A method and data processing system for providing a preload imaging process that is self-healing. The state information of a single or multi-threaded preload environment is autonomically recognized and stored in a log file along with the corresponding file images that are being preloaded. The log tracks the image files and related state information for a plurality of simultaneously executing (preloading) threads. When a crash occurs during the preload process, the log information is dynamically analyzed to determine a safe point within the respective threads to resume the preload operation. The preload process is then autonomically resumed from the safe location without necessarily having to restart the entire process.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to data processing systems and in particular to the preload imaging process on a data processing system. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a method and system for enabling autonomic resumption of stalled preload imaging processes on a data processing system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional data processing systems are manufactured with hardware and software components (e.g., basic input output system (BIOS)) that enable the data processing system to load new application software to the hard drive and preload other software components from memory or a storage device to the hard drive in order to prepare the system for executing the loaded applications. These software applications are installed via a preload imaging process, by which the individual image files and other supporting software are first installed on the hard drive in some installation sequence before the full application is made operational on the system. Conventional methods complete the preload imaging process in a serialized manner, where each individual file image of the application(s) was loaded one at a time.
Serialized installation of the software components that make up the preload image is required when each subsequent individual component has a, dependency on a previous component. However, it is common for the applications to contain independent components or groups of components, which are all stored on the source medium but do not have any dependency with other components. From both a manufacturing and preload-efficiency perspective, the one-dimensional (serialized) preload process limits the speed and efficiency of delivering preload images. The process unnecessarily aligns non-dependent components with each other into a serialized preload process.
In order to provide a system engineer with information on the status of a serialized preload, a log may be employed to record the status. This log may at times enable the engineer to manually resume a preload that has crashed from some other location other than the very beginning of the preload process (i.e., without a complete restart).
Recent developments are being undertaken to identify ways of improving the efficiency of preload imaging process, which would substantially eliminate the need for serial loading of component files of an application during preload imaging processes. Technological developments in other software processing areas have led to the implementation of multithreaded operation and related functionality.
One development that is evolving in this field is that of extending the preload process from the serialized implementation to a parallel processing implementation for independent component files. However, this expansion of processing methods (i.e., parallel execution of a preload process) complicates the logging feature of a serialized implementation since current design of the log only allows for a serial listing of status information as the individual files are being loaded. With parallel implementation of the preload process, determining a safe and accurate resume point would be a very difficult and time intensive task for an engineer.
However, various complexities exist that have so far prevented implementation of a non-serialized approach to preload imaging process. In particular, any movement towards such an implementation is limited by the currently implemented serialized response mechanisms for handling recovery from a crash during preload.
Occasionally, in today's computer manufacturing environment, the computer's preload imaging process crashes. When a crash occurs during preload, a test engineer is required to assess why the crash occurred and, following such determination, modify the preload process data so that a complete (or partial) restart may be provided. When the crash occurs at a sensitive point in the process, however, it is oftentimes not possible to complete the preload process successfully without completely restarting the process (i.e., begin preloading all applications following the serialized preload process that crashed). Such a complete restart is very time consuming and inefficient, particularly when the crash occurs after several independent potions of the preload operation have completed successfully.
The present invention recognizes the limitations that exist with current implementations of the preload imaging process and the limitations of the one dimensional log file for tracking the serialized process. The invention recognizes that it would be desirable to provide a method and system for logging state and other relevant information for multiple concurrent preload imaging processes, which necessarily contain interlaced messages. The invention further recognizes that it would be beneficial to provide a preload imaging process that is self-healing which autonomically provides a safe and accurate resume of the process following a crash.

Autonomic method to resume multi-threaded preload imaging process


An engine powertrain control device is configured to reduce data amounts of characteristics of a torque converter and realize torque estimation with high accuracy. A device detects or computes rotating speeds of input and output shafts of the torque converter. A device computes a ratio (speed ratio) between the rotating speed of the input shaft and the rotating speed of the output shaft of the torque converter. A device stores data of a pump capacity coefficient and torque ratio product of the torque converter and computes a value of the product corresponding to a value of the speed ratio computed above, and a device is provided for computing an output shaft torque of the torque converter by using the value of the computed product.

The present invention relates to an engine powertrain control device in which torque is estimated by computation and to a control method for a vehicle having an engine powertrain consisting of an engine and an automatic transmission.
An engine powertrain is controlled by obtaining an output shaft torque of a torque converter of an automatic transmission and reducing fluctuations in the output shaft torque, thereby reducing a shift shock upon gear shifting.
As a known method of obtaining the output shaft torque of the torque converter, the torque is directly detected by of a torque sensor or estimated from other information by computation.
A torque estimating method is described in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei 4-8961, for example, wherein the output shaft torque of the torque converter is estimated by using rotating speeds of input and output shafts of the torque converter and characteristics of the torque converter. The torque converter characteristics are a pump capacity coefficient and a torque ratio. Data of the pump capacity coefficient and data of the torque ratio are separately stored in the form of data table in a memory such as a ROM (Read-Only Memory) provided in a control device, as functions of a speed ratio which is a ratio between the rotating speeds of the input and output shafts of the torque converter. In performing the computation of the output shaft torque of the torque converter, the separate pieces of stored data are retrieved to be used.
In the prior art mentioned above, the data of the pump capacity coefficient and the data of the torque ratio are separately stored in the memory. Accordingly, the capacity of the memory must be enlarged. Further, each piece of data is stored as discrete values in the data table, so that interpolation between adjacent values is required. To reduce an error due to the interpolation, the space between the adjacent values must be reduced to increase the amount of the data, causing a further increase in the memory capacity.
As an alternative method, it is considered to store the data in the form of a functional expression rather than in the form of the data table. In the case of approximating actual values by using the functional expression, a high-order functional expression must be used in order to avoid large differences between calculated values by the functional expression and the actual values. However, it is difficult to find out an optimum functional expression that can make the calculated values coincide well with the actual values.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide an engine powertrain control device and control method which can reduce data amounts of characteristics of a torque converter to be used for estimation of the output shaft torque of the torque converter.
According to the present invention, there is provided an engine powertrain control device comprising apparatus for detecting or computing rotating speeds of input and output shafts of a torque converter, apparatus for computing a speed ratio as a ratio between the rotating speed of the input shaft and the rotating speed of the output shaft of the torque converter obtained above, a memory for storing data of a pump capacity coefficient and a torque ratio product, c.times.t, obtained by multiplying a pump capacity coefficient c and a torque ratio t of the torque converter and for retrieving or computing a value of the product, c.times.t, corresponding to a value of the speed ratio computed above, and apparatus for computing an output shaft torque of the torque converter by using the value of the product, c.times.t, obtained above.
The rotating speeds of the input and output shafts of the torque converter are detected by mounting rotating speed sensors near the input and output shafts to directly detect the rotating speeds with the rotating speed sensors. Alternatively, the rotating speeds of the input and output shafts are computed by using any sensors other than the rotating speed sensors. The speed ratio computing apparatus computes a speed ratio as a ratio between the rotating speeds of the input and output shafts of the torque converter obtained above. The storing and computing apparatus storing data of a pump capacity coefficient and torque ratio product, c.times.t, retrieves a value of the product, c.times.t, corresponding to a value of the speed ratio obtained above. The torque converter output shaft torque computing apparatus computes a torque converter output shaft torque by using the value of the product, c.times.t, obtained above and the torque converter input shaft rotating speed obtained above. As described above, the storing and computing apparatus stores data of the pump capacity coefficient and torque ratio product, c.times.t, rather than separately storing data of a pump capacity c and data of a torque ratio t which are functions of the speed ratio. Accordingly, a memory capacity can be reduced to half. When in the past a value of the stored data is obtained by interpolation so that the data of the pump capacity coefficient c and the data of the torque ratio t are separately stored, an error occurred due to interpolation for each data. Accordingly, in computing the product, c.times.t, an even larger error occurred because of multiplication of the two interpolated values each having the initial error. To the contrary, according to the present invention, interpolation is made by using the data of the product, c.times.t, previously stored, so that the error due to the interpolation can be reduced over that in the prior art, thereby allowing torque estimation with high accuracy.

Engine powertrain control device and method for a vehicle


A mechanism and method for dynamic criteria-based line grouping for generating purchase orders within a software procurement system. The software system includes a data structure containing line items of a requisition. Each line item contains criteria that can be used to sort the line item to a particular purchase order, e.g., the criteria could include (1) information regarding the supplier, (2) the billed-to address, (3) the send-to address and (4) the currency used to purchase the line item. A configuration file (LGU file) contains the criteria by which the line items are sorted into purchase orders. This configuration can be dynamically altered by the user at any time thereby altering the manner in which the line items are sorted into purchase orders. A line_group table indicates which line items are grouped within a particular purchase order based on the dynamic configuration of the LGU file. A order_header table relates a line_group table to a requisition. A “host PO” object exists within a line_group table and can represent all line items of a requisition for efficient line item processing.

Consumers need to organize and send purchase orders to suppliers for procurement purposes. Procurement is a process in which a buyer makes sure that a purchase order for a particular supplier is accurate and authorized. The organization and procurement of purchase orders are especially necessary for large retailers, wholesalers, manufacturers, and electronic companies who buy many different types of items from many different suppliers. Manufacturers need to replenish their parts in stock to keep up with their production schedule. Grocery retailers need to replenish their perishable items in a supermarket. Electronic companies need to buy parts for their newly designed products. Wholesalers need to purchase large quantities of goods from many different manufacturers. Furthermore, regular consumers who often shop over the Internet for discounted products from different suppliers also need to organize their purchasing records. All of these consumers can make use of a software program to organize and send purchase orders to suppliers so that billing statements are generated accurately and purchased items are received on schedule.
This procurement process is very important because it is costly for both consumers and suppliers if purchase orders are missing and get sent to the wrong consumers or if purchases are unauthorized. It takes time and money to tract down missing purchase orders and correct inaccurate billing statements. Suppliers may loose customers if the procurement is not accurate. On the other hand, consumers such as grocery stores, retailers, wholesalers, and manufacturers may loose profits without accurate procurement because they have business schedules that depend upon the delivery of the purchased items. Therefore, consumers and suppliers need a software program which can help them in the organization and procurement of purchase orders.
This need is especially felt by both consumers and suppliers as the electronic commerce activities increase. In the recent years, the number of on-line consumers and suppliers has increased. An online or an electronic consumer is a consumer who purchases items over the Internet or the World Wide Web (www). On-line purchasing becomes a convenient, cost effective, and timesaving method of buying. Over the Internet, consumers can examine and select items that they want to purchase by interacting with web pages such as clicking and dragging items into an electronic shopping cart. The suppliers of the selected-and-purchased items then send these consumers a billing statement. On-line market is also a good method for suppliers to commercialize their products. It is economical and convenient for suppliers to post their catalogs online to advertise their products. Consequently, as the electronic commerce activities increase, the demand for a procurement software program also increases.
The boom of electronic commerce has brought about many software programs to assist buyers and suppliers in different phases of purchasing and procurement processes. However, software programs that currently exist in the market are often not compatible to one another because they are designed by different software firms for a particular type of electronic commerce and for a particular phase in the electronic purchasing process. For example, one software company creates software for an electronic commerce web page, but another company could create software for the procurement application. The first software program is not likely to understand the codes and variables in another company's software. When incompatible software programs do not understand one another, they would likely cause errors in the billing statements and other costly discrepancies in the electronic commerce. Thus, there exists a need for a dynamic procurement software program that can work well with other software programs.
Stand-alone software program can help consumers in the organization but not in the online procurement of the purchase orders. There exist many stand-alone or computer network software applications to help consumers in dealing with the organization of their purchase orders. Consumers may use these software applications to fill out purchase orders and send to suppliers via electronic mail (email) for procurement. For example, the relational databases such as Access, File Maker, etc., enable users to create their own purchasing categories, headers. These software users can sort purchasing records and calculate total payment due to each supplier. In order to use the relational database, consumers have to painstakingly enter each item, each supplier, currency, address, etc. Sometimes, the number of records can reach to tens of thousands. It is very time-consuming and tedious to use these databases. For instance, consumers have to learn how to create headers, items, suppliers, etc., and learn how to sort, classify information. When their purchasing needs change, these consumers have to change the configuration of their databases. Furthermore, some relational databases cannot handle electronic commerce issues. These relational databases are not designed to work compatibly with other commercial web pages to automatically enter purchasing items into the database. These relational databases are designed to solve off-line organization problems wherein users have thousands of records and want to enter, and organize the information. Therefore, many relational databases cannot handle online purchase where a consumer sends and receives purchase orders to suppliers for billing and for procurement.
There exists other software to assist online consumers in solving procurement problems but they are not generally adaptable to consumers' changing purchasing needs. This software can help consumers to place an order, receive a bill, and make payments in many online purchasing situations. However, this software does not allow consumers to change the configuration to meet with their changing purchasing needs. Consumers can only handle and sort data in a certain headers, and predefined categories, etc. Consumers cannot always change the features of the software to fit their changing needs. For example, an antiques dealer who recently finds new antique sources overseas needs to reclassify its purchase orders and method of shipment because the consumer now has to pay in different currency and ship to a different location. Furthermore, different consumers have different types of purchasing. An electronic manufacturer has different ways to manage its purchasing as well as their payment methods. A grocery retailer may need different purchasing categories to classify his or her purchasing. Existing software does not provide flexibility to buyers in the face of the above problems. For instance, a consumer would need to change the headers and sort categories in each program at installation time to fit their needs; and they then need to compile their program again. Compiling a software program takes specialized engineering training and is very time-consuming. Moreover, many software programs offer configuration that cannot be altered at all. As mentioned above, these programs are often not compatible with other existing programs, causing tremendous problems in the procurement process. Therefore, existing software programs for procurement cannot adapt to consumers' needs.

Dynamic criteria based line-grouping mechanism and method for purchase order generation


An elevating leveling pedestal having a base rotatably attached to a first coupling end to collectively create a height adjustment mechanism, a second coupling end non-rotatably attached to a first end of a non-threaded midsection of predetermined length with a second end non-rotatably attached to a head assembly to support, secure, and level a surface installed over a non-sloping or sloping sub-surface. The head assembly comprising a support-head overlying and attached to a cap with either the support-head or the cap having a convex mating surface and the other having a concave mating surface making the support-head and the cap slidably re-positionable with respect to each other along their mating surface resulting in the support-head being tiltable with respect to said cap from zero to seven degrees. A recess is formed in a bottomed-well in the support surface of the support-head for supporting a double-ended bushing to interact with locking devices.

The present invention relates generally to a device and a method for supporting a structure above a fixed surface, and more particularly, to a height and slope adjustable pedestal device made using a single length of unthreaded piping, the rotatable device base having minimal surface threading, and the device head able to be locked in a zero or non-zero slope for supporting a structure above a fixed surface, and the method of using such a device.
The background information discussed below is presented to better illustrate the novelty and usefulness of the present invention. This background information is not admitted prior art.
Elevating pedestal support devices are used, for example, when an elevated floor is required, such as when wiring, water pipes, and/or heating and cooling piping must be installed between a floor and sub-surface, or in many instances for deck installations. Floors supported by pedestals, are often referred to as pedestal floors. The supporting pedestals are uniformly distributed over a sub-surface to cooperate in supporting floor panels such as pavers or decking boards. The sub-surface may be a horizontally level concrete floor, a roof, or any other surface on top of which it is desired to locate an elevated floor. For these uses the elevating support pedestals need only be height adjustable. Substrates, however, are often not horizontal, such as roof surfaces that are generally sloped at a given angle from the horizontal for the purpose of draining rainfall and melting snow and ice. In these instances, in order to provide for the installation of a horizontally flat floor over a sloping sub-surface, the support pedestals need to be both height and slope adjustable.
Elevated deck construction, especially on sloped roofs, is gaining in popularity. Elevated deck floors often are made of deck-tiles, supported and connected by an array of pedestals. A deck tile typically consists of a 24″×24″ square assembly of deck boards that are used primarily for patios and rooftop lounge areas. It is these deck-tiles that must be installed over and elevated up from a non-level roof surface to create a new, level walking deck surface, or optionally a sloped ramped surface.


Facilitating self-remediation for software applications. In an embodiment, a self-remediation tool (incorporated in the software application) receives a set of tasks that are to be performed for fixing an error in the software application. The self-remediation tool determines a subset of tasks requiring termination of execution of the software application. A new process is then initialized, which is designed to terminate the software application, perform the subset of tasks and restart the software application.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to software maintenance, and more specifically to a method and apparatus for facilitating self-remediation for software applications.
2. Related Art
A software application refers to software code/software instructions that are executed to provide a specific utility to users or other application. It is often observed that during execution, errors in functionality/operation may be discovered such as deviation from the specific utilities sought to be provided, reduction in efficiency, etc.
Deploying fixes for such errors may require the modification of the software instructions constituting a software application. Modification of instructions is often performed by another software application (typically called a patch/remediation tool) provided as a separate set of instructions, which execute independent of the software application. In one embodiment, the remediation tool may not be able to fix errors discovered within the instructions constituting the remediation tool.
Another common approach to deploy fixes for errors is to incorporate instructions (that form the remediation tool) as a part of a software application. In one embodiment, the remediation tool is capable of modifying any of the software instructions constituting the software application (including the instructions constituting the remediation tool), but only during execution of the software application.
Thus, if the deployment of fixes requires termination of execution of the software application, it may not be possible for such a remediation tool (incorporated in the software application) to perform the modifications of the software instructions specified by the fixes.
Various aspects of the present invention facilitate self-remediation (where the remediation tool for deploying fixes for errors is incorporated in the software application) for software applications.
In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical, functionally similar, and/or structurally similar elements. The drawing in which an element first appears is indicated by the leftmost digit(s) in the corresponding reference number.


A system for processing fuel vapor includes a fuel tank having a pressure gauge, a gas separation membrane module having a gas separation membrane for separating fuel vapor into condensed fuel vapor and fuel lean vapor, a fuel-vapor dissolution device for introducing condensed fuel vapor discharged into the fuel tank and dissolving this condensed fuel vapor in fuel, a canister having an adsorption part adsorbing fuel vapor in fuel lean vapor and a desorption device desorbing fuel vapor from the adsorption part, and an ECU programmed to, when the internal pressure of the fuel tank detected by the pressure gauge is at least a predetermined value, drive the pump to actuate the system so as to process fuel vapor. An objective of the present invention is to provide a fuel-vapor processing system that can process fuel vapor even during periods when the engine is stopped and does not require separation of fuel vapor at multiple stages, complicated control of the flow rate of fuel vapor and the flow rate of permeated gas, or liquefaction of fuel vapor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for processing fuel vapor generated in a fuel tank mounted on an automotive vehicle, etc.
2. Related Art
It is well known that fuel vapor due to volatilization of fuel, as a result of an increase in temperature, fills a fuel tank mounted on an automotive vehicle, etc., which in turn increases the internal pressure of the fuel tank in the closed state thereof. If the internal pressure of the fuel tank is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, there is a possibility that fuel vapor can flow into an engine making starting of the engine impossible, or leaks from the joints of fuel lines, etc. For this reason, the rise in internal pressure of the fuel tank is suppressed by discharging fuel vapor from the fuel tank. When discharging fuel vapor, fuel vapor is introduced into a device filled with activated carbon or the like, referred to as a vapor canister, in which the fuel vapor is adsorbed by activated carbon or the like, thus resulting in the discharge of purified gas into the atmosphere.
For the continuous use of the vapor canister, a process of adsorbing fuel vapor as well as a process of collecting adsorbed fuel vapor is required. In order to continuously perform the process of adsorbing fuel vapor and the process of collecting adsorbed fuel vapor, a system having a means or device for controlling the processes is required. Thus, various fuel-vapor processing systems have been developed conventionally.
By way of example, Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-295703 discloses a fuel-vapor recovery device including a canister having an adsorption means for adsorbing fuel vapor introduced from a fuel tank, and a membrane separation module for separating fuel vapor flowing from a discharge port of the canister into an air rich component and a fuel-vapor rich component by a separation membrane having selective air permeability, in which the membrane separation module has a discharge port for the air rich component, which is disposed on the permeable side of the separation membrane and is connected to the induction pipe of the engine so that the membrane separation module is actuated by a membrane separation driving force generated by the negative pressure of the engine, and a discharge port of the fuel-vapor rich component, which is disposed on the nonpermeable side of the separation membrane and is connected to the fuel tank so that a fuel-vapor component contained in the fuel-vapor rich component is liquefied in the fuel tank or absorbed in liquid fuel for recovery.
With this fuel-vapor recovery device, since air containing fuel vapor, generated in the fuel tank or by purging the canister, is separated by the selective air permeability-type membrane separation module using the engine's negative pressure as a membrane separation driving force, no mounting of a vacuum pump is required. Moreover, even if a membrane-permeated component derived from the membrane separation module is introduced into the induction pipe of the engine, no influence is exerted on the components of the discharged gas. Furthermore, even if a large amount of fuel vapor is produced, no fuel vapor is released into the atmosphere.
Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-132263 discloses an evaporated-fuel processing device for an internal combustion engine, including a canister for adsorbing evaporated fuel generated in a fuel tank, a feed pump for feeding fuel in the fuel tank to the internal combustion engine, a fuel vapor separation unit for separating process gas containing a high concentration of fuel vapor from purge gas purged from the canister, a process-gas passage for circulating process gas to a suction port of the feed pump, a bubble discharge passage for discharging air bubbles led to the suction port of the feed pump, and a temperature reduction unit for reducing the temperature of an outlet of the bubble discharge passage with respect to the temperature of an inlet thereof. With this evaporated-fuel processing device, evaporated fuel can be processed by condensing evaporated fuel generated in the fuel tank, which is then taken into in the feed pump.


A change gear unit has an output shaft which can be engaged into a drive connection with a parallel input shaft. The output shaft can be engaged into the drive connection by at least three gear wheel stages in order to form forward gears. Also, the output shaft can be engaged with a vehicle axle differential gear unit by two gear wheel stages. The differential gear unit has output shafts that are parallel with respect to the central axis of the change gear unit.

The present invention relates to a change gear unit, and more particularly, to a motor vehicle change gear unit in which an output shaft can, in each case, be moved optionally into a drive connection with a parallel input shaft, by at least three gear wheel stages to form forward gears and by one gear wheel stage to form a reverse gear. An input-side gear unit element of a three-element differential gear unit of the planetary gear type is arranged, with the central axis of the said gear unit element, parallel to the input shaft and output shaft, by way of two gear wheel stages, and the two output-side gear unit elements of the differential gear unit which are centrally arranged to the central axis can each be coupled to a vehicle wheel of a drive axle.
More specifically in the change gear unit the two input-side gear wheels of two gear wheel stages which are used to form forward gears as a drive connection between the input shaft and the output shaft, and the input-side gear wheel of the gear wheel stage which is used to form the reverse gear as a drive connection between the input shaft and output shaft are each arranged rotationally fixed relative to the input shaft. An intermediate gear wheel which is independently rotatably mounted can be moved into meshing engagement both with the input-side and with the output-side gear wheel of the gear wheel stage which is used to form the reverse gear as a drive connection between the input shaft and output shaft.
In a known change gear unit as described in EP 0 242 338 B1, two gear wheel stages are used to form forward gears and one gear wheel stage is used to form a reverse gear, in each case as a drive connection between the input shaft and output shaft. A clutch sliding sleeve is arranged axially displaceably and rotationally fixed with respect to the output shaft, for optionally engaging the two gear wheel stages in order to form forward gears. The sliding sleeve is additionally provided with continuous toothing for use as an output-side gear wheel of the gear wheel stage in order to form the reverse gear. This gear wheel stage acts as a drive connection in that the sliding sleeve is moved into its axial neutral position and the intermediate gear wheel is then pushed into the continuous toothings of the gear-shift sliding sleeve and of the associated input-side gear wheel on the input shaft. Synchronization of the reverse gear is thus not provided.
In the known change gear unit, the output shaft can be moved into a drive connection with the differential gear unit by two gear wheel stages which can be optionally engaged. In total, thereby, four forward gears are obtained in conjunction with the two other gear wheel stages.
In the known change gear unit, the objective was to reduce the gear wheel stages in comparison with a four-gear change gear unit in which one gear wheel stage is provided for each forward gear, i.e. a total of four gear wheel stages, between the input shaft and output shaft. The two input-side gear wheels of the forward-gear gear wheel stages were keyed onto the input shaft. It was also known that a third gear wheel stage might form forward gears as a drive connection between the input shaft and output shaft so that a six-speed gear unit is obtained, but the way to obtain a six-speed gear unit has not been described in the prior art.
In the change gear unit described in CH-PS 205 282, the input-side gear wheels of the gear wheel stages, which are used to form the forward gears II to V as a drive connection between the input shaft and output shaft are rotatably seated, as loose wheels, on the input shaft, in order to form the lowest forward gear I and the reverse gear. In each case, a particular input gear wheel arranged rotationally fixed on the input shaft and a common output gear wheel having three crown gears and seated loosely on the output shaft as a sliding gear wheel were provided for the gear wheel stages. One of the three crown gears was optionally moved into a meshing engagement with the associated input gear wheels. One of the two other crown gears was in a meshing engagement with one and the same gear wheel assigned to the differential gear unit and at the same time arranged concentrically with respect to its central axis and fixed in terms of movement with respect to its input-side gear unit element. The output gear wheel with the three crown gears and the output gear wheel which was associated with the gear wheel stage in order to form the forward gear V with the lowest transmission ratio were arranged both at opposite ends of the output shaft and in change gear unit casing chambers separated from one another by an intermediate casing wall.
In another known change gear unit as described in DE 30 37 990 A1, two input shafts, which are concentric with respect to one another, are movable into a drive connection with a parallel output shaft by, on one hand, one power shift clutch with a drive motor and, on the other hand, by gear wheel stages, in order to form forward gears and one reverse gear. The gear wheel stages and their shifting apparatuses were activated using a shift drum which is driven by an electric motor.
Finally, yet another change gear unit was described in DE 41 26 161 C2. The axes of rotation of one input shaft and one output shaft and the central axis of a differential gear unit were arranged both parallel to one another and in a main plane of a gear unit casing. The gear unit casing was divided, in a dividing plane which is located perpendicular to the axes of rotation, into a gear wheel casing which accommodated all the gear wheel stages for forming the gear unit speeds and partially accommodated the differential gear unit, and into an adaptor casing which completely accommodates a separating or starting clutch and partially accommodates the differential gear unit. Seated both on the input shaft and on the output shaft were loose wheels of gear wheel stages for forming forward gears which were activated via three shift rods located parallel to one another and also to the transmission shafts and are arranged on one side of the main plane. On the other side of the main plane, a bearing bolt for the rotatable bearing of intermediate gear wheels of a gear wheel stage was arranged parallel to the input shaft in order to form the reverse gear. The bearing bolt could be inserted by one end into a receptacle hole of the gear wheel casing and by its other end into a receptacle hole of the adaptor casing. The receptacle hole of the adaptor casing opened in a dividing surface located in the dividing plane.
An object of the present invention is to use as few different types of parts as possible while providing a change gear unit which has at least five forward gears and one synchronized reverse gear.
This object has been advantageously achieved in accordance with the present invention by providing that the intermediate gear wheel is arranged to mesh continuously with the input-side gear wheel, which is rotationally fixed with respect to the input shaft, of the gear wheel stage having the largest transmission ratio of three gear wheel stages whose transmission ratios form a succession and which forms the forward gears as the drive connection between the input shaft and the output shaft. The output-side gear wheel of the gear wheel stage forms the reverse gear as a drive connection between the input shaft and the output shaft. The two output-side gear wheels of that gear wheel stage having the smallest transmission ratio of the three gear wheel stages whose transmission ratios form the succession and which form forward gears as a drive connection between the input shaft and the output shaft, and of the gear wheel stage which forms the reverse gear as a drive connection between the input shaft and the output shaft, are arranged rotatably and axially adjacent to one another on the output shaft and are coupleable to the output shaft.
In the change gear unit according to the present invention, the reverse gear is synchronized, and a particular input-side gear wheel for the gear wheel stage for forming the reverse gear is dispensed with. The input shaft can be manufactured in one piece with the three gear wheels of the gear wheel stages in order to form five or six forward gears. In one embodiment of the present invention, these three gear wheel stages require, together with the gear wheel stage forming the reverse gear, only two clutches for the respective engagement, as a drive connection between the input shaft and output shaft.
In another embodiment of the gear change unit according to the present invention, all the gear wheels of the input shaft can be manufactured with the gear-cutting method by providing, inter alia, that the output-side gear wheel of the gear wheel stage having the smallest transmission ratio of the three gear wheel stages, whose transmission ratios form a succession and form the forward gears as a drive connection between the input shaft and the output shaft, is arranged axially between the output-side gear wheel of the gear wheel stage which forms the reverse gear as a drive connection between the input shaft and the output shaft, and also between the input-side gear wheels of the gear wheel stages constituting a drive connection between the output shaft and the differential gear unit.
According to another advantageous feature of the present invention, the change gear unit can be extended to seven or eight forward gears while maintaining the advantages of the five-gear or six-gear embodiment.
An advantageous activation of the clutches of the change gear unit according to the present invention can be achieved by providing that, for example, the clutches operatively associated with the gear wheel stages constituting the drive connection between the input shaft and the output shaft, and the clutches operatively associated with the gear wheel stages constituting the drive connection between the output shaft and differential gear unit, are arranged to be activated by a shift drum having a respective shift fork.
An advantageous refinement of a gear unit casing of the change gear unit according to the present invention is achievable in that a first casing plane of a gear unit casing contains axes of rotation of the input shaft and the output shaft, a second casing plane of the gear unit casing contains an axis of rotation of the output shaft and the central axis of the differential gear unit, and a third casing plane located between the first and second casing planes, contains the axis of rotation of the output shaft and the geometric axis of a bearing axle, and the shift forks are arranged to be axially displaceable with respect to the associated transmission shaft, with an intermediate connection of the bearing axle.

Motor vehicle change gear unit with reduced gear wheel stages


Wearable devices, methods and processor-readable media for multi-finger mid-air gesture recognition are described. A smart ring wearable device having an array of proximity sensors located about the circumference of the ring is used, in conjunction with a motion sensor such as an accelerometer, to sense and recognize multi-finger mid-air gestures. The proximity sensors may be used to sense the relative positions and shapes of the fingers of the user's hand. The motion sensor may be used to detect gross movements of the finger, hand, and arm, and to detect other movements such as finger collisions using high-frequency sampling of accelerometer data to sense bio-acoustic vibrations. A gesture-sensing system may be operated by the wearable device, a gesture-controlled device, or another device to recognize the gestures based on the sensor data using a trained support-vector machine as a classifier.

Smart rings are a type of device, worn on a user's finger, enabling the user to provide user input to an electronic device such as a computer. Some smart rings may provide users with a relatively fast and eyes-free input mechanism. The ring form factor and size of a smart ring may make it socially inconspicuous and enable relatively private input, without observers necessarily recognizing the smart ring as a user input device. As a result, smart rings may be considered an attractive solution for controlling electronic devices used in a range of social settings, such as mobile electronic devices.
The input mechanisms used by commercially available smart rings usually involve button input, trackpad input, and/or motion input. For example, the Genius Ring Mouse 2, described at https://us.geniusnetcom/supports/ring-mouse-2, is a ring-shaped computer mouse using two buttons and one trackpad for input. The buttons are used as the left and right buttons of a mouse, and the trackpad is for moving the cursor position. Other smart rings use motion input to move the cursor position, typically by using a motion sensor. The motion sensor detects the ring's acceleration and orientation, which is used for inferring finger motions. For example, the Ring device marketed by Logbar Inc., described at https://logbar.ip/en/, and Litho Ring, a bar-shaped device worn on a user's finger and described at https://www.litho.cc/, include motion and touch sensors. Users can perform motion and touch gestures to control Internet of Things (IoT) devices in the physical world, or to control virtual objects in a virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) environment.
Commercially-available smart rings do not typically support multi-finger mid-air gestures. Multi-finger mid-air gestures allow users to control electronic devices using hand gestures performed in open air, as opposed to finger or hand movements performed in contact with a control surface such as a mouse, keyboard, touchscreen, or trackpad, and may thereby leverage the dexterity and full range of motion of human fingers. Multi-finger mid-air gestures have been widely used by many platforms, such as televisions, vehicle cockpits, and VR and AR devices. Research in human-computer interaction (HCl) suggests that users respond positively to devices supporting control through multi-finger mid-air gestures. For example, users may be able to control a device by performing intuitive hand gestures, which may reduce the learning curve for users to learn a set of gesture controls relative to current sets of smart ring gestures that do not leverage the flexibility of multi-finger gestures.
An experimental smart ring configured to sense multi-finger mid-air gestures, CyclopsRing, is described in Chan, Liwei & Chen, Yi-Ling & Hsieh, Chi-Hao & Liang, Rong-Hao & Chen, Bing-Yu. (2015). CyclopsRing: Enabling Whole-Hand and Context-Aware Interactions Through a Fisheye Ring. 10.1145/2807442.2807450, available at https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2807442.2807450. CyclopsRing uses a fisheye camera positioned between the wearer's index and middle fingers. The wide angle of view of the fisheye camera enables the device to capture multiple finger movements, enabling multi-finger mid-air gesture input. However, CyclopsRing has a number of limitations, which may prevent it from being successfully commercialized.
First, the CyclopsRing device does not have a conventional ring form factor. The fisheye camera occupies a relatively large space between two of the user's fingers, which may interfere with a user's other hand motions or activities and may make the device highly socially conspicuous. Second, finger-worn cameras raise privacy concerns for both the user of the device and any bystanders. This issue may also decrease the social acceptability of the device. Third, camera-based devices are power-consuming, reducing the battery life and therefore the use time of the device. Fourth, finger segments are very likely to block the fisheye lens in use. When performing multi-finger gestures, finger segments close to the lens occupy a large portion of the field of view, which decreases the reliability of gesture recognition.
There thus exists a need for a smart ring or other wearable device that overcomes one or more of the disadvantages of existing smart rings identified above.

Wearable devices, methods and media for multi-finger mid-air gesture recognition


A stocker includes a storage shelf, an output-relay shelf, a first crane, an output shelf, a second crane, and a controller. The storage shelf has a plurality of storage spaces. The output-relay shelf has a plurality of first output-relay spaces. The output shelf has an output space. The controller is configured to drive the first crane to preferentially transfer a first wafer carrier stored in one of the storage spaces to an empty one of the first output-relay spaces according to a delivery command defining a high priority of the first wafer carrier, and configured to drive the second crane to preferentially transfer the first wafer carrier from the first output-relay space storing the first wafer carrier to the output space according to the delivery command if the output space is empty.

The manufacture of semiconductor devices involves the performance of a series of process steps using a variety of high tech production and metrology tools in a certain order and often within a certain period of time. The primary function of a wafer logistics system in a semiconductor fabrication facility, or "fab," is to deliver the wafers to each of the tools at the right time, as well as to track the location and status of the wafers throughout the process.
Automated material handling systems (AMHS) are used in fabs to carry out the automated functions more efficiently, consistently, and safely than can be done via manual means. Process and tool changes have placed additional demands on the AMHS. Such demands include the necessity for cross-floor and cross-phase transportation and increased transportation volume, the combination of which often results in traffic jams, delays, and lower tool utilization.
When a wafer carrier, such as a standard mechanical interface (SMIF) pod or front opening unified pod (FOUP) containing wafers, is to be transferred, a manufacturing execution system (MES) determines to what destination in the fab the wafer carrier should be transferred. In an AMHS, stockers are widely used in conjunction with automatically guided or overhead transport vehicles, either on the ground or suspended on tracks, for the storing and transporting of semiconductor wafers in SMIF pods or in FOUPs. Once the destination decision has been made, the MES sends a transfer request to a material control system (MCS), which calculates a detailed transportation route using a real time dispatching (RTD) system and then notifies a transfer manager to execute the transfer step-by-step. AMHS's have been used extensively in the semiconductor fabrication field.

Stocker and method for dispatching wafer carrier in stocker

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.


A mounting structure is provided in which outer electrodes of an electronic component are soldered on lands provided on a circuit board. Two of the lands on which two of the outer electrodes disposed along a diagonal of a principal surface of the electronic component are soldered, are configured such that inner vertexes defined at opposite ends of a minimum distance between the lands are aligned with inner vertexes defined at opposite ends of a minimum distance between the outer electrodes. That is, sides of the outer electrodes are aligned with outer edges of the lands. Accordingly, only one positional relationship is permitted between the electronic component and the mounting surface, the positional relationship causing a total area of the outer electrodes facing the lands to be maximized.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mounting structure for mounting an electronic component on a circuit board, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a mounting structure for mounting an electronic component on a circuit board with a high positional accuracy.
2. Description of the Related Art
As shown in FIG. 12, an example of a mounting structure of a related art for an electronic component is that surface-mounting lands 11, 12, 13, and 14, on which outer electrodes 21, 22, 23, and 24 of an electronic component 20 are soldered, are provided on a mounting surface of a circuit board 10, such as a ceramic multilayer board, or a printed circuit board. The lands 11, 12, 13, and 14 are provided at positions corresponding to positions of the outer electrodes 21, 22, 23, and 24 of the electronic component 20. To reliably mount the electronic component 20, each of the lands 11, 12, 13, and 14 have a size greater than that of each of the outer electrodes 21, 22, 23, and 24 of the electronic component 20.
The electronic component 20 is mounted on the circuit board 10 as follows. The electronic component 20 is arranged such that the outer electrodes 21, 22, 23, and 24 are aligned with solder pastes printed on the lands 11, 12, 13, and 14, the circuit board 10 with the electronic component 20 mounted thereon passes through a reflow oven (not shown) to melt the solder pastes, and thus, the outer electrodes 21, 22, 23, and 24 are soldered on the lands 11, 12, 13, and 14.
The mounting structure of the related art has the following problems. The melted solder easily adheres to the lands 11, 12, 13, and 14 and the outer electrodes 21, 22, 23, and 24, thus exhibiting good wettability, whereas the melted solders exhibit poor wettability with respect to a board material for the circuit board 10, and a constituent body 20a of the electronic component 20. Due to this, the solder melted as the circuit board 10 with the electronic component 20 mounted thereon passes through the reflow oven does not flow outside the lands 11, 12, 13, and 14, or outside the outer electrodes 21, 22, 23, and 24.
As shown in FIG. 13A, when the land 11 of the lands 11, 12, 13, and 14, and the outer electrode 21 soldered on the land 11 are considered, the melted solder provided therebetween easily wets the land 11 and the outer electrode 21 and adheres to the electrodes and lands due to the wettability of the melted solder.
At this time, the solder simultaneously spreads on the outer electrode 21 and the land 11 in a wet manner, and thus, a self-alignment action is applied to the electronic component so that a maximum superposed area of the outer electrode 21 and the land 11 is achieved. However, when the mounting structure is designed such that the superposed area of the outer electrode 21 and the land 11 does not vary even when the position of the outer electrode 21 is shifted to the upper, lower, left or right side as shown in FIG. 13B, the electronic component 20 may be influenced by a vibration or impact applied from the outside, or by variation in the position at the mounting, causing the electronic component 20 to move freely within a range in which the superposed area remains unvaried. Accordingly, if the solder solidifies after the electronic component 20 is moved, the mounting position of the electronic component 20 may vary.
In order to solve the above-described problems with the mounting structure of the related art, as shown in FIG. 14, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-299548 (Patent Document 1) discloses a land structure for mounting a surface-mounted component 3 on a printed circuit board 1, the surface-mounted component 3 including terminals 3b, 3b each having a narrow width A and protruding from the opposite lateral surfaces of a body 3a.
Provided on a surface (mounting surface) of the printed circuit board 1 are protruding lands 2, 2 having protruding portions 2a, 2a on which the terminals 3b, 3b of the surface-mounted component 3 are soldered. The protruding portions 2a, 2a of the lands 2, 2 each have a narrow width B corresponding to the width A of the terminals 3b, 3b of the surface-mounted component 3, and protrude inwardly so as to face each other. Solder paste is printed on the protruding portions 2a, 2a of the lands 2, 2, the terminals 3b, 3b are provided on the solder paste, the solder paste is melted through the reflow oven, and the terminals 3b, 3b are soldered on the protruding portions 2a, 2a.
With the land structure described in Patent Document 1, since the width B of the protruding portions 2a, 2a of the lands 2, 2 is narrow and corresponds to the width A of the terminals 3b, 3b of the surface-mounted component 3, the protruding portions 2a, 2a each have a width substantially equivalent to that of the terminals 3b, 3b. Thus, the surface-mounted component 3 can be mounted on the printed circuit board 1 with a high positional accuracy due to the action of the self-alignment caused by the surface tension of the solder paste melted in the reflow oven.
However, since the protruding portions 2a, 2a have the narrow width B substantially equivalent to the width A of the terminals 3b, 3b, it is difficult to reliably apply the solder paste to the protruding portions 2a, 2a by printing, thereby causing problems of insufficient printing of the solder paste, a decrease in mounting strength of the surface-mounted component 3, and a poor mounting reliability of the surface-mounted component 3 to the printed circuit board 1.

Mounting structure for electronic component


A printable composition for the manufacture of cell-receiving scaffolds comprising about 0.3 wt % to about 3.0 wt % of one or more collagens; about 5.0 wt % to about 40.0 wt % of one or more monomers; about 0.5 wt % to about 2.0 wt % of a photo initiator; and 0 wt % to about 75 wt % of a vehicle comprising a protic solvent, by weight of the printable composition; wherein the printable composition has a resolution of about 100 microns or less when printed, a photo speed (Dp/Ec) of about 0.1-5 mm (Dp) and about 10-100 mJ/cm2 (Ec) when printed, and a green strength of at least about 5 kPa after drying. The present technology further includes methods of manufacturing a three-dimensional cell-receiving scaffold using the printable composition.

Biological scaffolds are three-dimensional biomaterials before cells have been added, and are capable of receiving living cells. The scaffolds are used to provide a three-dimensional support and geometric structure for the cells. For example, one particular use of such biological scaffolds includes use as a replacement for functional human organs. This has been accomplished using suidae (e.g., pig) family sourced organs that are de-cellularized and then re-cellularized with compatible human cells. However, suidae family sourced scaffolds pose challenges, such as contamination from original suidae cells, bacteria, and other contaminants.
While three-dimensional printing technology can facilitate the production of three-dimensional scaffolds customized for a given subject, currently available systems with such printed scaffolds pose challenges, e.g., compatibility with implanted cells and achieving a high enough resolution to define walls or other features within the scaffold.
The present technology is directed to overcoming these and other deficiencies.

Material and method for producing cell receiving scaffold


An apparatus for providing an indication of rotational position of a shaft by parameter change. The apparatus includes a resilient, serpentine-shaped middle portion, a first end portion located at one end of the middle portion, and a second end portion at another end of the middle portion. The second end portion is for location adjacent to the first end portion to permit securing of the first and second ends together subsequent to the middle portion being resiliently extended around the shaft. The serpentine-shaped middle portion is sized to be taut on the shaft and is shaped to have a plurality of undulations. The undulations providing a plurality of event members each having at least one characteristic that causes a change of a parameter that can be sensed by a sensor when the event member rotates past the sensor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to position monitoring/analysis of rotating machinery, and more particularly, to ease of accurately establishing mechanical angular position of rotating shafts.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Machinery that includes a rotating shaft may use a multi-event timing wheel to accurately establish mechanical angular position during shaft rotation. Often, requirements for a timing wheel are met for each installation by custom designing a wheel. The wheel must be fabricated with a precision inside diameter to fit a shaft diameter. The wheel is then split in half and clamped around the shaft. If the shaft diameter is incorrectly measured as too large or too small, the clamped design will not properly fit the shaft.
The process of splitting the timing wheel in half involves a saw which often leaves a kerf. The existence of the kerf allows over-tightening of the timing wheel which reduces the spacing of the kerf. This condition may result in an unequal spacing of the events in the wheel and subsequent error in the measured position. Alternatively, some machining of the timing wheel is done, the wheel is split in half, and then a spacer with the width of the kerf is added to the timing wheel so the rest of the machining can be completed. This adds complexity and cost to the manufacture of the timing wheel.
Timing wheels are often installed on the end of the rotating shaft. However, in many installations, the shaft ends are not accessible or the shaft ends are not suitable for installation of a timing wheel. As a result, an alternate location on the shaft must be selected. Frequently, the selected alternate location is an exposed location of the shaft adjacent to a bearing or rigid coupling. At times, an installation at these locations requires some amount of disassembly of the machinery to fasten the timing wheel to the shaft.
Accordingly, there is a need for a timing wheel apparatus for improving accuracy, minimizing production cost, and reducing disassembly of machinery during application of the timing wheel.

Self-adjusting multi-event timing apparatus


Video signal processing systems and methods for detecting horizontal synchronization signals within video signals. Digital filtering methods are implemented for processing analog video signals to determine time varying characteristics of video signals to detect the starting and ending positions of horizontal synchronization pulses in a video signal with increased accuracy. In addition, adaptive methods are implemented for dynamically determining various video signal parameters over time, such as blanking level BL, threshold value (slice) level and synchronization level SL using information extracted from digitally filtered video signals.

In general, a video signal is a low voltage signal that contains intensity information in combination with timing information, which is used to drive a display system. A video signal comprises a plurality of video frames, wherein a vertical synchronization (or Vsync) pulse is generated at the end of each video frame. Each video frame comprises a plurality of lines which contain video information that is processed for driving lines of a screen or monitor, for example.
FIG. 1 schematically illustrates an analog video signal (10), in particular, a color video burst signal (CVBS). The analog video signal (10) comprises front porch (11) portions, horizontal synchronization (Hsync) pulses (12), back porch (12) portions that contain a color burst signal (13a), and active video signal (14) portions. The Hsync pulses (12) identify the beginning of each line of video information. Each Hsync pulse (12) is preceded by a front porch (11) and terminated by a back porch (13). The color burst signal (13a) is utilized in various video formats (e.g., NTSC and PAL) as a color calibration reference. An active video signal (14) is located between the back porch (13) and the front porch (11) of a next Hsync pulse (12).
Each line of the video signal (10) begins at a falling edge of a Hsync pulse (12) and ends at a falling edge of the next Hsync pulse (12). The front porch (11) and back porch (13) are at a DC voltage level referred to as a "blanking level", BL) (e.g., 0V), which is specified based on the given video standard. The Hsync pulses (12) have a DC voltage level (or amplitude) referred to as the "synchronization level", SL, which has a DC level less than the BL. The falling and rising edges of an Hsync pulse (12) are defined based on a DC slice level, which is typically specified as 50% of the Hsync pulse amplitude, or SL, relative to the BL. The distance between the back porch (13) and a front porch (11) of a given line of video is a parameter that is specified based on the given video signal standard.
Various types of video processing systems and methods have been developed for processing video signals (such as depicted in FIG. 1) to extract video and timing information that is used for driving a display system. One important aspect of video processing is the ability to accurately detect the Vsync and Hsync signals for properly identifying separate frames and properly generating and displaying the line information of each video frame. FIG. 2A is a high-level block diagram that schematically illustrates a conventional video signal processing system (100). In general, the video processing system (100) comprises a Y/C separator module (110), a synchronization detector module (120) and a demodulator module (130).
The sync detector module (20) detects Hsync and Vsync of an input video signal (10). The Y/C separator (110) separates luminance Y and chrominance C signals from the input video signal (10) based on the Sync signals detected by the Sync detector (120). The demodulator (130) interpolates the extracted Y and C signals and generates video data signals (R,G,B/Y,Cb,Cr) that are further processed by a video processing unit to generate control signals for driving a display device to display a video picture.
FIG. 2B is a block diagram that schematically illustrates a conventional embodiment of the Sync detector module (120) for detecting Hsync signals of an input video signal. The detector (120) comprises a slicer module (121), a slice level generator (122), a phase detector (123), and a PLL (phase-locked loop) (124), which all operate under control of a controller (125). In general, the slicer (121) detects the rising and falling edges of Hsync signals in the input video signal (10) based on a DC slice level that is generated by the slice level generator (122). The slice level generator (122) processes the input video signal (10) to determine a DC slice level using known techniques. For instance, a DC slice level can be determined based on a priori knowledge of the DC amplitudes, transitions, and structures of various portions of the input video signal. A DC slice level can be determined based on estimates of relative amplitudes between the SL of the Hsync pulse and other levels such as BL or the peak of the active video portions.
Based on the DC slice level determined by the slice level generator (122), the slicer module (121) will detect the falling edges of Hsync pulses (12) in the video signal (10) at points where the input video signal level moves below the determined DC slice level. Similarly, the slicer module (121) will detect the rising edges of Hsync pulses (12) in the video signal (10) at points where the input video signal level moves above the determined DC slice level.
The PLL (124) operates to generate and output control pulses (Hsync) that are synchronized to the detected Hsync pulses in the input video signal (10). The phase detector (123) determines an amount of phase difference between the Hsync pulses extracted from the video signal (10) by the slicer (121) and the Sync pulses generated and output from the PLL (124). The phase detector (123) will generate a control signal based on the detected phase difference, which causes the PLL (124) to perform error correction to adjust the output Sync pulses to be phase aligned to the extracted Hsync pulses.
Depending on the type of Hsync detections employed, the conventional system of FIGS. 2A/2B can exhibit degraded performance due to decreased Hsync detection accuracy. In particular, for Hsync detection methods that are based on comparing the DC levels of the video signal to known or determined threshold amplitudes (e.g., BL, SL, etc.), accurate detection of the HSync may not be possible when the video signal is noisy. In addition, the transmission of a video signal can lead to distortion or loss of the DC levels of the input video signal, thus, making is difficult or impossible to detect the Hsync pulses.

Digital video processing systems and methods for estimating horizontal sync in digital video signals


In order to connect a trailer hitch, comprising a ball neck, which is movable between an operative position and a rest position and has a pivot bearing body arranged at a first end and a coupling ball arranged at a second end, a pivot bearing unit, which is arranged fixed to the vehicle by means of a carrier that is configured to be secured to a vehicle body, wherein by means of the pivot bearing unit, which has a pivot bearing housing, the pivot bearing body is mounted such that it is pivotal about a pivot axis between the operative position and the rest position, and a rotation-blocking device that, in at least one rotation-blocking position, blocks a pivotal movement of the pivot bearing body about the pivot axis in relation to the pivot bearing unit and, in a release position, releases such pivotal movement, to the carrier in a manner that is stable and simple to assemble, it is proposed that the pivot bearing housing should pass through a receptacle in a bearing part of the carrier and in so doing be held by positively engaging elements such that it cannot rotate in relation thereto, and that on either side of the receptacle the pivot bearing housing should be fixed by support bodies that abut against the bearing part and are supported against both the pivot bearing housing and the bearing part.

The invention relates to a trailer hitch, comprising a ball neck, which is movable between an operative position and a rest position and has a pivot bearing body arranged at a first end and a coupling ball arranged at a second end, a pivot bearing unit, which is arranged fixed to the vehicle by means of a carrier that is configured to be secured to a vehicle body, wherein by means of the pivot bearing unit, which has a pivot bearing housing, the pivot bearing body is mounted such that it is pivotal about a pivot axis between the operative position and the rest position, and a rotation-blocking device that, in at least one rotation-blocking position, blocks a pivotal movement of the pivot bearing body about the pivot axis in relation to the pivot bearing unit and, in a release position, releases such pivotal movement.
Trailer hitches of this kind are known from the prior art, and a requirement thereof is to connect the pivot bearing unit to the carrier as simply, stably and reliably as possible.


An apparatus for stabilizing a steering feel in a motor-driven power steering (MDPS) includes: an input unit configured to receive a column torque of a steering wheel; a calculation unit configured to convert the column torque signal inputted from the input unit into a target signal for generating a compensation signal of the steering wheel; and a compensation unit configured to calculate an assist torque for compensating for a main assist torque based on the target signal from the calculation unit.

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for stabilizing a steering feel in a motor-driven power steering (MDPS), and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for stabilizing a steering feel in an MDPS, which receives a column torque of a steering wheel, filters noise components from the received column torque, and generates a compensation signal based on the column torque such that the steering wheel is stably returned.
A motor-driven power steering apparatus assists a steering force of a driver using torque of a motor, unlike an existing hydraulic power steering.
The motor-driven power steering apparatus is referred to as an MDPS or electronic power steering (EPS).
The MDPS receives a column torque from a torque sensor connected to a steering wheel, and calculates an assist amount of the motor by combining the received column torque with the speed of the vehicle, in order to improve steering performance.
The steering performance logic includes torque loop logic, high-frequency assist control (HFAC) logic, damping logic, and active returning logic. The torque loop logic is configured to set a main assist torque based on a booster output for a torque input. The HFAC logic is configured to reduce a sense of difference, felt by the driver due to the assist of the motor, and increase the output of the assist torque. The damping logic is configured to control vibration of the steering system. The active restoration logic is configured to increase the returning force of the steering wheel after rotation.
In particular, the damping logic serves to control the vibration of the steering system and stably control the returning speed when the steering wheel is restored.
However, the damping logic is subjected to a process of differentiating an input torque. During a rapid change, much glitch may occur, and the motor response speed of the MDPS may be decreased.
Furthermore, a phase margin may be significantly offset due to the differentiation process and a process of passing the input torque through a low pass filter. Thus, there is a limit to the magnitude and amount of noise which may be removed.
Thus, the MDPS in which various types of vibrations and noises may occur has a limitation in reducing the sense of difference felt by a driver.
The related art of the present invention is disclosed in Korean Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2012-0137087 published on Dec. 20, 2012 and entitled "System and method for controlling motor driven power steering".

Apparatus and method for stabilizing steering feel in motor-driven power steering


A heat dissipation system includes a housing, a circulator and a cooler. The housing has at least one surface made of heat-conductive metal to contact with a heat source. The housing includes a recess with a passage formed on the bottom to contain cooling liquid and an inlet and an outlet connected to the recess. Two pipes are provided to connected between the inlet and the outlet and the cooler, respectively. The circulator is installed in the recess to circulate the flowing of the cooling liquid. As such, heat generated from the heat source is directly conducted to the housing and takes away by the cooling liquid circulated by the circulator to the cooler.

The present invention relates in general to a water-cooling heat dissipation device, and more particularly, to the water-cooling heat dissipation device applied to a heat-generating device such as a central processing unit (CPU).
As the computer is more powerful with high speed CPU, heat dissipation issue is more serious to be concerned as how to keep the CPU at a proper temperature so that the computer can work reliably.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional water-cooling heat dissipation system 100a used for a CPU. As shown, the heat dissipation system 100a includes a heat sink 10a mounted on a CPU 200a, a water pump 20a, a cooler 30a and a water tank 40a. The heat sink 10 has a water outlet 101a and a water inlet 102a. A pipe 103a is connected between the water inlet 102a and a water outlet 201a of the water pump 20a. Another pipe 104a is connected between the water outlet 101a and a water inlet 301a of the cooler 30a. The cooler 30a is composed of multiple fins 303a. A pipe 304a is connected between a water outlet 303a of the cooler 30a and a water inlet 401a of the water tank 40a. Finally, another pipe 402a is connected between a water outlet of the water tank 40a and a water inlet 202a of the water pump 20a. Thus, a circulation of the water-cooling heat dissipation system 100a is built. In application, colder water is fed into the heat sink 10a from the water pump 20a. After heat exchange, the water is heated by CPU 101a into warmer water to flow out of the heat sink 10a. The warmer water which flows into the cooler 30a will be cooled down. Thereby, the colder water then flows back to the water tank 40a to supply the water circulation.
However, this type of water-cooling heat dissipation system 100a includes two many separated components of the heat sink, the water pump, the cooler, the water tank and the pipes. The bulk volume will occupy lots of installation space to impede compact development of the computer.


Saxitoxin analog compounds, compositions, pharmaceutical compositions, methods of synthesis of saxitoxin analogs, methods of imaging, methods of treatment, including methods of treating pain, are provided. Saxitoxin (STX), gonyautoxin (GTX), and zetekitoxin, and variant STX compounds bind to sodium channels and are effective to reduce or block flow of sodium ions through such channels. Such channel block affects nerve and muscle action, and may be effective to reduce or block pain sensations, relax muscles, reduce muscle spasm, and reduce wrinkles. STX analog binding to sodium channels may also be useful to locate, image, or mark sodium channels, and so be useful in studying sodium channels and sodium channel disorders, and in the diagnosis and treatment of patients suffering from sodium channel disorders. In embodiments, the variant STX compounds include conjugates having increased serum half-life as compared to STX when administered to a subject.

The waters of the "red tide" are awash with noxious agents, the most infamous of which are the paralytic shellfish poisons (PSP) (Seafood and Freshwater Toxins: Pharmacology, Physiology, and Detection; Botana, L. M., Ed.; Marcel Dekker: New York, 2000.) Small molecule, bis-guanidinium structures—saxitoxin, neosaxitoxin, and the gonyautoxins—unique in both their form and function, represent the principle constituents of PSP's. (For leading reviews, see: (a) Llewellyn, L. E. Nat. Prod. Rep. 2006, 23, 200-222. (b) Hall, S.; Strichartz, G.; Moczydlowski, E.; Ravindran, A.; Reichardt, P. B. ACS Symp. Series 1990, 418, 29-65.) These highly polar, heteroatom-rich compounds are exquisitely designed corks that act to stopper ion flux through voltage-gated Na+ channels (Nav), thus inhibiting electrical conduction in cells. (see, e.g., Tetrodotoxin, Saxitoxin, and the Molecular Biology of the Sodium Channel; Eds. C. Y. Kao; S. R. Levinson; Ann. New York Acad. Sci.: New York, Vol 479, 1986; Tikhonov, D. B.; Zhorov, B. S. Biophys. J. 2005, 88, 184-197, and references therein.)
The intricate molecular shape common to these toxins coupled with their importance as pharmacological tools for ion channel study have inspired efforts aimed at their de novo assembly. Three prior works have described preparations of saxitoxin (STX) and one a decarbamoyloxy form. ((See, e.g., (a) Tamino, H.; Nakata, T.; Kaneko, T.; Kishi, Y. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1977, 99, 2818-2819. (b) Kishi, Y. Heterocycles 1980, 14, 1477-1495. (c) Jacobi, P. A.; Martinelli, M. J.; Polanc, S. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1984, 106, 5594-5598. (d) Martinelli, M. J.; Brownstein, A. D.; Jacobi, P. A.; Polanc, S. Croat. Chem. Acta 1986, 59, 267-295. (e) Fleming, J. J.; Du Bois, J. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2006, 128, 3926-3927. (f) Fleming, J. J.; McReynolds, M. D.; Du Bois, J. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2007, 129, 9964-9975. Following their earlier report, Kishi et al have described an asymmetric synthesis of (−)-decarbamoylsaxitoxin, see: Hong, C. Y.; Kishi, Y. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1992, 114, 7001-7006. See also, e.g., Iwamoto, O.; Koshino, H.; Hashizume, D.; Nagasawa, K. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2007, 46, 8625-8628.)
Pain sensations include sharp pain, dull pain, ache, and other forms of pain sensations. Pain is a sensation that may be of varying intensity and duration, and may result from a variety of causes. For example, pain may be acute, e.g., as a result of injury, illness or trauma; may be chronic, e.g., as a result of a chronic disease or condition, inflammation, cancer, or other cause; may be localized or diffuse; may be of low intensity, or of moderate intensity, or of high intensity. Thus, pain is a varied sensation, which includes, for example, acute pain, chronic pain, visceral pain, surgical pain, joint pain, bone pain, back pain, headache pain, neurogenic pain, phantom-limb pain, and other forms and experiences of pain. However, in general, whatever the intensity or duration, and whatever the cause, people prefer to lessen or eliminate the pain sensation, wherever possible.
Pain can often be alleviated by the administration of pharmaceuticals to a subject. One mechanism of alleviating pain sensation is to block the transmission of nerve signals, as, for example, by blocking conduction of nerve impulses along nerve fibers. For example, such impulses can be blocked by reducing, blocking, or altering the action of sodium channels. Sodium channels can be affected by compounds such as saxitoxin, gonyautoxin, zetekitoxin, and other molecules known as "site one sodium channel blockers" (see, e.g., Llewellyn, Nat. Prod. Rep. 23: 200-222 (2006)). However, as suggested by the term "toxin" in their names, such molecules may also have effects in addition to blocking pain sensation. Thus, identification of molecules which are effective to alleviate the sensation of pain, without dangerous side effects, is desired.
Chronic pain is a major, universal health problem and one of the most common reasons that people seek medical care. "Why am I in (chronic) pain?" "What's causing my pain?" or "Where is the pain coming from?" are some of the tough questions that individuals suffering from chronic pain often struggle with to get answers. The paucity of objective, diagnostic tests and a limited armamentarium of effective and safe medicines no doubt fuel the aggravation shared by chronic pain sufferers and their caregivers. Current methods used to diagnose a patient's pain are highly subjective and rely on patient self-reporting. Individuals suffering from chronic pain endure a number of tests and are often relegated to empiric analgesic testing and surgical procedures with limited objective basis for such treatments. Additionally, currently used state-of-the-art medical imaging technologies such as x-rays, computed tomography (CT), ultrasound, and conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), have been inadequate in the assessment of chronic pain syndromes because they rely heavily upon anatomic abnormalities. Significant intervertebral disc abnormalities using conventional MRI, for example, can be found in 27-31% asymptomatic subjects. Additionally, the natural progression of degenerative disc disease in individuals does not correlate with development of pain symptomology, and provocative discography and MR-based morphometric measurements have only weak association with back pain episodes. More recently, meniscal tears as detected on MRI have been found to be nearly equally prevalent (˜60%) in symptomatic and asymptomatic knees of middle aged and elderly persons, again, underscoring the poor relationship between MR findings and pain causation. Yet, despite such evidence to the contrary, the use of such anatomy-based imaging findings unfortunately remains an important part of the treatment algorithm for a wide range of diseases! As a result, a large number of patients are subject to unnecessary surgeries and inadequate treatments.

Methods and compositions for studying, imaging, and treating pain

Abstract: In embodiments, the present disclosure provides a method for alleviating pain in a subject in need of treatment, the method comprising administering to the subject an effective amount of a saxitoxin analog compound, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt, isomer, tautomer or prodrug thereof, whereby pain in said subject is alleviated.

The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University


In the vibration isolation device for a cogeneration system with an engine, to suppress vibrations and noise from the engine, the mounting table on which the engine and the generator are mounted is installed through the main tires and the subtires on the base laid at the installation site. The support members arranged on the base are made to contact the main tires and the subtires and are secured to the base. Further, the sound isolation device for a cogeneration system has a truck--comprising the mounting table and the tires--mounted on the base placed in the installation chamber at the installation site. The installation chamber is formed by multilayer wall bodies. The multilayer wall bodies each comprise a hollow metal housing, a rubber covering layer secured to the inner surface of the metal housing, and a corrugated support member incorporated in the metal housing. The multilayer wall bodies have their hollow portions evacuated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vibration and sound isolation device (a vibration isolating and noise insulating device) for a cogeneration system with an engine, which prevents dissipation of vibrations and noise generated by the engine of the cogeneration system of a power (an electric power) generation system using heavy oil and others as fuels.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Fuels commonly used for engines include gasoline, light oil and heavy oil. Cogeneration systems employ a diesel engine operating on light oil as a fuel and often has a generator connected to the engine. If a low-quality fuel such as heavy oil can be used in the cogeneration systems, the fuel cost can be lowered and the fuel cost problem cleared. The cogeneration systems, however, have to deal with problems of environmental pollution, such as emission of exhaust gas, noise and vibrations, because they are often located in urban areas and fixedly installed at predetermined sites.
Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 128150/1987 discloses an engine-driven heat storage apparatus equipped with a vibration isolation device. This engine-driven heat storage apparatus has an engine immersed in a heat medium such as water contained in a heat storage tank to store the waste heat of the engine in the heat medium. The engine is supported through a vibration isolation device on a support frame which is separate from the heat storage tank and made from a wire structural material.
Another waste heat utilization apparatus as a heat generating device with sound isolation is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 4939/1990. This waste heat utilization apparatus has, for example, a construction in which a heat generating device such as an engine-driven generator that produces noise and heat during operation is installed in a housing to prevent dissipation of noise of the heat generating device and in which the waste heat of the heat generating device is used for heating water. In this waste heat utilization apparatus, the housing has a hermetically closed structure with its legs supporting the housing on the floor.
Further, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 166248/1989 discloses a sound isolation type water-cooled engine. The sound isolation type water-cooled engine has its engine body and muffler immersed in a sound isolation liquid filled in a sound isolation liquid tank and also has an air cleaner immersed in the sound isolation liquid with both its element replacement opening and air intake port exposed outside from the tank and with fins attached to the outer wall surface of a cleaner case.
Another vibration isolation structure for the cogeneration equipment is presented in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 114753/1990. This vibration isolation structure concerns a cogeneration equipment installation structure that integrates an engine and a generator as one system. In this structure, the engine body is immersed in water sealed in an enclosed case with the generator installed outside the enclosed case, and the engine and the generator are supported by a support means with a low spring constant, thereby suppressing vibrations transmitted from the engine to the outside.
The engines for cogeneration system and power supply system are fixedly installed and thus pose a serious problem of emission of noise, vibrations and exhaust gases from the engine. A possible measure of preventing emission of noise and vibrations from the cogeneration system may include installing the cogeneration system underground. This, however, is costly and has difficulty finding appropriate locations. Installing underground is therefore difficult in practice.
Vibrations and noise generated by engines present serious problems. When a large engine is mounted to a structure, its vibrations are transmitted to the whole structure, generating noise at locations where structure's frequency coincides with the frequency of the transmitted vibrations. Prevention of vibrations and noise is therefore very difficult. A common method of preventing vibrations and noise is to mount on a structure a base that comprises a rubber sheet put on the structure and a iron plate mounted on the rubber sheet, and to install the cogeneration system on the base.
The above noise and vibration prevention method, however, has a drawback that if the modulus of elasticity of the rubber is set small to absorb vibrations, the rubber will collapse too easily and if it is set large, not only will the rubber fail to absorb vibrations but also the engine may be dislocated, though over a small distance, by vibrations of the engine itself. When the engine is to be installed at a particular location in a building, as with an engine-driven power supply system, it is very difficult to suspend the engine and other equipment of the power supply system and install them on the base, which comprises a rubber and an iron plate on the rubber. Furthermore, installing the power supply system in a sound isolation case is equally difficult and costly, and thus impractical.
The problem of the fixed-location type engine in a cogeneration system is the magnitude of vibration-induced noise, which can hardly be reduced by ordinary noise insulating means. Vibration isolation effects may be produced by inserting an elastic member such as a rubber sheet between solid bodies. The rubber sheet, however, has a problem that if its modulus of elasticity is set large, the rubber will deform too easily and that if it is set small, noise will be transmitted. Hence, the sound isolation effect cannot be expected of the rubber sheet. The noise in the cogeneration system is produced as follows. Vibrations produced by the engine are transmitted to the structure at whose resonating points the vibrations are amplified to produce a resonating sound. Radiating sound generated by the engine is transformed into air vibrations that in turn cause resonance of solid bodies. Removing the radiating noise of the engine can be accomplished by arranging a vacuum chamber or an air chamber with small density in the noise radiation route.
As described above, when the engine of the power supply system is enclosed in a narrow space, sound waves, the cause of noise, are reflected by wall surfaces and the reflected sound waves are amplified by resonance, giving rise to a possibility of complex vibrations being generated. Hence, an effective way to cut off noise from the engine is to form the wall, through which sound waves are expected to pass, in a laminated structure in which a solid, a gas and a solid are stacked in that order; to cover the wall surface with a heavy material such as lead; or to form the wall in a laminated structure in which a space between the wall surfaces is evacuated to prevent propagation of sound waves.

Vibration and sound isolation device for a cogeneration system with an engine

Isuzu Ceramics Research Institute Co., Ltd.


An illumination apparatus with a specimen slide holder, an illumination source, an optical cavity producing multiple reflection of illumination light to a specimen comprising a first and a second reflective surface arranged to achieve multiple reflections of light to a specimen is provided. The apparatus can further include additional reflective surfaces to achieve the optical cavity, a slide for mounting the specimen, a coverslip which is a reflective component of the optical cavity, one or more prisms for directing light within the optical cavity, antifading solutions for improving the viewing properties of the specimen, an array of materials for analysis, fluorescent components, curved reflective surfaces as components of the optical cavity, specimen detection apparatus, optical detection equipment, computers for analysis of optical images, a plane polarizer, fiberoptics, light transmission apertures, microscopic components, lenses for viewing the specimen, and upper and lower mirrors above and below the specimen slide as components of the optical cavity. Methods of using the apparatus are also provided.

Microscope illumination systems direct light onto a specimen and create "bright field" or "dark field" illumination. Bright field illumination is so named because light rays passing through the field surrounding the specimen and entering the microscope objective lens are unimpeded and thus bright compared to light rays attenuated by passing through the specimen. In contrast, in a "dark field" system, the relative brightness is reversed for the viewer by directing light rays onto the specimen field at an angle which falls outside the objective viewing aperture. The light passing through the specimen field surrounding the specimen is unimpeded and not observable through the objective lens of the microscope. However, some of the light directed onto the specimen is scattered and enters the viewing objective. Thus, the specimen appears brighter than the surrounding dark field.
Similarly, in fluorescence-based microscopy, light is typically directed into the specimen field at an angle which minimizes the amount of illumination light that enters the observation optics, for example it passes through the optics in a direction opposite to the light path of the observer. Use of filters to remove remaining stray illumination and scattered light makes the field appear dark to an observer. Excitation of fluorophores in the fluorescent sample give off secondary light, making the specimen appear bright. In a typical application, the illumination light passes through the specimen only once.
One use for fluorescence-based microscopy is the detection and quantification of inorganic, organic and biological polymers. Fluorescence is analyzed in clinical settings to obtain measurements in connection with immunology, toxicology, microbiology, drug screening, clinical chemistry, histopathology, and the like. Fluorescence is analyzed in many contexts to study enzymes, amino acids, carcinogens, and a wide variety of other chemical compounds. Nucleic acids such as DNA and RNA, proteins, chromosomes and other macromolecular structures are all visualized by fluorescence-based microscopy. Arrays of biological polymers are monitored by fluorescence-based microscopy for nucleic acid sequencing by hybridization, detection of genetic polymorphisms, drug screening and many other uses. For instance, comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) is a well-known approach for identifying the presence and localization of amplified or deleted sequences in a genome compared to a reference genome. See, Kallioniemi, et al. (1992) Science 258:818 and Pinkel et al. PCT/US95/16155 (WO 96/17958). CGH reveals amplifications and deletions irrespective of genome rearrangement and is used, e.g., for cancer assessment and diagnosis by monitoring amplifications or deletions associated with various cancers. CGH can provide a quantitative estimate of copy number and also provides information regarding the localization of amplified or deleted sequences in a normal chromosome.
Another increasingly useful florescence-based technology provides high density arrays of biological polymers on substrates, typically hundreds to thousands to tens of thousands of distinct polymers per square cm. This permits screening of thousands of different molecular interactions simultaneously. For example, very large scale immobilized polymer arrays (VLSIPS.TM. arrays) are used for the detection of nucleic acids for a variety of purposes. See, Fodor et al. (1991) Science, 251: 767-777; Sheldon et al. (1993) Clinical Chemistry 39(4): 718-719 and Kozal et al. (1996) Nature Medicine 2(7): 753-759. See also, Pinkel et al. PCT/US95/16155 (WO 96/17958). Analysis of these arrays requires high sensitivity quantitative fluorescence measurements covering areas of typically one to several cm.sup.2.
Conventional fluorescence microscopes and laser scanning microscopes are suitable for such measurements, but they acquire results slowly because they only examine a small region on the substrate at one time. Conventional microscopes are also limited by the passage of excitation light through the same lens that collects the fluorescence for the specimen. This produces autofluorescence in the lens that interferes with the ability to observe weak signals.
The present invention solves these and other problems by providing apparatus and methods for illuminating large areas at one time such that illumination light makes multiple passes through the specimen, thereby increasing signal intensity. The illumination light does not enter the observation optics, minimizing optical "noise" in the system.

Specimen illumination apparatus with optical cavity for dark field illumination

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