A portable train simulator, including a microprocessor, a display and an input device for the microprocessor. A first program drives the display to depict indicia of a control stand and to respond to control inputs from the input device. A second program drives the display to depict a track to be traversed from a data file in response to the control inputs. A virtual control stand is one of the elements that allows the true portability of a train simulator. The system can display and switch between the present operating parameters of the train and/or a history of the operating parameters of the train, as selected by the input device. Thus, the system can switch from playback mode to simulation mode to provide a take-over of recorded conditions to allow an operator to explore alternate methods for managing the train.

The present invention relates generally to train locomotive simulators and playback stations and more specifically to improvements thereto.
Simulators, for example, the Train Dynamics Analyzer (TDA), a long standing Locomotive Engineer training tool offered by the Train Dynamics Services Group of New York Air Brake, have been used to train engineers. The TDA functionality was enhanced to assist in training Locomotive Engineers on how to better handle their trains. Designs of simulators with math models are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,041,283; 4,827,438 and 4,853,883. Further capability was added to investigate accidents by playing back the event recorder data through the TDA, monitoring critical physical parameters. Through the years, data was collected from instrumented trains and laboratory experiments, allowing the models used by the TDA to be refined. On board data collection for off-loading is shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,561,057 and 4,794,548.
As more Locomotive Engineers became familiar with the TDA display through training sessions, it became apparent that a real-time version of the TDA in the cab of a locomotive would offer substantial benefits in improved train handling. Earlier designs for on board computer controllers are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,042,810 with a description of math models. A Locomotive Engineer Assist Display and Event Recorder (LEADER) system, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,144,901, is a real-time, enhanced version of the Train Dynamics Analyzer (TDA).
The LEADER system has the ability to display a real-time or "live" representation of a train on the current track, the trackage ahead, the dynamic interaction of the cars and locomotives (both head end and remote), and the current state of the pneumatic brake system. As a tool for the Locomotive Engineer, the LEADER system allows insight into the effect of throttle changes and brake applications throughout the train providing feedback and information to the Locomotive Engineer not currently available. The information offered by the LEADER system provides an opportunity for both safer and more efficient train handling leading to enormous potential economic benefits.
The LEADER system has all the necessary information to predict the future state of the train given a range of future command changes (what if scenarios). With this ability, LEADER can assist the railroads in identifying and implementing a desired operating goal; minimize time to destination, maximize fuel efficiency, minimize in train forces, (etc.) or a weighted combination thereof. LEADER will perform calculations based on the operational goal and the current state of the train to make recommendations to the Locomotive Crew on what operating changes will best achieve these goals.
TDAs are usually available at a training site and are not typically mobile or portable. Also, LEADER systems are available on the train and are also generally not portable. There is a need in the industry for a truly portable simulator and playback station. One of the limitations of providing a truly portable simulator is a need to provide a control stand that replicates the actual control devices on a locomotive. These include propulsion and multiple braking control valves.
Displays for train simulators are exemplified by FIG. 5 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,144,901. It includes display of conditions throughout the trains in graphic representation, as well as a display of numerical values. Another type of display, known as a Strip Chart Display, is exemplified by FIG. 5 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,236,215. Both forums provide different kinds of information for different purposes. Although the simulator display of the LEADER system provides forces throughout the train, the Strip Chart provides a historical record in a playback mode of values as a function of time. Also, these systems have either operated in the playback mode or a simulation mode with no crossover.
The present invention addresses one of these issues by providing a truly portable train simulator, including a microprocessor, a display and an input device for the microprocessor. A first program drives the display to depict indicia of a control stand and to respond to control inputs from the input device. A second program drives the display to depict a track to be traversed from a data file in response to the control inputs. A virtual control stand is one of the elements that allows the true portability of a train simulator. The input device may include one or more of a keyboard, mouse and/or a touch screen.
The first program produces depictions of throttle indicia of position and direction, dynamic brake indicia of position, independent brake indicia of position and automatic brake indicia of position. The first program may also produce depictions, for a remote unit, of throttle indicia of position and dynamic brake indicia of position. Further, the first program may produce depictions of the status of one or more of the independent brake bail-off and emergency brake control by automatic brake. The first program may also produce depictions of auxiliary functions, including one or more of horn, bell, sand, call bell, remote sand and lead sand. The first program may also produce depictions of indicators or warnings, including one or more of power control switch is open, sand, force alarm, wheel slip, remote wheel slip, alert alarm and overspeed alarm.
The first program may further produce depictions of one or more of train speed, air flow rate, feed valve pressure, brake pipe pressure, brake cylinder pressure, equalization reservoir pressure, percentage of power reduction and dynamic amperes. The first program allows adjustment of the feed rate valve pressure via the input device. The first program may also allow adjustment of the percentage of power reduction via the input device.
The simulator is a portable computer, including the microprocessor, the input device and the display. The first and second programs and the data file are in one of either the portable computer or a second microprocessor. The portable computer and the second microprocessor are connected, for example, by an Ethernet network. This allows the programs to be in either or both locations.
A third program is included to drive the display to depict operating parameters of the train. The produced depictions represent either the present operating parameters of the train or a history of the operating parameters of the train as selected via the input device. The depiction of the history of the operating parameters can be displayed correlated to the depiction of the track.
In a playback mode, the data file would include the track with correlated values of the control stand for a run of a train on the track. A fourth program for playing back the data file would provide the control stand values as control inputs to the first and second programs. The ability to switch from the playback mode to a simulation mode using the playback data is provided by a fifth program. The fifth program is responsive to a selection input from the input device to initially transfer the control stand values from the data file to the first program as control inputs, and, subsequently, the first program is responsive to the control inputs from the input device.
The data file includes the track with correlated operating parameters for a run of a train on the track. The fourth program plays back the data file by driving the display to depict the operating parameters correlated to the track display. The third program drives the display to depict the present operating parameters of the train or a history of the operating parameters of the train as selected via the input device. The operating parameters to be displayed are selected via the input device. The present operating parameters of the train may be depicted with the history of the operating parameters of the train at a point on the track selected via the input device.
A playback station, according to another aspect of the present invention, portable or not, includes a microprocessor, a display and an input device for the microprocessor. It also includes a data file of a track with correlated operating parameters for a run of a train on the track. A first program plays back the data file by driving the display to selectively depict the operating parameters correlated to the track either as the present operating parameters of the train or a history of the operating parameters of the train. The operating parameters to be displayed are selected via the input device. The operating parameters of the train may be depicted with the history of the operating parameters of a train at a point on the track selected via the input device. A second program operates the playback station as a simulator using the track of the data file by initially using the operating parameters from the data file as inputs and subsequently using the inputs from the input device to derive the operating parameters.
A simulator, according to another aspect of the present invention, portable or not, also includes a microprocessor, a display and an input device for the microprocessor. A simulator would use a data file of a track with correlated operating parameters for a run of a train on the track. A first program for playing back the data file drives the display to depict the operating parameters correlated to the track. A second program simulating a run using the track of the data file by initially using the operating parameters from the data file as inputs and subsequently using inputs from the input device to derive the operating parameters.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


A LED driving circuit applied to a LED module includes a read address generating unit, a memory cell and a driving unit. The read address generating unit receives a clock signal and outputs a reading signal. The memory cell is coupled to the read address generating unit and generates an output signal in accordance with the reading signal. The driving unit is coupled to the memory cell, receives the output signal and the clock signal and outputs a driving signal to the LED module. A LED driving device and a driving method are also disclosed.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a light emitting diode (LED) driving circuit, a LED driving device and a LED driving method.
2. Related Art
Because the light emitting diode (LED) has the higher opto-electronic conversion efficiency and the high operation stability and has the luminance that can be controlled (also referred to as the gray scale control) by way of pulse width modulation (PWM), the LEDs have been applied to various light sources or display elements in various electronic devices, such as a backlight module of a display device, an illumination device, an advertising billboard or image pixels of a large-scale display device.
Referring to FIG. 1A, a conventional LED driving circuit 1 has a data register unit 11, a counter 12, a comparator 13 and a driver 14. The data register unit 11 receives and stores the gray scale information coming from the system end (not shown). The counter 12 receives the clock signal outputted from the system end. The comparator 13 has a first end 131 coupled to the data register unit 11, and a second end 132 coupled to the counter 12. The first end 131 and the second end 132 receive the signals outputted from the data register unit 11 and the counter 12, respectively. The comparator 13 compares the signals, received by the first end 131 and the second end 132, with each other. When the signal received by the first end 131 is higher than the signal received by the second end 132, the output terminal of the comparator 13 has a logic high potential, so that the driver 14 lights up the LED with a constant current source. When the signal received by the second end 132 is higher than the signal received by the first end 131, the output terminal of the comparator 13 has the logic low potential. At this time, the driver 14 does not light up the LED. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 1B, the driver 14 outputs a PWM signal in accordance with the comparison result of the comparator 13, so that the LED generates the luminance with different gray scales, and a turn-on time interval T1 of the PWM signal in a duty cycle T is a continuous turn-on time interval. The gray scale represents the brightness/darkness level of the luminance, and the conventional LED driving circuit 1 makes the LED to output different luminance levels through the PWM signal outputted from the driver 14. As the turn-on time interval T1 gets longer, the time for lighting the LED gets longer and the luminance gets brighter. On the contrary, as the turn-on time interval T1 gets shorter, the luminance becomes darker. When the turn-on time interval T1 is zero, it represents that the LED is extinguished.
In order to compare the signals, coming from the data register unit 11 and the counter 12, with each other, however, the comparator 13 of the conventional LED driving circuit 1 is composed of a lot of metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs). For example, when the comparator 13 uses a 12-bit comparator, the comparator 13 has at least 864 MOSFETs. Because the MOSFET itself has the defects of the leakage current and the parasitic capacitance, the comparator 13 using a lot of MOSFETs has the problem of the additional power loss.
It is an important subject to provide a LED driving circuit, capable of reducing unessential loss of the power and enhancing the processing performance, and a LED driving device and a LED driving method.

LED driving circuit, LED driving device and driving method


Systems and methods are disclosed herein for anti-collision lights. An anti-collision light (“ACL”) may include a light source, a primary reflector, and a secondary reflector. The primary reflector may have a concave side facing the light source and the secondary reflector. The secondary reflector may include a reflective cone and a reflective base. The ACL may be configured to efficiently distribute light from the light source according to Federal Aviation Administration ACL requirements.

Modern aircraft typically comprise an anti-collision light ("ACL") on the exterior of the aircraft. Regulating entities, such as the Federal Aviation Administration, set minimum requirements for the amount and direction of light emitted by the ACL. The ACL may be positioned on the top of an aircraft body, on the bottom of an aircraft body, on the tips of wings, and/or on an aircraft tail in order to decrease the likelihood of collision between aircraft.

Systems and methods for anti-collision lights


A mobile communication system transfers a packet to a mobile communication terminal forming an adhoc network, through a core network, based on address information of the mobile communication terminal. The address information of the mobile communication terminal includes common information which is changed when a connection point between the adhoc network and the core network is changed, and individual information which is maintained unchanged even when the connection point between the adhoc network and the core network is changed. The packet is configured to be transferred based on the individual information in a communication within the adhoc network.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile communication system which transfers, based on address information of a mobile communication terminal, a packet addressed to the mobile communication terminal which forms an adhoc network, through a core network.
The present invention also relates to a mobile communication terminal used in the mobile communication system.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a whole configuration of a mobile communication system. In the mobile communication system, based on address information of the mobile communication terminals MT#1 to MT3, a packet is addressed and transferred to mobile communication terminals MT#1 to MT#3 which form an adhoc network A, through a core network CN.
Conventionally, "Globalv6[1]" has been proposed as the mobile communication system described above.
In this mobile communication system, each of mobile communication terminals MT manages a home address HoA and a care-of address CoA of the terminal itself, as the address information.
In the mobile communication system, packets are configured to be sent to each of the mobile communication terminals MT based on the home address HoA and the care-of address CoA in communications through a core network.
In the mobile communication system, packets are configured to be transferred to each of the mobile communication terminals MT based on the home address HoA or the care-of address CoA in communications through an adhoc network.
To be more specific, each of the mobile communication terminals MT is configured to transfer packets to other mobile communication terminals MT, in accordance with a routing table which associates a "destination address" with a "next hop", in routing processing within the adhoc network.
In FIG. 1, a routing table stored in a mobile communication terminal MT#3 is shown as a representative of the mobile communication terminals MT within the adhoc network A. Here, both routing addresses before and after the mobile communication terminal MT has been moved are shown.
The care-of address CoA of each of the mobile communication terminals MT includes a prefix and a terminal number. The prefix is assigned by an access node AN connected to the adhoc network to which the mobile communication terminal MT belongs. The terminal number is unique within the adhoc network.
In FIG. 1, when the adhoc network A which is formed by the mobile communication terminals MT#1 to MT#3 is connected to an access node AN1, a care-of address of the mobile communication terminal MT#1 is "AN1prefix#1" including a prefix "AN1prefix" which is assigned by the access node AN1 and a terminal number "#1", a care-of address of the mobile communication terminal MT#2 is "AN1prefix#2" including the above described prefix "AN1prefix" and a terminal number "#2", and a care-of address of the mobile communication terminal MT#3 is "AN1prefix#3" including the above described prefix "AN1prefix" and a terminal number "#3".
However, in the aforementioned mobile communication system, there has been a problem in that, when a handoff occurs while the adhoc network A is formed by the mobile communication terminals MTs, or more specifically, when any one of the mobile communication terminals MT forming the adhoc network A moves, and a connection point between the adhoc network A and the core network CN accordingly is changed from the access node AN1 to another access node AN2, since a care-of address CoA of each of the mobile communication terminals MT is changed, a large amount of recalculation is required to be performed in each of the mobile communication terminals in order to reconstruct a routing table, irrespective of whether topology within the adhoc network A is changed or not.

Mobile communication system and mobile communication terminal


A circuit board enclosure for housing a plurality of circuit boards has a polymer casing having upper and lower openings and an interior. The circuit board enclosure also has upper and lower heat conductive pieces formed of a metal and fitting respectively within the upper and lower openings in the casing, in a water tight sealed relationship with the casing. The upper and lower heat conductive pieces have heat transfer fins protruding from the openings in the casing. The upper and lower heat conductive pieces have an interior side facing the interior of the enclosure. The interior sides have guide grooves to receive opposing sides of the circuit board. The guide grooves of the upper and lower heat conductive pieces are substantially parallel. The polymer casing may be formed of polycarbonate. The upper and lower heat conductive pieces may be formed of aluminum. The casing may have two upper and two lower holes, with each heat conductive piece having two sets of heat transfer fins fitting respectively through the two holes in the casing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to an equipment enclosure. More specifically, the present invention relates to heat transfer from an equipment enclosure housing a plurality of circuit boards.
2. Description of the Related Art
To provide consumers with increased bandwidth for transmitting and receiving telecommunications information, fiber in the loop (FITL) networks have been developed. With these networks, optical fiber carries digital information to a location close (perhaps within 1000') to the consumer. In this manner, the information does not travel far over conventional copper wiring, and signal degradation is less of a problem. The optical fiber may carry both conventional telephone traffic and broadband services, such as video on demand, teleconferencing, high speed internet access, etc. In fiber in the loop networks, optical network units receive digital optical signals from fiber optic cable, perform optical-to-electric (and electric-to-optical) conversion and distribute digital electric signals to the consumers.
The optical network units are to house printed circuit boards, and the components thereon generate heat. The circuitry is very sensitive to moisture and other environmental conditions. Thus, the circuit boards must be housed in an enclosure which dissipates heat and is water tight. Furthermore, because the radius of distribution of the optical network unit is relatively small, fiber in the loop networks require many optical network units. For this reason and because the optical network units must be very reliable, active heat transfer components, which require maintenance, cannot be used.
In use, the optical network units may be positioned on the ground or on utility poles. Therefore, small size and light weight are also desirable.

Circuit board enclosure having heat transfer circuit board support


A servomechanism includes a controller which dynamically estimates the resistance of the solenoid coil in an electrohydraulic valve as part of determining a level of electric voltage to apply to open the valve. The servomechanism receives a current setpoint designating a desired electric current level and senses the actual level of current flowing through the coil. A proportional term is derived from the current setpoint and the actual level of current. Creation of a derivative term is based on the difference between the current setpoint and the actual level of current. A feedforward term is produced by estimating the resistance of the electrohydraulic valve and limiting the feedforward term to a predefined range of acceptable values. The proportional term, derivative term, and the feedforward term are summed to define a desired voltage level, and a PWM signal for driving the electrohydraulic valve is generated based on the desired voltage level.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hydraulic power systems with electrically operated control valves, and more particularly to electrical servomechanisms that control the application of electricity to such valves.
2. Description of the Related Art
A wide variety of machines have moveable members which are driven by an hydraulic actuator, such as a cylinder and piston arrangement, that is controlled by a hydraulic valve. For example, backhoes have a tractor on which is mounted a boom, arm and bucket assembly with each of those components being driven by one of more cylinder-piston arrangements. The flow of fluid to and from each hydraulic actuator is controlled by a hydraulic valve that traditionally has been manually operated by the machine operator.
There is a present trend away from manually operated hydraulic valves toward electrical controls and the use of solenoid valves. This type of control simplifies the hydraulic plumbing, as the control valves do not have to be located near an operator station, but can be located adjacent the hydraulic actuator being driven by the fluid. This change in technology also facilitates computerized control of the machine functions.
Application of pressurized fluid from a pump to the hydraulic actuator can be controlled by a set of proportional, solenoid operated pilot valves. These valves employ a solenoid coil which generates a magnetic field that moves an armature in one direction to open a valve. The armature acts on a pilot poppet which opens and closes a pilot passage that in turn causes a main valve poppet to move with respect to a primary valve seat located between the inlet and outlet of the valve. The amount that the valve opens is directly related to the magnitude of electric current applied to the solenoid coil, thereby enabling proportional control of the hydraulic fluid flow. Either the armature or another component is spring loaded to close the valve when electric current is removed from the solenoid coil.
When an operator desires to move a member on the machine, an input device, such as a joystick, is manipulated to produce an electrical signal that indicates the desired motion. This signal is received by a controller which responds by applying electric current to the solenoid valves connected to the hydraulic actuator associated with the machine member. To drive a cylinder-piston type hydraulic actuator, one solenoid valve is opened to supply pressurized fluid to a cylinder chamber on one side of the piston and another solenoid valve opens to drain fluid from the opposite cylinder chamber. Varying the magnitude of electric current applied to the solenoid valves alters the amount of fluid flow to the hydraulic actuator, thereby moving the machine member at proportionally different speeds.
Therefore, precise control of the electric current that is applied to the solenoid valve is essential for accurate control of the machine motion. However, it is difficult to precisely control the electric current. For one thing, the resistance of the solenoid coil changes significantly with temperature, which may vary from below −20° C. to over 100° C. for hydraulic equipment used outdoors. As a result, a given voltage level applied to the valve can produce different steady state electric current levels depending upon the temperature of the solenoid coil. Another factor affecting control accuracy is the back electromotive force (emf) that is generated as the solenoid armature moves. The back emf affects the net magnitude of electric current flowing through the solenoid coil. In addition, operation of the solenoid and the valve elements tend to be non-linear which makes their modeling difficult for control purposes.
Therefore, it is desirable to account for variation of the solenoid coil resistance when determining the magnitude of electric voltage to apply to open the hydraulic valve the desired amount.

Electrohydraulic valve servomechanism with adaptive resistance estimator


A haptic device for human/computer interface includes a user interface tool coupled via cables to first, second, third, and fourth cable control units, each positioned at a vertex of a tetrahedron. Each of the cable control units includes a spool and an encoder configured to provide a signal corresponding to rotation of the respective spool. The cables are wound onto the spool of a respective one of the cable control units. The encoders provide signals corresponding to rotation of the respective spools to track the length of each cable. As the cables wind onto the spools, variations in spool diameter are compensated for. The absolute length of each cable is determined during initialization by retracting each cable In turn to a zero length position. A sensor array coupled to the tool detects rotation around one or more axes.

1. Field of the Present Disclosure
The disclosure is generally related to haptic systems employing force feedback.
2. Description of the Related Art
Touch, or haptic interaction is a fundamental way in which people perceive and effect change in the world around them. Our very understanding of the physics and geometry of the world begins by touching and physically interacting with objects in our environment. The human hand is a versatile organ that is able to press, grasp, squeeze or stroke objects; it can explore object properties such as surface texture, shape and softness; and it can manipulate tools such as a pen or wrench. Moreover, touch interaction differs fundamentally from all other sensory modalities in that it is intrinsically bilateral. We exchange energy between the physical world and ourselves as we push on it and it pushes back. Our ability to paint, sculpt and play musical instruments, among other things depends on physically performing the task and learning from the interactions.
Haptics is a recent enhancement to virtual environments allowing users to "touch" and feel the simulated objects with which they interact. Haptics is the science of touch. The word derives from the Greek haptikos meaning "being able to come into contact with". The study of haptics emerged from advances in virtual reality. Virtual reality is a form of human-computer interaction (as opposed to keyboard, mouse and monitor) providing a virtual environment that one can explore through direct interaction with our senses. To be able to interact with an environment, there must be feedback. For example, the user should be able to touch a virtual object and feel a response from it. This type of feedback is called haptic feedback.
In human-computer interaction, haptic feedback refers both to tactile and force feedback. Tactile, or touch feedback is the term applied to sensations felt by the skin. Tactile feedback allows users to feel things such as the texture of virtual surfaces, temperature and vibration. Force feedback reproduces directional forces that can result from solid boundaries, the weight of grasped virtual objects, mechanical compliance of an object and inertia.
Tactile feedback, as a component of virtual reality simulations, was pioneered at MIT. In 1990 Patrick used voice coils to provide vibrations at the fingertips of a user wearing a Dextrous Hand Master Exoskeleton. Minsky and her colleagues developed the "Sandpaper" tactile joystick that mapped image texels to vibrations (1990). Commercial tactile feedback interfaces followed, namely the "Touch Master" in 1993, the CyberTouch® glove in 1995, and more recently, the "FEELit Mouse" in 1997.
Scientists have been conducting research on haptics for decades. Goertz at Argonne National Laboratories first used force feedback in a robotic tele-operation system for nuclear environments in 1954. Subsequently the group led by Brooks at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill adapted the same electromechanical arm to provide force feedback during virtual molecular docking (1990). Burdea and colleagues at Rutgers University developed a light and portable force feedback glove called the "Rutgers Master" in 1992. Commercial force feedback devices have subsequently appeared, such as the PHANTOM™ arm in 1993, the Impulse Engine in 1995 and the CyberGrasp® glove in 1998.
Haptic devices (or haptic interfaces) are mechanical devices that mediate communication between the user and the computer. Haptic devices allow users to touch, feel and manipulate three-dimensional objects in virtual environments and tele-operated systems. Most common computer interface devices, such as basic mice and joysticks, are input-only devices, meaning that they track a user's physical manipulations but provide no manual feedback. As a result, information flows in only one direction, from the peripheral to the computer. Haptic devices are input-output devices, meaning that they track a user's physical manipulations (input) and provide realistic touch sensations coordinated with on-screen events (output). Examples of haptic devices include consumer peripheral devices equipped with special motors and sensors (e.g., force feedback joysticks and steering wheels) and more sophisticated devices designed for industrial, medical or scientific applications (e.g., PHANTOM™ device).
Haptic interfaces are relatively sophisticated devices. As a user manipulates the end effecter, grip or handle on a haptic device, encoder output is transmitted to an interface controller at very high rates. Here the information is processed to determine the position of the end effecter. The position is then sent to the host computer running a supporting software application. If the supporting software determines that a reaction force is required, the host computer sends feedback forces to the device. Actuators (motors within the device) apply these forces based on mathematical models that simulate the desired sensations. For example, when simulating the feel of a rigid wall with a force feedback joystick, motors within the joystick apply forces that simulate the feel of encountering the wall. As the user moves the joystick to penetrate the wall, the motors apply a force that resists the penetration. The farther the user penetrates the wall, the harder the motors push back to force the joystick back to the wall surface. The end result is a sensation that feels like a physical encounter with an obstacle.
The human sensorial characteristics impose much faster refresh rates for haptic feedback than for visual feedback. Computer graphics has for many years contented itself with low scene refresh rates of 20 to 30 frames/sec. In contrast, tactile sensors in the skin respond best to vibrations that are more than an order-of-magnitude higher than visual rates. This order-of-magnitude difference between haptics and vision bandwidths often requires that the haptic interface incorporate a dedicated controller. Because it is computationally expensive to convert encoder data to end effecter position and translate motor torques into directional forces, a haptic device will often have its own dedicated processor. This removes computation costs associated with haptics and the host computer can dedicate its processing power to application requirements, such as rendering high-level graphics.
General-purpose commercial haptic interfaces used today can be classified as either ground-based devices (force reflecting joysticks and linkage-based devices) or body-based devices (gloves, suits, exoskeletal devices). The most popular design on the market is a linkage-based system, which consists of a robotic arm attached to a grip (usually a pen). A large variety of linkage based haptic devices have been patented (examples include U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,389,865; 5,576,727; 5,577,981; 5,587,937; 5,709,219; 5,828,813; 6,281,651; 6,413,229; 6,417,638). The arm tracks the position of the grip and is capable of exerting a force on the tip of this grip. To meet the haptic demands required to fool one's sense of touch, sophisticated hardware and software are required to determine the proper joint angles and torques necessary to exert a single point of force on the tip of the pen. Not only is it difficult to control force output because of the update demand, the mass of a robotic arm introduces inertial forces that must be accounted for.
An alternative to a linkage-based device is one that is tension-based. Instead of applying force through links, cables are connected a point on a "grip" in order to exert a vector force on that grip. Encoders can be used to determine the lengths of the connecting cables, which in turn can be used to establish position of the cable connection point on the grip. Motors are used to create tension in the cables, which results in an applied force at the grip. There is only one commercial tension based device available, through a Japanese company called Cyverse.
The SPIDAR-G is a 7 degree of freedom haptic device that allows translational, rotational and grip force. This design resulted from Dr. Seahak Kim's PhD work (Dr. Seahak Kim is currently an employee of Mimic Technologies, Inc.). References for much of Dr. Seahak Kim's work on the SPIDAR-G have been listed above.
Predating Dr. Seahak Kim's work on the SPIDAR-G, Japanese Patent No. 2771010 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,305,429 were filed that describe a "3D input device" as titled in the patent. This system consists of a support means, display means and control means. The support means is a cubic frame. Attached to the frame are 4 encoders and magnetic switches capable of preventing string movement over a set of pulleys. The pulleys connect the tip of each encoder to strings that are wound through the pulleys. Each string continues out of the pulley to connect with a weight that generates passive tension in the string. The ON/OFF magnetic switches allow the strings to be clamped on command from the host computer. The strings connect to the user's fingertip, which are connected to the weights through the pulleys. The user moves his or her fingertip to manipulate an "instruction point" in a virtual environment, which is displayed through a monitor. As the user moves his or her fingertip, the length of the four strings change, and a computer calculates a three-dimensional position based on the number of pulses from the encoder, which indicate the change of string length between the pulleys and the user's finger. If the three-dimensional position of the fingertip is found to collide with a virtual object as determined by a controlling host computer, then the ON/OFF magnetic switch is signaled to grasp some or all of the strings so that movement is resisted. Forces are not rendered in a specific direction, but resistance to movement in some or all directions indicates that a user has contacted a virtual object. When the fingertip is moved outside the boundary of a virtual object, the magnetic switch is turned off to release the strings. The user is then able to move his or her finger freely.
The "3 dimensional input device" introduced in U.S. Pat. No. 5,305,429 is not capable of controlling or rendering directional forces. It is therefore not possible to render three-dimensional forces in the manner typically associated with a haptic device. In other words, this device is not capable of simulating haptic effects such as the feel or contact with a virtual three-dimensional surface.
The "3 dimensional input device" cannot render controlled vector forces because of the following reasons, (i) it is impossible to display exact directional force, because the device can only apply drag, or resistance to movement to each string by ON/OFF magnetic switches and cannot impose an exact tension in each string; (ii) there is no accounting for the changing force applied by the weights attached to each string which provide a variable tension as the velocity of the moving weight changes the tension; (iii) there is no accounting for extraneous forces resulting from friction between the frame, pulleys, ON/OFF magnetic switches and the strings; and (iv) there is no initialization sequence described which is required for determining initial string lengths as need for determining string orientations and finger position so that forces can be reflected accurately. In summary this is not a true force feedback device, but instead is only a tracking mechanism with a single force effect (direction nonspecific drag). As an input device, the system also lacks a robust measurement method for determining the length of the strings, which results in substantial fingertip position measurement errors. There is also no means for measuring orientation of the finger (roll, pitch and yaw).
A system that combines virtual reality with exercise is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,577,981. This system uses sets of three cables with retracting pulleys and encoders to determine the position of points on a head mounted display. Using the lengths of the three cables, the position of the point in space is found. Tracking three points on the helmet (9 cables) allows head tracking of 6 degrees of freedom. Three cables attached to motor and encoders are also used to control the movement of a boom that rotates in one dimension through a vertical slit in a wall. The boom also has a servomotor at its end, about which the boom rotates. It is claimed that the force and direction of force applied by the boom can be controlled via the cables, servo motor and computer software, but no details are provided for how this is accomplished.
Applications have been filed for patents in Japan and the US to support the SPIDAR-G (as discussed earlier). This apparatus was titled "three-dimensional input apparatus" and was filed under patent No. 2001-282448 in Japan, and a US patent application has also been submitted: No. 20010038376. This device also consists of a support means, display means and control means similar to that described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,305,429. However, this device uses "at least seven strings" to accommodate "at least six degrees of freedom" (actually the patent application only explains 7 degrees of freedom with 8 strings, but a claim is made for 6 degrees of freedom with seven strings). The mentioned support means includes a cubic frame, where a motor and encoder are attached to at least seven locations on the frame. The tip of each encoder is connected to a spool on a motor, and this spool winds the string. The encoder and motor are rotated simultaneously. The motors are meant to create tension in the strings in place of the weights used in the earlier patent. Instead of the string attaching to the users finger, the strings attach to a sphere shaped grip.
This grip has a mechanical structure that consists of two poles that are rotated based on the grasp force between the thumb and other fingers of the user. Two strings are connected to each of the four extremities of the two poles. If the user moves the tool to manipulate a virtual object in a virtual environment, as displayed through a monitor, each string length is changed, and the computer is used to calculate a three dimensional position (translation, rotation and grasp information) based on the number of pulses from the encoder, which is an indication of a change in string length. If contact is made with a virtual object, the controlling computer is used to calculate the tensions in the strings that are necessary to render force and torque at the grip.
The system described in Japanese patent 2001-282448 can therefore actively display translation, rotation, and grasp force. As a result, the user is able to "touch" virtual objects through the display of force. However, the above-mentioned "3 Dimensional interface device" requires at least seven strings to determine position and render force, even if rotation and grip forces are not being applied, and, while the design described above is adequate for displaying seven degrees of force feedback, there are severe limitations imposed if less than seven degrees of force feedback are required.

Method, apparatus, and article for force feedback based on tension control and tracking through cables


A method of applying a smooth thin waterproof coating on engineered particleboards including oriented strand boards, thereby permitting the use of such boards for applications wherein the boards are exposed to moisture, including, for example, foundation forms, roof sheathing, basement walls, etc. The method of this invention includes applying a thin liquid cementitious coating on a surface of an engineered particleboard having a moisture content preferably less than three percent, wherein the cementitious coating fills the interstices between the particles and coats the surface. The cementitious coating is then dried and the surface is abraded to receive a thin liquid curable polyurethane coating over the cementitious coating. Finally, the exposed surface of the polyurethane coating is heated to remove surface imperfections and cure the polyurethane coating. In the preferred method, the liquid polyurethane coating is heated and cured by applying an open flame to the surface of the liquid polyurethane coating which removes surface imperfections, such as bubbles, and simultaneously cures the coating.

As will be understood by those skilled in the art, engineered particleboards including oriented strand boards or "OSB" boards are less expensive than solid wood boards and wood laminates, strong and light in weight. However, such particleboards are limited in their application and use by the construction industry, for example, because engineered particleboards are strongly hydrophilic. When exposed to water or moisture, for a period time, the average moisture content of OSB boards, for example, increases to about twenty percent. When manufactured, however, OSB boards have a moisture content of less than about two to three percent. Thus, particleboards such as OSB boards generally cannot be used for such applications as building foundation forms, roof sheathing, basement walls, etc. OSB boards for example include relatively large wood particles, strands or chips in a resin matrix or binder. The exposed surfaces of engineered particleboards are also relatively rough and include spaces or interstices between the particles which must be filled if the exposed surfaces are coated with a smooth waterproof coating, particularly where the coating is relatively thin, such as a coating having a thickness of about 0.020 inches.
Engineered particleboards, such as OSB boards, comprise particles of wood or wood-based products, such as paper, in a resin matrix or binder, wherein the particles are oriented to provide strength and rigidity to the boards. Generally, the preferred binder is methylene bis phenylisocyanate or methylene diphenyl isocyanate (MDI) which is applied to the particles or wood chips by spraying the liquid binder into a blender. In the manufacture of oriented strandboards, for example, debarked logs are cut into strands or wafers which are dried with heat and screened to grade for strands of the correct size. The dried strands are then coated with a binder such as MDI and transported in layers on a conveyor to a forming line, where the layers are cross-oriented into mats. For face layers, the strands generally run along the panel while the core layers are randomly oriented or run across the panel. The mats are trimmed to a workable size and then transported to a press where the wood strands and glue are bonded under heat and pressure to create a structural panel.
Engineered particleboards such as oriented strand boards may be covered, for example, by adhesively bonding a plastic sheet over the surfaces of the boards; however, this method is relatively expensive and thus eliminates the cost advantage of such boards. The applicants have also determined that oriented strand boards for example may be coated directly with a polyurea coating. However, the polyurea coating must be relatively thick (greater than about 0.040 inches) and polyurea coating polymers are relatively expensive. Further, it was determined by the applicants that conventional methods may not be used to coat particleboards such as oriented strand boards with polyurethane because of the high moisture content of OSB boards and because the polyurethane coated surface has numerous surface imperfections including pin holes, bubbles, etc. Further, the relatively large wood particles and the interstices between the particles will "read" through the polyurethane coating. That is, the exposed surface of a relatively thin polyurethane coating having a thickness, for example, of 0.020 inches will conform to the wood particles and interstices between the particles making the polyurethane coated boards unacceptable for certain applications. As will be understood by those skilled in the art, the hydroxyl component of polyurethane will react with water and therefore it is generally not possible to coat a panel having a relatively high moisture content of greater than about five percent.
Thus, there has been a longfelt need for a relatively inexpensive method of coating engineered particleboards such as oriented strand boards, particularly a coating that is waterproof and relatively smooth. It is also important in certain applications such as building foundation forms to use panels or boards which are relatively free of surface imperfections, such that the surface imperfections are not imprinted on the poured foundation. Pin holes which expose the particleboards to moisture must also be avoided in roof sheathing, for example, and other applications where the boards or panels are exposed to moisture. Therefore, such applications are now limited to solid wood panels or laminates which are less hydrophilic. The method of forming a polyurethane coating on engineered particleboards such as oriented strand boards of this invention solves the above problems by providing a thin smooth waterproof coating which is relatively inexpensive, particularly when compared to other polymer coatings such as polyurea. Further, the polyurethane coating method of this invention may be utilized as a final step in the manufacturer of engineered particleboards or may be used to coat such boards at a separate facility.

Method of applying a polyurethane coating on engineered particleboards


Vuilleumier type heat pumps and other thermal regenerative devices of the same type are improved by the provision of agitation and circulation of the working fluid within the working spaces for greater efficiency of heat exchange to/from these spaces. The circulation may be by means of fans, with electric motors, jet circulators, controlled direct exit of the working fluid from displacers, rotor blades located on a shaft operated from outside the device and other suitable means. The device may be single- or multi-unit. It may provide power to drive itself and/or for other uses.

U.S. Pat. No. 1,275,507 issued August 1918 to Vuilleumier described a method of refrigeration based on heat pump technology. In very simple terms, Vuilleumier provided a one-phase refrigerator absorbing heat from a low temperature region and rejecting it to a higher temperature region. In practice, the Vuilleumier heat pump comprises a cold region, a hot region and a region of intermediate temperature, with a one-phase working fluid distributed throughout these three interconnected regions.
If the regions are regarded as cylinders for simplicity, the working fluid moves between a cold cylinder from which heat is withdrawn on one side of a first displacer to an intermediate cylinder to which heat is delivered on the other side of the first displacer. Similarly, the intermediate cylinder is separated from a hot cylinder in which the working fluid is driven between the hot cylinder on one side of a second displacer and the intermediate cylinder on the other side of the second displacer. The movement of the displacers changes the volumes of the different temperature regions relative to each other, with consequent changes in pressure. This drives the heat transfer. Although in theory two cycles of displacer operations are involved, in practice they are inter-dependent in an integrated device. The high and low temperature cylinders may be oriented at a 90.degree. angle to each other for preferred heat transforming conditions.
The coefficient of performance of the original Vuilleumier heat pump was not high and, although some modifications to it were introduced (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,127,286 issued 1935 to Bush and U.S. Pat. No. 2,567,454 issued September 1951 to Taconis), interest in it lapsed.
Historically, further development of the Vuilleumier heat pump and Stirling devices might have occurred if it had not been for advances in vapour compression refrigeration and developments such as the Linde, Claude and Heylandt cycles which have had enormous application for cryogenics. Also for cryogenics, the simple reversed Stirling engine is recognized. But all four of these require input of mechanical energy, whereas the Vuilleumier device requires very little mechanical input whether it is to be used for heating, cooling or both.
More recently, the Vuilleumier heat pump has been used for refrigeration in aeronautical and space applications, where its ability to produce very low temperatures with little mechanical complication is of greater importance than economy. Additional advantages are that the Vuilleumier device may be small, quiet and relatively maintenance-free. Recent concern about energy conservation and pollution of the environment has revived interest in the Vuilleumier device as a heat pump for residential heating and other purposes.
Attempts have, therefore, been made to improve the efficiency of the Vuilleumier device. Eder, in an article in the International Journal of Refrigeration (Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 86-90, 1982) that was originally presented at the 11R meeting in Essen FRG in September 1981, discusses the performance of a Vuilleumier device. Nykyri and Hiismaki, in a report of Technical Research Centre of Finland No. 15/81, evaluate the Vuilleumier heat pump for heating applications. Nykyri and Hiismaki consider that the practical coefficient of performance for a Vuilleumier heat pump is 1.9 or even lower when heat losses are taken into consideration. They conclude that the main problem with the Vuilleumier Pump is the heat exchange at the low and intermediate temperatures.
The Vuilleumier concept is adaptable to various primary heat sources and, unlike conventional heat pumps, does not require electricity as its main power source, although a small amount of electricity or other power may be necessary to drive the displacers. Thus, even at a coefficient of performance of below 1.9, the Vuilleumier concept has its attractions because it is powered mainly by heat, and because energy losses incurred in the production of electricity to run a conventional heat pump need not be incurred. Even so, the achievable coefficient of performance of Vuilleumier devices and the efficiency of associated thermal regenerative machines such as the Stirling engine are not especially advantageous.


The plasma processing apparatus is provided with a chamber 11, a plasma source 13 which generates plasma inside the chamber 11, a stage 16 which is provided inside the chamber 11 and places a carrier 5 thereon, a cover 31 which is arranged above the stage 16 to cover a holding sheet 6 and a frame 7 and has a window 33 which is formed on a central part thereof to penetrate the cover 31 in the thickness direction, and a drive mechanism 38 which changes the position of the cover 31 relative to the stage 16 between a first position which is away from the stage 16 and allows the carrier 5 to be placed on and removed from the stage 16 and a second position which allows the cover 31 to cover the holding sheet 6 and the frame 7 of the carrier 5 placed on the stage 16 and a substrate 2 held on the holding sheet 6 to be exposed through the window 33. The window 33 of the cover 31 allows an area of the substrate 2, the area being located on the inner side with respect to an outer edge area of the substrate 2, to be exposed therefrom.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasma processing apparatus and a plasma processing method, and particularly to a technique that is effective in plasma processing of a wafer held in a carrier which includes an annular frame and a holding sheet.
Description of Related Art
As a plasma processing apparatus, there is known one disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2012-248741. A processing object of the plasma processing apparatus is a wafer that is held in a carrier which includes an annular frame and a holding sheet. When dicing the wafer by plasma, the annular frame is covered by a covering so as not to be exposed to the plasma.
However, the inner diameter of the covering is larger than the outer diameter of the wafer. Therefore, a part of the holding sheet may be exposed to plasma and thereby damaged. Further, the temperature of the covering may become high during the processing, and the holding sheet may be damaged also when being affected by the heat.

Plasma processing apparatus and plasma processing method

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


An adaptive broadband post-distortion receiver for wireless digital communications improves performance of a wireless digital communications system. The improved performance of the system includes improved linear AM-AM and AM-PM responses approaching saturation. Indeed, the proposed adaptive broadband post-distortion receiver has an effect on attributes such as bit error rate and transmitter power efficiency and, in turn, on modulation and bandwidth. The adaptive broadband post-distortion receiver is configured with an adaptively controlled IF post-distorter located at the IF stage of the receiver. The placement of the distortion canceling function in the IF section of the receiver lends itself to broadband applications. The post-distorter is configured to cancels the distortion produced by the transmitter and receiver as it is adaptively controlled using bit error rate calculations. The distortion canceling utilizes bit error rate information that is otherwise available in the receiver.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to digital communication systems and, specifically, to wireless digital communication systems designed for improved performance such as power efficiency and bit error rate.
2. Background Overview
Wireless systems include satellite, cellular, fixed access, wireless LANs (local area networks) and personal AN (area networks). The trend in wireless systems involves integration of the various networks, increased data rates, and proliferation of services such as Internet, data and image transmission or downloads, and voice over IP (Internet Protocol). Thus, to accommodate this trend performance attributes accounted for in wireless communications systems include sensitivity, selectivity, dynamic range, data rate capacity, power efficiency, and bit error rates. In addition, manufacturing and marketing attributes such as low cost, high reliability, and flexibility are becoming increasingly important.
Digital wireless communication systems include a transmitter, a receiver (including a software-defined radio) or both (a combination that is referred to as "transceiver"). The block diagram of FIG. 1, shows typical transmitter and receiver components in a digital wireless communication system 10. In such a system there are a number of possible locations where distortion is a factor, including the baseband stage 11 & 12 (with digital data or low frequency such as <30 MHz), intermediate frequency stage 13 & 14 (IF, such as 2 GHz), and radio frequency stage 15, 16 & 17 (RF, such as 6 GHz) including mmW (millimeter wave frequencies, such as 38 GHz).
In digital communication systems, the enabling technology is a combination of software control, RF and IF circuitry, and digital circuitry, including signal-processing components. The design of digital communication systems presents a challenge of optimizing the RF circuit functionality to address one or more of the foregoing performance, manufacturing, and marketing attributes and the complexities they introduce.
For example, in the transmitter, the RF power amplifier is expected to meet peak and average power specifications and provide high power efficiency within the specified frequency range. However, distortion in amplifiers generates AM—AM and AM–PM non-linearities (AM stands for amplitude modulation, PM stands for phase modulation). Hence, communication systems using linear modulation techniques such as quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) are restricted by the performance of the transmitter and receiver. One of the restrictions is the aforementioned nonlinear characteristic of the power amplifier that causes the AM—AM and AM–PM distortion.
There are a number of approaches for controlling linearity and distortion levels. The simplest approach involves using higher power devices in the power amplifier while operating at a high back-off ratio in the output power level. The drawbacks of this approach include increased DC power consumption, higher cost, and lower reliability.
A common approach for improving power amplifier linearity is to use RF signal feedback. In a higher frequency range, the tradeoff for improved linearity is reduced gain and, in turn, reduced power level. In transmitters, the reduction in output power level has an adverse effect on the allowable distance between the transmitters and corresponding receivers.
Baseband signal feedback—which is analogous to pre-distortion of power amplifier input—is used in transmitters to provide for some of the deficiencies of RF signal feedback. This approach involves baseband signal modulation of an RF carrier, and amplification of the modulated RF carrier signal by the non-linear RF power amplifier. A sample of the amplified, modulated carrier signal is demodulated and fed back to the input of a baseband amplifier where it is combined with the basedband input of that amplifier. The introduction of the demodulated sampled carrier signal at the input of the baseband amplifier creates a pre-distortion of the baseband signal to counteract the distortion from the RF power amplifier's non-linearity. The tradeoff in this case is a feedback loop delay that limits the possible bandwidth of transmitted signals.
RF signal pre-distortion is another approach. The objective in this approach is to directly cancel the distortion of the power amplifier by pre-distorting the signal going into it. As in the case of the baseband pre-distortion scheme, the RF signal pre-distortion can be adaptive using a cancellation scheme based on the transmitter signal.
Namely, some transmitters use a cancellation scheme as a variation of the pre-distortion approach. This involves adaptive feedback where the gain of cancellation amplifiers is adaptively modified. Adaptive control methods are used to adjust a distortion canceling circuitry for changing conditions such as transmitter power levels, temperature, or aging. Examples of methods for adaptive control include conversion to baseband, conversion to IF, and predictive calibration.
In the conversion to baseband scheme, a simplified receiver (located in the transmitter) is used to sample the modulated transmit signal. The distortion canceling circuit is adjusted based on the demodulated baseband signal. The gain adjustment combined with the pre-distortion reduces amplitude and phase distortions. However, this approach assumes that the distortion is a relatively small component of the signal. Moreover, frequency changes would negate the corrective effects of the cancellation scheme.
In the conversion to IF scheme, the modulated output signal (usually from the transmitter power amplifier) is down converted to an IF signal. The modulated IF signal is filtered to monitor the amount of distortion. Then a distortion canceling circuit is adjusted to minimize the distortion. This approach suffers from deficiencies similar to those outlined above.
With predictive calibration, the transmitter uses a look-up table based on temperature and transmitter power level to adjust the distortion canceling circuit. This is not a true adaptive method, but an open loop technique requiring careful characterization of the transmitter.
Over time, numerous combinations of distortion canceling and adaptive control methods have been broached. Commonly, these techniques have been employed in the transmitter sections of wireless digital communications systems.
However, given that distortion remains a factor in digital transmission, design considerations of dynamic range, bit error rate, power efficiency, data rate capacity and the like also remain. Accordingly, in dealing with the associated design challenges a better approach is needed.

Adaptive broadband post-distortion receiver for digital radio communication system

Harris Stratex Networks Operating Corporation


A method, and system for targeted marketing of goods or services to specific customers is disclosed. Customers are analyzed based upon historical criteria; a promotional plan (a group of promotion events implemented or to be implemented over a particular time period) is analyzed to determine the effect of each promotion event on the other promotion events in the promotional plan; and, based on this analysis, the optimal promotion stream (a specific subset of the promotional plan to be sent to customers or a group of similar customers) is determined so as to maximize the ROI of the promotional plan as a whole.

Direct marketing involves advertising to customers at a location other than the point of sale. Catalogs, first-class mail, telemarketing, and e-mail are some examples of direct marketing techniques that are currently utilized to promote the sale of goods or services.
Direct marketers today face challenges that are far different than those with which the industry contended during its explosive growth over the last twenty years. Among the problems of particular interest:                The percentage of households purchasing through the mail has been essentially flat since 1993.        The consumer base is becoming increasingly diverse and individualistic.        The average number of promotions received per household continues to climb.        The costs of advertising (and in particular, paper, postage and ink) has been steadily increasing and shows no sign of leveling off.        Consumers increasingly demand services such as the ability to place phone orders and expedited delivery as standard.
Increasingly, retail companies are adding direct marketing to their mix of marketing techniques. In addition, with the explosion of the internet and e-commerce, consumers are presented with increasingly attractive alternatives to mail for the direct purchase of goods and services in their homes.
In response to these changes, direct marketers have responded in a variety of ways. Many direct marketers have improved their targeting of recipients of direct marketing through automation. For example, automation has been achieved by programming computers to perform sophisticated statistical analysis and modeling, develop marketing databases, increase the sophistication of their predictive models, or enhance their current processes with leading edge marketing tools such as data mining. While these efforts have helped reduce the negative impact of the changing marketing atmosphere, the industry has not been able to improve the average response rate to direct marketing.
A commonly-used marketing technique is called the RFM (Recency, Frequency and Monetary Value) technique. PCT International Application No. PCT/US908/22613, published as International Publication No. WO 99/22328 (incorporated fully herein by reference) discloses a computer-implemented targeted marketing system which evaluates many factors, including the RFM factors, to determine a customer list to be used for sending marketing materials in connection with a single proposed promotion event. The RFM technique is based on the theory that the customers that are most likely to respond to a proposed direct marketing event (e.g., a mailing of an offer) are those that have most recently been customers (Recency), and that have frequently been repeat customers (Frequency), and that have purchased significant dollar amounts (Monetary Value). Existing customers are scored based on their characteristics related to each of these three criteria, and a customer with a high RFM score is considered a good target for the proposed marketing event under analysis. Based on the RFM scores, a specialized customer list is generated for a single proposed marketing event.
FIG. 1 portrays a "promotion flag" table which is used herein to explain the prior art RFM method of determining if a customer should receive a particular promotion "p." RFM marketing techniques are a form of "natural selection." All customers (depicted in numerical order by customer number in FIG. 1 along the vertical axis as C0, C1, . . . , Cn) are sorted and ordered in a known manner from highest to lowest RFM score for a single promotion, and then a threshold line is drawn at a predetermined point based on expected sales and profitability. All customers on or above the threshold line are included in the current promotion, and all those below the line are excluded. In the promotion flag table of FIG. 1, a "1" indicates that a customer has scored at or above the threshold (i.e., that the customer is a "go" for inclusion in the promotion) and a "0" indicates that the customer scored below the threshold (i.e., that the customer is a "no-go" for inclusion in the promotion). Thus, high RFM customers are selected to become repeat targets while the lower RFM customers are targeted less or not at all.
Though the RFM technique achieves adequate results, since the focus is on only a single proposed marketing campaign at a time, a marketer ends up saturating its best customers with promotions, often sending out a subsequent and possibly redundant promotion before the previous promotion has been allowed to generate it's maximum return-on-investment (ROI). Further, low RFM customers, which may represent a major growth opportunity for the marketer, receive little or no attention.
The Applicant recognizes the desirability of a marketing method and system which analyzes customer preferences, needs, and historical tendencies, which looks at an entire promotional plan comprising a set of at least two proposed promotion events and takes into account the effects of a current promotion event on promotion events generated before, simultaneous with, and after the current promotion event.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for targeted marketing of goods and/or services to specific customers

International Business Machines Corporation


A semiconductor device is provided having an input driver and an output receiver connected by a bus line, the bus line including pulse generating and driver circuitry responsive to threshold levels of voltage change so as to perform high speed switching which compensates for the load of the bus line.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, and more particularly, to a semiconductor device with a bus line loading compensating circuit for improving transmission characteristics.
As semiconductor devices become more highly integrated, the size of the devices composing the chip become smaller. Nevertheless, as the chip size of semiconductor devices increases the length of transmission lines for the semiconductor device, e.g., input-output lines or data lines, become longer. Also, the number of circuits and devices connected to the transmission lines, e.g., bus lines, increases as well. Therefore, loading of the bus line driving circuits and devices also increases.
In addition, it is required that the semiconductor devices be operated at high speeds. Therefore, it is essential that there be a reduction in delay time on the bus lines for highly integrated and high-speed operated semiconductor devices. As a result, the reply characteristics and transmission characteristics of bus lines connecting the devices and circuits should be improved.
FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing a bus line connection according to the prior art.
As shown in FIG. 1, transmission signal IN is input to the input terminal of inverter 101 in input driver 100. Output terminal NA of inverter 101 is connected to one terminal of bus line 200, and the other terminal of bus line 200 is connected to input terminal NB of inverter 301 in receiver 300. Also, the output terminal of inverter 301 in receiver 300 transmits output signal OUT. The elements 201, 202, 203 and 204 are resistance components of the loading of the bus line 200, and the elements 205, 206, 207, 208 and 209 are capacitance components of the loading of the bus line 200.
That is, transmission signal IN is transmitted to inverter 101 in input input driver 100, and then the output signal from input input driver 100 is transmitted to inverter 301 in receiver 300 via the bus line. The bus line positioned between input input driver 100 and receiver 300 and the loading capacity thereof determines a transmission characteristic of transmission signal IN. The loading can be divided into resistance component R and capacitance component C which determine the transmission characteristics of speed and efficiency. As known by those skilled in the art, RC is a time constant.
Decreasing bus line loading for reducing the delay time of a transmission signal is advantageous in high speed operation. That is, a small RC constant is advantageous to high speed transmission, and thus many efforts to reduce the RC time constant have been undertaken. A method for reducing capacitive loading by adequately adjusting the space between bus lines, a method for increasing driver size, a method for minimizing the length of the bus lines by changing the chip architecture and so on are under study, but those methods have not yet been satisfactory.
That is, when the space between bus lines becomes too wide, chip size increases, which is disadvantageous in large-scale integration. When driver size becomes too large, that is, the area occupied by the driver becomes wide, chip efficiency deteriorates, power consumption increases, and serious noise due to peak current results. Moreover, because chip architecture substantially depends on the entire arrangement of logic circuits and bonding pads and core construction rather than bus line length, the method of changing the chip architecture for reducing the delay time of a bus line has limits.

Semiconductor device with bus line loading compensation circuit


A method of reseating a toilet seat employs a flat, rigid member arcuately curved to conform to the outer circumference of a toilet sewage drain. The flat member has a plurality of anchor fastening openings therethrough as well as at least one elongated closet bolt slot. The member is utilized to reseat a toilet atop the upper extremity of a toilet drain when the closet flange originally utilized in seating the toilet has broken, deteriorated, or corroded. According to the method a closet bolt is inserted into the closet bolt slot in the flat member such that the closet bolt head bears against the structure of the flat member and the closet bolt shank projects upwardly therefrom. With the toilet removed from atop the drain, the flat member is placed on the floor adjacent the upper extremity of the drain and secured to the floor by means of a plurality of anchor fasteners. The anchor fasteners extend into the floor through at least some of the anchor fastener openings. A conventional sealing ring is positioned beneath the toilet and the toilet is remounted atop the upper extremity of the drain with the closet bolt shanks projecting upwardly through openings in the toilet base. Closet bolt nuts are then tightened onto the distal ends of the closet bolt shanks to reseat the toilet atop the flat member which provides support for the closet bolt head.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a method for reseating a toilet atop a drain from which at least a portion of the closet flange is missing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the installation of a conventional plumbing system for a toilet the vertical toilet sewage drain pipe beneath the toilet extends upwardly into an opening in the floor and terminates in a water closet coupling. The water closet coupling typically includes a tubular sleeve that encircles the upper extremity of the drain pipe and also a radially outwardly projecting annular closet flange. The closet flange is provided with a plurality of apertures. These typically include a pair of elongated, arcuately shaped slots each having a widened region through which a closet bolt head will pass and an adjacent narrower region having a dimension sufficient to admit passage of the shank of a closet bolt, but not the head. Closet bolts are inserted through the closet bolt slots and are moved laterally within the slots into vertical alignment with closet bolt openings in the base of a toilet. The shoulders formed by the closet bolt heads bear upwardly against the underside of the closet flange adjacent the edges of the narrower portions of the closet bolt slots, while the shanks of the closet bolts project upwardly through the narrower portions of the closet bolt slots.
To seat a toilet, a sealing ring, typically a wax ring having a generally toroidal shape is mounted on the exterior surface of the portion of the drain depending from the bottom of the toilet bowl. The closet bolts are moved along the closet bolt slots in the closet flange until they are in vertical alignment with the closet bolt openings in the base.
The toilet is then lowered vertically downwardly toward the water closet coupling until the peripheral margin of the toilet base rests upon the floor and the shanks of the closet bolts project upwardly through the closet bolt openings in the toilet base. Fender washers are first placed upon the exposed distal ends of the shanks of the closet bolts to provide a sufficient bearing surface to accommodate closet bolt nuts which are then threadably engaged onto the distal, upwardly projecting extremities of the closet bolts. The nuts are thereupon tightened to compress the sealing ring so as to seal the sealing ring to the toilet bowl and to the upper extremity of the drain and to firmly seat the toilet base upon the floor. Once the installation of a toilet is complete, the toilet base will not move relative to the floor and a firm, fluid-tight seal is established between the toilet and the extremity of the drain pipe.
For many years water closet couplings were formed of cast iron because toilet drain sewage pipes were likewise formed of cast iron. The use of the same materials allowed cast iron water closet couplings to be welded to cast iron drainage pipes. In recent times, however, the use of plastic drainage pipes has become much more prevalent. Plastic drain pipes are advantageous in that they are much lighter in weight than cast iron pipes, and can be solvent welded together with considerably greater ease than welding operations required to join sections of cast iron pipe together.
Because most building plumbing drainage piping now being installed is formed of plastic, the structure of water closet couplings has also changed. Specifically; the structural composition of many recent models of closet flanges employs a plastic sleeve about the upper end of the toilet drain pipe surrounded by a very thin painted steel flange. Since plastic is more flexible than iron or steel, it is still necessary for the radial closet flange to be formed of metal. Therefore, most water closet couplings manufactured for new plumbing installations are formed of plastic tubular sleeves having radially outwardly directed annular channels defined near their upper extremities with radially outwardly projecting steel closet flanges mounted in these channels. These flanges are longitudinally restrained by the structure of the outer surface of the plastic sleeve, but are freely rotatable relative thereto. The steel closet flanges provide sufficient structural rigidity to accommodate the closet bolt installation previously described and allow a toilet to be firmly seated and securely fastened to the upper extremity of a toilet drain pipe.
However, even though conventional steel closet flanges are painted for protection against corrosion, not infrequently the paint will become scratched, sometimes before and sometimes during installation. It has been found that even a very small scratch in the paint on a steel closet flange can lead to rapid rusting and structural deterioration of the closet flange throughout its entire circumference. When the areas of the structure of the closet flanges rust and crumble at the locations at which the closet bolt heads bear upwardly there against, the heads of the closet bolts pull through the deteriorated openings of the closet bolt slots.
The structure of such plastic and steel closet flanges is such that they rapidly deteriorate due to rusting if their protective layer of paint is scratched even slightly so as to provide the flange with an exposure to moisture. Indeed, even small scratches on the closet ring rims of such closet flanges which are legally employed in many areas of the country cause the rims of the flanges to rust and disintegrate relatively rapidly to the point where there is practically no structure of the rim left against which the heads of the closet bolts can bear. When this occurs the toilet bowl is no longer tightly held to the floor, since the structural integrity of the closet flange rim has deteriorated so greatly. Indeed, in many toilet flanges the rim deteriorates far beyond the immediate vicinity of the openings or slots defined therein through which the shanks of the closet bolts project. Indeed, large arcuate sections of the rim of the closet flange, and often the entire rim, will disintegrate and crumble apart due to rusting action.
When one of the closet bolts loses its bearing surface against the underside of the closet ring, the toilet will tend to rock and can twist on the floor. Seating on the toilet therefore becomes unsound, and the seal between the toilet drain and the toilet drain pipe formed by the sealing ring can become broken as well. When this occurs, it is necessary to repair this connection and reseat the toilet.
One system which was devised for this purpose is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,207,630. That patent describes a spanner clamp that is used to provide a missing bearing surface when a portion of a toilet closet flange has broken away. According to the practice described in that patent, a slotted flat metal member, shaped generally in the form of an arcuate metal strip, is provided to span the gap that is left when only a portion of an annular water closet flange has broken away. In such a situation there is still enough structure left of the original water closet flange on either side of the broken away portion to provide a bearing surface for the ends of the spanner strip.
To use this system the spanner strip must first be positioned beneath the level of the original water closet flange. The shank of a closet bolt is inserted through the slot in the spanner strip and directed upwardly through the gap left by the broken away portion of the water closet flange. The ends of the spanner strip bear upwardly against the undersides of the remaining structure of the original closet flange on either side of the gap left therein when a portion of the closet flange has been broken away.
One significant problem with the system of U.S. Pat. No. 4,207,630 is that the system only works if there is sufficient structure left from the original closet flange to provide adequate surfaces against which the ends of the spanner strip can bear. While cast iron closet flanges will sometimes fail by loss of only a relatively narrow sector of material, the same is not true of the steel closet flanges that are now employed to such a wide extent with plastic drain pipe. Unlike cast iron flanges, the steel flanges that are widely utilized with plastic drain pipes fail not so much by fracture and the loss of a relatively narrow, arcuate sector of material, but more typically by complete or nearly complete disintegration due to rust and corrosion. As a consequence, in the failure of a steel closet flange now utilized in most modern plumbing installations, there is very little material left to provide any type of bearing surface to accommodate a spanning strip of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,207,630.
As a result, it has heretofore been necessary to remove and replace the entire water closet coupling of a composite plastic steel water closet coupling when failure of the steel closet flange occurs. However, it is extremely difficult to remove the plastic sleeve of such a water closet coupling from the plastic upper extremity of a drain pipe. Furthermore, the area in which this work must be carried out is below the floor level, so that there is often inadequate room for manipulation of tools and insufficient space to accommodate the hands of the plumber to perform the tasks necessary. As a consequence, the replacement of composite steel and plastic water closet couplings has heretofore been inordinately time consuming and expensive.


An apparatus and method for reading written symbols by deinterleaving to decode a written encoder packet in a receiver for a mobile communication system supporting turbo coding and interleaving, such that a turbo-coded/interleaved encoder packet has a bit shift value m, an up-limit value J and a remainder R, and a stream of symbols of the encoder packet is written in order of column to row. The apparatus and method perform the operations of generating an interim address by bit reversal order (BRO) assuming that the remainder R is 0 for the received symbols; calculating an address compensation factor for compensating the interim address in consideration of a column formed with the remainder; and generating a read address by adding the interim address and the address compensation factor for a decoding-required symbol, and reading a symbol written in the generated read address.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a high-speed packet data communication system, and in particular, to a method and apparatus for receiving interleaved data and deinterleaving the received interleaved data into its original data format.
2. Description of the Related Art
A Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) mobile communication system, for example, a CDMA IS-2000 system and a Universal Mobile Telecommunication Service (UMTS) Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) system, supports both a voice service and a circuit data service.
A synchronous CDMA2000 Release A/B mobile communication system and an asynchronous UMTS mobile communication system employ turbo coding and interleaving for reliable transmission of multimedia data. It is well known that turbo coding provides a very high information restoration capability in view of a bit error rate (BER) even at a low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and interleaving prevents defective bits in a fading environment from concentrating on one point. The interleaving allows adjacent bits to randomly undergo fading effects to prevent a burst error, thereby contributing to an increase in channel coding effects.
To meet increasing demand for a service requiring high-speed packet data transmission, such as the Internet and moving image services, a mobile communication system tends to develop into a system supporting a high-speed packet data service. According to CDMA2000 Release C/D, known as Evolution in Data and Voice (1xEV-DV) standard, driven by Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and Third Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2), a base station segments code symbols generated by encoding a transmission packet data stream by a channel encoder into subblocks with a predetermined size, and interleaves the respective segmented subblocks. A mobile station receives a stream of the interleaved subblocks, converts the received subblock stream into code symbols, and performs deinterleaving, a reverse operation of interleaving used in the base station, on the code symbols, to thereby restore the received subblock stream into the original signal output from the channel encoder.
In the CDMA2000 Release A/B standard, a length of a code symbol stream which becomes the subject of interleaving must be divided by a power of 2. That is, it is provided that a length of a code symbol stream should become a multiple of a number having 2 as its base and having a bit shift value, one of interleaving parameters, as its exponent. On the contrary, in 1xEV-DV, a length of a subblock code symbol stream is not divided by a power of 2. That is, the 1xEV-DV standard defines an interleaving rule different from that of the existing standards. Hence, the 1xEV-DV standard needs technologies for enabling a mobile station to receive a data stream interleaved according to the new interleaving rule and rapidly effectively deinterleave the received data stream.

Method and apparatus for deinterleaving interleaved data stream in a communication system


A direct backlight includes a plastic spacer pin. The spacer pin is formed of a semispherical portion and a conical frustum portion. The spacer pin is disposed such that the thicker end of the conical frustum portion is coupled to the bottom surface of the chassis, with the semispherical portion placed to face a diffuser plate. The radius of curvature of the tip of the semispherical portion is 0.3 mm to 1 mm. The diameter of the end of the conical frustum portion on the semispherical portion side is 1.1 mm to 2 mm. The ratio (L/B) is less than 5 where L is the length of the spacer pin and B is the diameter of the thicker end of the conical frustum portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a direct backlight used in display devices and a display device incorporating the backlight.
2. Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display device includes a liquid crystal panel for forming images and a backlight for supplying light to the liquid crystal panel. The backlight is largely classified into two types: a direct backlight and an edge lit backlight. The direct backlight includes a plurality of elongated light sources placed behind the liquid crystal panel when viewed from a viewer. The edge lit backlight includes a light guide plate placed behind the liquid crystal panel and an elongated light source placed along an edge of the light guide plate. The direct backlight is configured such that the plurality of elongated light sources are attached to mounts, and a reflector sheet placed behind the elongated light sources to reflect light emitted from the elongated light sources toward the liquid crystal panel. In front of the elongated light sources, i.e., on the liquid crystal panel side, there is provided a diffuser plate for diffusing light emitted from the elongated light sources, thereby uniformly distributing the light across its area. The diffuser plate is typically a white translucent plastic plate. The mounts, the reflector sheet, and the diffuser plate are fixed to a chassis. For example, the chassis is box-shaped and configured to accommodate therein the mounts, the reflector sheet, and the diffuser plate.
Furthermore, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publications No. Hei 10-326517, No. 2002-116704, and No. 2002-244118, the direct backlight also includes a spacer pin which is erected from the bottom surface of the chassis toward the diffuser plate. The spacer pin is intended to allow its tip to contact with the diffuser plate when the diffuser plate is deflected toward the elongated light sources, thereby restricting the diffuser plate from being further deflected. A relatively small direct backlight has one spacer pin disposed at its center, whereas a relatively large direct backlight has a plurality of spacer pins. In general, the spacer pin is formed of a white resin in the shape of a truncated cone to prevent it from being visually recognized by the viewer.
However, the aforementioned conventional techniques have the following problems. That is, the spacer pin is preferably made as thin as possible to prevent it from being visually recognized by the viewer. However, a spacer pin that is made excessively thin would be broken when the direct backlight is subjected to external forces such as vibrations or shocks. Additionally, when a user carries a display device, the direct backlight may be shaken so that the tip of the spacer pin and the diffuser plate are rubbed against each other, causing abnormal noises to occur.
To enhance the strength of the spacer pin, it may be contemplated to form a metal material into a truncated cone member by cutting, which is then painted on its surface to form the spacer pin. However, this method requires high costs to manufacture the spacer pin and is thus impractical. Furthermore, a thin spacer pin made of metal would raise a problem that its base portion, i.e., the joint portion with the chassis may be easily broken, and the diffuser plate may be whittled when rubbed against the spacer pin.


An image forming device includes an exposure unit having an exposure surface, an opposed surface facing the exposure surface, a first side surface connecting the exposure surface with the opposed surface, and a second side surface facing the first side surface, a positioning mechanism positioning the exposure unit with respect to a photoconductive body, the positioning mechanism including a first contact member contacting the exposure unit in a first contact point at a side of the first side surface, a second contact member contacting the exposure unit in a second contact point at the side of the first side surface, and a third contact member contacting the exposure unit in a third contact point at a side of the second side surface, the third contact point being located between the first contact point and the second contact point in a predetermined direction from the exposure surface toward the opposed surface.

1. Technical Field
The following description relates to one or more image forming devices such as a copy machine and printer, which are configured to selectively expose an electro-photoconductive body with an exposure unit so as to form a latent image on the electro-photoconductive body, and develop the latent image with developer so as to transfer the latent image onto a recording medium.
2. Related Art
In a conventional image forming device such as a copy machine and a printer, a laser scanning method or below-mentioned LED exposure method has been realized as an image writing method (exposure method). The LED exposure method is a method for forming a latent image on a photoconductive body by exposing a surface of the photoconductive body to light which is emitted by a light emitting unit with a plurality of light emitting elements linearly aligned and converged by a converging unit. FIG. 16 schematically shows a conventional positioning mechanism for positioning an LED head 212 with respect to a main body. There are provided three fitting portions for the positioning in total at both ends of the LED head 212.
Specifically, there are provided at an end of the LED head 212, a circular hole 221 at a lower portion, and a groove 223 at an upper portion. A lower fitting portion 200b of a pin 200 is fitted into the circular hole 221, and an upper fitting portion 200c of the pin 200 is fitted into along the groove 223. At the other end of the LED head 212, a root portion 232b of a pin 232 is fitted into an oval hole 222 formed as a through-hole.
Meanwhile, the LED head 212 is mounted on two pedestals respectively provided at front and rear sides thereof, and positioned in a height direction (y-axis direction) by adjusting the heights of the pins 200 and 232 with respect to base members 223 and 224, respectively.
In addition, the fitting portion 200b of the pin 200 and the root portion 232b of the pin 232 are fitted into the circular hole 221 and oval hole 222, respectively, and a radial fitting allowance is provided each between the circular hole 221 and fitting portion 200b and between the oval hole 222 and root portion 232b. The fitting allowance is provided for the sake of easy operations of attaching/detaching the LED head 212 and preventing a stress that may be generated in the LED head 212 by restricting spans of the main body and LED head 212 in the device as thermally-expanded (for example, see Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 2002-14524).

Image forming device having a positioning mechanism for positioning an exposure unit