A storage and carrying carton formed of a foldable sheet of material and adapted to be secured in a closed disposition with a flexible closure strap. The sheet of material is configured such that when folded into the carton configuration, it defines an upper flap that cooperates with the closure strap to define a carrying handle. Upon severing the strap to open the carton, the upper end of the carton is configured so as to be selectively folded flat and resealed with a second closure strap or, alternatively, folded so as to define upstanding lateral handles by which the opened carton and its contents can be readily carried.

The present invention relates to an improved storage and carrying carton particularly adapted for use in storing and carrying loads of approximately 50-60 pounds. Nails and other metal fasteners and hardware are examples of products typically stored and carried in the cartons of the type to which the present invention relates. These cartons are typically of a "bellows" style and formed of a corrugated cardboard material. Sheets of the cardboard material are cut and scored such that the carton can be readily formed by folding, gluing, stapling or taping. The bottom flaps are typically folded together and secured by the use of glue, staples or tape prior to filling. The top flaps are normally secured by folding the flaps together into a flat disposition over the upper end of the filled carton and a strap formed of a plastic or other suitable material is wrapped about the entire carton and sealed in place. So secured, the strap forms a natural handle, albeit somewhat awkward to use, for lifting the package. Such a design, however, relies on the strap being in place to both secure the carton and provide a lifting handle. Removal of the strap, which is normally achieved by cutting, not only makes the carton difficult to re-close but effectively eliminates the lifting handle. It would be highly desirable to provide a carton that could be as easily formed as the bellows-style cartons currently in use but which provided both a more convenient lifting handle when the carton is sealed and a means for readily re-closing and carrying the carton after the removal of the strap. The carton of the present invention obtains these results.


A method for controlling a first vehicle, travelling on a road, that has a second vehicle travelling ahead of it, includes the steps of: scanning the second vehicle from the first vehicle by use of multiple sensors; providing individual determinations, each on the basis of scans by only one of the sensors, concerning whether the first and the second vehicle are travelling in the same lane of the road, wherein each sensor has an associated determination certainty; and providing a collision warning if a product of the determination certainties is below a predetermined threshold value.

The invention relates to the control of a vehicle. In particular, the invention relates to the control of a vehicle when travelling past another vehicle that is in a different lane of the same road.
A vehicle travels in a lane of a multilane road, for example a freeway. The vehicle can be controlled partially or fully automatically in the longitudinal and/or transverse direction, which means that a driver is relieved of burden for the control of the vehicle. When the vehicle approaches a vehicle travelling ahead, it can travel past said vehicle if the vehicles are in different lanes. Otherwise, when it is within a predetermined minimum distance, the first vehicle must either be decelerated or taken into a different lane.
To determine whether the vehicles are in the same lane or in different lanes, various determinations can be carried out. By way of example, the vehicle in front can be scanned from the rear by means of various sensors in order to determine the lateral position of said vehicle in relation to the road. This determination usually needs to be effected with an error of less than one meter, which can be difficult in the case of a greater distance of for example 100 meters or more.
If multiple sensors are used, the scans by said sensors can be fusioned with one another in order to determine the position of the vehicle more accurately. A determination certainty indicating the probability with which the determined position is within a predetermined error range can likewise be increased thereby. However, this scarcely allows detection of when one of the sensors provides poor or unusable data. The determination certainty may thus not reach a predetermined value even if sufficiently good data are actually available to determine the position with the required accuracy.
An object on which the invention is based is to provide an improved technique for reliably positioning a vehicle from a vehicle behind. The invention achieves the object by means of the subjects of the independent claims. Dependent claims reproduce preferred embodiments.
According to a first aspect of the invention, a method for controlling a first vehicle, travelling on a road, that has a second vehicle travelling ahead of it comprises steps of scanning the second vehicle from the first vehicle by way of multiple sensors; providing individual determinations, each on the basis of scans by only one of the sensors, concerning whether the first and the second vehicle are travelling in the same lane of the road; wherein each sensor has an associated determination certainty; and providing a collision warning if a product of the determination certainties is below a predetermined threshold value.
According to the invention, determination certainties are first determined for each of the sensors individually. Scans by a sensor whose associated determination certainty does not exceed a predetermined limit cannot be considered for determining the lane of the second vehicle. As such, the determination certainty for the lane determined on the basis of all the remaining scans may be above the threshold value even if one of the sensors provides no scans or only poor scans. Additionally, it is possible to determine in a dedicated manner for scans by each of the sensors whether or not their scans are found to be sufficiently good. As such, it is possible to make an adjustment to match specific properties of each sensor. By way of example, the scans may be noisy or provided with a systematic error, or the sensor may be prevented from scanning the second vehicle, for example by an interposed obstacle.
All of the determination can take place redundantly, which means that an availability of the determination may be high. The determination can still be performed at the same level of certainty even if a sensor or validator fails. The technique described also permits later addition of further sensors or validators that can use new heuristics for determination.
The technique described herein can be used to automatically control the first vehicle in an improved manner. Action by a driver may be necessary less often or not at all now. Safety for the two vehicles and the occupants thereof can be increased.
The collision warning is preferably also provided if it is determined, based on the individual determinations, that the first and the second vehicle are travelling in the same lane of the road. The collision warning can thus be provided whenever it is not possible to determine with sufficient certainty that the vehicles are in different lanes. The absence of a collision warning can indicate a safe possible overtaking maneuver by the first vehicle in respect of the second vehicle if the two vehicles follow their lanes. It is assumed in this case that the first vehicle is travelling faster than the second.
A determination certainty for an individual determination can be determined on the basis of the scans by the associated sensor. As such, it is possible to ensure that the scans are at least largely independent of one another, which is a prerequisite for correctly forming the overall determination certainty as the product of the individual determination certainties. By way of example, scans by a sensor can be taken as a basis for determining whether said sensor was actually able to detect the second vehicle, what positioning error can be expected on the basis of a distance between the vehicles, what level of noise there is in the scans or whether the second vehicle can be attributed to one of the lanes sufficiently reliably.
The scans by different sensors can be substantially independent of one another. To this end, the sensors can use different measurement principles or be based on different heuristics. By way of example, a first sensor in the form of a camera can scan the second vehicle and a marking of the lanes on the road, while a second sensor in the form of a LiDAR sensor can observe whether a third vehicle travelling in the same lane as the first successfully passes the second.
The determination certainties may be categorized into predetermined levels. This allows improved determination of whether or not a determination certainty meets predetermined requirements; additionally, the whole determination certainty can be checked in an improved manner for whether it reaches the predetermined threshold value.
In a further embodiment, an individual determination is carried out with reference to information on a geographical map, wherein the determination certainty of the individual determination is not determined to be greater than a determination certainty of the map. It is thus possible to avoid determining a high determination certainty that may be based unnoticed on a large map error. This limitation does not need to be borne in mind for sensors whose scans are not supported by map data.
The threshold value can be determined on the basis of a driving state of the first vehicle. The threshold value can in particular be adjusted to match a possible effect of a collision between the vehicles. If a damaging effect to be expected in the event of a collision is great, then the threshold value may be increased in order to avert the occurrence of the damage with greater certainty. If for example a speed of travel of the first vehicle is high, in particular compared to a speed of travel of the second vehicle, then the threshold value may be higher than for slow travel. In further embodiments, it is also possible to consider which collision avoidance means are still available. If, in a further example, the road is slippery, then emergency braking to avert a collision can result in less deceleration than when the road is dry. In this case, the threshold value can likewise be raised in order to permit an overtaking maneuver only when the use of different lanes is determined very reliably.
Accordingly, the limit that a determination certainty of an individual determination needs to exceed in order for the scans to be considered for determining the position of the second vehicle can also be dynamically matched to a driving state. The driving state can also include weather influences, a coefficient of friction with respect to a ground, cornering or existing visibility.
Scans by the sensor can be processed by means of predetermined heuristics. A sensor can comprise in particular one from a camera, a LiDAR sensor (grid fusion), a landmark positioner (similar to grid fusion, but with landmarks), a grid occupancy determiner (occupancy grid) and a lane course estimator (collective road course). The heuristics can process further information, in particular from a geographical map.
In one development, the first vehicle can be controlled on the basis of the collision warning. By way of example, a vehicle speed of the first vehicle can be automatically reduced in response to the collision warning. The reduction can take place on the basis of a distance between the vehicles and/or a determination certainty for the lanes. In a further embodiment, a change of lane by the first vehicle can be controlled.
In another development of the invention, it is possible to determine whether the lane used by the second vehicle is on a predetermined side of the lane used by the first vehicle, and the collision warning can also be provided if this is the case. It is thus possible to prevent the first vehicle from overtaking the second in a lane that is not permitted for this purpose. By way of example, it is possible to prevent overtaking on the right-hand side of the second vehicle, which is not permitted in Germany.
In yet another embodiment, if the determination certainty is only just below the threshold value, a deceleration strategy can be controlled in order to have more time before it is necessary to initiate a measure to avert a possible collision. If it is determined, based on the individual determinations, that the first and the second vehicle are travelling in different lanes of the road, and the product of the determination certainties is between the predetermined threshold value and a further predetermined, lower, threshold value, then the first vehicle can be decelerated only to the extent that its speed is still above the speed of the second vehicle.
A measure to avoid collisions, in particular slowing the first vehicle to or below the speed of travel of the second, or the first vehicle changing lane, can be deferred until a predetermined condition has arisen, for example the vehicles are within a predetermined distance. Should better scans by the sensors become available by this time, the determination certainty can increase and exceed the predetermined threshold value, which means that the second vehicle can be overtaken without risk.
The collision warning can be provided only if the first vehicle is travelling faster than the second. The collision warning can also be provided only if the vehicles are within a predetermined minimum distance of one another.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, a control apparatus for use aboard a first vehicle, travelling on a road, that has a second vehicle travelling ahead of it comprises multiple sensors, each for scanning the second vehicle; multiple validators, which are associated with the sensors in pairs; wherein a validator is configured to take scans by the associated sensor as a basis for providing an individual determination concerning whether the first and the second vehicle are travelling in the same lane of the road; wherein each sensor has an associated determination certainty; and a processing device for providing a collision warning if a product of the determination certainties is below a predetermined threshold value.
There may also be multiple validators for a sensor. By way of example, a camera can detect firstly lane markings and secondly other vehicles in order to estimate the lane course thereby. So that the two inputs can be treated as independent, shared error sources (dazzling, faulty camera) need to be treated separately, or to be sufficiently rare.
The processing device may be configured to perform a method as described herein wholly or in part. To this end, the processing device can comprise a programmable microcomputer or microcontroller and the method can be in the form of a computer program product containing program code means. The computer program product may also be stored on a computer-readable data storage medium. Features or advantages of the method can be transferred to the apparatus or vice versa.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, a vehicle comprises a control apparatus as described herein. The vehicle may in particular correspond to a first vehicle as described herein. The first and/or the second vehicle preferably comprises a motor vehicle. Particularly preferably, the first vehicle comprises a passenger car or a motorcycle, and the second vehicle comprises a truck or bus.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of one or more preferred embodiments when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Method for controlling a vehicle, and control apparatus for a vehicle

Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft


The present invention provides a power unit for conveyance, having a main power source and a standby power source. The power unit has a thermal battery provided as the standby power source. The conveyance is provided with an electronic control system and the power unit for conveyance of the present invention, and electric power for operating the electronic control system is supplied to the electronic control system from the power unit for conveyances. By employing such a thermal battery as the standby power source, the standby power source does not require to be charged, thereby ensuring a long-term reliability of the standby power source.

Conventionally, there have been provided systems such as brake-by-wire systems, steer-by-wire systems, shift-by-wire systems and drive-by-wire systems. In such systems when a driver conducts operations such as braking, steering, shifting and accelerating, an electrical signal is generated based on the control input of the operation. The displacement amount of the actuator on the vehicle operation is determined based on the electrical signal, and braking, steering, shifting, throttle control and the like are then conducted. Taking brake-by-wire systems as an example, the one is widely known which brakes the wheels by generating an electrical signal in response to a state in which a brake pedal is operated by a driver, that is, brake pedal stroke or brake pedal leg-power and by driving the actuator based on the electrical signal. For driving the actuator, such methods are conceivable in which for each wheel a brake friction pad is directly pressed against a disk using a motor or the like to obtain wheel braking force, and in which wheel cylinder pressure is generated by a pump to obtain wheel braking force.
In the above system, in which an actuator on the conveyance operation is driven based on an electrical signal to make adjustments such as acceleration/deceleration and movement direction of the conveyance, if an electrical signal stops, the driver's intention is not transmitted to the actuator. Therefore, a system structure such that an electrical signal is always transmitted correctly is necessary. Particularly, regarding power supply from an alternator or a battery, a device structure which can take measures against interruption of power supply to the electronic control system while the vehicle is traveling is desirable.
In response to this, for example, vehicle systems which are provided with two power sources to increase reliability of power supply are disclosed in JP H10-76925A and JP 2001-114039A. In such systems, even in the case when power supply from either power source stops, since power supply from the other power source is ensured, effective measures can be taken against interruption of power supply while the vehicle is traveling.
In such devices, however, in which a storage battery is employed as a preliminarily employed power source, since the storage battery anytime has to be charged at a level where discharge is possible, problems occur such that electric power is uselessly consumed and that deterioration of performance of the storage battery progresses due to constant charge.
The present invention is conducted to solve the above problems.

Power unit for conveyance and conveyance provided with the power unit


An ink-jet recording ink contains at least a colorant, a moisturizer, water and a water-soluble substance capable of undergoing polycondensation along with vaporization of the water, in which the colorant is a chelate azo dye.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to ink-jet recording inks suitable for ink-jet recording, methods for forming water-resistant images suitable for ink-jet recording, ink-jet recording inks for use in the methods, ink-jet recording apparatus, and imaged articles imaged by the apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Certain inks for use ink-jet recording comprise a dye as a colorant, a moisturizer and water. Images formed from these dye inks, however, have insufficient water resistance upon imaging on recording media such as recording paper. Particularly, when images are formed on plain paper using these inks, they have significantly low water resistance. Such plain paper is commercially available, is intended mainly to be used in electrophotographic copiers and is not optimized in its structure, composition and properties for use in ink-jet recording.
To increase water resistance in printing on plain paper, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 02-296878 and No. 02-255876 each disclose a water-based ink composition comprising a polyamine. However, in the ink, a salt of a hydrophilic moiety of the dye is formed, and the dye has decreased solubility, thus inviting nozzle clogging, decreased reliability, bronzing (association of the dye) on a printed matter, uneven printing and/or insufficient density.
JP-A No. 03-91577 discloses an ink composition. The ink composition includes a dye containing a carboxyl group with an ammonium salt group or volatile substituted ammonium salt group, in which ammonia or amine vaporizes and the carboxyl group is converted into a free acid on a recording medium to thereby produce an image with good water resistance. The dye shows good solubility in early stages but shows decreasing solubility with gradual vaporization of the ammonia or amine from the ink, thus often inviting nozzle clogging or decreased stability of ink.
As a possible solution to this problem, JP-A No. 10-212439, No. 11-293167, No. 11-315231 and No. 2002-265829 each disclose a technique of improving the water resistance of an image on a recording medium, by incorporating an organosilicon compound into an ink. The organosilicon compound is prepared by hydrolyzing a hydrolyzable silane compound having a nitrogen-containing organic group or its partial hydrolysate with a hydrolyzable silane compound or its partial hydrolysate.
According to this technique, the organosilicon compound undergoes polycondensation when an ink droplet is applied to a recording medium and water in the ink droplet vaporizes or penetrates into the recording medium, and the polycondensed organosilicon compound surrounds the dye. Thus, even when the resulting image on the recording medium gets wet with water, the dye does not bleed out into water, and the image has improved water resistance.
However, black inks among such conventional inks comprising the organosilicon compound fade after long-term storage. The fading is remarkable particularly in black inks containing an azo black dye. While its detailed mechanism has not been clarified, the fading occurs probably because the organosilicon compound attacks the azo bond of the azo black dye after long-term storage to thereby reduce the azo dye.
C. I. Acid Red 289 has high saturation, is useful as a magenta dye but does not show sufficiently high water resistance even with the use of the organosilicon compound. Hereinabove and hereinafter, "C. I." stands for color index. When an image formed from the ink gets wet, a magenta color bleeds out around the image.
The conventional inks comprising the organosilicon compound are also susceptible to their pH changes. Even when these inks are adjusted to basic in their preparation, their pH changes due to elution from ink tanks, degradation of the ink materials, or influence from the surroundings. The pH change induces precipitation, which in turn invites clogging of nozzle heads in an ink-jet printer. This is because such a dye used in an ink-jet ink is generally anionic and aggregates due to the pH change as a result of the incorporation of the organosilicon compound. This is also true for a pigment ink, because a pigment therein is dispersed stably generally by action of an anionic group adsorbed by or chemically bonded with the pigment.

Ink-jet recording ink, image forming method, ink-jet recording apparatus and imaged article

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


An adhesive tape comprising a base and, superimposed thereon, an adhesive layer, this adhesive layer comprising an adherent component (A), an epoxy resin (B), a thermally active latent epoxy resin curing agent (C), an energy radiation polymerizable compound (D) and a photopolymerization initiator (E), wherein either or both of the epoxy resin (B) and energy radiation polymerizable compound (D) have a dicyclopentadiene skeleton in its molecule or molecules thereof. The resultant adhesive tape has an adhesive layer which provides reduced water absorption of an adhesive curing product and which enables a lowering of the elastic modulus thereof during thermocompression bonding.

A semiconductor wafer of, for example, silicon or gallium arsenide is produced in the form of a large diameter. This wafer is cut and separated (diced) into small element chips (IC chips) and is transferred to the subsequent mounting step. In this process, in particular, the semiconductor wafer in the state of being stuck to a pressure sensitive adhesive tape is subjected to dicing, cleaning, drying, expanding and pickup steps, and is transferred to the subsequent bonding step.
It is desired that the above pressure sensitive adhesive tape employed from the semiconductor wafer dicing step through the pickup step have an adhesive strength which is so large as to securely hold the wafer chips in the dicing to drying steps but which is on such a level that no adhesive adheres to the wafer chips in the pickup step.
The chips having been picked up are bonded to lead frames with the use of a die bonding adhesive, such as an epoxy adhesive, in the die bonding step. Thus, semiconductor devices are produced. However, when IC chips are extremely small, application of an appropriate amount of adhesive is difficult, and there has occurred such a problem that the adhesive overflows IC chips. On the other hand, when IC chips are large, there has occurred such a problem that the bonding with satisfactory strength cannot be attained because of, for example, an insufficient amount of adhesive. Further, the application of such a die bonding adhesive is laborious. Therefore, there is a demand for an improvement enabling simplification of the process.
For solving the above problems, various pressure sensitive adhesive tapes for wafer sticking which can perform both a wafer fixing function and a die bonding function have been proposed (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2 (1990)-32181).
Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2 (1990)-32181 discloses a pressure sensitive adhesive tape comprising a base and, superimposed thereon, an adhesive layer constituted of a composition which is composed of a (meth) acrylic acid ester copolymer, a general-purpose epoxy resin, a general-purpose photopolymerizable low-molecular compound, a thermally active latent epoxy resin curing agent and a photopolymerization initiator. This adhesive layer performs a wafer fixing function at the time of wafer dicing. After the completion of dicing, when exposed to energy radiation, the adhesive layer is cured with the result that the adhesive strength between the adhesive layer and the base is lowered. Thus, upon picking up of IC chips, the pressure sensitive adhesive layer is detached together with the IC chips from the base. The IC chips with the pressure sensitive adhesive layer are mounted on lead frames and heated. Consequently, the epoxy resin contained in the adhesive layer exerts a bonding strength to thereby finalize bonding of the IC chips to lead frames.
The adhesive tape for wafer sticking disclosed in the above publication enables so-called direct die bonding and enables omitting the step of applying a die bonding adhesive. That is, in the adhesive layer of the adhesive tape, all the components are cured upon the die bonding carried out through the energy radiation curing and thermal curing, so that the chips and lead frames are bonded to each other with extremely large strength.
Thereafter, generally, wire bonding is conducted via the reflow step.
For use in the reflow step, in recent years, solders not containing lead have been developed in order to cope with environmental problems. The melting temperature of the solders not containing lead is higher than that of conventional solder containing lead, thereby rendering high reflow temperatures inevitable. However, when the reflow temperature is high, even a small amount of water contained in the adhesive layer would vaporize and inflate, thereby causing the danger of package cracking.
Moreover, at the time of die bonding, it is demanded that the adhesive layer properly follow the contour of adherend surface. In particular, for enhancing the follow property at the time of thermocompression bonding, it is demanded that the elastic modulus of the adhesive layer be low at the time of thermocompression bonding at high temperatures. However, the above conventional adhesives are unsatisfactory in this respect. Therefore, there is still a demand for improvement on pressure sensitive adhesives.
The present invention has been made in view of the above state of the prior art. It is an object of the present invention to provide an adhesive tape having an adhesive layer which enables reducing the water absorption of adhesive curing product and which enables lowering the elastic modulus thereof at thermocompression bonding.


A power control circuit includes: a fine adjustment variable amplifying unit configured to amplify the input signal in accordance with a first gain set value; a coarse adjustment variable amplifying unit configured to amplify the input signal in accordance with a second gain set value; a branching unit configured to branch an output signal into a feedback signal; a comparing unit configured to compare a gain value between the input signal and the output signal with the required gain set value; a control unit configured to determine the first gain set value and the second gain set value based on the required gain set value; and an adjusting unit configured to adjust the first gain set value and the second gain set value so that the power value of the feedback signal becomes a power value corresponding to the required gain set value.

1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a signal power control technology using a variable gain amplifier.
2. Description of the related art
The variable gain amplifier (VGA) is a circuit that variably controls a gain based on a control signal. The variable gain amplifier executes gain control to obtain a gain corresponding to a gain set value called a gain code contained in the control signal. There is a technique of linearly controlling power of an input signal by a power control circuit constructed of a combination of an amplifier, corresponding to this type of variable gain amplifier, capable of finely adjusting a gain adjustment range (which will hereinafter be referred to as a fine amplifier) and an amplifier, corresponding to the variable gain amplifier, having a coarser gain adjustment range than that of the fine amplifier (which will hereinafter be termed a coarse amplifier).
FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a conventional power control circuit. A conventional power control circuit 50 illustrated in FIG. 16 is constructed of a fine amplifier 51, a coarse amplifier 52 and a decoder 53.
FIG. 17 is a graphic chart showing gain characteristics of the fine amplifier 51 and the coarse amplifier 52. The fine amplifier 51 and the coarse amplifier 52 individually amplify the signal to be inputted with the gain characteristics illustrated in FIG. 17. A corresponding relationship between the gain codes inputted to the fine amplifier 51 and the coarse amplifier 52 and the gains, is referred to as a gain characteristic. In FIG. 17, a proportional straight line indicated by AMP. (FINE) on the left side of the graph represents the gain characteristic of the fine amplifier 51, while a black dot on the right side of the graph represents the gain characteristic of the coarse amplifier 52.
The fine amplifier 51 and the coarse amplifier 52 receive control signal (the gain codes in FIG. 17) sent from the decoder 53, and control the gains so as to obtain the gains corresponding to the control signal. According to the example in FIG. 17, the fine amplifier 51, which is supplied with gain codes CF0 through CFm, performs the gain control of the gains from 0 (dB(decibel)) through G1(dB). The coarse amplifier 52, which is supplied with gain codes CC0, CC1, CC2, executes the gain control stepwise such as 0(dB), G1(dB), G2(dB).
The decoder 53 receives the control signal inputted from an external circuit, decodes the control signal, thereby extracting the gain code from this control signal. The gain code sent from the external circuit is a set value representing a request gain, and the power value of the signal output from the conventional power control circuit 50 becomes the power value corresponding to an in-design gain value specified by the gain code. The decoder 53 determines each gain code (which is the gain code shown in FIG. 11) that should be sent to the fine amplifier 51 and the coarse amplifier 52, corresponding to a gain code showing the request gain (which will hereinafter be termed a request gain code). The decoder 53 transmits the thus-determined gain code to the fine amplifier 51 and the coarse amplifier 52, respectively.
FIG. 18 is a graphic chart showing an example of the gain control by the conventional power control circuit 50. According to the example in FIG. 18, if a gain G1x(dB) of the power control circuit 50 is requested, the control signal showing a request gain code C1x is inputted to the power control circuit 50. In the power control circuit 50, the decoder 53 extracts the request gain code C1x from the control signal, and determines the respective gain codes of the fine amplifier 51 and the coarse amplifier 52, which are necessary for acquiring the gain requested with this request gain code C1x. According to the example in FIG. 18, the gain code of the coarse amplifier 52 is determined to be CC1, and the gain code of the fine amplifier 51 is determined to be a code (e.g., CF3) for obtaining the gain (G1x−G1)(dB).
The decoder 53 sends the thus-determined gain code CC1 to the coarse amplifier 52, and also the gain code CF3 to the fine amplifier 51. As a result, as shown in FIG. 18, the output signal controlled with the gain G1x corresponding to the request gain code C1x is output from the power control circuit 50.
According to this type of conventional power control circuit 50, the combination of the two amplifier enables the gain to be finely adjusted with the larger gain range (ranging from 0 to G3 in the example in FIG. 18).
Note that the following document is disclosed as the document of the conventional art related to the invention of the present application. The document is a "Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H11-177371".
By the way, the conventional power control circuit 50 might, as illustrated in FIG. 19, in some cases, have occurrence of a difference between the gain characteristic that can be taken in design (in specification) of each of the fine amplifier 51 and the coarse amplifier 52 and the gain characteristic that is taken in an actual control operation. The difference between the gain characteristic that can be taken in design and the gain characteristic that is taken in the actual control operation, will hereinafter be referred to as a misalignment in the gain characteristic.
FIG. 19 is a graphic chart showing an example of the misalignments in the gain characteristics of the fine amplifier 51 and the coarse amplifier 52. The example in FIG. 19 shows that in the fine amplifier 51, when a maximum code CFm is inputted, the gain characteristic depicted by a bold solid line in the actual control operation gets smaller by D1(dB) than the in-design gain characteristic depicted by a long chain line. In the coarse amplifier 52, with respect to each gain code, the gain characteristic depicted by the black dot in the actual control operation is larger by D2(dB) than the in-design gain characteristic depicted by double circles. Thinkable causes of the occurrence of the misalignment in the gain characteristic are a manufacturing scatter of each circuit, a fluctuation in characteristic of each circuit that accompanies a change in temperature, etc.
FIG. 20 is a graphic chart showing an example of the misalignment in the gain control in the conventional power control circuit 50. As in the example in FIG. 19, if the misalignment occurs in the gain characteristic of each amplifier, the misalignment as shown in FIG. 20 occurs in the gain control of the conventional power control circuit 50. At this time, if G1(dB) or G2(dB) is requested as the gain, the request gain code C1m or C2m is inputted.
If such a misalignment in the gain characteristic occurs, however, the circuit is bound to enable the linear control to be done, and nevertheless the conventional power control circuit 50 can not actualize a gain range indicated by a dot pattern area in FIG. 20. This gain-uncontrollable gain range will hereinafter be referred to a gain step.
Accordingly, in the conventional power control circuit 50, a scheme for preventing the gains step from occurring involves combining the gain characteristics of the fine amplifier 51 and the coarse amplifier 52 so as to include a sufficient allowance by taking account of the misalignments described above. Namely, a design aims at increasing an overlapped range of the output gains of the fine amplifier 51 and the coarse amplifier 52.
In the conventional power control circuit 50 taking this design technique, however, duplication appears in the gain ranges that can be taken for the fine amplifier 51 and the coarse amplifier 52. Hence, if the misalignment in the gain characteristic does not occur, such a duplicated gain range is not utilized, and the conventional power control circuit 50 can not be therefore said to be a high-efficiency control circuit. As a matter of course, it follows that the conventional power control circuit 50 gets enlarged in circuit scale with futility.

Power control circuit and power control method


A liquid storage container is provided with a liquid storage part capable of storing a liquid, and a liquid supply part for supplying the liquid to the outside. The liquid supply part has a porous member containing holes for circulating the liquid, and a biasing member which is disposed between the porous member and the liquid storage part and which biases the porous member from the liquid storage part towards the outside.

In a liquid consumption device in which a liquid storage container is mounted, as described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-205893, when the liquid storage container is mounted on the liquid consumption device, the liquid is supplied from the liquid storage container to the liquid consumption device by contacting a liquid supply part provided in the liquid storage container and a liquid introduction port provided in the liquid consumption device. For example, in the ink-jet printer described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-207066, a foam is provided in a liquid supply part of the ink cartridge, and a metal filter is provided in the liquid introduction port of the ink-jet printer, and the liquid supply is performed by contacting these parts.

Liquid storage container and liquid supply system


The invention provides systems and methods for infusing a fluid into a patient. In one exemplary embodiment, a system comprises a volume of fluid and a temperature altering device in close proximity to the volume of fluid. The temperature altering device is employed to heat or cool the volume of fluid to a desired temperature. A positive pressure device is provided to place the volume of fluid under positive pressure while at the desired temperature. A transfer member is further provided to transfer at least some of the fluid into the patient while at the desired temperature.

The present invention relates generally to the introduction of various fluids into a patient, and more particularly to the alteration of the temperature of the fluids prior to their introduction so that the fluids are within a desired temperature range when introduced. In one particular aspect, the fluids are pressurized to facilitate their introduction into the patient at a desired rate and volume, thereby allowing the fluids to be introduced without relying on the assistance of gravity.
Various medical procedures rely on the introduction of different fluids into the body, often directly into the blood stream. In many cases, it is desirable to have such fluids introduced while the temperature of the fluids are within a desired range. For example, as described in copending U.S. application Ser. No. 08/769,931, pending filed Dec. 19, 1996 (Attorney Docket No. 19766-707), the complete disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference, heated or cooled fluids may be introduced into a patient suffering from hypothermia or hyperthermia, or for neuro protection. Copending U.S. application Ser. No. 08/769,931, pending filed Dec. 19, 1996, describes various catheter embodiments which heat or cool a fluid while the fluid is within the patient. In this manner, a fluid may be heated to a desired temperature to raise the patient's core body temperature and thereby reduce or eliminate the symptoms of hypothermia. Alternatively, such catheter embodiments may be employed to cool the fluid while within the patient to lower the patient's core body temperature. Cooling of the fluid while within the patient may also be employed by such catheter embodiments to cool a specific region of tissue prior to performing a surgical procedure.
In many cases the treatment of a patient requires urgent medical attention and may therefore limit the types of equipment that may be used for treatment. For instance, in cases where the introduction of fluids into the patient is a prescribed treatment, the fluids must be introduced into the patient as quickly as possible. In such cases, it would therefore be desirable to provide a portable system that could be used in the field or in an ambulance to rapidly infuse various fluids which are within a desired temperature range into the patient.
Many existing fluid introduction systems rely on a gravity feed system where the fluid is held within a compressible structure, such as an IV bag. However, such gravity feed systems are often inconvenient in cases where urgent treatment is required, such as in the field or in tight spaces where elevation of the IV bag is impossible, e.g. in an ambulance. For example, without proper elevation, it is difficult to regulate the rate and volume of fluid introduction.
Another drawback of such gravity feed systems is the difficulty in regulating the temperature of the fluid within the IV bag. Hence, with such systems it is difficult to ensure the fluid is at the proper temperature when introduced into the patient.
Hence, for these and other reasons, it would be desirable to provide systems and methods which would place a fluid within a desired temperature range prior to its introduction into a patient. Such systems and methods should also be conducive to urgent care settings which require mobility, manipulation in tight spaces and rapid preparation. Such systems and methods should also be able to precisely control the rate and volume of fluid introduction into the patient. Further, in some cases it would be desirable if the systems and methods were able to place the fluids within the desired temperature range while the fluids are within conventional containers, such as IV bags.

Infusion systems and methods for introducing fluids into the body within a desired temperature range


A plateau phase of a test signal of an exhaust gas probe located in a catalytic converter is detected following a jump from a preset rich air/fuel ratio in a combustion chamber of one cylinder to a preset lean air/fuel ratio, the plateau phase being obtained following the jump, and the duration is determined as a storage period. A plateau phase of the test signal, which is obtained following a jump from a preset lean air/fuel ratio to a preset rich air/fuel ratio, is detected following the jump, and the duration of the plateau phase is determined as an evacuation period. An allocation rule for assigning the test signal to a detected air/fuel ratio is adjusted according to the storage period and the evacuation period. To calibrate the exhaust gas probe, the allocation rule is adapted according to a plateau value of the test signal during the plateau phase.

Ever stricter statutory regulations regarding permissible pollutant emissions from motor vehicles which have internal combustion engines make it necessary to keep the pollutant emissions as low as possible during operation of the internal combustion engine. This can be achieved, on the one hand, in that the pollutant emissions which arise during combustion of the fuel/air mixture in the respective cylinder of the internal combustion engine are reduced. On the other hand, exhaust treatment systems which convert the pollutant emissions which are produced during combustion of the fuel/air mixture in the respective cylinder into harmless substances are used in internal combustion engines. For this purpose, catalytic converters which convert carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides into harmless substances are used. Both targeted influencing of the production of the pollutant emissions during combustion and the conversion of the pollutant components with a high level of efficiency by an exhaust catalytic converter require a very precisely adjusted air/fuel ratio in the respective cylinder.
The SAE International publication "A Metal Substrate with Integrated Oxygen Sensor; Functionality and Influence on Air/Fuel Ratio Control", Mats Laurell et al., SAE 2003-01-0818, describes a device for an internal combustion engine with a catalytic converter in the exhaust system. A linear lambda sensor is arranged in the exhaust system upstream from the exhaust catalytic converter. Also arranged in the exhaust catalytic converter are a first and a second binary lambda probe. The binary lambda probe is used for trimming the probe signal from the linear lambda sensor. The measured signal from the linear lambda sensor which is thus trimmed is the control variable of the lambda controller.
From the textbook "Handbuch Verbrennungsmotor", edited by Richard von Basshuysen, Fred Schäfer, 2nd edition, Vieweg & Sohn Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, June 2002, pages 559-561, a linear lambda control system is known which has a linear lambda probe arranged upstream of an exhaust catalytic converter, and a binary lambda probe which is arranged downstream of the exhaust catalytic converter. A target lambda value is filtered by a filter which takes account of the delays and the sensor behavior. The thus filtered lambda target value is the control variable of a PII2D-Lambda controller whose manipulated variable is an injection quantity correction.
Also known from the textbook "Handbuch Verbrennungsmotor", edited by Richard von Basshuysen, Fred Schäfer, 2nd edition, Vieweg & Sohn Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, June 2002, pages 559-561, is a binary lambda control system which has a binary lambda probe arranged upstream of the exhaust catalytic converter. The binary lambda control system also comprises a PI controller wherein the P and I components are stored in engine characteristic maps as engine speed and load. With the binary lambda control, excitation of the catalyst, also denoted as lambda oscillation, is implicitly produced by two-step control. The amplitude of the lambda oscillation is set to about three percent.

Method and device for the calibration of an exhaust gas probe, and method and device for the operation of an internal combustion engine


A parent artery occlusion (PAO) device which provides for immediate occlusion of a cerebral artery to isolate a defect. The PAO device includes a self-expanding wire-frame prolate structure which is partially covered with an ePTFE membrane.

The devices described below are intended for treatment of defects in the cerebral arteries and veins. Defects of the cerebral arteries include aneurysms, fusiform aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations, arteriovenous fistulas, cavernous fistulas and dissections and other hyper-vascular lesions (head and neck tumors, etc.). These defects cause of variety of symptoms, ranging from headache and vision loss to stroke and death. Preferably, these defects would be treated with devices and techniques that leave the associated parent artery or vein intact and patent so that it may continue to supply blood to regions of the brain which it naturally supplies. Such techniques include filling an aneurysm with occlusive polymers or occlusive coils, or inserting stents or covered stents, where feasible. In many cases, however, this is not advisable or possible because the artery vein segment in which the defect, or the defect itself, will not accommodate the devices, or because the patient's condition indicates that immediate cessation of blood flow is required.
The alternate, when parent artery preservation is not advisable, is parent artery occlusion, or PAO. Parent artery occlusion is accomplished by quickly and securely closing off a length of a blood vessel near the defect, and preferably results in immediate and complete blockage of blood flow to the defect, and permanent isolation of the blood vessel segment near the defect. Parent artery occlusion is sometimes referred to more broadly as parent vessel occlusion, to encompass occlusion of both arteries and veins. Several endovascular devices and techniques have been developed to accomplish parent artery occlusion. Detachable balloons have previously been proposed and used for parent artery occlusion, but were not successful because the balloons to often leaked and deflated, leading to major embolic complications. (Giant Intracranial Aneurysms at 257 (Awad, Issam and Barrow, Daniel, eds., Thieme/AANS 1st ed., 1995)). Occlusive coils have been used to pack fusiform aneurysms and cavernous fistulas, but this is extremely expensive (it may require dozens of coils) and does not result in immediate occlusion. Thus, trickling blood flow, which occurs for several minutes while the patient's blood is coagulating around the mass of coils, may lead to creation and migration of thrombus from the mass of coils. Vascular plugs have been used to accomplish parent artery occlusion. Currently available plugs, such as the Amplatzer vascular plug, are used off-label in the neuro-vasculature, and are difficult to deploy. Ross, et al., The Vascular Plug: A New Device for Parent Artery Occlusion, 28 AJNR Am J Neuroradiology 385 (February 2007). Also, the open-mesh construction of these vascular plugs may result in dislodgement of thrombus as it is forming on the plug, leading to embolization downstream of the occluded artery.


A laboratory centrifuge includes a continuous metal plate comprising an underbody base plate having a rotor drive motor mounted thereon, an angled front screen which contains operating devices and display instruments, and a bending region which extends between the base plate and the front screen. At least two reciprocally parallel rows of decoupling slots are arranged between the bending region of the metal plate and the base plate. The decoupling slots form a meandering bar connection between the front screen and the base plate, by which noise generated due to imbalance at the rotor or structural noise in the direction of the front plate is considerably reduced. A conventional table centrifuge housing having a hinged lid and rotor bowl is fitted on the underbody.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to centrifuges and, more specifically, small table top centrifuges having minimal components and reduced noise generation.
2. Present State of the Art
Centrifuges, and particularly small table top centrifuges, are used in a variety of different environments for facilitating such services as separating substances of different densities, removing moisture from materials, and for simulating gravitational effects. A conventional table top centrifuge includes a housing enclosing a chamber. Disposed within the chamber is a motor which rotates a shaft. During operation, a substance, typically a solution, is secured by a rotor to the shaft. The shaft and rotor then spin rapidly which produces an increased gravitational force on the substance. Where the substance is a solution, the elements of the solution are separated by density.
Since centrifuges operate at high speeds which produce tremendous forces, the housing of conventional centrifuges is made of plates of high strength steel or other metal. From a manufacturing perspective, such centrifuges are time consuming to assemble and expensive in terms of material costs and labor costs. The resulting product is also relatively heavy, making it difficult to handle and expensive to transport. The high weight and cost are also a burden on the consumer. Furthermore, most conventional table top centrifuges are noisy during operation and thus uncomfortable to work around. Much of the noise is generated as a result of the centrifuge being unbalanced and thus vibrating during operation.
One attempt to solve some of the above problems is disclosed in German utility patent 72 24 033 and corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 3,804,324. The '324 patent discloses a table top centrifuge having a housing in which a motor and central rotor is positioned. The housing includes an encircling side wall having a base and a cover attached thereto. The housing is manufactured from structural high-strength foam, preferably polyurethane high-strength foam. To improve the stability of the centrifuge housing, a metal jacket is embedded within the walls of the housing. Although the metal jacket is perforated to reduce noise generation, the process of embedding the metal jacket during formation of the foamed walls is technically expensive.
A centrifuge is also disclosed in German Patent No. 1,961,734. The centrifuge of the '734 patent has a housing divided into a stationary lower part and an elastically suspended upper part. A centrifugal basket is seated within the upper part of the housing. In this configuration, vibrations of the rotor caused by imbalance are damped. This device, however, does not provide an axial connection of the drive motor and rotor. As a result, a relatively large amount of space is required to mount a separate drive motor as well as the accompanying drive connection. This required increased size makes the centrifuge less appealing to those seeking small table top centrifuges.

Centrifuge with reduced noise generation


The invention relates to a device for dispensing a liquid additive into a fuel circulation circuit for an internal combustion engine, comprising a reservoir (12) of liquid additive allowing an additive to be distributed into the fuel circulation circuit by means of a distribution line (16), characterized in that it comprises an additive chamber (22) in communication with the fuel circulation circuit and at least one wall (32) that is mobile and fluidtight between said additive chamber and the additive reservoir which, on the one hand, provides a fluidtight division and, on the other hand, maintains equal pressure between the additive in the additive reservoir and the fuel in the additive chamber.

New engine technologies, such as diesel engines with a common rail and a very high pressure fuel injection system, offer high performance but are very sensitive to fuel quality. There is therefore a benefit to using a fuel containing additives to improve its quality, such as additives to improve fuel distribution in the engine, additives to improve engine performance, and additives to improve engine operation stability. The quality of available commercial fuels does not always allow supplying the vehicle with fuel of good quality, even when enhanced with additives.
Furthermore, in order to meet new vehicle emission standards, especially for diesel, vehicles are progressively being equipped with Particulate Filters (PF). This is already the case in Europe, ever since the introduction of the Euro 5 standard. In most cases, a catalyst is used to help periodically burn the soot and thus regenerate the PF. It is no longer sufficient to efficiently regenerate the PF in order to stop the black smoke and soot. Now the major challenge is to reduce emissions of CO2 and nitrogen oxides NOx simultaneously while keeping the vehicle reliable, economical, and offering good performance, particularly when using biofuel. The vehicle must also be competitive against rival gas and hybrid offers. The use of a PF regeneration additive, carried by the fuel supplied to the engine (Fuel-Borne Catalyst—FBC), has been found to satisfy numerous criteria because it allows regenerating the PF more quickly and at a lower temperature than the competing technology known as Catalyst Soot Filter (CSF). Moreover, the FBC technology has no constraints concerning the ratio of NOx/soot, which is essential to integrating a catalyst that helps eliminates NOx, considering that the Euro 6 standard will take effect in 2014.
It is therefore advantageous to equip the vehicle with a device that allows introducing into the fuel an additive that helps regenerate the PF and/or fuel additives improving the fuel quality and/or the engine operation and/or the engine durability.
Known systems exist for introducing such additives into the fuel, such as FBC catalyst additives to assist with PF regeneration. These systems are generally based on a large reservoir, at least 2 to 3 liters in volume, to hold the supply of additive and which must be installed close to the fuel tank.
Current strategies for injecting doses of additive also rely on high precision dosing pumps, which must be controlled via an additional dedicated unit, the electronic control unit (or ECU). This dosing device must be managed closely to ensure there is sufficient additive in the fuel for good PF regeneration, but not too much so as to avoid premature PF clogging due to the mineral residues it collects from the PF regeneration. Conventionally, when the fuel level rises in the tank after adding fuel, the control unit indicates to the pump the amount of additive to be injected into the tank in order to maintain a constant concentration of additive in the fuel within the tank.
These dosing pumps are extremely precise and their cost is far from insignificant when considering the overall economics. Similarly, the ECU management of the system also plays a large role in the cost of the complete system.
The use of such a strategy also involves properly controlling the dosing system and verifying its state, which is particularly intrusive when managing vehicle failure modes.
In terms of maintenance, filling the reservoir is fairly difficult and is done through a connector adapted for the filling requirements and for the additive reservoir.
For example, diesel vehicles in the PSA group are equipped with such a device.
In certain geographical regions, such as the developing countries, it is difficult to guarantee that the reservoir will be properly filled throughout the life of the vehicle. It is therefore necessary to eliminate this uncertainty which can be detrimental to the automobile manufacturers image.
It is sometimes necessary to introduce additives into the fuel of motor vehicles which are intended to change the intrinsic qualities of the fuel or to act in the fuel distribution circuit or after combustion. These include, for example, anti-fungal agents, lubricant additives, detergent additives, antifreeze agents, or additives which help regenerate particulate filters, such as FBCs.
These additives can be added to the fuel when filling the fuel tank, dispensed in a diffuse and continuous manner into the fuel distribution circuit, or injected intermittently as a function of specific parameters such as, for example, fuel temperature, real-time or average fuel consumption, engine speed, or intervals of time.
Patent FR2668203 is already known, which discloses the introduction of a particulate filter regeneration additive into the fuel tank when filling the tank. This technical solution has the disadvantage of requiring an additive reservoir of significant volume as well as an electronic system for measuring the filling of the fuel tank. In addition, this technical solution increases the weight of the vehicle, and therefore its fuel consumption.
Also known are patents EP1061251 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,153,422, which disclose a fuel filter including an additive reservoir, where the additive is released into the fuel distribution circuit. This technical solution has the disadvantage of the additive being dissolved or diluted by the fuel introduced into the additive reservoir, which does not allow controlling the concentration of the additive released into the fuel.


A system is provided which is capable of connecting a call without degrading the security level in a mobile terminal network, even when a call addressed to a user equipment (UE) arrives via the Internet or a home network. A femto base station receives a packet addressed to a UE via the Internet or a home network, and starts a paging procedure. The UE establishes an RRC connection to the femto base station. The UE transmits, to the femto base station, a paging response addressed to the SGSN. The femto base station performs NAS verification. If the femto base station detects the paging response to a paging request that the femto base station itself has issued, the femto base station changes the service type of the service request received from the UE from the paging response to signaling.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a base station apparatus, gateway apparatus, call connection establishment method and wireless communication system, for controlling call connection establishment.
2. Description of the Related Art
A macro cell base station apparatus for wireless communication (macro base station) having a large cell radius is provided mainly outdoors, and, in addition to this, 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is studying to provide a femto cell base station apparatus (femto base station) having a cell radius of approximately several tens of meters in a household, office, and an indoor facility such as a restaurant.
FIG. 1 shows a system configuration in the event a femto base station is provided in a household. As shown in FIG. 1, in a household, it is likely that, in addition to a femto base station, an IP telephone, an IP-TV, and furthermore a plurality of personal computers and suchlike devices, share one xDSL, FTTH or suchlike Internet-connecting network via fixed-line system. The femto base station is connected with a core network via a concentrator (GW).
Lately, to provide a solution for increasing traffic of, for example, data communication, many mobile operators are forced to improve equipment and facilities. Consequently, by introducing a femto base station, it is possible to keep the cost lower than providing additional base stations outdoors and off-load indoor-originated communication traffic directly to the Internet. By this means, it is expected to reduce load of a core network in a mobile network system. Also, in future, a communication device in a user's premise and a mobile terminal are expected to be able to communicate directly with each other, via a femto base station, without traversing mobile operator's core network, and provide various interactive services to the user.
Next, the steps of call connection establishment in an IMT-2000 packet system, disclosed in non-patent literature 1 for example, will be described using FIG. 2. Referring to FIG. 2, a UE, after a connection established with a Radio Network Controller (RNC) through Radio Resource Control (RRC) call connection establishment procedure (ST 11), requests a start of service to an SGSN, using a service request, which is a GPRS Mobility Management (GMM) protocol signal (ST 12). A service request message includes information to request a signaling connection (connection for signaling) between the UE and the SGSN (service type: signaling).
The SGSN performs authentication processing for the UE having requested signaling connection (ST 13), and, if, as a result of this, the UE is identified as a valid UE, indicates RNC to initiate ciphering processing for a radio connection by a security mode command, which is an RANAP signal (ST 14). Then, if ciphering processing has been performed successfully, the UE requests call connection establishment using a PDP context activation request (or "Activate Packet Data Protocol Context Request"), which is a Session Management (SM) signal (ST 15).
In this SM signal, an Access Point Name (APN) to specify a target data network (packet data network: PDN) for the connection is provided, so that the SGSN, upon receiving this SM signal, acquires IP address information of the GGSN to connect to, based on the APN information, through a Domain Name System (DNS) procedure. Then, upon successfully acquiring the IP address of the GGSN, the SGSN transmits an RAB Assignment Request, which is an RANAP signal, to the RNC, and requests tunnel establishment between the RNC and the SGSN (ST 16).
Next, the SGSN, having checked the tunnel established between the RNC and the SGSN, transmits a PDP context creating request (or "Create PDP Context Request"), which is a GPRS Tunneling Protocol (GTP) signal, to the GGSN having the IP address acquired through the DNS procedure, and requests call connection establishment for the UE (ST 17).
In this GTP signal, also, APN information is provided, so that GGSN having received the GTP signal can identify the PDN to establish the connection, based on the APN information. When the GGSN successfully completes call connection establishment processing, the SGSN is reported that call connection establishment processing has been performed successfully, by means of a PDP context creating response (or "Create PDP Context Response"), which is a GTP signal (ST 18). At this point in time the GGSN configures routing information (i.e., route selection) for the UE, and manages the routing information as PDP context.
Next, a response signal from the GGSN is transmitted to the UE using a PDP context activation accept (or "Activate PDP Context Accept"), which is an SM signal (ST 19), and the UE starts transmitting and receiving user data (i.e., packet communication) (ST 20). At this point in time, the SGSN configures routing information for the UE, and manages the routing information as PDP context.
In this way, through the above series of processing, an IMT-2000 packet system sets up logical connections between a UE and a GGSN on a per connection basis and performs tunneling, thereby enabling packet communication.
Next, the steps of traffic off-loading for communication traffic between a femto base station and the Internet or home network, without traversing mobile operator's core network, will be described using FIG. 3. Note that, parts in FIG. 3 that are the same as in FIG. 2 will be assigned the same reference codes as in FIG. 2, and their detailed descriptions will be omitted. Assume here that the femto base station has the SGSN and GGSN functionalities shown in FIG. 2. Also, since the UE cannot be attached to more than one SGSN at the same time, another assumption is given that the UE keeps being attached to one SGSN that is located in a core network.
The femto base station, having received a PDP context activation request transmitted from the UE, does not transfer this request to the SGSN, and, instead, selects a PDN to connect to, based on APN information, using its own SGSN function (ST 21). Assume that, for example, the ISP to provide broadband access to the user's home can be identified based on information included in APN.
The femto base station determines to process call connection establishment for the UE using its co-located GGSN function which the femto base station owns. Later, by performing processing from ST 16 to ST 20 in FIG. 2 using the GGSN, SGSN, RNC and Node B functionalities provided in the femto base station, it is possible to establish logical connections between the UE and the GGSN, on a per connection basis, and consequently enable communication traffic originating from a femto base station to be off-loaded directly to the Internet or home network, without traversing a mobile operator's core network.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Serving GPRS support node and controlling method

Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America


An embodiment relates to a phosphor composition, a light-emitting device package comprising the same, and a lighting apparatus and, more particularly, to a phosphor composition comprising a first phosphor, excited by an excitation light source, for emitting a first wavelength range of light, a second phosphor, excited by the excitation light source, for emitting a second wavelength range of light, and a third phosphor, excited by the excitation light source, for emitting a third wavelength range of light. The light emitted from the phosphor composition exhibits an increased intensity of light in a blue-green wavelength region with the consequent improvement of color rendering index and a shortened wavelength of light in a red wavelength region with the consequent improvement of luminous flux.

Light emitting devices such as light emitting diodes and laser diodes using semiconductors III-V or II-VI compound semiconductors can be used for various colors such as red, green, blue, and ultraviolet, and it is possible to provide white light with high efficiency by using phosphor or color combination. Light emitting devices have low power consumption, semi-permanent lifetime, fast response speed, safety, and environment friendliness compared to conventional light sources such as fluorescent lamps and incandescent lamps.
In the method of providing white light, a fluorescent material is disposed on a blue or ultraviolet (UV) light emitting diode chip by a single chip type. Also, a white light is obtained by combining phosphor multi-chip type.
In the case of a multi-chip type, there is a typical method in which three kinds of chips of RGB (Red, Green, and Blue) are combined. In this case, the operation voltage of each chip is uneven, so there is a problem that the color coordinates are different due to the difference of power depending on relevant situations.
Further, in the case of implementing white light by a single chip, a method of using light emitted from a blue LED and exciting at least one of the phosphors using the light to obtain white light is used.
In addition, various phosphors have been developed to improve the color reproducibility while having a high luminance value when the light emitting device package is applied. In particular, needs for improving the color rendering index and improving the luminous flux are increasing.

Phosphor composition, light-emitting device package comprising same, and lighting apparatus


Systems and methods for hysteretically controlling Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) when the input voltage is greater than or equal to 18 volts. An example system includes one or more LEDs and a circuit electrically coupled to the one or more LEDs. The circuit hysteretically controls an input voltage supplied to the one or more LEDs based on a sensed electric current that passes through the LEDs. The circuit includes a MOSFET switch for switching on and off the input voltage supplied to the one or more LEDs, a current sensing subcircuit including a first integrated circuit (IC) for sensing the current flowing through the one or more LEDs, a hysteretic comparator circuit including a second IC for generating a hysteretic control signal based on the sensed current, and a switch driver including a third IC for controlling operation of the switch based on the generated hysteretic control signal.

Current hysteretic controllers for Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) are either limited to an input voltage below 18 volts or use complex implementations involving level shifting and charge pumps implemented with discrete electronic components to control a high-side switch. Other high voltage LED controllers require large inductor values or sense the current only when the switch is on. This leads to errors in the average value of the current being controlled. Therefore, a need exists for a hysteretic controller with a simple, less costly, implementation that allows for an input voltage greater than or equal to 18 volts.

High-side current sense hysteretic LED controller


The present invention discloses a method of manufacturing a keypad structure having a transparent keycap and a keypad structure having a transparent keycap. A metal pattern layer is formed on a transparent resin layer of a keycap component. Two print layers are formed on a transparent resin layer of an overprint component. Two print layers and the metal pattern layer are overlapped and have a level difference in height of the total thickness of the two transparent layers. Accordingly, the figure of the keypad seems to be floated and is felt to be three-dimensional.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a keypad structure and a method of manufacturing the same, and more particularly, to a thin-type keypad structure having planar metal figures with three-dimensional floating effect.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Electronic products such as cell phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) usually have keypad keyboards. In the present market, keypad keyboards are mainly categorized into metal keypad keyboards with metallic luster and common plastic keypad keyboards. Conventionally, the metallic luster and the figures such as numerals, symbols and English letters formed on the keypad keyboards are manufactured by virtue of print production or laser carving method, whereas only two-dimensional flat visual effect may be achieved. Also, the aforementioned figures may be stripped off with ease and damaged due to frequent pressings. For this reason, in order to enhance the protection for the figures and increase three-dimensional beauty as well, the technology for forming figures on the bottom surface of the keycap component has developed.
For example, Taiwan patent number M353416 discloses a keypad keyboard having metal figures. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the metal figures are covered by the outer transparent layer. The keypad keyboard includes a substrate 1 and a plurality of keycaps 2. The substrate 1 has a first surface 11 and a second surface 12 on the opposite sides, and the substrate 1 may be soft material such as rubber, but not limited thereto. Pluralities of plungers 13 are disposed on the second surface 12 of the substrate 1. Also, the keycap components 2 are respectively disposed on the top of the substrate 1. In this embodiment, the keycap components 2 are disposed on the top of the first surface 11 of the substrate 1. Each of the keycap components 2 has at least a metal FIG. 21 and an outer transparent layer 22, and the metal FIG. 21 with micro-shaped protrusions are disposed on the surface corresponding to the transparent layer 3 and disposed on the top of the first surface 11 of the substrate 1. The outer transparent layer 22 covers metal FIG. 21, such that the metal FIG. 21 are embedded inside the outer transparent layer 22. The metal FIG. 21 include numerals, symbols and English letters or the combination of the aforementioned metal figures, but are not limited thereto. In addition, the thickness t of the metal FIG. 21 is between 0.04 and 0.07 mm, and is preferably between 0.05 and 0.06 mm for optimized effect. Also, the outer transparent layer 22 is formed by UV-cured resin, and the plungers 13 of the substrate 1 correspond to the bottom of the keycap components 2.
The keypad keyboards of the electronic products have to be relatively thin and small for the devices with reduced size and weight as desired so as to accord with the demand of the market. Consequently, there is still a need for a novel keypad with a thin and small structure.

Method of manufacturing a keypad structure having a transparent keycap and keypad structure having a transparent keycap


Improvements in automatic weighing machines for food products that exhibit several buckets (6), arranged in a circle and in an overhanging manner, joined radially to a revolving central support (7) in relation to a vertical axis; each bucket is joined to the support by two horizontal, parallel and superimposed elastic bands (12), that allow for its vertical swinging; and these buckets pass successively over a station (13) with a single device for weighing (14) connected with the programming processing unit, and they have at least one of their walls (15) that is movable for the selective unloading of each batch of units of the product contained in the corresponding buckets selected according to the total weight desired, and this unloading is effected onto device (32)-(33) for conveying these batches toward the exit of the machine.

1. Field of the Invention
The present patent relates to certain improvements in automatic weighing machines for food products which contribute various advantages to the function they are intended for and these advantages will be noted further on, besides others inherent to their organization and make-up.
2. Description of Related Art
Machines weighing food products are already known in which there is a relatively high number of containers, for example 10 to 14, which are fed with the products to be weighed from a single common entrance and which are unloaded onto other analogous containers on which the weighing is done; the machine may lack these latter containers, in which case the first ones are directly weighers. These known weighing machines include an electronic computer unit that performs the calculation of the possible weight combinations of the products stored in these containers and selects those containers whose sum of weight, in other words its total weight, is most approximate to the weight desired, and orders it to be unloaded on an exit transporter that is exhibited by these machines. This strategy corresponds to what is called "associative weighing," in which the product goes through various weighing points and an electronic calculator looks for a combination whose real value most closely approximates the desired nominal weight.
The applicant company itself is the owner of U.S. Pat. No. 8,700,794, which protects an automatic weighing machine for food products of the type (which in turn corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 500,951 also granted to the applicant company) that comprises a structure or frame supporting the members of the machine, means for activating these members, means for feeding in the appropriate product, some means to weigh it, some bins to store it temporarily and equipped with means for unloading it onto means to convey it to the exit of the machine and a programming processing unit, which continually records the real weight of the product entering the machine as it is being weighed, as well as the real weight of the product which at each moment is contained by all and each one of the temporary storage bins, and when the weight of the product contained in a corresponding bin reaches a value preset by the user of the machine, the programming processing unit orders the unloading of all the units of product with this preset final weight; there are appropriate connection means between the above mentioned programming processing unit and the corresponding members of the machine, as well as conventional means of control, monitoring, safety, etc. of the machine.
The automatic weighing machine that is the object of the above mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 8,700,794 is characterized in that the means for feeding the product into the entrance of the machine, controlled by the programming processing unit, preferably comprise a hopper, a conduit and at least one endless belt, whose end empties out above a series of buckets that are opened on the top to receive the product which is unloaded from this end; these buckets are arranged in a circle and joined respectively in an overhanging manner to individual means for weighing that are aligned radially and closer to the center than the buckets themselves; these means for weighing are then connected with the programming processing unit and mounted on a horizontal revolving platform by suitable means in relation to a central vertical axis; in that the above mentioned buckets exhibit at least one of its walls that is movable, that is activated by suitable means and controlled by the programming processing unit; and in that it exhibits, below these buckets, a series of fixed bins that are open on the top to receive the corresponding product already weighed and with at least one of its walls that is movable, also activated by suitable means and controlled by the programming processing unit, to allow for the unloading of each batch of units of product with the preset final weight (with the batch being gathered in a suitable fixed bin); the unloading is performed on the means for conveying the above mentioned batches of product toward the exit of the machine.
The strategy followed by both the machine that is the object of U.S. Pat. No. 8,700,794 and that of U.S. Pat. No. 500,951 in their functioning corresponds to what is called "accumulative weighing," in which the programming processing units permanently take account of the real weights of the units of product that it is continually storing temporarily in all the bins that are exhibited by these machines for this purpose and continually combines them mathematically with the real weights of the units of product as they are being weighed. In this way, a greater production is obtained per unit of time of batches of units of products having a preset final weight (and also with a preset tolerance) and also a lesser number of rejected units is obtained in comparison with weighing machines known before the oldest U.S. Pat. No. 500,951.
The machine that is the object of U.S. Pat. No. 8,700,794 is adaptable to a very wide range of products (peppers, onions, potatoes, garlic, citrus products, Brussels sprouts, apples, nuts, green beans, and in general food products of varying sizes); and it has a high rate of production with minimum rejection, without the danger of possible damage to the product initially rejected, since this product remains in its corresponding bucket, and it also allows for greater regularity in the weight of the batches obtained, with a self-regulation of the feeding, in accord with the desired final weight of the batch of units of product to be obtained.

Automatic weighing machines for food products


A composition for reducing microbial activity in an environment susceptible to microbial activity, comprising: metallic nanoparticles; and an oxygenation agent.

Periodontal disease relates to a group of diseases that affect the tissues that support and anchor the teeth. Periodontal disease (also known as gum disease) exhibits inflammatory response and if left untreated, can result in bleeding and destruction of the gingival attachment and alveolar bone loss.
Periodontal disease affects human populations worldwide at high prevalence rates. Research suggests there are strong associations between chronic oral infections, particularly periodontitis and gingivitis, with a greater risk of diabetes, heart and lung disease, stroke, osteoporosis, low birth weight and premature birth. Currently, the treatment of periodontal disease is dominated by dental procedures such as scaling, root planning, and surgery. These procedures are generally invasive techniques and can be very costly to patients.
It would be desirable to provide a composition that addresses or at least ameliorates one or more disadvantages associated with current treatments.
Microbial activity is also invasive in many other environments, including infections in open wounds, contamination of water bodies, or infection of plant material.
It would be desirable to provide a composition that is able to reduce the microbial activity in such environments, whether that be by coating the body to prevent microbes penetrating, repelling the microbes, trapping and killing the microbes.
The discussion of documents, acts, materials, devices, articles and the like is included in this specification solely for the purpose of providing a context for the present invention. It is not suggested or represented that any or all of these matters formed part of the prior art base or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the present invention as it existed before the priority date of each claim of this application.
Where the terms "comprise", "comprises", "comprised" or "comprising" are used in this specification (including the claims) they are to be interpreted as specifying the presence of the stated features, integers, steps or components, but not precluding the presence of one or more other features, integers, steps or components, or group thereof.

Composition for the prevention of microbial growth


There is described a method for controlling a hybrid electric vehicle power-train comprising an internal combustion engine, an electric machine and a transmission, the transmission having a gear set with three rotational elements rotationally coupled to the internal combustion engine, the electric machine and the vehicle driving wheel, a rotational speed of any one of the three rotational elements being mechanically defined by the rotational velocity of the remainder of the three rotational elements. The method comprises adjusting the torque of the electric machine to change the speed of the internal combustion engine and to control the velocity of the electric machine above a predetermined value, and decreasing the torque of the internal combustion engine while substantially maintaining the intake manifold pressure of the internal combustion engine in response to a decrease in the demanded engine output. The method may advantageously improve both of the engine efficiency and the power transmission efficiency, then may improve the operating efficiency of the overall power-train system having the internal combustion engine and the transmission coupling the engine, the electric machine and the driving wheels.

This description relates to generally a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), and more particularly relates method for controlling HEV power-train.
Hybrid electric vehicle and its power-train configuration are well known and presented in such as U.S. Pat. No. 6,702,053 and a Japanese magazine article "Shinichi ABE, HEV Control—Performance improvement of New Prius, ENGINE TECHNOLOGY, June 2004 issue", where an internal combustion engine, a first electric machine and vehicle driving wheels are rotationally coupled through a power transmission system, such as a planetary gear set, having three rotational elements such as a planetary carrier connected to the internal combustion engine, a sun gear connected to the first electric machine and a ring gear connected to the driving wheels. In addition to that, a second electric machine is rotationally coupled to the driving wheels with a fixed speed reduction ratio.
The operation of this type of HEV power-train can be illustrated by the relationship of rotational velocities between its three rotational elements. The relationship can be expressed as a collinear diagram as shown in FIG. 4, where the velocities of the three elements always sit on an operational collinear line LC which changes its position and orientation based on torque balance acting on the three elements. Engine torque TENG is transferred through the planetary carrier to the sun gear and the ring gear in a fixed torque split ratio (TES/TER=constant) defined by number of teeth of the planetary gear set. FIG. 4 shows a so-called positive torque split mode, where the engine is controlled to generate desired output power at a desired engine speed at an operating point where less fuel is consumed (i.e. an efficient operating point). The desired engine speed can be achieved, based on the collinear relationship in FIG. 4, by controlling the first electric machine to operate as an electric generator. This allows the first electric machine to brake the sun gear by resisting the torque TES transferred from the engine to the sun gear and generate electricity. Note that the ring gear velocity directly corresponds to the driving wheel velocity, so it can be considered fixed. In general, the electricity generated by the first electric machine is used for driving the second electric machine that is operated as a motor to supplement the torque TER transferred from the engine to the ring gear. In other words, all of the power generated by the engine may be transmitted to the driving wheels.
On the other hand, the efficiency of the positive power-split mode may be reduced, when the desired power at the driving wheels is low particularly at a low vehicle speed. During these conditions, the desired engine power may not be coincident with efficient engine operating conditions. For example, an engine can have a lower speed constraint to ensure that engine vibration and combustion stability are acceptable. The engine operates efficiently at this speed when the engine torque is at a particular level. However, if the desired engine torque is less than this level, the engine torque can be reduced to match the desired level, but at the expense of engine efficiency. The '053 patent describes a method to improve engine efficiency while operating in the positive power-split mode by changing the air-fuel ratio, thereby moving the efficient engine operating point toward a lower torque side while keeping the lower engine speed constraint. However, this method does not recognize another problem occurring during a high speed cruising where demanded torque is low but speed is high, as described below.
In addition to the positive power-split mode, a so-called a negative power-split mode may occur during the high speed cruising. At this condition, engine speed is lowered to meet the low power requirement of the driving wheels. The engine speed is reduced, as shown by a dotted collinear line LC of FIG. 5, by rotating the first electric machine in an opposite direction to that in the positive mode (i.e. a negative velocity). The first electric machine achieves a negative velocity by rotating against the torque TES transferred from the engine. Therefore, the first electric machine needs to operate as a motor and to consume power that is typically supplied from the second electric machine. Consequently, the second electric machine is operated as an electric generator in this mode. Further, the torque TES, a part of the torque generated by the engine and transferred to the sun gear, is never transmitted to the driving wheels but is dissipated by the first electric machine that is driving the sun gear and using energy. Also, a part of the torque TER transferred from the engine to the ring gear is used by the second electric machine generating the energy (electricity) to drive the first electric machine (energy re-circulation), which leads to reduced power transmission efficiency.
The ENGINE TECHNOLOGY article describes a method to improve the reduced efficiency in the negative power-split mode by selecting an engine operating point (e.g., engine torque and speed) that takes into account both the engine operating efficiency and the power transmission efficiency. Specifically, the method moves the engine operating point toward a higher speed and a lower torque, so as to reduce the amount of energy circulating by decreasing speed of the first electric machine.
Although this method attempts to lower the amount of energy circulating through the system and to improve the power-train efficiency by reducing the speed of the first electric machine, it also can lower the engine operating efficiency because the engine operates at a condition where engine pumping losses may be increased. In other words, the method exchanges the engine efficiency for the power transmission efficiency and therefore leaves room additional system efficiency improvement.
The inventors herein have recognized the above described disadvantages of the prior arts and need to improve of the system efficiency of the hybrid electric vehicle power-train over the above described prior arts.

Method for controlling hybrid electric vehicle powertrain


A method and apparatus are disclosed to determine individualized head-related transfer function (HRTF) parameters for a user. The technique can include determining HRTF data of a user by using transform data of the user, where the transform data is indicative of a difference, as perceived by the user, between a sound of a direct utterance by the user and a sound of an indirect utterance by the user. The technique may further involve producing an audio effect tailored for the user by processing audio data based on the HRTF data of the user.

Three-dimensional (3D) positional audio is a technique for producing sound (e.g., from stereo speakers or a headset) so that a listener perceives the sound to be coming from a specific location in space relative to his or her head. To create that perception an audio system generally uses a signal transformation called a Head-Related Transfer Function (HRTF) to modify an audio signal. An HRTF characterizes how an ear of a particular person receives sound from a point in space. More specifically, an HRTF can be defined as a specific person's left or right ear far-field frequency response, as measured from a specific point in the free field to a specific point in the ear canal.
The highest quality HRTFs are parameterized for each individual listener to account for individual differences in the physiology and anatomy of the auditory system of different listeners. However, current techniques for determining an HRTF are either too generic (e.g., they create an HRTF that is not sufficiently individualized for any given listener) or are too laborious for a listener to make implementation on a consumer scale practical (for example, one would not expect consumers to be willing to come to a research lab to have their personalized HRTFs determined, just so that they can use a particular 3D positional audio product.

Determination of head-related transfer function data from user vocalization perception


Embodiments of the present invention disclose a method for data transmission, which is used to increase resource utilization. The method according to the embodiments of the present invention includes: receiving, by a media processing device, a service request sent by a user equipment, where the media processing device is located at a radio access network where the user equipment is located; obtaining, by the media processing device, service data corresponding to the service request; obtaining, by the media processing device, air interface resource information of a cell where the user equipment is located and transmission resource information; and performing, by the media processing device, content adaptation and bit rate selection on the service data according to the obtained air interface resource information and transmission resource information. The embodiments of the present invention further disclose a system and a relevant device for data transmission.

Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System)/high speed packet access (HSPA, High Speed Packet Access) media network architecture includes: a radio access network (RAN, Radio Access Network), a backhaul (Backhaul) transmission network, a backbone (Backbone) transmission network, a packet switch (PS, Packet Switch) core network, a content distributed network (CDN, Content Distributed Network), a service platform and an Internet service provider.
The RAN includes a base station (NodeB) and a radio network controller (RNC, Radio Network Controller), and the PS core network includes a serving general packet radio service support node (SGSN, Serving GPRS Support Node) and a gateway general packet radio service support node (GGSN, Gateway GPRS Support Node).
When a user equipment requests that a PS service should be performed, the service request reaches a service platform through the RAN, a Backbone transmission network, the PS core network and the CDN, and the service platform obtains corresponding service data from an Internet service provider (Internet SP) according to the service request, or obtains corresponding cache service data from the CDN, and sends the service data to the user equipment through the CDN, the PS core network, the Backbone transmission network and the RAN.
Before the service data is sent to the user equipment, in order to increase network resource utilization, the user equipment in the prior art or the CDN in the prior art performs content adaptation and/or bit rate selection according to a resource condition between the user equipment and the network.
However, the resource condition between the user equipment and the network may be embodied in air interface resource information of a cell where the user equipment is located and transmission resource information, and no matter whether the user equipment or the CDN obtains the resource information, certain hysteresis exists, and the air interface resource information and the transmission resource information usually change very quickly, so that the performing, by the user equipment or the CDN, the content adaptation and/or the bit rate selection makes a result of the adaptation and the selection unable to precisely correspond to a current resource state, thus reducing the resource utilization.

Method, device and system for data transmission