A Handover method in a mobile WiMAX network includes sending a list of target BSs for possible HO acquired by an MSS to a serving BS; providing, at the serving BS, a HO request to the target BSs in the list along with an unique identifier identifying the MSS to collect association responses from the target BSs; providing, at the serving BS, the association responses along with the unique identifier to the MSS so that the MSS performs scanning and ranging processes; performing resource reservation for possible HO at the target BSs; setting up service flows at a target BS selected among the target BSs; bi-casting data from the serving BS to the MS and the selected target BS before the connection break with the serving BS; and performing, at the MSS, an initializing procedure to connect with the selected target BS as a new serving BS.

Mobile WiMAX IEEE 802.16e standard has added mobility support to its predecessor IEEE 802.16d. Handover (HO) of a Mobile Subscriber Station (MSS) between WiMAX Base Stations (BSs) takes place in a defined sequence of events as shown in the FIG. 1.
A cell reselection process 102 is a periodic process in which MOB_NRB-ADV of mobile neighborhood advertisement messages from a serving BS are collected in a MMS. The MOB_NRB-ADV message contains parameters of neighboring BSs to synchronize in case of possible HO. Once the MSS constructs a virtual network topology using MOB_NRB-ADV message, the MSS starts scanning the neighbor BSs in pre-assigned period designated by the serving BS using MOB_SCN-REQ and MOB_SCN-RSP messages The MSS provides a set of target BSs in the MOB_SCN-REQ message to the serving BS, and the serving BS then negotiates with all or selected target BSs based on triggering events set in UCD (uplink channel descriptor) and DCD (downlink channel descriptor) messages. Through backbone network the serving BS collects rendezvous time allocated by each target BS. This report is sent to the MSS using MOB_SCN-RSP message. At the rendezvous time or scanning time, the MSS scans either one or more target BSs However, the MSS may scan all the BSs in the list of the MOB_SCN-RSP or few target BSs based on triggering event.
During scanning, after a target BS's ID is confirmed, the MSS tries to synchronize with its downlink transmission 106 and estimate the quality of the PHY channel. The synchronization happens if association or an optional initial ranging is done during scanning, else it is done only after HO decision 104.
The function of the association is to enable the MSS to acquire and record ranging parameters and service availability information for the purpose of proper selection of a target BS to serve the HO and/or expediting a potential future HO to the target BS. Recorded ranging parameters of an associated BS may be further used for setting initial ranging values in future ranging events during actual HO. The association parameters (e.g., PHY offsets, CIDs, etc.) stored in the MSS are obtained from RNG-RSP of ranging response message of the target BS.
In the process of the HO decision and initiation 104, the HO begins with the decision that may originate either at the MSS, the serving BS or on the network. The HO proceeds with the notification of either MOB_MSHO-REQ or MOB_BSHO-REQ A response messages MOB_BSHO-RSP holds a list of the targets BS that is compiled by the serving BS based on the possible MSS performance computed in the network. The serving BS negotiates with the possible targets BSs in the list given in the MOB_MSHO-REQ message The message MOB_BSHO-RSP contains the rendezvous time and opportunity for contention free coordinated ranging processing with the possible target BSs. During the rendezvous time either obtained from the association table in the MSS or in the MOB_MSHO-RSP message, the MSS synchronizes with the downlink transmission of possible target BSs 106.
Once the MSS synchronizes with the downlink transmission of a target BS, the MSS scans the target BS for UL-MAP that includes either a contention- or non-contention-based MSS Initial Ranging opportunity In either case, the MSS sends RNG-REQ message that may include MSS MAC Address or HO_ID assigned in MOB_BSHO-REQ or MOB_BSHO-RSP messages The RNG-REQ message contains serving BSID and Ranging Purpose Indication. On successful Ranging, the target BS assigns to the MSS Basic CID and Primary CID in the RNG-RSP management message 108. The reception of the RNG-RSP reception indicates successful network re-entry whereby the MSS sends a Bandwidth Request header to the serving BS.
Capability negotiation and registration process establishes security, authorization, authentication and service flow remapping. For security functionality, the MSS issues HMAC/CMAC Tuple as the last message item in the RNG-REQ management message using the Authorization Key and Key Sequence Number derived for use on the target BS. The remapping of service flow can be given to the MSS by the target BS in a REG-RSP provided that the target BS has obtained a backbone message containing network to build 110.
After the handover request/response handshake has been completed, the MSS begins the actual HO. At some stage during the HO process, the MSS terminates service with the serving BS. This is accomplished by sending a MOB_HO-IND message with the HO-IND_type=0b00 value indicating serving BS release 112. The serving BS starts the Resource retain timer from value Resource_Retain_Time. The serving BS retains the connections, MAC state machine and PDUs associated with the MSS for service continuation until the expiration of the timer.
HO cancellation 114 may happen in two different ways. First, when an MSS transmits MOB_HO-IND message with HO cancel option (HO_IND_type=0b01), and second, a drop where an MSS stops communicating with its serving BS before the normal HO sequence (outlined in Cell Selection and Termination) with the serving BS has been completed. In either case, the MSS can send HO_IND_type=0b01, and if the serving BS receives the message before the Resource Retain Timer has expired, the MSS and serving BS immediately starts normal operation.
However, in the existing Mobile WiMAX system with the HO standard briefly discussed above, there are a number of logical changes introduced in the HO algorithm. The current standard facilitates seamless HO but does not execute HO in timely fashion as required by IEEE 802.16m. More specifically, during the HO process, the serving BS directs the target BSs to reserve resources for likely HO of an MSS to one of the target BSs, but as the MSS decides on a particular target BS, rest of the target BSs are requested by the serving BS to release the resources Reservation of the resources is a costly affair when considering some of the bottleneck resources in a BS. Such resources may be bandwidth, code, etc.
Therefore, there exists a need to achieve the IEEE 802.16m standard requirements for the HO.

Handover method for mobile WiMAX network based on human mobility behavior

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology


A hydrocracking process to produce ultra low sulfur diesel by reacting a first hydrocarbon feedstock in a hydrocracking zone, introducing the hydrocracking zone effluent and a second hydrocarbon feedstock having a majority boiling at a temperature greater than 565° C. (1050° F.) into a first desulfurization zone, passing the first desulfurization zone effluent to a hot, high pressure vapor-liquid separator to recover a vaporous hydrocarbonaceous stream and a first liquid hydrocarbonaceous stream, introducing the vaporous hydrocarbonaceous stream and a third hydrocarbonaceous feedstock comprising diesel into a second desulfurization zone, passing the second desulfurization zone effluent to a cold vapor-liquid separator to provide a hydrogen-rich gaseous stream and a second liquid hydrocarbonaceous stream and passing the first and the second liquid hydrocarbonaceous streams to a fractionation zone to produce ultra low sulfur diesel.

The field of art to which this invention pertains is the hydrocracking of a hydrocarbonaceous feedstock. Petroleum refiners often produce desirable products such as turbine fuel, diesel fuel and other products known as middle distillates as well as lower boiling hydrocarbonaceous liquids such as naphtha and gasoline by hydrocracking a hydrocarbon feedstock derived from crude oil, for example. Feedstocks most often subjected to hydrocracking are gas oils and heavy gas oils recovered from crude oil by distillation. A typical gas oil comprises a substantial portion of hydrocarbon components boiling above about 371° C. (700° F.), usually at least about 50 percent by weight boiling above 371° C. (700° F.). A typical vacuum gas oil normally has a boiling point range between about 315° C. (600° F.) and about 565° C. (1050° F.).
Hydrocracking is generally accomplished by contacting in a hydrocracking reaction vessel or zone the gas oil or other feedstock to be treated with a suitable hydrocracking catalyst under conditions of elevated temperature and pressure in the presence of hydrogen so as to yield a product containing a distribution of hydrocarbon products desired by the refiner. The operating conditions and the hydrocracking catalysts within a hydrocracking reactor influence the yield of the hydrocracked products.
One of the preferred hydrocarbonaceous products from a hydrocracking process is diesel or diesel boiling range hydrocarbons. Marketable products must meet minimum specifications and over the years, it has been recognized that due to environmental concerns and newly enacted rules and regulations, saleable products including diesel fuel must meet lower and lower limits on contaminants such as sulfur and nitrogen. Recently new regulations were proposed in the United States and Europe which basically require the complete removal of sulfur from liquid hydrocarbons which are used as transportation fuels such as gasoline and diesel.
Although a wide variety of process flow schemes, operating conditions and catalysts have been used in commercial hydrocracking activities, there is always a demand for new hydrocracking methods which provide lower costs and improved product characteristics. The present invention is able to economically hydrocrack a hydrocarbonaceous feedstock while simultaneously producing ultra low sulfur diesel product and low sulfur fuel oil.
Residual oils are the liquid or semi-liquid products recovered as a non-distillable bottoms fraction or residue in the distillation of petroleum. The residual oils are highly carbonaceous refractory materials variously referred to as asphaltum oil, liquid asphalt, black oil, petroleum tailings, residium, residual reduced crude, atmospheric tower bottoms and vacuum tower bottoms. In general, the hydrotreating of residual oils is designed for the conversion of C7-insoluble asphaltenes and other hydrocarbonaceous matter to more valuable petroleum products and separation of sulfurous components to render the residual oil more useful.

Integrated process for the production of ultra low sulfur diesel and low sulfur fuel oil


A radiofrequency ablation system provides multiple ground pads and active control of current flow through the ground pads to provide improved power sharing at the tissue near the ground pads reducing risk of patient skin burns for higher power ablation generators.

The present invention relates to radio frequency ablation of tumors and the like, and in particular to a method using multiple ground pads, or multiple independent ground pad elements within a single pad, to reduce the risk of skin burns.
Ablation of tumors, such as liver (hepatic) tumors, uses heat or cold to kill tumor cells. In radiofrequency ablation (RFA), an electrode is inserted into the tumor and current passing from the electrode through the patient to a large area "dispersive" or ground pad on the patient's skin destroys the tumor cells through resistive heating. At the electrode, the current density is high as a result of the relatively small interface area of the electrode. This results in high rates of energy deposition, through resistive heating, creating high temperatures sufficient for ablation. Conversely, and ideally, the current density at the ground pad is low as a result of the large interface area of the ground pad, resulting in lower temperatures easily tolerated by the skin and intervening tissues.
The desire for improved ablation and ablation of larger tumors has prompted a move toward ablation power supplies with greater power. This increased power has increased current densities at the ground pad increasing the risk of patient skin burns. Attempts have been made to compensate for high electrical power by using multiple ground pads connected in series or parallel. Multiple ground pads provide a greater ground pad area decreasing current density and power deposition at the skin. This approach, however, has not always been satisfactory in reducing burns. Further, when multiple ground pads are used, they must be carefully adjusted to be approximately equal resistive distance from the ablation site to share properly the return current.

Radiofrequency ablation with independently controllable ground pad conductors


A quick-connect assembly that includes a hollow tubular fitting having axially spaced ends and an outer surface with at least one circumferential groove or channel. A tubular conduit of plastic-coated electrically conductive composition is received over one end of the fitting and is magnetically deformed so as to extend into the channel on the fitting adjacent to the one fitting end for fastening the conduit to the fitting. A coupling is rotatably mounted on the opposing end of the fitting for fastening the fitting to a mating coupling, and carries an elastomeric seal in sliding engagement with the conduit or the fitting for preventing leakage of fluid through the assembly.

Quick-connect fittings are employed in many fluid system applications, such as in automotive power steering and brake fluid applications. Many current automotive applications require use of an aluminum alloy fluid conduit having an external coating or cover of nylon or other plastic material. One such tubing is currently marketed under the trademark HYCOT. There is therefore a need in the art for a quick-connect assembly and method of manufacture in which plastic-coated tubing of this character can be rapidly and economically secured to the connector fitting without damaging the plastic coating. A general object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing such a quick-connect, and the resulting product. Another and more specific object of the present invention is to provide such a quick-connect assembly and method of manufacture in which the plastic-coated tubing is securely fastened to the fitting so as to meet or exceed applicable pull force specifications. Another object of the invention is to provide a quick-connect assembly and method of the described character that reliably seals against fluid leakage.
A quick-connect assembly in accordance with the present invention includes a hollow tubular fitting having axially spaced ends and an outer surface with at least one circumferential groove or channel. A tubular conduit of plastic-coated electrically conductive composition is received over one end of the fitting, and is magnetically deformed so as to extend into the channel on the fitting adjacent to the fitting end for fastening the conduit to the fitting. A coupling is rotatably mounted on the opposing end of the fitting for fastening the fitting to a mating coupling, and carries an elastomeric seal in sliding engagement with the conduit or the fitting for preventing leakage of fluid through the assembly.
In the preferred embodiments of the invention, the fitting has three axially spaced channels, with the tubular conduit being magnetically deformed into two of these channels adjacent to one end of the fitting, and with the channel at the opposing end of the fitting cooperating with a radially aligned channel on the coupling for receiving a lock ring to fasten the coupling to the fitting. The middle channel on the fitting has a sloping surface against which the end of the conduit is magnetically formed so that the outer edge of the conduit end is disposed at substantially the adjacent surface of the fitting. In this way, the elastomeric seal carried by the coupling may be slid over the fitting and over the edge of the conduit without being rolled or abraded by the end of the conduit. The sloping surface of the conduit also acts to compress the seal uniformly.
A method of manufacturing a quick-connect assembly in accordance with the present invention thus includes the step of providing a hollow tubular fitting having an outer surface with at least one and preferably a plurality of spaced circumferential channels. A plastic-coated tube of electrically conductive composition such as aluminum alloy is fitted over one end of the fitting so as to encircle one or more of the channels in the fitting. The tube is then magnetically deformed into the underlying channels so as to fasten the tube to the fitting without damaging the plastic coating on the tube. A coupling is then mounted on the fitting in such a way that the coupling is freely rotatable with respect to the fitting and in sealing engagement with the fitting or, more preferably, with the outer surface of the plastic-coated tube.

Quick-connect assembly and method of manufacture


A modular low voltage multipole circuit breaker, including a plurality of identical single-pole breaking units each including a parallelipipedic insulating box having two opposite parallel large side faces and two opposite parallel small side faces, two terminals located at respective opposite parallel small side faces, a stationary contact electrically connected to one of the terminals, a movable contact cooperable between a first position contacting the stationary contact and a second position separated from the stationary contact and a molded case for housing the single-pole breaking units. The molded case has two opposite parallel side walls having the same thickness, the single-pole breaking units being sequentially arranged and parallel to each other and parallel to the side walls such that adjacent single-pole breaking units are spaced apart a distance equal to twice the thickness of the side walls, the single-pole breaking units being spaced apart at a constant pitch. An operating mechanism is provided to be common to all single-pole breaking units for simultaneously operating all single-pole breaking units.

The invention relates to a range of low voltage circuit breakers with double housing and one or more poles, made up from standard single-pole breaking units housed in a common molded case and in which each single-pole unit comprises a parallelepipedic insulating box having two opposite parallel large side faces and two opposite parallel small side faces and containing a movable contact, pivotally mounted on an axis perpendicular to said large faces, and designed to cooperate with a stationary contact, adjacent to a small face which bears a terminal connected to the associated stationary contact, several single-pole units being arranged in parallel in the case of a multipole circuit breaker.
Depending on the type of electrical installation, protective circuit breakers are either single-pole or multipole, for example with two, three or four poles. For a given rating, the manufacturer offers a range of molded case circuit breakers. Some components or parts of these circuit breakers, notably the contact parts and extinguishing chambers, are common to the different poles. However this standardization, indispensable to reduce the manufacturing cost, is not taken very far. In modular systems, well-known to those specialized in the art, multipole circuit breakers are achieved by assembly of single-pole circuit breakers, but these systems do not take account of the possibility of using certain parts, notably the operating mechanism, for actuation of all the circuit breaker poles. It is moreover difficult to achieve sufficiently solid and aesthetic assemblies between single-pole circuit breakers.
It has already been proposed to achieve circuit breakers by assembly of single-pole units, housed in cases of different sizes, to accommodate either one or several poles in the case of a multipole circuit breaker.
These circuit breakers do not respect modularity, in the sense that the width of a multipole circuit breaker is not a multiple of that of the single-pole circuit breaker. The pitch between the terminals is also different between a multipole circuit breaker and single-pole circuit breakers adjoined to one another. This pitch difference prevents a power supply by distribution bars, provided with regularly spaced feeders.

Range of molded case low voltage circuit breakers


An air-powered vacuum cleaning nozzle has an agitator brush rotated by an air turbine powered by a source of suction air. A plurality of air inlet openings are formed adjacent the agitator brush. A generally flat friction drive belt extends from a bearing shaft of the air turbine to the midpoint of the agitator brush for rotating the brush. The bearing shaft is mounted in a pair of spaced rubber bushings to absorb vibration and reduce noise. The nozzle includes a housing formed by one-piece top and bottom housing members removably joined together securing the air turbine therebetween. A cover plate removably secured to the outside surface of the bottom housing member forms a protective passage for the drive belt and a suction passage between an air inlet adjacent the agitator brush and the air turbine chamber.

1. Technical Field
The invention relates to vacuum cleaning devices and in particular, to the nozzle portion thereof containing an air turbine for rotating an agitator to enhance the cleaning efficiency of the nozzle. Even more particularly, the invention relates to such a vacuum cleaning nozzle in which the air turbine bearing shaft is resiliently mounted to absorb vibration and reduce noise enabling the agitator to be driven by a friction belt.
2. Background Information
Various vacuum cleaning nozzles have been produced which include an air turbine powered by moving air created by a suction which collects the dirt thereby avoiding the use of a separately powered motor for driving an agitator such as a rotary brush mounted at the air inlet end of the nozzle. Heretofore, these air turbine shafts are connected to the rotary brush by a toothed timing belt, which although produces satisfactory results in many cleaning nozzles, increases the noise level of the cleaning nozzle during operation in contrast to a friction drive belt, which provides the desired amount of transfer torque between the air turbine and the agitator but with less noise.
However, it has been found that although the use of a friction drive belt may reduce the noise level of the vacuum cleaning nozzle, it results in unbalanced forces on the agitator brush as well as on the air turbine shaft. Therefore, there is a need for an improved vacuum cleaning nozzle which uses an air turbine that is operatively connected to an agitator by a friction drive belt.
Furthermore, prior vacuum cleaning nozzles having an air turbine contained therein heretofore required a considerable number of parts which must be assembled to encase and protect the air turbine as well as form the air passages from a front air inlet opening adjacent the agitator to the air turbine and from the air turbine to a wand connector at the rear of the nozzle housing. These multiple components increases the material cost of the nozzle as well as the assembly cost thereof, as well as resulting in possible additional maintenance problems.
Another problem known to exist in certain vacuum cleaning nozzles is that the wand attachment between the wand and wand connector at the rear of the nozzle housing requires excessive manipulation either by hand or by depressing an external lever or tab by an operator's foot. These prior art foot-operated latches usually extend outwardly from the sides of the wand connector requiring either a right or left-footed operation which increase the difficulty of detaching the wand from the wand connector.
Still another shortcoming of many prior art vacuum cleaning nozzles is to provide an inexpensive, efficient and convenient manner of attaching the rotary agitator brush to the nozzle housing adjacent the front air inlet opening of the nozzle. Heretofore, the agitator brush is connected with various types of clamps or fasteners, again requiring additional components and manipulative steps for attaching and detaching the agitator brush from the nozzle.
Still another shortcoming of some known nozzle constructions is the forming of the various nozzle components of lightweight rugged plastic, which although provides for a strong and durable nozzle housing, does not provide sufficient weight thereto to enable the nozzle to maintain a firm cleaning contact when moving over the flooring, thereby lessening the cleaning efficiency of the nozzle. In order to increase the weight of the nozzle to a desired weight to provide the desired pressure against the floor being cleaned requires increasing the thickness of the housing or by increasing the weight of the various components incorporated therein, increasing the overall cost of the cleaning nozzle.
Therefore, it is desirable in the nozzle cleaning art to use a friction drive belt for connecting an air driven turbine to the agitator, yet which will reduce the vibration and noise than that possible with heretofore used timing drive belts. Furthermore, the cleaning nozzle should have a certain weight without increasing the cost and have a wand release attachment device easy to operate, and provide a convenient and inexpensive manner to removably mount the agitator adjacent the air inlet end of the nozzle.
These features are obtained by the improved vacuum cleaning nozzle of the present invention as described further below.


A method of performing a handover to at least one of a homogeneous and heterogeneous network is disclosed. More specifically, the method comprises establishing a heterogeneous network handover module for converging information from the at least one network interface module associated with the at least one of a homogeneous and heterogeneous network into a unified presentation. The method further comprises receiving a message for establishing connection by the at least one network interface module in a mobile terminal from the heterogeneous network handover module, performing link switch operation for establishing connection with an interface module in a network, and transmitting a confirmation message for indicating a link switch status to the heterogeneous network handover module.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of establishing link, and more particularly, to a method of establishing link for handover by a multi-mode mobile terminal.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In a IEEE 802.21, discussions related to a Media Independent Handover (MIH) are actively taking place. In particular, discussions related to providing seamless handover and service continuity between heterogeneous networks are increasing. Among the topics of discussions are function of the MIH, an Event Service (ES), Command Service (CS), and Information Service (IS).
A mobile terminal is multi modal which supports at least one interface type, and the interface types can be any one of the following. The interface types include a wire-line type similar an Ethernet of IEEE 802.3, a wireless interfaces based on IEEE 802.xx (e.g., 802.11, 802.15, 802.16), and an interface defined by a cellular standard organization (e.g., 3rd Generation Partnership Program (3GPP), 3rd Generation Partnership Program 2 (3GPP2)).
The MIH is defined between the IEEE 802 series interfaces or between the IEEE802 series interfaces and non-IEEE 802 series interfaces (e.g., 3GPP, 3GPP2). Furthermore, the MIH has to be supported by upper layer mobile support protocol such as a Mobile Internet Protocol (Mobile IP) and a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) in order to provide seamless handover and uninterrupted service.
FIG. 1 illustrates a multi-mode mobile terminal. The mobile terminal comprises a wired Local Area Network (LAN), a wireless LAN, a broadband radio access network, and a cellular network. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the mobile terminal comprises a Physical (PHY) layer and a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer associated with each mode and has the MIH Function located below an Internet Protocol (IP) layer. The MIH function facilitates the handover process by using the input values from Layer 2 such as trigger event information and information of other networks. Moreover, the MIH Function can include input values (e.g., user policy and configuration) which can affect the handover procedure. In addition, general interfaces (e.g., the Mobile IP and the SIP) are defined between Layer 3 entities and the MIH Function. These interfaces provide information associated with Layer 1 (i.e., PHY Layer) and Layer 2 (i.e., MAC Layer) as well as mobility management. The MIH Function provides services to the upper layers through a single technology-independent interface and obtains services from the lower layers through a variety of technology-dependent interfaces. The MIH uses the ES and the IS to acquire information on lower layer and the network.
Furthermore, an upper management entity, located in the upper layer to monitor and control statuses of various links of the mobile terminal, is used to perform handover control function and device manager function. Here, the handover control function and the device manager can be independently located or can be included in the upper management entity. The terms upper layer and higher layer can be used interchangeably.
FIG. 2 illustrates a mobile terminal having a MIH Function and a network having a functional entity and transmission protocol. In FIG. 2, the dotted lines represent services such as a primitive and the ES. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the network layer uses the information from a link layer in order to quickly re-establish connection. The link layer event can be used to predict the user's movement and also can be used prepare for handover between the mobile terminal and the network. The trigger for handover procedure can be initiated from the PHY layer and the MAC layer. Moreover, the source of the trigger can be a local stack or a remote stack.
FIG. 3 illustrates an Event Service when performing handover to a new link. More specifically, FIG. 3 illustrates the ES related to establishing a new link due to decreased quality of the currently connected link.
A Command Service (CS) refers to the commands sent from the higher layers to the lower layers, including commands sent from the higher layers to the MIH or from the MIH to the lower layers. These commands are used to deliver higher layer decisions to lower layer as well as to control the activities of the lower layer entities.
An Information Service (IS) provides a framework by which a MIH Function both in the mobile terminal and in the network can discover and obtain network information within a geographical area to facilitate handovers. Here, the IS is accessible to any network. The IS includes the following information elements, such as a link access parameter, a security mechanism, a neighbor map, a location, a cost of link, and a provider and other access information.
When performing handover procedure in heterogeneous or homogeneous networks, referring to FIG. 3, the multi-mode mobile terminal first performs scanning to discover accessible link. Upon discovering the link to access, the mobile terminal delivers Link_Available trigger to the upper management entity and performs a link selection procedure to select one link from a plurality of accessible links. The upper management entity delivers the selected link to allow the MIH to establish connection with the corresponding link. However, according to the conventional trigger, the process of establishing connection with the selected link cannot be accomplished.

Method of establishing link for handover by a multi-mode mobile terminal


A misting spray nozzle includes a hollow body having an interior wall descending from an upper end to a lower end. The interior wall tapers toward the lower end to form a choke. A channel section provides two fluid paths descending from an upper central aperture. A turbine is sized and shaped to fit closely within the choke and has spiral grooves on its outer surface. The turbine attaches to the body at its upper end and has a cone-shaped opening at its lower end. A conical core is sized and shaped to fit closely within the cone-shaped opening and has grooves spiraling in an opposite direction on its outer surface. The core is attached at its upper end to the turbine. The two sets of spiral grooves define a pair of intersecting fluid control paths that meet at the lower end of the body to create a dense mist.

Conventional firefighting techniques usually involve aiming a large volume of water at a central point in a fire in an attempt to cool the combustion below the flash point of the incendiary material. It has been found that depriving a fire of oxygen is often a more effective method of controlling a blaze. Nozzles that can produce a dense fog have been found effective in dealing with fires in this fashion. The most effective type of fogging nozzle is one that can produce a fog without any holes or pockets of air within it. Nozzles that can produce such a dense and uniform fog or mist are also useful for quenching and tempering metal and for applying paint and other finishes. The following are some examples of fogging and misting devices that have been developed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,253,716, issued to Mitchell, is directed to a fog producing firefighting tool has a nozzle which includes a plurality of apertures oriented so that when pressurized fluid flows through each aperture, the liquid impacts at an angle of 90 degrees with another stream of liquid to atomize the liquid and create a fog. The firefighting tool is of modular construction which includes a first member, one or more intermediate members, and an end member wherein the members are connected to each other by means of quick coupler devices which can be readily locked into coupled relationship and will not interfere with the usage of the tool when it is forced into or removed from a hole in a structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,235,258, issued to Jones is directed to a fire extinguishing nozzle. The nozzle head includes a central pair of relatively large orifices and two pairs of relatively small orifices positioned at the sides of the central pair. Each pair is so arranged that the ejected streams of water leaving the nozzle head from each individual pair of orifices are caused to impinge together in such a way that the resulting impingement will cause the two streams of water to be broken up into a spray in which substantially all of the particles of the water are of substantially uniform size.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,398,136, issued to Smith discloses a fire-fighting tool incorporates a twist-lock mechanism whereby various nozzles can be interchanged for particular fire-fighting purposes. Included in such nozzles are a penetrating nozzle having a doubly beveled front end for easier access through a roof, and various fluid ejection and misting elements that can be configured in terms of fluid aperture angles to produce a mist directed somewhat back towards the user, transverse to the nozzle, or forward from the nozzle. A non-penetrating embodiment of the invention also uses an end ejecting misting region. The foregoing elements can be used in conjunction with various extension wands, which are removably connectable fluid channels bent to various angles, so as to provide easier access to fires that are located within recesses of buildings, motor vehicles, or boats and the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,520,331, issued to Wolfe describes a convergent/divergent gas nozzle atomizes a liquid provided through a lid delivery tube having an aperture which is centered within a central gas conduit of an upstream mixing block connected to the nozzle. The aperture of the liquid delivery tube is located just upstream of a narrowed throat of the nozzle. The throat of the nozzle is dimensioned such that its inside diameter is equal to the outside diameter of the liquid injector tube. A spout is located at the discharge end of the nozzle which has an inside diameter equal to two times the inside diameter of the throat. This nozzle displays superior performance, providing an extremely fine mist having high momentum. This nozzle is particularly well-suited to fire extinguishment.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,553,784, issued to Theurer is directed to a nozzle assembly provides a high pressure dispersion of water particles in a misting process. The nozzle includes multiple arrayed discharge outlets into a single mixing zone wherein the discharge outlets are concentrically arranged alternating between water and gas streams. The mist from the novel arrangement is highly dispersed, providing excellent gas cooling operation with minimal maintenance.
It is an objective of the present invention to provide a misting or fogging device capable of a dense and uniform mist. It is a further objective to such a device be compatible with existing fire sprinkler systems in terms of required pressure and fire sensing activators. It is yet a further objective of the invention to provide a device suitable for point dispersion and another device capable of lateral dispersion. It is still a further objective to provide devices suitable for metal quenching and for surface finishing such as painting. Finally, it is an objective to provide a misting or fogging device that is simple and inexpensive to produce while fulfilling all of the described performance criteria.
While some of the objectives of the present invention are disclosed in the prior art, none of the inventions found include all of the requirements identified.


An image recording apparatus has a color conversion mode in which it generates color conversion data for color conversion based on an input color which is a source color and an output color which is a destination color. Using the generated color conversion data, the apparatus performs color conversion processing on image data acquired by means of an imaging section. To make the generated color conversion data reproducible, the apparatus outputs the image data obtained through the color conversion processing, associated with color conversion information including, for example, the source color and destination color. The apparatus generates a data file containing, for example, the color conversion information and image data, and records it on a recording medium.

Recently, various image processing methods have been proposed to convert image data picked up by image recording apparatus such as digital cameras into final output images. Among others, a method which employs three-dimensional lookup tables has been proposed (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-80100). By using such lookup tables, it is possible to provide an image output apparatus which outputs images after performing desired color conversion of input color.
In this case, the lookup tables can be generated in an imaging device. For example, a lookup table can be created in the imaging device by previewing colors in an image captured by the imaging device and thereby selecting colors before conversion and colors after conversion.
If the lookup tables generated in the imaging device are stored and managed in the imaging device, a user can take photographs by reading out a desired lookup table.
Also, if two or more lookup tables can be managed in the imaging device, it is possible to switch among the lookup tables according to shooting conditions and thereby generate photographic images reflecting the user's needs closely.
However, since lookup tables generated in an imaging device are managed in the imaging device, they cannot be used on other equipment (e.g., a personal computer, another imaging device, etc.). Consequently, when the user processes photographic images by storing them in a personal computer, the user cannot check what lookup tables were generated. Also, when the user plays back photographic images, there is no way for the user to check lookup tables.


A silicon layer and a heat-retaining layer are formed on a substrate in turn, and a laser beam with a sharp energy density gradient is next utilized to perform a laser heating process for inducing super lateral growth crystallization occurred in part of the Si layer. The heat-retaining layer provides additional heating-enhancement function for the Si layer in crystallization so as to increase the super lateral growth length. Then, the laser beam is repeatedly moved to irradiate the substrate to finish the crystallization process for the full substrate.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a method of fabricating a poly-silicon (poly-Si) thin film and, in particular, to a method of fabricating a poly-Si thin film with super lateral growth crystals with applications in poly-Si thin film transistors (TFT) or devices with poly-Si thin films.
2. Related Art
The poly-Si has superior electrical properties than the amorphous silicon (a-Si) and the advantage of lower cost than the single silicon crystal. Therefore, it has received a lot of attention in the field of TFT productions recently. It is particularly important in the application of TFT liquid crystal displays (LCD).
However, the grain size of the poly-Si has a great influence on the electron mobility and device properties. The grain boundaries existing in the poly-Si, in particular, are the obstacles when carriers in the device pass through the gate channel. Therefore, how to enlarge the grain size of the poly-Si and thus reduce the number of grain boundaries for enhancing the TFT device properties is an important trend in the poly-Si thin film fabrication technology nowadays. Take the display technology as an example. It is imperative to produce highly-efficient TFF's in order to develop better flat-panel displays.
The conventional method of fabricating the poly-Si thin film is called the solid phase crystallization. However, since the highest temperature that a glass substrate can tolerate is only 650° C. This method is not suitable for making flat-panel displays. Another method is to vapor-deposit the poly-Si thin film directly. Nevertheless, the grain size of the poly-Si formed using either method is very small, at about the order of 100 nm. Consequently, the properties of the poly-Si thin films formed in these ways are not perfect.
Currently, the most commonly used method in fabricating the poly-Si thin film is the excimer laser annealing technology. Although a grain size of about 600 nm can be achieved in this case, it is still insufficient for making high-performance flat-panel displays. Therefore, in recent years, the sequential lateral solidification (SLS) technology has been proposed. Photo masks are utilized to define the pattern of the laser beam, so that the laser irradiates specific parts of the silicon layer, thereby inducing super lateral growth crystallization. By moving the substrate, the laser beam can repeatedly fall on the lateral crystallization region of the poly-Si layer for the crystal grains to grow continuously.
According to the SLS technology, the moving distance of the laser beam has to be smaller than the lateral growth distance of the crystals in the silicon layer, so that the laser irradiated positions fall right on the poly-Si grains of the previous lateral growth crystallization for the grains to continuously grow. However, using the normal laser crystallization techniques that are currently available, the precision of the laser irradiated positions has to relatively high, usually at the order of sub-microns.
Take the dot-SLS technology as another example, shown in FIG. 1B and FIGS. 2A to 2H. FIG. 1 shows the photo mask pattern for the laser beam in the conventional dot-SLS technology. FIGS. 2A to 2H are schematic top views of the crystallization steps in the conventional dot-SLS technology.
In FIG. 1, the dot photo mask 111 is used to block the passage of the laser beam. The region 122 that is not blocked by the dot photo mask 111 is where the laser beam can pass through during the laser crystallization process. Please refer to FIGS. 2A to 2H for an explanation of crystallization process using the current dot-SLS technology. In FIG. 2A, the region 220 represents the position where the silicon layer is actually irradiated by the laser beam. The dot region 210 represents the position where the silicon layer is not irradiated by the laser beam due to the dot photo mask. As the initial dot photo mask covers the central position of the region irradiated by the laser beam, the crystallization in the silicon layer starts from the border of the dot region 210 at the center of the laser beam irradiated region blocked initially by the dot photo mask. The crystallization continues in the radial direction, with a lateral growth crystallization length of about 2 μm. The pattern of the grain boundaries 205 shows the crystallization direction and structure of the poly-Si.
Afterwards, the irradiation position of the laser beam is first moved, as shown in FIG. 2B. The dot region 210 is moved to the position 212 (dashed line), so that the dot region 210 is moved within the range of any lateral crystallization for second laser irradiation. Therefore, outward sequential lateral crystallization of the Si crystal layer starts from the outer border of the position 212. The grain grows in such a way to eliminate some of the grain boundaries 205, forming the crystal state illustrated in FIG. 2C.
Afterwards, the irradiation position of the laser beam is moved for the second time, so that dot region 210 is moved from the position 212 to the position 214, falling within the range of another lateral crystallization, as shown in FIG. 2D. A third laser irradiation is performed to further remove some grain boundary 205, forming the crystal state shown in FIG. 2E.
If the irradiation position of the third laser beam is further moved so that the dot region 210 moves from the position 214 to the position 216, there is a very large probability for the dot region 210 to fall right on the position without any grain boundary in addition to any poly-Si lateral crystallization, as shown in FIG. 2F.
Finally, a fourth laser irradiation is performed to further remove the grain boundary 205. Therefore, one obtains a crystal state with no grain boundary as shown in FIG. 2G. Using this dot-SLS technique can possibly reach a crystal grain close to a single crystal structure as shown in FIG. 2H.
However, since the size of the dot region is usually about 1.5 μm in diameter but each moving of the dot region has to fall within the range of poly-Si lateral crystallization, i.e., 2 μm, the precision in moving the laser beam has to achieve the sub-μm level. Only with such a precision can one obtain a poly-Si grain with a size close to 5 μm after four times of laser irradiation (FIG. 2H).
Therefore, using the SLS technique or the dot-SLS technique, the production will be limited by the strict requirement in the moving precision of the substrate or the laser beam. This will greatly increase the machine cost and lower the yield. It is particularly difficult for large-area panel production. Therefore, even though the SLS technique can improve the current laser crystallization technique, it is still not suitable for the mass production of poly-Si devices.

Method of fabricating a poly-silicon thin film

Industrial Technology Research Institute


A mobile communication device configured for Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications is provided. In the mobile communication device, a wireless module performs wireless transmissions and receptions to and from a service network, and a controller module receives a message with an extension registration period only for the M2M communications from the service network via the wireless module and periodically performs a registration procedure according to the extension registration period only for the M2M communications.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to the operation management of registration procedures, and more particularly, to operation management of registration procedures using extension registration periods for M2M communications.
2. Description of the Related Art
For a long time, various machines have been provided to make our lives more convenient in every way. Generally, machines, nowadays, are equipped with computing processors and software to accommodate us with more intelligence-based services. With the advancement of wireless communications, Machine-to-Machine (M2M) technology has been developed to enable communications between remote machines for exchanging information and operating without human interaction. Especially for critical public infrastructures, such as water treatment facilities and bridges, M2M sensors may be employed to monitor the operation statuses of facilities and report measurement results back to control centers via wireless communication networks, such as a Global System for Mobile Communication/General Packet Radio Service (GSM/GPRS), Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS), Code Division Multiple Access 2000 1x (CDMA2000 1x) system, 1x High Rate Packet Data (1xHRPD) system, and Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, etc. This allows administrators of the critical public infrastructures to know if certain components have been tampered with. Other applications may be earthquake monitoring, electric metering, gas/oil pipeline monitoring, or coke machine maintenance for reporting operation statuses to a centralized system via wireless communication networks, such that related services with higher efficiency and lower maintenance costs may be provided.
In a typical mobile communication environment using the CDMA2000 1x Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO) Revision F (or called 1xEV-DO Rev F) technology, a timer-based registration procedure is employed to cause the MS's, including M2M devices and general-purpose MS's (i.e., the MS's not configured for M2M communications), to periodically perform registration procedures for reporting information concerning their positions to the network side according to registration timers. Particularly, the registration timers are set to relatively small values, so that the changes of the MS's positions may be timely reported to the network side. However, the design of the timer-based registration procedure may result in necessary power consumption of the M2M devices, since their mobility is usually pretty low being compared to that of the general-purpose MS's. Thus, it is desirable to provide the M2M devices with a more flexible operation management of the timer-based registration procedure.

Mobile communication devices, service networks, and methods for managing operation of a registration procedure for machine-to-machine (M2M) communications


A multi-use vacuum capable of use as an upright vacuum or as a canister vacuum is disclosed. A detachable vacuum module is selectively mounted to the foot and support member of an upright vacuum. The vacuum module includes the vacuum motor, motor-driven fan, vacuum bag and hose. The vacuum may be operated as an upright vacuum or, alternatively, the module can be separated from the foot and support member and may be used independently of and at a great distance from the foot and support member for a wide variety of cleaning purposes.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a multi-use vacuum cleaner, and, more particularly, to a vacuum cleaner having a vacuum module which is detachably mounted to a power foot and support member.
2. Description of Related Art
Historically, consumers have had the option of two different electrically powered vacuum cleaners. The first option was an upright vacuum cleaner comprising a cleaning foot upon which is pivotably mounted a handle supporting the vacuum motor and bag. An upright can be extremely effective in cleaning floors and carpet. However, an upright is not suitable for cleaning stairs, upholstery or drapery.
The second option for electric vacuums is a canister vacuum which typically comprises a canister housing the vacuum motor and bag. The canister is usually supported by casters. A long hose and wand are attached to an inlet of the canister. The wand can be attached to a cleaning foot or can be used with tools such as brushes or nozzles for cleaning hard-to-reach places such as stairs, upholstery, curtains and automobile interiors.
A recent trend in the vacuum cleaner industry has been to develop multi-use upright vacuum cleaners. These machines combine the compact structure and vertical orientation of an upright vacuum with the hose and wand features of a canister, thereby selectively providing the function of cleaning floors and/or alternatively cleaning drapes and upholstery within a short distance from the vacuum cleaner. Examples of this type of multi-use machine are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,955,106 to Stein et al., issued Sep. 11, 1990, U.S. Pat. No. 4,393,536 to Tapp, issued Jul. 19, 1983, U.S. Pat. No. 4,811,452 to Sumerau, issued Mar. 14, 1989, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,519,113 to Hipple, issued May 29, 1985.
A second multi-use vacuum disclosed in the prior art combines the features of a canister and an upright machine. The user must mount a baffle or other housing having a hose and wand extending therefrom to the bottom of the power foot of an upright vacuum. Examples are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,955,237 to Chateauneuf et al., issued May 11, 1976, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,008,505 to Clowers, issued Feb. 22, 1977.
Still yet another approach to expanding the applications of use for an upright vacuum is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,545,089 to Oxel, issued Oct. 8, 1985, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,467,493 to Buchtel, issued Aug. 28, 1984. In these references, a small hand-held vacuum is selectively mounted to an upright vacuum. The hand-held vacuum has its own motor and bag separate and distinct from the vacuum motor and bag of the upright. Thus, two vacuum cleaner units are provided in a single assembly.
Each of the several different prior multi-use upright vacuum cleaners suffers from one significant deficiency: namely, the ability to use and operate the detachable wand or hand held vacuum independently of or a significant distance from the body of the upright vacuum without providing a separate independent vacuum cleaner. For example, none of the prior multi-use vacuum cleaners can be effectively used for cleaning a flight of stairs. The known detachable wands are not long enough to span the entire length of a typical flight of stairs. Therefore, the user must carry the vacuum cleaner housing at least partially up the stairs. Moreover, most upright vacuum cleaners are wider than the average stairs. None of the wands are long enough to allow a user to easily clean a surface which is more than approximately eight feet from the body of the upright vacuum cleaner. Therefore, the known multi-use vacuum cleaners are not suitable for cleaning high surfaces where the machine can't reach.

Vacuum cleaner with a detachable vacuum module


The present invention provides a novel solution to the problem the quickly approaching turn of the century will have on software systems that were not designed to handle dates beyond the year 2000. The present invention is also applicable to any software application where it is desired to virtually change the formatting of any arbitrary item of data. The item of data can come from any type of data source such as data files or computer screen memory. The present invention operates by severing the link between the program conversion process and the data file conversion process. The present invention assumes control each time a converted program reads or writes a record of a data file that has not yet been converted. Converting records during I/O operations, enables a converted program to access an unconverted data file as if it were converted. The invention converts the data fields in a read record to a new format that is implementation specific before passing it on to the program. In the converted program, the data is defined in the new format which the program expects to see. Unconverted programs continue to access the actual unconverted data file. Thus, the present invention provides the converted program with a virtual converted view of an unconverted data file. The invention similarly converts data having the desired format to data having the old format before writing records to an unconverted data file.

The Information Technology (IT) industry currently faces a huge problem as the year 2000 approaches. The problem is that programs and applications that represent dates using only two digits (i.e. `96` rather than 1996) to represent the year will break down when they try to perform arithmetic operations, comparisons, or sorting of dates that lie beyond the year 2000. Incorrect results will be obtained when programs try to process dates that lie outside the range of Jan. 1, 1900 to Dec. 31, 1999. The scope of the year 2000 date change is very wide and includes both hardware and software from microcode on up to application program code on both mainframes and desktop computers. It also includes both programs and database files and spans all computer platforms.
The year 2000 problem stems mostly from application programs and their corresponding data that use two digits to represent the year rather than four digits. A large number of these programs were written by application programmers back in the 1960's and 1970's who never expected that their software would still be used 20 or 30 years later in the year 2000. In addition, these programs were written at a time when every byte of storage memory space was valuable. Every opportunity to reduce the storage requirements of programs and databases was taken advantage of. As a result, two digit field to represent year data was widely used and quickly became the customary practice of the trade. Rather than being tossed out, as time passed, new features were added and updates made to these legacy applications, mostly written for mainframe and minicomputers, in order to keep them current.
The year 2000 problem is compounded when one considers the possible ramifications of using two digits to store the year. Any arithmetic calculation that subtracts year data runs the risk of being off when using years 2000 and beyond. Two-digit date information cannot be compared correctly if the dates are in different centuries. In addition, sorting algorithms will not sort correctly records that include years 2000 and beyond. For example, the year 2003, represented by 03, will be sorted before the year 1996, represented by 96. In addition, leap year and other day/week month calculations will be off. For example, the year 2000 is a leap year whereas 1900 is not. In addition, the dates of the week and month are not the same in, for example, the years 2001 and 1901.
Several solutions to this problem have already been proposed. One solution is to expand the date field so it stores a 4-digit year field. This appears to be the appropriate solution for making the software system year-2000 compliant. No change to the logic of the program is required, only obvious changes to date related portions. Although elegant, a disadvantage of this approach is that changing the data field length requires simultaneous conversion of both program and data files. All software programs that reference the converted data file must also be converted to handle the 4-digit year format. This is either impossible or extremely difficult to implement when considering that the typical data processing shop may have a combined number of modules and database files in the range of 15,000 to 30,000. Thus, the link between program and data files makes it necessary to build encapsulated clusters of programs and data files that can be converted and then implemented, independent of other programs and files in the system. Due to the interrelated nature of most systems, these clusters tend to become extremely large and may contain hundreds and hundreds of programs and data files.
Another solution is to use a windowing technique which externalizes the 2-digit year into a 4-digit representation. This technique uses a fixed or rolling window of 100 years to determine whether the 2-digit year is 19xx or 20xx. A number of years to be used for each century is specified. For example, numbers 00 to 20 might represent years 2000 to 2020. Thus the numbers 21 to 99 represent the years 1921 to 1999. An advantage of this technique is that there is no need to expand the 2-digit year to a 4-digit format. A disadvantage is that a problem exists if years beyond the 100 year range are needed. In addition, any databases that use the 2-digit year as an index will not work because of the discontinuous step from 20 to 21. And from 99 to 00.
A third solution is to encode and compress the 2-digit date field to hold 4-digits. An advantage of this solution is that there is no need to expand the 2-digit year data format to 4-digit year format. A disadvantage of this solution is that all programs that access this data file must be modified to handle the compressed/encoded 4-digit year format.
Illustrated in prior art FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the potential problems involved in using some of the prior art solutions discussed above. Depicting a small group of programs, Programs A 12, B 14, C 16 and D 18 are shown accessing one or more related data Files A 20, B 22, C 24 and D 26. Program A, for example, is shown with links to Files A, B and C. If Program A is converted to 4-digit year format, before it can be released into production, data Files A, B and C must also be converted, otherwise Program A will not work. Program B, however, accesses Files A, C and D, thus changing Program A also affects the operation of Program B. Therefore, it can be seen that in a typical scenario, the conversion of one program or data file cannot be done independently of other programs and/or data file, since they typically are interdependent among one another.

System for virtually converting data in a field between first and second format by using hook routines


Improved signal reception is provided in a digital television signal received by identifying and mitigating multipath signal effects prior to demodulation and equalization. According to an exemplary embodiment, a digital television signal is received having multipath signal effects which cause a plurality of ripples in the received signal. The amplitude of at least one of the ripples and the frequency separation between at least two of the ripples are detected. At least one of an antenna and a tuner is controlled in dependence upon the detection. Signal demodulation and equalization operations may be performed after at least one of the antenna and the tuner is controlled.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to controlling signal reception in television signal receivers, such as a digital television receiver, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for detecting multipath signal effects in order to provide improved signal reception.
2. Background Information
Multipath signal effects, or simply multipath, can be a significant problem in wireless communication systems. Multipath occurs when two or more propagation paths exist between transmitting and receiving sites. A transmitted signal may arrive at the receiving site from multiple paths exhibiting various amounts of delay and attenuation. The multiple paths may result from reflections from man-made or natural structures, repeaters or the use of multiple transmitters.
The effect of multipath on conventional analog signals, such as National Television System Committee (NTSC) television signals, results in a ghost-like image horizontally displaced from the main image by an amount proportional to the reflected signal's delay. Multipath degradation is not visible in a digitally demodulated picture until a threshold is reached, resulting in a loss of demodulation lock. In a digital television signal receiver, uncorrected multipath introduces intersymbol interference (ISI) which increases the risk of decoding errors. The use of adaptive equalizers in the receiver can reduce the effects of multipath and improve system performance. However, multipath outside the time range of the adaptive equalizer is perceived as additional noise and causes degradation to the received signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio.
Conventional techniques for reducing the effects of multipath in digital television receivers generally attempt to operate upon a digital signal after it has been demodulated and converted into a digital bitstream. However, this type of technique has several problems. First, if the multipath effects are severe enough, it may not be possible to acquire a demodulation lock since carrier and timing signals can not be recovered. For example, in a digital television signal receiver utilizing vestigial sideband (VSB) demodulation, multipath effects may be such that the pilot carrier can not be recovered. Moreover, if there is a null on the side opposite the pilot carrier, timing recovery may not be possible.
Even in cases where carrier and timing signals can be recovered, this process inevitably takes longer when multipath is present. Accordingly, the time required to obtain a demodulation lock and perform signal equalization is longer when multipath is present. In view of these deficiencies, it is recognized herein that it is desirable to identify and rectify multipath signal effects prior to demodulation and equalization. The present invention addresses these and other issues.

Apparatus and method for detecting ripples caused by multipath propagation and controlling receiving antenna and tuner


A new and improved apparatus for signalling accuracy of a path of a projectile moving on a floor or ground surface includes an audible signal assembly located above and near floor or ground level. The audible signal assembly provides an audible signal when a target element of the assembly is hit by a projectile that moves along the floor or ground. A support assembly supports the audible signal assembly above and near enough to the floor or ground, such that the target element of the audible signal assembly can be hit by the moving projectile. The support assembly includes two triangular-shaped end units in which bases of the end units are supported by the floor or ground surface. Traverse rod supports are connected to the end units near apices of the end units. A traverse rod extends traversely between the end units and is supported by the traverse rod supports. The audible signal assembly is supported by the traverse rod. The audible signal assembly includes a bell assembly which includes a bell member and a clapper assembly. A target assembly is connected to the clapper assembly. The target assembly includes a target element support and target element. When the target element is hit by the projectile, the force of impact is transmitted from the target element, through the target element support, and to the clapper assembly which strikes the bell element for sounding an audible signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to apparatus designed to enable practicing of skills in sports employing floor or ground based projectile, and more particularly, to a practice device designed to enable practicing skills and to provide a signal during accurate performance.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A number of devices are disclosed in the prior art for enabling a person to practice a sports skill in their home or office. More particularly, the following U.S. patents disclose devices to enable a golfer to improve putting skills in the home or office: U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,672,682; 4,826,174; 5,007,644; 5,071,129; and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 311,216. More specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 3,672,682 relates to a device worn on a golfer's arms to stabilize the arms during putting. U.S. Pat. No. 4,826,174 discloses a putting practice device a complex planar surface with an number of channels and targets. U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,644 discloses a one-piece hilly ramp designed to improve skills in controlling the speed of the golf ball. U.S. Pat. No. 5,071,129 discloses a sighting device, employing an articulated mirror, for improving positioning of a putter head during putting. U.S. Pat. No. Des. 311,216 discloses a golf putting ramp having a hole and a receptacle for balls.
In view of the above, it would be desirable if a golf putting practice device would avoid restraining one's arms during putting. It would also be desirable if a golf putting practice device were provided that avoided the used of a complex planar surface with a number of channels and targets. In addition, it would be desirable if a golf putting practice device were provided that avoided the use of a one-piece hilly ramp. It would also be desirable if a golf putting practice device were provided that avoided the use of a complex sighting device that employs an articulated mirror.
Furthermore, in a golf practice device that has a cup, such as U.S. Pat. No. Des. 311,216, a golfer must remove balls that have gone into the cup very often because a cup can hold only 1 or 2 or 3 balls. In this sense, the golfer is penalized for his accuracy. The more accurate the putting, the more often the golfer must removes balls from the cup. In this respect, it would be desirable if a golf putting practice device were provided that did not cause the user to empty a cup often when the putts are generally accurate.
Moreover, none of the prior art cited above discloses a golf putting practice device that provides an audible signal when accurate putting has been effected.
Thus, while the foregoing body of prior art indicates it to be well known to use devices to aid in the practice of golf skills in a home or office, the prior art described above does not teach or suggest a projectile accuracy signalling apparatus which has the following combination of desirable features: (1) provides an audible signal when accurate putting has been effected; (2) avoids restraining one's arms during putting; (3) avoids the used of a complex planar surface with a number of channels and targets; (4) avoids the use of a one-piece hilly ramp; (5) avoids the use of a complex sighting device that employs an articulated mirror; and (6) does not cause the user to empty a cup often when the putts are generally accurate. The foregoing desired characteristics are provided by the unique projectile accuracy signalling apparatus of the present invention as will be made apparent from the following description thereof. Other advantages of the present invention over the prior art also will be rendered evident.

Projectile accuracy signalling apparatus


A stoker rod assembly employs a stoker rod having a longitudinally extending bore. A holddown device has a base which is mounted in the trough of the discharger floor, an engagement assembly which is inserted through a slot in the bottom wall of the stoker rod and a connecting part extending between the base and the engagement assembly. The slot comprises a first region having a width selected to allow the passage of the engagement assembly into or out of the bore. A second longitudinally extending region has a width selected to allow longitudinal movement of the connecting part. The width of the engagement assembly is greater than the width of the second region, wherein the engagement assembly is retained in the bore when the engagement assembly is positioned above the second region. Bearing wheels or bearing pads in the engagement assembly slidably engage the internal surface of the stoker rod to hold down the stoker rod as the rod oscillates longitudinally in the trough.

This invention relates generally to dischargers for discharging bulk fibrous or loose material from a storage bin to a discharge screw or conveyor in a controlled manner. More particularly, the present invention relates to a Hooper SR Discharger.TM..
Several types of dischargers include one or more stoker rods to move the material in a controlled manner. The Hooper SR Discharger.TM. utilizes stoker rods defining a hollow square steel tube which run on bearing pads in troughs in the discharger floor. A plurality of pusher bars are mounted at right angles along the top surface of the stoker rods in spaced relationship. Oscillating movement of the stoker rods provides a discharge stroke and a return stroke. On the discharge stroke, the pusher bar moves the material towards the discharge. On the return stroke, the pusher bar moves back under the material in preparation for the next discharge stroke.
The Hooper SR Discharger does not have a means for preventing fines which are present in the material from falling into the gap between the stoker rod and the floor trough. Eventually the trough fills with fines and the stoker rod is lifted upward by the accumulating fines. Such upward movement results in improper operation of the discharger and may cause severe damage to the oscillating mechanism.
Various holddown devices have been used to prevent the stoker rod from lifting. Typically, these holddown devices have consisted of a pair of bars which are disposed across the top of the stoker rod. Such bars are mounted to the flat floor of the discharger on either side of the floor trough at both ends of the stoker rod. Away from the stiff trough area, the floor is not well supported against upward loads. Consequently, the upward force exerted on the bars by the fines, via the stoker rod, can cause floor damage. Additionally, such bars interfere with the movement of material towards the discharge, reducing the efficiency of the stoker. They also interfere with cleaning, maintenance and repair operations for the floor.


In one embodiment, a fixing apparatus is configured of a pressing portion for causing the pressure roller to enter a pressure applied state by applying bias, a switching portion for causing the pressing portion in the pressure applied state to enter a pressure released state by causing a cam to rotate forward, a pressure state detection portion for detecting the pressure released state, and a control portion for, when shifting from the pressure applied state to the pressure released state, turning forward the cam of the switching portion in the pressure applied state and stopping the cam after the pressure state detection portion detects the pressure released state. If the cam is turned forward with respect to the switching portion for a certain time period, but the pressure state detection portion does not detect the pressure released state, the control portion performs forward rotational direction retry control.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fixing apparatus used in an image forming apparatus and the like.
2. Related Art
In an image forming apparatus and the like using an electrophotographic method that is widely applied in copying machines, laser printers, facsimiles, and the like, conventionally, a fixing method used in a fixing apparatus is generally a heat fixing method. For such a heat fixing method, a hot roller fixing method using a hot roller is generally applied.
With the hot roller fixing method, a hot roller, that includes an internal heater as a heat source and an external surface covered with rubber or resin having good releasability, and a pressure roller are pressed against each other so that a nip portion is formed between these rollers. Then, a transfer paper on which a toner image has been formed is caused to pass through the nip portion so that the toner is heated and melted. Thereby, the toner is fused and fixed onto the transfer paper. The hot roller fixing method is suitable for increasing speeds because the entire hot roller is maintained at a predetermined temperature.
In the fixing apparatus using the aforementioned hot roller and pressure roller, the pressure roller is pressed against the hot roller so that a fixing operation is reliably performed. Consequently, in the fixing apparatus using the hot roller and the pressure roller, a pressing means is generally used so that a pressure applied state in which the pressure roller is pressed against the hot roller can be formed.
The pressing means has a configuration in which, for example, bias is applied to the pressure roller via a spring or the like with respect to the hot roller, and the pressure roller is pressed against the hot roller so as to enter a pressure applied state.
In the image forming apparatus using the fixing apparatus including the aforementioned pressing means, when warming up or being on standby, operations in the image forming apparatus having been stopped, or the like, if the pressure roller is maintained for a long time in a state in which the pressure roller is pressing against the hot roller, the surface of the hot roller or the like may possibly be deformed.
Consequently, if the time period when the fixing apparatus does not perform a fixing operation is of a certain length, pressure applied by the pressure roller against the hot roller is released so that the high quality performance of the fixing apparatus can be maintained. Accordingly, in the fixing apparatus using the hot roller and the pressure roller, in order to switch between a pressure applied state in which the pressure roller is pressed against the hot roller and a pressure released state in which such pressure is released, a switching means capable of switching between the pressure applied state and the pressure released state with respect to the aforementioned pressing means is generally used (for example, see JP 2003-280308A).
The switching means switches between a pressure release operation and a pressure application operation as described above. The pressure release operation is an operation for shifting from the pressure applied state to the pressure released state with respect to the pressing means in the pressure applied state. On the contrary, the pressure application operation is an operation for shifting from the pressure released state to the pressure applied state with respect to the pressing means in the pressure released state.
Such a switching means is a means that, for example, includes a turnable cam with respect to the pressing means as described in the above example and switches to the pressure released state in which pressure applied by the pressure roller against the hot roller is reduced by turning the cam in a forward rotational direction with respect to the pressing means that is in the pressure applied state so that the pressure roller applies pressure to the pressing means in a direction opposite to the direction in which the bias is applied to the pressure roller so as to press the pressing means back. Also, the means switches to the pressure applied state by turning the cam in a backward rotational direction with respect to the pressing means that is in the pressure released state so as to release the pressure to the pressing means.
If the switching means including such a turnable cam as described above is used in the aforementioned fixing apparatus, the cam needs to be turned in order to perform switching. When the cam is turned, some problem or the like may occur to the mechanism of the cam so that the mechanism enters a locked state. Accordingly, there may be a case in which operations cannot be performed using the cam.
In order to forcibly turn the cam when such a state occurs, it is necessary to use a larger scaled motor or the like to turn the cam than necessary; thus, the cost of the fixing apparatus may possibly increase.
In general, as for a mechanism that turns in the forward rotational direction or the backward rotational direction, if the mechanism enters a locked state, it is a well known fact that the operations of the mechanism are often recovered by turning the mechanism once in a rotation direction opposite to the rotation direction before entering the locked state and, thereafter, turning again in the rotation direction before entering the locked state and the like.

Fixing apparatus with pressure state detection and control


In a direct drive washing machine having a driving motor installed at a lower portion of an outer tub and rotating an inner tub or a pulsator by the driving motor, a pulsator shaft and a tub shaft are constructed with a dual shaft structure, respectively connected to the inner tub and the pulsator and transmitting a rotational force of the driving motor thereto, a clutch coupling being connected with an outer circumference of the tub shaft and performing a clutching operation by being connected with/separated from a rotor of the driving motor while moving up and down, and with a clutch actuator providing a force to the clutch coupling so as to separate it from the rotor, whereby it is possible to wash laundry by various methods in accordance with laundry conditions, and accordingly, the performance of washing can be improved and a load on the driving motor can be lowered.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a direct drive type washing machine which is capable of rotating an inner tub or a pulsator directly by a driving motor installed at the lower portion of an outer tub, and in particular to a direct drive washing machine which is capable of selectively rotating the inner tub through a clutch device coupling the driving force from the motor.
2. Description of the Background Art
As depicted in FIG. 1, the conventional direct drive washing machine includes a casing 1 having an opened upper portion, an outer tub 3 placed inside the casing 1 and supported by a plurality of supporting rods 2 (only one of which is shown) and for containing wash water, an inner tub 5 rotatively installed inside the outer tub 3 for receiving laundry therein, and a driving motor 9 installed at the lower portion of the outer tub 3 and rotating the inner tub 5 through an inter connecting tub shaft 6.
A pulsator 7, also called an agitator, is installed inside the inner tub 5 in order to form a wash water current.
In the conventional direct drive washing machine, the pulsator 7 and the inner tub 5 are rotated as one body by the driving motor 9, and a relative movement is generated between the wash water and the laundry and accordingly the laundry can be washed.
However, in the conventional direct drive washing machine, because washing is performed by rotating the inner tub 5 regardless of the kind and the load of clothes and the quantity of wash water, when the amount of clothes loaded is relatively small, the laundry is rotated in the same direction as the inner tub 5, and accordingly the relative movement between the water and the laundry may not be generated well and the washing efficiency may be lowered.
In addition, in the conventional direct drive washing machine, when washing is performed by rotating the inner tub 5, it may have a relatively larger inertia force than a type performing washing by rotating only a pulsator, and accordingly the load on the driving motor 9 is increased and the driving efficiency may consequently be lowered.


The invention is a magneto-optic coupled magnetic sensor that comprises a standard optical fiber Bragg grating system. The system includes an optical fiber with at least one Bragg grating therein. The optical fiber has at least an inner core and a cladding that surrounds the inner core. The optical fiber is part of an optical system that includes an interrogation device that provides a light wave through the optical fiber and a system to determine the change in the index of refraction of the optical fiber. The cladding of the optical fiber comprises at least a portion of which is made up of ferromagnetic particles so that the ferromagnetic particles are subject to the light wave provided by the interrogation system. When a magnetic field is present, the ferromagnetic particles change the optical properties of the sensor directly.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to optical fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors, specifically to incorporating particles into FBG sensors for magnetic field sensing, and most specifically to incorporating particles into the core and cladding of FBG sensors so that magnetic fields directly shift the reflected wavelength of light associated with an FBG sensor system.
2. Description of the Related Art
FBG sensors are made by "inscribing" or "writing" the periodic variation of refractive index into the core of a special type of optical fiber using an intense ultraviolet (UV) source such as a UV laser. This creates a grating that reflects a particular wavelength of light while transmitting others.
Over the past decade, optical FBG sensors have been used to measure a variety of physical characteristics such as temperature, strain, and pressure. Several inventions have been developed that attach magnetic materials directly or indirectly to an optical fiber containing Bragg gratings so that when such a fiber is subjected to a magnetic field, the magnetic materials subject the fiber to a physical deformation, which, in turn, can be measured by monitoring the strain-induced shift in reflected wavelength.
For example, see the following: U.S. Pat. No. 7,195,033 which discloses a fiber optic sensor scheme including magnetic sleeve that deforms the fiber in order to determine the position of the sleeve; U.S. patent application 2010/0316328 which discloses a fiber optic position transducer attached to a magnetic element to control a flow valve via a magnetic field; and, a paper presented at the 1st International Conference on Sensing Technology, 2005, Palmerston, North New Zealand titled "Novel Magnetic Sensor Based on Fiber Bragg Grating and Magnetic Shape Memory Alloys" discloses bonding a FBG optical sensor system to a piece of shape memory alloy in order to deform the optical fiber via a magnetic field.
It has also been shown that a magnetostatic wave can have an effect on optical wavelength in an optical system. For example, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,575,179 that discloses an optical signal processor device that employs a magnetorestrictive thin film, biased by a magnetic film that is placed within the path of an optical beam in order to diffract the beam.
However, a magnetic material has not been incorporated within an optical fiber itself in order to modify the optical wavelength of a fiber optic FBG system using a magnetic field.
Therefore, it is desired to provide an optical fiber with FBGs having a magnetic material incorporated directly within the fiber in order to modify the optical wavelength of the system through a magnetic field.

Magneto-optic field coupling in optical fiber Bragg gratings

The United States of America, as Represented by the Adminstrator of NASA

The Regents of the University of California


A method for damping an oscillation of a tower of a wind turbine is disclosed, wherein a pitch angle of each of the one or more rotor blades is individually adjustable, the method comprising damping the oscillation of the tower by pitching each rotor blade individually according to tower damping pitch control signals, wherein each tower damping pitch control signal comprises a first periodic component, where a first frequency of the first periodic component corresponds to a frequency difference between a tower frequency of the oscillation of the tower and a rotor frequency of a rotation of the rotor, and where a second periodic component has been reduced or removed. A second frequency of the second periodic component corresponds to a frequency sum of the tower frequency and the rotor frequency.

A wind turbine as known in the art comprises a wind turbine tower and a rotor. The rotor comprises a number of rotor blades. The tower is prone to oscillations, which may be due to cyclic rotor forces and to inhomogeneities in a wind field or external forces acting, e.g., sea waves.
Blade pitch adjustments may be used to counteract or damp a lateral oscillation of the tower. These pitch adjustments requires energy and cause wear and tear of the wind turbine, such as the blade bearings of each rotor blade. Hence, an improved method for damping an oscillation of a tower of a wind turbine would be advantageous, and in particular a method for damping an oscillation of a tower of a wind turbine requiring less activity of the pitch system and/or enabling reducing wear and tear.

Damping of a wind turbine tower oscillation


A gas bag module for a motor vehicle steering wheel includes a gas bag (10), a gas generator (12) mounted so as to be capable of swinging, a generator carrier (16), means (18) for bracing the gas bag (10) on the generator carrier (16), and an elastically deformable, in relation to the central axis (A) of the gas bag module encircling sealing element (24). The sealing element (24) is fastened by its free edges directly or indirectly to the gas generator (12) and to the generator carrier (16), respectively. A section (26) of the sealing element (24), which is free before a filling of the gas bag (10), is deflected by the pressure occurring in the interior of the gas bag on filling of the gas bag (10), so that it comes directly or indirectly in abutment with a support surface (22; 28).

Among the various kinds of gas bag modules there is known a type of a gas bag module for a motor vehicle steering wheel, comprising a gas bag, a gas generator mounted so as to be capable of swinging, a generator carrier, means for bracing the gas bag on the generator carrier, and an elastically deformable, in relation to a central axis of the gas bag module encircling sealing element. Such gas bag modules in which, to increase comfort and driving safety, the gas generator is used as a vibration amortizer in order to damp the vehicle vibrations transferred to the steering wheel via the rigid steering column, are known for example from published European patent application EP-A-1 026 050. Therein, a gas bag module is proposed, in which a mounting cylinder of elastic material, aligned parallel to the steering wheel axis, is connected by its free edges on the one hand with a ring-shaped mounting plate and on the other hand with a mounting flange of the gas generator. An edge of the mounting cylinder can be used for sealing the gas bag interior against the environment, when it comes into abutment with an auxiliary flange. Thereby, impurities are prevented from penetrating into the gas bag and filling gases are prevented from leaving the gas bag in the case of activation.
In the published international application WO 00/15470 a gas bag module for a motor vehicle steering wheel is shown, in which an elastic element, which is fastened to a component securely connected with the gas bag module, has a sealing lip. After ignition of the gas generator, the sealing lip lies against a flange of the gas generator, in order to seal the gas bag interior.
It is an object of the invention to improve the sealing of the gas bag interior in the case of activation, in particular with regard to a better sealing effect and a higher stability of the seal.

Gas bag module for a motor vehicle steering wheel


A garment comprises a panel adapted to comprise or retain body armor that protects a front region of the torso when the garment is worn and respective laterally spaced side pockets that extend generally vertically at the front side regions of the torso when the garment is worn. These side pockets have openings at their upper ends to removably receive the respective arms of a generally U-shaped, deflated but inflatable personal flotation device (PFD), that thereby extends behind the neck and/or head of the wearer. These side pockets have outer side fastenings that are separable by the inflating PFD arms to thereby allow the arms to fully expand. An inflatable personal flotation device (PFD), comprises a casing defining a central portion and a pair of laterally spaced, generally aligned arms extending therefrom whereby to define a generally U shaped configuration, and bladder means within the central portion and the laterally spaced arms, able to receive and retain compressed gas for inflating the bladder means and the personal flotation device. At least the central portion of the casing is at least partially inlaid or overlaid by armor to protect the bladder means from puncture by impinging projectiles. Also disclosed is a personal protection system comprising the garment and the PFD.

Military personnel involved in waterborne operations are commonly provided with both body armour and a personal flotation device (PFD). Body armour is typically provided in a two part garment that is fastened both at the shoulders and about the waist. The armour may be plate armour and/or more modern soft armour based on super-strong fabrics, and is usually retained in pockets located to give protection to at least the torso, both back and front. PFDs will usually have an inbuilt compressed gas cylinder with an automatic water sensing valve or a hand-releasable valve.
One obvious problem with these conventional arrangements is that, in a combat situation, the PFD may suffer puncture damage, rendering it useless for its primary purpose just when it may most be needed. To address this problem, integrated structures have been proposed. For example, international patent publication WO 2006/054972 discloses an inflatable personal flotation bladder device that lies protected behind the strategic plate of a body armour vest when in its deflated and compressed state, from which an inbuilt compressed gas cylinder can expand the PFD on command. US patent application 2011/0004968 proposes a quite different approach, i.e. a multi-part body armour suit with inboard flotation foam. U.S. Pat. No. 6,659,689 discloses an inbuilt pair of inflatable items: a first ring around the abdominal region which is quick releasable for discardal, and an overlapping removable ring that inflates around the neck to encapsulate the crico-thyroid cartilage, protecting it from compression.
Integrated structures in which a flotation bladder is protected beneath an antiballistic armour layer are also disclosed in European patent application 1587382 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,080,411. The latter discloses a line of studs or hook and loop fastening that breaks apart when the bladder is inflated.
There have also been disclosures, e.g. in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,182,662 and 3,475,774, of integrated garment structures, not armoured, in which a bladder inflates and expands out of the garment to provide PFD protection. US patent application 2011/0009020 discloses an inflatable bladder or flotation collar that can be inserted, attached or removed from a garment.
Integrated structures address the problem of protecting the uninflated bladder from puncture damage, but such structures may lessen the utility of the garment and its flexibility in different situations. For example, while it may be convenient to have a PFD with a protected inbuilt inflatable bladder, this can be the source of unnecessary discomfort when not required, and once inflated may be a serious encumbrance to motion. After deployment, the wearer may variously wish to retain the PFD and discard the armoured garment, or remain protected by armour and discard the PFD.
It is an object of the invention to provide improved configurations of armoured garment and personal flotation device that allow ready deployment of the PFD yet have inbuilt adaptability to a variety of field situations.
Reference to any prior art in the specification is not, and should not be taken as, an acknowledgment or any form of suggestion that this prior art forms part of the common general knowledge in Australia or any other jurisdiction or that this prior art could reasonably be expected to be ascertained, understood and regarded as relevant by a person skilled in the art.

Personal protection system including a garment with body armour and a personal flotation device


In a control apparatus for controlling front-wheel and rear-wheel rotating electrical machines capable of driving front and rear wheels of a vehicle on electrical power of a battery, a command torque determinator determines command torques for the rotating electrical machines based on a predetermined torque distribution ratio, a power distribution ratio calculator calculates a power distribution ratio based on the torque distribution ratio, an outputtable torque calculator calculates outputtable torques of the rotating electrical machines, a power distribution ratio corrector corrects the power distribution ratio based on the outputtable torques, and a power distributor distributes the electrical power of the battery between the rotating electrical machines in the corrected power distribution ratio.

A technique has been proposed to drive and rotate front and rear wheels of a vehicle separately by two rotating electrical machines. For example, JP-A-2003-32802 discloses a four-wheel-drive hybrid vehicle in which a motor MG3 drives and rotates front wheels and a motor MG2 drives and rotates rear wheels. The motors MG2, MG3 are controlled by a control apparatus mounted on the vehicle.
In the control apparatus disclosed in JP-A-2003-32802, a request torque is divided between the motor MG2 and the motor MG3. At this time, a torque division ratio is set so that the amount of torque distributed to the motor MG3 can be greater than the amount of torque distributed to the motor MG2. Further, a power distribution ratio in which electrical power of a battery is distributed between the motors is set equal to the torque division ratio because the rotation speeds of the front and rear wheels are equal to each other.
In a vehicle having the control apparatus disclosed in JP-A-2003-32802, torque of the motor MG3 may be limited due to heat, and the supply of electrical power to the motor MG2 may be limited depending on the remaining power of the battery. In this case, the motor MG2 and the motor MG3 may be unable to output torques according to command torques. Specifically, although the motor MG3 can be supplied with electrical power enough to output the command torque, the motor MG3 may be unable to output the command torque due to heat. That is, the motor MG3 is supplied with the amount of electrical power the motor MG3 is expected to be unable to consume. In contrast, since the motor MG2 may lack electrical power due to short of the remaining power of the battery, the motor MG2 may be unable to output the command torque.

Control apparatus and vehicle having the same