When the contact angle of a first color ink on a layer of a second color ink is larger than the contact angle of the second color ink on a layer of the first color ink, ejection of the first and the second color ink is controlled so that the number of pixel areas onto which the second color ink is applied after the first color ink is larger than the number of pixel areas onto which the first color ink is applied after the second color ink.

1. Field
The present application relates to a printing apparatus, a printing method, an image processing apparatus, a storage medium, and a print control apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
Printing apparatuses have been known which form an image on a printing medium by repeating a sequence of scanning operation for printing (hereinafter referred to as print scanning operation) and sub-scanning operation for conveying the printing medium. For the print scanning operation, a printing head ejects ink through a plurality of ejection openings arranged therein while scanning the printing medium. The print scanning operation of such a printing apparatus is generally performed by a multipass method in which a plurality of print scanning operations are performed on a unit region of a printing medium.
It has been known that printing apparatuses of this type have a problem of beading, which is a phenomenon of ink droplets connected by ejecting ink droplets close to each other on a printing medium in print scanning operation. Beading may lead to a nonuniform image and degraded image quality. In order to reduce the occurrence of beading, US 2007/0109604 discloses that ink droplets are applied in a dispersed manner to a printing medium to avoid beading of landed ink droplets in a stage of image formation. This technique is achieved by using mask patterns including printable pixels in an arrangement calculated for reducing the repulsive potential between the printable pixels.
In recent years, ink jet printing has been increasingly used to produce printed mutter for various applications, and various types of ink and printing media have been being used accordingly. For forming highly bright images, a combination of an ink and a printing medium has been known. In this combination, an ink containing a pigment is fixed to the surface of a printing medium less permeable to the ink (hereinafter referred to as less permeable printing medium).
The present inventors have however found that printing operation using an ink containing a pigment and a less permeable printing medium may cause marked beading and thus fail to provide satisfactory image quality. In addition, the present inventors have found the reason of this disadvantage. More specifically, the reason is that when such an ink is fixed to the surface of a less permeable printing medium, the ink is kept in a liquid state on the printing medium for a longer time than the conventional case where ink is fixed to a printing medium by permeation of the ink.
This disadvantage will now be described in detail. FIG. 1 schematically shows a droplet 51 of a first ink containing a pigment on a layer 50 of a second ink containing a pigment, formed by ejecting the second and the first ink in that order onto the same region on a less permeable printing medium 3, in section taken along a plane perpendicular to the surface of the printing medium 3.
When an ink containing a pigment and a less permeable printing medium are used for printing, ink droplets are fixed to the surface of the printing medium without permeating into the printing medium, thus forming an ink layer to cover the surface of the printing medium, as shown in FIG. 1. When another ink is additionally ejected to a region where an ink has been applied, therefore, the ink ejected later is applied to a layer made of the previously ejected ink, but not on the surface of the printing medium.
In the following description, the first and the second ink have substantially the same surface tension in liquid phase, but the wettability of the second ink on a layer made of the first ink is higher than the wettability of the first ink on a layer made of the second ink. Wettability is an index of how easily a droplet spreads over a solid surface and wets it. The wettability of a liquid can be estimated by the contact angle of the liquid, which is the angle between a solid surface and the tangent to a droplet of the liquid at the contact point with the solid surface. As a droplet spreads more easily over a solid surface and wets it, the contact angle decreases.
The contact angle of an ink varies depending on the surface tension γL of the ink in liquid phase and the critical surface tension of a solid surface to which the ink is applied. Critical surface tension is one of the indices of the surface tension of a solid. As the surface tension γL of an ink in liquid phase increases, or as the critical surface tension of a solid surface to which the ink is applied decreases, the contact angle of the ink increases. The surface tension γL of an ink depends on the chemical properties of the ink, and the critical surface tension of a solid surface depends on the chemical properties of the solid surface, for example, an ink layer.
Even though the surface tensions γL in liquid phase of two inks are the same, the ink layers made of each of the inks on a printing medium have different critical surface tensions. In the present embodiment, the critical surface tension of the layer of the first ink on a printing medium is larger than the critical surface tension of the layer of the second ink on the printing medium.
When the second ink and the first ink are applied in that order to a printing medium, as shown in FIG. 1, the first ink is applied to an ink layer of the second ink having a lower critical surface tension, and the contact angle of the first ink is relatively large. Consequently, force F acting on the ink droplet in a direction parallel to the surface of the printing medium, or in the direction in which the ink droplet spreads over the surface and wet it, decreases.
FIG. 2 shows the surface of a printing medium onto which a plurality of droplets of the second ink and the first ink have been ejected in that order as in the case of FIG. 1, wherein the droplets of each ink are applied close to each other by the same print scanning operation.
When the first ink, applied after the second ink, has come in contact with the ink layer 50 of the second ink, as shown in FIG. 2, force F acting on the ink droplets in the direction in which the droplets spread over the surface and wets it is small, and accordingly, the droplets tend strongly to aggregate together. This causes marked beading, and consequently, the final image formed on the printing medium exhibits markedly increased graininess.
Furthermore, the ink droplets 51 cover only a small area of the ink layer 50. Accordingly, the final image is undesirably defined by a mixture of an area whose uppermost layer is made of the ink droplets 51 and an area whose uppermost layer is made of the ink layer 50. Thus, the uniformity of the resulting image is also degraded.
In particular, if an ink containing a fluorocarbon surfactant is first applied, the fluorocarbon surfactant reduces the critical surface tension of the layer of this ink, thus causing marked beading.
Therefore, if an ink having a relatively low wettability to an ink layer is fixed to the ink layer, the quality of the resulting image in, for example, graininess and uniformity is likely to be degraded. Such degradation resulting from beading becomes particularly significant when an image with a tone level from halftone to high tone is printed, that is, when ink droplets are applied close to each other at high density in one print scanning operation.

Printing apparatus, printing method, image processing apparatus, storage medium, and print control apparatus


A carrier phase follower is provided that can follow the carrier phase even when the carrier phase angle varies with respect to a reference frequency signal. Demodulation data is decided, without any carrier regeneration, based on the signal by obtained demodulating a digital-modulated signal with a reference frequency signal while following the carrier phase with respect to the reference frequency signal. The carrier phase follower includes the phase angle decision unit 13 which decides the shift of an offset phase angle as well as the digital filter 14 and the cumulative adder 12 which update a set offset phase angle based on the shift. Specifically, the phase angle decision unit 13 corrects the phase angle of a demodulated signal from the phase angle calculation unit 8 according to the set offset phase angle from the cumulative adder 12, with the decision timing synchronized with the symbol of the digital-modulated signal, to decide the shift of the offset phase angle.

The present invention relates to a carrier phase follower and a frequency hopping receiver, suitable to demodulate digital-modulated signals, particularly, preferable to use in radio LAN systems.
In the spread spectrum (SS) communication technique, there are various methods including Direct Sequence (DC), Frequency Hopping (FH), DS/FH hybrid, Chirp modulation, and others.
FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a conventional frequency hopping communication system. Referring to FIG. 7, the frequency hopping communication system consists of an encoder 41, a digital modulator 42, a mixer 43, a hopping pattern generator 44, a frequency synthesizer 45, a high-frequency amplifier 46, a transmission antenna 47, a receiving antenna 48, a high-frequency amplifier 49, a mixer 50, a hopping pattern generator 51, a frequency synthesizer 52, a digital demodulator 53, and a demodulator 54.
On the transmission side, the encoder 41 converts transmission data into error detectable correctable transmission data. The digital modulator 42 digital-modulates the transmission data over an intermediate frequency band. Then, the mixer 43 frequency-converts the digital-modulated signal based on the output signal of the frequency synthesizer 45. The frequency synthesizer 45 varies over time the frequency to be frequency-converted according to the hopping pattern produced by the hopping pattern generator 44, thus switching the transmission frequency channel. Thus, the digital-modulated signal is transmitted with the frequency channel according to the hopping pattern. As a result, the digital-modulated signal becomes the spread spectrum signal with a broad frequency band. The spread spectrum signal is amplified by the high-frequency amplifier 46 and then radiated from the transmission antenna 47.
On the receiving side, the spread spectrum signal is received with the receiving antenna 48 and then is amplified by the high-frequency amplifier 49. The mixer 50 inverse-spreads the amplified spread spectrum signal. The hopping pattern generator 51 generates the same hopping pattern in synchronous with the hopping pattern generator 44 on the transmission side. The frequency synthesizer 52 outputs the reference oscillation signal with the same frequency as that of the frequency synthesizer 45 on the transmission side. The frequency synthesizer 52 selectively receives the signal with the same frequency as the transmitted signal and then inverse spreads the transmitted spread spectrum signal to convert into a signal in an intermediate frequency band.
Bandpass filters (not shown) pass the reversed spread signal and then transmit the signal components thereof over the received frequency band in each frequency channel to the digital demodulator 53. The digital demodulator 53 performs digital demodulation corresponding to the digital demodulator on the transmission side to obtain demodulated data. The demodulator 44 subjects the demodulated data to the error and correction corresponding to the encoder 41 on the transmission side and then outputs received data.
The digital demodulator 53 multiplies the digital-modulated signal by a regenerated carrier to convert it into the baseband signal. Then, demodulated data is extracted by performing the level decision with the timing of the clock signal in synchronous with the symbol (bit) of the digital-modulated signal.
As the digital modulation method in the current mainstream are listed Frequency Shift Keying (FSK), Phase Shift keying (PSK) such as Quadrature Phase Shift keying (QPSK) and Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM). In the frequency hopping communication system, the FSK digital modulation has been mainly used because of easiness of designing. However, where QPSK, QAM, or the like, performing the so-called IQ modulation, is adopted in the frequency hopping communication system, the conventional carrier regenerative method and the symbol synchronous method cannot be applied without any change.
In the frequency hopping communication system, the procedure including symbol synchronization (bit synchronization), frame synchronization and data reception must be carried out every time frequency channel is changed. However, this system has a slow response characteristic to phase changes because the frequency of a carrier jitters in the initial state after a change in frequency and the reference frequency oscillator within the carrier generation circuit is based on the analog PLL system. In the digital modulation such as QPSK and QAM where the phase with respect to a carrier is modulated according to transmission data, it is difficult to regenerate the clock signal symbol-synchronized. Moreover, the symbol synchronization requires a long time. It is required to reduce the time for symbol synchronization as short as possible, in view of an improved throughput of transmission data.
The above-mentioned problem will be specifically described below by referring to the QPSK demodulation circuit in the frequency hopping system.
FIG. 8 is an IQ phase plane coordinate diagram illustrating signal points in 4-phase modulation (QPSK). Referring to FIG. 8, the X-axis represents I-phase in phase with a carrier and the Y-axis represents Q-phase perpendicular to the carrier. Before data is transmitted, the synchronous signals, the signal point in 0xc2x0 phase and the signal point in 270xc2x0 phase, for instance, are alternately repeated, so that the continuous synchronous signal where the phase changes xc2x190xc2x0 is transmitted. Thus, the carrier regeneration as well as the clock regeneration synchronized with symbols are carried out according to the synchronous signal.
FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating the digital demodulator of FIG. 8. Referring to FIG. 9, the digital demodulator consists of a carrier generation circuit 61, a 90xc2x0 phase shifter 2, demodulation multipliers 3 and 4, low-pass filters 5 and 6, a comparator 62, a xc2xd symbol-length delay circuit 63, an exclusive OR logic 64, decision units 65 and 66 and a decoder 67.
FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating waveforms at various portions in the digital demodulator of FIG. 9. FIG. 10 schematically illustrates waveforms at synchronous signal reception.
Generally, carrier regeneration is carried out for the QWPSK demodulation. However, it is impossible to perfectly match the frequency of a carrier of a received digital-modulated signal with the frequency of the reference frequency oscillator on the receiving side. For that reason, the carrier regeneration is carried out based on the received signal to create a copy (replica) of a carrier. The demodulation is carried out using the replica as a reference frequency signal. First, the synchronous signal shown in FIG. 8 is received as a received signal. The carrier regeneration circuit 61 detects the carrier frequency and phase of the received signal based on the synchronous signal so that the replica of the carrier is created.
The carrier regeneration is realized by various methods. Basically, in order to achieve the frequency synchronization, a frequency-multiplied received signal is phase-compared with the output signal from the phase locked-loop (PLL). In the case of the BPSK, the frequency of the received signal is multiplied by 2. In the case of the QPSK, the frequency of the received signal is multiplied by 4.
Each of the demodulation multipliers 3 and 4 receives the created carrier replica and the oscillation signal obtained by phase-shifting the replica by 90xc2x0 with the phase shifter 2 so that the balanced demodulation can be carried out. The low-pass filter 5 extracts as a baseband component the I-phase baseband signal I, shown in FIG. 10(a), from the demodulation signal. The low-pass filter 6 extracts as a demodulation signal component the Q-phase baseband signal Q, shown in FIG. 10(b), from the demodulation signal. The decision unit 65 decides the level of the baseband signal I with the timing of the clock signal shown in FIG. 10(f). The decision unit 66 decides the level of the baseband signal Q with the timing of the clock signal shown in FIG. 10(g). Then, the decoder 67 corresponding to the location of the QPSK signal point encodes the output of the decision section and then outputs demodulation (detection) data.
The comparator 62 compares the baseband signal I or Q with a predetermined threshold and produces a binary signal with two levels (shown in FIG. 10(c)). As shown in FIG. 10(d), the xc2xd symbol-length delay circuit 63 delays the output of the comparator 62 by xc2xd of one symbol length. One symbol is a unit length in one modulation state. The exclusive OR circuit (XOR) 64 receives the output of the comparator 62 and the output of the xc2xd symbol-length delay circuit 63 and creates a clock signal with a leading timing at the center of one symbol (see FIG. 10(d)). The clock signal is symbol-synchronized with the digital-modulated signal. The level of the baseband signal I shown in FIG. 10(a) and the level of the baseband signal Q shown in FIG. 10(b) are decided with the trailing timing of the clock signal.
FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating the carrier regeneration circuit 61 using the Costas loop, shown in FIG. 9. Referring to FIG. 11, like numerals represent the same constituent elements as those in FIG. 9. Hence, the duplicate description will be omitted here. Numeral 71 represents a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO). Numeral 72 represents a loop filter. Numeral 73 represents a phase error detector.
Referring to FIG. 9, it has been described that the frequency control is performed with received signals. In the Costas loop, the frequency control is substantially performed with received signals. However, specifically, the frequency control is performed with the modulated baseband signals I and Q. The phase error detector 73 calculates the baseband signals I and Q and then outputs a phase error corresponding to the phase difference between a frequency-multiplied digital-modulated signal and the carrier. The loop filter 72 smoothes the phase error and controls the oscillation frequency of the VCO 71. The VCO 71 outputs an oscillation signal in synchronous with the carrier of the digital signal and with the same frequency as that thereof.
In the carrier regeneration circuit 61, shown in FIGS. 9 and 11, the PLL carries out a carrier lock operation. After completion of locking, the output can be used as a replica of the carrier. During the locking operation, the output becomes a signal shifted in frequency and phase to the original carrier.
Since the control signal used for locking the carrier is created by a loop filter with a certain time constant, a delay occurs between the input and the output. This shift decides the response rate of the whole loop. However, when the received signals is input in a burst mode, the whole loop delay causes to take much time to complete the carrier regeneration even if the carrier regeneration starts from the burst leading. Moreover, the operation of symbol synchronization must be started after completion of carrier regeneration. In this case, the length of the preamble must be set to a quite large value for the carrier synchronization and symbol synchronization.
FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram illustrating changes in frequency of a carrier in the frequency hopping system. In the frequency conversion on the transmission side, the carrier of a digital-modulated signal continuously varies from the frequency f1 to the current frequency f2 and converges on the vicinity of the target frequency f2 after a certain period of time. However, the carrier frequency converges on the target frequency f2 while oscillating at areas near the target frequency f2. In the frequency conversion on the receiving side, the carrier of the digital-modulated signal frequency-converted to an intermediate band converges while oscillating at areas near the intermediate frequency.
FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the starting portion of a transmission frame to be transmitted during one frequency hopping period.
The transmission frame is created after the carrier has been set to the target frequency. The frame format, for instance, first starts from the synchronous preamble. A frame synchronous signal and information data follow the synchronous preamble. The frame format ends with an error detection and correction code. In the preamble duration, the carrier regeneration circuit, shown in FIGS. 9 and 11, performs a phase locking operation and makes the carrier replica effective. At this time, regeneration of the clock signal symbol-synchronized becomes effective in the digital demodulator of FIG. 9.
In the frequency hopping system, the carrier of the digital-modulated signal converted to the intermediate frequency band is shifted from the intermediate frequency at the beginning of the transmission frame. The shift varies over time. The carrier regeneration circuit 61 must respond to variations in the time-varying frequency. However, since the carrier regeneration circuit 61 cannot follow and respond quickly because of the above-mentioned reasons, it is required to lengthen the synchronous preamble. Moreover, since the unit time of the frequency hopping is short, the data transmission time for synchronous preamble becomes short, so that the throughput is worsened.
In the conventional digital demodulator of FIG. 9, even if the carrier replica is locked, the duty ratio of the signal two-leveled by the comparator 62 of FIG. 9 does not become 50% because of the waveform distortion. For that reason, the delay of the xc2xd symbol-length delay circuit 63 is set improperly. As a result, the clock signal synchronized with the symbol cannot be accurately extracted.
Generally, the carrier synchronization and symbol synchronization are provided with the first received synchronous signal, the symbol-synchronized clock signal can be regenerated, without any re-synchronization, in the transmission data section following the synchronous signal. However, if there is a deviation between the frequency of the carrier of a digital-modulated signal and the reference frequency, the phase difference of the carrier to the reference frequency is enlarged or the fluctuation of the deviation over time varies the phase angle. Hence, even if the timing of the clock signal is matched with a signal point, the phase angle shifts from the phase at a predetermined signal point on the phase plane coordinate at the time the signal point is modulated with the reference frequency. As a result, demodulation cannot be performed with the timing.
In the frequency hopping system as described above, the problem is that the current technique cannot deal with regenerating the carrier at high rate, regenerating the clock symbol-synchronized at high rate, and performing demodulation following the frequency change and phase variation of a carrier.
The present invention is made to solve the above-mentioned problems.
The objective of the invention is to provide a carrier phase follower that can follow the carrier phase even when the carrier phase angle varies with respect to a reference frequency signal due to a mismatch between the reference frequency signal and the carrier frequency. Moreover, the further objective of the present invention is to provide a frequency hopping receiver using the carrier phase follower.
The objective of the present invention is achieved by a carrier phase follower wherein a digital-modulated signal is demodulated with a reference frequency signal and wherein, demodulation data is decided based on the demodulated signal while following the carrier phase, comprising symbol synchronization means for providing a decision timing in synchronous with a symbol of the digital-modulated signal; means for deciding a shift of an offset phase angle based on the phase angle of the demodulated signal and on the offset phase angle, with the decision timing; and offset phase angle setting means for updating the offset phase angle based on the shift.
Therefore, even when the phase angle of the carrier of a digital-modulated signal varies with respect to a reference frequency signal due to a mismatch between the reference frequency signal and the carrier frequency, the phase angle follows the variation so that demodulation data can be decided. As a result, even if there is no carrier regeneration circuit, the carrier phase follower has the function equivalent to the carrier regeneration circuit. Thus, demodulation data can be judged without being adversely affected by frequency shifts between the transmission device and the receiving device and frequency variations over time.
In the carrier phase follower according to the present invention, the offset phase angle setting means comprises memory means for storing the offset phase angle; whereby the shift is added to the offset phase angle stored into the memory means through a filter and the added value is re-stored into the memory means. This feature allows the offset phase angle to be easily updated.
In the carrier phase follower according to the present invention, the response characteristics of the filter is variable.
Hence, abrupt variations in behavior due to noises can be suppressed by varying the response characteristics of the filter.
According to the present invention, the carrier phase follower receives a synchronous signal of which the phase rotational direction with respect to a carrier is received, at a signal point with a different phase angle with respect to the carrier, and includes the symbol synchronous device. The symbol synchronous device includes reverse timing detection means for detecting a reverse timing at which the rotational direction of the phase angle of the digital-modulated signal is reversed; and clock signal output means for outputting a clock signal providing the decision timing in synchronous with the reverse timing.
Therefore, since the reference frequency signal does not match with the frequency of the carrier of a digital-modulated signal, the decision timing symbol-synchronized can be provided even when the phase angle of the carrier of the digital-modulated signal varies with respect to the reference frequency signal. As a result, symbol synchronization can be established in a short time. Since the length of a synchronous signal can be shortened in the burst transmission, the throughput can be improved.
According to the present invention, a frequency hopping receiver comprises a carrier phase follower for receiving a digital-modulated signal on a frequency channel according to a hopping pattern, demodulating the digital-modulated signal with a reference frequency signal, and deciding demodulation data based on the demodulated signal while following the carrier phase; the carrier phase follower including symbol synchronization means for providing a decision timing in synchronous with a symbol of the digital-modulated signal; means for deciding a shift of an offset phase angle based on the phase angle of the demodulated signal and on the offset phase angle, with the decision timing; and offset phase angle setting means for updating the offset phase angle based on the shift.
Hence, the frequency hopping receiver has the function of the carrier phase follower. The symbol synchronization can be started even during the unstable period of the carrier frequency immediately after the switching of the frequency, so that the symbol synchronization can be certainly provided in a short time.

Carrier phase follower and frequency hopping receiver


Advantageous seal systems (1500) are provided that include a barrier member movable relative (1504) to a shaft (1550) to allow sequential engagement of resilient seal members (1506), e.g., lip seals, with the shaft. Movement of the barrier member (1504) may be effected manually or through introduction of pressurized fluid to effect piston-like movement. The disclosed seal assemblies may include an automatic leak detector and may utilize such leak detection to effectuate automatic movement of the barrier member. The barrier member may be moved relative to the shaft while the shaft is in movement, e.g., rotating or reciprocating, thereby permitting seal maintenance without interruption in operation. As seal members are sequentially brought into sealing engagement with the shaft, the previously engaged seal members contribute to the sealing performance of the seal assembly, although no longer effective to establish a stand-alone seal with the shaft.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to advantageous seal systems having sequentially engageable seals, and more particularly to replacement seal systems that provide sequential engagement of lip seal members with moving element(s), e.g., rotating and/or reciprocating shafts, through relative movement between a barrier member and the lip seal members.
2. Background Art
A sealing apparatus or seal cartridge is generally used in a fluid-handling machine to seal a case or body of the machine around a rotating or reciprocating shaft that penetrates the case or body. The sealing apparatus typically includes a lip seal mounted to a stationary housing or gland. The gland is bolted to the case or body of the machine. The lip s al extends radially from the housing to be pressed against the rotating or reciprocating circumference of the shaft, or to a shaft sleeve fixed to the shaft. Such a sealing apparatus is used, for example, at the penetration of a shaft into a pump case to prevent the leakage of pumped process fluid around the joint formed by the shaft penetration.
In operation, lips seals have a limited useful life due to wear. At the end of the useful life, leakage will develop at the interface between the stationary lip seal and the rotating/reciprocating shaft. When leakage is observed, the operation of the fluid handling machine generally must be terminated and the sealing apparatus must be at least partially dismantled to replace the lip seal. Such dismantling and maintenance is time consuming and expensive. Additionally, there is the possibility that a significant cost in operating downtime may be suffered due to the replacement of the lip seal.
Various approaches have been undertaken to improve the performance of sealing apparatus and/or to lengthen service periods between required maintenance. Thus, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,836,441 to Doble discloses a shaft seal system in which the shaft includes a conical surface and the seal is axially repositionable along the shaft to achieve improved engagement between the seal and the shaft as the system experiences wear. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,698,724 to Blachere et al., a sealing device is disclosed that includes a series of inflatable seals positioned in grooves. As individual inflatable seals fail, they are moved out of engagement with the shaft and replaced, while the remaining inflatable seals provide the required sealing function.
Efforts have also been directed to developing sealing apparatus that include multiple seal members that are brought into contact with a shaft at different points in time, e.g., as individual seal members are worn down or fail. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,727,923 to McEwen provides a "double life" seal system in which a garter spring is repositioned from a first position, where it biases a first seal into engagement with a shaft, to a second position where a second, axially spaced seal is biased into engagement with the shaft. The McEwen '923 provides a system for automatically moving the garter spring from the first position to the second position after a predetermined level of wear.
The patent literature also includes several seal systems in which two or more seal members are axially spaced along a shaft, and individual seal members are axially repositioned so as to be brought into contact with the shaft at appropriate points in time. U.S. Pat. No. 3,773,336 to Walter et al. discloses a seal system in which a spare seal member is initially positioned adjacent a recess in the shaft (or is associated bushing), thereby avoiding engagement with the shaft until needed/desired. The spare seal member may be brought into contact with the shaft by axially repositioning the seal holder or the shaft/bushing. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,008,897 to Wentworth provides a reserve sealing ring that initially extends into an annular chamber, i.e., is not engaged with the shaft. Axial repositioning of the reserve sealing ring to effect engagement with the shaft is accomplished through an hydraulically pressurized system.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,820,132, 6,098,990 and 6,152,454 to Marnot also describe seal systems in which a spare seal is initially positioned adjacent a set back region formed in the shaft. As the spare seal is axially repositioned so as to be brought into engagement with th shaft, e.g., using a screw jack or fluid-pressure annular jack, the replaced seal is moved adjacent a set back region formed in the shaft, i.e., out of engagement with the shaft. The Marnot patents further contemplate a control system in which a leak detector monitors system operation and causes the spare seal to move into engagement with the shaft (or signals an operator who can manually cause the spare seal to move into engagement with the shaft).
Despite efforts to date, a need remains for seal system designs that provide reliable, efficacious sealing functionality, that extend periods of useful operation, and that minimize maintenance downtime. Moreover, a need remains for seal system designs that achieve improved system operation and functionality over the course of a use cycle. These and other needs are satisfied by the sealing systems disclosed herein.

Sealing apparatus having sequentially engageable seals


A switching arrangement is provided for coupling a transmitting unit to a transmission line. According to the present invention, a transformer is provided, whose secondary winding is a portion of the transmission line and whose primary winding is connected with the transmitting unit and integrated into a parallel resonance circuit, whose resonant frequency is tuned, each time, to the carrier frequency of the transmitted signal. In addition, a tuning unit may be provided for the automatic tuning of the parallel resonance circuit.

For the supply or the removal of signals, connecting leads are often conductively connected with two wire conductors. During couplings of this type, in order to make contact it is necessary each time to remove or pierce the insulation layer of the two wire conductor. A multiple coupling of connecting leads results in damage to the two wire conductor. In addition, the unallowed coupling of unauthorized third parties onto the two wire conductor is easily feasible. In a telephone network utilizing conductive coupling, unauthorized parties can readily switch on. European Patent Publication No. EP-OS 0 417 542 discloses an apparatus for the inductive coupling of sending coils to a two conductor wire which largely eliminates such problems. Therein, a three-limbed ferrite core is utilized, whose yoke, for the insertion of the coupling coil or the two wire conductor is so pivotally arranged, that the two wires of the transmitting line accordingly pass through the center limb and one of the two outer limbs. For example, the coupling coil connected with the transmitting unit surrounds the center limb with several windings. For the transmission of information between two subscriber end units coupled to the transmission line, the transmitter generates a modulated high frequency signal to the primary coupling coil, which signal transforms the transformer, comprised of the coupling coil and the transmission line, and carries same, via the secondary-sided transmission line to the receiving end unit. The primary-sided perceived load Z1 of the transmitter ideally corresponds to the product of the secondary-sided contacting load Z2 and the square of the transmission ratio (N1/N2). Parallel thereto, the relatively small main inductivity of the transformer makes an appearance, which requires an amount of current which exceeds, many times, that of the transformed load or resistance Z1. The main capacity becomes particularly small if the secondary windings, formed via the transmission line, has only a few windings. The inductive coupling is thus problematic only for nonsystem-connected terminal units, which, for example, only have very low supply voltages available and which can supply only small outputs. Normally, with such terminal units only a limited range can be achieved, within which there is a satisfactory signal to noise ratio. If, for example, in order to increase the range, the output to the transmission line is increased, there is a reduction of the life span of the batteries that feed the terminal unit. In terminal units, powered by the network, a correspondingly larger dimensioned current supply unit would have to be provided.

Switching arrangement for coupling a transmitting unit to a transmission line


A self-storing panel mechanism for a vehicle engine compartment which has a lower side frame member extending longitudinally of the vehicle adjacent one side of the compartment, and an upper structural portion extending longitudinally above the lower side frame member and forming with the lower side frame member an access opening into the engine compartment. A movable side panel is detachably secured to the upper structural portion and extends downwardly across the access opening. There is at least one vertically disposed guide cable extending from the lower side frame member to a connection with the upper structural portion frame member. The guide cable normally holds the side panel in position to close the access opening but the side panel can easily be moved to the open position by disengaging the panel from the upper structural portion and allowing it to move by gravity downwardly without disconnecting the guide cable.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a movable side panel for a vehicle engine compartment or the like and more particularly to such a side panel which is stored on the vehicle when the panel is moved from the closed position to the open position.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 2,794,511 Mackie shows a mechanism in which the side panels of an engine hood are moved outwardly and upwardly to an elevated position where there is access to the engine and other mechanisms under the hood.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,863,729 Von Fummetti et al there is a pair of engine side shield structures on opposite sides of a vehicle engine which are supported on the frame of the vehicle. Each side shield structure includes a fixed baffle plate section, and upper and lower access doors which overlap the baffle section. The upper and lower doors are pivotally connected along the lower edges for swinging movement between respective closed positions wherein the panels are disposed vertically, one above the other, so as to block access to the inside of the engine compartment, and open positions wherein they are displaced angularly from their closed positions so as to permit access to the inside of the engine compartment.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,918,540 Haupt the engine hood of a vehicle extends from a grill at the extreme front of the vehicle over an accessory compartment and over the engine compartment to a fire wall. The hood provides hanger means and slots for receiving hooks on the upper edge of a removable side panel. As the side panel is dropped on to the hood the hooks drop into the slots. The side panel pivots downwardly and inwardly against the vehicle and latching means are provided to detachably fasten the side panel to the side of the vehicle.


Disclosed is a method for determining a value of the state of energy of a rechargeable battery in a vehicle, the battery being connected to an electric consumer; the method including: determining the state of charge as a measure of the present capacity of the battery; and determining the state of energy as an indication of at least the remaining charge and discharge energy of the battery. The disclosed method further includes: calculating and determining the value of the state of energy based on at least one parameter which is related to the operation of the electric consumer and where the at least one parameter varies depending on a mode for operating the vehicle or electric consumer during charging or discharging of the battery. Also disclosed is an arrangement for determining a value of the state of energy of a rechargeable battery in a vehicle.

In the field of vehicles, there is an increase in research and development related to propulsion of vehicles with alternative power sources, i.e. power sources being used as alternatives to conventional internal combustion engines.
An internal combustion engine, for example in the form of a gasoline engine or a diesel engine, offers high efficiency with relatively low fuel consumption. However, environmental concerns have caused an increase in development of more environmental-friendly power sources for vehicles. In particular, the development of electrically operated vehicles has emerged as a promising alternative.
There exist various types of vehicle propulsion systems comprising electric machines. For example, a vehicle can be operated by means of an electric machine solely, or by means of an arrangement comprising both an electric machine and an internal combustion engine. The latter alternative is often referred to as a hybrid vehicle (HEV), and can for example be utilized in a manner in which an internal combustion engine is used for operating the vehicle while driving outside urban areas whereas the electric machine can be used in urban areas or in environments in which there is a need to limit the discharge of harmful pollutants such as carbon monoxide and oxides of nitrogen. According to known technology, electric machines are operated by means of a storage system for electrical energy arranged in the vehicle, typically in the form of a battery unit which is formed by a plurality of rechargeable battery cells and an associated control unit.
In the context of this disclosure, the term "electrically operated vehicles" refers both to pure electric vehicles and to hybrid vehicles.
Furthermore, a vehicle being operated by means of an internal combustion engine and an electric machine supplied with power from a rechargeable electrical energy storage system is often referred to as a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV). A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle uses an energy storage system with rechargeable batteries or another suitable energy source which can be restored into a condition involving a full charge through a connection to an external electric power supply.
The technology involved in electrically operated vehicles is closely related to the development of chargeable batteries. Today, lithium-ion batteries are considered as the best battery technology for range, power, and recharging time.
For a driver of an electrically operated vehicle, it is necessary to obtain information related to the capacity of a battery. Such information can be useful for example for determining the remaining distance which can be travelled with the vehicle until the battery is discharged to such a low level that the vehicle cannot be operated. Such a remaining distance is the equivalent in an electrically operated vehicle to a distance which can be travelled with a remaining amount of fuel in a conventional vehicle having a combustion engine which is supplied with diesel or gasoline fuel.
In order to estimate the capacity of a traction battery for a vehicle, it is useful to determine the so-called state of charge (SOC) of the battery. The SOC parameter is normally expressed in percent, and corresponds to the present battery energy capacity as a percentage of its nominal capacity. The SOC can be determined by integrating the battery current over time, based on a start SOC as well as the battery capacity, which varies over time. The battery capacity can be determined by integrating the current over time and linking it to the SOC at start and finish of the integration process.
The SOC parameter is used for example to prevent overcharging of the battery, or to prevent excessive discharging, i.e. it can be used to indicate whether charging of the battery is necessary or not. For example, for a given vehicle it can be recommended to charge the battery when the SOC value has dropped to 20% during driving. Monitoring the SOC parameter is consequently important to prevent excessive discharging of the battery.
There are several ways to determine the SOC parameter. For example, there is a relationship between the SOC and its open circuit voltage, which can be established in the form of a table. This means that, according to known technology, the SOC can be estimated for example by estimating the open circuit voltage of a given battery.
Regarding known technology, it can be noted that the patent document U.S. Pat. No. 5,898,282 teaches a control system for a hybrid vehicle which is configured for calculating the state of charge (SOC) of a battery of the vehicle. The system uses input from sensors measuring vehicle speed, current and voltage levels etc. There is also provided an algorithm which detects the "current operating conditions", which could be interpreted as referring to "vehicles modes".
Although there are known methods and arrangements for determining and controlling the SOC of a battery, there are still requirements for more accurately monitoring the energy capacity of a battery, in particular for providing an understanding of how long time the battery can be used for operating a vehicle without being discharged and how long time it would take for fully charging the battery.
Such information can be used for example to determine the remaining distance for the vehicle to travel until the battery needs charging, which is vital information for a driver of such a vehicle.

Method and arrangement for determining a value of the state of energy of a battery in a vehicle


Chip-type electronic devices are produced by providing a base board which is later to be cut into rectangular substrates, forming longitudinally and transversely aligned throughholes through the base board, forming electrode patterns on the base board, attaching semiconductor elements on the electrode patterns, filling the throughholes with a solder material, heating and cooling to solidify the solder material such that it shrinks to an intermediate height below the top surface of the base board, covering the top surface completely with a resin mold and then cutting the base board into the individual substrates. Each device thus produced has a substrate with a vertically extending groove formed on each of its mutually opposite edges. A solder material fills these grooves partially to a height which is below the top surface of the substrate. Electrode patterns are formed on these edges of the substrate including the inner surfaces of these grooves. A semiconductor electronic element is attached onto the top surface of the substrate. A resin mold seals the entire top surface of the substrate inclusive of the semiconductor element, extending to positions of the edges of the substrate and protruding partially into the grooves so as to serve as hooks to securely attach to the substrate.

This invention relates to a method of producing chip-type electronic devices having a semiconductor element such as a diode or a transistor mounted to a substrate.
Small-size chip-type light-emitting devices making use of a light-emitting diode (LED) chip have been in use as a light source. FIG. 5 shows a prior art example of this kind of chip-type light-emitting device 20 with a substrate 2 on which is formed a pair of electrode patterns 3 and 4 made of an electrically conductive material, one of these electrode patterns (3) being composed of portions which may be referred to individually as a top surface electrode 3a, a side surface electrode 3b and a bottom surface electrode 3c and the other of the electrode patterns (4) being also composed of a top surface electrode 4a, a side surface electrode 4b and a bottom surface electrode 4c. Both end edges of the substrate 3 are provided with a sectionally semi-circular groove (or a throughhole) 7 or 8, and the side surface electrodes 3b and 4b of the pair of electrode patterns 3 and 4 include an electrically conductive film such as a solder layer formed on the inner surfaces of these grooves 7 and 8. The bottom surface electrodes 3c and 4c are both electrically connected to a wiring pattern on a printed circuit board (not shown). A pad 3p is provided to the upper surface electrode 3a of one of the electrode patterns (3), carrying thereon an LED diode 1 attached thereto by die bonding. The LED 1 has an electrode 1a which is electrically connected to one end 5a of a metallic wire 5 by wire bonding. The other end 5b of the metallic wire 5 is electrically connected to the top surface electrode 4a of the other of the pair of electrode patterns (4). The LED chip 1 and the metallic wire 5 thus connected to the electrode 1a of the LED chip 1 and the top surface electrode 4a are both completely sealed inside a transparent resin mold 6 which is formed so as to cover only a limited surface area on the substrate 3 retracted from the positions of its end edges such that the material for the mold 6 will not flow through the grooves 7 and 8 to the bottom side.
When the device 20 thus formed is mounted to a printed circuit board, it is transported by using a chuck to lift it by having the part of the mold 6 adsorbed thereby. Since the part of the mold 6 is intentionally made smaller than the entire surface of the substrate 2, as explained above, this means that the area by which the chuck can adsorb the device 20 is very small. In the case of a miniaturized device with the length-width dimension less than 1.6xc3x970.8 mm, for example, there was a problem in that the mounting to a circuit board could not be carried out smoothly.
There has been another problem with this prior art device 20 because the mold 6 makes a surface-to-surface contact with the top surface of the substrate 2, as well as with the top surface electrodes 3a and 4a of the pair of electrode patterns 3 and 4. Because of this structure, an external force such as a vibrational force or an impulsive force which may be experienced tends to cause the bottom surface of the mold 6 to become separated from the surface of the substrate 2 and the electrode patterns 3 and 4, thereby adversely affecting the sealed condition of the LED chip 1 and the metallic wire 5.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a method of producing improved chip-type electronic devices which can be mounted more efficiently and with which the shifting of the mold due to an external force can be prevented.
A chip-type electronic device embodying this invention, with which the above and other objects can be accomplished, may be characterized as comprising a substrate having a vertically extending groove formed on each of its mutually opposite edges, a solder material filling these grooves partially to a height which is below the top surface of the substrate, electrode patterns formed on these edges of the substrate, a semiconductor element on the top surface of the substrate, and a resin mold sealing the semiconductor element therein, extending to positions of the edges of the substrate and protruding partially into these grooves. With a device thus characterized, the resin mold, although horizontally extended to the positions of the edges of the substrate, is prevented by the solder material partially filling the grooves from flowing through the grooves to the bottom surface of the substrate, and the side surface electrodes are not covered entirely by the resin mold. Since the resin mold extends to the positions of the both edges of the substrate, its surface area is increased from that of the prior art device shown in FIG. 5, which makes the mounting of the device easier by means of a chuck. Since portions of the resin mold which protrude into the grooves and serve as hooks to more securely fasten the mold to the substrate, the mold, even if subjected to an external force, is not likely to become separated from the substrate.

Method of producing chip-type electronic devices

c/o Rohm Co., Ltd., 21 Saiin Mizosaki-cho, Ukyo-ku


An array of parallel spaced fiber segments is attached to the flat upper surface of a transparent plate. The transparent plate and the fiber segments preferably are made of glass, with the fiber segments bonded to the transparent plate with fused glass frit or by sintering under pressure. The plate and attached fiber segments suitably are embodied in the channel substrate for a plasma-addressed display device, such as a PALC panel.

This invention relates to a plasma addressed liquid crystal device employing fiber spacers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,077,553 discloses apparatus for addressing data storage elements. A practical implementation of the apparatus shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,077,553 is illustrated schematically in FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings.
The display panel shown in FIG. 1 comprises, in sequence from below, a polarizer 2, a channel member 4, a cover sheet 6 (commonly known as a microsheet), a layer 10 of electro-optic material, an array of parallel transparent data drive electrodes (only one of which, designated 12, can be seen in the view shown in FIG. 1), an upper substrate 14 carrying the data drive electrodes, and an upper polarizer 16. In the case of a color display panel, the panel includes color filters (not shown) between the layer 10 and the upper substrate 14. The panel may also include layers for improving viewing angle and for other purposes. The channel member 4 is typically made of glass and is formed with multiple parallel channels 20 in its upper main face. The channels 20, which are separated by ribs 22, are filled with an ionizable gas, such as helium. An anode 24 and a cathode 26 are provided in each of the channels 20. The channels 20 are orthogonal to the data drive electrodes and the region where a data drive electrode crosses a channel (when viewed perpendicularly to the panel) forms a discrete panel element 28. Each panel element can be considered to include elements of the layer 10 and the lower and upper polarizers 2 and 16. The region of the upper surface of the display panel that bounds the panel element constitutes a single pixel 30 of the display panel.
When the anode 24 in one of the channels is connected to a reference potential and a suitably more negative voltage is applied to the cathode 26 in that channel, the gas in the channel forms a plasma which provides a conductive path to the reference potential at the lower surface of the cover sheet 6. If a data drive electrode is at the reference potential, there is no significant electric field in the volume element of electro-optic material in the panel element at the crossing of the channel and the data drive electrode and the panel element is considered to be off, whereas if the data drive electrode is at a substantially different potential from the reference potential, there is a substantial electric field in that volume element of electro-optic material and the panel element is considered to be on.
It will be assumed in the following description, without intending to limit the scope of the claims, that the lower polarizer 2 is a linear polarizer and that its plane of polarization can be arbitrarily designated as being at 0xc2x0 relative to a reference plane, that the upper polarizer 16 is a linear polarizer having its plane of polarization at 90xc2x0, and that the electro-optic material rotates the plane of polarization of linearly polarized light passing therethrough by an angle which is a function of the electric field in the electro-optic material. When the panel element is off, the angle of rotation is 90xc2x0; and when the panel element is on, the angle of rotation is zero.
The panel is illuminated from the underside by an extended light source 34 which emits unpolarized white light. A rear glass diffuser 18 having a scattering surface may be positioned between the light source and the panel in order to provide uniform illumination of the panel. The light that enters a given panel element from the source is linearly polarized at 0xc2x0 by the lower polarizer 2 and passes sequentially through the channel member 4, the channel 20, the cover sheet 6, and the volume element of the electro-optic material toward the upper polarizer 16 and a viewer 32. If the panel element is off, the plane of polarization of linearly polarized light passing through the volume element of electro-optic material is rotated through 90xc2x0, and therefore the plane of polarization of light incident on the upper polarizer element is at 90xc2x0. The light is passed by the upper polarizer element and the pixel is illuminated. If, on the other hand, the panel element is on, the plane of polarization of the linearly polarized light is not changed on passing through the volume element of electro-optic material. The plane of polarization of light incident on the upper polarizer element is at 0xc2x0 and therefore the light is blocked by the upper polarizer element and the pixel is dark. If the electric field in the volume element of electro-optic material is intermediate the values associated with the panel element being off and on, light is passed by the upper polarizer element with an intensity which depends on the electric field, allowing a gray scale to be displayed.
In a practical implementation of the PALC display panel, the channel member 4 is etched back around the area in which the channels are formed in order to provide a plateau 36 in which the channels 20 are formed, and the cover sheet 6 is secured to the channel member by an endless frit bead 38 in a rabbet 40 extending around the periphery of the plateau. An upper substrate assembly, including the upper substrate 14 and the data drive electrodes 12 carried thereby, is attached to the channel member 4 by means of a glue bead 42.
It is important to proper functioning of the PALC device that the cover sheet be spaced from the channel substrate at least along the channels, to allow a plasma chamber to be defined between the cover sheet and the channel substrate. In accordance with the prior art, this spacing is provided by the ribs that define the plasma channels.
The channel substrate shown in FIG. 1 is manufactured by a subtractive process, in which a glass plate is selectively etched to form the channels. Possible disadvantages of the subtractive process are that the etching operation is expensive and imposes constraints on the cross-sectional shape of the channels. Further, it has been found difficult in practice to form the channel electrodes otherwise than by use of evaporative or sputter deposition and photolithographic processes.
Another known technique for forming the channel substrate of a PALC panel employs an additive process, in which the channel electrodes are deposited on a substantially flat surface of a glass plate and the ribs are then built up on the glass plate by screen printing. The additive process is time consuming because numerous printing stages are needed to build up the ribs, and it is difficult because of the need for accurate registration of successive printing screens. Further, the ribs are not of uniform height and steps must be taken to bring the ribs to uniform height before the cover sheet is applied.
The conventional processes are subject to disadvantage not only because of difficulty in manufacturing the channel substrate but also because of the possibility of damage to the cover sheet during assembly of a panel. Thus, the ribs have relatively sharp edges and there is a possibility that stresses induced in the cover sheet at the sharp edges will damage the cover sheet. Further, the tops of the ribs are flat and there is a possibility that hard particles, such as glass shards, will be trapped between the tops of the ribs and the cover sheet and that stresses induced in the cover sheet by the hard particles will damage the cover sheet.
In accordance with the invention there is provided an article of manufacture comprising a transparent plate having a substantially flat upper surface, and an array of substantially parallel spaced fiber segments attached to the upper surface of the transparent plate.

Liquid crystal display device employing fiber spacers


A high-vacuum pump includes a first vacuum pump section and a second vacuum pump section coupled in series and having an interstage region between them. The vacuum pump further includes a housing containing the first and second vacuum pump sections. The housing includes a high conductance peripheral duct surrounding all or part of the interstage region and coupled to the interstage region. The housing defines a first inlet port coupled to an inlet of the first vacuum pump section, a second inlet port coupled to the peripheral duct, and an exhaust port coupled to an outlet of the second vacuum pump section. Examples of high-vacuum pumps according to the invention include turbomolecular vacuum pumps, diffusion pumps and mixed vacuum pumps which include both axial flow stages and molecular drag stages.

Conventional turbomolecular vacuum pumps include a housing having an inlet port, an interior chamber containing a plurality of axial flow pumping stages and an exhaust port. The exhaust port is typically attached to a roughing vacuum pump. Each axial flow pumping stage includes a stator having inclined blades and a rotor having inclined blades. The rotor and stator blades are inclined in opposite directions. The rotor blades are rotated at high speed to provide pumping of gases between the inlet port and the exhaust port. A typical turbomolecular vacuum pump may include nine to twelve axial flow pumping stages.
Variations of the conventional turbomolecular vacuum pump are known in the prior art. In one prior art configuration, one or more of the axial flow pumping stages are replaced with disks which rotate at high speed and which function as molecular drag stages. This configuration is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,238,362 issued Aug. 24, 1993 to Casaro et al. A turbomolecular vacuum pump including an axial turbomolecular compressor and a molecular drag compressor in a common housing is sold by Varian Associates, Inc. under Model No. 969-9007. Turbomolecular vacuum pumps utilizing molecular drag disks and regenerative impellers are disclosed in German Patent No. 3,919,529 published Jan. 18, 1990.
Molecular drag compressors include a rotating disk and a stator. The stator defines a tangential flow channel, and an inlet and an outlet for the tangential flow channel. A stationary baffle, often called a stripper, disposed in the tangential flow channel separates the inlet and the outlet. As is known in the art, the momentum of the rotating disk is transferred to gas molecules within the tangential flow channel, thereby directing the molecules toward the outlet and pumping the gas.
Some instruments and processing systems have two or more vacuum chambers which it is desirable to operate at different pressure levels. The chambers may be connected through one or more orifices that are small enough to permit establishment of different pressure levels. Examples include mass spectrometers, molecular beam systems and ion beam systems. One approach is to connect a separate vacuum pump to each of the vacuum chambers. Another approach, which is typically more economical, is to utilize a single vacuum pump having two or more inlets which are connected to different points in a single vacuum pump. The inlets are connected to different vacuum chambers.
An example of a prior art dual inlet turbomolecular vacuum pump 10 is shown in FIG. 4. The turbomolecular vacuum pump (turbopump) 10 includes a first pumping section 12, a second pumping section 14 and an interstage region 16 between pumping sections 12 and 14. First pumping section 12 includes axial flow pumping stages 20, 22, etc., and second pumping section 14 includes axial flow pumping stages 30, 32, etc. A housing 40 has a first inlet port 42 coupled to an inlet of first vacuum pumping section 12, a second inlet port 44 coupled through a conduit 46 to interstage region 16, and an exhaust port 48 coupled to an outlet 50 of second vacuum pumping section 14. Each of the axial pumping stages 20, 22, 30, 32, etc. includes a stator having inclined blades and a rotor having inclined blades. The rotor of each axial pumping stage is connected by a shaft 52 to a motor 54.
In use, first inlet port 42 is connected to a first vacuum chamber (not shown) at a relatively low pressure and second inlet port is connected to a second vacuum chamber (not shown) at a higher pressure level. The first and second chambers are evacuated simultaneously by turbopump 10.
The turbopump configuration shown in FIG. 4 provides generally satisfactory performance, but has certain disadvantages. The interstage region 16 has a relatively large axial dimension parallel to shaft 52 in order to provide adequate gas conductance between second inlet port 44 and second pumping section 14. This requires a lengthening of shaft 52 in order to provide the same performance as an equivalent single inlet turbopump. This results in increased size and cost of the turbopump. In addition, since the shaft and rotors are typically cantilevered from the motor end of the turbopump, the increased shaft length may give rise to problems in balancing the turbopump for high speed operation and in reduction of bearing life.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide vacuum pump configurations which overcome one or more of the above disadvantages.


This disclosure relates to haptic devices for implantation in a human subject. Such haptic devices can include various actuators, including both active and passive haptic actuators, for providing feedback to a user.

Producing haptic feedback typically includes either direct interaction between an object and a user. Alternatively, the body of a user can be augmented with a haptic actuator. The first solution is practical for many devices, but does not scale to all objects in a user's environment particularly as objects in a user's environment gain interactive qualities ("the internet of things" concept). The second solution scales to an arbitrary number of objects but typically requires the user to wear a device with a haptic actuator, which can be cumbersome or inconvenient.
What is needed is a mechanism for providing haptic feedback that does not rely on haptic actuation inside an external device or the wearing of a device.


A metal powder manufacturing device for manufacturing a metal powder includes a feed for supplying a molten metal, a fluid spout unit, and a course modification unit. The fluid spout unit further includes a channel and an orifice. The channel is provided below the feed, allowing passing of the molten metal supplied from the feed. The orifice is opened at a bottom end of the channel, spouting a fluid into the channel. The above course modification unit is provided below the fluid spout unit, and forcibly changes the traveling direction of a dispersion liquid. This dispersion liquid is composed of multiple fine droplets dispersed into the fluid. The above droplets are a resultant of a breakup caused by a contact between the molten metal and the fluid ejected from the orifice. Here, the dispersion liquid is transported so that the droplets is cooled and solidified in the dispersion liquid in order to manufacture the metal powder.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a metal powder manufacturing device, a metal powder, and a molded body.
2. Related Art
In order to manufacture metal powder, the water atomizing method is known, with which molten metal is made into powder. WO99/11407 is an example of this related art.
This method causes molten metal to pass through a channel provided in the center of a fluid spout unit. During the passing, the molten metal contacts the water ejected into the channel, and thereby breaks up, cools down, and solidifies. Consequently, the metal powder is manufactured.
A method for obtaining amorphous metal powder is disclosed, with which a molten metal is rapidly cooled down using the above method, retaining the disorder of the atomic positions (refer to JP-A-H11-214210 as an example).
Such water atomizing causes a generation of water vapor, as the molten metal contacts water and settles. This water vapor is generated, surrounding the metal when the metal settles. The water film has lower thermal conductivity compared to water, and thus inhibits rapid cooling of droplets. As a result, droplets of a certain size are not cooled down to the core rapidly enough, making it difficult to maintain an amorphous state of the droplets. Consequently, it involves a problem that a crystallized metal powder is obtained instead.

Metal powder manufacturing device, metal powder, and molded body


A method of transferring a crane from a tower to an adjacent elevated site, such as a building under construction. The crane is raised from the tower by an elevating frame secured at one end to the tower. A transition section is inserted between the crane and the top of the tower. A bogie with an open end on the site straddles the elevating frame and receives cross beams on each end. The crane and transition section are raised, and the bogie is centered with respect to the tower. The cross beams are positioned under the ends of the transition section to which they are then bolted. The elevating frame is lowered to transfer the full weight of the crane to the transition section, and to the bogie, which can then be moved horizontally on the site away from the tower.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to cranes supported on a tower and, more specifically, to the transfer of the crane from the top of the tower to an adjacent site.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known to place a crane on a tower, the top of which is within the reach of a crane on the ground. This tower crane can then be utilized in the construction of a building, or other edifice, adjacent the tower. As the building grows higher, the crane can be used to add sections to the tower on which it is mounted. This has been done, for example, with an elevating, or climbing, mechanism or frame which has a base mounted at selected heights on the tower. The elevating frame has an upper portion which is connected to the crane, and has a ram which, when extended, raises the crane from the top of the tower. When so raised, the crane can lift an additional tower section from the ground and insert the section under the elevated crane. The new section is then connected to the previous upper section of the tower. The ram is then retracted to lower the crane onto the top of the newly added tower section.


A vehicle safety apparatus (10) includes an inflatable vehicle occupant restraint (80) for, when inflated, restraining an occupant of a vehicle. A housing (12) has a chamber (32) for receiving the inflatable restraint (80) when the inflatable restraint is in an uninflated condition. The housing (12) has a plurality of openings (40, 42, 44, 50, 52, 54) extending between the interior and the exterior of the housing. A plurality of tethers (110, 112, 114, 120, 122, 124) are connected with the inflatable restraint (80). The tethers extend from the inflatable restraint (80) through the openings in the housing (12) from the interior to the exterior of the housing. The tethers (110, 112, 114, 120, 122, 124) are connected to the exterior of the housing (12) to secure the tethers to the housing and thereby to secure the inflatable restraint (80) to the housing.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a vehicle safety apparatus for protecting an occupant of a vehicle. In particular, the present invention relates to a vehicle safety apparatus including an inflatable occupant restraint such as an air bag secured to a housing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An inflatable vehicle occupant restraint such as an air bag is used to restrain a vehicle occupant in the event of sudden deceleration such as occurs in a vehicle collision. An air bag is typically folded and stored in a housing secured to a portion of the vehicle such as the instrument panel. In the event of sudden deceleration, an inflator is actuated to supply inflation fluid under pressure to the air bag. The air bag inflates to restrain the vehicle occupant.
A portion of the air bag is connected with the housing to retain the air bag in position in the vehicle. It is known to connect an air bag with a housing by a retaining ring secured to the air bag. It is also known to connect portions of the material of an air bag directly to a housing.


A method for determining the sequence of vehicle tagged with and without an RFID, comprises: f1. carrying out multiple receiving and transmitting communications with an RFID tag in a read-write region by using an RFID reader-writer, recording success and failure operations; f2. setting a time window, moving the time window from left to right on a time axis, adding the success times of the receiving and transmitting communications to obtain a curve a; f3. detecting vehicles in the read-write region by using a ground induction coil to obtain a curve b; f4: when detecting a square wave in the curve b, indicating there is at least one vehicle driving through the coil, judging whether the driven through vehicle is installed with an RFID tag according to the wave time relationship between the curves a and b, judging whether there is a vehicle without an RFID tag among the vehicles with RFID tags driving through.

In a present application of an automatic toll for highways, a wireless receiving and transmitting RFID tag is installed in a vehicle. When the vehicle drives through a highway automatic toll gate, another wireless transceiver or an RFID tag reader-writer assembled above the toll gate reads the RFID tag installed in the vehicle. As the surrounding material of the toll gate and the surrounding vehicle situation are complex, it always arises that the reader-writer of a lane reads an RFID tag of a vehicle in an adjacent lane or an RFID in a rear vehicle is read by the RFID tag reader-writer of the roll gate which is going to read the RFID tag in the front vehicle because of the reflection, thereby leading to a payment error. Furthermore, a sudden lane change and speeding behavior are also the major causes of traffic accidents.
The present technology whereby induction coils placed in read-write regions are collected to judge whether the read tag ID is the right tag of the vehicle on this lane. But in many cases where both lanes are occupied by the vehicles or the vehicle ahead is in the induction coil but the rear vehicle is read, therefore, this method is not highly accurate. The sensitivity and the transmitting power of the RFID tag are also carefully judged so the RFID tag can be read in a defined region. However, by this method, the sensitivity of a plurality of the RFID tags needed to be judged which leads to the cost of RFID tags to increase. In the meantime, because the surrounding situation of the roll gate is very complex, this also leads to a change of the read-write region.

Method for determining the sequence of vehicle tagged with and without RFID


Circuits and methods of dynamic modulation are disclosed. A dynamic modulator is used to reduce measurable conducted and/or radiated electromagnetic interference (EMI). The dynamic modulator is configured to generate either a set of optimal frequency modulation depths or discrete frequencies or both, and dynamically selects them to use over a series of programmable time durations (dwell time). Together with the utilization of Peak, Average or Quasi-Peak (QP) method of measurement, the dynamic modulator can reduce the spectral amplitude of EMI components, in particular the lower harmonics, to effectively pass regulatory requirements. In alternative embodiments, the dynamic modulator is used in a closed loop system to continuously adjust the frequency and the duty cycle of a PWM signal to reduce conducted and/or radiated EMI.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to the fields of both analog and digital circuits for signal modulation. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for dynamically modulating periodic signal from PWM to reduce measurable radiated and/or conducted electromagnetic interference (EMI).
2. Description of the Related Art
Switch Mode Power Supplies (SMPS) tend to generate EMI due to rapid switching of current and voltage. The spectral components of the EMI emissions typically have peak amplitudes at harmonics of the fundamental frequency of a clock. Accordingly, many regulatory agencies, such as the FCC in the United States, have established testing procedures and maximum allowable emissions for such products. For example, the Commission Electrotechnique Internationale (Comite International Special Des Perturbations Radioelectriques (C.I.S.P.R.)) has guidelines establishing measurement equipment and techniques for determining compliance with regulations. In order to comply with such regulatory limits on EMI emissions, costly suppression measures or extensive shielding may be required. Some techniques used to modify the EMI spectrum have also been proposed, including frequency modulation or frequency hopping. Information relevant to attempts to address these problems can be found in the following publications and U.S. patents: Virginia Power Electronics Center VPED Tenth Annual Power Electronics Seminar, pp. 129-136, Sep. 20-22, 1992 published by Lin et al; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,488,627 and 5,867,524 issued to Keith B. Hardin et al.; U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,203,079 and 7,391,628 issued to Da-Yung Yang et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 7,304,522 issued to Jong-hoon Kim et al.
However, each one of these references suffers from one or more of the following disadvantages. An EMI filter causes power consumption and increases the cost and size of the power supply. Frequency modulation alone is not necessarily able to reduce EMI enough to meet the regulation requirements, such as Quasi-Peak measurement. And, although spread spectrum modulation with fixed modulation depth may smear the peak EMI energy out into additional sidebands, it is not adequate to address the difficulties associated with reducing the spectral amplitudes of EMI in lower harmonics, such as the second and third harmonics. For the foregoing reasons, there is a need to reduce radiated and/or conducted EMI without the above problems.

Method and apparatus for dynamic modulation


A tool for crimping an elongate electrical contact to an end of an electrical wire. The tool includes a locating device supported adjacent the crimping dies of the crimping tool for supporting and locating the contact in proper position between the dies. Upon crimping, the contact is subject to deformable elongation in its longitudinal direction. The locating device is supported to the tool against the bias of the spring to be movable away from the tool to accommodate such contact elongation caused during crimping.

In the electrical connection art, crimping tools are widely known which crimp elongate electrical contacts to stripped ends of electrical wire. Simple hand tools of this type squeeze a barrel portion of the contact onto the stripped end of the wire. These hand tools employ plural crimping dies which are activated by the handles of the tool, to engage the contact in crimping fashion.
In typical operation, a contact is inserted between the dies and a stripped end extent of the wire is inserted into contact. Handles of the tool are then squeezed to crimp the wire in the contact. To assist the user in accurately supporting the contact between the dies, locating devices have been developed which attach to the tool adjacent dies to support the contact in proper position therebetween. Many of these locating devices have a stop surface preventing over insertion of the contact thereinto so that the barrel portion of the contact is positioned directly between the dies. While locating devices have been successfully used in combination with crimping tools, many of these devices, especially those having stop surfaces, fail to provide for accommodation of contact elongation. During the crimping process the barrel of the contact is compressed about the stripped end of the wire. Such compression causes the contact to deformably elongate in a longitudinal direction.
Locating devices having stop surfaces resist such elongation. This could result in damage to the contact or an ineffective crimp. It is advantageous to provide a contact locating device which is supportable on a crimping tool and which accurately supports the contact in proper position with respect to the crimping dies and which will accommodate contact elongation during crimping.

Crimping tool having spring loaded contact locator


A reconnection system re-forms a control tree for an application that is executed in parallel without terminating execution of the application. The reconnection system detects when a node of a control tree has failed and directs the nodes that have not failed to reconnect to effect the re-forming of the control tree without the failed node and without terminating the application. Upon being directed to reconnect, a node identifies new child nodes that are to be its child nodes in the re-formed control tree. The node maintains the existing connection with each of its current child nodes that is also a new child node, terminates the existing connection with each of its current child nodes that is not also a new child node, establishes a new connection with any new child node that is not a current child node, and directs each new child node to reconnect.

Massively parallel processing ("MPP") systems may have tens of thousands of nodes connected via a communications mechanism. Each node may include a processor, a memory, and a communications interface to a network interconnect. The nodes of an MPP system may be designated as service nodes or compute nodes. Compute nodes are primarily used to perform computations. A service node may be dedicated to providing operating system and programming environment services (e.g., file systems, external I/O, compilation, editing, etc.) to applications that execute on the compute nodes and to users logged in to the service nodes. The operating system services may include I/O services (e.g., access to mass storage), processor allocation services, log in capabilities, and so on. The service nodes and compute nodes may employ different operating systems that are customized to support the processing performed by the node. Because MPP systems have thousands of nodes with many different possible points of failure, it is likely failures would not be uncommon. The monitoring for and reporting of these failures can be provided by an event notification system as described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,984,453, entitled "Event Notifications Relating to System Failures in Scalable Systems," which is hereby incorporated by reference.
An application may execute in parallel with instances of the application executing on thousands of compute nodes. To execute such an application, a service node may allocate the needed compute nodes and then distribute the application to each allocated compute node, which proceeds to execute one or more instances of the application. The compute nodes may establish connections with other compute nodes so that control information can be sent between the compute nodes. An application level placement scheduler system ("ALPS system") provides such allocation, distribution, and establishment. Aspects of the ALPS system are described in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2010-0121904, entitled "Resource Reservations in a Multiprocessor Computing Environment," which is hereby incorporated by reference.
The ALPS system employs a tree structure organization for the connections between the compute nodes for sending control information. The compute nodes and the connections thus form a control tree with the compute nodes having a parent-child relationship. The control tree has a fan-out number (e.g., 32) that represents the maximum number of child nodes of a parent node. The fan-out number may be configurable. After the ALPS system allocates the compute nodes, it passes a placement list that identifies those compute nodes to one of the allocated compute nodes that is designated as the root node of the control tree. The ALPS system communicates with the allocated compute nodes through the compute node that is the root node of the control tree. The root node identifies nodes from the placement list to be its child nodes. The root node establishes connections with its child nodes and subscribes to receive notifications of failures relating to its child nodes from the event notification system. The root node provides the placement list to each of its child nodes so that each child node can establish a connection as a parent node of other nodes in the placement list as its child nodes. Each node may employ an algorithm to uniquely identify its child nodes. The application is also loaded by each of the nodes in the control tree. FIG. 1 illustrates an example organization of a control tree. The ALPS system 150 executing on a service node establishes a connection with control tree 100 via the root node 101. Control tree 100 includes nodes represented as circles and connections represented as lines between the circles. In this example, the fan-out number is 4 and the number of allocated nodes is 256. The root node 101 receives from the ALPS system an indication of the application and a placement list identifying the 256 nodes including the root node. The root node selects four nodes from the 255 remaining nodes (i.e., nodes other than the root node) to be child nodes 102-105, establishes a connection with each child node, and passes the placement list to each child node. Each child node then repeats a similar process for establishing connection with its child nodes. The sub-tree of each child node is assigned a block of compute nodes that includes the child node itself and the compute nodes that are to be descendant nodes of that child node. Child node 102 is assigned 64 compute nodes including child node 102 itself; child node 103 is assigned 64 compute nodes including child node 103 itself; child node 104 is assigned 64 compute nodes including child node 104 itself; and child node 105 is assigned 63 compute nodes including child node 105 itself. Each child node 102-105 selects by a selection algorithm four nodes from its block to be its child nodes, establishes a connection with its child nodes, and passes the placement list to its child nodes. This process is repeated at each child node until a child node, referred to as a leaf node, is the only node in a block.
The ALPS system and the nodes in the control tree subscribe to the event notification system to receive failure messages relating to the nodes. Each node may subscribe to receive events from its parent node and its child nodes. In addition, the ALPS system and the nodes may generate failure messages that may not be detected by the event notification system. When a failure is detected, the ALPS system directs the termination of the application. Each of the nodes is directed to stop executing the application and close its connections. The ALPS system then deallocates the nodes and other resources that were allocated to the application. Depending on the sophistication of the application, the application may need to have its execution restarted from the beginning or from a checkpoint. In either case, however, the ALPS system would need to again allocate nodes for the application and build a new control tree from scratch.
As the number of nodes allocated to an application increases, the chances of having a failure increases and the chances of an application completing without receiving a failure message decreases. As a result, significant computing resources may be expended terminating applications, allocating nodes, building new control trees, and restarting terminated applications.

Re-forming an application control tree without terminating the application


A semiconductor memory device, including: a cell array block including a plurality of memory cells arranged therein; and a controller, wherein the controller controls the semiconductor memory device so that: an operation of reading out data from a second region in the cell array block is initiated before completion of an operation of outputting data read out from a first region in the cell array block; and the data read out from the second region is output successively after the completion of the operation of outputting data read out from the first region.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor memory device, and a semiconductor device using the same.
2. Description of the Background Art
Many of EEPROMs (Electrically Erasable Programmable ROMs) currently known in the art employ memory cells of the type where a charge is stored at the floating gate. One of such memory devices, NAND-type flash memory devices, employ a cell array including NAND cell units each having a plurality of memory cells connected together in series. In a NAND cell unit, adjacent memory cells share source/drain diffusion layers. Therefore, by increasing the number of memory cells provided in a NAND cell unit, it is possible to increase the capacity of the NAND-type flash memory with a relatively small chip area.
In a NAND-type flash memory, a plurality of memory cells are connected together in series, as described above, and to a bit line. Data is read out from the NAND-type flash memory by detecting the presence/absence or magnitude of the discharge of the bit line by a selected cell in a NAND cell unit. A pass voltage, which turns ON the cell irrespective of the data therein, is applied to non-selected cells in the NAND cell unit. Since a plurality of cells are connected together in series, a NAND cell unit has a high channel resistance, and the readout cell current is small.
Therefore, it takes a long time before a predetermined voltage difference occurs along the bit line depending on the cell data, and the data read operation of a NAND-type flash memory takes about 20 to 25 μs. During the operation, the NAND-type flash memory externally outputs a busy signal indicating that a read operation is being performed, thereby limiting external accesses to the memory chip of the NAND-type flash memory.
FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing a general configuration of a conventional NAND-type flash memory.
Referring to FIG. 16, a cell array 1 includes a plurality of floating gate-type memory cells arranged in a matrix pattern. A row decoder (including the word line driver) 2 is responsible for selecting a block of the cell array 1, selectively driving a word line, and selectively driving a selected gate line. A sense amplifier circuit 3 forms a page buffer circuit including a page's worth of sense amplifiers for sensing the bit line data of the cell array 1.
A page of readout data is selected by a column decoder (column gate) 4 and is output to an I/O line 13 via an I/O buffer circuit 5. Write data supplied from the I/O line 13 is transferred to the sense amplifier circuit 3 as selected by the column decoder 4. An address signal is input to an address holding circuit 6 via the I/O buffer circuit 5, and a row address and a column address are transferred to the row decoder 2 and the column decoder 4, respectively, via an address predecoder 8.
A controller 9 outputs internal timing signals for the read operation, the write operation and the erase operation based on control signals such as a write enable signal XWE, a read enable signal XRE, an address latch enable signal ALE and a command latch enable signal CLE. Based on the internal timing signals, the sequence operation of the data read operation, the data write operation and the data erase operation is controlled.
A high voltage circuit 10, being controlled by the controller 9, produces a different voltage depending on the operation being performed, i.e., the read operation, the write operation or the erase operation. A busy signal generation circuit 11 outputs a busy signal RY/XBY for indicating, to the outside of the chip, the access status of the cell array 1, depending on the operation being performed, i.e., the read operation, the write operation or the erase operation.
FIG. 17 is a timing chart showing the data read operation of a conventional NAND-type flash memory, and FIG. 18 is a timing chart showing the data write operation thereof.
In the read operation, as the write enable signal XWE and the address latch enable signal ALE="H" are input to the controller 9 from outside the chip and the address signal Add is input to the I/O buffer circuit 5 from the I/O line 13, the data read operation from the cell array 1 is started. Typically, a NAND-type flash memory performs a data read operation page by page. When the cell data read operation is started, the busy signal RY/XBY="L" is output from the busy signal generation circuit 11 to outside the chip.
After the cell data read operation for a predetermined amount of time, a page of data read out to the sense amplifier circuit 3 is output to the I/O line 13 via the I/O buffer circuit 5 based on the read enable signal XRE. The operation thus far is one cycle of the read operation. Specifically, one cycle of the read operation includes an operation of reading out the cell data from the cell array 1 to the sense amplifier circuit 3 read operation (hereinafter referred to as the "cell data read operation"), and an operation of outputting the readout data from the sense amplifier circuit 3 to outside the chip (hereinafter referred to as the "readout data outputting operation"). A read cycle as described above is repeated when continuously reading out pages of data.
In a read operation, different cell data cannot be read out during the true busy period where the busy signal RY/XBY="L". If the capacity is further increased in the future by increasing the number of memory cells provided in a NAND cell unit, the cell current will be even smaller, thus requiring a longer time for reading out cell data.
In a write operation, the address latch operation (Add.1 IN), the data latch operation (DATA.1 IN) and the data programming operation (PROGRAM 1) are all performed in series in a first write cycle, and then a second write cycle is similarly performed on a different address. As with the read operation, if the number of memory cells in a NAND cell unit increases, it will require a longer time for writing data to memory cells.
In view of this, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-25819, for example, discloses a semiconductor memory device (e.g., a NAND-type flash memory) in which the cell array is formed by a plurality of cell array blocks each including a plurality of memory cells arranged therein to thereby increase the speed of the data read operation.
FIG. 19 is a timing chart showing the data read operation of the semiconductor memory device.
In the first read cycle in which the first region in the first cell array block is selected, the semiconductor memory device simultaneously performs the cell data read operation for the first region of the first cell array block and the cell data read operation for the second region of the second cell array block, and outputs the true busy signal from the busy signal generation circuit 11 during this period. In the following second read cycle in which the second region in the second cell array block is selected, the cell data read operation is not performed and the busy signal generation circuit 11 outputs a dummy busy signal RY/XBY="L", which is shorter than the true busy signal. Therefore, the busy period is shortened, and the speed of the data read operation is increased without changing the specifications of the NAND-type flash memory.
With a large-capacity NAND-type flash memory, however, in a case where data from a plurality of cell array blocks are read out sequentially or at random, the cell data read operation and the address latch operation for the data to be read out next are performed serially, and data accesses from outside are restricted during the cell data read operation (while the busy signal is being output), thereby making it difficult to realize a high-speed data read operation from the NAND-type flash memory. For example, when reading out a continuous piece of data that is written over a plurality of cell array blocks or when reading out and checking various status data written in all cell array blocks at power-on of the memory chip, it requires a long read time because access from outside is prohibited by the busy signal each time a cell array block is accessed.
In a write operation, a programming operation is performed serially with the write address latch operation and the data latch operation for the next programming operation, thus also lowering the write speed.

Semiconductor memory device and semiconductor device