A combustion control device and a method for a direct injection engine are disclosed wherein, when the engine is operating in the partial load range, the valve opening/closing mode of an intake valve and/or an exhaust valve is controlled so that exhaust gases remain in a combustion chamber; and control is performed such that fuel is injected from a fuel injection valve into residual exhaust gases at least once during the time period from the latter half of an exhaust stroke to the first half of an intake stroke in one combustion cycle, and that an air-fuel mixture is ignited in the latter half of a compression stroke thereafter.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a combustion control device and a combustion control method for a spark ignition direct injection engine. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a combustion control device and a combustion control method that promote the vaporization and radicalization of fuel injected from a fuel injection valve into a cylinder taking advantage of the heat of exhaust gases (burned gases), thereby improving the combustibility, fuel economy, exhaust gas purification performance, and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
The spark ignition direct injection engine injects fuel directly into each cylinder. Accordingly, the spark ignition direct injection engine injects the fuel in the latter half of a compression stroke, and during a stratified charge combustion, in which an air-fuel mixture is burned in the cylinder with the air-fuel ratio distribution of the mixture therein made uneven, it can vaporize the fuel by compressed air in the cylinder. Simultaneously, the high pressure within the cylinder decreases the penetration force of a mist, thereby reducing the adhesion of the fuel to the wall surface of the cylinder.
In the homogeneous combustion (stoichiometric combustion), in which fuel is burned in the vicinity of the theoretical air-fuel ratio, the fuel is injected in the first half of an intake stroke in order to buy the mixture time for making uniform the air-fuel mixture in the cylinder. However, during the intake stroke, since the pressure within the cylinder becomes equal to the pressure within an intake pipe, the cylinder temperature falls especially during cold start, so that the amount of heat required to vaporize the fuel cannot be obtained. As a result, the air-fuel mixture is prone to become non-uniform due to a lack of vaporization, thereby causing the deterioration of exhaust gas purification performance and fuel economy.
Such being the situation, when attempting to produce a homogeneous air-fuel mixture, it is necessary to raise the temperature within the cylinder and secure the amount of heat required for fuel evaporation (vaporization). As one solution to this issue, JP-A-2002-256924 discloses a method by which the exhaust valve is early closed in course of the exhaust stroke; fuel is injected into burned gases having residual oxygen; the fuel is ignited in the vicinity of the end of the exhaust stroke; and the intake air is heated by the heat due to the ignition, thereby promoting the vaporization of the fuel, and enhancing the pressure within the cylinder during the compression stroke (see pages 1 to 5, and FIGS. 1 to 6 of the above patent document).

Control device and control method for direct injection engine


A PLL circuit includes a phase detector that compares the phase of an input clock with the phase of a feedback clock so as to generate pull-up and pull-down control signals. A low pass filter pumps a voltage in response to the pull-up and pull-down control signals, and removes a noise component from the pumped voltage so as to output a control voltage. A buffer that controls voltage so as to generate a bias voltage having a smaller swing width than the control voltage. A voltage controlled oscillator receives the bias voltage and oscillates an output clock. A clock divider divides the frequency of the output clock at a predetermined ratio so as to generate the feedback clock.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a PLL (Phase Locked Loop) circuit and a method of controlling the same, and in particular, to a PLL circuit that stably performs a phase locking operation of a clock and a method of controlling the same.
2. Related Art
With the advancement of a higher-speed semiconductor memory apparatus, the frequency of an external clock increases, and accordingly the frequency of an internal clock also increases. With the increase in frequency of the internal clock, in the known semiconductor memory apparatus that uses a DLL (Delay Locked Loop) circuit, an operation to input/output data in synchronization with a clock becomes unstable. In particular, in a high-speed semiconductor memory apparatus, such as a graphic memory or the like, since a timing margin between a data strobe signal generated by the clock and data is decreased, reliability of a data input operation is deteriorated.
In a current semiconductor memory apparatus, a method that uses a PLL circuit in order to improve reliability of the data input operation has been introduced. This semiconductor memory apparatus compares the timing of the clock and input data with each other using the PLL circuit to measure a phase difference. Then, the phase of the data is controlled with respect to the clock, such that the data is in phase with the clock. Therefore, reliability of the data input operation is improved.
A general PLL circuit includes a low pass filter that pumps a voltage by the pull-up control signal and the pull-down control signal, and removes noise from the pumped voltage.
As shown in FIG. 1, the low pass filter includes a charge pump and a filter unit 6 in general. The charge pump includes pull-up pump unit 2 and a pull-down pump unit 4.
The pull-up pump unit 2 has a first voltage pump 3 and a PMOS transistor PMOS. The first voltage pump 3 generates a first pumping voltage Vpmp1 from an external power supply VDD. The PMOS transistor PMOS supplies the first pumping voltage Vpmp1 to a first node N1 in response to the pull-up control signal plup.
The pull-down pump unit 4 has an NMOS transistor and a second voltage pump 5. The NMOS transistor NMOS transmits a voltage of the first node N1 to the second voltage pump 5 in response to the pull-down control signal pldn. The second voltage pump 5 pumps the voltage of the first node N1 transmitted from the NMOS transistor NMOS to a second pumping voltage Vpmp2, and supplies the pumped voltage to the ground terminal VSS. That is, general charge pump receives the pull-up control signal plup and the pull-down control signal pldn.
The filter unit 6 removes a noise component of a signal applied to the first node N1 and outputs the signal with no noise component as a control voltage Vctrl. The filter unit 6 may include one capacitor and one resistor.
Generally, in the PLL circuit, if the input clock and the feedback clock are in phase, the pull-up control signal plup and the pull-down control signal pldn input to the low pass filter are all enabled. At this time, the first node N1 has a signal having a constant level, and the phase of the clock is fixed corresponding to the signal generated at the first node N1. However, the signal formed at the first node N1, which is a connection node of the pull-up pump unit 2 and the pull-down pump unit 4 constituting the charge pump of the low pass filter, does not have a constant level. This is caused by a difference in operability between the first voltage pump 3 and the second voltage pump 5, a difference in resistance between the PMOS transistor PMOS and the NMOS transistor NMOS, and a difference in characteristic between the PMOS transistor and the NMOS transistor due to PVT (Process, Voltage, and Temperature) factors.
As such, if the connection node between the pull-up pump unit 2 and the pull-down pump unit 4 of the low pass filter does not keep the signal having the constant level, the control voltage Vctrl may not fall within a prescribed swing range, and as a result, a voltage ripple phenomenon that the final output clock does not fall within a prescribed frequency band may occur. This voltage ripple phenomenon causes an error in the phase locking operation of the clock.
Further, the voltage ripple phenomenon may grow heavier due to a difference in current between the pull-up pump unit 2 and the pull-down pump unit 4 constituting the charge pump of the low pass filter, a difference in electric charge injection amount, a difference in electric charge division amount, and p/n mismatching of the components constituting the pump units 2 and 4.

PLL circuit and method of controlling the same


An operating device capable of assuring safety when operating on-vehicle equipment of an automobile is implemented. The operating device includes force sensors buried in a grasping part of a steering wheel in a vehicle, a detector for detecting force acted on the grasping part on the basis of an output signal of each of the force sensors, and a controller for outputting an operating signal to a piece of the on-vehicle equipment mounted on the vehicle on the basis of a detected signal supplied from the detector. As a result, it is possible to operate force sensors and operate the on-vehicle equipment by adjusting force used to grip the steering wheel or pressing the steering wheel without letting go the driver's hold of the steering wheel.

The present invention relates to an operating device for operating on-vehicle equipment such as on-automobile equipment. In particular, the present invention relates to an operating device having operating switches provided in a steering part, such as a steering wheel.
As for on-vehicle equipment such as on-automobile equipment, on-vehicle devices such as an audio device, a car navigation device, and an information terminal can be mentioned besides accessory devices such as a brake, an accelerator or a power window. Typically, foot-depressed pedals are used in operating devices such as the brake and accelerator. In operating devices for on-vehicle devices, operating switches and hand screws such as knobs attached to respective on-vehicle devices are mainly used.
For example, in JP-A-2003-140810, a haptic controller including a control provided with feeling of click or feeling of resistance according to an operating state such as a rotation quantity or a rotation direction in order to make feeling of the operating part favorable and make operation positive even in the case where the vibration of the vehicle body is large is proposed as an operating device for on-vehicle equipment.
In JP-A-09-297629, it is also proposed to mount an information terminal, such as a personal computer, on a vehicle and attach an input device, such as a keyboard, for operating the information terminal to a steering wheel.
In JP-A-09-058426, it is proposed to provide a grip-type steering wheel brake switch on a steering wheel and activate a brake according to grasping power of hand fingers of a driver who grasps the steering wheel. Specifically, in the provided steering wheel brake switch, a lever is displaced according to grasping power of the driver and a resistance value of a variable resistor is changed according to the movement of the lever. Brake force is controlled according to a value of a current that flows through the variable resistor. It is said that owing to this configuration an idle running distance corresponding to a time period required for the driver to shift a foot from an accelerator pedal to a brake pedal can be shortened at the time of, for example, full braking.

Operating device for on-vehicle equipment


A cyclic referencing management method and apparatus, a parsing method and apparatus, and a computer readable recording medium storing a program to implement the methods are provided. The method for managing cyclic referencing that may occur by mutual references of assets in a file provided to control assets in a multimedia application environment, includes: detecting an asset generating cyclic referencing; and ignoring the asset generating cycling referencing. According to the methods and apparatuses, cyclic referencing that can occur in a file to control assets can be detected and processed such that the system can be prevented from entering an indefinite loop or causing an erroneous operation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to controlling assets such as digital content in a multimedia application environment, and more particularly, to a cyclic referencing management method and apparatus, a parsing method and apparatus, and a computer readable recording medium storing a program to implement the methods.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, media such as digital still images, video, digital audio, and text have been processed and reproduced by using a personal computer (PC). Also, as apparatuses generating these media, for example, digital cameras, digital camcorders, digital audio players (MP3, WMA), are increasingly widely used, a variety of types of digital content are massively generated.
However, in order to manage the content, that is, multimedia data, which are massively generated, file based experiences are requested to users, and if thus managed data, to which attributes, such as a data reproduction order or method, are given, is reproduced in an apparatus other than a PC, the attribute data given in the PC is lost and only original data is transferred. That is, interoperability of data and data attributes among consumer electronic products, PCs, and digital content generating apparatuses is very weak at present. Examples of weakness of interoperability will now be explained.
FIG. 1 is a reference diagram explaining the concept of MusicPhotoVideo (MPV) according to a conventional technology.
Referring to FIG. 1, by using a digital camera 10, a photo or video clip is generated, the generated photo or video clip is moved to a PC 11, works such as edition are performed, and the worked content are burned on an optical recording medium such as a CD-R/Video-CD, and a DVD-R/+R. The thus burned optical recording medium can reproduce the content in a DVD player 12 or a TV 13.
Also, the content worked in the PC can be transferred to a printer 14 to be printed, and to an online medium 15.
Thus, by using a digital camera, a photo is captured, and attribute data, such as a slide show order or a time interval between photos determined when a slide show function is used to confirm the capture photos in the digital camera, or relations between the captured photos determined when a panorama function is used, is stored together with the original data. If this digital camera is connected to a TV through an audio/video (AV) cable and an image is transmitted to the TV, content with each attribute expressed can be viewed by a user. However, if the digital camera is connected to a PC through a universal serial bus (USB) cable, only the original data is transmitted to the computer and all the attached attributes are lost.
This is because the digital camera and the PC have information structures different to each other. As shown in the above example, the attribute data stored in the digital camera, that is, metadata, has no interoperability with the PC. In order to compensate these data between digital apparatuses for weak interoperability, a standard referred to as MusicPhotoVideo (MPV) has been being prepared. That is, the MPV is a standard to further ease expression, exchange, processing, and reproduction of metadata such as digital music, photo, and video in consumer electronics (CE) apparatuses and IT apparatuses. The MPV standard, which is currently being prepared by Optical Storage Technology Association (OSTA), defines manifest, metadata, and practice to process and reproduce sets of content, such as digital photos, video, and audio, stored in a storage medium such as an optical disk, a memory card, a computer hard disk, or exchanged according to Internet protocols. The manifest is an independent extensible markup language (XML) document file and is obtained by grouping all MPV elements.
The MPV is generally broken down into two parts: MPV core specification (MPV Core-Spec.) and Profile. The MPV Core includes three basic elements: collection, metadata, and identifier. The collection includes a manifest as a root member, an album, marked assets (MarkedAsset), and an asset list (AssetList). An asset is a basic unit of content processed by the MPV and there are two types of assets: a simple media asset such as digital photos, video, digital audio, and documents, etc., and a composite media asset such as digital photos+digital audio, digital still multi-shot sequences, digital still panorama sequences, etc. Based on the content recorded in an MPV file having this structure, MPV software controls such that an asset is read and reproduced. That is, the MPV file is placed between MPV software and data referred to as an asset, and plays a linking role. Accordingly, the MPV file can be regarded as a file system in a higher level operating similarly to the conventional file system.
The asset that is a basic unit of content processed in the MPV will now be explained in more detail with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of MPV simple assets according to the conventional technology. Simple assets correspond to physical storage entities. As simple assets, there are a still 21, a video 22, an audio 23, a text 24, a print 25, a document 26, and a manifest link (ManifestLink) 27.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of MPV composite assets according to the conventional technology. Composite assets are meaningful groups of media assets. These composite assets correspond to ordinary capture modes of a digital camera.
As composite assets, there are a still with audio (StillWithAudio) 31, a still multi-shot sequence (StillMultishotSequence) 32, a still panorama sequence (StillPanoramaSequence) 33, a Par 34, and a Seq 35.
Among these, the Par 34 or Seq 35 permits arbitrary expression of media assets different to each other in types. That is, while other composite assets are fixed in that simple assets contained in respective composite assets are predefined, simple assets contained in the Par or Seq are not fixed such that simple assets can be arbitrarily combined.
The Par defines a composite asset when a set of assets are generated in synchronization with each other. Referring to FIG. 3, it can be seen that Par 34 is formed with a group of assets, which are arranged to be parallel. The Seq defines a composite asset when a set of assets are generated in a predetermined order. Referring to FIG. 3, it can be seen that Seq 35 is formed with a group of assets, which are arranged in a predetermined order.
The usage of the Seq will now be explained.
FIG. 4A is an example of an MPV file explaining a usage example of <mpv:Seq> according to the conventional technology.
Referring to FIG. 4A, it can be seen that a manifest 1 is at the top level that is the largest in an MPV file, and an asset list 40 is at a level immediately below the top level.
Then, the lower levels of the asset list 40 include <mpv:Seq> 41 whose identifier (mpv:id) is "seq001", <mpv:Still> 42 whose identifier is "still001", <mpv:Still> 43 whose identifier is "still002", <mpv:Still> 44 whose identifier is "still003", <mpv:Still> 45 whose identifier is "still004", <mpv:StillWithAudio> 46 whose identifier is "sa001", <mpv:Audio> 47 whose identifier is "audio001", <mpv:Audio> 48 whose identifier is "audio002", and <mpv:Audio> 49 whose identifier is "audio003".
Thus, the assets 41 through 49 at the levels lower than the asset list 40 are child assets of the asset list 40, and reversely, the asset list 40 is the parent asset of the child assets 41 through 49.
Among these child assets, <mpv:Seq> 41 and <mpv:StillWithAudio> 46 are composite assets and the remaining assets, <mpv:Still> and <mpv:Audio>, are simple assets.
Simple assets each have a LastURL indicating the location of content for referencing the asset. For example, a still asset whose identifier (ID) is "still001" expresses "images/still01.jpg", as the LastURL indicating the location of still001 content.
In the composite assets, <mpv:Seq> 41 internally has 6 child assets.
That is, it can be seen that the first child asset of <mpv:Seq>41 refers to an audio whose ID is "audio001". The second child asset refers to a still whose ID is "still001", the third child asset refers to an audio whose ID is "audio002", the fourth child asset refers to a StillWithAudio whose ID is "sa001", the fifth child asset refers to a still whose ID is "still002", and the sixth child asset refers to a still whose ID is "still003".
In the composite assets, the StillWithAudio 46 internally has 2 child assets.
The first child asset refers to a still whose ID is "still004", and the second child asset refers to an audio whose ID is "audio003".
In the composite assets as described above, it can be seen that the StillWithAudio has only a still and an audio as assets, as shown in its name, while <mpv:Seq> can have any assets as its child assets.
Thus, <mpv:Seq> can have any type of reference assets with an ending of Ref, as in, for example, mpv:StillRef, and mpv:AudioRef. Accordingly, it is very complex to extract information from this asset. For example, in order to obtain actual information of <mpv:Still> embedded in <mpv:StillWithAudioRef> assigned by <mpv:Seq>, the following steps are required:
1. In order to obtain <mpv:StillWithAudioRef> whose mpv:idRef is "sa001", parsing <mpv:Seq> whose mpv:id is "seq001" is performed,
2. in order to obtain <mpv:StillRef>, parsing <mpv:StillWithAudio> whose mpv:id is "sa001" is performed, and
3. mpv:idRef attribute of <mpv:StillRef> in <mpv:StillWithAudio> is obtained and <mpv:Still> whose mpv:id is "still004" is found.
FIG. 4B is a diagram of a tree structure explaining the structure of the MPV file shown in FIG. 4A.
Referring to FIG. 4B, an AssetList 40 is below a manifest 1, and 9 child assets 41 through 49 are below the AssetList 40.
Each child asset of <mpv:Seq> 41 refers to a child asset of the AssetList 40.
This structure is an ordinary form of using <mpv:Seq> that is a composite asset.
FIG. 5A is an example of an MPV file explaining another usage example of <mpv:Seq> according to the conventional technology.
Referring to FIG. 5A, an AssetList has 5 child assets.
The first child asset 51 is <mpv:Seq> whose ID is "seq001" and which has a child asset referring to an asset whose ID is "seq002".
The second child asset 52 is <mpv:Seq> whose ID is "seq002" and which has a child asset referring to an asset whose ID is "still001", and a child asset referring to an asset whose ID is "seq003".
The third child asset 53 is <mpv:Seq> whose ID is "seq003" and which has a child asset referring to an asset whose ID is "still002".
The fourth child asset 54 is a still asset whose ID is "still001".
The fifth child asset 55 is a still asset whose ID is "still002".
FIG. 5B is a diagram of a tree structure explaining the structure of the MPV file shown in FIG. 5A.
Referring to FIG. 5B, <mpv:Seq> 51 that is the first child asset of the AssetList refers to <mpv:Seq> 52 that is the second child asset, and <mpv:Seq> 52 that is the second child asset refers to <mpv:Seq> 53 that is the third child asset. Also, <mpv:Seq> 53 that is the third child asset refers to "still002" that is a simple asset.
Though <mpv:Seq> continuously refers to another <mpv:Seq>, an asset that is finally referred to is "still002" that is a simple asset. Accordingly, a problem such as cyclic reference does not occur.
Thus, it can be seen that a composite asset like <mpv:Seq> or <mpv:Par> is made to have a plurality of primary assets as children. Though this composite structure of a composite asset has an advantage that a greater variety of reproduction scenarios can be implemented, there may occur a variety of problems due to many children. One of these problems is "cyclic referencing", which will now be explained with reference to FIGS. 6A and 6B.
FIG. 6A is an example of an MPV file explaining a case where cyclic referencing occurs due to use of <mpv:Seq> according to the conventional technology.
Referring to FIG. 6A, an AssetList has 3 child assets that are all <mpv:Seq>.
The first child asset 61 is <mpv:Seq> whose ID is "seq001", and refers to an asset whose ID is "seq002".
The second child asset 62 is <mpv:Seq> whose ID is "seq002" and refers to an asset whose ID is "seq003".
The third child asset 63 is <mpv:Seq> whose ID is "seq003" and refers to an asset whose ID is "seq001".
In this situation, a cyclic referencing problem occurs. That is, since the third child asset from the top again refers to the first child asset, these 3 child assets are entering an infinite loop.
FIG. 6B is a diagram of a tree structure explaining the structure of the MPV file shown in FIG. 6A.
Referring to FIG. 6B, child asset seq001 61 refers to child asset seq002 62, child asset seq002 62 refers to child asset seq003 63, and child asset seq003 63 refers to child asset seq001 61. Accordingly, it can be seen that a loop is generated among seq001, seq002, and seq003, which generates a cyclic referencing problem in which getting out of the loop is impossible.
FIG. 7 is another example of an MPV file explaining a case where cyclic referencing occurs due to use of <mpv:Seq> according to the conventional technology.
Referring to FIG. 7, an AssetList has a child asset, <mpv:Seq> 71, whose ID is "seq0000". The child asset 71 has a child asset, <mpv:SeqRef>, which refers to an asset whose ID is "seq0000". Since the parent asset 71 and the child asset 72 refer to each other, an infinite loop occurs between the two and the system may operate as if it halts. Accordingly, a cyclic referencing problem occurs.
However, in the conventional technology, if a cyclic referencing problem occurs while an MPV parser parses an MPV file, the parser reports to the application that the MPV data is incorrect, or the system operates incorrectly as if it halts. Accordingly, data contained in the MPV file cannot be used any more.

Cycle referencing management method and apparatus, parsing method and apparatus, and recording medium storing a program to implement the same


Embodiments of the present invention provide a system that controls noise in a power system that includes a power rail and a ground rail. The system includes a MOS transistor coupled in series with a decoupling capacitor between the power rail and the ground rail and an inductive packaging connection coupled to the power rail in parallel with the MOS transistor and the decoupling capacitor. The combination of MOS transistor, decoupling capacitor, and inductive packaging connection form a resonant circuit. During operation, the system determines if there is noise in a Vdd signal on the power rail. Based on the noise present in the Vdd signal, the system adjusts the impedance of the MOS transistor to reduce the noise in a frequency range near a frequency of interest (ωinterest) of the resonant circuit without causing an unnecessary increase in switching noise at other frequencies.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate to circuits. More specifically, embodiments of the present invention relate to the design of a variable-impedance gated decoupling cell.
2. Related Art
Recent developments in integrated circuit technologies have enabled designers to create complex integrated circuits on semiconductor chips which include both digital and analog circuitry. A "system-on-a-chip" (SOC) is one such integrated circuit, which includes different types of circuits that enable the SOC to perform a wide variety of functions. For example, SOCs can include controllers, processors, graphics and audio processors, transceivers, networking devices, communication circuits, memories, and other types of circuits. These functional capabilities enable SOCs to be used in devices such as cell phones, personal digital assistants, embedded systems, portable computers, media players, desktop computers, household electronics and appliances, device controllers, and many other devices.
Generally, SOCs (and virtually all other types of semiconductor chips) include power rails (commonly called Vdd) and ground rails (commonly called Vss), which are separately coupled from the SOC to a printed circuit board (PCB) power plane through inductive packaging connections to provide electrical power (and ground) for the SOC. On-chip decoupling capacitors are often coupled between the power and ground rails to filter out unwanted high frequency noise in the Vdd signal. (Note that we call the signal on the power rail the "Vdd signal.") Depending on the application, the decoupling capacitors can be a metal-oxide-silicon (MOS) decoupling capacitors, metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors, varactors, or other forms of decoupling capacitors. For example, FIG. 1 presents a circuit diagram of a typical MOS decoupling capacitor 100.
Unfortunately, the parallel combination of the inductive packaging connection to Vdd and on-chip decoupling capacitors creates a resonant LC circuit whose impedance can be high in a range of frequencies near a resonance frequency (ωres). Consequently, noise in the range of frequencies near ωres is not filtered from the Vdd signal. Depending on the application, this range of frequencies can include frequencies from a within a few Hz of ωres to within kHz, MHz, or GHz of ωres.
To remedy this problem, some designers have proposed placing dissipative elements, such as fixed-value resistors, in series with the decoupling capacitors. FIG. 2 presents a circuit diagram of resistor 202 in series with MOS capacitor 200. Unfortunately, while eliminating noise near ωres, this technique can reduce the efficiency of the decoupling capacitors for controlling noise in the Vdd signal in other frequency ranges. In a related development, some designers have proposed adding a MOS transistor in series with the decoupling capacitor to enable a system to disable the circuit path to the decoupling capacitor when the decoupling capacitor is not required. Unfortunately, the MOS transistors in these systems are either "ON" or "OFF," and in circumstances where the MOS transistors are ON, the system can still experience excessive noise near ωres.
Hence, what is needed is a decoupling mechanism which does not suffer from the above-described problems.

Variable-impedance gated decoupling cell


Light flux control member has first light flux control member and second light flux control member facing first light flux control member. First light flux control member and second light flux control member both have central axes which coincide with optical axis of a light emitting element. In inclined Fresnel lens of first light flux control member, the distance from troughs between annular projections to lower side step in optical axis direction is small for outer troughs, and gradually increases for troughs closer to optical axis. According to the present invention, a light flux control member which, from among the front, side, and rear, is capable of balanced distribution of light in at least two of those directions, a light emitting device, and an illumination device can be provided.

In recent years, in view of energy saving and environmental conservation, illumination apparatuses using light-emitting diodes (hereinafter also referred to as "LED") as light sources, (such as LED bulbs), have been used in place of incandescent lamps. However, the conventional illumination apparatuses using LED as a light source emit light only forward, and cannot emit light in a wide range direction unlike incandescent lamps. Therefore, the conventional illumination apparatuses cannot extensively illuminate a room by using reflected light from the ceiling or the walls unlike incandescent lamps.
To bring the light distribution characteristics of the conventional illumination apparatus using an LED as a light source close to those of incandescent lamps, it is suggested to control the distribution of light emitted from the LED with a light flux controlling member (see, e.g., PTL 1). FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a main portion illustrating the configuration of an illumination apparatus disclosed in PTL 1. As illustrated in FIG. 1, illumination apparatus 10 includes a plurality of LEDs 12 disposed on a substrate, and cylindrical case 14 made of optically transparent material disposed around LEDs 12. The top surface of case 14 is formed to have an inverted truncated cone shape.
Aluminum plate 16 that reflects light is attached to the oblique surface of the truncated cone, and serves as a reflection surface. On the other hand, the planar surface of the truncated cone serves as transmission window 18 that transmits light. As indicated by arrows in FIG. 1, a part of light emitted from LEDs 12 passes through transmission window 18 to be emitted forward (upward direction). Further, a part of the light emitted from LED 12 is reflected by aluminum plate 16 to be emitted sideward (horizontal direction) and backward (downward direction).
The control of the traveling direction of light emitted from the LEDs using a light flux controlling member in this manner makes it possible to obtain emitted light not only forward, but also sideward and backward. Accordingly, the use of the light flux controlling member (reflection surface) disclosed in PTL 1 makes it possible to bring the light distribution characteristics of the illumination apparatus (LED bulb) close to those of incandescent lamps to a certain extent.

Light flux controlling member, light emitting device and illumination apparatus


A self-furring welded wire mesh for reinforcing generally planar concrete and stucco structures is formed of a matrix of longitudinally and transversely extending wires disposed about a first common plane and welded together at their intersections. A selected plurality of the longitudinally extending wires each define a plurality of generally V-shaped spacing furrs therein extending generally perpendicular to the first plane with the bottoms of the furrs being disposed in a second plane spaced from the first plane a distance substantially equal to one-half of the predetermined thickness of the concrete panel. The spacing furrs in the selected longitudinally extending wires are located so as to be longitudinally and transversely staggered along the mesh. The spacing furrs are formed by pushing portions of the selected longitudinal wire perpendicular to the axis of the wires while holding an upstream portion thereof in a fixed disposition so as to form these without damaging or thinning the wires along the spacing furrs.

The present invention relates to metal reinforcing mesh used in generally planar concrete panels and slabs. More particularly, it relates to an improvement in such mesh that ensures the mesh will be embedded to the correct depth in the concrete panel or slab. Typically, wire mesh products comprise pluralities of smooth or deformed longitudinally and transversely extending wires forming a plurality of rectangles, squares or hexagons. The wire generally is twisted, welded or otherwise fastened together at the intersections of the longitudinal and transverse wires. Examples of such products include welded concrete reinforcing mesh, welded utility mesh and welded stucco reinforcing lath.
It is common practice in concrete reinforcing products such as rebar and welded wire mesh to add separate supports or spacing elements, also known as furring elements or spacing furrs, to the wires at several locations about the mesh in order to position the mesh during the pouring of the concrete in the panel forming process proximate the center of the cross-section of the concrete panel or slab or other generally planar concrete structure (hereinafter collectively referred to as panels). A variety of different furring elements, including small pieces of concrete, have been attached to the wires in the mesh for this purpose. While generally achieving their intended purpose, such elements add to the material cost of the panel and their securement to the wires is labor intensive, further increasing the cost of construction.
In an effort to reduce costs, wire mesh has been developed in which the individual wires themselves define spacing furrs at uniformly spaced intervals along the vertical or transverse wires that extend across the lathing material between pairs of longitudinally or horizontally extending wires. The spacing furrs were formed by bending the transverse wires such that they defined generally U-shaped troughs spaced apart between the longitudinally extending wires. In use, the bases or flat bottoms of the troughs collectively provided support for the wire mesh and spaced the remainder of the transverse wires and the non-deformed longitudinal wires, which are welded thereto, at a predetermined elevation above the collective bases of the spacing furrs, thereby effectively elevating the level of the majority of the mesh above the bases of the furrs. Thus, when the concrete is poured over the wires, the majority of the mesh will be approximately centered in the resultant panel. Such a configuration is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,287,356.
While the above-described mesh configuration does eliminate the need for separate supporting or furring elements, the bending of the wire to form the generally U-shaped spacing furrs thins the wire along the bends formed therein and in so doing, weakens the structural integrity of the individual wires along their deformed portions. The bending and resultant thinning of the wires also further weakens the overall mesh structure due to the longitudinal alignment of the deformations (spacing furrs) in the vertical strands that is commonly employed in this type of reinforcing mesh to facilitate construction. The mesh of the present invention and its method of manufacture obviates these shortcomings in the prior art. The mesh of the present invention also would be suitable for stucco reinforcing wherein the mesh also should be centered in the stucco.


A support shaft is received in a socket for relative rotation. A first hollow space penetrates through the support shaft. A first hollow member extends in a first direction from the tip end of the support shaft. The first hollow member defines a second hollow space extending in the first direction. The second hollow space receives a rotation shaft. A second hollow member extends in a second direction opposite to the first direction from the tip end of the support shaft. The second hollow member defines a third hollow space extending in the second direction from the tip end of the first hollow space. The electronic apparatus allows penetration of the wire through the first and third hollow spaces. No additional space is required around the second hollow member for locating the wire. The electronic apparatus is thus allowed to enjoy a reduced size or volume.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic apparatus such as a cellular or mobile phone terminal. In particular, the invention relates to a cellular phone terminal of a so-called flip or clamshell type.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A cellular or mobile phone terminal of a so-called clamshell type is well known. The cellular phone terminal of the type includes a main enclosure exposing ten keys at the front surface. A display enclosure is coupled to the main enclosure for rotation around a rotation shaft parallel to the front surface of the main enclosure. The display enclosure is superposed on the front surface of the main enclosure through the rotation around the rotation shaft.
A support shaft is fixed to the main enclosure. The support shaft stands upright from the front surface of the main enclosure. An annular member is coupled to the support shaft for relative rotation. The annular member is designed to receive the aforementioned rotation shaft. The rotation shaft is thus allowed to rotate around the support shaft. The display enclosure may oppose the screen of the display panel to the front surface of the main enclosure, or may alternatively expose the screen of the display panel outside, when the display enclosure is superposed on the front surface of the main enclosure.
For example, the display panel within the display enclosure should be connected to a printed circuit board within the main enclosure through wiring. A hollow space is defined within the support shaft so as to penetrate through the support shaft along the longitudinal axis. Likewise, a hollow space is defined within the rotation shaft so as to penetrate through the rotation shaft along the longitudinal axis. Wires run through the hollow spaces one after another. Accordingly, an additional space must be kept around the rotation shaft for accommodating the wires.

Bi-axial swivel mechanism in electronic apparatus


Some aspects of this disclosure provide compositions, methods, systems, and kits for controlling the activity and/or improving the specificity of RNA-programmable proteins, such as Cas9. For example, provided are guide RNAs (gRNAs) that are engineered to exist in an “on” or “off” state, which control the binding and, in certain instances, cleavage activity of RNA-programmable proteins (e.g., RNA-programmable endonucleases). By incorporating ligand-responsive self-cleaving catalytic RNAs (aptazymes) into guide RNAs, a set of aptazyme-embedded guide RNAs was developed that enable small molecule-controlled nuclease-mediated genome editing and small molecule-controlled base editing, as well as small molecule-dependent transcriptional activation in mammalian cells.

Programmable sequence-specific genome editing agents such as CRISPR-Cas9 have greatly advanced our ability to manipulate the human genome. Although canonical forms of genome editing agents and programmable transcriptional regulators are constitutively active, precise temporal and spatial control over genome editing and transcriptional regulation activities would enable the more selective and potentially safer use of these powerful technologies.

Aptazyme-embedded guide RNAs for use with CRISPR-Cas9 in genome editing and transcriptional activation

President and Fellows of Harvard College


A facsimile apparatus can properly detect whether or not the facsimile apparatus is connected to a line. The facsimile apparatus comprises a network control device formed of a semiconductor DAA device having a primary line control part driven by a local power supply and a secondary serial interface circuit communicating with said primary line control part through a photocoupler and a local power supply detecting part detecting a local power supply to said primary line control part. As a result, it is possible to detect whether or not the facsimile apparatus is connected to the line.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to facsimile apparatuses, and more particularly to a facsimile apparatus that can detect a connection of a signal line to a modular jack for a telephone line.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a facsimile apparatus cannot send and receive data when a line has no physical connection. If it is examined whether or not the facsimile apparatus is connected to the line by performing a hookup operation, the hookup operation is considered to be useless in that such a hookup operation is not used for its intrinsic purpose. Thus, communication service providers rarely allow a user to hook up the telephone line in order to examine the connection condition of the facsimile apparatus to the telephone line.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2001-16532 discloses a facsimile apparatus that can detect whether or not the facsimile apparatus is connected with a telephone line without any hookup operation by providing a detection circuit to detect a voltage applied to the telephone line.
In such a conventional facsimile apparatus, however, it is necessary to prepare a separate circuit to detect the voltage. In addition, if a calling signal is sent to the facsimile apparatus while the detection operation is being executed, it is difficult for the facsimile apparatus to find the calling signal.

Facsimile apparatus capable of detecting a line connection


A field effect transistor with a fin structure having a first and a second source/drain region; a body region formed within the fin structure and between the first and the second source/drain region; a metallically conductive region formed within a part of the first source/drain region, the metallically conductive region being adjacent to the body region or to a lightly doped region disposed between the body region and the first source/drain region; and a current ballasting region formed within a part of the second source/drain region.

Fin field effect transistor (FinFET) devices or multi-gate field effect transistor (MuGFET) devices are expected to be used in the future due to the limited capability of down-scaling of bulk CMOS technologies (CMOS: complementary metal oxide semiconductor). These MuGFET devices are typically designed for high-speed logic core applications featuring low supply voltages (e.g. 0.8 V to 1.2 V). In order to keep the process complexity low, FinFET or MuGFET devices with high ESD robustness (ESD: electrostatic discharge), e.g. for the typically higher IO supply voltages (e.g. 1.5 V to 2.5 V and higher), are needed without adding additional process steps.

Field effect transistor with a fin structure


A printer performs a partial multi-pass printing including an (a)-print process and a (b)-print process. The (a)-print process includes an (a1)-pass process and a (a2)-pass process executed between the (a1)-pass process and the (b)-print process. The (a2)-pass process is a last pass process executed in the (a)-print process. Active nozzles used in the (a1)-pass process and the (a2)-pass process include an upstream segment and a downstream segment, an intermediate segment between the upstream segment and the downstream segment. Dot recording rates of active nozzles included in the upstream segment used in the (a2)-pass process decreases toward the most-upstream nozzle of the active nozzles. The upstream segment of the (a2)-pass process has a length in a conveying direction smaller than a length of an upstream segment of active nozzles used in the (a1)-pass process.

A printer known in the art performs a printing operation by ejecting ink from a plurality of nozzles formed in a print head onto a sheet of paper while executing a main scan to move the print head in a main scanning direction. In one main scan, this printer forms dots in ink within a band-like area. A technique for overlapping the edge portions of two neighboring bands has been proposed in order to avoid producing white lines and uneven densities at the border between the bands. Another technique was proposed for modifying the dot recording rates for nozzles based on the nozzle positions in the paper-conveying direction. In this technique, the device sets the recording rate to the maximum value for nozzles positioned near the center in the conveying direction and reduces the recording rate for nozzles to a larger degree the closer they are positioned near the ends of the nozzle rows in the conveying direction. Further, a technique was proposed to reduce the number of nozzles used in one main scan (i.e., to decrease the width of the band) on the leading and trailing edges of the sheet with the knowledge that dot positioning precision is more unstable when printing the leading and trailing edges of sheets.

Printer and computer-readable storage medium for executing partial multi-pass printing


A method for providing telematics unit information includes generating an awareness message at a telematics unit, the awareness message including a subscriber status wherein the subscriber status includes location and state information, assigning a current value to the subscriber status, and sending the awareness message with the current value from the telematics unit to a telematics call center. A computer usable medium with suitable computer program code is employed for providing telematics unit information.

Telematics units enable a service provider to remotely connect to the telematics unit without a service subscriber being in the vehicle in order to provide services, such as a door unlock service. To determine the telematics unit identification number, the state of the telematics unit and the location of the vehicle, service providers rely on verbal information provided by a subscriber, such as that they are not in the vehicle and the keys are locked inside.
To conserve battery power a sleep cycle is used where the telematics unit cycles between a powered on and powered off state for a period of time. The service provider does not have the ability to determine the current state of the telematics unit, without issuing a request and waiting for a response. If a service is requested by a subscriber, the service provider transmits the service to the telematics unit and waits for the telematics unit to acknowledge the service. For example, if a door unlock service is requested, the service provider does not know whether the telematics unit is on or off and therefore cannot supply the subscriber with an exact time that the door will unlock.
In addition, location information is not readily discernable by the service provider thereby limiting the ability of the service provider to supply location based services. Location based services include weather alerts, traffic reports and vehicle tracking.
Various protocols can be used for communication between the service provider and the telematics unit. One such protocol is the session initiation protocol (SIP). SIP is a text-based peer-to-peer protocol that facilitates the formation, modification, and execution of communication sessions between two or more participants also referred to as user agents. The user agent can be a personal computer, landline Internet-protocol telephony telephone system, an automation component such as a voicemail server, or a communication device such as a telematics unit. Interactions include peer-to-peer and multipoint communications.
Each user agent is identified by an address, referred to as the SIP uniform resource indicator or SIP URI that simulates an email address and is used for identification and location purposes. The SIP URI contains a userinfo field and a domain field. A user parameter is used to identify the userinfo field as a phone number or an IP address. This SIP URI specifies the user agent's address and location on the network but does not provide information relating to the geographic location of the SIP user agent, nor does it provide information relating to the availability of the user agent as indicated by the operational status of the SIP user agent. Without this information, the level of service that can be supplied by the service provider is limited.
A session initiation protocol (SIP) network is composed of five types of logical SIP entities including a user agent, a proxy server, a redirect server, a registrar server, a back-to-back user agent. Each entity has specific functions and participates in SIP communication as a client (initiates requests), as a server (responds to requests), or as both. The SIP specification is provided by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) in RFC 3261 which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
SIP has a limited library of requests. The library includes INVITE, REGISTER, BYE, INFO, OPTIONS, and MESSAGE.
It is therefore desirable to provide a method and system for providing telematics unit information that overcomes the limitations, challenges, and obstacles described above.

Method and system for providing telematics unit information


According to an aspect, an information display device includes a display unit, a visual line detector, and a control unit. The display unit displays information in a scroll region, which is provided in at least a part of a screen of the display unit, while scrolling the information. The visual line detector detects a visual line position of an operator with respect to the scroll region. The control unit controls a scroll speed, at which the information is scrolled in the scroll region, based on the visual line position detected by the visual line detector.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an information display device that displays an image including characters, signs, and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the progressing information society, information display devices, such as a mobile phone, which include a display unit, quickly become widespread, and users of a wide age group use the information display devices. There is a display method for scrolling information in one direction as a method for displaying an image of the information display device. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-193535 discloses a device that sets a scroll speed based on what operation for another function is made by a user when the information is displayed while scrolled.
Because a speed at which the user reads and recognizes the information depends on the user, the displayed information can easily read by adjusting the scroll speed (display feed speed) like the device disclosed in JP-A No. 2008-193535.
However, the speed at which the user reads and recognizes the information depends on the information displaying method. The speed also changes according to the amount of displayed information or a state in which the user reads the information. Therefore, sometimes the proper display speed is not obtained even if the information is scrolled at the scroll speed calculated based on an operation speed of an input by a user in other functions, such as a mail function and a browser function. In the case of the improper scroll speed, the user hardly reads and recognizes the displayed information.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for an information display device and a scroll control method that allow a user to read and recognize the displayed information easily.

Automatic scrolling speed control by tracking user's eye


A width-adjustable sheet tray includes a sheet supporting part, left and right rollers, a ring-shaped flexible transmission component, and left and right guiding components. The supporting part has left and right guiding slots. The left and right rollers are attached to a backside of the supporting part. A line connecting rotation centers of the left and right rollers is defined as a central line. The transmission component surrounds the left roller and the right roller and includes first and second portions on opposite sides of the central line. The left guiding component passing through the left guiding slot is fixed to the first portion. The right guiding component passing through the right guiding slot is fixed to the second portion. Thus, the left and right guiding components can be moved close to and away from each other through the transmission component so as to hold and guide the sheets.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a width-adjustable sheet tray, and more particularly to a width-adjustable sheet tray with a minimized sheet holding width using a belt to adjust the width.
2. Description of the Related Art
Automatic document feeders are widely used in scanners, printers and multi-function peripherals. The sheets to be placed in the automatic document feeder are typically determined by a user. So, the automatic document feeder is usually equipped with a left guiding component and a right guiding component for holding and guiding the sheets such that the user can manually make an adjustment according to the width of the sheet and the skew of the sheet being fed may be avoided.
The sheet width adjusting mechanism of a conventional automatic document feeder is usually composed of a gear and two racks, which are located at two sides of the gear and engage with the gear. When the user moves the left guiding component, the gear is rotated to move the right guiding component. Thus, the left guiding component and the right guiding component may be moved close to or away from each other synchronously.
The minimum width of the sheet that can be held and guided by the sheet width adjusting mechanism is restricted by the structures of the gear, the left guiding component and the right guiding component. Thus, the sheet, such as a long invoice having the width smaller than the minimum width, cannot be held and guided by the left guiding component and the right guiding component.
In addition, because the rack needs an elastic rib to press against the sliding slot, the rack does not pertain to the standard element, and the manufacturer has to additionally order the racks satisfying the requirement, and the manufacturing cost cannot be reduced.


A carton for a group of bottles arranged in rows is of substantially tubular structure comprising a bottom panel (18), a first side panel (16), a top panel (14), a second side wall panel (12) and end closure panels for at least partially closing the ends of the carton. The carton has an access means, integrally formed in the carton walls and is defined by a weakened line of severance (3). The access means provides a means for accessing the bottles contained within the carton while providing means for retaining the articles to prevent them from being inadvertently dislodged. The access means being formed so that the carton can be oriented to sit on either its bottom panel or the second side panel while articles are accessed via an opening in the first side wall panel.

Cartons for encasing multiple articles are useful for enabling consumers to obtain and transport a desired quantity of individual articles such as soft drinks or other beverages. When such a multiple-pack of articles is obtained, a consumer often requires removal of the articles individually. Thus it can be appreciated that a carton with a dispensing feature that facilitates the removal of a single article from the carton at a time would be desirable.
Cartons designed for dispensing beverage cans one at a time are known in the art. Often the cans are packaged in two rows and disposed upon their sides in rolling contact with the bottom of the carton. This may not be a suitable orientation if the articles contained were more fragile, such as glass bottles, and the cartons needed to be stacked on top of each other.
State of the art cartons have dispensers which allow only one or two of the cans contained within the carton to be accessed by the user at a time. However it may sometimes be desirable to have a choice of which article to dispense, if, for example, the carton were to contain a variety of different flavoured products.
Dispensing features on cartons for containing cans, often employ the can's ability to roll, to assist their removal. This kind of dispensing feature would not work with articles that were not cylindrical, for example, rectangular juice cartons. Thus it can be appreciated that a carton for encasing, carrying and dispensing asymmetric articles, such as bottles would be desirable.
It would be problematic for articles to be dispensed undesirably from the carton, especially if such articles were made from an easily breakable material such as glass. Thus it can be appreciated that it would be desirable to have a carton with a dispenser suitable for safely carrying and dispensing bottles.


Disclosed is a panel assembling process concerning a suitable pattern of seal material interposed between facing substrates which is designed for adopting a liquid crystal injection method. The seal material has two groups. The first group is formed to provide an internal space to be filled with the liquid crystal for display area. The second group is formed around the first group to reinforce it during a panel cutting process. The second group as reinforcing members is arranged such that air within the internal space can be easily discharged via a short air outlet route between a peripheral end of the panel and an injection inlet formed in the first group as a seal member. Particularly, an air outlet forming member connected to an injection inlet of the seal member is elongated to the peripheral end of the panel, and an air outlet auxiliary member constituting an air outlet is formed within the air outlet forming member to prevent deformation of the air outlet.

FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B are schematic drawings for illustrating a manufacturing method of liquid crystal display panels with a plurality of reinforcing members for panel-cutting process prior to a liquid crystal injection process according to a related art, where FIG. 1A is a plan view, and FIG. 1B is a cross-sectional view taken along line I—I shown in FIG. 1A.
Referring to FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B, a sealing member 3 and auxiliary members 13 as reinforcement members are arranged between a lower substrate 1 having pixel electrodes and an upper substrate 2 having color filter. The sealing member 3 has a frame-shaped pattern with a pair of injection inlets 6 to provide an internal space 5 to be filled with liquid crystal material through the inlets 6. The auxiliary members 13 are designed to have L-shaped pattern or square-bracket pattern for preventing the deformation of the sealing member 3 during the panel-cutting process. These members 3 and 13 are formed on either one of the substrates 1 and 2 by screen-printing such resin as epoxy resin prior to a panel alignment process including a lamination process and heating process for curing the resin.
Following the panel alignment process, the two substrates 1 and 2 are cut off along a first cut line 21, indicated by a two-dot chain line, whereby unnecessary peripheral portions including the auxiliary members 13 are severed from a display region.
Additionally, if necessary, one substrate can be cut off along a second cut line 22, indicated by a one-dot chain line to provide a open space allowing easy connecting process between the panel terminals and external connecting leads such as a flat cable.
A panel thus formed is placed into a vacuum chamber, and liquid crystal is injected into the internal space 5 through the injection inlets 6. After the liquid crystal is injected into the internal space 5, the injection inlets 6 are sealed by a sealing material such as epoxy resin.
During the panel assembly process, the auxiliary members 13 act to prevent the seal member from being deformed when the panel is cut, and also function as reinforcements for maintaining the panel gap at a constant level.
In the panel cutting process, cut line is scribed on the surface of the panel along the cut line 21 positioned between the seal member 3 and the auxiliary members 13, and then pressure is applied to the panel to sever the peripheral region of the panel from the seal member 3. Since the auxiliary members 13 act as reinforcements to the seal member 3 to support the two substrates, the auxiliary members act to lessen the deformation force applied to the seal member 3.
As mentioned above, a plurality of auxiliary members 13 are employed to prevent deformation of the seal members 3 during the panel-cutting process. As such, the seal member 3 is surrounded by the square-bracket-shaped auxiliary members 13, each having approximately the same length as the area forming the internal space 5. Subsequently, in the aligning process of the lower and upper substrates land 2, which is performed under low pressure and high temperature conditions, the route for thermally expanded air in the internal space 5 to flow out to the panel edge 7 is long, and thus prevents air within the internal space 5 to be released easily. As a result, pressure difference is generated between the inside and outside of the internal space 5, thereby causing the cell gap (G) to be enlarged, and cause damage or deformation to the seal member 3.

Method for manufacturing liquid crystal display panel using an auxiliary air outlet


A single mounting device is provided for each trolley riser for use with a set of shims in order to accurately align and secure a clamp to a datum. In another aspect, a generally polyhedron-shaped clamp body is used with a mounting plate to secure a clamp in different orientations relative to a manufacturing plant locator.

The invention generally pertains to a workpiece retaining clamp and more particularly to a clamp mounting system.
Various locking pin clamps have been used for vehicular assembly. Exemplary conventional constructions are disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. No. 8,001,673 entitled "Clamping Device for Vehicle Body Transfer Cart" which issued to Hur on Aug. 23, 2011; U.S. Pat. No. 7,469,473 entitled "Assembly Line Vehicle Body Positioning" which issued to Savoy on Dec. 30, 2008; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,687,971 entitled "Vehicle Body Transfer Machine and Method Thereof" which issued to Nakamura on Feb. 10, 2004. Another tradition example is disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2012/0030924 entitled "Vehicular Body Assembly Locking Apparatus and Method" which published to Kilibarda et al. on Feb. 9, 2012. These patents and application are all incorporated by reference herein. Conventional mounting and alignment of such clamps is time consuming and expensive. For example, many additional mounting brackets and fasteners are employed to orient conventional clamps relative to risers, pillars or locators. Furthermore, these traditional clamps are often difficult to place in differing orientations relative to the riser. Since many pin clamps are used on each assembly plant trolley or moving pallet, these extra mounting brackets collectively add considerable weight, part cost and set up time.
In accordance with the present invention, a single mounting device is provided for each trolley riser for use with a set of shims in order to accurately align and secure a clamp to a datum. In another aspect, a generally polyhedron-shaped clamp body is used with a mounting plate to secure a clamp in different orientations relative to a manufacturing plant locator. Still another aspect provides a blade extension and mounting plate attachment between a cylindrically shaped clamp housing and a datum. A reconfigurable extension kit is also employed with a pin clamp. Moreover, a method of assembling a clamp to a trolley is disclosed.
The present clamp mounting system is advantageous over conventional approaches since the present system does not require additional mounting brackets. Furthermore, the single mounting plate per structural riser allows for side or bottom mounting along vertical or horizontal datum surfaces. Additionally, the present system advantageously tightly fastens the clamp assembly against the mounting plate side walls with a single diagonal fastener, with optional shims in between. The generally symmetrical design of the clamp body allows for different clamp orientations relative to the mounting plate and structural datum, which provides for greater locational flexibility and reduced obstruction for optical sensing and workpieces during clamp alignment and clamping usage. Moreover, the present clamp mounting system reduces part costs, part weight and assembly time. Additional advantages and features of the present invention can be ascertained from the following description and claims as well as the appended drawings.


A system may include multiple electronic devices. A first device such as a source electronic device may supply visual content for displaying by a display in a second electronic device such as a display electronic device. The display electronic device may be a television or other device with a display. Calibration operations may be performed by taking light measurements on light produced by the display when test content is provided from the first device to the second device. A third electronic device in the system such as a portable electronic device with an ambient light sensor may make measurement on the light from the display while the test content is being displayed. The test content may contain a test image target with time-varying color and time-varying intensity, allowing calibration information such as gamma curves to be obtained on the display.

Electronic devices such as televisions are used to display movies and other content for a user. Some televisions are provide with content from external sources such as media player boxes. Televisions are often used with factory settings, which can lead to undesired color casts and other undesired characteristics for displayed content. If care is not taken, content from an external source will be adversely affected by a television's settings.


The invention relates to a method for improving energy efficiency in a lighting system having at least one light source (3), wherein the light source (3) can be connected to an external electrical energy source, for example the grid, for power supply purposes via an operating device (2). In order to avoid standby losses which arise when the operating device (2) needs to be connected to the grid even in the inactive state in order to generate the necessary runup energy for a semiconductor IC (8) when a switch-on command arrives via the bus, it is proposed that additional electrical energy is recovered from the light from the light source (3) which is not used for lighting purposes or from the direct or indirect light from neighbouring luminaires (2); or from the ambient light by means of photovoltaic energy conversion and is supplied to the operating device as runup energy for the semiconductor IC (8). In this way, the operating device (2) can be isolated from the grid at least during the inactive state.

The light sources used in lighting systems, for example gas discharge lamps or LEDs, are supplied the appropriate operating voltage or appropriate operating current via operating devices. The operating devices generate the operating voltage or the current from the AC grid or from a DC voltage source. In order to be able to switch on or switch off and dim the light sources separately, the individual operating devices are controllable from a control center via a bus. Each operating device often contains at least one control IC, which, in addition to the control, is also responsible for the communication with the control center and with external sensors etc. Active semiconductor ICs operate on a low voltage of a few volts. This low voltage is often drawn from clocked units during steady-state operation. Before these clocked units can operate properly, a so-called "runup voltage" needs to be present which enables, for example, the startup of the control IC in the operating device, which the result that said control IC can then actuate the clocked units, for example. In order to always provide a runup voltage for the control ICs, the operating devices in bus-controlled lighting systems have until now also been connected to the AC grid in the inactive state, i.e. when the light sources to be supplied by said operating devices are switched off (when the runup energy is recovered by a so-called runup resistor, for example, with the result that corresponding standby losses arise.


A materialized view created by a materialized view management platform may be replicated across many different target systems. The materialized view management platform allows users to specify different target systems. To create the materialized view in the different target systems, the materialized view management platform can translate the materialized view into different formats in order to store the materialized view in the different formats. Updates to the different instances of the materialized view are then made to keep the different materialized view formats in the different target systems up-to-date.

As the technological capacity for organizations to create, track, and retain information continues to grow, a variety of different technologies for managing and storing the rising tide of information have been developed. Database systems, for example, provide clients with many different specialized or customized configurations of hardware and software to manage stored information. However, the increasing amounts of data that organizations must store and manage often correspondingly increases both the number, size and complexity of data storage and management technologies that are used to perform various operations and services, such as utilizing the features of database systems, object stores, and data streams, which in turn escalate the cost of maintaining the information. Moreover, as different data storage technologies offer different performance benefits and features, tailoring the location of data to a data storage technology that provides performance and analysis benefits for that data may result in different data sets being spread across many different locations and types of storage systems. While utilizing such a deployment strategy for individual data sets offers some benefit to the individual data sets, some systems or applications may need access to multiple different data sets in order to operate, which can be challenging given the various interfaces, languages, and other technological hurdles that occur when accessing multiple data storage systems. Thus, techniques that can obtain and co-locate data from disparate data storage systems for systems or applications that use data from the disparate storage systems, without removing the data from their optimized source storage locations, may be highly desirable.

Replicating materialized views across heterogeneous target systems


A check valve actuator has a body, a sliding seat, a drive shaft, a spring assembly and a knob. The body has a mounting collar, a convex ridge, an internal cavity and a through hole. The mounting collar is formed on the front end of the body and has an internal surface. The internal cavity is formed inside the body. The through hole communicates with the internal cavity. The sliding seat is mounted slidably against the internal surface of the internal cavity and has an annular seat. The drive shaft is extends through the internal cavity and the through hole in the body. The spring assembly is pressed between the closed rear wall of the internal cavity and the annular seat and the drive shaft. The knob is attached to the drive shaft at the rear end of the body.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a check valve actuator and more particularly to a check valve actuator that quickly and safely opens a check valve to allow as substance under pressure such as natural gas to flow through the check valve.
2. Description of Related Art
With reference to FIG. 5, a conventional check valve actuator (70) is tubular and has a body (71), a drive shaft (72), a pushrod (73), a discharge fitting (74), a knob (75) and a mounting collar (76).
The body (71) is hollow and has a front end, a rear end, a top, an internal cavity and a discharge port. The discharge port is formed in the top of the body (71) and communicates with the internal cavity.
The drive shaft (72) extends rotatably through the internal cavity from the rear end to the front end of the body (71) and has an outer end, an inner end and an external thread. The external thread is formed around the outer end of the drive shaft (72).
The pushrod (73) is connected to the inner end of the drive shaft (72), selectively protrudes from the front end of the body (71) to press a check valve disk away from a corresponding check valve seat to open the check valve and has an outer end and an inner end. The outer end of the pushrod (73) is attached to the inner end of the drive shaft (72) inside the body (71).
The discharge fitting (74) is tubular and is mounted in the discharge port in the body (71).
The knob (75) is mounted on the outer end of the drive shaft (72) near the rear end of the body (71), selectively extends or retracts the drive shaft (72) from the front end of the body (71) and has a center and a threaded hole. The threaded hole is formed in the center of the knob (75) and screws onto the external thread on the drive shaft (72). When the knob (75) is turned to extend the drive shaft (72), the pushrod (73) presses the check valve disk away from the check valve seat and allow a substance to flow through the check valve and the internal cavity of the body (71) and discharge fitting (74) of the conventional check valve actuator (70). When the knob (75) is turned to retract the drive shaft (72), the pushrod (73) pulls away from the check valve disk, and the check valve closes and stops the substance from flowing.
The mounting collar (76) is cylindrical, is attached to and protrudes longitudinally from the front end of the body (71) around the pushrod (73) and is mounted around a discharge port on a check valve.
However, the check valve actuator (70) has the following defects and shortcomings.
1. To keep the substance from leaking to the atmosphere, the knob (75) must be turned many times to extend and retract the pushrod (73), and this is time-consuming and trouble.
2. The pushrod (73) striking the disk may damage the check valve.


When a driver manipulates a fuel filler lid switch, a tank shutoff valve is opened. Then, time t is calculated, and then, remaining time, obtained by subtracting elapsed time from the time t, is presented on a display device. If the fuel filler lid switch is manipulated again, the tank shutoff valve is closed to seal a fuel tank, and a message to the effect that opening action of the fuel filler lid is cancelled is presented on the display device. If the time t has elapsed without the fuel filler lid switch being manipulated again, the fuel filler lid is opened, determining that internal pressure in the fuel tank has decreased to a level predetermined to ensure that the fuel tank can be filled safely without fuel or fuel evaporative gas spouting from the fuel tank.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel storage system, and specifically, control of action of a fuel filler lid for a sealed fuel tank.
Description of the Related Art
In a prior-art technique to prevent fuel evaporative gas, produced within a fuel tank, from being emitted to the atmosphere, a sealing valve (tank shutoff valve) is fitted to a passage connecting a fuel tank to a canister to seal the fuel tank, and at the time of filling the fuel tank, the sealing valve is opened to allow fuel evaporative gas to flow from the fuel tank into the canister and become adsorbed within the canister.
When the fuel tank is sealed by the sealing valve as in the aforementioned system, an increase in ambient air temperature may lead to a high pressure in the fuel tank because of more fuel evaporating within the fuel tank, which may lead to fuel evaporative gas being emitted to the atmosphere at the time of opening the fuel filler lid to fill the fuel tank.
To prevent fuel evaporative gas from being emitted to the atmosphere at the time of filling the fuel tank, the sealing valve is opened upon detecting a driver's manipulation for opening the fuel filler lid, before the fuel filler lid is opened, to allow fuel evaporative gas to flow from the fuel tank into the canister, thereby decreasing the pressure in the fuel tank to a sufficiently low level in advance, and then, the fuel filler lid is opened (JP 2005-262905 A).
In the fuel storage system disclosed in the aforementioned publication, when the driver performs manipulation for opening the fuel filler lid, the pressure in the fuel tank is decreased and then the fuel filler lid is opened.
This means that in the fuel storage system disclosed in publication 1, once the driver performs manipulation for opening the fuel filler lid, the fuel filler lid is not opened until the pressure in the fuel tank decreases to a predetermined level.
For example, when washing a vehicle, if the pressure in the fuel tank is high, the fuel filler lid is opened to wipe moisture from the inner side of the fuel filler lid. In such case, if the pressure in the fuel tank is not easily relieved, it takes long time to decrease the pressure in fuel tank to a desired level, and thus, it takes long time until the fuel filler lid can be opened.
The driver's having to wait for a long time until the fuel filler lid is opened is inconvenient and undesirable.

MITSUBISHI JIDOSHA KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA


Systems and methods to monitor for false alarms from ionosphere gradient monitors are provided. In one embodiment, a method for mitigating false gradient alarms in a satellite navigation Ground Based Augmentation System (GBAS) ground station comprising a plurality of satellite navigation system reference receivers comprises: generating an alarm signal with an ionosphere gradient monitor (IGM) at the GBAS ground station; determining whether the alarm signal is a false alarm based on data derived from carrier phase measurements received from the plurality of satellite navigation system reference receivers; and blocking the alarm signal for at least a first duration of time based on the determining.

Ground based global navigation satellite augmentation systems may be required to employ Ionosphere Gradient Monitors (IGMs) at their ground stations to identify delay gradients caused by extreme changes in the electron density of the ionosphere. An example of one such IGM is described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,094,064 entitled "Ground-Based System and Method to Monitor For Excessive Delay Gradients", herein incorporated by reference in its entirety and referred to herein as the "'064 patent". In summary the IGM produces an alert signal or exclusion command telling the ground station to stop using or exclude a certain navigation satellite when the IGM detects that satellite exceeded a threshold.
One problem that exists is that other environmental conditions can sometimes trip an IGM causing excessive alerts in the form of false IGM alarms. For example, in some locations heat-induced tropospheric turbulence in the proximity of a ground station can interfere with a reference receiver, causing a false IGM alarm. False IGM alarms cause the ground station to exclude a satellite even though the satellite signal is still usable.
For the reasons stated above and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the specification, there is a need in the art for improved systems and methods to monitor for false alarms from ionosphere gradient monitors.


A quick connector coupling for making a severable connection with a male member in a fluid line includes a connector body having a through bore for receiving the male member having a tubular shape sized to extend into the through bore of the connector body, a retainer releasably securing the male member within the connector body, and a verifier including at least one arm extending outside the connector body. Further, the verifier is coupled to the connector body and is moved to a latched position from an unlatched position when the male member is securely connected with the connector body. The connector body includes at least one verification element, which is at least partially covered by the at least one arm extending from the verifier in the unlatched position. The verification element of the connector body is uncovered and readable when the verifier is moved to the latched position.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Quick connectors are well-known devices in the automotive and other fields, and connector assemblies that allow for convenient, quick, fluid-tight connections between two or more pipes, tubes, or similar components. The quick connectors are commonly used to connect tubing used in engine cooling circuits or, more recently, in cooling circuits used to cool batteries of electric or hybrid vehicles. The quick connector assemblies generally include a male member such as a pipe or tube received and sealingly retained in a female connector body of the quick connector, and are used to provide a fluid connection between two components or conduits, thus establishing a fluid line between the two components.
Use of quick connector for securing the male member and the female connector body is advantageous in that a sealed and secured fluid line may be established with a minimum amount of time and expense. Such quick connector assemblies are very useful, for example, in the fluid line systems of internal combustion engine in a vehicle and also in the cooling circuits of the vehicle including the electric or hybrid vehicles. Furthermore, the reliable and secure quick connector couplings can be used in a brake line system, a fuel line system, a coolant line system, and other conduit systems.
We have discovered that many conventional quick connectors suffer from numerous drawbacks associated with locking together the components to be connected, resulting in failed connections, depressurizations, leaks, etc. To effectively assemble the sealed and secured fluid line, a number of methods and mechanisms for the quick connector are continuously developed and used in various fluid line systems.


Genes isolated from Methylomonas sp. 16a have been determined to play a role in the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway. Specifically, crtN2 gene has the ability to produce omega-aldehyde functional groups on carotenogenic substrates, while the ald gene produced omega carboxyl functional groups. These genes will be useful for production of high levels of functionalized carotenoid compounds, especially those produced in microorganisms which metabolize single carbon substrates.

Carotenoids represent one of the most widely distributed and structurally diverse classes of natural pigments, producing pigment colors of light yellow to orange to deep red. Eye-catching examples of carotenogenic tissues include carrots, tomatoes, red peppers, and the petals of daffodils and marigolds. Carotenoids are synthesized by all photosynthetic organisms, as well as some bacteria and fungi. These pigments have important functions in photosynthesis, nutrition, and protection against photooxidative damage. For example, animals do not have the ability to synthesize carotenoids but must instead obtain these nutritionally important compounds through their dietary sources.
Industrially, only a few carotenoids are used for food colors, animal feeds, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics, despite the existence of more than 600 different carotenoids identified in nature. This is largely due to difficulties in production. Presently, most of the carotenoids used for industrial purposes are produced by chemical synthesis; however, these compounds are very difficult to make chemically (Nelis and Leenheer, Appl. Bacteriol. 70:181–191 (1991)). Natural carotenoids can either be obtained by extraction of plant material or by microbial synthesis, but only a few plants are widely used for commercial carotenoid production and the productivity of carotenoid synthesis in these plants is relatively low. As a result, carotenoids produced from these plants are very expensive.
Structurally, the most common carotenoids are 40-carbon (C40) terpenoids; however, carotenoids with only 30 carbon atoms (C30; diapocarotenoids) are detected in some species. Biosynthesis of each of these types of carotenoids are derived from the isoprene biosynthetic pathway and its five-carbon universal isoprene building block, isopentenyl pyrophosphate (IPP). This biosynthetic pathway can be divided into two portions: 1) the upper isoprenoid pathway, which leads to the formation of farnesyl pyrophosphate (FPP); and 2) the lower carotenoid biosynthetic pathway, comprising various crt genes which convert FPP into long C30 and C40 carotenogenic compounds characterized by a long central chain of conjugated double bonds. It is the degree of the carbon backbone's unsaturation, conjugation and isomerization that determines the specific carotenoids' unique absorption characteristics and colors.
Various other crt genes are known, which enable the intramolecular conversion of linear C30 and C40 compounds to produce numerous other functionalized carotenoid compounds by: (i) hydrogenation, (ii) dehydrogenation, (iii) cyclization, (iv) oxidation, (v) esterification/glycosylation, or any combination of these processes.
Finally, Halobacterium cutirubrum is known to produce both C40 and C50 carotenoids, as well as a C30 diapophytoene (Kushwaha, S. C., et al., Biochim. Biophys. Acta. 260: 492–506 (1972)). Other desaturases are likely to soon be developed in laboratories through mutational techniques, to create completely novel carotenoid pathways, up to C80. These large carotenoids can potentially undergo many desaturation steps and generate large chromophores for purple or blue-purple pigmentation. Such novel carotenoids have potential applications as strong antioxidants or colorants for foods and cosmetics.
The genetics of C40 carotenoid pigment biosynthesis has been extremely well studied in the Gram-negative pigmented bacteria of the genera Pantoea, formerly known as Erwinia. In both E. herbicola EHO-10 (ATCC 39368) and E. uredovora 20D3 (ATCC 19321), the crt genes are clustered in two genetic units, crt Z and crt EXYIB (U.S. Pat. No. 5,656,472; U.S. Pat. No. 5,545,816; U.S. Pat. No. 5,530,189; U.S. Pat. No. 5,530,188; U.S. Pat. No. 5,429,939). These genes have subsequently been sequenced and identified in a suite of other species of bacterial, fungal, plant and animal origin. Several reviews discuss the genetics of carotenoid pigment biosynthesis, such as those of Armstrong (J. Bact. 176: 4795–4802 (1994); Annu. Rev. Microbiol. 51:629–659 (1997)).
The abundant knowledge concerning the genetics of C40 biosynthesis has permitted production of a number of natural C40 carotenoids from genetically engineered microbial sources. Examples include:                1.) Lycopene (Farmer W. R. and J. C. Liao. Biotechnol. Prog. 17: 57–61(2001); Wang C. et al., Biotechnol Prog. 16: 922–926 (2000); Misawa, N. and H. Shimada. J. Biotechnol. 59: 169–181 (1998); Shimada, H. et al. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 64:2676–2680 (1998));        2.) β-carotene (Albrecht, M. et al., Biotechnol. Lett. 21: 791–795 (1999); Miura, Y. et al., Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 64:1226–1229 (1998); U.S. Pat. No. 5,691,190);        3.) Zeaxanthin (Albrecht, M. et al., Biotechnol. Lett. 21: 791–795 (1999); Miura, Y. et al., Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 64:1226–1229 (1998)); and        4.) Astaxanthin (U.S. Pat. No. 5,466,599; U.S. Pat. No. 6,015,684; U.S. Pat. No. 5,182,208; U.S. Pat. No. 5,972,642).Genes encoding various elements of the lower C40 carotenoid biosynthetic pathway have been cloned and expressed in various microbes (U.S. Pat. No. 5,656,472; U.S. Pat. No. 5,545,816; U.S. Pat. No. 5,530,189; U.S. Pat. No. 5,530,188; U.S. Pat. No. 5,429,939; U.S. Pat. No. 6,124,113).
Despite abundant knowledge and understanding of the C40 carotenoid pathway, C30 pigment biosynthesis is both less well understood and less prevalent in nature. Early studies by Kleinig, H. et al. (Z. Naturforsch 34c: 181–185 (1979); Z. Naturforsch 37c: 758–760 (1982)) examined the structure of C30 carotenoic acid glucosyl esters produced in Pseudomonas rhodos (subsequently renamed Methylobacterium rhodinum) and the biosynthesis of those compounds, according to analysis of mutants. To date, presence of diapocarotenoids has been discovered in Streptococcus faecium (Taylor, R. F. and B. H. Davies. J. Biochem. 139:751–760 (1974)), M. rhodinum (Kleinig, H. et al., supra; Taylor, R. F. Microbiol. Rev. 48:181–198 (1984)), genera of the photosynthetic heliobacteria (Takaichi, S. et al. Arch. Microbiol. 168: 277–281 (1997)), and Staphylococcus aureus (Marshall, J. H., and G. J. Wilmoth. J. Bacteriol., 147:900–913 (1981)). All appear to have a diapophytoene precursor, from which all subsequent C30 compounds are produced.
The relevant genes responsible for C30 carotenoid pigment biosynthesis are known to include crtM and crtN in Staphylococcus aureus. The diapophytoene desaturase CrtN can function to some extent in the C40 pathway, and the phytoene desaturase CrtI of the C40 carotenoids can also work in the C30 pathway (Raisig and Sandmann, Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 1533:164–170 (2001)). Investigators J. H. Marshall and G. J. Wilmonth (J. Bacteriol. 147:914–919 (1981)) suggest that mixed-function oxidases are responsible for the introduction of oxygen functions to produce the aldehyde and carboxylic acid of 4,4-diaponeurosporene. However, genes responsible for the addition of functionality to the terminal methyl group of the linear carotenoid molecule have not yet been identified, despite characterization of the resulting carotenoids. Genes in other organisms that produce C30 carotenoids have not been identified.
It is clear that scientific understanding has yet to reveal all of nature's untapped diversity, in order to industrially duplicate the wide spectrum of carotenoids that can be readily produced by nature. In light of these needs, the problem to be solved is to isolate and functionally characterize the nucleic acid sequences of those genes involved in C30 carotenoid biosynthesis in Methylomonas for their use in carotenoid production. Although some of the genes involved in the C30 carotenoid biosynthetic pathway are known in some organisms, understanding of the pathway is not complete. Genes involved in the C30 carotenoid biosynthesis of methylotrophic bacteria are not described in the existing literature, despite the existence of many pigmented methylotrophic and methanotrophic bacteria. Further, it is necessary to gain functional knowledge of reactions catalyzed by carotenoid enzymes and identify novel carotenoid genes.
Applicants have solved the stated problem by isolating and functionally characterizing three unique open reading frames encoding the enzymes crtN, ald, and crtN2 from a Methylomonas sp. strain 16a. These genes will aid in synthesis of carotenoids beyond what is "known" in nature, to enable industrial synthesis and high levels of production of uniquely functionalized C30–C80 carotenoid compounds.

Genetic constructs encoding carotenoid biosynthetic enzymes