The present invention relates to a memory circuit of the multi-level type, i.e. a memory circuit having a plurality of memory elements, each adapted to store more than one binary information unit, wherein the memory elements are utilized for storing a number of binary information units tied to an acceptable error rate for a particular application: typically, one bit where a low error rate is sought, and two bits where a higher error rate can be accepted.

Considerable interest is presently attached to multi-level memories due to a demand for ever larger capacity of the storage devices. In a recent article, "A Multilevel-Cell 32 Mb Flash Memory", ISSCC95. Session 7, Paper TA 7.7, February 1995, a FLASH storage device of the multi-level type is concisely presented which can store two binary information units, or bits, per memory element, or cell. In particular, the following items are illustrated therein: the distribution of the cell threshold voltage for levels corresponding to the four possible states/values of the two bits in FIG. 1, the reading circuit diagram in FIG. 2, and the architecture of the writing circuit in FIG. 4 of the article.
It can be appreciated, from the distribution presented therein, that both the writing/reading processes and the physical structure of the cell are quite critical, much more so than with two-level memories, especially when the supply voltage is decreased to, e.g., 3.3 volts. The criticality becomes still greater as the number of the levels is raised to more than four. The outcome of this criticality is an increased error rate.
A like increase in criticality is also to be expected when the electrical parameter, whereby the cell storage state is discriminated, instead of being the threshold voltage of a floating gate MOS transistor, is a charge stored in a capacitor, as is the case with DRAM memories. This is so because it would then be necessary to compare the value of an electrical parameter with a multiplicity of reference values lying in close proximity to one another.
A known expedient in the field of two-level memories for lowering the error rate is that of using error detecting and/or correcting words, and having them stored additionally to the information words. This results in a not negligible portion of the die area being "wasted" to that object.

Multi-level memory circuits and corresponding reading and writing methods


Data processing apparatus and method perform data processing operations on floating point data elements. The data processing apparatus has processing logic for performing data processing operations on the floating point data elements, and decode logic operable to decode a data processing instruction in order to determine a corresponding data processing operation to be performed by the processing logic. The data processing instruction has an m-bit immediate value encoded therein. Further, constant generation logic is provided to perform a logical operation on the m-bit immediate value in order to generate an n-bit floating point constant for use as at least one input floating point data element for the processing logic when performing the corresponding data processing operation. The values “n” and “m” are integers, and n is greater than m. This approach provides a particularly efficient technique for generating floating point constants.

When performing data processing operations on floating point data elements, it is often the case that a floating point constant is required as one of the input floating point data elements. In the execution of any particular program, it is likely that a number of such floating point constants will be required. If a program is considered as having an instruction area containing the instructions making up the program, and a data area containing data required when executing the program, then typically any required floating point constants will be specified in the data area of the program. When the program is installed on a data processing apparatus, these various floating point constants will be stored within memory, and accordingly will occupy valuable space within the memory.
Furthermore, when during the execution of a program a particular floating point constant is required, it will first be necessary to load that floating point constant from memory into a specified register. Typically, the required floating point constant will be identified by the generation of a pointer to the location in memory storing that constant. It will be appreciated that this will have an adverse effect on the performance of the program, since it will take time to establish the required pointer, and additional time to then load the floating point constant from memory into the required register, and these steps need to be taken before the operation that is to make use of that floating point constant can be performed.
In addition, it can be seen that the need to provide a load instruction in order to load the floating point constant from memory to a specified register adversely impacts code density. Further, the width of the bus connecting the data processing apparatus with the memory system will determine the bandwidth available for performing load operations, and accordingly it can be seen that each time a load operation is required to move a floating point constant from memory to a register, this will use a portion of that load bandwidth, which is then not available for use in performing other load operations required by the program.
Whilst the above technique has been described in connection with the loading of floating point constants from a memory into a register prior to its use within a data processing apparatus, the same process can also be used to load integer constants from memory into a register. However, for integer constants a more efficient process has been developed. In particular, it is known to encode within a particular instruction an immediate value which can be used to produce an integer constant for storing within a register. For example, a move instruction may have encoded therein an immediate value, and execution of the move instruction will cause the immediate value to be expanded as required to the size of a register, and then stored within a particular register identified by the move instruction.
As a particular example, in situations where a 32-bit instruction set is used, a certain number of bits of the instruction encoding space, for example 8 bits or 12 bits of the 32-bit instruction, will be used to specify an immediate value. If the register into which the integer constant specified by that immediate value is to be placed is a 32-bit register, then the immediate value can be zero extended (in the example of an unsigned integer constant) or sign extended (in the example of a signed integer constant) to 32-bits and then stored within the specified register. It has been found that such an approach enables a useful range of integer constants to be specified by an immediate value encoded within an instruction. It will be appreciated that the range of possible immediate values defines a corresponding continuous range of integer constants, and it is often the case that that continuous range of integer constants includes most integer constants that are considered useful in integer processing operations.
As a further enhancement to the above approach, ARM Limited have provided in their instruction set an instruction encoding which allows an 8-bit immediate value to be specified, and then a further 4-bits to be specified to identify a rotation to be applied to the immediate value in order to specify its location within a register (with the remaining bits of the register being filled with a predetermined sequence of ones or zeros). By allowing an immediate value to be specified, along with a rotation to be applied to that immediate value in order to determine its location within the register, further flexibility in the choice of integer constants is provided.
It will be appreciated that the use of an immediate value encoded within an instruction as the means for specifying an integer constant provides significant performance improvements over the earlier described prior art, where the constant was first stored in memory, and then loaded from memory into a register as required. In particular, by encoding the immediate value within the instruction, there is no need to perform a load operation, thereby improving code density, and increasing performance. Further, space in memory does not need to be set aside for the storing of such constants.
However, whilst useful integer constants can readily be specified by an immediate value encoded within an instruction, since there is a clear correspondence between the range of immediate values specifiable within the instruction encoding and the corresponding range of integer constants, this is not the case for floating point constants. In particular, floating point numbers have a more complex representation than integer numbers, a floating point number having a sign field, an exponent field, and a fraction field contained therein. In addition, the useful floating point numbers that are likely to be required as floating point constants do not follow any clear sequence, and accordingly it has up to now been considered not possible to represent a useful range of floating point constants through use of an immediate value encoded within an instruction.
Accordingly, up to now, when floating point constants are required, they are first loaded from memory into a register using the earlier described prior art techniques. However, as mentioned earlier, such an approach has an adverse effect on performance and code density, and also causes valuable memory space to be used for storage of required floating point constants. Accordingly, it will be desirable to provide an improved technique for providing floating point constants for use in floating point operations.

Data processing apparatus and method for performing data processing operations on floating point data elements


A vehicle network selection system may include a vehicle modem configured via rules to connect with a first network but not a second network; and a telematics controller programmed to receive data via the first network at a current throughput, receive an application request from a vehicle application requiring a minimum throughput to perform the request, instruct the modem, in response to the current throughput below the minimum throughput, to enter into an override mode to connect to the second network capable of meeting the minimum throughput.

Vehicles often connect to wireless networks to facilitate data exchange between the vehicle and a remote server. These networks are often cellular networks with which the user or driver has a contractual relationship. However, many of these cellular networks have limits as to the amount of throughput that each may provide, especially when a vehicle is at or near an edge of a service area of the network.

Vehicle application triggered network selection of telematics device system


A device for bus-networked operation of an electronic unit having microcontroller has a semiconductor circuit which is supplied from a superordinate potential, and is connected between a bus protocol module of the microcontroller and the cores of a two core bus. The semiconductor circuit, which has at least two operating modes, "transmission and reception" (NORMAL) and "sleep" (SLEEP), compromises: a receiving circuit connected to the two bus cores, whose output communicates with a reception input of the bus protocol; a transmitting circuit coupled to receive the transmission output of the bus protocol function; a wake-up identification circuit connected to the cores of the two core bus, and having a wake-up input and switching means for providing, at a control output, a switch-on signal after identification of a wake-up signal from the wake-up input or from the bus, and for emitting a switch-off signal in the SLEEP mode. A voltage regulator, supplied from superordinate potential, provides a regulated output voltage to the microcontroller and to the bus protocol module. The voltage regulator has a control input which communicates with the control output of the semiconductor circuit, and is configured to switch on in the presence of the switch-on signal and to switch off in the presence of the switch-off signal,

The invention relates to a device for the bus-networked operation of an electronic unit having a microcontroller and a bus protocol module for communicating with other units via a two-core bus.
The growing number of bus-networked electronic units (for example in industrial installations and mobile units such as motor vehicles) inevitably leads to problems with regard to sufficiently reliable and/or sufficiently long operational capability when only a limited supply of electrical energy is available (for example, from the operating battery of a vehicle or the back-up battery of a production installation for emergency retention of processing status data, etc.) In order to conserve energy, it is known to switch off units which are not required for a specific operating phase.
Thus, in known motor vehicles, control units for which the current consumption is problematic when the vehicle is stopped, are supplied with current from a terminal of the ignition/start switch. When the ignition/start key is withdrawn, these units are thus removed from the on-board power supply system. Units whose operational capability is necessary even when the vehicle engine is not operating, are supplied with current from the continuous-current-supplied terminal 30.
However, if it is assumed that by itself the voltage regulator of every such continuous-current-supplied unit consumes approximately 500 .mu.A, the quiescent current requirement of the transceiver (reception discriminator and output stage) between bus and electronics is approximately 150 .mu.A, and the quiescent current requirement of the respective unit peripherals (for example voltage dividers, sensor current sources, etc.) is in each case approximately 500 .mu.A, the resultant total quiescent current requirement for each unit is more than 1 mA.
If, in the example of a motor vehicle having bus-networked control units, 30 such units, for example, are present, this would mean a total quiescent current requirement of at least 30 mA. Thus, such a motor vehicle which has been taken out of service can no longer be started after approximately 3-4 weeks, on account of constant discharge of its battery. As a result, for motor vehicles which are to be shipped to a different continent, for example, it is necessary to disconnect the battery from the on-board electrical system prior to shipping, to ensure their startability at the destination.
Similar problems also arise in commercial vehicles for auxiliary technical deployment which are used only rarely, and whose dedicated technical equipment is bus-networked.
One object of the present invention therefore, is to provide a device for bus-networked operation of an electronic unit with a microcontroller, which permits the unit to be operated for as long as possible with reduced Ado activity, from a limited energy reserve.
Another object of the invention is to permit a bus-networked electronic unit to remain for as long as possible in operational quiescence or operating states with reduced activity, from a limited energy reserve, and to develop normal activity very rapidly in a controlled manner from such quiescence, or states with reduced activity.
Another object of the invention is to make it unnecessary to provide both the bus protocol function and the microcontroller for the purpose of maintaining both the wake-up capability of the unit and the perception capability regarding bus errors that occur.
To achieve these objects, the device according to the invention comprises a semiconductor circuit which can be supplied from a higher level or "superordinate" potential, arranged in the signal flow path between the two bus cores on the one hand and the bus protocol module on the other, and is capable of at least two operating modes: a "transmission and reception" mode (NORMAL) and a dormant or "sleep" mode (SLEEP). The device itself comprises a receiving unit which is connected to the two bus cores and whose output communicates with the reception input of the bus protocol function; a transmitting unit whose input communicates with the transmission output of the bus protocol function; a wake-up (activation) identification unit connected to the bus, which has a wake-up input, and a switching unit for providing, at a control output, a switch-on signal (ENA/NINH) after identification of a wake-up signal from the input or from the bus, and for emitting a switch-off signal (NENA/INH) in the operating mode "sleep" (SLEEP); a voltage regulator supplied from the superordinate potential, which provides a regulated output voltage to supply the microcontroller and the bus protocol module with operating power, and which has a control input that communicates with the control output of the semiconductor circuit, and is configured in such a way that it switches on in the presence of the switch-on signal (ENA/NINH) and switches off in the presence of the switch-off signal (NENA/INH).
In one embodiment of the invention, the regulator has autonomous means for the defined starting of the microcontroller as soon as the latter is provided with the operating voltage.
According to another feature of the invention, the semiconductor circuit is configured in such a way that, in the event of a bus error which impairs the normal method of communication via the two bus cores, the semiconductor circuit can be set, reconfigured or adapted for the best viable alternative for emergency communication via the bus, with regard to both the receiving means and the transmitting means, without any support by the microcontroller.
In another embodiment of the invention, the device comprises two termination elements which can be selected as a function of the number of bus subscribers, and its semiconductor circuit comprises a bus error identification unit and a cooperative bus termination changeover unit as well as a bus error and wake-up evaluation unit for conditioning at least one error or interrupt signal (ERR/INT), which can be output to the microcontroller, in the wake-up or bus error instance.
This embodiment facilitates a particularly rapid reaction to wake-up signals and bus errors, since software support in this regard is no longer necessary.
Further advantageous embodiments and features of the invention provide the following additional advantages:
After the build-up of the supply voltage for the microcontroller, a reset which is controlled from the voltage regulator, permits the output of at least one signal for setting the operating mode of the semiconductor circuit after a precisely defined time. This can be utilized for the purpose of testing the initialization section regulator-microcontroller for freedom from errors.
Even in the event of bus errors in the SLEEP mode, a wake-up capability via the bus is still maintained to the largest possible extent.
The bus termination can be controlled in a simple manner in different operating modes, even in the event of a fault, so that all essential elements can be integrated.
External auxiliary and protective circuitry are unnecessary.
An inherent disturbance or an inherent error in the unit does not impair the functioning of the remaining subscribers on the bus.
Latch-up of the bus network due to faults in the region of the transmitting output stage, its input signal path and, if appropriate, its state controller, is prevented.
Reduced current is consumed-in the second operating mode, even in the event of an error.
High interference immunity is provided in the operating state "sleep" (SLEEP).
Extensive integrability of all the back-up terminations is achieved.
This device provides rapid detection of bus faults and the fastest possible activation of an electronic unit equipped with it.
The superordinate power supply potential is monitored.
Detailed analysis of and reaction to various supply dip phenomena is provided.
Simple integrability and minimization of the number of terminals of a corresponding semiconductor circuit is provided.
Disconnection of the electronic unit from its power supply is detected.
The bus is not loaded in an uncontrolled manner in the event of failure of the operating voltage or when a unit is deliberately switched off, thereby maintaining undisturbed bus communication in the event of a supply defect or when a unit is switched off.
The system provides fastest possible, autonomous reaction of every unit equipped with the device to a bus error, without the requirement of bus communication. Reconfiguration which is provided for this purpose can be effected in such a way that message losses are completely precluded.
The invention provides high electromagnetic compatibility and high interference suppression, particularly in the event of a fault.
The semiconductor circuit is created as desired by design compilation, together with other semiconductor circuit functions, on a semiconductor chip.
The device achieves low production costs and small physical size and weight.
The device can be used in a means of transport.
Overall, the device permits all signal discriminators required for reception from the bus and the bus core drivers required for transmission (that is, the transmitting output stage), and all means for real-time bus error identification and handling, to be concentrated in a single semiconductor circuit. Consequently, this circuit represents the physical layer between the bus protocol chip or the bus protocol function of the relevant unit and the microcontroller thereof, and the two cores of a bus which is configured, by way of example, in accordance with the CAN standard. It is therefore unnecessary to operate the microcontroller to identify possible bus faults, and also to reconfigure the receiving and transmitting unit on a fault by fault basis in order to transition from the differential two-wire method of operation to a single-wire method of operation, for example via ground.
The functional autonomy of the device means that it is possible to dispense with software-supported tests on the bus, which are comparatively slow and, above all, occupy the bus protocol function. This improves the reaction speed of a corresponding network in the event of bus faults (thereby avoiding message losses).
The bus protocol chip no longer needs to monitor the bus for faults when the relevant electronic unit is to be switched off for the purpose of saving current. This is necessary so that the customary bus protocol chip or the corresponding protocol function can be switched off when the relevant unit is to be deactivated to save current. The ability to switch the bus protocol function off permits a considerable current saving because the voltage regulator of the relevant unit can thus be switched off. It is necessary to cover only the quiescent current of the device according to the invention.
The device draws this quiescent current past the voltage regulator of the relevant electronic unit directly from the superordinate power supply busbar--in other words, for example, from the central on-board electrical system terminal of a motor vehicle. By virtue of its connection to that potential, the device can also evaluate precisely this supply potential and/or monitor the proper functioning of the voltage regulator, to the extent that the bus is or remains disconnected in the event of a fault.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Device for the bus-networked operation of an electronic unit with microcontroller, and its use


There are provided a thickness detecting apparatus which can restrain erroneous detection even though a sheet or the like overlaps with only a part of a rotary body, and, which can enhance the degree of accuracy of detection, comprising a cylindrical displaceable rotary body and a cylindrical stationary rotary body which are opposed to each other, the thickness detecting apparatus detecting a thickness of the sheet or the like to be transferred in accordance with a displacement by which the displaceable rotary body is separated from the stationary rotary body, when the sheet or the like passes through between the displaceable rotary body and the stationary rotary body, and the center of a load with which the displaceable rotary body presses the sheet or the like is biased from the center of the displaceable rotary body in one of center axial direction.

The present invention relates to a thickness detecting apparatus for detecting a thickness of a sheet or the like.
Conventionally, as a system for measuring a thickness of medium in order to determine whether foreign object sticks to a sheet or the like, there has been proposed such a system that a banknote is held between a stationary roller and a displaceable roller so as to detect a displacement of the displaceable roller (Refer to JP-U-6-61850).
Explanation will be made of the above-mentioned system with reference to FIG. 9 which is a partly sectioned front view. As shown, a banknote 120 is held between a displaceable roller 110 and a stationary roller 130, and a sensor 101 is arranged above the displaceable roller 110.
The displaceable roller 110 is composed of a cylindrical sheath roller 111 and a core shaft 113 and an elastic body 112 made of rubber or the like and interposed between both roller 110 and core shaft 113. The stationary roller 130 is composed of a roller 132 and a core shaft 131 inserted in the roller 132.
With this configuration, the displaceable roller is pressed against the stationary roller 130 by means of the elastic body 122 by a pressing force having a force center, uniformly thereover in the longitudinal direction of the roller 130.
The displaceable roller 110 and the stationary roller 130 are arranged in a plurality of pairs which are laid discretely in a direction widthwise of a transfer path 140 as shown in FIG. 10A which is a plan view and FIG. 10B which is a side view in order to cover the entire zone of the transfer path.
Since the width of the banknote 120 is smaller than the width of the transfer path 140, in particular, there would be caused such a case that the banknote 120 overlaps with the roller 110 only by a length which is not longer than about a half of the length of the roller as shown in FIG. 10A the displaceable roller 110 at a side end side. That is, the roller with which the banknote 120 overlaps by not longer than a half of the length thereof, would be slanted.
Meanwhile, a single sensor 110 is arranged right above of the center of one of the displaceable rollers 110 as shown in FIG. 11A which is a front view. In this case, should foreign matter 150 such as a tape sticking to the banknote 120 passes by an end part of the displaceable roller 110, only a half of a height of the foreign matter could be detected at the center of the displaceable roller 110, resulting in a problem of difficulty in detecting the foreign matter.
Thus, these days, a pair of sensors 110 are arranged respectively at opposite ends of the displaceable roller 110 as shown in FIG. 11B which is a front view, in order to improve the detection.
However, in this configuration, if the banknote 120 overlaps with the displaceable roller 110 by only a half of the length of the roller 110, as shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B, the displaceable roller 110 slants largely as a sew-saw like-manner, and resulting in a one-side lift-up condition as shown in FIG. 12A which is a front view.
Thus, the thickness of the banknote 120 would be detected by a value which is relatively larger than its actual thickness, resulting in erroneous detection of foreign matter although no foreign matter is present. Further, should setting be made such that this situation is set so as to prevent erroneous detection of foreign matter, there would be caused problems of impossible detection of foreign matter 150 having a thickness smaller than the above-mentioned one-side lift-up and of impossible detection of concave and convex features of a banknote having a thickness which is smaller than the one-side lift-up, as shown in FIG. 12B which is a front view.
Thus, in order to prevent the above-mentioned erroneous detection, data relating to a thickness of an end part of a banknote should have been discarded.
Further, in order to prevent occurrence of a one-side lift-up situation, as shown in FIG. 13 which is a plan view, it had to be better to arrange the displaceable roller 110 at a position where the medium does not overlaps by a half, but in this case, the displaceable roller 110 should be located only at the center of the transfer path, there has be caused a problem of further decreasing a possible detection area.
Meanwhile, as an another method for restraining affection by a one side lift-up, there may be considered such a method in which the width of the displaceable roller 110 is narrowed in order to reduce the volume of data which should be discarded. However, this configuration would cause the number of rollers to increase, there has been caused a problem of increasing the costs.

Hitachi-Omron Terminal Solutions, Corporation


An azimuth change quantity .theta. of a road during traveling of a vehicle for a time .delta.t is calculated based on road data provided by a navigation system and a vehicle speed provided by a vehicle speed sensor (at step S3 in FIG. 2). On the other hand, an azimuth change quantity .THETA. of the vehicle is calculated by integrating a yaw rate .gamma. obtained from a yaw rate sensor over the time .delta.t (at step S5). A deviation D between the azimuth change quantity .theta. of the road and the azimuth change quantity .THETA. of the vehicle is calculated (at step S6). When the deviation D becomes equal to or larger than a reference value .beta., it is determined that there is a possibility that the vehicle will depart from the road (at step S9) , and a predetermined steering torque is applied to a steering device, so that the deviation is converged into zero (at steps S10 and S11).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle control system for performing a steerage control based on an azimuth change quantity of a road calculated from map information and a position of a subject vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is a technique conventionally known from Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No.89298/85, which determines whether the subject vehicle can pass through a curve existing ahead of the subject vehicle in a traveling direction at a current vehicle speed, by estimating a radius of curvature of the curve based on map data obtained by a navigation system, and gives a warning to a driver, when it is determined that the subject vehicle cannot pass through the curve.
In the above known technique, however, it is only determined whether the vehicle can pass through the curve at the current vehicle speed, and a misalignment of the vehicle from the curvature of the road is not detected, resulting in a problem that a proper warning is difficult. Moreover, even if a warning is given when the driver has a lowered driving capability due to a fatigue or when the driver is inattentively driving the vehicle, a driver's quick steering or braking operation is required to avoid the departing of the vehicle from the road, and an unskilled driver cannot cope with such operation, resulting in a possibility that the vehicle will depart from the road.
There are conventionally proposed various follow-up travel control systems which are designed to detect a vehicle traveling ahead of a subject vehicle (which will be referred to as an ahead-traveling vehicle hereinafter) by radar or the like and perform a vehicle-vehicle distance control so that a distance between the subject vehicle from the ahead-traveling vehicle is maintained constant. However, if a control for preventing the departing of the vehicle from the road and a follow-up travel control for permitting the vehicle to travel while following the ahead-traveling vehicle are conducted simultaneously, for example, if a steerage control started when the driver is conducting the steerage to cause the subject vehicle to trace a travel locus of the ahead-traveling vehicle during the follow-up travel control, it is considered that the driver feels a sense of incompatibility. If the arrangement is such that both of the controls are switched from one to another at each time by a manual operation, for example, when the driver has lost sight of the ahead-traveling vehicle during the follow-up travel control, the following problems are encountered: the driver may forget the switching-over to the control for preventing the departing of the subject vehicle from the road, and such switching-over is troublesome for the driver.
There is also a technique known from Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No.5-113822, which detects an obstacle existing ahead of the subject vehicle on a travel road by a video camera or radar, and conducts a vehicle speed control or a steerage control to avoid the collision of the subject vehicle against the obstacle, when it is determined that there is a possibility of the collision of the vehicle against the obstacle.
If the obstacle-avoiding control system is combined with the steerage control system designed to determine whether there is a possibility of the departing of the vehicle from the road, based on the traveling state of the vehicle and the shape of a road district existing ahead of a subject-vehicle position on a travel road, and to apply a steering torque to a steering means, when it is determined that there is the possibility of the departing of the vehicle from the road, thereby preventing the departing of the vehicle from the road, the following problem is encountered: both of the controls interfere with each other to make it difficult to perform a smooth avoidance of the obstacle.
Specifically, when the driver conducts the steerage to avoid the obstacle, the vehicle departs from an intrinsic course and hence, the steerage control system applies a steering torque to the steering means to return the vehicle to the original course. However, this steering torque is in a direction opposite from a direction of a steering torque applied by the driver to avoid the obstacle, and hence, there is a possibility that the burden of the driver's obstacle-avoiding operation is increased and that a sense of incompatibility is imparted.

Vehicle steering control system including corrections for map position and detected obstacles


A serrated cutting strip (26) for a carton comprises paper or board impregnated with a mix of acrylic resin and urea formaldehyde. The strip is 0.2 to 0.5 mm in thickness and can bend without cracking over a bar of 20 mm diameter. The strip has adhesive on one side and a release sheet (28) on the adhesive. The strip is applied to a carton by apparatus (10) which comprises rollers (44,45) for advancing a substrate sheet (24), a cutter (12) and means (44,45) for drawing a release sheet (28) away from the edge (46).

It is known to apply a metal cutting strip to a carton for cling film so that cling film withdrawn from the carton can be cut on the metal cutting strip. The metal strip may be applied by a machine such as a Faustel D17 Edger. In the machine, metal sheet from a roll is advanced by passing between driven rollers. The sheet enters a guide comprising a shallow slot. The guide is angled downwardly at its end and directs the sheet between a block and a lower die. An upper die is movable to cut the sheet. The upper die also includes pins which pass through the block and lower die to perforate the sheet before it is cut. This perforating action leaves downwardly extending teeth around each perforation. When the upper die has cut a strip from the sheet, the strap is held onto the die by suction and is carried down onto a carton blank where the pressure of the upper die forces the teeth into the carton to mechanically fix the metal strip to the carton.
The known method is relatively slow and the metal strip blunts the dies relatively quickly so that they must be re-sharpened.

Impregnated and serrated cutting strip for a carton


An apparatus for changing an aggregate intensity of a light within an illumination field of a photolithography system having a blade structure and a first actuator. The blade structure is configured to be positioned along an optical path of the photolithography system between an illumination system and a reticle stage so that, when the illumination system provides the light having the illumination field, the blade structure is substantially at a center of the illumination field and a first portion of the light within the illumination field impinges upon the blade structure. The first actuator is coupled between a first portion of the blade structure and a frame of the photolithography system and is configured to move at least the first portion of the blade structure in a first direction so that a second portion of the light within the illumination field impinges upon the blade structure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to correcting variations in the intensity of light within an illumination field without distorting the telecentricity of the light.
2. Related Art
In an integrated circuit chip, devices and their connections are typically fabricated in phases. Several phases include processes that modify portions of a semiconductor substrate (i.e., a wafer). For each of these phases, the portions to be processed must be isolated from the remaining portions of the wafer. Typically this is accomplished by replicating a two dimensional pattern on a surface of the wafer. Photolithographic tools that effect this replication are often referred to as wafer steppers or wafer scanners.
The pattern distinguishes the portions of the wafer to be processed from the remaining portions. The pattern is formed on a mask (i.e., a reticle) having corresponding opaque and either transparent or reflective portions. A beam of light is made to impinge upon the reticle so that the pattern is transferred to the cross section of the beam perpendicular to its direction of propagation (i.e., the illumination field). (The illumination field usually is shaped as a rectangle or an annulus sector.) Optical devices positioned along the optical path between the reticle and the wafer reduce the size of the pattern and cause the beam of light to impinge upon the wafer. A layer of film (i.e., a photoresist) is applied on the surface of the wafer. When the photoresist is exposed to the beam of light, corresponding portions of the photoresist are exposed. Either the exposed or unexposed (but not both) portions of the photoresist are removed to reveal the underlying portions of the wafer to be processed. The remaining portions of the wafer are protected from the process by the remaining photoresist.
Undesirable variations in positions or feature sizes can affect the electrical and electronic characteristics of the fabricated devices. Therefore, it is important to be able to control positions and feature sizes precisely. When the wavelength of the light that impinges upon a surface of a wafer is on an order of tens to hundreds of nanometers, variations in the flatness of the wafer surface can be significantly large enough to preclude modeling the wafer surface as a single image plane. For this reason, it is important that the light that impinges upon the wafer surface be substantially telecentric.
Moreover, variations in the intensity of the light at points within the illumination field can affect the degrees to which the photoresist at these points are exposed. For this reason, it is also important to correct for variations in the intensity of the light within the illumination field. Therefore, what is needed is an apparatus and method for correcting variations in the intensity of the light within the illumination field without distorting the telecentricity of the light that impinges upon the layer of photoresist.

Correcting variations in the intensity of light within an illumination field without distorting the telecentricity of the light


A hot-fillable plastic container having a panel section of a size suitable for gripping the container in one hand. The panel section includes two opposing vertically-elongated and radially-indented vacuum panels, and two opposing horizontally-disposed and radially-indented finger grips. Each vacuum panel preferably has an invertible central wall portion movable from a convex first position prior to hot-filling of the container, to a concave second position under vacuum pressure following hot-filling and sealing of the container.

The packaging of certain liquids requires that they be placed in a container while hot to provide for adequate sterilization. Hot-filled containers are designed for this purpose. During filling, the container is subjected to elevated temperatures on the order of 82.degree. C. (the product temperature) or higher. The container is then capped and as the product cools, a negative internal pressure is formed in the sealed container.
Biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate (PET) beverage bottles have been designed to receive a hot-fill product with a minimum of thermal shrinkage and distortion. One such bottle is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,863,046 entitled "Hot Fill Container," which issued Sep. 5, 1989 to Collette et al. The Collette et al. container has six recessed vacuum panels in the middle panel section of the container. The panels reduce the magnitude of the vacuum generated in the filled and capped container to prevent any large uncontrolled shape distortion. As the product cools, the vacuum panels (all of them) deform and move inwardly in unison. A wrap-around label covers the vacuum panels and is supported by raised central wall portions in the vacuum panels, post areas between the vacuum panels, and horizontal glue land areas above and below the vacuum panels. Longitudinal (vertical) recessed ribs may be provided in the post areas and raised wall portions in the vacuum panels to increase the longitudinal stiffness of the panel section.
The design of the vacuum panels may vary; other designs are illustrated in: 1) U.S. Design Pat. No. 315,869, "Container Body for Liquids Or The Like," Apr. 2, 1991 to Collette; 2) U.S. Pat. No. 5,255,889, "Modular Mold," Oct. 26, 1993 to Collette et al; 3) U.S. Pat. No. 5,178,289, "Panel Design For A Hot-Fillable Container," Jan. 12, 1993 to Krishnakumar et al.; and 4) U.S. Pat. No. 5,303,834, "Squeezable Container Resistant To Denting," Apr. 19, 1994 to Krishnakumar et al.
Providing a container with a gripping portion to facilitate handling has become increasingly popular in recent years. Generally, it is not sufficient to simply add a gripping portion to the container; rather, the container design and/or wall thickness needs to be modified to strengthen the container walls and control the amount of deformation which occurs when the container is grasped. Increasing the container wall thickness is undesirable as this leads to a substantial increase in the amount of material and thus cost of the container. These increased costs are unacceptable in the extremely competitive container industry. Thus, as the demand for grippable bottles has continued to grow, especially in the soft-drink and sports-drink industries, new and improved designs that retain their shape when firmly grasped are required.

Hot-fillable plastic container with grippable body


A hydrostatic transaxle apparatus comprises a housing in which an HST, a pair of axles, a differential unit differentially connecting the axles to each other, and a horizontal counter shaft interposed between the HST and the differential unit. The HST comprises axial piston type hydraulic pump and motor mounted on vertically opposite surfaces of a center section, respectively, so as to be fluidly connected to each other so that pump and motor shafts are disposed vertically coaxially to each other. The center section is disposed adjacently to the differential unit and one of the axles. A cooling fan is fixed on the pump shaft projecting outward from the housing. When along the pump shaft, most of the housing except portions thereof for housing the respective axles is disposed within an area of rotary locus of the cooling fan.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hydrostatic transaxle apparatus, especially, for a vehicle having a vertical crankshaft engine.
2. Background Art
A hydrostatic transaxle apparatus called an IHT comprises a hydrostatic transmission (hereinafter, referred to as an "HST"), an axle and a drive train interposed between the HST and the axle disposed together in a common housing. Some of various IHTs are used for a vehicle having a vertical crankshaft engine, wherein the rotary axis of the hydraulic pump of the HST must be disposed vertically, i.e., in perpendicular to the horizontal axle. If the rotary axis of the hydraulic motor of the HST is disposed horizontally, the drive train between the HST and the axle can be simplified. However, the configuration of a center section for fluidly connecting the hydraulic pump and motor to each other must be complicated. Further, output means such as a motor shaft of the hydraulic motor must be extended horizontally, thereby expanding the IHT in the horizontal direction.
In order to reduce the horizontal size of the IHT for a vertical crankshaft engine, and to simplify the center section of the HST, it is noticed that the rotary axis of the hydraulic motor may be disposed vertically. U.S. Pat. No. 4,979,583 discloses an IHT, wherein a hydraulic pump and a hydraulic motor are disposed vertically oppositely to each other so as to arrange both the rotary axes thereof vertically coaxially to each other.
The hydraulic pump and motor of U.S. Pat. No. '583 are of a radial piston type. That is, each of them comprises a rotor serving as a cylinder block, and pistons inserted in the rotor so as to reciprocate radially (horizontally). In the hydraulic pump, a cam ring (track ring) is provided around the rotor. The cam ring is equal to a movable swash plate of an axial piston type hydraulic pump. A track ring is also disposed around the rotor of the hydraulic motor, in place of a swash plate of an axial piston type hydraulic motor. Both the rotors are rotatably provided around a vertically axial common pintle. Oil passages are formed within the pintle so as to constitute a closed circuit between the hydraulic pump and motor. Also, a horizontally plain plate is disposed around the pintle so as to be sandwiched between the hydraulic pump and motor, thereby guiding the cam ring.
The disclosed HST is axially (vertically) short, however, still radially (horizontally) expanded because the track rings must be disposed concentrically with the respective rotors and the pistons must be allowed to reciprocate radially. This is an obstacle to minimization of the IHT in the radial direction of the HST. Further, for positioning the rotors and track rings, the plate to be sandwiched between the hydraulic pump and motor must be provided around the pintle, thereby increasing the number of parts and costs. If the HST was comprised of an axial piston type hydraulic pump and motor, a single member of the name of a center section could be used for fluidal connection of the hydraulic pump and motor and for positioning the hydraulic pump and motor.


Systems, apparatuses, methods, and computer-readable media are provided for detecting security attacks based on transaction flow graphs. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

An electronic payment processing network may facilitate transactions among consumers, merchants, processors, banks, independent sales organizations (ISOs), or other payment processing parties. Every year, billions of electronic payment transactions and trillions of dollars are processed through the electronic payment processing networks. A large amount of data are generated by those transactions through the electronic payment processing networks. Data flows regularly into a data warehouse for the electronic payment processing network from transactional systems, relational databases, and other sources. Supervised and unsupervised models are usually used to detect abnormal transactions in an electronic payment processing network. However, these traditional methods may fail to detect some complex security attacks. Embodiments of the present disclosure address these and other issues.

Security attack detections for transactions in electronic payment processing networks


An automatic voltage-identifying power supply device has a control module, a voltage regulation circuit, a current load measuring circuit electrically connected with an external post-stage power-receiving device, a power supply circuit and a pre-stage power supply device. After the post-stage power-receiving device is electrically connected with the current load measuring circuit, the control module can control the voltage regulation circuit to output a test voltage signal to the post-stage power-receiving device so that the test voltage signal is altered according to a preset sequence (e.g. progressively increasing) and the current load measuring circuit measures a response current signal of the post-stage power-receiving device corresponding to the test voltage signal. When a variation of the response current signal or a power variation is stable, the control module sets up the stable test voltage signal as an input voltage to the post-stage power-receiving device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to an automatic voltage-identifying power supply device and method thereof, and more particularly to an automatic voltage-identifying power supply device and method thereof capable of connecting with different post-stage power-receiving equipment.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic products have become an indispensable part to daily life of human being. Accompanying with development of technologies, a wide range of electronic products have flooded to the market. Despite more convenient and brilliant life attributable to various functions brought along by electronic products, too many choices of electronic products also make the management of normal life uneasy and more and more complicated.
For example, what electronic products a business person carries may include MP3, PDA, GPS, notebook computer, mobile phone and the like. Due to different rated operating voltages, electronic products must be equipped with a specific pre-stage power supply device or a battery charger transformer. Usually, pre-stage power supply devices are rather heavy and bulky. To prevent electronic devices from exhausting all the power unexpectedly, various pre-stage power supply devices for different electronic products should be close at hand to the business person, inevitably becoming the burden in operation and management.

Automatic voltage-identifying power supply device and method thereof


In the machine tool (10) pertaining to the present invention, the contour lines (51) of a tool (20) are displayed on a display screen (S). When an operator measuring the dimensions traces a contour line (51) on the display screen (S) of a touch panel (45) with a finger, it is possible to automatically identify, on the display screen (S), the site to be measured (i.e., the contour line (51)) on the tool (20). In this way, an operator can measure the dimensions of the tool (20) in an extremely simple manner. Additionally, it is possible to automatically measure the tool diameter or the blade position of the tool (20) as the operator designates a specific position on the contour line (51) of the tool (20). Thus, with such a method for measuring the dimensions of the tool (20), it is possible to easily identify an unexpected site to be measured on a tool having complex contour lines, such as a multi-stage tool.

For example, in a machining center or other NC machine tool, at the time of working a workpiece, a drill bit or end mill or other tool which is attached to a spindle rotates while contacting the workpiece. In improving the precision of the positional control of such a tool, the position of the tool with respect to the spindle, the heat deformation of a rotating spindle, etc. must be considered. Therefore, in actuality, it is important to predict in advance the dimensions of the tool which is attached to the spindle.
PLT 1: Japanese Patent Publication No. 7-151512A

Method of measurement and apparatus for measurement of tool dimensions


A computer-implemented method includes obtaining a plurality of textual records divided into clusters and a residual set of the textual records, where a machine learning (ML) clustering model has divided the plurality of textual records into the clusters based on a similarity metric. The method also includes receiving, from a client device, a particular textual record representing a query and determining, by way of the ML clustering model and based on the similarity metric, that the particular textual record does not fit into any of the clusters. The method additionally includes, in response to determining that the particular textual record does not fit into any of the clusters, adding the particular textual record to the residual set of the textual records. The method can additionally include identifying, by way of the ML clustering model, that the residual set of the textual records contains a further cluster.

It is beneficial in a variety of applications to cluster samples of text into groups that are similar. This can be done in order to facilitate textual searching by identifying inter-related groups of text samples within a corpus of text samples. Such grouping can facilitate text search or other text-related processing by limiting the search to text samples within a cluster of related text samples (e.g., a cluster of text samples that are similar to a query text string), avoiding the time and computational cost of searching through the text records that are not within the cluster of related text samples. Additionally, identifying such clusters within the textual portions of records that include non-textual information (e.g., that include geographical information, time stamps, weather-related information, information related to the performance or operation of a technological system) may facilitate operations based on the non-textual information.

Clustering and dynamic re-clustering of similar textual documents


A method for semiconductor processing includes removing, from a first region of a semiconductor device, a middle layer and a bottom layer of a trilayer structure including a photoresist layer to expose at least one first structure. A top layer of the trilayer structure in a second region of the semiconductor device is removed during the removal of the bottom layer in the first region. The method further includes, after removing the middle and bottom layers in the first region, filling the first region to protect the at least one first structure.

The present invention generally relates to semiconductor processing, and more particularly to methods and devices that can remove a middle layer in a trilayer photoresist without damage to exposed device structures.
Semiconductor patterning often employs photoresists for creating detailed masks for processing semiconductor structures. In some instances, multiple photoresist layers are employed to process different areas of a chip or wafer using different portions of the multilayered structure. In one example, patterning schemes with photoresists can be employed to form critical dimension (CD) features, e.g., sources/drains, fins, gates, contacts, back end of the line (BEOL) metal layers, etc.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Removal of trilayer resist without damage to underlying structure


Technologies are generally described for providing a system of scalable networked devices that may be mapped employing a naming convention that enables an optimized route to the devices through device search algorithms for network-connected and non-network connected devices. The naming convention and corresponding algorithms may enable users to search for a desired functionality, access suitable scalable networked device(s), and utilize the desired functionality. Furthermore, a spider algorithm may be employed to continuously map and update a mesh of scalable networked devices.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Ubiquitous computing (ubicomp) is a post-desktop model of human-computer interaction in which information processing is integrated into everyday objects and activities. According to this computing model, people using ubiquitous computing may engage a number of computational devices and systems simultaneously, and may not necessarily be aware that they are doing so. Various models of ubiquitous computing share common attributes directed to small, inexpensive, robust, networked input and processing devices, distributed at various scales throughout everyday life and generally turned to distinctly common-place ends. For example, a home ubiquitous computing environment may interconnect lighting and environmental controls with personal biometric monitors woven into clothing so that illumination and heating conditions in a room may be modulated, continuously and imperceptibly. Another example may include performing an Internet search for temperature or similar environmental parameters at a remote location, and the search retrieving results from a number of sensors through a scalable networked device system.
Ubiquitous computing presents challenges in systems design and engineering, in systems modeling, and in user interface design. Contemporary human-computer interaction models, whether command-line, menu-driven, or graphical user interface based, may be inadequate or not suitable to the ubiquitous model. A ubiquitous computing network may include very large numbers of devices. Location, functionality, network connection, and status of such devices may be highly variable. Thus, it is a challenging task to continuously map these devices so that users can access the devices remotely and utilize their functionality.

Scalable networked device dynamic mapping


A computing device having a graphical interface system for navigating computer programs is provided. The system includes a navigation display showing an organizational model of a computer program that is formed by concentric rings representing levels of options within the computer program. At least one of the rings is an active ring, which is emphasized to show selectable options. The options represent either categories of other options or features of the computer program. The options may be represented by icons or words. A method for navigating a computer program using the organizational model includes using a graphical user interface to select options on an active ring. Selecting a category option activates an inner ring that displays options related to the previously selected option on the next higher ring. The user continues navigating through inner rings until a feature option is selected, which invokes a feature of the computer program.

Systems for navigating the features, options and controls of computer programs that make use of graphical user interfaces (GUIs) are well known for computing devices. For example, typical navigation systems for these devices permit a user to navigate within a computer program by selecting options located on control bars, drop-down menus, or links within the current view. With these navigation systems, only one page of a computer program is usually shown at a particular time. As a user navigates through multiple levels of a computer program, it is easy for the user to become lost within the computer program. Unless a user remembers what choices he has made in navigating to his present location, he often forgets how deep he is into the computer program. Thus, time is lost as the user navigates back through different views and through different levels to become re-oriented and to change locations within the computer program.
Some navigation systems have addressed this issue by providing text dialogs on top of one another that indicate the user's location as he proceeds deeper into a computer program. Other systems have addressed this issue by stacking each succeeding view on top of the proceeding view as the user progresses into the computer program and allowing the user to select a previous view layer by selecting the frame for a previous view. Yet other systems display a hierarchy of options along one side of the primary view showing levels and sublevels for options that have been selected. Although these alternatives are helpful, they do not provide the user with a single map or an overall view that shows the user's location within the computer program at a given time. Further, these options may be difficult to implement on small displays, such as may be found on handheld computers or mobile terminal devices.

System and method for navigating applications using a graphical user interface


The invention relates to a device and method for dispensing a heated fluid and an external heating device. The device comprises a supply of fluid, a discharge connected to the supply for drawing off heated fluid, a feed for cold fluid connected to the supply, and the heating device. The heating device for heating fluid comprises a suction conduit connected to the supply and provided with a pump means, a heat exchanger with heat source arranged downstream of the suction conduit, a pressure conduit for heated fluid debouching in the supply, at least one temperature detecting means for measuring the temperature of fluid, and a control coupled to the temperature detecting means for controlling the pump means and/or heat source. The invention is characterized in that an outlet of the feed and an inlet of the suction conduit are arranged in the vicinity of each other in the supply. The invention is also characterized in that the temperature detecting means is coupled upstream of the heat exchanger to the suction conduit.

(1) Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device for dispensing a heated fluid, comprising a supply of fluid, a discharge connected to the supply for drawing off heated fluid from the supply, a feed for cold fluid connected to the supply, and a heating device for heating the fluid. The invention also relates to a heating device for heating the fluid, comprising a suction conduit provided with a pump means, a heat exchanger with heat source arranged downstream of the suction conduit, a pressure conduit for heated fluid coupled to the heat exchanger, at least one temperature detecting means for measuring the temperature of the fluid and a control coupled to the temperature detecting means for controlling the pump means and/or heat source.
(2) Description of Related Art
It is known to heat tap water in various ways. It is known to have a supply of tap water, wherein the tap water is heated directly by means of a separate exchanger with its own heat sources. This is connected to a supply tank. It is known to suction fluid out of the supply, usually from a low point in the supply, and to transport this to the heat exchanger. The pressure conduit carries the fluid back into the supply, often also at a low point. Owing to thermal action the hot water will hereby rise upward from the bottom until the whole supply has the desired temperature. The external heating is switched on when a control device determines by temperature measurement that the temperature of the heated fluid in the supply is too low. The temperature detecting means can be placed in the supply, or is for instance placed downstream of the heat exchanger.
For the purpose of increasing the effectiveness of the heat exchanger it has been proposed in the past to connect the feed for cold fluid directly onto the suction conduit of the heating device. The cold water is hereby heated directly and the heat exchanger is used effectively. This does however create problems in respect of the difference in water pressure. Such a system is also very dependent on the flow resistance in the external exchanger.

Device for dispensing a heated fluid and heating device therefor


A thin-film magnetic head that has an improved protrusion efficiency under the condition of not only assuring the reliability of the-heating operation, but also stabilizing the read output is provided. The head comprises: a magnetic head element for writing and/or reading data signals; a heating element for generating heat at least during operations of the magnetic head element; and a first heatsink element provided adjacent to the heating element for receiving a part of the heat generated from the heating element, the first heatsink element being a distance from the magnetic head element.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thin-film magnetic head with a heating element and a heatsink, a head gimbal assembly (HGA) with the thin-film magnetic head and a magnetic disk drive apparatus with the HGA.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a magnetic disk drive apparatus, when writing or reading signals, a thin-film magnetic head (slider) hydrodynamically flies with a predetermined spacing (flying height) on a rotating magnetic disk. While flying on the magnetic disk, the thin-film magnetic head writes signals to the magnetic disk using magnetic fields generated from an inductive write head element, and reads signals by sensing magnetic fields corresponding to the signals from the magnetic disk with the use of an magnetoresistive (MR) effect read head element. On these cases, a magnetic spacing do is defined as an effective magnetic distance between ends of these head elements and the surface of the magnetic disk.
With higher recording density due to the increase in data storage capacity and miniaturization of the magnetic disk drive apparatus in recent years, a track width of the thin-film magnetic head is becoming smaller. In order to avoid the degradation of writing and reading performance due to the smaller track width, latest magnetic disk drive apparatus actually has the magnetic spacing dMS reduced down to the order of 10 nm or less.
Generally, when write currents are applied to the inductive write head element, a thermal pole tip protrusion (TPTP) phenomenon occurs due to a thermal expansion by Joule heat, eddy-current loss and so on, where the end of the magnetic head element is protruded toward the surface of the magnetic disk. In the case, the much small magnetic spacing dMS is likely to cause the protruded end of the magnetic head element to contact the surface of the magnetic disk. The contact by the protrusion has a possibility of making trouble (thermal asperity) such as an occurrence of abnormal signals, and further has a risk of causing physical damage or crash of the magnetic head element and the magnetic disk.
To avoid the troublemaking contact, some techniques are proposed, which control the magnetic spacing dMS by positively utilizing a TPTP phenomenon with the use of a heater provided inside the thin-film magnetic head, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,991,113, US Patent Publications Nos. 2003/0174430 A1 and 2003/0099054 A1. In these techniques, the magnetic spacing dMS is designed in prospect of a protrusion due to the heat generated from the heater, and is adjusted by controlling the power applied to the heater during operation.
When the heater is provided in an overcoat layer covering the magnetic head element and in a position being in a certain distance from the slider substrate, the heat generated from the heater is accumulated in the overcoat layer, and causes the effective thermal expansion of the overcoat layer. As a result, the whole amount of protrusion of the head end surface per applied power becomes larger. However, in order to protrude the end of the magnetic head element effectively, the heater is needed to be closer to the magnetic head element. In the closer position, the heater also becomes closer to the slider substrate with comparatively high thermal conductivity. Therefore, the closer position of the heater causes the heat generated from the heater to be more dissipated via the slider substrate. As a method for avoiding this dissipation, the heat may be concentrated to the magnetic head element by miniaturizing the heater. The miniaturization of the heater enables the end of the magnetic head element to be protruded more effectively.
However, the miniaturization of the heater is likely to cause the temperature of the heater itself to be increased excessively. Generally, a stable heating operation even under intermittent uses is required to control the much small amount of the protrusion. Therefore, the heater is needed to have a high-precision in position and size, however, the excess increase in temperature has a possibility to cause the heater to be deformed, and what is more, to be destroyed due to breaking and so on. Therefore, in the case of the excess increase in temperature, not only the required degree of precision, but also the heating operation itself is not assured.
To deal with the problem, a thin-film magnetic head described in US Patent Publication No. 2004/0017638 A1 has a heatsink layer for diffusing the heat generated from the inductive write head element, though having no heater. In this head, the excess increase in temperature of the heater may be prevented, for example, by providing the heater near the heatsink to diffuse the heat accumulated in the heater itself. Furthermore, a thin-film magnetic head in which a heater is provided in a position above and opposed to a lower core layer (lower magnetic pole layer) though not for the purpose of diffusing heat, is disclosed in Japanese patent Publication No. 2005-011414A. The excess increase in temperature of the heater may also be prevented in this head.
However, a problem occurs that the heat generated from the heater is likely to degrade the reliability of the MR read head element.
When using either above-mentioned thin-film magnetic head described in US Patent Publication No. 2004/0017638 A1 or Japanese patent Publication No. 2005-011414A, the heat generated from the heater is likely to cause the temperature of an MR multilayer, which is a sensing part of the MR read head element, to be significantly increased because the large amount of the heat reaches the MR read head element through the heatsink layer or the lower magnetic pole layer. The significant increase in temperature is likely to cause deterioration in the reliability, and what is more, the output stability of the MR read head element. Especially, a giant magnetoresistive (GMR) read head element, which is recently well-used, has a comparatively high risk to make such a problem.

Thin-film magnetic head with heating element and heatsink


Provided is an apparatus for deriving a social relation between accounts based on a transaction ledger, which includes: a data storage unit storing account information, software for deriving an inter-account social relation, and inter-account social relation information; and a processor deriving the social relation between the accounts based on a transaction ledger generated by transactions among users with the accounts.

Accounts become identification information that distinguishes users between trading parties in general banking and blockchain transactions. When a random transaction occurs between the accounts, transaction details are recorded in a transaction ledger.
In the blockchain transaction, an address is assigned to each account. In the blockchain transaction, various digital virtual currencies with which online and offline payment for merchandises can be made through the addresses can be stored, transmitted, and paid.
The digital virtual currencies using the blockchain include Bitcoin, Litecoin, Darkcoin, Namecoin, Doggycoin, and Ethereum in addition to Bitcoin.
A common feature thereof is that the digital virtual currencies operate with a blockchain where all the transaction details that are traded online using the digital virtual currency that includes trader Bitcoin are collected and stored. A medium in which the transaction details are recorded is referred to as the transaction ledger.
Bitcoin has a structure in which there is no central device for issuing and managing currencies. Instead, the transaction of Bitcoin is performed by a peer-to-peer network (P2P) based distributed database, and is performed based on a public key cryptography.
Bitcoin having such a payment method can be used without providing information such as a card number, expiration date, CVC number, and personal information required for credit card payment, and has an advantage of low usage fee.
Further, Bitcoin is recorded on the blockchain, and an electronic wallet manages a public key and a private key for the address of the blockchain. In addition, Bitcoin transaction is made based on a public address derived from the public key.

Apparatus and method for deducing social relation between accounts on basis of transaction ledger, and apparatus and method for providing social media service by using same


The present invention relates to a copper alloy having high strength, high electrical conductivity, and excellent bendability, the copper alloy containing, in terms of mass %, 0.4 to 4.0% of Ni; 0.05 to 1.0% of Si; and, as an element M, one member selected from 0.005 to 0.5% of P, 0.005 to 1.0% of Cr, and 0.005 to 1.0% of Ti, with the remainder being copper and inevitable impurities, in which an atom number ratio M/Si of elements M and Si contained in a precipitate having a size of 50 to 200 nm in a microstructure of the copper alloy is from 0.01 to 10 on average, the atom number ratio being measured by a field emission transmission electron microscope with a magnification of 30,000 and an energy dispersive analyzer.

With the trend toward reduction of size and weight of electronic device, electric/electronic components are being made small and light. With such a trend toward the small and light electric/electronic components, the copper alloy materials to be used for terminals of the electric/electronic components are also made thinner and narrower in order to make the terminals small and light. For example, copper alloy sheets being used in ICs have a thickness of 0.1 to 0.15 mm.
As a result, the copper alloy material used for the electric/electronic components is required to have a higher strength. For example, copper alloy sheets to be used for connectors of vehicles are required to have such a high strength of 800 MPa or more.
Due to such a trend toward the thin and narrow electric/electronic components, the cross-sectional area of electrically conductive parts of the copper alloy material is decreased. In order to compensate for the decrease in the electrical conductivity due to the decreased cross-sectional area, the copper alloy material is required to have a satisfactory electrical conductivity of 40% IACS or more.
Additionally, the copper alloy sheets used for connectors, terminals, switches, relays, IC lead frames and the like are required to have excellent bendability (allowing 90° bending after a notching) as well as the high strength and the high electrical conductivity.
Conventionally, the 42 alloys (Fe-42 mass % Ni alloy) have been known as an example of a high-strength copper alloy material. The 42 alloys have a tensile strength of about 580 MPa, low anisotropy, and excellent bendability. However, the 42 alloys cannot satisfy high-strength requirement of 800 MPa or more. Further, the 42 alloys contain a large amount of Ni, and thus making the price expensive.
For this reason, the Corson alloys (Cu—Ni—Si-based alloy) that are excellent in the above-described properties and are also cheap are used for the electric/electronic components. The Corson alloys are alloys, in which a solid solubility limit of nickel silicide compound (Ni2Si) with respect to a copper greatly varies depending on temperature, which are precipitation hardening-type alloys that are hardened by a quenching and tempering process, and which have satisfactory heat resistance and high-temperature strength. Accordingly, the Corson alloys are used for various types of springs for electrical conduction or power lines having high-tensile.
However, the electrical conductivity and bendability of the Corson alloys may deteriorate when the strength of the copper alloy material is increased. That is, it is very difficult to make the high-strength Corson alloys have satisfactory electrical conductivity and bendability. Hence, there is a desire for a further improvement in strength, electrical conductivity, and bendability of the Corson alloys.
There have been proposed several approaches to improve the strength, electrical conductivity, and bendability of the Corson alloys. For example, according to Patent Document 1, the contents of Sn, Zn, Fe, P, Mg, Pb, as well as Ni and Si are specified so as to improve the strength and punching workability as well as the electrical conductivity, while maintaining the solder ablation resistance, heat-resistant creep property, migration resistance property, and hot workability of a bending portion.
According to Patent Document 2, the contents of Mg as well as Ni and Si and the number of precipitates and inclusions having a grain size of 10 μm or more, which are contained in the alloy, are specified so as to improve the electrical conductivity, strength, and high-temperature strength of the resulting alloy.
According to Patent Document 3, the contents of Mg and S as well as Ni and Si while controlling the content ratio of S are specified so as to suitably improve the strength, electrical conductivity, bendability, stress relaxation property, plate adhesion of the resulting alloy.
According to Patent Document 4, the content of Fe is controlled to be 0.1% or less and thus to improve the strength, electrical conductivity, and bendability of the resulting alloy.
According to Patent Document 5, the size of inclusions is controlled to be 10 μm or less and the number of inclusions having a grain size of 5 to 10 μm is controlled so as to improve the strength, electrical conductivity, bendability, etching property, and plating property of the resulting alloy.
According to Patent Document 6, the dispersion state of Ni2Si precipitates is controlled so as to improve the strength, electrical conductivity, and bendability of the resulting alloy.
According to Patent Document 7, a stretching shape of a grain of microstructures on the surface of the copper alloy sheet is specified so as to improve the abrasion-resistant property of the resulting alloy.    Patent Document 1: JP-A-9-209061    Patent Document 2: JP-A-8-225869    Patent Document 3: JP-A-2002-180161    Patent Document 4: JP-A-2001-207229    Patent Document 5: JP-A-2001-49369    Patent Document 6: JP-A-2005-89843    Patent Document 7: JP-A-5-279825

Copper alloy having high strength, high electric conductivity and excellent bending workability


An imaging apparatus may include an infrared cutoff filter capable of being inserted into and extracted from an incident light path to an image sensing device, and may further include a first detecting unit configured to, when the infrared cutoff filter is off the incident light path to the image sensing device, detect whether the difference between current illuminance of a subject acquired from an image signal of the subject sensed by the image sensing device and a reference value of the illuminance of the subject determined after the infrared cutoff filter was extracted is equal to or greater than a first threshold value, and a filter control unit configured to, when the first detecting unit detects that the difference between the current illuminance and the reference value is equal to or greater than the first threshold value, insert the infrared cutoff filter into the incident light path.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus and a method and program for controlling an imaging apparatus, and more particularly, to an imaging apparatus and a method and program for controlling an imaging apparatus, capable of providing an image in a highly stable manner in any environment of illumination, by correctly operating an infrared cutoff filter.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a monitor camera, a sensor of the camera generally has high sensitivity in an infrared range. Therefore, in a usual environment in which subjects have high illuminance, an infrared cutoff filter is inserted into an optical path to cut off an infrared component included in incident light thereby allowing it to obtain an image with proper color information.
On the other hand, in a dark environment in which subjects have low illuminance, the infrared cutoff filter is removed to achieve high sensitivity which allows it to obtain an image in such a dark environment, although color information is sacrificed. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-224469 discloses a technique to automatically control the operation of inserting or extracting the infrared cutoff filter.
In the monitor camera disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-224469, illuminance of a subject is calculated from an image signal output from an image sensing device, and the illuminance of the subject is compared with two threshold values (first reference illuminance and second reference illuminance (first reference illuminance<second reference illuminance)) to determine whether to insert or extract the infrared cutoff filter. More specifically, when the illuminance of the subject is lower than the first reference illuminance, the infrared cutoff filter is removed, while the infrared cutoff filter is inserted when the illuminance of the subject is higher than the second reference illuminance.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a further detailed explanation is given below as to the manner of determining whether to insert or extract the infrared cutoff filter of the monitor camera according to the conventional technique.
In an example shown in FIG. 1, a threshold value α1 and a threshold value α3 are set as the first reference illuminance and the second reference illuminance (such that threshold value α1<threshold value α3), and the insertion/extraction of the infrared cutoff filter is controlled in accordance with the illuminance value relative to the threshold values α1 and α3. In an example shown in FIG. 2, a threshold value α1 is set as the first reference illuminance, and a threshold value α2 is set as the second reference illuminance (threshold value α1<threshold value α2<threshold value α3). In the example shown in FIG. 1, there is a rather large difference between the first reference illuminance and the second reference illuminance. On the other hand, in the example shown in FIG. 2, there is a small difference between the first reference illuminance and the second reference illuminance.
In FIGS. 1 and 2, subject illuminance is represented along a vertical axis, and time passage is represented along a horizontal axis. "ON" denotes a state in which the infrared cutoff filter is inserted in an incident light path, and "OFF" denotes a state in which the infrared cutoff filter is pulled out of the incident light path. Solid lines represent a change in the illuminance of a subject with time, while broken lines represent apparent illuminance (that is, illuminance detected by the monitor camera in the state in which the infrared cutoff filter is pulled out).
First, the example shown in FIG. 1 is explained.
In the state in which the infrared cutoff filter is inserted in the incident light path, the monitor camera repeatedly checks whether the illuminance of the subject has decreased down to a value lower than the threshold value α1 set as the first reference illuminance. If the illuminance of the subject decreases beyond the threshold value α1 at a time T1, the monitor camera further determines whether the luminance of the subject remains lower than the threshold value α1 during a predetermined period of time (a period hatched in FIG. 1). If the illuminance of the subject has remained lower than the threshold value α1 during the predetermined period of time, then, at a time T2 after the predetermined period, the monitor camera pulls the infrared cutoff filter out of the incident light path.
The pulling of the infrared cutoff filter out of the incident light path causes the incident light to include an infrared component without being cut off. Thus, after a short waiting time has elapsed since the time T2 at which the infrared cutoff filter was extracted, an apparent illuminance value of the subject is detected by the monitor camera, and thus the detected illuminance becomes greater than the actual illuminance of the subject. Herein, the term "waiting time" denotes a time needed for an AE (Auto Exposure) mechanism to reach a stable state.
Thereafter, in the state in which the infrared cutoff filter is off the incident light path, the monitor camera continuously checks the illuminance of the subject (the apparent illuminance of the subject) to determine whether the illuminance of the subject has increased beyond the threshold value α3 set as the second reference illuminance.
That is, in the monitor camera in which the second illuminance (the threshold value α3) is set to a rather high value as in the example shown in FIG. 1, even when the illuminance of the subject becomes high enough as denoted by P in FIG. 1, the infrared cutoff filter is not inserted until the apparent illuminance of the subject becomes greater then the threshold value α3 set as the second reference illuminance.
If the illuminance of the subject becomes higher than the threshold value α3 at a time T3, the monitor camera continuously checks the illuminance of the subject to determine whether the illuminance of the subject remains higher than the threshold value α3 during a predetermined period of time. If it is determined that the illuminance of the subject has remained higher than the threshold value α3 during the predetermined period of time, then, at a time T4 after the predetermined period of time, the monitor camera inserts the infrared cutoff filter into the incident light path.
The insertion of the infrared cutoff filter at time T4 causes the infrared component to be cut off from the incident light. After a waiting time has further elapsed since T4, the illuminance of the subject detected by the monitor camera becomes equal to the actual illuminance of the subject.
In the state in which the infrared cutoff filter is again inserted in the incident light path, the monitor camera continuously checks the illuminance of the subject with reference to the threshold values α1 and α3 set as the first and second reference illuminance values in a similar manner as described above.
Now, the second example is described with reference to FIG. 2. When the monitor camera is in the state in which the infrared cutoff filter is inserted in the incident light path, the monitor camera continuously checks the illuminance of the subject to determine whether the illuminance of the subject has decreased beyond the threshold value α1 set as the first reference illuminance.
If the illuminance of the subject decreases beyond the threshold value α1 at a time T11, the monitor camera further checks the illuminance of the subject to determine whether the illuminance of the subject remains lower than the threshold value α1 during a predetermined period of time. If the illuminance of the subject has remained lower than the threshold value α1 during the predetermined period of time. The monitor camera pulls the infrared cutoff filter out of the incident light path at a time T12 after the predetermined period of time.
In this state in which the infrared cutoff filter is off the incident light path, the monitor camera continuously checks the illuminance of the subject to determine whether the illuminance of the subject increases beyond the threshold value α2 set as the second reference illuminance.
Note that as a result of the extraction of the infrared cutoff filter, after a time T13 at which a waiting time has further elapsed since the time T12, the illuminance of the subject detected by the monitor camera becomes the apparent illuminance of the subject which is higher than the actual illuminance of the subject. Therefore, in the example shown in FIG. 2, because the difference between the threshold value α1 and the threshold value α2 is small, the apparent illuminance of the subject can be higher than the threshold value α2 even if the actual illuminance of the subject remains lower than the threshold value α1.
Thus, in the example shown in FIG. 2, after the illuminance of the subject (the apparent illuminance of the subject) becomes higher than the threshold value α2 at a time T13, it is determined that the illuminance of the subject has remained higher than the threshold value α2 during a predetermined period of time. Thereafter, at a time T14 after the predetermined period of time, the monitor camera inserts the infrared cutoff filter into the incident light path.
In this state in which the infrared cutoff filter is inserted in the incident light path, the monitor camera continuously checks the illuminance of the subject to determine whether the illuminance of the subject decreases beyond the threshold value α1 set as the first reference illuminance. However, as a result of the insertion of the infrared cutoff filter, after a time T15 when a waiting time has elapsed since the time T14, the illuminance of the subject detected by the monitor camera becomes equal to the actual illuminance of the subject lower than the threshold value α1.
Thus, after the time T15, if the actual illuminance of the subject camera remains lower than the threshold value α1 during a predetermined period of time, it is determined that the illuminance of the subject detected by the monitor camera has remained lower than the threshold value α1 during the predetermined period of time, and thus at a time T16 after the predetermined period of time, the monitor camera pulls the infrared cutoff filter output of the incident light path.
Thus, the infrared cutoff filter is again brought into the extracted state, and the monitor camera continuously checks the illuminance of the subject to determine whether the illuminance of the subject increases beyond the threshold value α2 set as the second reference illuminance. However, as a result of the extraction of the infrared cutoff filter, after a time T17 when a waiting time has elapsed since the time T16, the apparent illuminance of the subject is again detected by the monitor camera, and thus the detected illuminance becomes higher than the actual illuminance of the subject.
Thus, at the time T17, the detected illuminance of the subject (the apparent illuminance of the subject) becomes higher than the threshold value α2, and thereafter it is determined that the illuminance of the subject has remained higher than the threshold value α2 during a predetermined period of time. Thus, at a time T18 after the predetermined period of time, the monitor camera inserts the infrared cutoff filter. Subsequently, the process described above is repeated.
In the second example, as described above, the effect of the increase in the apparent illuminance of the subject caused by the extraction of the infrared cutoff filter is not taken into account in the operation. That is, because there is only a small difference between the threshold value α1 set as the first reference illuminance and the threshold value α2 set as the second reference illuminance, the apparent illuminance of the subject can be higher than the threshold value α2 set as the second reference illuminance even when the actual illuminance of the subject is lower than the threshold value α1 set as the first reference illuminance. As a result, in the example shown in FIG. 2, the insertion and extraction of the infrared cutoff filter are repeated endlessly at intervals of the particular period needed to insert and extract the infrared cutoff filter.
In the conventional monitor camera, as described above, when the infrared cutoff filter is controlled in accordance with the two threshold values, the two threshold values or the difference therebetween can become improper depending on the environment or the subject. That is, it is difficult to properly set the threshold values and the difference therebetween, and this difficulty can cause an erroneous operation of the infrared cutoff filter.
For example, as described above with reference to FIG. 2, when the difference between the two threshold values is too small, if the illuminance of the subject is close to one of the two threshold values, there is a possibility that the insertion and extraction of the infrared cutoff filter is repeated endlessly, that is, hunting can occur. Conversely, when the difference between the threshold values is too large, there is a possibility that after the infrared cutoff filter is extracted, when the illuminance of the subject again becomes high enough as denoted by P in FIG. 1, the infrared cutoff filter is not re-inserted although the actual illuminance of the subject is high enough and the infrared cutoff filter should be re-inserted.

Imaging apparatus, and method and program for controlling an imaging apparatus