficiency to the parallel waveguides 102-1 and 102-2 can be improved, and its driving voltage can be made low. Therefore, the modulation frequency, in the case where the optical device 100 is used as an optical modulator, can be made into a broad band.
And as shown in FIG. 15, a Mach-Zehnder type optical waveguide 111, in which the parallel waveguides 102-1 and 102-2 shown in FIG. 13 are changed to curved waveguides 110-1 and 110-2, is formed on the LN substrate 108. And an optical device 114, which comprised a signal electrode 112 and a ground electrode 113 formed corresponding to these curved waveguides 110-1 and 110-2, is formed. With this structure, it is known that the size of the optical device can be made smaller than that of the optical device 100 shown in FIG. 13. Particularly, at this optical device 114, in a process in which the curved waveguides 110-1 and 110-2 being optical waveguides in the interaction region are made into optical waveguides having the ridge structure, the effect that light is shut in the curved waveguides 110-1 and 110-2 is increased, and the loss can be reduced. FIG. 16 is a sectional view of the optical device 114 shown in FIG. 15 when seen in the direction of arrows B and B′.
As existing technologies relating to the present invention, the following Patent Literatures 1 to 4 exist.
In the Patent Literature 1, a technology, in which a Mach-Zehnder type optical waveguide is formed on a flat substrate and an auxiliary ground electrode is separately formed at the outside of a ground electrode disposed facing to a signal electrode symmetrically and the ground electrode and the auxiliary ground electrode are connected electrically by a ground electrode bridge, has been described.
And in the Patent Literature 2, an optical control device, in which a signal electrode and a ground electrode are formed on two parallel waveguides of a ridge type via a buffer layer, has been described. And in the Patent Literature 3, a waveguide type optical component, in which electrodes are disposed along the side surfaces of an optical waveguide of a ridge type, has been described. And in the Patent Literature 4, a ridge waveguide, in which a part of a ridge side wall has a concave angle, has been described.
[Patent Literature 1] Japanese Patent Laid-Open(Kokai) No. HEI 3-200924
[Patent Literature 2] Japanese Patent Laid-Open(Kokai) No. HEI 10-90638
[Patent Literature 3] Japanese Patent Laid-Open(Kokai) No. HEI 4-123018
[Patent Literature 4] Japanese Patent Laid-Open(Kokai) No. 2001-4966
At the optical devices 100 and 114 shown in FIGS. 13 to 16, in the case where the ground electrode is formed by the deposition of a metal film on plural ridges including grooves between the ridges, a stress, caused by the difference of thermal expansion (the difference of the coefficient of linear expansion) between the metal film of which the ground electrode is formed and the substrate, is applied to the ridge sections (especially, the edges of the ridge sections). And the inventor of the present invention found and confirmed that the above-mentioned stress has exerted an influence on the refractive index of light transmitting through the ridge sections of the optical waveguide.
The stress applying on the ridge sections changes depending on a temperature, therefore, the influence of the stress on the refractive index of light transmitting through the optical waveguide can also be changed by the temperature. And the change of the refractive index of light depending on the temperature causes a bias voltage applying to the operating point to change depending on the change of the temperature, at the time when light is controlled by using the optical device 100 or 114. This is a problem.
FIG. 17 is a graph showing a change of the output level of light for a voltage applying to the signal electrode. Usually, the light is controlled by changing the voltage to be applied in the range of R shown in FIG. 17. However, the value of V0 being the above-mentioned bias voltage changed depending on the change of the temperature, therefore, this prevents stable optical control.
In the technologies described in the above-mentioned Patent literatures 1 to 4, a structure, in which the stress by the difference of thermal expansion (the difference of the coefficient of linear expansion) between the metal film of which the ground electrode is formed and the substrate is reduced, has not been described.


In a structure for setting an audio signal outputted by an audio information processing part to a signal of a kind corresponding to the detected results of switches, when a plug having the length of a signal side contact longer than the standard of an RCA pin plug is connected to RCA pin jacks, the switches are respectively attached to positions to be operated by the signal side contact of the plug and not to be operated by the signal side contact of the RCA pin plug. When the operating states of the switches show that the plug is not connected to the RCA pin jacks, the audio signal outputted by the audio information processing part is set to a signal of a kind set by a user.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical disk reproducing device for outputting analog audio signals of two channels obtained by performing a prescribed process to audio information and a digital audio signal based on the audio information by using an RCA pin jack. More particularly, the present invention relates to an optical disk reproducing device for setting an outputted audio to a kind corresponding to the state of a connection of an RCA pin jack and an adapter for a plug usable for the optical disk reproducing device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a DVD widely spread nowadays, kinds of reproduced audio can be switched to a Dolby Digital 2 ch (refer it simply to as a 2 ch, hereinafter), a Dolby Digital 5.1 ch (refer it simply to as a 5.1 ch, hereinafter) or a DTS (Digital Theater System) 5.1 ch. However, even when the 2 ch, the 5.1 ch or the DTS 5.1 ch is displayed on a setting screen, most of users hardly correctly understand the meaning of the display. Further, when the audio output of the 2 ch and the output of a video signal of a DVD player are connected to a television receiver, however, a digital audio output is not connected to a device capable of outputting the 5.1 ch, even if the 5.1 ch is selected, the audio of two channels of the 5.1 ch is merely outputted from the television receiver (most of the users do not notice it).
In order to overcome the above-described circumstances, a below-described technique is proposed (refer it to as a first related art). In this technique, six amplifiers provided for outputting the audio of the 5.1 ch are respectively provided with electric current detecting parts for detecting entering electric current. Then, for the amplifiers respectively, it is examined from the detected results of the electric current detecting parts when audio signals whose frequencies are swept are supplied to the amplifiers, whether or not a speaker is connected respectively to the amplifiers, or whether or not the speaker is a speaker for a low-pitched tone when the speaker is connected respectively to the amplifiers. Then, in accordance with the state of the speaker connected to the amplifiers respectively, a kind (a pattern of a reproduced form) of an optimum audio output is automatically selected and the kind of the selected audio is displayed on a display part. Further, a signal processing circuit is automatically set so that the kind of an audio signal outputted by the signal processing circuit corresponds to the kind of the selected audio signal. Further, this technique also discloses that a function is provided for displaying a kind of an audio output that can be selected by a user in accordance with the state of the speaker connected respectively to the amplifiers without the automatic selection (for instance, see JP-A-2003-204600).
Further, a below-described technique is proposed (refer it to as a second related art). In this technique, the connecting state of a cable of a 4-channel audio output terminal to which an audio connecting cable is connected is detected by using an output terminal connection detecting part. Then, an audio signal transmitted to the audio output terminal is switched to a signal of an optimum mode in accordance with the detected result (for instance, see JP-A-8-111900).
A below-described technique is proposed by the applicant of this application of the present invention (refer it to as a third related art). In this technique, a speaker unit and an RCA pin plug are provided in an accessory speaker. The RCA pin plug is electrically connected to the speaker unit. In a television receiver side, an RCA pin jack is provided and an audio signal is guided to the RCA pin jack. In an interior side of the RCA pin jack, a switch is provided that is pressed by an end part of the RCA pin plug so that its connecting state is switched. In the connecting state when the switch is not pressed by the RCA pin plug, the accessory speaker is not connected to the switch so that a stereo audio is outputted by two incorporated speakers provided in the television receiver. On the other hand, in the connecting state when the switch is pressed by the RCA pin plug, the accessory speaker is connected to the switch so that a stereo audio is outputted from a pair of right and left accessory speakers and a mono-ral audio obtained by adding the stereo audio signal is outputted from the two incorporated speakers. That is, when the accessory speaker is connected to the television receiver, the speakers incorporated in the television receiver are used as pseudo center speakers to obtain a surrounding effect (for instance, see JP-A-2004-282395).

Optical disk reproducing device and adapter for plug


An apparatus for use in a synchronous transmission system (STS) efficiently tests N clock signals provided from a device incorporated in the STS, wherein N is a positive integer larger than 1 and the N clock signals are represented by a first predetermined clock frequency. The N clock signals are first received by a counting device in response to a reset signal issued by a system controller in the STS to produce an error reference signal for each of the N received clock signals. And then, at a clock generator, a reference clock signal represented by a second predetermined clock frequency is provided. A first set of error detection signals for the N clock signals is derived based on the N clock signals, the reference clock signal and the error reference signals at a first error detection device. Thereafter, at a second error detection device, a second set of error detection signals for the N clock signals is obtained based on the reference clock signal and the error reference signals. Finally, the first and the second sets of error detection signals are logically combined at an error decision device to thereby produce information representing the status of each of the N clock signals.

As is well known, a synchronous transmission system (STS) is widely utilized to accommodate as many voice/data channels as possible in a given communications path. Specifically, the STS converts asynchronous frame data such as digital signal level 1 (DS-1) of the North America or digital signal level 1 (DS-1E) of Europe into synchronous frame data of, e.g., synchronous transport module level 1 (STM-1), wherein there is employed a set of overhead data. The DS-1 and the DS-1E data represent pulse code modulation (PCM) serial data of a first transfer rate, e.g., 1.544 Mbps, and PCM serial data of a second transfer rate, e.g., 2.048 Mbps, respectively, whereas the STM-1 data represents PCM parallel data of a third transfer rate, e.g., 155.5 Mbps. Such a conversion operation is typically carried out on the basis of a synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) issued by International Standards Union-Telecommunications Standardization Sector (ITU-TS).
In order to efficiently perform the conversion operation, there are generally provided two tributary unit group (TUG) clock signals in the STS, wherein the two TUG clock signals are represented by a predetermined identical clock frequency, e.g., 6 Mhz, and one of them is used as a system main clock signal. When a TUG clock signal, selected from the two TUG clock signals to be used in the STS, is detected to be erroneous or in failure, the STS immediately replaces the erroneous TUG clock signal with the other to continue the conversion process by using the replaced TUG clock signal.
As is well known in the art, such an error detection operation for each of the two TUG clock signals is performed by using a conventional clock signal testing method. In the conventional clock signal testing method, two multivibrators, and several resistors and capacitors coupled with each of the multivibrators are generally employed to test whether each TUG clock signal is normal or not. That is, each TUG clock signal is considered to be erroneous if it is not supplied to its corresponding multivibrator for a predetermined time duration, wherein the time duration depends on a time constant which is proportional to a total impedance value of the resistors and the capacitors connected to the corresponding multivibrator.
Since, however, the conventional clock signal testing method has to employ analog circuitries such as resistors and capacitors to test each of the two TUG clock signals, it is rather difficult to precisely adjust the circuit parameters to obtain the predetermined time duration employed in testing each TUG clock signal, thereby degrading the performance of the STS.

Clock signal testing apparatus for use in a synchronous transmission system


In a non-contact IC card, one block includes 16 bytes as a unit of reading/writing information, and the writing of the information up to 8 blocks which is a maximum simultaneous write size is guaranteed. The structure of a TOC (Table Of Contents) is built on a memory space of the card. When information exceeding the maximum simultaneous write size is written in, single transaction completes the corresponding TOC rewrite so as to prevent contents of the memory from being damaged even if the card is removed from a write device in the middle of writing. When writing data larger than a predetermined size, even if communication between devices is interrupted at any timing, the data consistency can be guaranteed suitably.

An example of a radio communication means applicable only in a local area is a non-contact IC card.
Such radio communications are realized based on the principles of electromagnetic induction, for example. In other words, a radio communication system includes an IC card having a memory function, a card reader/writer for accessing a memory of the IC card for reading and writing, and an antenna at a side of the card reader/write and a loop coil at a side of the IC card form single transformer as a system.
On the card reader/writer side, a current to flow in the antenna is modulated so that an induced voltage at the loop coil of the IC card is modulated so as to carry out data transmission from the card reader/writer to the IC card. Further, the IC card sends a reply back to the card reader/writer by the process in which a load fluctuation between terminals of the loop coil changes an impedance between antenna terminals on the IC card reader/writer side so as to change a passing current and a voltage of the antenna, for example.
The non-contact proximity communication system as typified by the IC card is easily operated and therefore widely used. For example, by storing, in the IC card, a secret identification code and other personal authentication information, value information such as an electronic ticket, a cash dispenser and a card reader/writer located at an entrance/exit of a concert hall or an entrance gate of a station may access the IC card presented by a user in a non-contact manner so as to perform an authentication process.
Recently, along with an improvement in fine technologies, an IC card having a memory space of a relatively mass storage has been developed. Such an IC card having a memory space of a relatively mass storage can store a plurality of applications (or services) at the same time so that one IC card may be employed for a plurality of uses. For example, one IC card may have various services such as electronic money for settling an electronic account, an electronic admission ticket to a specific concert hall, etc. stored therein so as to be applied to various uses.
Further, each device may be equipped with both an IC card function and a card reader/writer function so that an IC card technology may be employed as a versatile and bi-directional proximity communication interface.
For example, when the proximity communication system is constructed of devices such as a computer and an information appliance, the communication is carried out one-to-one. Further, a device may communicate with a counterpart device (referred to as a card) other than a device such as the non-contact IC card. In this case, it is possible to employ an application for carrying out one-to-many communication between one device and a plurality of cards.
In such a proximity communication system, the user physically places the devices performing the proximity communication closer to each other so that at least one device may find the other counterpart device so as to automatically start an operation. However, when a distance between the devices increases, the communication may be interrupted at any time. Therefore, there is a need for an operation guarantee mechanism which may prevent the failure of the system even if the user pulls away the devices at any timing.
Some existing proximity communication systems guarantee an operation of writing data of a given size (128 bytes, for example) by means of a function of the IC card itself. However, even in this case, when writing information data larger than the given size of data, data inconsistency may take place depending on its timing.
Specifically, in the proximity communication by means of the IC card where its commination service area is limited to the local area, it is quite probable that the communication could be interrupted. For example, the devices might be pulled away by a user's operation or a barrier could interfere with the devices. Since the IC card increases in its memory size, variations of applications/services and chances of transferring a relatively large data to the IC card increase, a problem of securing the data when the communication is suddenly stopped becomes critical.

Proximity communication system, proximity communication method, data managing apparatus and data management method, storage medium, and computer program


A sheet storing portion storing a stack of recording sheets and sequentially supplying recording sheets to an image forming portion has a tray pullout frame that can be pulled out to the front side of the apparatus and a sheet tray provided in the tray pullout frame. The sheet tray stores recording sheets, and the tray pullout frame can be pulled out to a lateral side while the frame is mounted in the apparatus. The front part of the tray pullout frame can be open as the frame is mounted to the apparatus main body, so that the recording sheet transport path can be open and the apparatus can be restored upon a paper jam.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that forms a visible image on a recording medium, and more particularly, to an image forming apparatus that allows an operator to easily operate the apparatus while being seated in a wheelchair as well as while standing in front of the apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, more people with handicaps have come to work in society. Therefore, wheelchair users have more opportunities to use an image forming apparatus such as a copier, a printer, and a facsimile machine in offices and other places while they are seated in their wheelchairs. Therefore, there is a demand for such an image forming apparatus that can easily be operated by an operator seated in a wheelchair or the like.
Among various conventional image forming apparatuses widely used today, one image forming apparatus according to electrophotography allows an operator to stand in front of the apparatus during operation. The image forming apparatus is widely applied to machines such as a multi-function machine serving as a copier, a printer and a facsimile machine and a color copier. As shown in FIG. 22, the apparatus includes a recording sheet storing portion 201 in the lower part of the apparatus, and an image forming portion 202 in the upper part. Recording sheets sequentially fed from the recording sheet storing portion 201 are transported upwardly along the apparatus side surfaces, and a toner image is transferred onto a recording sheet at the image forming portion 202. The recording sheet holding a toner image yet to be fixed is transported to a fixation device, has its image formed into a fixed image by pressurizing and heating, and is then discharged onto a discharge tray 203 provided above the image forming portion.
An image reading portion 204 is supported by pillars 205 above the image forming portion, and a document platen glass (not shown) and a document cover 206 to cover the document platen glass are provided on the top surface. A document surface placed on the document platen glass is exposed to light and the image can be read. Furthermore, in front of the document platen glass, an operation portion 207 to operate the entire apparatus is provided and the portion has a display for displaying necessary information, input keys and the like.
The above described recording sheet storing portion 201 has a plurality of paper feed trays 210 placed upon each other in the vertical direction so that paper sheets in different sizes can be stored. The trays can each be pulled out to the front and replenished with recording sheets. The side surface of the apparatus main body can be open along the path for transporting recording sheets from the recording sheet storing portion 201 to the image forming portion 202. Therefore, when there is a paper jam, the paper transport path can be opened from the lateral side surface S, and the stuck sheet can be removed.
The image forming apparatus is however based on the idea that a typical user is a non-handicapped person that stands in front of the apparatus main body and operates the apparatus, and therefore a wheelchair user might find the apparatus difficult to use. Therefore, there have been suggested apparatuses that allow for improved operability by wheelchair users. For example, one such apparatus disclosed has an elevating device at the part supporting the apparatus main body, so that the entire apparatus is moved up and down as required according to circumstances in operation, as disclosed in JP-A-7-157140. In a conventional apparatus, the document platen for placing a document is positioned too high for a wheelchair user, and the document cover is not easy to lift up/down. The far side of the document platen glass is hardly in view, and therefore a document sheet cannot be placed correctly on the document platen glass. The above image forming apparatus is directed to a solution to these disadvantages. When a wheelchair user faces the apparatus from the front, the footrests of the wheelchair meet the lower part of the apparatus and blocks the user from further approaching the apparatus for operation. In this viewpoint, an image forming apparatus having a recessed part in the lower part of the apparatus to let the footrests to enter has been proposed, JP-A-6-148960.
However, the following other problems are encountered when a wheelchair user tries to operate an image forming apparatus.
In the conventional apparatus, a feed tray must be pulled out considerably forward to be replenished with paper sheets. This is not easily done when a user is seated in a wheelchair that obstructs the operation. Such an apparatus that allows the sheet tray to be pulled out to a lateral side may be considered, but this lowers the operability by a non-handicapped user as compared to the apparatus with the sheet tray that can be pulled out forward.
Most conventional apparatuses include a paper transport path on a lateral side of the apparatus, and therefore the paper path provided along the side surface of the apparatus must be opened to remove a sheet stuck in the path upon a paper jam. At the time, the operator must come around to the lateral side of the apparatus for operation, and the user in a wheelchair must move from the front to the lateral side of the apparatus. In the apparatus disclosed by Patent Document 1, upon a paper jam, the entire apparatus moves up and down to move a stuck paper sheet to a location where the paper can easily be removed. However, the operator in front of the apparatus cannot easily remove the stuck recording sheet from the transport path on the lateral side surface.

Image forming apparatus with accessible panels for wheelchair users


A parking assisting apparatus displays an image of a rear view from a vehicle, which is acquired by a camera, on a display located in a passenger compartment, thus assisting in a parking procedure. The parking procedure assisted by the parking assisting apparatus is, for example, a parallel parking procedure in which the rotating direction of the steering wheel must be switched. An assumed path along which the vehicle is moved during the parking procedure is determined in accordance with the steering angle of the steering wheel when the parking procedure is started. In the parking procedure, the display indicates a steering information that informs the driver of a timing at which the rotating direction of the steering wheel must be switched, in accordance with the assumed path.

The present invention relates to parking assisting apparatus that assist in a parking procedure by displaying an image of a view, as viewed in a direction in which a vehicle moves, on a display located in a passenger compartment.
A typical parking assisting apparatus, which is described in Japanese Patent No. 1610702 or Japanese Patent No. 2610146, includes a camera and a display. The camera acquires an image of a rear view from a vehicle, and the display shows the acquired image. When a parking procedure is started, the parking assisting apparatus assumes a path along which the vehicle is moved during the procedure in accordance with the steering angle of the steering wheel. The assumed path appears on the display, in addition to the image of the rear view from the vehicle. The parking procedure is thus continued with the aid of the image on the display. This makes it easy for the driver to complete the parking procedure.
For example, if the vehicle is parked in a space between a pair of vehicles that are parked along a road shoulder, the steering wheel of the vehicle is first rotated in one direction such that the vehicle is reversed while turning in the corresponding direction. Subsequently, the stearing wheel is rotated in the other direction such that the vehicle is reversed while turning in the corresponding direction. However, the aforementioned parking assisting apparatus does not inform the driver of an optimal timing at which the rotating direction of the steering wheel should be switched. Accordingly, the parking assisting apparatus does not sufficiently assist in the parking procedure in which the rotating direction of the steering wheel must be switched. As a result, the parking procedure is not sufficiently simplified for the driver.
Accordingly, it is an objective of the present invention to provide a parking assisting apparatus that informs a driver of an optimal timing at which the rotating direction of a steering wheel should be switched.
To achieve the foregoing and other objectives and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, the invention provides a parking assisting apparatus that displays an image of a view acquired by a camera, as viewed in a direction in which a vehicle moves, on a display located in a passenger compartment, thus assisting in a parking procedure performed by a driver. The parking procedure includes a first step and a second step. In the first step, the vehicle is moved with a steering device rotated in one direction. In the second step, the vehicle is moved with the steering device rotated in a direction opposite to that of the first step. The parking assisting apparatus is characterized by a control means, which assumes a path along which the vehicle is moved during the parking procedure. The control means determines an initial steering angle of the steering device. The initial steering angle corresponds to the steering angle of the steering device when initiating the parking procedure. The control means assumes the path of the vehicle, based on the assumption that the first step is performed with the initial steering angle and the second step is performed with the steering angle maintained at a predetermined value after the steering device is rotated in the opposite direction. The control means instructs the display to indicate a steering information that informs the driver of a timing at which the steering device must be rotated in the opposite direction in accordance with the assumed path.


A display assembly for automatically orienting a display item includes a base and a mounting member for mounting thereon the display item. The mounting member is removably mounted on the base to allow handling of the display item when removed and when mounted automatically moves from an unaligned orientation to an aligned display orientation. One alignment mechanism is magnetically operable and preferably includes first and second magnets respectively mounted on the base and mounting member wherein north and south poles of the first magnet align respectively with south and north poles of the second magnet to align the mounting member in the display orientation. Another alignment mechanism includes at least one camming surface for facilitating alignment of the mounting member and preferably camming surfaces respectively on the base and the mounting member which engage one another to facilitate to alignment.

1. Technical Field
The invention relates generally to display stands for merchandise. More particularly, the invention relates to a display stand which allows the handling of an item of merchandise. Specifically, the invention relates to such a display stand which orients the item of merchandise to a desired display orientation after the handling thereof.
2. Background Information
Amongst the great variety of display structures used to display items of merchandise are those which allow a potential customer to handle and view the item of merchandise in order to determine if it has characteristics desirable to the potential customer. This is commonly the case for displaying various types of electronic articles such as cell phones, cameras and the like which have a reasonably high unit value but which a retailer desires to allow the potential customer to handle without seeking a store employee simply to unlock the merchandise for such viewing and handling. In addition to the need to provide security against theft of such items, there is also a need to display the items of merchandise in an orderly manner. This often becomes a problem when a potential customer picks up an item of merchandise such as a cell phone or camera in order to look it over and see how it feels, and then places the item generally in the display area from which it was obtained but in a haphazard manner. Especially because multiple items of such merchandise are displayed near one another, when they are all replaced haphazardly, it creates quite a disorderly appearance. The present invention addresses this and other problems.

Display having self-orienting mounting area


Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method and system for authenticating communication between a plurality of accessory devices or services and one or more media devices by using a single authentication processor. The method includes the steps of establishing a communication of a media device attached to an accessory device with an authentication processor through an authentication processor manager, authenticating the accessory device by the media device based on a digital certificate and a digital signature; and authenticating the media device by the accessory device based on verification of the digital certificate and the digital signature.

A media device may store a plurality of media files, such as audio files, video files, photos, and so forth, which may be displayed or played at the media device. The media device can be an n iPod™, an iTouch™, an mp3 players, or similar device. The media device may include one or more ports or connectors for connecting to or interfacing with other devices. For example, a number of accessory devices such as a headset or speakers may be connected to the media device. Further, an accessory device can serve multiple types of media devices. For example, an accessory device may support playback of music streamed from iTunes™ over a network and may also support iPod™ docking The iPod™ may connect to the accessory device over a digital USB interface or an analog interface. Further, the accessory device and the media device may include multiple micro-controllers or processors. Each of the micro-controllers/processors may interface with different types of media devices or Apple products. For example, a micro controller may interface with an iPad™, another may connect with an iPhone™, and so forth. Therefore, the authentication of different types of media devices or services and the accessory devices becomes important for proper functioning of these devices.
The authentication processor may play an important role in the process of authentication between the media device(s) or a media service(s) and the accessory devices. For example, the Apple Authentication Co-Processor may authenticate an Apple device or an Apple service connected to one or more accessory devices and vice versa. Primarily, the authentication processor may perform two types of authentication i.e. authenticating both the media device and the accessory device.
Usually, the accessory device may use the authentication processor to authenticate the media device. One approach to facilitate the authentication process may require a dedicated Authentication Co-Processor for each processor or device responsible for interacting with a media device or Apple product. This approach may simplify the design and may provide for addition of new capabilities to an existing product. For example, an existing iPod™ docking product can be enhanced to support streaming audio from iTunes™ by adding a chipset that may support playback of audio streamed from an iTunes™ Media server and dedicating an Authentication Co-Processor to the iPod™ docking product. Though these techniques simplify the design and reduce time to market, but it adds significant cost due to the need to support multiple Authentication Co-Processor devices.
Therefore, there exists a need for a system and method to authenticate multiple interconnected devices by sharing a single authentication processor among multiple micro-processors in the devices.

Method and system for authenticating communication


A method and system for maintaining communication of data in a communication link between a transmission site and a reception site during a momentary disruption of the communication link includes storage of data during the disruption, and optionally both prior to and subsequent to the disruption, to enable communication subsequently to the disruption. In one embodiment, data is stored over an interval of time longer than the disruption and centered on the disruption, and is scrambled prior to communication between the transmission site and the reception site. Unscrambling of the data in a received sequence and application of error-correction code to the received sequence regains information which would have been lost in the disruption. Use may also be made of buffers at both of the sites for saving data which was to be transmitted during the disruption, and communicating the data to the end-user buffer subsequent to the disruption.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a communication link with two-way communication of data, and more particularly, to a compensation for interruption of data flow along the link during both long and short intervals of data interruption, thereby to reduce any resulting communication errors.
2. Brief Description of Related Developments
Communication systems are widely used in many situations including communication between persons, as in cellular telephony, and between various forms of equipment, such as between a satellite and a ground station. Various data formats and protocols have evolved to facilitate communication in differing situations. Communication may involve multiple access technologies such as CDMA (code division multiple access), TDMA (time division multiple access), FDMA (frequency division multiple access), modulation technologies such as PSK (phase shift keying), QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation), and FEC (forward error correction) such as Reed Solomon coding, convolutional encoding, and turbo coding, by way of example. Detection of such signals may require a highly accurate time base for observation of relatively small differences in phase of a carrier signal, phase of the symbol and phase of the multiplexer frame. Furthermore, the time base employed in a receiver of a signal must be the same as the time base (synchronous) employed in a transmitter of the signal in order to enable successful operation of receiving processes (demodulation operation), such as matched filtering, by way of example. In the case of a communication system employing a modem at each end of a communication link, such as a link connecting two computers for enabling communication between the two computers, it is necessary to include within each of the modems circuitry for transmitting synchronization or time-frame signals and circuitry for recognizing received synchronization or time-frame signals.
Communication systems generally provide for continuous transmission of the data between a transmitting station and a receiving station. In the design of a typical communication system, such as a communication system carrying digitized data, it is presumed that there will not be any significant interruption in the flow of data, particularly an interruption that might arise from the temporary presence of a physical object which blocks the transmission path. Such an interruption, even a relatively short interruption on the order of a few milliseconds, could cause a loss in bit-count-integrity (BCI) so that data loss would continue even after termination of the interruption until such time as the transmitted signal could be reacquired by the receiving station.
By way of example in a communication system, one may consider first and second modems communicating with each other via a communication satellite which encircles the earth. The first modem is located on a ship at sea, and the second modem is located on land. To demonstrate the problematic situation addressed by the present invention, it is presumed that certain portions of the superstructure of the ship extend higher than communication antennas of the ship so that, depending on the orientation of the ship relative to one of its communication antennas and to the communication satellite, there are times when the superstructure of the ship may block the path of propagation of electromagnetic signals from a communication antenna to the satellite. To obviate most of this problem, two communication antennas may be employed in alternative fashion, whereby communication between the ship modem and the shore modem is directed either via the first or the second of the communication antennas. Thereby, in the event that the ship turns, such that there may be blockage of one of the antennas from view of the satellite, the other of the antennas is connected to the ship modem to resume the communication. Such a solution to the problem works well in that communication is always possible. However, a portion of the problem still remains, namely, that during the switching of the antennas there is an interval of time, on the order of milliseconds, in which data may be lost. By way of example, in the case of transmission from the shore modem via the satellite to the ship modem, the interval of lost data is approximately one millisecond. On the other hand, in the case of transmission from the ship modem via the satellite to the shore modem, it may be necessary to turn off the ship's transmitter for the first antenna and then to turn on the ship's transmitter for the second antenna with a resulting lost-data interval of approximately 80 milliseconds. The foregoing situation involving the two antennas is a specific example of the more general case of an interruption interval appearing in a handover between components of a communication system, such as a mobile station being handed over between two base stations in a cellular telephony system.

Communication link with compensation for interruption of signal flow


The invention comprises an interface for switching control of a memory management unit (MMU) between a central processing unit (CPU) having a register stack for storing data, and one or more coprocessors (COP) each having register stacks for storing data. The COP is operative when actuated to perform selected functions, not normally performed by the CPU, utilizing information in memory.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an interface between a central processing unit (CPU) e.g., microprocessor and one or more coprocessors. In particular, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for allowing the execution of special purpose functions by a coprocessor which rapidly assumes control of the processor busses and is conditioned to be immediately available to perform the special purpose function.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Existing computer instruction sets are often inadequate for specific purposes. An instruction set may only need the addition of a few instructions to significantly enhance the processing capability for a particular application. One way to increase the instruction set is to redesign the central processing unit (CPU) which would be very costly and time consuming. Another more practical approach has been to add a coprocessor which extends the instruction set. In such an arrangement, the critical link is the interface between the CPU and the coprocessor. Many interfaces have been designed but they are limited in their capabilities because they cannot manipulate memory and require transfer of data between the CPU and coprocessor to provide operands for execution. Both of these operations require time. In the first instance time is lost in controlling memory through the CPU which is not involved in performing the specific instruction. In the second instance time is required to set up the coprocessor prior to execution of the function.

Microcoprocessor, memory management unit interface to support one or more coprocessors

200
MS
File;900
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FSS 400 MS File;425 MS File


A polyalkylene succinimide composition prepared by reacting a mixture of an acid derivative, a polycarboxylic acid derivative; and a polyamine under reactive conditions. The acid derivative can be an alkenyl or alkylsuccinic acid derivative, a copolymer of a first unsaturated acidic reagent and a 1,1-disubstituted olefin, or mixtures of the alkenyl or alkylsuccinic acid derivative and the copolymer. The total reaction mixture contains from 4 to 40 wt. % of the polycarboxylic acid derivative, and contains from 0.1 to 1.5 equivalents of polyamine per equivalent of acidic groups of the acid derivative plus the acidic groups of the polycarboxylic acid derivative.

Lubricating oil compositions for internal combustion engines generally contain a variety of additives to reduce or control deposits, wear, corrosion, etc. Similarly, liquid hydrocarbon fuels for internal combustion engines, at a minimum, contain additives which control or reduce the formation of deposits. The present invention is concerned with compositions useful as dispersants or deposit inhibitors.
In lubricating oils, dispersants function to control sludge, carbon, and varnish produced primarily by the incomplete oxidation of the fuel, or impurities in the fuel, or impurities in the base oil used in the lubricating oil compositions. Dispersants also control viscosity increase and prevent sludge and deposit formation due to the presence of soot in diesel engine lubricating oils.
Deposit inhibitors in fuel control or reduce engine deposits also caused by incomplete combustion of the fuel. Such deposits can form on the carburetor parts, throttle bodies, fuel injectors, intake parts, and valves. Those deposits can present significant problems, including poor acceleration and stalling, and increased fuel consumption and exhaust pollutants.
One of the most effective class of lubricating oil dispersants and fuel deposit inhibitors are polyalkylene succinimides. In some cases, the succinimides have also been found to provide fluid-modifying properties, or a so-called viscosity index credit, in lubricating oil compositions, that results in a reduction in the amount of viscosity index improver which would be otherwise have to be used. A drawback of succinimide dispersants is that they have generally been found to reduce the life of fluorocarbon elastomers. In general, for a given succinimide dispersant, a higher nitrogen content gives better dispersancy but poorer fluorocarbon elastomer compatibility.
Therefore, as well as improving the dispersancy and VI credit properties of polyalkylene succinimides, it would be desirable to improve the fluorocarbon elastomer compatibility of such dispersants. It would further be desirable to improve the stability of polyalkylene succinimides, particularly hydrolytic stability and shear stress stability. It would also be desirable to improve soot dispersancy, especially where the lubricating oil is intended for use in diesel engine crankcases.
Polyalkylene succinimides are generally prepared by the reaction of the corresponding polyalkylene succinic anhydride with a polyamine. Polyalkylene succinic anhydrides are generally prepared by a number of well-known processes. For example, there is a well-known thermal process (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 3,361,673), an equally well-known chlorination process (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 3,172,892), a combination of the thermal and chlorination processes (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 3,912,764), and free radical processes (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,286,799 and 5,319,030). Such compositions include one-to-one monomeric adducts (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,219,666 and 3,381,022), as well as high succinic ratio products, adducts having alkenyl-derived substituents adducted with at least 1.3 succinic groups per alkenyl-derived substituent (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,234,435).
Polyalkylene succinic anhydrides can be produced thermally also from high methylvinylidene polybutene as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,152,499. This is further discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,241,003 for the case where the succinic ratio is less than 1.3 and in EP 0 355 895 for the case where the succinic ratio is greater than 1.3. European Applications EP 0 602 863 and EP 0 587 381, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,523,417 disclose a procedure for washing out the polymaleic anhydride resin from polyalkylene succinic anhydride prepared from high methylvinylidene polybutene. A polyalkylene succinic anhydride with a succinic ratio of 1.0 is disclosed. One advantage of polyalkylene succinic anhydride from high methylvinylidene polybutene is that it can be prepared essentially free of chlorine.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,361.673 and 3,018,250 describe the reaction of an alkenyl- or alkyl-substituted succinic anhydride with a polyamine to form alkenyl or alkyl succinimide lubricating oil dispersants and/or detergent additives.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,612,132 teaches that alkenyl or alkyl succinimides may be modified by reaction with a cyclic or linear carbonate or chloroformate such that one or more of the nitrogens of the polyamine moiety is substituted with a hydrocarbyl oxycarbonyl, a hydroxyhydrocarbyl oxycarbonyl, or a hydroxy poly(oxyalkylene) oxycarbonyl. These modified succinimides are described as exhibiting improved dispersancy and/or detergency in lubricating oils.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,747,965 discloses modified succinimides similar to those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,612,132, except that the modified succinimides are described as being derived from succinimides having an average of greater than 1.0 succinic groups per long chain alkenyl substituent.
A recent article by S. T. Roby, R. E. Kornbrekke, and J. A. Supp, "Deposit Formulation in Gasoline Engines, Part 2, Dispersant Effects on Sequence VE Deposits," JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF TRIBOLOGISTS AND LUBRICATION ENGINEERS, Vol. 50, 12, 989-995 (December 1994) teaches that the length of the dispersant alkyl side chain influences deposit control performance, and that, at the same nitrogen level, the low molecular weight (side chain 1000 daltons) dispersants that were tested were poorer than the tested high molecular weight (side chain 2000 daltons) succinimide dispersants. This teaching is also consistent with our prior observation comparing 950 M.sub.n side chain succinimides with 2200 M.sub.n side chain succinimides.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,234,435 teaches a preferred polyalkene-derived substituent group with a M.sub.n in the range of 1500-3200. For polybutenes, an especially preferred M.sub.n range is 1700-2400. This patent also teaches that the succinimides must have a succinic ratio of at least 1.3. That is, there should be at least 1.3 succinic groups per equivalent weight of polyalkene-derived substituent group. Most preferably, the succinic ratio should be from 1.5 to 2.5. This patent further teaches that its dispersants also provide an improvement in viscosity index. That is, these additives impart fluidity modifying properties to lubricant compositions containing them. This is considered desirable for use in multigrade lubricating oils but undesirable for single-grade lubricating oils.
Polyamino alkenyl or alkyl succinimides and other additives useful as dispersants and/or detergents, such as Mannich bases, contain basic nitrogen. While basicity is an important property to have in the dispersant/detergent additive, it is believed that the initial attack on fluorocarbon elastomer seals used in some engines involves attack by the basic nitrogen. This attack leads to the loss of fluoride ions, and eventually results in cracks in the seals and loss of other desirable physical properties in the elastomer.
A variety of post-treatments for improving various properties of alkenyl succinimides are known to the art, a number of which are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,241,003.
Example 2 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,266,186 discloses the preparation of dispersants by reacting certain polyisobutenyl-succinic anhydride adducts (see footnote 2 of Table 2) with ethylenediamine, followed by reaction with a maleic anhydride/alpha-olefin copolymer. The patent teaches that, by functioning as an iron sulfide dispersant, the product is useful to inhibit sludge deposits in refinery processing equipment caused by the heat treatment of hydrocarbon feed stocks.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,112,507 discloses a polymeric ladder type polymeric succinimide dispersant in which each side of the ladder is a long chain alkyl or alkenyl, generally having at least about 30 carbon atoms, preferably at least about 50 carbon atoms. The dispersant is described as having improved hydrolytic stability and shear stress stability, produced by the reaction of certain maleic anhydride-olefin copolymers with certain polyamines. The patent further teaches that the polymer may be post-treated with a variety of post-treatments, and describes procedures for post-treating the polymer with cyclic carbonates, linear mono- or polycarbonates; boron compounds (e.g., boric acid), and fluorophosphoric acid and ammonia salts thereof.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,334,321 and 5,356,552 disclose certain cyclic carbonate post-treated alkenyl or alkylsuccinimides having improved fluorocarbon elastomer compatibility, which are preferably prepared by the reaction of the corresponding substituted succinic anhydride with a polyamine having at least four nitrogen atoms per molecule.
European Application, EP 0 682 102 A2 discloses a process which comprises reacting: a copolymer of an olefin and maleic anhydride, an acyclic hydrocarbyl-substituted succinic acylating agent, and an alkylene polyamine. These products are useful in lubricating oil compositions as additives for use as dispersants having viscosity index improver properties.

Cross-linked succinimides from an acid derivative, a polyamine, and a polycarboxylic acid derivative


A DC/DC power conversion device with smoothing capacitors including three column circuits share the smoothing capacitors to be connected in parallel, each column circuit have a plurality of circuits connected in series where two MOSFETs are connected in series between both ends of respective smoothing capacitors and LC serial bodies of capacitors and inductors with the same resonant cycle are disposed between the circuits at two middle terminals. Driving signals for the respective column circuits have the same driving cycle identical with the resonant cycle of the LC serial bodies, and are out of phase with each other by 2π/3(rad), and thus charge-discharge currents towards the smoothing capacitors are circulated among the column circuits and ripple currents flowing through the smoothing capacitors are reduced.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a DC/DC power conversion device for converting a DC voltage into a boosted or deboosted DC voltage.
2. Description of the Background Art
Japanese Publication of Patent Application H9-191638 discloses a DC/DC converter as a conventional DC/DC power conversion device which is comprised of inverter circuits including semiconductor switches connected to a voltage with a positive polarity (hereinafter, abbreviated to "positive voltage") and semiconductor switches connected to a voltage with a negative polarity (hereinafter, abbreviated to "negative voltage") and multiplier-rectifier circuits including a plurality of rectifiers connected in series and a plurality of capacitors connected in series. The inverter circuits generate alternating current (AC) voltages and the multiplier-rectifier circuits generate high DC voltages to a load.
Further, Japanese Publication of Patent Application 2006-262619 discloses a switched capacitor converter as a conventional DC/DC converter of another example which includes capacitors and inductors connected in series between a low voltage sided DC power supply and a high voltage sided DC power supply, and a plurality of semiconductor switching elements comprising cells for transferring energy between two power supplies. The n (n is an integer of 2 or more) cells are connected in parallel and driving signals for driving the semiconductor switching elements belonging to each cell are out of phase with each cell and the phase difference therebetween is 2π/n. This reduces ripple currents flowing through smoothing capacitors connected between respective input terminals and output terminals, thereby decreasing capacitances thereof.
Such conventional DC/DC power conversion devices perform a DC/DC power conversion using charge-discharge of capacitors and, according to the device disclosed in JP2006-262619, the plurality of cells are connected in parallel and the driving signals are out of phase and thus a structure of the device can be promoted to be small-sized by reducing the ripple currents flowing through the smoothing capacitors connected between the respective input terminals and the output terminals. However, the DC/DC power conversion device disclosed in JPH9-191638 is provided with the smoothing capacitors connected in parallel in the respective circuits such as the inverter circuits and the rectifier circuits. For this reason, although the DC/DC power conversion device is assumed as one cell to be comprised of a plurality of cells and to be out of phase with the cells connected in parallel like that disclosed in JP2006-262619, there is a problem that the ripple currents flowing through the smoothing capacitors connected in parallel in the respective circuits are not reduced.


Traffic information, including traffic flow information and traffic incident information, obtained through a traffic management system for providing and facilitating the exchange of traffic information between a remote location and a vehicle may be presented to a user on a user display in the vehicle. The traffic information may be presented to the user in several circumstances, either as cued by the user, or automatically presented by the traffic management system. The user display may also automatically display traffic flow and traffic incident information for the direction that the user is traveling or along a route calculated by the navigation device. Further, a window displaying information about an upcoming traffic incident such as distance to the incident and incident details may automatically appear in the user display. Alternately, the user may select a roadway, freeway, or area for which traffic information is desired.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and system for providing information between vehicles and a remote location and for providing traffic management and vehicle navigation information between a vehicle and the remote location. More specifically, the present invention relates to a user display system that displays traffic management and vehicle navigation information to a user efficiently and understandably.
2. Description of Related Art
Navigation systems for determining a route from a start point to a destination point are well known in the art. In addition, navigation systems having capabilities for determining the geographic position of a reference point are also well known in the art (e.g., a Global Positioning System (GPS) or a self-contained system having distance and bearing sensors). As an example, a commonly used navigation system allows a user (or driver) of a vehicle to enter a destination place into the navigation system. The navigation system then looks up an appropriate route from an original point (using its geographic positioning capabilities) to the destination point in a road map database (e.g., the route may be a route having the shortest distance from the start point to the destination, one which would take the vehicle the least time, or some other route), and guides the user to the destination point along the searched route through a visual display or vocal guide.
In searching the appropriate route, some types of mobile navigation system use traffic information (e.g., position data on traffic jams; information on roads closed by accidents, construction, or maintenance; lane-regulated locations) delivered from a traffic information supplier in addition to using the road map database. Conventionally, however, known methods for providing and utilizing the above-described traffic information for navigation remain very inflexible, cumbersome, and inefficient. For example, one method uses a one-to-one communication system to individually send traffic information streams to a particular vehicle in an attempt to send vehicle specific data to the particular vehicle. A drawback with this method is that many vehicles require the same information. For example, several vehicles might require the same regional traffic information. This method, therefore, requires the transmittal of the same information several times to a plurality of vehicles, which results in a waste of precious bandwidth. As known in the art, wireless network bandwidth is extremely sensitive to network capacity.
In other methods, the same traffic information is transmitted to all vehicles. The drawback with these methods is that many vehicles are inundated with a large amount of unwanted traffic information. Users and/or navigation systems are required to sift through the redundant, superfluous, or otherwise unwanted information to pick out pertinent traffic information.
As a result, there remains a need for systems and methods that allow for the transmittal of vehicle-related traffic information from a remote location to a vehicle and that allow for the selective transmittal of vehicle related information from a vehicle to a remote location. Moreover, it is desired that the navigation system be provided with enough information to properly determine efficient routes without being inundated with redundant, useless, and/or superfluous information. There is also a need that the information be provided to a user in a useful, efficient, and easily understandable manner.
Accordingly, it would be very desirable to provide a traffic management architecture that overcomes the above-described shortcomings of the prior art while retaining their advantages.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Display method and system for a vehicle navigation system


Methods and apparatus are set forth for improving the performance of general purpose computing systems that utilize exclusive and shared seize mechanisms to assure the integrity of shared data objects, records, or other unit of synchronization. More particularly, methods and apparatus are set forth which allow concurrent reads of shared data objects in a coherent fashion, without always having to perform a seize. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, read (shared) accesses can be performed in such a manner as to improve system performance by utilizing a method comprising the steps of: (a) determining, for a particular shared data object to be read, if the object is subject to an exclusive seize prior to any attempt, to read the object; (b) reading the object without causing a shared seize to be initiated if it was not subject to an exclusive seize as determined in step (a); (c) determining if the object is subject to an exclusive seize after reading it in accordance with step (b); and (d) determining if the object was subject to an exclusive seize while it was being read. If, as a result of performing the aforestated method, it can be concluded that the read took place without an exclusive seize immediately before, during and just after the read, then the data can be presumed valid. System performance is improved in such cases since the overhead associated with initiating a seize for the read is eliminated.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to methods and apparatus for managing access to shared data in a data processing system. More particularly, the invention relates to methods and apparatus which allow multiple accessors of shared data to read and modify such data in a fast and orderly manner while assuring the integrity of the shared data.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many techniques are known for managing access to shared data in data processing systems. The general objects of such techniques (commonly referred to as data base management techniques) are to prevent shared data from being modified by two (or more) different accessors at the same time, and to prevent data from being read while it is being modified. These objects are typically achieved by using some sort of system synchronization function, commonly called "Lock" or "Seize".
The choice of the data base management technique used may depend on how the data is organized, what the system throughput requirements are, what the projected activity is with respect to shared item accesses, etc. Conversely, these factors can be affected by the choice of data base management technique as well. For example, the granularity at which the aforementioned synchronization is performed can have a significant effect on system performance as measured in terms of system overhead and throughput.
In systems like the commercially available IBM S/38 and AS/400, synchronization is performed at the data base file level where a file is a (potentially) large number of discrete data entities called records. This is efficient in terms of synchronization overhead, since many records can be processed with one synchronization. However, if there are many accessors each wishing to operate on different records within the same file, each is serialized, and throughput suffers. This contention can lead to severe performance problems, particularly when operations on very active objects must be serialized.
Other known commercially available systems, like the DB2 and SQL/DS which run on the IBM system 370, synchronize at either a page or record level. This reduces(compared with file level synchronization techniques) contention among multiple accessors that wish to operate oil separate areas of the file; however, additional overhead is introduced since each page or record must be synchronized to process many records sequentially. In most systems, the processing overhead required to acquire and release a lock can be very significant and hence, synchronizing at the page or record level may be impractical or undesirable.
The aforementioned synchronization function itself may be carried oat in different ways, each of which has its own impact on system performance. For example, synchronization may be accomplished through the use of a lock manager that uses "shared" and "exclusive" locks to protect shared data.
It is well known to protect data from being changed during a read operation with a "read" (shared) lock that excludes writes, but which allows shared access to (i.e., allow other reads of) data protected by the lock. Such a lock would assure that no modification to protected data is possible while the read lock is in effect.
"Read/write" (exclusive) locks typically exclude all read and write access to the portion of storage managed by the lock, other than read or write accesses initiated by the lock holder.
Shared and exclusive locking techniques employed at the record level are particularly costly from an overhead point of view. As the size of the data base goes up, significant amounts of time can be expended locking and unlocking individual data records, as indicated hereinabove with reference to DB2 and SBL/DS. Degradation of system performance (due to increased CPU utilization) is likely to occur in certain instances as a result of utilizing such techniques.
Many articles and inventions have been directed to improving data base management techniques for computer systems generally, and particularly those that organize data in the form of discrete records. For example, in the IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletins Volume 25, No. 7B, published in December of 1982, pp. 3725-3729, and Volume 25, No. 11A, published in April of 1983, pp. 5460-5463 techniques for locking portions of tree form indices are described, where the record oriented trees provide keyed access to a data base.
U. S. Pat. Nos. 4,480,304 and 4,399,504, in the context of a data base system distributed across a loosely coupled multiple processor architecture, describe lock managers that use hash tables to maintain the lock status of discrete shared resources. In particular, the hash tables are used as part of a shared/exclusive access system which record (in the hash tables) which locks are held by the various potential accessors.
The systems described in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,480,304 and 4,399,504 references require the expenditure of lock manager overhead for every access of shared data (again, very expensive when management is performed at the record level), and the further expenditure of lock manager overhead in the event of hash table "collisions" (two sets of lock information mapping into a single hash table entry). In particular, data chaining off a hash table entry is used whenever a hash collision occurs to preserve data necessary in implementing the lock management schemes taught by the references.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,604,694 describes a fast means of acquiring a shared lock and recording the shared lock acquisition. Once the lock is obtained, the shared resource can be examined without risk of interference from another exclusive lock holder. The techniques taught in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,604,694 patent require the acquisition of a shared lock to assure data integrity even though no exclusive seize necessarily occurs during the performance of the read. In instances where the seize shared lock is acquired and no exclusive seize intervenes, the overhead associated with acquiring the shared lock is, in effect, wasted.
Still other shared data management schemes are known that are not lock oriented. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,627,019, accomplishes data base access control by "versioning", i.e., by maintaining multiple copies of data rather than by locking. Such techniques can be problematic because of storage requirements, copy maintenance overhead, etc.
None of the known techniques for assuring the integrity of shared data, particularly none of the techniques that employ lock managers to oversee and implement shared and exclusive locking schemes, effectively deal with the aforementioned system overhead and throughput performance problems.
According it would be desirable to provide methods and apparatus which improve the overall system performance of those systems that utilize shared and exclusive locks to manage access to shared data. In particular, it would be desirable to be able to provide methods and apparatus which only cause seizes to be initiated in certain predefined instances for reads of shared data and which, in other instances, are able to assure the integrity of a shared read without having to incur the significant overhead typically associated with a seize.
Furthermore, it would be desirable to be able to provide methods and apparatus, for use in systems having shared data resources, which reduces the contention in such systems that traditionally seize or lock the file or object level.
Still further, it would be desirable to be able to reduce the processing overhead (and thereby improve the throughput of) those systems that lock or seize at the page or record level.
Further yet, it would be desirable to be able to provide methods and apparatus which can be useful in improving system performance in situations where shared and exclusive access modes must be provided for a large number of objects on an individual basis. This is particularly desirable in situations where a great deal more read (shared) access is expected to be performed than write (exclusive) access.

Counter and flux bit locking for very fast shared serialization of shared data objects

International Business Machines Corporation


A resistive load structure and method for making a resistive load structure for an integrated circuit includes the use of an amorphous silicon "antifuse" material. The resistive load structure can be used in an SRAM cell to provide a load to counteract charge leakage at the drains of two pull-down transistors and two pass transistors of the SRAM cell. The resistive load structure is advantageously formed by depositing an amorphous silicon pad over a conductive via, and the resistance of the resistive load structure is controlled by adjusting the thickness of the amorphous silicon pad and varying the diameter of the underlying conductive via.

The present invention relates generally to resistive loads formed in semiconductor devices, and more particularly, to resistive load structures used in memory cells.
In the semiconductor industry, there is a general need to make semiconductor devices physically smaller, faster, and less expensive to manufacture. In response to this need, semiconductor manufactures have made numerous improvements through the use of more efficient routing arrangements, better performing materials and improved packaging structures.
As is well known in the art, semiconductor memory devices are typically manufactured in large arrays. By way of example, a static random access memory (SRAM) is one type of memory device generally having an array of 2.sup.n by 2.sup.m individual SRAM cells. In turn, each SRAM cell is coupled to wordlines (rows), and complementary bit lines (columns) to enable appropriate programming.
Although there has been much research and development associated with producing high performance SRAM memory cells, the basic SRAM cell design has essentially remained unchanged. Consequently, as more individual SRAM cells are packed onto a silicon chip to form a more dense SRAM array, the overall physical size of the array continues to increase. When this happens, the large physical size of the SRAM array will prevent its implementation in designs having strict size constraints. Therefore, designers who need a lot of memory for their electronic equipment may be forced to enlarge the size of their products in order to accommodate larger memory cell designs.
Generally, there are a variety of circuit layouts suitable for designing SRAM cells. Standard SRAM cell designs have two cross-coupled inverters, including two p-type transistors ("pull-up devices"), two n-type transistors ("pull-down devices"), and two pass transistors for a total of six transistors. As a result, some space conscience designers have replaced the two p-type transistors with polysilicon resistors, reducing the transistor count to four. In operation, the two p-type transistors (of the standard design) or the polysilicon resistors (of the modified design) act as a load (pull-up devices) to counteract charge leakage at the drains of the two n-type transistors and the two pass transistors.
FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram of a prior art high resistance SRAM cell 100 having a pair of n-type transistors 106 and 104. Transistors 106 and 104 have gates that are connected to nodes 109 and 107, respectively. A load resistor 110, connects node 109 to a power supply (Vdd) 101 through a power supply node 103. A load resistor 108 connects node 107 to power supply 101. A pass transistor 114 connects node 109 to a data line 118. A pass transistor 112 connects node 107 to a complementary data line 116. The gates of each pass transistor 114 and 112 are connected to a wordline 120, and each of the transistors 104 and 106 are connected to ground (Vss) 102.
Although the substitution of polysilicon load resistors 108 and 110 for the p-type transistors of traditional prior art SRAM cells has somewhat reduced the physical size of an SRAM cell, additional process fabrication operations are typically required to manufacture the polysilicon resistor structures. Additionally, the resistive values of a polysilicon resistor structures are directly related to the length and width of the polysilicon material. Consequently, the use of polysilicon resistor structures may actually increase the silicon surface area required for an SRAM cell.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of an integrated circuit embodying the schematic design of the prior art high resistance SRAM cell 100 of FIG. 1. This cross-section illustrates the increased number of process operations required to layout SRAM cell 100 having a polysilicon resistor 108. As shown, a substrate 130 (such as a silicon wafer) is provided with a pair of field oxide (SiO.sub.2) regions 132 and a gate oxide 134. Gate oxide 134 is thermally grown and patterned over substrate 130 and portions of the pair of field oxide regions 132. A polysilicon gate 106 is deposited over gate oxide 134, such as by using conventional chemical vapor deposition (CVD) techniques, and is then patterned. Once patterned, a layer of oxide or nitride is blanket deposited and etched back to form spacers 135.
Next, a dielectric layer 136 of silicon dioxide (SiO.sub.2) is blanket deposited over polysilicon gate 106 and spacers 135, such as by using conventional TEOS deposition techniques. Next, a contact hole 137 is formed in dielectric layer 136 so that a layer of polysilicon material 138 that is subsequently deposited over dielectric layer 136 comes in contact with polysilicon gate 106. Typically, an implant operation follows where polysilicon material 138 is doped with impurities such as phosphorous and arsenic. Once polysilicon material 138 is patterned, a dielectric layer 140 is blanket deposited over polysilicon material 138 and other exposed areas. Next, a conductive contact 144 is formed in dielectric layer 140, which leads to a patterned metallization line 146.
The resulting structure includes a polysilicon resistor 108 formed of polysilicon material 138. As described above, the resistance of polysilicon resistor 108 is partially controlled by the physical width (W) of polysilicon material 138, since the current flows along the width of the resistor. Consequently, as increased resistive loads are needed, the width W must increase, and therefore, the physical size of SRAM cell 100 will unfortunately increase in order to accommodate wider polysilicon material 138 lines. Further, as can be appreciated from the above described process operations, forming polysilicon resistor 108 over gate 106 requires numerous time consuming and complex processing operations in order to achieve the required level of resistance for SRAM cell 100.
In view of the foregoing, what is needed is a resistive load structure and method for making the load structure which conserves space and requires fewer processing operations. Preferably, the needed resistive load structure can be implemented in an SRAM memory device in order to achieve a more compact memory cell.

Method for making devices having thin load structures


A film feeding device etc. in which, even if film rolls in which tapes are applied to joint between films of the rolls are used, an occurrence of a bag making failure caused by the tape is prevented. A film feeding mechanism (10A) has a receiving member (72) for holding the leading edge of a film (1B) of the standby side and a joining sealer (71) for joining films (1A, 1B). A tape (B) applied to the film (1A) on the use side is detected by a sensor (83), and according to the result of the detection, a cutter (81) cuts of the film (1A) at a portion on the downstream side of the tape. Then, the cut film (1A) and the film (1B) of the standby side are joined by the joining sealer (71), and the two films joined are sent as a long film.

Heretofore, there has been known a filling packaging apparatus (hereinafter referred to simply as "packaging apparatus") for continuously producing packaged products (package bags) filled with a content such as a liquid, a viscous substance, or the like, for example. Generally, the packaging apparatus manufactures package bags by folding a film in the form of an elongate sheet reeled out from a film roll, into a tubular form, and feeding the content into the film and forming sealed regions on the film.
FIG. 1 shows a film reeled out from a film roll. As shown in FIG. 1A, end marks A are normally applied in advance to a terminal end portion of the film wound on the film roll for indicating the end of the film. End marks A are regions where aluminum foil tapes or vinyl tapes are applied, for example. The packaging apparatus uses an optical sensor or the like for detecting these marks to stop the packaging operation. The film also has, in addition to end marks A, a plurality of registration marks C disposed at a given pitch which is established depending on the size (lengthwise dimension) of package bags to be manufactured.
Actually, the film wound on film roll R comprises a plurality of joined films of a predetermined length. As shown in FIG. 1B, the films are joined to each other by tape B′ across seam joint B. Tape B′ itself is not thermally sealable. If an attempt is made to thermally seal table B′, then the tape will be melted, causing problems.
JP11-236002A discloses a packaging apparatus which does not thermally seal seam joint B between tapes. The disclosed packaging apparatus will be briefly described below with reference to FIG. 2.
As shown in FIG. 2, the packaging apparatus disclosed in JP11-236002A is of a general structure which comprises folding guide 114 for folding a film into two plies, vertical sealing mechanism 130 for forming vertical seal F1 on the folded sheet, feeding nozzle 15 for feeding a content into the film, horizontal sealing mechanism 150 for forming horizontal seals F2 on the folded sheet at portions which will serve as bottom and top regions of a package bag, and cutting mechanism 160 for cutting horizontal seals F2 to sever the package bag from the film. These mechanisms are actuated at given timings in timed relation to the feeding of the film to successively manufacture package bags filled with the content.
The packaging apparatus is mainly characterized in that it further includes seam joint detecting means 16 for detecting seam joints B, and the actuation of the above mechanisms is controlled based on the detected result from seam joint detecting means 16 to prevent tapes B′ at seam joints B from being thermally sealed. Therefore, the problems (e.g., a portion of the melted tape is applied to a seal bar of the horizontal sealing mechanism to lower the quality of package bags which will subsequently be manufactured) caused by the melted tape are prevented from arising.
Another known packaging apparatus of this type joins the terminal end of a film from a film roll and the beginning end of a next film roll to each other at the time the first-mentioned film roll is finished up, so that a film can continuously be supplied (see JP9-58616A).

Film feeding device and packaging device having the same


A content integration system is configured to rapidly select online content for distribution in response to a user-generated request. The content integration system can analyze available online content items and data describing the user to generate one or more numerical likelihoods estimating how the user will interact with each of the given online content items. The highest scoring content can be selected and transmitted to the user without a noticeable delay.

Users can execute applications on their mobile client devices to receive posts and collections of content published by other users. For example, a user may browse content within an application and select a content item (e.g., slideshow, article) for viewing. When the content is requested, the server handling the request must assemble the content, some of which may be provided by third parties, on-the-fly and send the assembled content to the user before the user notices a delay. The limited amount of time and limited network bandwidth constrain how content is selected for display.

Real-time content integration based on machine learned selections