A wall panel system that is adapted to be attached over an existing vertical substrate, such as a wall or stripped interior of an elevator cab. Panel assemblies, base assemblies and frieze assemblies are provided. There are several versions of hangers that are first attached to the vertical substrate onto which the panels, base and frieze are hung. The back of the panel assemblies have a series of apertures on each vertical edge that engage into the hangers that allow for some lateral movement of the panels to achieve uniform reveal gaps between multiple panels in a particular installation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wall panels, and more particularly, to adjustable spacing and mounting of vertical wall panels.
2. Description of the Related Art
Several designs for wall panels have been designed in the past. None of them, however, includes a simple system of panels, brackets and other parts that allow the system to be fabricated off site and then fine-tuned during installation.
Prior art designs include rack systems that adhere or screw panels to walls. These designs fail in allowing for a system to be designed and made off site and then installed with a degree of lateral adjustability. These prior art designs often leave a results that is less than perfect, particularly with the spacing between panels and overall fit. Some solutions require laborious shimming to adjust the reveal between panels.
Other prior art panel systems are difficult to install and may require highly skilled installers to fit the panels in place. This can cause labor costs to increase as well as delays in installation and therefore final use of the space outfitted with the panels.
Other patents describing the closest subject matter provide for a number of more or less complicated features that fail to solve the problem in an efficient and economical way. None of these patents suggest the novel features of the present invention.


A music-oriented game machine with a feature to increase a feeling of competitiveness between players. Based on an evaluation of a performance of the first and second players based on their steps, the number of times step timing is presented as guidance is varied. Specifically, while reference arrows (46, 48) are displayed, a plurality of timing guidance arrows (50, 62) approaching the reference arrows (46, 48) are also displayed on a game screen image (40). As a result, guidance as to where step timing is arriving is shown to the player. Then, a speed at which the reference arrows (46, 48) approach the timing guidance arrows (50, 62), respectively, is changed from a default speed to speeds of half, twice, and three-times the default speed based on the result of evaluation on the respective player's stepping performances, to thereby change the guidance level.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a game machine, a game processing method, and an information storage medium. In particular, the present invention relates to a technique for providing a game allowing the player to enjoy game operation in accordance with game music.
2. Description of the Related Art
A music-oriented game machine employing a dedicated controller having a plurality of marks attached thereon, each indicative of a step position and a sensor for determining whether or not a player's foot/feet is/are placed on a particular step position/positions, is popular. Typical examples of such a game machine or software include "Beat Mania™" and "Dance, Dance, Revolution™", both manufactured and sold by Konami Corporation. In these games, the player can enjoy the feeling of dancing by stepping on the dedicated controller in accordance with game music.
In such a music-oriented game machine, timing at which the player is required to step on each step position is determined according to the rhythm of game music and stored in the form of step data, and a gradually approaching step timing for each of the plurality of step positions is shown on a display based on the step data (timing data). The player, referring to the displayed image and listening to the rhythm of the music, puts their foot/feet on a presented step position/ positions on the dedicated controller. The player's performance with the game is evaluated based on the extent of difference between the time at which the player actually stepped on the dedicated controller and the step timing defined by the step timing data. This arrangement allows the player to enjoy the feeling of dancing, while caring about his game score.
When the above mentioned music-oriented game machine is constructed as a match game machine, there can be an arrangement in which the two players are required to step in the same manner, while their actual step performances are evaluated to give them scores, so that they can compete for a game score. However, only allowing the two players to step in the same manner so that they can compete based on their performance may be too simple, and desirably, the machine may have some contrivance to the feeling of competitiveness between players.
Even when the game machine is not constructed as a match game machine, a changeable guidance level for step timing can give variation to the game, and thereby enhance the attractiveness of a music-oriented game.
The present invention has been conceived in view of the above, and aims to provide a game machine, a game processing method, and an information storage medium, employed in a music-oriented game, capable of further increasing a feeling of competitiveness between the players.

Game machine, game processing method and information storage medium


Disclosed is an economical washer device of a headlamp for a vehicle includes a nozzle unit integrally mounted onto a nozzle cover, the nozzle unit including a washer discharging opening and a washer introducing opening, wherein a washer liquid is fed through the washer introducing opening and selectively discharged through the discharging opening, and a slide drive unit integrated with the nozzle unit and configured and dimensioned to rotatably support the nozzle unit when the nozzle unit is rotated by an ejection pressure of the washer liquid discharged.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a washer device of a headlamp for a vehicle, and more particularly, to a washer device of a headlamp for a vehicle that opens a nozzle cover to which a nozzle unit is integrally mounted by using a washer liquid circulating structure inside the nozzle unit and the hydraulic pressure of a washer motor.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, headlamps of high luminance are mounted to opposite lateral sides of the front of a vehicle in order to allow a driver to secure a sufficient visual field when there is a difficulty in securing a visual field during night or due to foggy, snowy, or rainy weather.
In recent years, washer devices are increasingly mounted to headlamps of high luminance such as HID headlamps in order to solve a problem in securing a frontal visual field caused by contamination of lens surfaces of the headlamps like washer devices applied to windshield glasses.
Currently, separate telescopes are being applied to washer devices of headlamps for almost all vehicles in order to solve problems such as blocking of ejection nozzles due to introduction of foreign substances.
Since such a washer device of a headlamp for a vehicle uses a separate cover, it has an excellent appearance. In addition, since it solves blocking of an ejection nozzle due to introduction of foreign substances, it is excellent in quality.
Korean Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-61540 discloses a washer device of a headlamp in which a rotary motor and a rotational force transferring mechanism are separately used instead of a telescope.
However, a washer device of a headlamp to which a telescope is applied needs a gap between a housing and a piston for upward and downward movement of the piston, and when moisture introduced into the gap is frozen, the operation of the washer device becomes impossible, secondarily causing loosing of a bumper and a nozzle cover and unsafe closing drive of a cover after use of the washer device.
In addition, such a washer device requires a telescope, a separate bracket for fixing the telescope, a housing, and a piston, causing additional costs.
Moreover, since Korean Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-61540 has a problem in that the rotational force transferring mechanism is corroded by a washer liquid introduced between a bumper and a nozzle cover or moisture introduced during washing of the vehicle or in a rainy day, a separate cover for preventing introduction of moisture needs to be mounted to a gear unit and a fixing bracket, causing disadvantages in the aspect of layout and additional costs.
Furthermore, since the nozzle cover is opened and closed by applying a separate rotary drive motor for driving the rotational force transferring mechanism, a motor is required in addition to a washer motor, causing disadvantages in weight and costs.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.


An automated method for authorizing and controlling the production of optically encoded images is provided. The method comprises receiving from a user data processor a request for authorization to produce an encoded image. The authorization request includes user-supplied data comprising at least one authentication image file. The method further comprises determining whether the user is authorized to produce an encoded image using the user-supplied data. Responsive to a determination that the user is authorized to produce an encoded image using the user-supplied data, an authentication image signature is generated from the at least one authentication image file using an image signature algorithm and a positive authorization response is returned to the user data processor. The positive authorization response includes the authentication image signature.

The invention relates generally to counterfeit protection for printed and digital documents, packaging and other printed materials, and more particularly to the secure production of encoded images for use in counterfeit protection measures.
Counterfeiting and alteration of valuable documents and black market sales of counterfeit goods are significant problems faced with increasing regularity in today's world. Each year many millions of dollars are lost through the fraudulent use of non-authentic documents and branded goods. The increasing sophistication of optical scanners, copy machines and other devices used for replicating items continues to enhance the counterfeiter's ability to produce fraudulent documents and other imitations which are of sufficient quality to often go undetected.
One method of providing increased security against unauthorized copying, alteration or counterfeiting is to apply an encoded image to the item to be protected. This image may include a visually apparent image (visible image) along with a non-visible or hidden image incorporated into the visible image in such a way as to be difficult or impossible to view without an optical or digital decoder configured specifically for viewing the hidden image. Application of such encoded images to documents and other items subject to counterfeiting allows the authenticity of such items to be readily verified by anyone having an appropriate decoder.
The content of encoded images can be widely variable and may be changed on a regular basis. The content may even be tied specifically to the individual item to which it is applied, in which case it must be generated very quickly in order to be considered a practical security measure. Accordingly, methods of producing encoded images should be flexible and preferably available to users on short notice.
It is therefore advantageous to make encoded image production readily available to individual users. Doing so, however, raises the concern that the encoded images themselves may be tampered with or produced by unauthorized users for application to counterfeit articles or altered documents. Another concern is that the authorized user can use the encoding software for non-authorized purposes, such as to protect printed material he is not allowed to encode. Accordingly, sophisticated control measures are required to assure that encoded images are produced only by authorized users and to assure that such authorized users produce only authorized encoded images.

Method and system for controlling encoded image production using image signatures


Systems and methods are disclosed for enhancing optical communication by performing dispersion compensation in an optical fiber using a fiber Bragg grating (FBG); and providing increased degrees of freedoms (DOFs) to distinguish forward and backward propagating fields with a passive component.

The present invention relates to Optical Dispersion Compensation.
One of the main sources of signal distortion in optical fibers is chromatic dispersion. Since dispersion has a linear process and affects the signal phase, it can be perfectly compensated without inducing any penalties. There are three main approaches to overcoming distortions due to fiber dispersion. First, reducing link dispersion, and second, compensating for dispersion effects at the coherent receiver or at the digital transmitter using digital signal processing.
The first approach can be implemented by designing fibers that have almost no dispersion, such as dispersion shifted fibers. However, it is well known if fiber dispersion is reduced, nonlinear impairments increase significantly. Since it is much more easy, and less expensive to compensate for fiber dispersion, than compensating nonlinear impairments, this method has been largely discarded by the community.
Another way to reduce link dispersion is concatenating different fibers in the link such that the dispersion of one fiber compensates totally or partially the dispersion of the other fiber. Such links are called compensated links. However, the fibers having negative dispersion has higher losses and higher nonlinearities. Moreover, since the dispersion of the link is periodically compensated, similar to the case of using low dispersion fibers, these links also have higher nonlinear penalties compared to using uncompensated links.
The second approach is to use uncompensated link with coherent transceivers, and compensate the accumulated dispersion at the transmitter side or at the receiver side using digital signal processing (DSP). The second approach has two problems. First, link dispersion can be very large, and current DSP technologies may not be adequate for compensating for the accumulated dispersion of transoceanic links. Second, compensation of dispersion by DSP requires very large amount of power consumption. Indeed, even in current receivers, majority of the power consumption is due to dispersion compensation.
The third approach attempts to compensate for the total dispersion of the entire link at the receiver side or at the transmitter side by optical methods. Basically, a passive optical component having the opposite of the accumulated dispersion of the entire link can be placed at the transmitter or at the receiver to fully compensate for the entire link dispersion. This is sometimes referred to as lumped dispersion compensation (400). In this case signal does not experience increased nonlinear penalty during transmission because fiber has large dispersion. However, so far there is no optical component that can compensate for the accumulated dispersion of an uncompensated link more than a few hundred kilometers meters long with acceptable insertion loss.
Since dispersion is a linear effect, in principle these components can be cascaded many times to achieve the amount of total dispersion that is required. However, because of the large insertion loss and also large PDL of these components, cascading them require using additional optical amplifiers which both increases system cost and reduces signal quality because of additional amplifier noise, and additional polarization-dependent loss.
FIG. 1 shows one approach where optical components use fiber Bragg grating (FBG) for dispersion compensation (100). Bragg gratings (BGs) can be written on many media, and when they are written on fibers they are called FBGs. FIG. 1 shows a simple schematic of how FBGs are typically used for dispersion compensation. The dispersed light enters from the left port of the circulator (101) and it is directed to the FBG (102). The short wavelengths have a higher group velocity, therefore they are ahead of the other wavelengths, and longer wavelengths are trailing. The BG is written with a chirp in the pitch, meaning that the pitch changes along the grating so that a phase matching condition is satisfied for longer wavelengths at the near side of the BG but not for the shorter wavelengths. Hence, the longer wavelengths are reflected from the nearside of the FBG. Similarly, the pitch is designed so that it satisfies the phase matching condition for shorter wavelengths at the far side of the BG. As a result, if the pitch and the chirp in the pitch is controlled well enough, the shorter wavelengths can be delayed with respect to the longer wavelengths by just the right amount so that the dispersion can be compensated.
There are two limitations to this method. First the largest dispersion amount that can be compensated depends on how long the FBG can be written, and the maximum length is currently limited to only a few meters due to the limitations of the FBG writing techniques. Second, FBG is reflective. Therefore it is necessary to use a circulator, which increases the insertion loss by at least 1.7 dB, because of the dual pass through the circulator. Indeed, the circulator is the major contributor to the insertion loss since the loss of a few meter long fiber can be ignored and writing FBG does not increase fiber loss appreciably. Assuming a maximum of a 1 m long FBG, the maximum amount of dispersion that can be compensated for is only 10000 ps, which is far less than 50000 to 150000 ps which is required for typical uncompensated transoceanic links. Cascading several FBGs can achieve the desired total amount of dispersion compensation at the cost of increased insertion loss.

Optical dispersion compensation module using fiber Bragg grating with multiple degrees of freedom for the optical field


An optical cable terminal fixture of the invention capable of increasing a fixing force of an optical cable and also simplifying swage operation, a terminal fixing structure of the optical cable, and an optical module. An optical cable terminal fixture includes a body having an outer sheath fixing part for fixing an outer sheath and a cable insertion path into which optical fibers are inserted, and a wind part having a wind claw on a lateral portion of the body around which a tensile strength wire is wound. Accordingly, by swaging the wind claw on which the tensile strength wire is wound to the outer sheath fixing part, a tensile force applied to an optical cable can be distributed to become resistant to tension.

The present invention relates to an optical cable terminal fixture, a terminal fixing structure of an optical cable, and an optical module.
A conventional optical module includes a circuit substrate on which a photoelectric converter connected to an optical fiber of an optical cable is mounted, and a metallic housing for receiving the circuit substrate. This optical module converts inputted and outputted electrical signals into optical signals by the photoelectric converter, and transmits signals by the optical signals.
The known optical cable used in this optical module is a metal pipe type optical cable in which an outer periphery of a single-core or multi-core optical fiber is covered with a metal pipe and a tensile strength fiber for increasing the tensile strength of the optical cable is longitudinally attached to an outer periphery of the metal pipe and an outer periphery of the tensile strength fiber is further covered with an outer sheath (for example, see Patent Document 1).
In a terminal fixing structure of this optical cable, the outer sheath of the end of the optical cable is removed and the metal pipe and the tensile strength fiber are exposed. Two cylindrical metal sleeves are fitted into the outer periphery of the metal pipe and the tensile strength fiber exposed. Then, after the first metal sleeve of the terminal side of the optical cable is swaged, the tensile strength fiber is folded. Thereafter, the top of the folded tensile strength fiber is inserted into the inside of the second metal sleeve fitted previously and the second metal sleeve is swaged to thereby fix the tensile strength fiber to the outer periphery of the metal pipe.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent No. 3988655
However, since the terminal fixing structure of the optical cable described above uses the plural metal sleeves, the number of swaged places is more than one, so that swage operation is complicated.
Since the outer sheath of the optical cable cannot be swaged, a fixing force of the optical cable to a strong tensile force on the optical cable may run short.
An object of the invention is to provide an optical cable terminal fixture capable of increasing a fixing force of an optical cable and also simplifying swage operation, a terminal fixing structure of the optical cable, and an optical module.

Optical cable terminal fixture, terminal fixing structure of optical cable, and optical module


Along an optical axis from an object side to an image side, a short overall length imaging lens system with four lenses includes a first lens with positive power that is a meniscus spherical/aspherical lens with a convex surface on the object side; an aperture stop; a second lens with negative power that is a meniscus aspherical lens with a convex surface facing the object side; a third lens with positive power that is a meniscus aspherical lens and a concave surface on the object side; and a fourth lens with negative power that is a biconcave aspherical lens with at least one inflection point in the effective diameter range of the optical surface on the image side so as to make the positive power gradually change into negative power. Moreover, the imaging lens system satisfies the following conditions:

The present invention relates to a short overall length imaging lens system with four lenses, especially to an imaging lens system for mobile phones or mini-cameras with image sensors such as CCD (Charge Coupled Device) or CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor). The imaging lens system is formed by four lenses and is with features of short overall length and low cost.
The electronics available now become more compact and multifunctional. Most of them such as digital still cameras, PC (personal computer) cameras, network cameras and mobile phones, even persona digital assistants (PDA) are equipped with an image lens system. The imaging lens system not only requires good imaging quality but also needs compact volume (short overall length) and lower cost. Moreover, the imaging lens system with larger field angle can improve image quality of the electronics and match user's requirements.
The imaging lens system applied to mini-size electronics includes various designs such as two lenses, three lenses, four lenses or five lenses. In consideration of imaging quality, multiple lenses system has better performance in aberration correction and MTF (modulation transfer function) so it is applied to electronics with requirement of high pixel count.
In recent years, the requirements for the imaging lens system applied to high level mini-cameras, camera phones or PDA (personal digital assistant) etc. include compact volume (short overall length), good aberration correction, high pixel count and low cost. In compact design of the imaging lens system with four lenses, prior arts disclosed such as US2007/0081259, U.S. Pat. No. 7,177,098, US2003/0161051, EP1868021, EP1387199, JP2005-164899, JP2007-322844, JP2007-065374, JP2003-270530, TW I254140, TWM313780, TWM 313245, CN1573407, CN1873461, CN1892279 etc., good aberration correction is achieved by the combinations of lenses with various positive power or negative power. Moreover, designs with positive refractive power of first lens, negative of second lens, positive of third lens and negative of fourth lens were disclosed as, US2007/014033, US2008/0024882, U.S. Pat. No. 7,215,492, U.S. Pat. No. 7,321,474, EP1821129, JP2007-225833, JP2008-020893, JP 2007-286153, JP 2007-193195, TWM314860, CN1815287, etc., to achieve good aberration correction. Especially on the fourth lens, the area near the optical axis on the object sides is a convex surface while the surface turns into a concave surface at the edge of the lens and change of the curvature is quite large. Or the area near the optical axis on the image sides is a concave surface while the surface turns into a convex surface at the edge of the lens. Such lens is quite difficult to be produced. Once the glass material is used, shape of the optical surface is difficult to control while being ground or molded. When the lens is produced by plastic injection molding, there are still some problems such as cooling shrinking or others. In order to overcome difficulties in manufacturing, the fourth lens with simple optical surface improves the yield rate, as shown in US2007/0058256, US2007/0070234, US 2007/0242370, US2008/0043346, JP2005-091666, JP2005-025174, JP 2004-233654, and P2007-219520 etc.
The users are in urgent need of the imaging lens system with short overall length, good aberration correction, high pixel count and low cost. However, the overall length of the imaging lens system of prior arts requires further minimization. In order to achieve lost cost, the lens is made from material with lower refractive index instead of the material with high refractive index and high cost. Once an image side of the fourth lens is a concave surface, flare or ghost image is reduced. The yield rate is also improved if the lens includes a simpler optical surface.

Short overall length imaging lens system with four lenses

Abstract: 0.25    ≤                            d                                                              2                +                  d                                                              4                +                  d                                                              6                            f        s              ≤    0.40    ;      0.8    ≤                  Y        ·                  tan                                (            ω            )                              Bf        ≤    2.7  Thereby the imaging lens system provides good aberration correction with reduced overall lens length. Moreover, due to simple shape of the optical surface of each lens, the lens is easy to be produced, the lens system is minimized and the cost is reduced.


The invention concerns a stator for a line-start electric motor, with a rotor accommodating chamber, in which a rotor is accommodated to be rotatable, and which has accommodating chambers for conducting rods and accommodating chambers for permanent magnets, and with a stator winding comprising several windings, which, during operation of the line-start electric motor under the influence of the rotor, generate a magnetic field with a main axis. In order to increase the efficiency of the line-start electric motor, the rotor accommodating chamber has no constant inner radius, but, in the area of a vertical to the main axis, has a larger inner radius than in the adjacent areas.

With traditional line-start electric motors, the windings of the stator windings are distributed on the complete stator circumference. The windings are made of copper wire. During operation, the copper comprised in the copper wire causes a so-called copper loss, which has a negative effect on the efficiency of the line-start electric motor.


An image forming system with an image combine function. A copy function controller and an expanded function controller are provided. The copy function controller controls a copy process in which an image reading device reads document images and an image forming device forms images on recording paper sheets according to the images read by the image reading device by commands from the operation device. The expanded function controller controls an expanded function that uses at least one of the image reading device and the image forming device. The copy function controller has a combine copy function in which plural documents read by the image reading device are combined and formed on one recording paper sheet. The combine copy function is executed until after at least reading of all the document image data has been completed, even if a change command from the combine copy function to an expanded function is sent from the operation device while the combine copy function is executed.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an image forming system, such as a printer, a copier, a facsimile, a multifunction system which includes functions of at least some of these devices, etc, which has an image combine function.
2. Discussion of the Background
In recent years, for responding to market needs of a space-saving copier, a copier which includes copying applications for copying, printing applications for printing and facsimile applications for sending and receiving facsimile data is known. In this type of copier, resources, for example an image reading device, an image forming device, an operation panel, a memory device, etc., are shared, and thus a space-saving is accomplished.
In this type of copier, the copying applications include several functions. For example, this type of copier may include a double-side copy function, in which two images read by the image read device are formed on double-sides of one recording paper sheet, and a combine function, in which two or more images read by the image reading unit are combined and formed on one recording paper sheet.
However, this background type of copier has the following problem. For the combine function to be carried out, if an operator selects another function of another application with the operation panel, this another function is carried out while the combine function is suspended.

Image forming system with control of executing an image combine function


A method, apparatus and computer instructions for interfacing with an operating system on a data processing system. Registers in a processor are allocated for use in providing a low-level console interface to a remote data processing system, wherein the registers are accessed by the remote data processing system using the low-level console interface. Data is exchanged with the remote data processing system through the low-level console interface. Also, multiple channels may be multiplexed through this low-level console interface.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to an improved data processing system and in particular to a method and apparatus for processing data. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a method, apparatus, and computer instructions for a console interface to a data processing system.
2. Description of Related Art
Consoles are often used to access data processing systems from a remote location. For example, many logically partitioned data processing systems are accessed remotely through another data processing system that serves as a console. The console is used to monitor a data processing system as well as to set parameters and initiate the execution of various processes. A console is often connected to the data processing system through a network connection, such as an Ethernet or through a standard serial console interface. Both types of interfaces require additional hardware to exist and function in the data processing system that is being monitored or controlled before the console may be used to access the data processing system.
For example, with an Ethernet connection, I/O bridges and at least an ethernet adapter are required to be up and running before the data processing system may be accessed through a console. The use of a serial console interface requires a serial port and various I/O components in the I/O subsystem to be up and running before the data processing system may be accessed. As a result, if a failure in the I/O subsystem or in another component, such as an Ethernet adapter or a serial port occurs, the console will be unable to access the data processing system.
This situation also is undesirable with respect to system simulation. System simulations may take large amounts of resources to simulate an I/O subsystem with the processor or may require special code that would not be available in the actual product. Additionally, having to initialize the I/O subsystem and take into account those components during testing of internal processor components also is undesirable.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have an improved method, apparatus, and computer instructions for a console that can access a data processing system even when a number of components in the data processing system have not been initialized or have failed.

Method and apparatus for a low-level console

International Business Machines Corporation


A method produces PWM voltage waveforms in a PWM motor controller of a three phase PM DC brushless motor, wherein the motor controller has first, second and third half H-bridge transistor pairs to generate the voltage waveforms to electronically commutate the motor. The first transistor pair is always assigned to the first phase for every commutation state requiring a voltage waveform from the first transistor pair. The second and third transistor pair are similarly assigned. The first method also includes always starting a voltage waveform generated by the first transistor pair substantially at the beginning of the PWM period when a commutation state requires a voltage waveform from the first transistor pair but delaying starting a voltage waveform generated by the second transistor pair by substantially ⅓ of the PWM period and delaying starting a voltage waveform generated by the third transistor pair by substantially ⅔ of the PWM period.

A first conventional method for operation of a PM DC brushless motor in all four quadrants of the motor torque versus motor speed diagram produces PWM voltage waveforms in a PWM motor controller wherein first, second and third half H-bridge transistor pairs conduct two at a time to generate waveforms to electronically commutate the motor. To produce a PWM duty cycle between 0% duty cycle and 100% duty cycle, the first conducting transistor pair is controlled with a PWM duty cycle equal to the desired duty cycle (DC) while the second conducting transistor pair is controlled such that either the upper transistor or the lower transistor conducts continuously. Current sensing for this implementation is accomplished using a current sensing element in series with at least 2 of the 3 half H-bridge motor outputs. This method requires multiple current sensing elements exposed to the PWM outputs of a PWM motor controller which adds cost and complexity to the motor controller.
A second conventional method for operation of a PM DC brushless motor in all four quadrants of the motor torque versus motor speed diagram produces PWM voltage waveforms in a PWM motor controller, shown in FIG. 1, wherein first, second and third half H-bridge transistor pairs conduct two at a time to generate voltage waveforms to electronically commutate the motor. There are six rotationally sequential commutation states, labeled left to right, wherein 101 denotes the first commutation state, 100 denotes the second commutation state, etc. The voltage waveforms applied to the windings of the first phase (arbitrarily labeled phase A), the second phase (arbitrarily labeled phase B), and the third phase (arbitrarily labeled phase C) are shown, wherein a particular transistor pair is assigned to a particular phase for a particular commutation state. Note that for each commutation state, one of the two voltage waveforms starts at the beginning of the PWM period and the other of the two voltage waveforms is delayed by ½ of the PWM period. A more detailed explanation of the operation of FIG. 1 is given below.
In this conventional method, the motor controller uses a single current sensing element in the DC bus and requires a minimum duty cycle for motor current sensing in order to properly sample the motor current. To produce a PWM duty cycle between the minimum duty cycle and 100% duty cycle, the first conducting transistor pair is controlled with a PWM duty cycle equal to the desired duty cycle (DC), which is greater than the minimum duty cycle, while the second conducting transistor pair is controlled such that either the upper transistor or the lower transistor conducts continuously. To produce a PWM duty cycle between 0% and the minimum duty cycle, both conducting transistor pairs must operate in a PWM mode. In this condition, the first conducting transistor pair is controlled with a PWM duty cycle equal to the minimum duty cycle plus the desired duty cycle (DCmin+DC) while the second conducting transistor pair is controlled with a PWM duty cycle equal to the minimum duty cycle (DCmin). It is noted that the widths of the waveforms in FIG. 1 are not drawn to scale. Under this condition the correct motor windings are effectively provided a positive voltage by the first conducting transistor pair and a negative voltage by the second conducting transistor pair during a single PWM period such that the sum of the voltages is equal to the desired duty cycle (DCmin+DC−DCmin=DC) which is effectively less than the minimum duty cycle (DCmin). In this implementation, the PWM duty cycle of the second conducting transistor pair is delayed from the first conducting transistor pair by a time equal to ½ of the PWM period. This allows the motor winding to average the applied positive and negative voltages and provides a symmetrical current waveform. This implementation requires the control electronics to reassign the PWM duty cycle delay for the second conducting transistor pair for each commutation of the motor windings. Some hardware or software implementations either cannot accommodate this reassignment or the accommodation is very difficult.
FIG. 1 illustrates a single PWM cycle timing of each of the 6 PM DC brushless motor commutation states for the conventional implementation. Under normal operating conditions, each of the 6 commutation states will contain repeated PWM periods. The number of repeated PWM periods will depend upon the rotational velocity of the motor. The 6 motor commutation states are represented by the binary combinations of 3 motor position sensor inputs and are defined as State 101, State 100, State 110, State 010, State 011, and State 001. A seventh state is shown at the right-most end of FIG. 1 which is a repeat of the left-most State 101.
Beginning with the left-most State 101, the conducting transistor Pair 1 is Phase A, and the conducting transistor Pair 2 is Phase B. The PWM duty cycle output on Phase A is the minimum duty cycle plus the requested duty cycle (DCmin+DC), and this occurs at the beginning of the PWM period. The PWM duty cycle output on Phase B is the minimum duty cycle (DCmin), and this output is delayed for ½ of the PWM period. The motor current is flowing in motor windings Phase A and Phase B in such a manner that the current flows from Phase A to Phase B.
At the first motor commutation time, the motor commutation state transitions to State 100. The conducting transistor Pair 1 remains Phase A, but the conducting transistor Pair 2 transitions to Phase C. The PWM duty cycle output on Phase A remains (DCmin+DC) at the beginning of the PWM period. The PWM duty cycle output on Phase C transitions to the minimum duty cycle (DCmin), and the output is delayed for ½ of the PWM period. The previous output on Phase C has not yet been discussed, but Phase C was last enabled in a previous State 001. During State 001, Phase C was set up as a conducting transistor Pair 1 with the output of (DCmin+DC) at the beginning of a PWM period. The transition to State 100 required Phase C to transition from a conducting transistor Pair 1 to a conducting transistor Pair 2. This transition required a PWM timing change for the Phase C PWM driver. The motor current is flowing in motor windings Phase A and Phase C in such a manner that the current flows from Phase A to Phase C.
At the second motor commutation time, the motor commutation state transitions to State 110. The conducting transistor Pair 2 remains Phase C, but the conducting transistor Pair 1 transitions to Phase B. The PWM duty cycle output on Phase C remains (DCmin) delayed for ½ of the PWM period. The PWM duty cycle on Phase B transitions to (DCmin+DC), and the output starts at the beginning of the PWM period. Phase B was last enabled in State 101 as a conducting transistor Pair 2 with the output of (DCmin) delayed for ½ of the PWM period. The transition to State 110 required Phase B to transition from a conducting transistor Pair 2 to a conducting transistor Pair 1. This transition required a PWM timing change for the Phase B PWM driver. The motor current is flowing in motor windings Phase B and Phase C in such a manner that the current flows from Phase B to Phase C.
At the third motor commutation time, the motor commutation state transitions to State 010. The conducting transistor Pair 1 remains Phase B, but the conducting transistor Pair 2 transitions to Phase A. The PWM duty cycle output on Phase B remains (DCmin+DC) at the beginning of the PWM period. The PWM duty cycle on Phase A transitions to (DCmin), and the output is delayed by ½ of the PWM period. Phase A was last enabled in State 100 as a conducting transistor Pair 1 with the output of (DCmin+DC) and the output at the beginning of the PWM period. The transition to State 010 required Phase A to transition from a conducting transistor Pair 1 to a conducting transistor Pair 2. This transition required a PWM timing change for the Phase A PWM driver. The motor current is flowing in motor windings Phase B and Phase A in such a manner that the current flows from Phase B to Phase A.
At the fourth motor commutation time, the motor commutation state transitions to State 011. The conducting transistor Pair 2 remains Phase A, but the conducting transistor Pair 1 transitions to Phase C. The PWM duty cycle output on Phase A remains (DCmin) delayed for ½ of the PWM period. The PWM duty cycle output on Phase C transitions to (DCmin+DC) at the beginning of the PWM period. Phase C was last enabled in State 110 as a conducting transistor Pair 2 with the output of (DCmin) and the output delayed by ½ of the PWM period. The transition to State 011 required Phase C to transition from a conducting transistor Pair 2 to a conducting transistor Pair 1. This transition required a PWM timing change for the Phase C PWM driver. The motor current is flowing in the motor windings Phase A and Phase C in such a manner that the current flows from Phase C to Phase A.
At the fifth motor commutation time, the motor commutation state transitions to State 001. The conducting transistor Pair 1 remains Phase C, but the conducting transistor Pair 2 transitions to Phase B. The PWM duty cycle output on Phase C remains (DCmin+DC) at the beginning of the PWM period. The PWM duty cycle output on Phase B transitions to (DCmin), and the output is delayed by ½ of the PWM period. Phase B was last enabled in State 010 as a conducting transistor Pair 1 with the output of (DCmin+DC) and the output at the beginning of the PWM period. The transition to State 001 required Phase B to transition from a conducting transistor Pair 1 to a conducting transistor Pair 2. This transition required a PWM timing change for the Phase B PWM driver. The motor current is flowing n motor windings Phase C and Phase B in such a manner that the current flows from Phase C to Phase B.
What is needed is an improved method for producing PWM voltage waveforms in a PWM motor controller of a PM DC brushless motor, such as, without limitation, a PWM motor controller of a PM DC brushless motor which uses a single current sensing element in the DC bus without requiring a PWM timing change of the PWM driver.

Method for producing voltage waveforms in a PWM motor controller of a PM DC brushless motor


The present invention refers to pharmaceutical and diet formulations for the prophylaxis and treatment of gastrointestinal disorders.

Gastrointestinal disorders, including viral, bacterial and protozoal infections, as well as chronic inflammatory diseases, or radiation damages, exert a stress on gastrointestinal cells. The main nutrient of mucosal cells of the gastrointestinal tract is glutamine. This amino acid, usually non-essential, becomes "conditionally essential" in pathologies characterized by a glutamine requirement that exceeds the individual's ability to produce sufficient amount of this amino acid. Enteral or parenteral administration of glutamine improves nutritional management and recovery of the patients (Castel L M et al. (1994) Amino Acids 7, 231-243; Lacey J M, Wilmore D W (1990) Nutr. Rev. 48 (8), 297-309). Glutamine, apart from being the preferred fuel for cells with a rapid proliferation rate such as enterocytes and lymphocytes, is also a regulator for acid-base balance through the production of ammonia. Enterocytes are the most important cells of small intestine which use glutamine as an energy source (Wu G et al. (1995) Am. J. Physiol. 266, R334-R342; Nagy L E, Kretchmer N (1988) J. Nutr. 118 (2), 189-193). As a matter of fact, intestinal cells absorb a remarkable amount of glutamine supplied with the diet and whenever the supply of this amino acid is decreased, the amino acid is taken up from the blood. Low levels of glutamine, experimentally induced in animals, for instance through glutaminase administration, cause intestinal disorders, e.g. chronic diarrhoea, villous atrophy, etc., (Castel L M et al. (1994) Amino Acids 7, 231-243) thus confirming the importance of glutamine for the intestine. In conclusion, glutamine can be insufficient in certain disorders of the gastrointestinal tract. In such situations of glutamine deficiency, the gastrointestinal cells are more vulnerable and therefore more exposed to injury caused, for instance, by infectious agents or ionizing radiations. Conversely injury and stress to gastrointestinal cells can augment their energetic needs, and thus their requirement of glutamine for survival or replacement. Consequently glutamine administration can augment the ability of gastrointestinal cells to withstand injury. In addition, the above mentioned positive effects on gastrointestinal cells due to glutamine administration can be further enhanced by the addition of arginine which acts both on the immune system and the wound-healing rate (Wu G et al. (1995) Am. J. Physiol. 266, R334-R342). Carbohydrates are thought to act in synergy with glutamine, but alone they cannot substitute it (Wu G et al. (1995) Am. J. Physiol. 266, R334-R342).
In solution glutamine is not completely stable. In particular, during heat sterilization of glutamine solutions, pyroglutamate and glutamic acid may form. Glutamine containing polypeptides are much more stable. Upon ingestion of such polypeptides, glutamine may be released in the stomach and intestine by proteases. Therefore a sufficient amount of glutamine can be also achieved by administering small or large polypeptides containing glutamine such as for instance L-alanyl-L-glutamine or glycyl-L-glutamine or glycyl-glycyl-L-glutamine.
Lactic acid bacteria, particularly lactobacilli, as well as other bacteria isolated from the gastrointestinal tract of healthy human beings or animals, have long been known to produce a prophylactic and therapeutic effect on gastrointestinal infections (Zoppi G. et al.(1982) Eur. J. Pediatrics 139, 18-21). Such bacteria go under the name of eubiotic bacteria. Some bacterial species may compete with pathogenic ones for nutrients and/or attachment sites on the gastrointestinal mucous membrane. In addition they can favor the return of pH to normal values. For instance, the strain Enterococcus faecium SF 68 (earlier called Streptococcus faecium SF 68), originally isolated from pig intestines, has been proven to be effective in clinical studies (Borgia M et al. (1982) Curr. Ther. Res. 31(2), 265-271; Bellomo G et al. (1980) Curr. Ther. Res. 28(6), 927-936; Camarri E et al. (1981) Chemotherapy 27, 466-470; Wunderlich P F et al. (1989) J. Int. Med. Res. 17, 333-338). Due to a low affinity of this bacterium for the gastrointestinal mucous membrane, a regular administration for a prolonged period is needed. In contrast, patients treated with bacteria showing good adherence to the mucous membrane, will require less frequent and less prolonged administration to achieve a cure.
Bacteria belonging to the Lactobacills genus, which are able to adhere to human gastrointestinal mucous membranes, and thus competing with pathogens with similar adhering properties, have been isolated from healthy human beings and their characteristics are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,839,281, U.S. Pat. No. 5,032,399, and WO Patent Applications 95/33046. For instance, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,839,281 and 5,032,399 disclose the Lactobacillus acidophilus strain ATCC 53103 isolated from adults and characterized by good adhesion properties. The taxonomic classification of the strain was more recently revised and the strain classified as Lactobacillus casei sbsp. rhamnosus. In certain countries dietary products based on this strain, commonly called Lactobacillus GG, have reached the market (e.g., Gefilus.sup.(R) fermented milk and Gefilus.sup.(R) fermented whey drink in Finland). Other strains, with dramatically improved adhesion properties, belonging to the genus Lactobacillus are the strains CNCM I-1390, CNCM I-1391, CNCM I-1392, and CNCM I-1447. They are disclosed in WO Patent Applications 95/33046. In addition to excellent adhesion properties they are characterized by favourable technological properties with respect to production and conservation.
Antibiotics are widely used to treat acute infections. The gastrointestinal flora become impoverished. Lactobacilli administration may be used to restore a well functioning flora. In such cases it could be useful to select bacteria which are resistant to antibiotics. As a matter of fact, many bacteria show an intrinsic resistance to antibiotics. Otherwise, antibiotic resistance can be induced by mutagenesis, for example by using agents which speed up the normal mutation rate. Then, the mutated strains are selected by well-known procedures. Alternatively, widely known techniques of genetic engineering can produce bacteria endowed with specific resistance to antibiotics.
Some eubiotic bacteria show a bacteriostatic or even bactericidal behavior toward pathogens. These activities partially result from the production of metabolites, such as lactic acid, acetic acid, and hydrogen peroxide, which make the environment less favorable for the growth of pathogens. In addition, several lactic acid bacteria are known to produce other substances such as antibiotics and bacteriocins. And obviously these bacteria gather special interest.

Pharmaceutical and diet formulations for the prophylaxis and treatment of gastrointestinal disorders


A tripod joint has an outer joint part (1, 41, 61) with three circumferentially distributed longitudinal recesses (2, 42, 62) each forming circumferentially opposed tracks (4, 5; 45, 65). An inner joint part (7, 47, 67) with tripod arms (9, 49, 69) which extend into the longitudinal recess (2, 42, 62) is positioned within the outer joint part (1, 41, 61). Rolling members (10, 50, 70) in rolling contact with the tracks (4, 5; 45, 65) are supported and movably and pivotably held on the tripod arms (9, 49, 69). The longitudinal recesses (2, 42, 62) include guiding means (18, 19) holding the rolling members (10, 50, 70) in the longitudinal recesses (2, 42, 62) so as to be axis-parallel with the joint. The rolling member (10, 50, 70) are in contact with one of the tracks (4, 5,; 45; 65). In each case, there is provided a first contact point (C) for accommodating a circumferentially extending transmission force F.sub.R in the region of a central roller plane (E) and at least one second contact point (A) for accommodating an inwardly directed guiding force F.sub.F in the region of a radially inner supporting shoulder (19).

The invention relates to tripod joints. The joints include an outer joint part, with three circumferentially distributed longitudinal recesses each forming circumferentially opposed tracks, and an inner Joint part, with tripod arms which extend into the longitudinal recess and support rolling members movably and pivotably held on the tripod arms in rolling contact with the tracks. The longitudinal recesses are provided with guiding means to hold the rolling members in the longitudinal recesses so as to be axis-parallel with the inner joint part.
Examples of tripod joints are DE 39 36 601, DE 28 31 044 or DE 37 16 962 C 2. Although these designs solve the problem of a free rolling movement of the rolling members in the tracks under rotation and articulation conditions, the shape of the rolling members during the radially inwardly directed movement of the arms may cause the rolling members to jam between the shoulders at the longitudinal recesses which prevent the rolling members from rolling freely. Attempts have been made to provide intermediate members not participating in the rolling movement. An example of intermediate members are collars arranged at the roller carrier, which collars accommodate the radial forces, thereby preventing the rollers from jamming. As a result, the roller assembly needs to consist of a plurality of parts and becomes expensive. Functional advantages are achieved at considerable additional costs.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a tripod joint which eliminates roller jamming in the tracks caused by the radial movement component of the arms relative to the rollers when the joint rotates in an articulated condition.
The objective is achieved by providing a first contact point for accommodating a circumferentially extending transmission force in the region of a central roller plane and at least one second contact point for accommodating an inwardly directed guiding force in the region of a radially inner supporting shoulder. The central plane of the roller is the plane containing the first contact point relative to the track when the joint is in an extended condition and extending perpendicularly relative to the arm axis. In most cases, the plane is also the geometric axis of symmetry and height-bisecting plane of the roller region coming into contact with the track.
In accordance with the objective of the invention, this measure ensures that the first contact point for torque transmission is substantially constant from the point of view of position and direction. The transmission forces do not influence the radial guiding forces for the rollers, which are accommodated in a second contact point. A tangential plane on the surfaces of the first contact point extends either parallel to the arm axis or it opens outwardly at an angle relative to the arm axis, with an outwardly directed reaction force acting at the first contact point on the roller becoming effective in the latter case. The constancy of the position of the contact point is ensured by large curved surfaces of the track and/or the rolling member. The large-area curvature of the surface includes an infinite radius of curvature. In the region of the first contact point the rolling member may be cylindrical or spherical and the track surface may be planar, with the counter-face in the cross-section through the joint comprising a curvature with a large radius. It is also possible for both surfaces in the cross-section through the joint to be curved. However, it is preferable, in each case, to select radii of curvature which are clearly greater than the greatest rolling radius of the rolling member itself. The second contact point accommodating the guiding forces is positioned radially inside the first contact point, with the tangential plane on the surface in this contact point in the region of the guiding shoulders inclined by approximately 45.degree. relative to the arm axis. A third contact point symmetrical relative to the first contact point may be provided radially outside, at a further guiding shoulder of the track. It is proposed that the roller should be able to move with radial play between the first and third contact points. The functioning of the third contact point may also be ensured by simple contact of the rolling member or parts related thereto with the base of the longitudinal recess itself.
The subject of the invention is generally applicable to joints in which the head of the arm element slides pivotably and radially movably in an internally cylindrical roller and bearing carrier; to joints with a two-part roller and bearing carrier comprising inner and outer rings pivotable relative to each other, the inner ring being radially movable on a cylindrical arm; and to joints which the internally cylindrical face of the rolling member slides on an externally spherical face of an inner ring so as to be pivotable and radially movable, the inner ring being rotatably supported on a cylindrical arm.
From the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and subjoined claims, other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art.

Roller and track configuration for a tripod joint


In an optical disk drive system, an apparatus and method for determining whether data read from a particular field within a particular sector of an optical disk corresponds to a code which specifies that the sector should not be erased. A crystal clock generates a synthesized clock signal. A front-end detector generates a signal synchronized to the synthesized clock signal which represents data read from the field. The signal is then serially shifted by a serial shift register. A comparator compares the shifted signal with the code specifying that the sector should not be erased. If there is a match, a counter is incremented. When the counter reaches or exceeds a pre-determined number, a signal is sent to the optical disk drive system indicating that the sector contains data which should not be erased.

The commercial success of optical disk drive systems is due in part to their high storage density, relatively low cost, and random access capability. In the past, high density optical disk drive systems were limited to write-once products. That is, data was written once onto the optical disk and saved thereon. The data could be read many times but could not be erased nor subsequently overwritten with new data. This came to be known as Write-Once-Read-Many (WORM) technology.
In order to increase the flexibility and commercial appeal of WORM optical disk drive systems, methods were developed that allowed optical disks to be erased and new data written in place of the erased sections. This allowed an optical disk to be repeatedly written to and erased many times over. One such method is known as magneto-optical recording.
However, one problem with erasable optical disk drives is that, on occasion, users of optical disk drive systems desire to store certain data such as documents or records on a permanent basis. Consequently, a method is needed to indicate which sections of data stored on the optical disk are forbidden to be erased, overwritten, or otherwise altered. One such method is known as Continual Composite WORM (CCW).
CCW specifies one method for discriminating between permanent and non-permanent data on an optical disk drive system. Typically, data is represented as a series of digital bits. A lens assembly focuses a light beam which is used to read and write these bits off and onto a circular optical disk. The circular disk is rotated about a spindle. A servo mechanism is used to locate the light beam in reference to fixed radial locations over the disk surface, thereby repositioning the light beam among numerous radial positions. Thus, as the servo mechanism sequentially moves the light beam radially across the spinning optical disk, a number of concentric spiral grooves known as "tracks" are described on the optical disk. Binary bits of information are stored on the surfaces of these tracks.
Each track is subdivided into a number of different sectors with each sector being further broken into a number of fields. Often, a header field indicates the start of a sector. The header field is followed by a gap and a data field. The user's data is stored within a sector's data field. The data field also contains a Defect Management Pointer (DMP) field which is normally used for defect skipping. In other words, if the next sector is defective, the DMP field instructs the optical disk drive system to skip over that defective sector.
However, the CCW format utilizes the DMP field in a different manner. Instead of defect skipping, the DMP field is used to indicate whether that particular sector contains permanent data. If permanent data is being stored on that sector, a series of 12-14 bytes of "FF" in hexadecimal format (i.e., 1111 1111) is written to the DMP field. Thus, before any data on the optical disk is erased, overwritten, or otherwise altered, the DMP field of the sector containing that data is read to determine whether it contains 12-14 bytes of "FF".
If the DMP field of that sector contains 12-14 bytes of "FF" code, this signifies that data which the user wishes to be permanently stored is being stored on that sector. Consequently, the disk drive system knows not to erase, overwrite, or alter that sector. The disk drive system will then choose another sector and repeat the above-described process (i.e., read its DMP field to determine whether that sector contains permanent data). Eventually, the disk drive system will find an empty sector or a sector containing data which can be erased. The new data will then be written to that sector. If no such sector exists on the optical disk, the disk drive system will so indicate to the computer system that the optical disk is full of permanent data. Thus, for a CCW format to operate properly, the disk drive system should have the capability to detect the occurrence of 12-14 bytes of "FF" code in the DMP field.
One prior art method for detecting an "FF" code is to implement a high frequency counter to count the duration of the time interval between input pulses. This is used to drive a state machine for making the comparison with the "FF" code. However, one disadvantage of this method is that the count could be inaccurate due to asynchronous input pulses. Another disadvantage with this method is that the resolution of the timing between input pulses is proportional to the clock frequency. Consequently, the clock rate needs to be set at least twice the data rate. Furthermore, this method calls for tight timing requirements (e.g. for resetting input pulse latches, etc.).
Another prior art method for detecting an "FF" code is to implement a phase-lock-loop (PLL). However, one disadvantage with implementing a PLL is that under certain situations wherein a sector has been destroyed or is defective or if a sector is blank, the PLL will not operate correctly. The reason why a PLL will not work under those conditions is because a PLL requires some form of leading data in order to synchronize its circuits. Without such leading data, a PLL does not know the location to begin checking for the "FF" code.
Thus, what is needed is a fast, efficient, and accurate method for detecting an "FF" code on an optical disk without utilizing a high frequency counter nor a PLL.

Detection of saved sectors on an optical disk


A supplying power adjusting apparatus has excellent temperature response and excellent stabilities to power supply change and load change. The apparatus is provided with a semiconductor inverter for high-speed switching power control, which converts a direct current rectified by a rectifying circuit (10) into alternating current power in response to a control signal and supplies a heater (7) with the power; a temperature change detecting circuit (24) for detecting the temperature change of the heater (7); a power supply change detecting circuit (22) for detecting the power change of the rectifying circuit (10); a load change detecting circuit (23) for detecting the change of the alternating current power supplied to the heater (7); and a power control signal generating circuit (15) which calculates a power quantity to be supplied to the heater (7) and controls the frequency or duty ratio of a control signal to be added to the power controlling semiconductor inverter in response to the calculated results.

FIG. 2 shows a conventional power supply regulating apparatus for a heater. The power supply regulating apparatus 20 for a heater has an electricity receiving terminal table 2 connected to an AC power source 1 at the input terminals of the apparatus, and has a terminal table for distribution 6 connected to a heater 7 at the output terminals of the power supply regulating apparatus. A power source breaker 3, a power source transformer 4, and a power control thyristor 5 as a power regulator are connected between the electricity receiving terminal table 2 and the terminal table for distribution 6. A thermometric thermocouple 8 is disposed in the heater 7.
Power is received at the electricity receiving terminal table 2 from the AC power source 1, and the power is supplied to the power source transformer 4 via the power source breaker 3. The power transformed by the power source transformer 4 is controlled by the power control thyristor 5 and supplied from the terminal table for distribution 6 to the heater 7. The heater 7 is heated thereby, and the temperature of the heater 7 changes. The heater temperature is measured with the aid of the thermocouple 8 and inputted to a temperature controller 9. The temperature controller 9 calculates the difference between the set temperature and the measured temperature measured with the aid of the thermocouple 8, and calculates the amount of electric power to be supplied to the heater 7 in accordance with the temperature difference. The result of the calculation is converted to a phase control amount and outputted as a control signal from the temperature controller 9 to the power control thyristor 5. The power control thyristor 5 supplies power to the heater 7 in correlation with the timing of the control signal.
In this manner, the power supply regulating apparatus 20 for a heater senses the heater temperature, subsequently determines the timing for outputting control signals with the aid of the temperature controller 9, controls the phase of the power control thyristor 5 in accordance with the timing, and thereby brings the temperature of the heater 7 to the set temperature.
The method of controlling the phase is shown in FIG. 3. FIG. 3A shows a power waveform of an AC power source, and FIG. 3B shows the power-controlling thyristor control signal for controlling the power control thyristor. In each cycle of the AC power source in the phase control method, the power control interval A is the interval that begins with the generation of a power-controlling thyristor control signal and ends when the power waveform is at zero volts, and the reactive power interval B is the interval that begins at zero volts and ends with the generation of a control signal. There is a need for a power source in which the maximum power is higher than the power required when the temperature is stable. Therefore, the effective power when the temperature is stable is about 60 to 80% of the maximum power, and the rest is reactive power. Hence, the efficiency of such a power source is poor.
Attempts have been made to improve this situation, including the adoption of zero crossing control in which the reactive power is substantially not generated, and increasing the ratio of the effective power to 85% or higher with the aid of a phase advance capacitor for improving the power factor.
Zero crossing control has the same circuit implementation as in FIG. 2. Rather than adopting a thyristor as a power control element, however, an SSR (solid-state relay) is generally adopted. This approach is different in that the content of the control signal is changed. The method of this zero crossing control is shown in FIG. 4. FIG. 4A shows the power waveform of the AC power source; and FIG. 4B shows the power-controlling SSR control signal for controlling the SSR. An ignition method is adopted for turning on the SSR when the power waveform is zero volts. In this method, the prescribed time (A+B) of the AC power source is a single cycle (single cycle time), the power control interval A is the interval in which a power-regulating SSR control signal is outputted and [the SSR] (*1) is energized, and the non-energized interval B is any other interval in which power is not consumed. Zero crossing control acts only to turn the power source on or off, and reactive power is substantially not generated.
FIG. 5 shows the control method using a phase advance capacitor. The solid line in FIG. 5a shows a supply-side AC power source waveform W1, and the dotted line shows a control-side power source waveform. FIG. 5b shows a control signal of the power control thyristor. The reactive power interval B is long when the supply-side AC power source waveform W1 indicated by the solid line is controlled by the control signal. Therefore, the power control in the case of the phase angle P1 does not rise above 70%, for example. However, the reactive power interval B is reduced by an amount commensurate with the advance of the phase angle P2, the apparent power factor is improved, and power control increases to 90%, when the control-side power source waveform W2, which is indicated by the dotted line and whose phase has been advanced by the phase advance capacitor, is controlled with the aid of the control signal of the power control thyristor.
In the case of zero crossing control, however, an SSR having a relatively large on-voltage in comparison with a semiconductor for high speed power control such as IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) is used as the power control element, and the heater temperature response is degraded. In the case of a phase advance capacitor, power regulation for limiting the profile is required until maximum power is reached because of the compensation of the phase advance capacitor. Because the phase is advanced in this case, an open phase is produced when a maximum power is abruptly applied. The system is therefore made difficult to use.

Power supply regulating apparatus, semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, method for controlling power to heater, and method for manufacturing semiconductor device

Kokusai Electric Semiconductor Service Inc.


An antenna/receiver device including a slow-wave antenna for receiving RF signals. The antenna has a pair of terminals for providing odd-mode antenna excitation of the antenna. A differential-input circuit is connected to the antenna terminals for providing odd-mode, anti-phase current excitation of the terminals and for amplifying the RF signals. A processing circuit is provided for operating on the RF signals and generating an output signal from the RF signals. An optical transducer optically couples the output signal out of the antenna/receiver device. In one embodiment of the invention, the processing circuit comprises a mixing circuit means for mixing the RF signals with a local oscillator signal for generating an intermediate frequency output signal. In an alternate embodiment of the invention, the processing circuit comprises a detector for detecting video information contained in the RF signals.

In recent years, there has been an intense interest in receiving signals in the millimeter-wave region of the electromagnetic spectrum, roughly designated as the frequency band from 18 GHz to 100 GHz. There is a need for a receiver that can be readily coupled to an antenna to minimize losses in the interconnection between the antenna and the receiver, in order to obtain maximum sensitivity. The receiver and antenna combination is often used as one channel of an n-channel direction finding (DF) system in which a plurality of the receiver/antennas are disposed at different locations around a host platform, such as an aircraft, for example, so that it is possible to form a monopulse ratio between the signals received at two adjacent antennas to thus provide DF information. Such techniques are known to those skilled in the art, and are described in detail in my book, Microwave Passive Direction Finding, published by John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1987.
Antenna sensor systems that are required to provide monopulse DF are dispersed around the host platform essentially to envelop it in order to eliminate ground effects, and to obtain an optimum field of view. In the past, dispersed antenna and crystal video detector receivers have provided amplitude or phase monopulse DF data by comparing the amplitude or phase of signals from two or more adjacent antennas which are physically separated. The most common configuration is a four antenna system using spiral antennas equally squinted or pointed in each of four quadrants. A video detector and logarithmic video amplifier recovers the amplitudes of the strongest adjacent signals, and forms the monopulse ratio of the two by video logarithmic subtraction, thus yielding a line-of-beating of the intercept. Phase monopulse methods utilize the path length or time-difference-of-arrival of a signal, as intercepted by two or more antennas, as a phase angle from which the same DF data may be obtained.
One type of antenna receiver device suited to DF applications is described in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,212, assigned to the same assignee as the present application. In the device described in my earlier patent, a mixer diode is connected across the two output terminals of a two-element spiral antenna. An oscillator signal and dc bias are applied to the mixer diode by direct and capacitive coupling. The non-linear properties of the mixer diode multiply the oscillator signal and an incoming RF signal received by the antenna, resulting in an intermediate frequency signal which is the product of the oscillator signal and the received RF signal. The intermediate frequency signal is recovered at the outer extremities of the spiral antenna for signal processing.
While effective for DF and other applications, the antenna receiver device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,212 does have certain limitations. As with slow-wave antennas in general, the spiral antenna disclosed in U.S. Pat. 4,573,212 will exhibit either odd or even mode behavior depending on whether the signal currents at the feed terminals of the spiral elements are in anti-phase or in-phase relationship, respectively. Each mode exhibits different antenna radiation characteristics. In the first or odd mode, the radiation is perpendicular to the plane of the spiral and has a single peak along the principal or boresight axis. In the normal or even mode, however, there is a null along the principal or boresight axis. For this reason, it is usually preferred to use the first type of antenna/receiver device in the odd mode, which requires that a balun or other coupling, which attains or excites the anti-phase relationship of the signals at the antenna input terminals, be used to couple the antenna output terminals to detecting and processing circuitry. Use of a balun in the antenna described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,212 would increase its complexity, especially at millimeter-wave frequencies, and could contribute to signal attenuation and degradation of the performance of the device.
The device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,212 makes use of an oscillator to provide the signal to mix with the inputs from the antennas. In more recent technology, this oscillator is usually included as part of each of the individual antenna/receiver assemblies, which are dispersed about the aircraft. As a result, each of these assemblies may encounter extremes of vibration, shock and temperature, which may be different at each location, causing an error in the DF measurement since amplitudes or phases are compared for DF determination, as described above.
It is also often essential to measure the frequency of an input signal, which can be done by knowing the local oscillator frequency and measuring the downconverted signal at the intermediate frequency that is coupled from the outer extremities of the antenna. The aforementioned environmental conditions can cause sufficient frequency modulation of an unstabilized self-contained oscillator, in the dispersed antenna/receiver units, to render this frequency measurement useless. To overcome this difficulty, injection or phase locking of the self-contained local oscillator is required. This may be accomplished by transporting a stable reference or pilot signal from a benign location to each of the "n" antennas/receivers for this purpose. Since the stable signal must be conveyed some distance, it often undergoes attenuation when carried by standard coaxial cable, and may pick up undesirable interference. This renders the device susceptible to electromagnetic interference and jamming. This is because interfering signals lie in the same frequency range as the local oscillator, received signals, and IF signals, and despite the use of metallic semi-rigid conductor coaxial cables and other methods of conveyance of these frequencies, the IF signals may be interfered with, due to coupling and pickup effects.
It is often advantageous, also, to recover video information contained in modulated RF signals. Instead of mixing the RF signals to obtain a downconverted IF signal, as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,212, the RF signal may be applied to a detector whose output is a video signal representative of the video information.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an antenna/receiver which overcomes the drawbacks of prior antenna/receivers mentioned above, and which does so in an elegant, inexpensive and easy-to-implement fashion.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a novel and improved apparatus and method using fiber-optic technology to accomplish the objective of distributing signals with minimum loss and interference susceptibility.

Millimeter wave fiber-optically linked antenna receiver device


There is provided a semiconductor integrated circuit chip including (a) a semiconductor substrate, (b) an insulating film formed on the semiconductor substrate, (c) first, second and third timing pulse signal lines each of which is formed of a common metal wiring layer and from which clock skew is generated, (d) an internal circuit to which the first, second and third timing pulse signal lines are electrically connected, (e) a first control signal line being designed to keep a high level while the internal circuit is in operation, and (f) a second control signal line being designed to keep a low level while the internal circuit is in operation. The second control line is disposed adjacent to and in parallel with one of sides of the first timing pulse signal line, the second timing pulse signal line is disposed adjacent to and in parallel with a side of the second control signal line at the opposite side of the first timing pulse signal line, the first control signal line is disposed adjacent to and in parallel with the other side of the first timing pulse signal line, and the third timing pulse signal line is disposed adjacent to and in parallel with a side of the first control signal line at the opposite side of the first timing pulse signal line. In the semiconductor integrated circuit chip, the first, second and third timing pulse signal lines are shielded with the first and second control signal lines to thereby reduce a time constant on signal transmission in the timing pulse signal lines, resulting in almost zero clock skew.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit chip, and more particularly to a reduction in clock skew of clock pulses provided to an element of a semiconductor integrated circuit chip.
2. Description of the Related Art
With development of technology for fabricating a smaller and smaller semiconductor device with regard to size, a circuit scale required for a semiconductor integrated circuit chip becomes larger, and higher complexity in function and higher speed in operation are required. For meeting these requirements, internal wirings in a semiconductor integrated circuit chip have become longer and longer in length between the functional blocks constituting parts of the chip and a dock driver distributing operation clocks to the functional clocks, resulting in skew that may be generated because of a difference in clock wiring length.
As is well known to those skilled in the art, clock skew means a difference between a time at which a clock or timing pulse is expected to arrive at a functional block and a time at which a clock has actually arrived at a functional block. The reason why clock skew is generated is explained as follows. For instance, when comparing a flip-flop disposed closest to a clock driver with a flip-flop disposed most remote from the clock driver, they have different time constants of wiring resistance and through hole resistance to wiring capacity and flip-flop input capacity. Thus, the clocks are out of phase at input terminals of respective flip-flops.
Accordingly, it is quite important to eliminate clock skew in order to operate a chip at a higher rate. Various attempts have been made to decrease clock skew. For instance, divided clock lines have been designed to have a common length, or a clock line has been designed to be quite short in length. One of the methods of reducing clock skew has been suggested in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 59-136948, which will be explained hereinbelow.
FIG. 1 is an enlarged perspective view illustrating a circuit for preventing occurrence of clock skew in an integrated circuit chip, suggested in the Publication No. 59-136948. The illustrated semiconductor integrated circuit 200 includes a silicon substrate 18, a clock distributing line 12 formed on the substrate 18, first and second electrically conductive lines 14 and 15 disposed so that the clock distributing line 12 is interposed between the first and second electrically conductive lines 14 and 15, and two pulse carry lines 11 and 13 disposed outside the first and second electrically conductive lines 14 and 15, respectively, a ground bus 16, and a wire for bonding the ground bus 16 to an external electrode 17. The first and second electrically conductive lines 14 and 15 are directly, electrically connected to the ground bus 16 so that the first and second lines 14 and 15 have a grounded level. By disposing the electrically conductive lines 14 and 15 so that they interpose the clock distributing line 12 therebetween, the clock distributing line 12 is electrostatically shielded from the pulse carry lines 11 and 13.
In other words, the clock distributing line or timing pulse distributing line 12 is shielded by disposing it between the first and second lines 14 and 15, both having a fixed dc level. By shielding the timing pulse distributing line 12, a side capacity between sides of those lines 12, 14, 15 is varied. Assuming that a capacity between the timing pulse distributing line 12 and the first and second electrically conductive lines 14 and 15 is represented as Cs and a capacity between the timing pulse distributing line 12 and the silicon substrate 18, arranged in insulating relation with each other, is represented as Cb, the side capacity is maximized when a potential between the lines 12 and 14 has a different sign as that of a potential between the lines 12 and 15. The maximum side capacity is equal to (4Cs+Cb). On the other hand, the side capacity is minimized when a potential between the lines 12 and 14 has the same sign as that of a potential between the lines 12 and 15. The minimum side capacity is equal to Cb.
According to the above mentioned Publication No. 59-136948, a capacity between the timing pulse distributing line 12 and the first and second lines 14, 15 is varied to nearly 3 pF, thereby ensuring almost zero clock skew.
In the above mentioned Publication, by disposing the timing pulse distributing line 12 in parallel between the lines having a fixed dc level or power distributing lines 14 and 15, there is produced a difference in potential between the timing pulse distributing line 12 and the lines 14, 15. As the result, a capacity between the lines 12, 14, 15 is varied to thereby ensure a quite small side capacity. Accordingly, the time constant on signal transmission through the timing pulse distributing line can be decreased to thereby make it possible to reduce clock skew down to almost zero.
In general, the power distributing lines 14 and 15 are required to have a small resistivity in order to ensure a large current capacity and small voltage drop. If a line has a uniform thickness, the resistivity of the line is dependent on a cross-sectional area thereof. Thus, a power distributing line is generally designed to have a larger width. Hence, unless the power distributing lines are efficiently arranged, the lines occupy a larger area with the result being a larger area of an integrated circuit chip.
In the prior semiconductor integrated circuit chip illustrated in FIG. 1, the power distributing lines 14 and 15 arranged in parallel with the timing pulse distributing line 12 are designed to have the same width as that of an ordinary signal line to thereby make a cross-sectional area thereof smaller. However, it is necessary for the lines 14 and 15 to at least partially have a wider portion for making a through hole contact. The through hole contact requires a much larger area than that of an ordinary signal line, resulting in that the contact has to have a large wiring area therearound.


A method and apparatus for stretch bend forming of sheet stock and the product formed by either the apparatus or method. The method for stretch bend forming of sheet stock includes steps of (i) clamping a first portion of the sheet stock in a first clamp, (ii) clamping a second portion of the sheet stock in a second clamp, wherein the first and second clamps are in a first position, (iii) moving a mandrel a first distance in a first direction to bring the mandrel into contact with a third portion of the sheet stock, the third portion of the sheet stock disposed between the first and second portions of the sheet stock and (iv) moving the mandrel a second distance in the first direction to bend the third portion of the sheet stock.

A. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method, apparatus and system for stretch bend forming of sheet stock to provide bent sheet stock.
More particularly, the present invention relates to stretch bend forming apparatus for stretch bend forming of simple or complex curves in sheet stock to provide bent sheet stock.
In a further and more specific aspect, the instant invention concerns a method and apparatus for stretch bend forming of corrugated or furrowed sheet stock to provide simple or complex curves in corrugated or furrowed sheet stock.
B. Prior Art
Prior art systems for forming bends in sheet stock include, for example, pan breaks and the like. While well adapted for providing abrupt bends in planar stock, these types of machines are not well adapted to providing large radius of curvature bends in planar stock. Additionally, these types of apparatus are poorly adapted to forming durable bent sheets of corrugated stock because they are not well adapted to accommodating the corrugations. When these types of bending devices are used to create bends in corrugated or furrowed stock, the corrugations or furrows are compressed, resulting in high localized stresses that in turn damage the finish of the sheet stock, result in decreased strength in the completed product and also provide poorer corrosion resistance due to the combination of damage to the finish and the effects of localized stresses and stretching of the material.
Corrugated or furrowed sheets of material are useful because the rigidity of sheets of material is improved by the presence of the corrugations or furrows. Resistance to bending perpendicular to the corrugations or furrows is also improved. Additionally, the ability to resist compressive forces directed along the length of the furrows or corrugations is also increased. All of these improvements are provided with little increased weight and result in less material being required for a specific application. This, in turn, reduces materials costs and also reduces the weight of the completed item. Examples of corrugated materials finding application in construction include aluminum and aluminum alloys and also iron and steel sheet materials. When iron sheets are employed for construction they are often zinc plated or galvanized. It is important in those cases to maintain the integrity of the galvanizing layer in order to preserve the desirable benefit of corrosion resistance. Dislocations introduced by bending and/or stretching of the sheet stock also tend to reduce corrosion resistance.
Bend forming devices adapted to handling of corrugated or furrowed sheet stock are able to provide large radius of curvature bends but do so in a way that results in substantial stretching of the sheet stock. This tends, once again, to result in high local stress of the sheet stock in the region of the bend. In addition to damage to the finish of the sheet stock resulting from stretching during the bending operation, the residual stresses tend to make the finish more susceptible to thermal cycling damage (e.g., flaking or peeling) and also tend to provide reduced corrosion resistance in the region of the bend as noted supra with respect to abrupt bends.
A feature common to such systems for bending sheet stock is a means that rigidly clamps the sheet stock during the bending process. This, in turn, promotes formation of localized stresses in the region that is bent by causing these areas to be stretched during the bending process. This also tends to increase stretching of the sheet stock during the bending process.
Accordingly, it is desirable, particularly with respect to corrugated or furrowed sheet stock that is to be bent, to provide a method and apparatus for reducing localized stresses and stretching in the region of the bend. Such apparatus and method result in reduced damage to the finish of the bent stock and also reduce the residual stresses and stretching of the corrugated or furrowed sheet stock in the region of the bend.
Further, the situations in which corrugated or furrowed sheet stock are bent are situations in which the increased strength and reduced weight of the corrugated material are desired. Especially when an optimal product design requires complex bending, it is desirable to preserve the beneficial properties of the corrugated material that led it to be selected for the intended application for which it is being prepared.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide apparatus and methods for bending of corrugated or furrowed materials that result in reductions in the residual stresses. However, this alone is not necessarily sufficient because it is desirable to be able to preserve the finish of the sheet stock and also to reduce stretching (and risk of tearing or rupturing) of the corrugated or furrowed stock to the extent possible, while still providing the bends needed to complete the product or structure.
In order to combat these varied problems, some form of bending device is needed that provides all or many of these advantages even in the context of bending corrugated or furrowed materials. It is strongly desirable to maintain these advantages even when complex bending operations are required.
While the various mentioned prior art devices function as apparatus for shaping sheet stock, certain inherent deficiencies preclude adequate, satisfactory performance of the purpose of providing bends in corrugated or furrowed sheet stock without compromise of surface finish, without undue stretching and the resultant localized stress and also without undue compromise of the corrosion resistance properties of the material after it has been formed into the desired shape.
It would be highly advantageous, therefore, to remedy the foregoing and other deficiencies inherent in the prior art.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide improvements in bend formation in sheet stock and in bent sheet stock.
Another object of the present invention is the provision of an improved method and apparatus for bending of sheet stock and especially for bending of corrugated or furrowed sheet stock.
An additional object of the instant invention is the provision of an improved method and apparatus for providing reduced localized residual stress and stretching of bent sheet stock.
Still a further additional object of the present invention is to provide an improved method, apparatus and system for the bending of sheet stock, together with reduced surface finish damage to the sheet stock when it is bent.
And another object of the present invention is to provide an improved method, apparatus and system for bending of corrugated or furrowed sheet stock to provide complex bend shapes therein.
Still another object of the present invention is the provision of a method, system and apparatus for bending of corrugated or furrowed sheet stock to provide improved corrosion resistance in the bent corrugated or furrowed sheet stock.
Yet another object of the instant invention is to provide a method, system and apparatus for bending of corrugated or furrowed sheet stock to provide bent corrugated or furrowed sheet stock having improved thermal cycling properties.
Yet still another object of the instant invention is the provision of a method, system and apparatus for providing improvements in bending of corrugated or furrowed sheet stock.
And a further object of the invention is to provide improved bent corrugated or furrowed sheet stock having reduced stretching, reduced damage to the surface finish and having improved thermal cycling and corrosion resistance properties.
Still a further object of the immediate invention is the provision of a method, apparatus and system for the formation of simple or complex bends in sheet stock and especially in corrugated or furrowed sheeting together with improved surface finish qualities.
And an additional object of the present invention is the provision of a stretch bend forming machine that is adapted to rapid and efficient set-up in order to accommodate different styles of sheet stock to be bent thereby.
Yet a further object of the invention is to provide a new system and method for stretch bend forming of corrugated or furrowed sheeting.
And still a further object of the invention is the provision of method and apparatus, according to the foregoing, which is intended to allow the formation of complex curves in corrugated or furrowed sheet stock together with improved surface finish, reduced material stretching, reduced internal stress, improved thermal cycling properties and improved corrosion resistance.

Stretch bend forming apparatus, method and product formed thereby


A contacting module for a transmission controller comprises a module housing and a punched grill. The punched grill is composed of metal, accommodated in the module housing, and has several conducting tracks with free ends. Contact surfaces are formed at the free ends. Free spaces are formed in the module housing and extend through the housing in a substantially vertical direction. At least some of the free ends are arranged at least partially in the free spaces, where the contact surfaces of at least some of the free ends extend substantially in the vertical direction, and where at least some of the free ends are elastically yielding at least in the area of the contact surfaces.

Contacting modules of the general type under consideration serve as parts of transmission controllers for performing various complex contacting operations. In this context, the electronic control unit is placed in contact with the respective solenoid valves that are to be actuated, and in general with sensors, for example acceleration sensors, rotational speed sensors, and pressure sensors.
The contacting modules are embodied in general with a plastic housing and a line carrier, which is in turn embodied as a flex film or punched grill. Flex films are generally soldered or welded. Contact is conventionally made with punched grills by means of plug-type contacts.
However, contacting devices of this type are generally not without their problems. Soldered connections are inclined to slip under or fail in the case of mechanical loading, in particular mechanical micro-movements. Plug-type connections are subject to wear in the case of mechanical micro-movements, with the result that an oxide layer can form and the ohmic resistance of the contacting device rises. Under certain circumstances, sensor signals can be influenced and falsified, and undesired contact interruptions can occur.

Transmission controller contacting module, and manufacturing method