A decoding device includes: an interference canceling circuit (104) which extracts, from states of 2K-number (where K is a natural number) of detected signals that are likely within a range of K bit width where an interference between bits of the digital information occurs due to predetermined frequency characteristics, most likely 2M-number (where M is a natural number) of detected signals respectively corresponding to states of 2M-number of detected signals which exist within a range of M bit width that is included in the range of K bit width; and a Viterbi decoding circuit (105) which generates a decoded signal by calculating differences between the 2M-number of detected signals extracted by the interference canceling circuit (104) and expectation signals respectively corresponding to the 2M-number of detected signals and also by selecting a transition sequence of a state of a detected signal for which the calculated difference is smallest.

In recent years, due to higher density of optical disks, a shortest mark length that is a length of a shortest recording mark is approaching a limit of optical resolution and an increase in intersymbol interferences and degradation of SNRs (Signal Noise Rates) are becoming more noticeable. In consideration thereof, a PRML (Partial Response Maximum Likelihood) system is generally used as a signal processing method.
The PRML system is a technique that combines a partial response (PR) with maximum likelihood decoding (ML) and is a system which selects a most likely signal sequence from a reproduced waveform on the premise that a known intersymbol interference is to occur. Therefore, the PRML system is known for improved decoding performance as compared to conventional level judgment systems.
A signal reproduced from an optical disk is first subjected to partial response equalization using a waveform equalizer, a digital filter, and the like so as to have predetermined frequency characteristics and is subsequently decoded to corresponding binarized data by selecting a most likely state transition sequence from a trellis diagram using Viterbi decoding or the like. Generally, a value L which represents a likelihood of a state transition to a state Sn (where n denotes the number of states) until time k is defined by Equation (1) below.
                    L        =                              ∑                          i              =              0                        k                                                                                (                                                y                  i                                -                                  E                  i                                            )                        2                                              (        1        )
In Equation (1) above, yi denotes a value of a reproduced signal at time i and Ei denotes an expected ideal value of the reproduced signal. In a maximum likelihood decoding system, a state transition sequence for which the value L representing likelihood as calculated by Equation (1) is smallest is selected and decoded to corresponding binarized data (for example, refer to Patent Literature 1).
As the density of optical disks become higher, intersymbol interferences and SNR degradation become more problematic. Reproduction performance can be maintained by adopting a high-order PRML system as the PRML system. For example, when a 12 cm-diameter optical disk has a storage capacity of 25 GB per recording layer, favorable reproduction performance can be maintained by adopting a PR (1, 2, 2, 1) ML system. Meanwhile, when the storage capacity per layer is 33.3 GB, a PR (1, 2, 2, 2, 1) ML system must be adopted. In actuality, BDXLs which have a storage capacity of 33.4 GB per layer are already in practical use. BDXLs adopt the PR (1, 2, 2, 2, 1) ML system (for example, refer to Non Patent Literature 1).
In addition, the development of high-speed optical communication is being promoted in order to accommodate an explosion of information traffic in recent years. With the increase in information traffic, there is an apparent upward trend in inputted optical power and a physical limit of optical fibers where non-linear optical effects and thermal destruction occur is quickly approaching. In order to improve the communication efficiency of optical communication, there is a primary focus on improving the performance of transmitters and optical fibers which constitute transmission paths such as an optical wavelength multiplexing modulation system which uses light with a plurality of wavelengths and a dispersion-compensating fiber or an optical amplifier which compensate for distortion of an optical signal waveform due to dispersion caused by propagation characteristics of optical fibers.
With a PRML system used in optical disks as described above, a reproduced signal is equalized to frequency characteristics of a target PR class, and maximum likelihood decoding by a Viterbi algorithm or the like is performed on the PR-equalized reproduced signal according to a trellis diagram constructed based on the same PR class. For example, in the case of a BDXL with a storage capacity of 33.4 GB per layer, a PR (1, 2, 2, 2, 1) class is used.
FIG. 38 is a diagram showing frequency characteristics of an optical transfer function (OTF) of a BDXL and the PR (1, 2, 2, 2, 1) class. With a BDXL, high frequency noise is prevented from being greatly amplified by using the PR (1, 2, 2, 2, 1) class that is close to the frequency characteristics of the OTF. In this case, a reproduced signal corresponding to a recording mark of 1 channel bit is PR-equalized to a signal waveform of 5 channel bit width having an amplitude of (1, 2, 2, 2, 1). This is a state where an intersymbol interference of 5 channel bit width is created.
FIG. 39 is a diagram showing a trellis diagram that is applied to a Viterbi decoding circuit. As shown in FIG. 39, a trellis diagram used in maximum likelihood decoding has a constraint length of 5 in conformance with the intersymbol interference of 5 channel bit width and uses a BD RLL (1, 7) modulation system. In the trellis diagram shown in FIG. 39, the number of states at each time is 10.
FIG. 40 is a diagram showing frequency characteristics of an OTF of an optical disk with a recording line density that is twice of that of a BDXL and a PR (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1) class that conforms to the OTF of the optical disk.
In this case, a reproduced signal corresponding to a recording mark of 1 channel bit is PR-equalized to a signal waveform of 11 channel bit width having an amplitude of (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1). This is a state where an intersymbol interference of 13 channel bit width has occurred. A trellis diagram used in maximum likelihood decoding is to be constituted by the intersymbol interference of 13 channel bit width and a RLL (1, 7) modulation system of BD. As a result, the number of states increases to 466 and an enormous amount of processing becomes necessary.
FIG. 41 is a diagram showing a relationship between a width of an intersymbol interference and the number of states of a trellis diagram. FIG. 41 shows that as the width of the intersymbol interference increases, the number of states increases exponentially. Therefore, in order to simplify the trellis diagram, a length of a PR class must be reduced. However, reducing the length of a PR class increases high frequency gain, and causes a significant amplification of noise, a deterioration of SNR, and a degradation of decoding performance. Therefore, it is difficult to achieve a balance between decoding performance and simplification of a trellis diagram.
As described above, conventional PRML systems have a problem in that the amount of processing necessary for decoding increases as density of optical disks increase.
In addition, in optical communication, efficiency is achieved by the optical wavelength multiplexing modulation system, a dispersion-compensating fiber, or an optical amplifier as described earlier. Alternatively, in order to increase the amount of information that is transferred per wavelength of light, speed of optical modulation can be increased and a wider frequency band can be used to increase communication rate. However, in order to accurately receive an optical signal waveform modulated using a wide frequency band, an optical detector of a receiver must be improved. An optical detector converts a received optical signal waveform into an electric signal. Frequency bands that can be efficiently converted by an optical detector are limited.
Therefore, an intersymbol interference occurs during photoelectric conversion by an optical detector in which a signal transmitted at 1 channel bit width is detected as a waveform that has spread beyond the 1 channel bit width. The higher a channel frequency at an optical modulator of a transmitter, the wider the channel bit width of the intersymbol interference. Therefore, in a similar manner to optical disks, there is a problem in conventional optical communication in that when decoding digital information from a reception signal, the difficulty in achieving a balance between decoding performance and simplification of a trellis diagram prevents an improvement in communication rate or prevents a reduction in delay time. In addition, while sensitivity of an optical detector can be increased, this problematically requires an optical detector with a large size and greater power consumption.

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


A transmission is provided having an input member, an output member, four planetary gear sets, a plurality of coupling members and a plurality of torque transmitting devices. Each of the planetary gear sets includes first, second and third members. The torque transmitting devices may include clutches and at least one brake.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may or may not constitute prior art.
A typical multiple speed transmission uses a combination of friction clutches, planetary gear arrangements and fixed interconnections to achieve a plurality of gear ratios. The number and physical arrangement of the planetary gear sets, generally, are dictated by packaging, cost and desired speed ratios.
While current transmissions achieve their intended purpose, the need for new and improved transmission configurations which exhibit improved performance, especially from the standpoints of efficiency, responsiveness and smoothness and improved packaging, primarily reduced size and weight, is essentially constant. Accordingly, there is a need for an improved, cost-effective, compact multiple speed transmission.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A controller is presented having one or more interfaces through which to communicate with a plurality of memory dies with multi-level memory cells and an interface through which to communicate with a host. The controller also contains a processor that is configured to receive a command from the host to program data in a plurality of lower pages and a plurality of upper pages of the multi-level memory cells. The controller detects an indication from the host that indicates which previously-programmed lower pages from a previous program command are at risk of being corrupted by the programming of the upper pages from the received program command. Prior to programming the upper pages, the controller backs up the previously-programmed lower pages from the previous program command that are at risk of being corrupted but not the lower pages of data programmed by the received program command.

A solid state drive (SSD) is designed to provide reliable and high performance storage of user data across a flash-based memory system containing a host interface controller (such as a Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) interface) and a number of memory multi-chip packages (MCPs), where each MCP contains a stack of NAND flash dies and, optionally, a flash memory controller. The Open NAND Flash Interface (ONFI) protocol provides support for parallel access to multiple NAND dies (or "logical units" (LUNs)) on a single "target" or NAND multi-chip stack on a single shared ONFI channel. In a typical SATA-based SSD application, a central host controller accesses multiple attached devices (targets/NAND device clusters) on each ONFI channel, and across several ONFI channels. (A typical host controller would include a SATA interface and four, eight, or more flash interface channels. These channels may utilize a standard flash interface protocol, such as ONFI.) Each ONFI target typically controls 2, 4, or 8 NAND dies.
Some SSDs have flash storage capable of storing one bit per memory cell (i.e., single level cells (SLCs)) or multiple bits per memory cell (i.e., multi-level cells (MLCs)). Examples of MLCs include X2 technology (two bits per cell) and X3 technology (three bits per cell). There can be programming challenges when writing multiple bits per cells, and it is desired that SSDs ensure reliable storage of user data despite these challenges.

Controller and method for using a transaction flag for page protection


An internal combustion engine system includes an intake manifold, a combustion chamber, an exhaust manifold and exhaust gas recirculation apparatus for recirculating a portion of the exhausted gases from the exhaust manifold to the intake manifold. An estimate intake manifold oxygen concentration is determined from the air fraction within the intake manifold which is determined from an engine system model that provides interdependent air mass fractions at various locations within the engine system.

Most of the time a diesel engine operates significantly lean of stoichiometry wherein gases expelled from the combustion chambers are characterized by excess oxygen. Richer air/fuel ratios may be controlled during brief periods for the purposes of particulate or oxides of nitrogen (NOx) trap regenerations where such apparatus are utilized as part of the engine emission control system. Diesel engines may also use exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) in the emission controls to reduce the NOx produced in the diesel engine's combustion process by lowering the effective combustion temperature and reducing the oxygen component of the cylinder charge.
Oxygen concentration in the intake manifold is a key parameter in controlling the make up of the exhaust gases expelled from a combustion chamber. Exhaust gases recirculated back into the intake manifold will vary the oxygen concentration in the intake manifold and, in turn, the oxygen concentration in the intake manifold will affect the oxygen concentration in the combustion chambers established during cylinder filling periods. Therefore, the total pre-combustion trapped charge within the combustion chamber may contain different amounts of oxygen depending on the prevailing intake concentration of oxygen during the cylinder filling period. The amount of oxygen affects both the amount of fuel that can be injected before unacceptable levels of particulate emissions (i.e. smoke) are produced and the level of NOx production.
Combustion controls which rely upon post-combustion oxygen sensing are generally satisfactory for managing steady state or slowly varying oxygen levels. EGR dynamics are therefore limited by the effectiveness of such controls in accounting for rapid changes in EGR levels. Additional factors including intake temperature and pressure also affect the oxygen levels. Intake boosting, such as by turbocharging or supercharging, also have limited dynamics in accordance with the effectiveness of such controls in accounting for rapid changes in boost levels.
Ideally, pre-combustion oxygen sensing in the intake manifold would alleviate much of the dynamic limitations mentioned by providing substantially instantaneous intake oxygen concentration measurements thus accounting for rapid changes in EGR concentrations and intake boost pressures. However, known wide range oxygen sensing technologies are effective at substantially elevated temperatures. Whereas they work well in a high temperature exhaust environment, substantial heat would need to be added thereto to achieve light-off in the much cooler intake environment. A supplemental electrical heater would likely result in an unacceptably high power consumption penalty. Also, known wide range oxygen sensing technologies are effective at substantially ambient pressure levels and require proper pressure compensation to produce accurate oxygen concentration information.

Intake oxygen estimator for internal combustion engine


The cosmetic container is comprised of three primary parts. These are a barrel, an elevator, and a cap. The elevator has a cosmetic support surface, anchoring recesses and a well. The barrel is open at the top and usually closed at the bottom, with an adjustment recess in a surface. The well of the elevator slideably fits into the adjustment recess, and preferably conforms to the peripheral shape of the barrel. The well functions as a device to raise the elevator upwardly to dispense product and as a reservoir for the product when it is in a liquid form during the filling of the barrel above the elevator. The well holds the amount of product that is needed for the space between about the top of the barrel and a disposable cover that is used to shape the top of the cosmetic. After the barrel is filled and the disposable cover and cap put in place, the container is inverted with the liquid product flowing from the elevator well to the space between about the top of the barrel and the disposable cover. The product is set to a solid in this orientation.

There is a need for a low-cost package for dispensing cosmetics such as lipsticks, deodorants and antiperspirants. These particularly are needed for use in countries where consumers have lower incomes. One way to deliver these products at a lower cost is to have a lower cost dispenser. Generally a lower cost dispenser will have fewer parts than the usual dispenser package that can have five or six parts. Fewer parts will mean fewer molds are needed, less plastic is used and less assembly is required. This all translates into a dispensing package that can be produced at a lower cost. In the dispensing package of the present invention, there only will be three primary parts.
The prior art with regard to the present low-cost cosmetic dispenser is illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 4,721,403; U.S. Pat. No. 5,167,462 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,219,448. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,721,403 there is disclosed a simple dispenser for a solid that consists of three parts. However, the cosmetic must be separately formed and placed in the dispenser. This is a disadvantage since it raises the cost of the product. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,167,462 there is disclosed a related dispenser that is comprised of about five primary parts. This is an interesting structure but it is rather complex and requires more production equipment and more assembly than the cosmetic dispenser of the present invention. U.S. Pat. No. 5,219,448 discloses an ointment applicator. This shows a dispenser where a piston is pushed from a lower end to dispense the ointment from the other end. This dispenser has many parts and a complex structure.
The present invention solves the problem of providing a low-cost solid cosmetic dispensing package. The dispensing package is comprised of three primary parts; a barrel, an elevator and a closure. These are easily assembled and filled. In addition, the solid cosmetic can be produced with a top surface of essentially any shape. This can be of a rounded or other shape. The dispensing package conveniently can be top filled and inverted to shape the top as the cosmetic sets to a solid while maintaining product adhesion to the elevating platform. Further, the package itself can be of various shapes, including an oval shape to produce a wide stick that is a useful form for deodorants and antiperspirants.


A toilet paper dispenser in which a roll of toilet paper is supported on a rotatable spindle with a music box activated by rotation of the spindle. The toilet paper dispenser is equipped with an aromatic fragrance dispenser which is automatically activated by rotation of the spindle.

This invention relates to a combined toilet tissue and music dispenser in which music is played in response to the withdrawal of the toilet tissue. Additionally, the device of the instant invention now for the first time provides a simple and easy device for toilet paper dispensing device that automatically dispenses music, an air freshener, and light which is particularly helpful at night.
Alternative technology is available in the form of U.S. Pat. No. 5,660,313 which was issued for pre-moistened toilet paper and dispenser, said toilet paper 1% may be perfumed.
An aromatic system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,434,938, where the fragrance is discharged in connection with the flushing of the toilet. Similar objectives are obtained in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,056,228; 4,209,864; and 4,168,550. Additionally, a toilet tissue wetting device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,359,738 which said device interconnected with the water closet tank.
Deodorizer dispensing devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,598,954 and 5,016,781 and 5,390,833, none of the foregoing relate to toilet paper actuating systems.
None of the foregoing inventions is designed to automatically activate music, and light or fragrance upon removal of toilet paper.
To alleviate this problem, and others which will become apparent from the disclosure which follows, the present invention conveniently and automatically provides music which is played in response to the withdrawal of the toilet tissue.
This wonderful innovative way of dispensing toilet tissue is functional and entertaining. It conveniently provides music by tape or radio, providing an aromatic dispenser to cure bathroom odors and automatically actuated night light--all activated by the rolling of the toilet paper.
The citation of the foregoing publications is not an admission that any particular publication constitutes prior art, or that any publication alone or in conjunction with others, renders unpatentable any pending claim of the present application. None of the cited publications is believed to detract from the patentability of the claimed invention.


An electrical connector assembly includes a first connector unit comprising a first insulative housing and a first metal shielding covering the first housing, a second connector unit comprising a second insulative housing and a second metal shielding covering the second housing, a PCB respectively connect with the first and second connector units, and an insulative casing covering said first and second connector units and consisting of an upper cover and a lower cover engaged with each other. The casing forms a number of slices extending along the up-to-lower direction and a number of slots adapted for receiving said slices to joint the upper and lower covers together. Inner surfaces of the upper and lower covers are gilt with a thin layer, and the inner gilt surfaces of the upper and lower covers and the first and second metal shieldings define a shielded and generally close space to cover the first and second housings.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector assembly, and more particularly to a connector assembly having an upper and lower shielded covers which can save space and reduce product size to meet light, thin, short and compact current trend.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 7,086,889 discloses a connector assembly whose insulative casing includes a lower cover and an upper cover engaged with each other. A plurality of upwardly slices extend beyond the side walls of the lower cover, and a plurality of slots are defined along the side walls of the upper cover corresponding to the configuration of the slices such that the slices are received in the slots to joint the lower and upper covers together. The shortcoming is that the insulative casing can't protect signal transmission of terminals therein and therefore, it doesn't have good electrical properties.

Electrical connector assembly with improved covers


Data transfers within and between nodes in a distributed computing environment are visualized. In one aspect, the nodes are represented as geometrical shapes. The first part of the geometrical shape represents logic of the corresponding node. The second part of the geometrical shape represents storage of the corresponding node. A line connecting the first part and the second part represents data transfer between logic of a node and storage of a node. Both inter-node and intra-node transfers may be shown.

Understanding the behavior, finding problems or bottlenecks is very challenging for any systems with more than a few nodes. For example, the complexity arises from data transfers that span thousands of nodes (spatial complexity); the data transfers that are transient and change quickly over time; data transfers that vary in size, transfer speed, and the job from where they originate; data transfers that vary in the trajectory from their source to origin; data transfers between two nodes that are on different racks (subnets). Visualizing statistics about the logic in the nodes, the data storage in the nodes, transfers of data between the nodes is a complex task.

Visualizing data transfers in distributed file system

International Business Machines Corporation


A honeycomb filter includes a honeycomb-shaped filter base having a plurality of through holes and a sealing member fixed on end surfaces of the filter base in which the through holes are open. The through holes of the filter base are clogged with the sealing member in a checker flag form on each end surface so as to clog the through holes differently from the through holes sealed on the opposite end surface. The sealing member is a sheet-shaped fired body with a thickness of 3 mm or less, and a difference in coefficient of thermal expansion at temperatures of 40 to 800° C. between said sealing member and said filter base is 0.5×10−6/° C. or less. This honeycomb filter has high filtration efficiency, and very high thermal shock resistance and has high bonding strength between the sealing member and the filter base and a low pressure loss.

In recent years, as an environmental problem has become a matter of great concern, a honeycomb filter for removing fine particles (particulates) in exhaust gas of a diesel engine or the like has attracted attention.
As shown in FIGS. 4(a) and 4(b), the honeycomb filter has a main construction such that through holes 14a and 14b opening on both end surfaces of a honeycomb-shaped filter base 12 formed of porous ceramics are clogged in a checker flag form on one end surface, and the through holes 14b different from the through holes 14a being clogged on one end surface are clogged on the other end surface in a checker flag form. Exhaust gas 17 introduced from either one of end surfaces is forcedly caused to pass through a partition wall 13 between the through holes, by which fine particles (particulates) in the exhaust gas 17 are collected and removed.
Conventionally, there has been widely used a honeycomb filter in which ceramic slurry is pressed into the through holes 14 in the filter base 12 formed of porous ceramics and thereafter is fired, by which a filler material 11 is embedded in the through holes 14 in the filter base 12. In this case, the filler material 11 is not fixed to the partition wall 13 between the through holes by melting-reaction, but slurry is caused to intrude into pores in the partition wall 13 by pressing and is fired, and resultantly the filler material 11 is fixed by, so to say, a mechanism of fitting.
In the conventional honeycomb filter, however, a difference in coefficient of thermal expansion between the filler material 11 and the filter base 12 is not especially considered. Therefore, there arises a problem in that when the coefficient of thermal expansion of the filler material 11 is higher than that of the filter base 12, the filler material 11 intruding into the pore in the partition wall 13 produces cracks on the partition wall 13 due to thermal expansion, and when the coefficient of thermal expansion of the filler material 11 is lower than that of the filter base 12, the filler material 11 comes off.
To solve this problem, there has been proposed a honeycomb filter in which by a specific combination of ceramic materials of the filter base 12 and the filler material 11, the difference in coefficient of thermal expansion between them at temperatures of 40 to 800° C. is made 3.5×10−6/° C. or less (JP-B-2-53083).
In this honeycomb filter, however, a part of the partition wall 13 of the filter base 12 is covered by the filler material 11 because of its construction, so that the exhaust gas 17 cannot pass through the portion covered by the filler material 11, which presents a problem of decreased filter function.
Also, conventionally, in order to prevent the filler material 11 from coming off by increasing the fixing area between the filter base 12 and the filler material 11, the filler material 11 has been embedded in the through hole 14 in a thickness of about 10 to 15 mm, which presents a problem in that the pressure loss is high and hence the engine output decreases.
To solve these problems, there has been proposed a honeycomb filter in which, as shown in FIG. 5, sealing plates 21, in which the through holes 15 in the filter base 12 are clogged in a checker flag form on one end surface, and through holes different from the through holes being clogged on said one end surface are clogged in a checker flag form on the other end surface, are fixed on both end surfaces of the filter body 12 (JP-A-55-114324).
In this honeycomb filter, because the sealing plate 21 is fixed on the end surface of the filter base 12, a part of the partition wall of the filter base 12 is not covered by the sealing plate 21, so that the filter function can be increased, and also cracks can be prevented from being produced on the partition wall.
However, in this honeycomb filter, since a difference in coefficient of thermal expansion due to the difference between ceramic materials of the sealing plate 21 and the filter base 12 is not considered at all, there arises, in practical use, a problem of thermal shock resistance, such that exhaust gas leaks due to separation or coming-off of the sealing plate 21.
Also, in the case of this honeycomb filter, since a thickness of the sealing plate 21 is not considered at all, the ceramic crystals are not oriented sufficiently, depending on the thickness of the sealing plate 21 when the sealing plate 21 in which ceramic crystals are oriented by extrusion molding is formed. As a consequence, in fact, since the difference in coefficient of thermal expansion between the sealing plate 21 and the filter base 12 increases, in the case of the honeycomb filter in which this sealing plate 21 is fixed to the filter base 12, exhaust gas may leak due to separation or coming-off of the sealing plate 21 during its actual use at a high temperature. Also, the conventional problem of decreased engine output caused by increased pressure loss cannot be solved.
On the other hand, the honeycomb filter has conventionally manufactured by a method in which after slurry consisting of ceramics is pressed into the filter base formed by firing a honeycomb-shaped dried body, or after a sheet-shaped molded body before firing is pressed, firing is performed.
In this conventional manufacturing method, however, the firing process consists of two steps: a step in which the honeycomb-shaped dried body is fired to form the filter base and a step in which after slurry is pressed in or after the sheet-shaped molded body is pressed, firing is performed to form a honeycomb filter. This is a main cause of high cost of honeycomb filter, and is a great hindrance to widespread use of honeycomb filter.
Also, when the sheet-shaped molded body is pressed and fired to form a honeycomb filter, the firing shrinkage differs between the filter base already fired and the sheet-shaped molded body before firing, so that even if the through holes in them are aligned with each other at the time of pressing, a shift may occur after firing.
Further, in the manufacturing method in which firing is performed after the sheet-shaped molded body is pressed on the filter body, the bonding strength between the filter base and the sealing member is not necessarily sufficient.
The present invention has been achieved to solve the above problems, and accordingly a first object thereof is to provide a honeycomb filter which has high filtration efficiency and high thermal shock resistance, and also has high bonding strength between a sealing member and a filter base and a low pressure loss.
Also, a second object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing a honeycomb filter, which can manufacture, at a very low cost and precisely, a honeycomb filter which has high filtration efficiency and high thermal shock resistance, and also has high bonding strength between a sealing member and a filter base and a low pressure loss.

Honeycomb filter and method for manufacturing the same


A fuel cell system (FS) is provided with a fuel cell (1) having a fuel electrode (1c) and an oxidizer electrode (1a), disposed in opposition thereto, between which an electrolyte membrane (1b) is sandwiched, a fuel gas supply source (2) supplying fuel gas to the fuel cell through a fuel gas supply passage (4), a fuel gas discharge section (8, 8′) discharging the fuel gas, discharged from the fuel cell, to an outside of a fuel cell system, and a control section (14) executing fuel gas substituting treatment such that, during startup of the fuel cell system, the fuel gas is discharged outside the fuel cell system through the fuel gas discharge section while supplying the fuel gas so as to cause a state quantity of the fuel gas, to be supplied to the fuel cell from the fuel gas supply source, to be constant for thereby allowing the fuel gas passage and the fuel electrode to be substituted with the fuel gas.

In recent years, public attention has heretofore been focused on a fuel cell that serves as an electric power supply with a high energy conversion efficiency and minimal amount of exhaust emissions, such as carbon dioxide, and therefore has applications not only in automotive vehicles but also in general industrial fields or in domestic uses in a wide range. Such a fuel cell is operative to achieve electrochemical reaction using hydrogen and oxygen to obtain an electric energy and, to this end, various research and development works have heretofore been made.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 2735396 discloses a startup method for a fuel cell system. In such a startup method, when the fuel cell system is started up, an output voltage of a fuel cell is monitored during supply of fuel and air to the fuel cell and, when an output voltage level goes beyond an allowable lower limit value, electric power output is taken out form the fuel cell in correspondence with a load.

Fuel cell system and related startup method


A method and a machine for rewinding a web (1) for making a log (2a), in particular for the production of rolls of toilet paper, rolls of all purpose wipers or household non woven fabric, industrial rolls and the like. The rewinding is carried out according to the steps of feeding a web (1) of paper into a winding cradle (4); arranging upstream of the cradle (4) a counter support roller (8) comprising at least a cutting slit (9) transversal to the web and a cutting roller (11) with a blade (10) so that it is possible the cut or tear the web (1) for contact of the blade (10) with the web (1); concluding the winding of the log (2a); winding the new log (2b) up to a predetermined length of the web (1); rotating with sliding the counter support roller (8) on the web (1) during the winding of the new log (2b) for causing the blade (10) to cut the web in a desired chosen location.

The present invention relates to a rewinding method for making logs starting from a web, for example used for the production of rolls of toilet paper, rolls of all purpose wipers, household non woven fabric, industrial rolls and the like.
Furthermore, the invention relates to a rewinding machine that carries out this method.
Rewinding machines are known wherein a winding step is carried out on a log which is in contact surface with winding rollers. More precisely, the log is formed starting from a web of paper, continuous or with transversal perforations, which is carried by first dragging means, is wound partially on an upper winding roller, is in contact with a lower winding roller and is kept against the two upper and lower winding rollers by means of a pressure roller. The three rollers define a channel, or winding cradle, wherein the log is formed and the web of paper is supplied continuously and pulled by the surface frictional contact of the rollers on the log.
Normally, in the winding cradle the log is formed on a tubular core. Once the log has reached a predetermined diameter, normally calculated by checking the length of the developed paper, the web is cut or torn and the log is pushed away from the winding cradle at the side of the lower winding roller and, at the same time, a new core is supplied into the cradle by a pusher. It is possible, however, to wind the log without core as well.
Some types of rewinding machines, at the end of each roll winding step, provide a blade that cuts transversally the web by pressing against the upper winding roller. The upper winding roller has one or more cutting slits with which a retractable blade engages mounted on an adjacent cutting roller. This system has the drawback that it does not allow cuts having length not multiple of the circumference of the upper winding roller, or not multiple of the distance between two successive cutting slits when several cutting slits are provided for.
In the case, instead, of rewinding machines in which the web is torn, there is the drawback that the tearing step is subject to being carried out incorrectly. Actually, the web is stopped upstream of, or onto, the upper winding roller and the tearing is caused by the pulling action, on the web kept still, of the lower winding roller, on which the log is pushed by the pressure roller. Normally, it is sufficient to create a speed difference between said two rollers at the moment of the exchange in order to effect the tearing. However, the tearing sometimes cannot be made correctly, since it depends on the correct growth of the log being wound as well as on the presence and quality of the transversal perforation. Furthermore, with the tearing method rolls can be obtained whose development is multiple of the pitch between two transversal perforations only. Finally, in case of rolls without transversal perforations, for example industrial rolls, in order to effect the tearing it is necessary to make a special auxiliary perforation on the web at the end of the development of each roll.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a rewinding method of a web of paper for making logs, wherein the passage from a roll to the successive one is carried out by cutting the web and wherein the development of the web wound on the log after the cutting step has whichever desired length.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a rewinding machine of a web of paper for making logs that is capable of cutting the web upstream the winding zone in a desired location.
These and other objects are achieved by the web winding method for making a log whose characteristic is that it comprises the steps of:
feeding a web of paper in a winding cradle;
arranging upstream of the cradle a counter support roller that comprises at least a cutting slit transversal to the web;
arranging a cutting roller that faces the counter support roller and comprises at least a blade transversal to the web, the web running between the counter support roller and the cutting roller;
cutting or locally tearing the web for contact of the blade with the web in a predetermined moment at the slit of the counter support roller, the cut creating in the web a tail end and a front end;
concluding the winding of the log that comprises the tail end and introducing the front end in the cradle for starting the winding of a new log;
winding the new log up to a predetermined development of the web;
decelerating or accelerating the counter support roller making it slide on the web while winding the new log so that the blade is ready to cut the web at a desired chosen location.
Preferably, the front end is pulled towards the winding cradle by a suction step carried out by the counter support roller.
Always preferably, the winding cradle comprises an upper winding roller, a lower winding roller and a pressure roller, the upper winding roller comprising suction means for capturing at least the front end of the web and starting the winding of the new log.
In a preferred embodiment, the upper winding roller has a plurality of radial holes, the front end of the web being captured by a predetermined sector of said holes belonging to an outer drum by means of an inner drum rotatable coaxially but in a way independent from the outer drum and suitable for selectively connecting the predetermined sector of the holes with a suction chamber.
The synchronization between the inner drum, the cutting roller and the counter support roller is obtained by a control step of driven axes operated by a computer, whereby, for every chosen web development between two successive cuts the computer arranges a reset phase of the counter support roller with respect to the blade and a relative rotation between the outer drum and the inner drum.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a rewinding apparatus of a web for making logs comprises:
means for feeding and dragging a web of paper;
a winding cradle wherein the winding of the log is carried out downstream the means for feeding;
a counter support roller on which the web lays located in the space interval between the means for feeding and the cradle, the counter support roller having at least a cutting slit;
a cutting roller suitable for bringing periodically a cutting blade against the counter support roller at its slit for cutting the web;
means for accelerating or decelerating the counter support roller and the cutting roller with respect to the web.
The cutting blade urges against the counter support roller for cutting the web creating a tail end of the previous log and a front end of a new log. Preferably, the counter support roller comprises suction means for dragging the front end towards the winding cradle.
Always preferably, the winding cradle comprises an upper winding roller, a lower winding roller and a pressure roller, the upper winding roller comprising means for capturing the front end of the web, said means for capturing may be suction means.
The upper winding roller comprises preferably an outer drum having a plurality of holes and an inner drum rotatable independently from the outer drum and suitable for connecting a predetermined sector of the holes with a suction chamber, whereby it is possible in turn to capture the front end by means of a predetermined sector of the outer drum.
In an advantageous embodiment of the invention the inner drum, the counter support roller and the cutting roller are brought into rotation by axes driven by at least a motor operated by a control unit that adjusts the cutting length of the web of said log, the motor decelerating or accelerating the rotation of said axes and causing said counter support roller to slide with respect to said web.
In order to make the sliding lighter the counter support roller has a surface with a plurality of small air blowing holes for reducing further the friction with respect to said web during the sliding step.

Rewinding method and machine for making logs of paper and the like

M T C Macchine Trasformazione Carta S.r.l.,


According to one embodiment, the information processing apparatus includes an input module, a decoding module, a first analysis module, a second analysis module and a decoding control module. The first analysis module acquires the number of macroblocks, which are generated by dividing each image in a matrix pattern, in a row direction of each image. The second analysis module acquires a vertical position of each slice, which is formed by arranging the macroblocks in a row direction, within each image. The decoding control module sends as arguments an address representing both a start position in a horizontal direction of each image and the vertical position acquired by the second analysis module, and the number of macroblocks acquired by the first analysis module to cause the decoding module to execute decoding processing of the moving image stream for each slice.

1. Field
One embodiment of the invention relates to a moving image stream decoding control technique suitable for, e.g., a personal computer which includes a TV function of recording/playing back digital broadcast program data broadcast using television broadcast signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, notebook type personal computers which can be driven by a battery and can be easily carried by users have widely prevailed. This type of computer is thinner and more lightweight, and has more advanced functions. Some computers which include a TV function for viewing digital television broadcast programs have become commercially available. By carrying this type of computer, therefore, the user can enjoy digital television broadcast programs even when he/she is away from home or on the move.
Along with the development of a wireless communication environment, it has become easier for the user to connect to the Internet even when he/she is away from home or on the move, and it has also become possible to receive digital television broadcast program data from a server to which the user connects via the Internet, and view them.
The digital broadcast program data is, e.g., a moving image stream compression-encoded by a scheme complying with the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG)-2 standard. Various mechanisms for efficiently decoding such compression encoded moving image stream have been proposed (e.g., see Jpn. Pat. Applin. KOKAI Publication No. 2002-57986).
Computers normally comprise a graphics accelerator (to be referred to as an accelerator hereinafter) which renders, in place of a CPU, images to be displayed by various application programs. These days, some accelerators which include a function of executing part of decoding processing for decoding a compression encoded moving image stream have become commercially available. Many of the computers including a TV function implement this TV function by software. In this case, the decoding processing of the moving image stream is executed by one module of the software running on the CPU. It is expected to considerably reduce the load on the CPU by making the accelerator execute part of the decoding processing.
A moving image stream compression-encoded by a scheme complying with the MPEG-2 standard has a hierarchical structure with six layers, i.e., a sequence layer, Group of Pictures (GOP) layer, picture layer, slice layer, macroblock layer, and block layer. Of them, the picture layer is paired with each image of the moving image and provided. The lower slice layer has image data sets (slices) having a predetermined division width and arbitrary lengths, which are generated by dividing each image horizontally. The arbitrary length intends that a plurality of slices can be provided in each row. Macroblocks are generated by dividing each image in a matrix pattern. That is, a slice is obtained by arranging these macroblocks in the row direction. As a typical example of the above described accelerators which include a function of executing part of the decoding processing for decoding the compression encoded moving image stream, there is an accelerator which receives each slice of the moving image stream, and executes the decoding processing.
This accelerator requires, as specifications, to receive a slice of the moving image stream to be decoded as well as, as arguments, an address representing the horizontal and vertical positions of the first macroblock of the slice within each image and the number of macroblocks contained in the slice. The software which makes the accelerator execute the decoding processing in the slice layer or the lower layer must refer to the slice layer or the lower layer to acquire the values given as arguments. Consequently, it is impossible to reduce the load on the CPU as much as expected.

Information processing apparatus and decoding control method


There is disclosed a coupling arrangement for coupling a motor to a hoist machine. The coupling arrangement comprises a first drum flange comprising an outer body having a first end and a second end, and an inner wall surface defining a cavity of substantially circular cross section. The cavity has a given diameter along a first length of the body, and of reducing diameter along a second length of the body. The flange is adapted to receive at the first end a tapered bushing of increasing diameter and dimensioned such that, upon insertion of the bushing within the body a given length, the bushing frictionally engages with the inner wall surface of reducing diameter for retention therein. The bushing has a central cavity for receiving the shaft of the motor and capable of securing onto the shaft. The first end of the drum mount flange has holes for direct coupling to a portion of a brake drum within an interior portion of the hoist machine, and the motor face includes holes for coupling to an outer portion of the hoist machine. Pins having bushings thereon may couple the drum mount flange to the hoist machine.

Industrial application of motor assemblies often requires that the motor be coupled to a hoist machine or overhung machine due to space limitations, industrial standards and requirements (NEMA) and the like. Such motor assemblies and applications are prevalent in the elevator industry, for example.
Existing integral overhung style elevator hoist machines were designed originally with motors having single bearings on the back end and supported in the front end by being bolted to the hoist machine. Typically, the overhung hoist machine has a sleeve bearing at the motor end with internal clearances typically of 0.005 to 0.010 inch, which is quite large. The internal clearances (i.e. movement of the shaft in an up/down fashion) of single bearing motors are compatible with these machines. However, advances in motor technology have caused the production of single bearing motors to be phased out.
New style motors such as C and D face motors are being produced and are now available from major manufacturers. These motors are consistent with NEMA standards. These new motors, which have two ball bearings, have caused the single bearing motors to become technically obsolete. Thus, the single bearing motors are no longer readily available. The new motors are manufactured with higher efficiencies which create closer tolerances and are made with ball bearings on each end in order to maintain these-tolerances. Thus, the new style motors are two bearing motors, where the ball bearings used have approximately 6 microns (μm) of internal clearance when rigidly coupled to a sleeve bearing hoist machine. However, the hoist machine has over one hundred times the internal clearances of the new style motors. This causes problems when coupling the new motors to the existing hoist machines. Because the hoist machine has a much greater size relative to the internal clearances of the new style, two ball bearing motors, all of the axial and radial load is supported by the motor rather than the hoist as originally intended. Thus, if the hoist machine, which originally supported this, and has the big loading bearings therein, that bearing is rendered useless due to the closeness of the bearing in the shaft end of the motor. This results in premature bearing failure in the motor and causes end-thrusting problems associated with the encoder that is to be mounted onto the end of the motor.
In view of the above, it is highly desirable to obtain a coupling arrangement for mounting such a two bearing motor onto an existing integral overhung style hoist machine without the need for special tools or complex alignment steps and which takes into consideration proper alignment, radial overloading and end-thrusting problems that are caused when the new style motors are fitted to an older style or larger tolerance machine.
It is thus desired to obtain a coupling arrangement for mounting such a two bearing motor onto an existing integral overhung style hoist machine without the need for special tools or complex alignment steps and which takes into consideration proper alignment, radial overloading and end-thrusting problems that are caused when the new style motors are fitted to an older style or larger tolerance machine.

Tapered coupler for coupling a motor to a hoist machine


A method for converting coined money to another type of value proceeds by receiving a plurality of coins into a coin processing machine. The coins are processed with the coin processing machine to determine a value of the coins. An electronic record of the determined value is produced using the coin processing machine. Further, the record of the determined value is electronically transmitted from the coin processing machine to a remote storage location.

This invention relates generally to the field of currency conversion. More specifically, the invention relates to the conversion of coinage to other types of currency.
Most currencies include both coins and paper money. For example, the currency of the United States includes pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, half dollars and dollar coins in addition to paper money. Due to inflation over time, the value of such coinage has become relatively small. Hence, for many it is inconvenient to carry coins. As such, many simply let their coins accumulate, often scattered about the home or office. When a large number of coins have accumulated, it is inconvenient and time consuming to organize the coins and take them to a bank for conversion to paper money.
Because of these inconveniences, some have proposed coin machines that process coins and determine their value. For example, one such coin machine is commercially available from Coinstar. After processing the coins, such machines may issue a receipt that is redeemable at the store where the machine is located, either for cash or in store credit. Hence, such receipts are typically only good within the store where the machine is located.
This invention is related to other ways to convert coins to various types of value. The invention thus provides various alternatives for receiving payments from coins.

Coin currency conversion systems and methods


An efficient method for the synthesis of aminosterol compounds such as squalamine and compound 1436 is described. A method of the invention provides for regioselective sulfonation of a fused ring system. The fused ring system base can be, for example, a steroid ring base. The aminosterol compounds are effective as, among others, antibiotics, antiangiogenic agents and NHE3 inhibitors.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a novel method of producing fused ring based compounds or aromatics including aminosterol compounds. A method of the invention offers regioselective oxidation and regioselective sulfonation of fused ring systems with few protecting groups. The aminosterol compounds produced by a method of the invention are useful as, among others, antibiotics, antiangiogenic agents and NHE3 inhibitors.
2. Description of the Related Art
Several aminosterol compositions have been isolated from the liver of the dogfish shark, Squalus acanthias. One important aminosterol is squalamine (3β-(N-[3-aminopropyl]-1,4-butanediamine)-7α,24R-dihydroxy-5α-cholestane 24-sulfate), illustrated FIG. 1. The aminosterol squalamine, which includes a sulfate group at the C-24 position, is the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 5,192,756 which also describes the aminosterol's antibiotic properties.
Since the discovery of squalamine, however, several other interesting properties of this compound have been discovered. For example, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,733,899 and 5,721,226, squalamine may function as an antiangiogenic agent useful for the treatment of cancers. See U.S. Pat. No. 6,147,060. Additional uses of squalamine such as an agent for inhibiting NHE3 and as an agent for inhibiting endothelial cell growth are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,792,635.
Methods for synthesizing squalamine have been described. See WO 94/19366 which relates to U.S. Patent Application. No. 08/023,347. U.S. Pat. No. 5,792,635 also discloses squalamine isolation and synthesis techniques.
Stemming from the discovery of squalamine, other aminosterols have been discovered in the dogfish shark liver and have been investigated. One important aminosterol that has been isolated and identified as "compound 1436" or simply "1436" has the structure shown in FIG. 2. This compound has the general molecular formula C37H72N4O5S and a calculated molecular weight of 684.53017. Like squalamine, this aminosterol has a sulfate group at the C-24 position.
Compound 1436 previously has been described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,795,885. As further described in this patent, compound 1436 has a variety of interesting properties. For example, compound 1436 inhibits human T-lymphocyte proliferation, as well as the proliferation of a wide variety of other cells and tissues. Additional uses of compound 1436 are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,143,738. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,795,885 and 5,847,172 also describe the structure of compound 1436 as well as processes for synthesizing and isolating the compound. For example, compound 1436 can be prepared from a squalamine starting material.
Difficulties have been encountered, however, when attempting to provide a process for synthesizing squalamine or compound 1436 from commercially available starting materials (i.e., not from shark liver isolates). These difficulties include low overall yields of the desired steroid product as well as multiple synthetic steps.
Additional difficulties are encountered in providing a sulfate group at the C-24 position. Particularly, it is difficult to provide the sulfate group at the C-24 position in a highly stereoselective orientation. See, for example, Pechulis, et al., "Synthesis of 24R-Squalamine, an Anti-Infective Steroidal Polyamine," J. Org. Chem., 1995, Vol. 60, pp. 5121-5126; and Moriarty, et al., "Synthesis of Squalamine. A Steroidal Antibiotic from the Shark," Tetrahedron Letters, Vol. 35, No. 44, (1994), pp. 8103-8106.
Because of the importance of squalamine, compound 1436, other aminosterols, 24R and 24S-hydroxylated steroids and vitamin-D3 metabolites, there has been considerable interest in preparing stereospecific compounds especially at the C-24 position. As mentioned above, processes for producing squalamine and compound 1436 have been described. However, these processes do not enable large scale production of the desired aminosterol compounds because relatively low yields are realized by these processes.
Processes for stereoselectively producing cerebrosterol, MC 903, and 1α, 24(R)-dihydroxyvitamin D3 have been developed. Koch, et al., "A Stereoselective Synthesis and a Convenient Synthesis of Optically Pure (24R)- and (24S)-24 hydroxycholesterols," Bulletin de la Société Chimique de France, 1983, (No. 7-8), Vol. II, pp. 189-194; Calverley, "Synthesis of MC 903, a Biologically Active Vitamin D Metabolite Analogue," Tetrahedron, 1987, Vol. 43, No. 20, pp. 4609-4619; and Okamoto, et al. "Asymmetric Isopropylation of Steroidal 24-Aldehydes for the Synthesis of 24(R)-Hydroxycholesterol, Tetrahedron: Asymmetry, 1995, Vol. 6, No. 3, pp. 767-778. These processes attempt to reduce 22-ene-24-one and 22-yne-24-one systems in a stereoselective manner. Unfortunately, the processes were not highly stereospecific and often resulted in mixtures of the 24R and 24S which were difficult to separate. Thus these processes were not conducive to large scale synthesis.
Other attempts were also not conducive to large scale synthesis. These processes suffered from being too lengthy or impractical. For example, successful reduction has been achieved of a related 25-ene-24-one system using Noyori's 2,2′-dihydroxy-1,1′-binaphthyl lithium aluminum hydride reagent at −90° C. to give 95:5 selectivity for the 24R-alcohol. Ishiguro, et al. "Stereoselective Introduction of Hydroxy-Groups into the 24-, 25-, and 26-Positions of the Cholesterol Side Chain," J C. S. Chem. Comm., 1981, pp. 115-117. However, the 25-ene-24-one intermediate material (producible in four steps) is less readily accessible than the 22-ene-24-one system (producible in one step). Furthermore, the low temperature required for the chiral reduction also detracts from the commercial practicality of this method.
A large scale stereoselective synthesis has been developed to satisfy the requirements for rapid entry in Phase I clinical trials. Zhang, X., et al., J. Org. Chem., 63, 8599-8603 (1998). However, the synthesis suffered two major drawbacks. First, the synthesis was quite lengthy. Secondly, introduction of a 7α-hydroxyl group proved problematic.
Thus there exists a need in the art for a method of preparing aminosterol compounds such as squalamine, compound 1436 and various homologs that overcome the drawbacks of prior synthetic methods.

Regioselective and stereoselective oxidation of fused ring systems useful for the preparation of aminosterols


In an image pickup system, an image pickup unit is connected to a computer which has a display device. In order to make a display by matching the characteristic of the image pickup unit with that of the display device, the image pickup unit is provided with a control part which is arranged to measure a signal processing speed of the computer, to compare the signal processing speed with an image pickup speed or a picked-up image data output speed of the image pickup unit and to vary an image pickup action or a picked-up image data output action of the image pickup unit according to a result of the comparison or according to an operation performed by an operator of the image pickup system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup system in which an image pickup unit is connected for use to an external apparatus arranged to process images.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computers having connection terminals of the PCMCIA standards are generally arranged to be usable with card-shaped units of various functions inserted therein as a facsimile, a memory, etc. The connection terminal permits use of each of the various card-shaped units by replacing one with another so long as they meet the PCMCIA standards. The connection terminal thus permits selective use of card-shaped units of various functions as desired by the operator.
FIG. 7 shows by way of example an image pickup system which is composed of a computer having the above-stated connection terminal and an image pickup unit which is removably attachable to the computer.
The illustration of FIG. 7 includes a card-shaped image pickup unit 21, computers 22, 24 and 26 which are usable in the image pickup system, and connection terminals 23, 25 and 27 which are respectively arranged to connect the image pickup unit 21 to the computers 22, 24 and 26. A case where the image pickup system is formed by connecting the image pickup unit 21 to the connection terminal 23 is first described as follows.
Referring to FIG. 7, an image is picked up by an optical system and a CCD which are included in the image pickup unit 21. The image picked up is converted into digital image data. The picked-up image data thus obtained is transferred through the connection terminal 23 to the computer 22 at a predetermined speed.
The image pickup unit 21 sends the picked-up image data which includes a color signal to the computer 22 at a rate of n frames per sec. The computer 22 then processes the n-frames/sec picked-up image data sent from the image pickup unit 21 and is capable of displaying the picked-up image data on a built-in color display device or recording the picked-up image data in a built-in recording device.
The use of the computer 22 may be replaced with the use of the computer 24. The computer 24 is provided with the connection terminal 25 which conforms to the same standards as the connection terminal 23 of the computer 22 and a color display device which is similar to that of the computer 22.
Since the connection terminal 25 is of the same specifications as the connection terminal 23, the image pickup unit 21 can be connected to the connection terminal 25. With the image pickup unit 21 connected to the connection terminal 25, the computer 24 displays and records the picked-up image data obtained from the image pickup unit 21 in the same manner as when the image pickup unit 21 is connected to the computer 22.
The operator of the image pickup system can use either the computer 22 or the computer 24 and also can use the image pickup unit 21 in common with them.
This arrangement of the image pickup system, however, has presented the following problems.
In the image pickup system shown in FIG. 7, a case where the computer 26 is used will be considered. The computer 26 has a less amount of consumption of electric power and less weight than the computers 22 and 24, but has a slower processing speed than the computers 22 and 24 and has only a monochrome display device instead of a color display device.
Since the connection terminal 27 also conforms with the same standards as the connection terminals 23 and 25, the computer 26 is capable of exchanging data with the image pickup unit 21 as connected to the connection terminal 27. However, since the processing speed of the computer 26 is too slow, it is impossible to completely process the picked-up image data being sent from the image pickup unit 21. As a result, the picked-up image data tends to be lost in part or an image pickup operation sometimes comes to a stop.
Besides, in such a case, it is impossible to utilize color information included in the picked-up image data sent from the image pickup unit 21 as the computer 26 is provided with only a monochrome display device.

Image pickup system adaptable to computer processing power and/or display


An image forming apparatus includes a main control unit, a sub control unit, a main storage unit, an auxiliary storage unit, an auxiliary storage load unit, a load-program storage unit, and an external storage load unit. The auxiliary storage load unit is configured to load each of a program to be executed by the main control unit and a program to be executed by the sub control unit stored in the auxiliary storage unit from the auxiliary storage unit to the main storage unit at first activation. The external storage load unit is configured to load the program stored in the external storage medium by the load-program storage unit to the main storage unit at a subsequent activation concurrently with loading the program to be executed by the main control unit from the auxiliary storage unit by the auxiliary storage load unit.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the description in this section is not prior art to the claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
A typical image forming apparatus, such as a copier and a Multi-Functional Peripheral (MFP), includes a control unit, such as a plurality of Central Processing Unit (CPU), and causes respective CPUs to execute different processes.
The typical image forming apparatus having a plurality of CPUs loads a program stored in a Hard Disk Drive (HDD) or a nonvolatile memory onto a memory, and operates by executing the program. In this respect, the plurality of CPUs expand one specific CPU program by a section unit. As a result, when attempting to activate only a specific CPU program quickly, the program may be quickly activated by having aid from other CPU, providing the CPU an effect of preventing occurrence of idle time.

Short-time activated image forming apparatus, activation control method, and non-transitory computer-readable recording medium


A real-time event processing system (EPS) for processing a sequence of events generated by one or more applications. In an illustrative embodiment, the EPS includes a set of real-time analysis engines (RAEs) operating in parallel, e.g., a set of clusters each including one or more RAEs, and one or more mappers for mapping a given input event to a particular one of the clusters. A main-memory database system is coupled to the RAEs, and the RAEs process events associated with input streams from one or more data sources and deliver output streams to one or more data sinks. The data source and data sinks may be, e.g., network elements, clients, databases, etc. The events are processed in accordance with services implemented in the RAEs, and utilize data stored in a memory portion of the main-memory database system accessible to the RAEs. The data may include, e.g., a subscription table storing subscription information indicating the service or services that should be executed for a given event. The services are generated in a service authoring environment (SAE) in the EPS, using a declarative language. The SAE generates the services in the form of object code components, e.g., dynamically linked libraries, which may be dynamically linked into the RAEs without interrupting event processing. Recovery information regarding a recovery point for a given RAE or set of RAEs in the EPS may be stored in a memory portion of the main-memory database system, and utilized to implement a roll-back of the RAE to the recovery point.

The present invention relates generally to real-time event processing, and more particularly to methods, apparatus and systems for processing real-time events in applications such as telecommunications and computer networks.
Many event-processing systems have real-time performance requirements that cannot be met by conventional general-purpose database management systems. In telecommunications applications, for example, a variety of adjunct switching services such as debit-based billing, number mapping, call forwarding, and local-number portability involve event processing during the critical call-connection phase of a telephone call. To meet the real-time requirements of the network, the service time for such events generally must not exceed a few milliseconds. However, with conventional database technology, the costs of invoking a structured query language (SQL) operation over a client-server interface, or the costs associated with a single access to secondary storage, can account for hundreds of milliseconds. As a consequence, performance goals on the order of a few milliseconds may already be unattainable even before the costs of the event processing logic are taken into account.
These limitations have led to the use of custom database systems for many high-performance real-time event processing applications. Custom systems are typically tightly coupled to their particular applications, and are tuned to the specific requirements of those applications. These solutions generally work well in practice, and can provide close to optimal performance. However, they also have a number of serious disadvantages. For example, the cost of developing and maintaining custom systems can be high, and generally cannot be amortized across a number of different applications. Moreover, custom systems are frequently inflexible. It can become difficult or even impossible to adapt a custom system to unforeseen or evolving requirements.
A need therefore exists for an improved real-time event processing system which provides the performance benefits of custom database systems, without sacrificing the flexibility and maintainability typically associated with conventional general-purpose database systems.
The invention provides a general-purpose real-time event processing system (EPS) which avoids the problems associated with custom systems. The EPS in an illustrative embodiment meets real-time performance goals through the use of one or more real-time analysis engines (RAEs) operating in conjunction with a main-memory storage manager as its underlying database system. The main-memory storage manager offers transactional access to persistent data, but at the speed of a main-memory system. The EPS also incorporates a recovery model which stores recovery information in order to facilitate roll-back to a recovery point after an RAE failure.
In accordance with the invention, recovery information regarding a recovery point for a given RAE or set of RAEs in an EPS is stored in a memory portion of the main-memory database system of the EPS. Serial tags are assigned to the events, e.g., in a monotonically increasing sequence, in accordance with an arrival order of the events, and the tags and the corresponding events are stored in an event log of the EPS. The recovery information stored in the memory of the main-memory database system includes the serial tag for each event for which processing in the real-time analysis engine has reached a commit operation. After an event is processed and the results of the processing stored in an external database storage element, e.g., a data warehouse or enterprise store, the serial tag of the event is stored in a serial tag log associated with that storage element. In the event of a failure of the given RAE, the serial tags stored in the memory portion of the main-memory database system and the serial tags stored in the serial tag log of the external database storage element are utilized, in conjunction with stored event information from the event log, to implement a roll-back of the RAE to the recovery point.
A real-time EPS in accordance with the invention provides a critical path for event processing that is specifically designed for high performance, while also retaining many desirable features of conventional database systems, including high-level, declarative programming interfaces, and the well-known transactional correctness properties of atomicity, consistency, isolation and durability (ACID). These features of the invention enhance the reliability, robustness, usability and maintainability of the real-time EPS and the applications built thereon.
The invention can be used in conjunction with any event processing application, including, for example, telecommunications, electronic commerce, and Internet service provisioning applications. For example, in a telecommunications application, the invention can be configured to provide a basis for features such as enhanced billing systems, fraud detection and prevention, local-number portability, settlements among service providers and real-time traffic analysis.

Real-time event processing system with analysis engine using recovery information


An acoustic module for a hearing aid device has at least one microphone and at least one earphone (acoustic output transducer) combined together as a unit, the unit including a signal-processing unit for feedback suppression that is connected with the microphone and the earphone. Feedback signal portions are removed from the microphone signal by the signal-processing unit. The acoustic module places acousto-mechanical components within a unitary component, with acousto-mechanical characteristics that can be measured and included in the signal processing for feedback suppression.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns an acoustic module for a hearing aid device of the type having a unit with at least one microphone and at least one earphone.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An acoustic module of this type is known from German OS 35 02 178 A1 wherein an acquisition part is described that has a section for the acquisition of noise changes, in particular from an earphone and a microphone, respectively. The sections are soundproofed in order to shield the microphone from the airborne sound emitted by the earphone.
A hearing aid worn behind the ear is known from German OS 37 23 809 that is divided into two housing segments. The first housing segment has a microphone, an earphone, and an amplifier circuit. The second segment has a battery compartment.
A modular-designed hearing aid device is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,204,917 has a microphone module, a speaker module, an amplifier module, and a battery module.
A microphone system is known from German OS 198 52 758 that is designed in the form of a module and is attached to a mounting capable of being rotated and pivoted, that is mounted in a hearing aid housing. The microphone system can be oriented for improving the directional characteristic, for example, toward a speaker.
A microphone module is known from German OS 196 35 229 in which the microphones are provided with a common sound channel. This improves the protection of the microphone from dirt, simplifies the arrangement of the operating components, and enables an effective shielding with consistently good directional effect of the microphone module.
An HdO hearing aid device is known from German OS 199 08 194 that enables directional hearing.
A hearing aid with a shielding against radiofrequency electromagnetic waves is known from German OS 195 45 760.
The design of a hearing aid device is generally selected such that microphone and earphone are situated in the hearing aid device as far from each other as possible, such that they are decoupled from one other in terms of vibration.

Acoustic module for a hearing aid device


A memory device may include a first electrode and a second electrode spaced apart from the first electrode. The memory device may further include a memory element disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode and a switching element disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode. The switching element may be configured to control signal access to the memory element. The memory device may further include a barrier layer disposed between the memory element and the switching element, the barrier layer including an insulation material.

Inventive concepts relate to memory devices and/or apparatuses including the same.
Examples of non-volatile memory devices include resistive random access memory (RRAM), magnetic random access memory (MRAM), ferroelectric random access memory (FRAM), phase-change random access memory (PRAM), or the like. Among them, the RRAM is a resistive memory device which stores data based on a resistance change of a material. In a RRAM, the resistance of a resistance-change material is changed from a high-resistance state to a low-resistance state (also referred to as "ON state") when a voltage applied to the resistance-change material is greater than or equal to a set voltage. The resistance of the resistance-change material is switched back to the high-resistance state (also referred to as "OFF state") when a voltage applied to the resistance-change material is greater than or equal to a reset voltage.
Generally, a resistive memory device includes a storage node including a resistance-change layer and a selecting device (selector) electrically connected to the storage node. In this case, a conductive element, i.e., an intermediate electrode is disposed between the storage node and the selecting device. However, when a non-volatile memory device, such as a resistive memory device, is highly integrated or a memory device having a diverse/complicated three-dimensional (3D) structure is implemented, the intermediate electrode may cause several problems.

Memory device and apparatus including the same


This device includes at least one peripheral wall (2, 6, 8) forming an air duct (4) and at least one first fin (10) rotatably mobile around a substantially longitudinal axis (A), at least one second fin (12) rotatably mobile around a substantially transverse axis (B), and at least one deflector (18) extending upstream of the second fin (12) and being rotatably mobile around a substantially transverse axis (C), the downstream end portion (20) of the deflector (18) being fastened to the upstream end portion (22) of the second fin (12) via a hinge (24). The axis of rotation (C) of the deflector (18) is mounted in at least one slot (28) of the peripheral wall (2, 6, 8), the slot (26) extending along a path at least partially not parallel to the upstream-downstream direction of the air duct (4).

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air outlet device for a motor vehicle ventilation system, of the type comprising at least one peripheral wall forming an air duct and, near the downstream end of the air duct, at least one first fin, extending substantially longitudinally and being rotatably mobile around a substantially longitudinal axis, at least one second fin, extending substantially transversely and being rotatably mobile around a substantially transverse axis, and at least one deflector extending substantially transversely upstream of the second fin and being rotatably mobile around a substantially transverse axis, the downstream end portion of the deflector being fastened to the upstream end portion of the second fin via a hinge so that the rotation of the second fin in one direction drives the rotation of the deflector in the opposite direction.
Description of the Related Art
The invention also relates to a dashboard comprising such an air outlet device.
The ventilation system for the cab interior of a motor vehicle generally emerges in at least one opening provided in the dashboard of the vehicle. An air outlet device closes this opening and makes it possible to control the direction of the flow of air leaving the ventilation system.
Such an air outlet device for example comprises a first set of substantially horizontal fins and a second set of substantially vertical fins, the sets being rotatably mounted and extending one in front of the other across the downstream end portion of an air duct connecting the ventilation system to the air outlet orifice. Rotating the horizontal fins makes it possible to orient the flow of air upward or downward, and rotating the vertical fins makes it possible to orient the flow of air to the right or left.
In certain positions of the vertical fins, in particular an extreme position orienting the flow of air completely to the left or right, part of the air flow, bordering the wall of the air duct on the side where the flow of air is oriented, is not effectively oriented by the fins close to that wall. This part of the air flow exits without its orientation having been substantially changed by the fins. To increase the possibilities for orienting the flow of air, it is then provided to add a deflector upstream of the vertical fins and to connect said deflector to one of the vertical fins using a hinge so that the rotation of the vertical fins in one direction causes the deflector to rotate in the other direction. The deflector makes it possible to orient part of the flow of air upstream of the vertical fins so that that portion of the flow of air is correctly reoriented by the vertical fins in their extreme position.
However, this system still does not make it possible to orient the flow of air optimally, part of the flow of air still being likely not to be correctly reoriented in certain positions of the fins.

Air outlet device for motor vehicle comprising a deflector


A light emitting device has a plurality of conductive members with good heat conductivity provided in a base member, the conductive members are isolated by insulating members provided between the conductive members. A light emitting element device is mounted on the base member. An light emitting diode is provided in the light emitting device and mounted on conductive member. A projection is outwardly projected from the heat conductive member for cooling the LED.

The present invention relates to a light emitting device using a light emitting diode (LED).
FIG. 16 is a perspective view showing a conventional light emitting device disclosed in Japanese Patent 3,302,203. The light emitting device 1 comprises a substrate 2 made of resin such as epoxy resin, a pair of electrodes 2a and 2b fixed to the substrate 2 at upper and lower side thereof, an LED 3 mounted on the electrode 2a and connected to the electrode 2b by a wire 4, and an sealing member 5 made of a transparent resin for sealing the LED 3.
The light emitting device 1 is mounted on a print substrate 6, connecting the electrodes 2a and 2b with a pair of conductive patterns 6a and 6b.
When current is applied to the LED 3 from the patterns 6a and 6b through the electrodes 2a and 2b, the LED 3 emits light 7.
The thickness of the light emitting device 1 can be reduced because the device is mounted on the print substrate 6 through thin electrodes 2a and 2b. However, the substrate 2 made of resin such as epoxy resin has a very low heat conductivity which is about one-hundredth of that of copper. Therefore, heat emitted from the LED 3 scarcely transmitted to the print substrate 6. Consequently when a high current is applied to the LED in order to produce high brightness, the emitted heat becomes high temperature, which causes junctions in the LED to degrade, and the sealing member 5 to discolor which decreases the transparency of the member. Thus, the quality of the LED device largely reduces.
FIG. 17 is a perspective view of another conventional light emitting device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid Open 11-307820, which is improved in heat radiation.
The light emitting device 10 comprises a pair of conductive members 11a and 11b made of metal having high heat conductivity, an insulation member 12 made of resin for insulating the conductive members 11a and 11b and combining the members. The insulation member has an opening 13 having an elongated circular shape. A part of each of the conductive members 11a, 11b is exposed in the opening. An LED 14 is secured to exposed parts of the conductive members 11a, 11b, so that the LED 14 is electrically and thermally connected to conductive members 11a and 11b. The LED 14 is sealed by a transparent sealing member 15.
The light emitting device 10 is mounted on a print substrate 16, and the conductive members 11a and 11b are connected to a pair of conductive patterns 16a and 16b by solders.
When current is applied to the LED 14 from the patterns 16a and 16b through conductive members 11a and 11b, the LED emits light 17. Heat generated in the LED 14 is transmitted to the print substrate 16 through the conductive members 11a and 11b, so that the heat is efficiently radiated from the print substrate 16 if the substrate is made of a material having high heat conductivity.
However, the print substrate 16 is generally made of cheap material such as an epoxy resin. As described above, the epoxy resin has low heat conductivity. Therefore, the heat is not sufficiently transmitted to the print substrate, thereby rising the temperature of the LED, and reducing the quality thereof.
Here, if the print substrate is made with a metal having high heat conductivity, the heat radiation problem is resolved. However, the print substrate is not provided for mounting only the light emitting device, but for mounting other electrical parts such as CPU, memories and others.
For such other parts, the print substrate having high heat conductivity is not necessary. To the contrary, such as a print substrate made of metal causes the manufacturing cost of the electric device to increase.

Light emitting device provided with electrically conductive members having high thermal conductivity for thermal radiation


An alignment method includes: a storage step that images a first workpiece on a chuck table and stores positions of alignment marks corresponding to scheduled division lines and positional relationships of the division lines with the alignment marks; a holding step that holds a second workpiece with the chuck table; a detection step that images positions of the alignment marks on the second workpiece, the positions corresponding to the stored alignment mark positions, and detects the alignment marks of the second workpiece; and an identification step that identifies positions of scheduled division lines of the second workpiece on the basis of the detected positions of the alignment marks of the second workpiece and the stored positional relationships. If one of the alignment marks of the second workpiece cannot be detected at one of the stored alignment mark positions, the detection step detects other adjacent alignment marks.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an alignment method for adjusting a machining position during machining of a plate-shaped workpiece.
Description of the Related Art
A ceramic or resin substrate having an electronic device in each of areas on the front face side thereof partitioned by scheduled division lines is machined by a machining device that includes a cutting blade or a laser irradiation unit, thus being divided into a plurality of device chips each corresponding to the electronic device.
Incidentally, a workpiece such as ceramic or resin substrate may be slightly deformed due, for example, to heat during manufacture. Electronic devices are damaged if the deformed workpiece is machined according to the design value. Therefore, an identification mark (alignment mark) corresponding to each scheduled division line is provided on the workpiece to identify the scheduled division line even in the event of deformation of the workpiece (refer, for example, to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-33295).


A gas powered toy gun comprises a gas supplying portion from which a gas leading passage extends, a valve for controlling the gas leading passage to be open and closed selectively, a slider provided to be movable to a barrel portion connected with a bullet holding chamber and provided with a pressure receiving portion for moving backward in order to supply the bullet holding chamber with a sham bullet, a movable member having an inner space formed therein and provided to be movable in the slider so as to be put selectively in a first state wherein the inner space is coupled with the gas leading passage and in a second state wherein the inner space is removed from the gas leading passage for guiding gas flowing through the gas leading passage to the bullet holding chamber through the inner space so that the sham bullet put in the bullet holding chamber is shot with pressure of gas acting thereon and for guiding further the gas flowing through the gas leading passage to the pressure receiving portion through the inner space so that the slider is moved backward with pressure of gas acting on the pressure receiving portion, and gas flow adjusting means provided in the inner space formed in the movable member for adjusting the amount of gas flowing through the inner space to the pressure receiving portion in response to pressure of gas led into the inner space.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a gas powered toy gun, and more particularly to an improvement in a toy gun, in which the shooting of a sham bullet put in a bullet holding chamber and the backward movement of a slider for supplying the bullet holding chamber with the next sham bullet are carried out by means of pressure of gas.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A toy gun which utilizes gas pressure, namely, pressure brought about by air or gas other than air is usually made to imitate a real gun in not only its color and shape but also its apparent operations. As one of these toy guns utilizing gas pressure, it has been proposed a gas powered toy gun in which a pressure accumulating chamber is formed in a grip to be filled with compressed gas and a gas passage extending from the pressure accumulating chamber is opened, by means of the rotation of a hammer linked with a trigger to operate in response to the movement of the trigger, to supply a bullet holding chamber with the gas discharging from the pressure accumulating chamber to be used for shooting a sham bullet put in the bullet holding chamber, or a pressure accumulating chamber is formed in a grip to be filled with compressed gas and the gas discharging from the pressure accumulating chamber is supplied through a gas passage extending from the pressure accumulating chamber to be used not only for shooting a sham bullet put in a bullet holding chamber but also for causing a slider provided to be movable along a barrel to move backward so that the bullet holding chamber having been made empty is supplied with the next sham bullet by the slider moving forward after its backward movement, as shown in, for example, Japanese patent application published before examination under publication number HEI 7-103694.
The gas powered toy gun thus proposed previously is provided with, in addition to the pressure accumulating chamber formed in the grip, the gas passage extending from the pressure accumulating chamber and the slider, a movable member in which a bullet shooting gas passage, a bullet supplying gas passage, a center space connecting the bullet shooting gas passage and the bullet supplying gas passage with each other, and a common gas passage extending from the center space are formed. In such a gas powered toy gun, when the gas passage extending from the pressure accumulating chamber is made open by means of the rotation of a hammer linked with a trigger to operate in response to the movement of the trigger, the gas discharging from the pressure accumulating chamber is led through the gas passage made open into the movable member. The gas led in the movable member flows into one or both of the bullet shooting gas passage and the bullet supplying gas passage in accordance with the position of a gas passage controller contained to be movable in the movable member. The gas flowing into the bullet shooting gas passage in operative to cause pressure of gas to act on the sham bullet put in the bullet holding chamber for shooting the same. The gas flowing into the bullet supplying gas passage is operative to cause pressure of gas to act on the slider for moving the same backward. With the backward movement of the slider, the movable member is also moved backward together with the slider. Although the gas passage extending from the pressure accumulating chamber is shifted to be closed from open with the backward movement of the slider so that the supply of the gas from the pressure accumulating chamber is stopped, the slider continues to move backward with inertia after the gas passage is shifted to be closed so as to reach to the most retreated position. Then, the slider turns to move forward with energizing force exerted by a spring when having arrived at the most retreated position. With the forward movement of the slider, the movable member is also moved forward together with the slider. With the backward and forward movements of the movable member performed as mentioned above, one of sham bullets contained in a magazine is pushed up to be held at the upper end portion of the magazine and then the sham bullet held at the upper end portion of the magazine is carried toward the bullet holding chamber, so that the bullet holding chamber which has been made empty is supplied with the next sham bullet.
In such a gas powered toy gun as mentioned above, in which the shooting of the sham bullet put in the bullet holding chamber and the movement of the slider are carried out by means of the pressure of gas, it is desired that the pressure of gas used for moving the slider backward is maintained to have a pressure value for causing the slider to move at an appropriate speed so as to reach to the most retreated position. However, in order to attach great importance to easy handling, safety and so on, the gas used for the gas powered toy gun is usually selected to be low-pressure liquefied gas which varies in its pressure on a relatively large scale in response to temperature variations, and therefore it is feared that disadvantages or problems on the backward movement of the slider are brought about with variations in atmospheric temperature. For example, in a season of relatively high atmospheric temperature, the pressure of gas used for moving the slider backward has such a high pressure value as to causing the slider to move at an extremely high speed toward the most retreated position and, as a result, an excessive mechanical shock is caused when the slider reaches to the most retreated position. In this case, it is feared that a body of the gas powered toy gun is destroyed with repetition of such excessive mechanical shock as mentioned above. Further, in a season of relatively low atmospheric temperature, the pressure of gas used for moving the slider backward has such a low pressure value as to be insufficient for causing the slider to reach to the most retreated position and, as a result, it is feared that the movable member can not move appropriately.
Under the circumstances as mentioned above, in the gas powered toy gun wherein the shooting of the sham bullet put in the bullet holding chamber and the movement of the slider for supplying the bullet holding chamber which has been made empty with the next sham bullet are carried out by means of the pressure of gas, it is strongly desired that the pressure of gas used for moving the slider backward is maintained to have a pressure value for causing the slider to move appropriately regardless of changes of seasons. However, any previously proposed gas powered toy gun arranged to meet the requirement has not been found.