A apparatus and method for improved performance in radio telecommunications systems, and in particular multi-carrier code division multiple access (MC-CDMA) networks that employ pulse-shaping filters on the transmit side of a radio link. In order to more accurately transmit a radio signal bearing a symbol sequence, the modulated and spread information stream is upsampled using a technique that involves inserting zeros in the frequency domain. A corresponding downsampling procedure on the receive side permits reconstruction of the transmitted symbols. A new channel estimation algorithm may also be used, and the improved channel estimation advantageously employed to obtain more faithful symbol detection.

Radio telephony, generally speaking, involves the use of portable radios for telephone communication by a user through a radio telecommunication network. The network connects a large number of network subscribers with each other and, usually, with subscribers of other networks as well. Connections between calling and called parties are made using a network infrastructure that includes information channels and switching devices to route calls to the appropriate destination. Connected subscribers may engage in voice conversations or exchange text messages, email, or other forms of data.
In a radio telecommunication network, the only actual radio-frequency connection may be that between the subscribers' radios and the network infrastructure (although this is not necessarily true). Infrastructure nodes are often fixed in location and interconnected using wires, cables, or optical fibers so that they can transfer large amounts of information. The radio connection to the subscribers is important, however, because it gives them mobility. In ideal circumstances, a subscriber can make a call and maintain the connection even when traveling over dozens, or even hundreds of miles.
In order for such communications to occur, radio telecommunication networks typically employ a large number of fixed base stations spread over a wide geographic area, sometimes referred to as the network coverage area. Each base station employs one or more antennas for communicating with nearby mobile stations, and of course is also connected to the remainder of the infrastructure as well.
FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram illustrating selected components of a typical radio telecommunication network 100. Base stations 105-110 are each shown to be connected with an antenna 111-116. Each antenna is intended to handle communications within a selected area, sometimes referred to as a cell. (For this reason the portable subscriber radios used in such a network are often called "cellular" or simply "cell" phones.) For example, in FIG. 1 cell phones 11, 12, and 13 are shown to be in communication with antennas 111, 112, and 113, via radio channels 1, 2, and 3, respectively.
The broken lines in FIG. 1 represent cell boundaries. These boundaries do not represent the precise range of their associated antennae, of course, and are not always regular in shape or consistent in size. And although only six cells are delineated, there are typically many more in the network coverage area. Cell phones may and often do move from cell to cell, and their network communications are generally transferred from one network antenna to another though a process called handover.
Base station controllers (BSCs) 120 and 125 are in communication with, and generally control the operations of base stations 105-107 and 108-110, respectively. The base station controllers are in turn connected with a mobile switching center (MSC) 130, which handles call routing and provides a connection to other network MSCs (not shown) and gateway MSCs such as G-MSC 135, which may provide a connection to another network. A visitor location register, here VLR 140, maintains information relating to cell phones in the area services by the associated MSC. (A home location register (HLR) (not shown), may be provided to track the location and other information related to all network subscribers.)
Note that while cellular telephones have traditionally been used for voice communication, advances in technology have permitted the introduction and growing use of such instruments for other applications including sending of text messages, instant messages, data transfer, and Web surfing. Some have even incorporated functions previously performed by personal digital assistants (PDAs), such as appointment calendaring. For this reason the wide variety of such devices capable of communicating through a radio telecommunication will be referred to simply as "mobile stations".
In radio telecommunication networks, the cellular architecture provides a number of advantages. For one, in many networks channelization for individual subscriber or control communications is implemented by assigning different frequencies to each channel. By controlling the range of these communications, assigned frequencies may be reused in non-adjacent cells without creating interference between users. In addition, the close proximity of base stations with which to communicate means that mobile stations can communicate with lower transmission power than if they had to reach distant antennas. Conservation of power is, of course, an important objective of battery-operated devices.
Frequency channelization in the mobile context is frequently referred to as frequency division multiple access (FDMA). Each mobile station is assigned one or more frequencies within the overall operational bandwidth of communicating with the base station. In some systems, each communication frequency is also divided into time slots, a scheme referred to as time division multiple access (TDMA). In TDMA, each mobile station is assigned one or more of these slots and transmits a portion of its information in turn. Naturally, the slots are of sufficient duration and frequency so that each user perceives their own conversation as continuous.
Another type of multiple access scheme is called code-division multiple access (CDMA). CDMA operates somewhat differently; rather than divide the available transmission bandwidth into individual channels, many individual transmissions are spread over a frequency band using a spreading code. Transmissions intended for a particular receiver (i.e. mobile station) are spread with spreading code assigned to the mobile station, which decodes only that information intended for it and ignores the differently-coded transmissions intended for others. The number of mobile stations that can operate in a given area is therefore limited by the number of unique encoding sequences available, rather than the number of frequency bands. The operation of a CDMA network is normally performed in accordance with a protocol referred to as IS-95 (interim standard-95) or, increasingly, according to its third generation (3G) successors, such as those sometimes referred to as CDMA2000, 1xEV-DO, and 1xEV-DV, the latter of which provides for the transport of both data and voice information.
In a more recently developed scheme, the use of CDMA techniques is combined with orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). OFDM is a modulation method in which multiple user symbols are transmitted in parallel using a large number of different sub-carriers. These sub-carriers, sometimes called frequency bins, are used to spread transmitted information with respect to frequency rather than time (as with conventional CDMA). This multiple access scheme is sometimes referred to as multi-carrier CDMA (or MC-CDMA).
FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram illustrating selected components of a typical MC-CDMA telecommunication system 200. As depicted in FIG. 2, system 200 has a transmit side 205 and a receive side 210. On the transmit side information, which may be either voice or data for transmission, is first encoded in encoder 215. The encoded information is passed to modulator 220 for modulation according to one of several modulation schemes such as QPSK or 16 QAM. The modulated symbols are then provided to an MC-CDMA transmitter 225 for transmission over an air interface radio channel 230.
The transmitted information is received on the receive side by an MC-CDMA receiver 235, which processes the information and presents it to detector 240 for symbol detection. Simply stated, detector 240 attempts to faithfully reconstruct the transmitted symbol stream by removing from the received signal the effects of any distortion or noise added in transmission. In part, these undesirable but unavoidable effects are removed, or at least mitigated, by analyzing the quality of certain received symbols called pilot symbols. These pilot symbols are not part of the transmitted user information, but are inserted into it. Their transmitted value is known to the receiver, which can estimate channel effects from the condition in which they are received. The detected symbol stream is then presented to decoder 245 for decoding. The decoded information is stored or provided to a user interface such as a speaker (not shown) so that it may be perceived by the user.
Another form of interference that may distort transmitted radio communications is referred to as inter-symbol interference (ISI). ISI arises largely from the multipath effect, a phenomenon that occurs when a propagating radio signal fans out and encounters, for example, different reflecting surfaces and propagation media creating a number of 'copies' of the same signal that may each arrive at the receiver at slightly different times. Transmit filters, such as pulse-shaping filters, that are used to limit the frequency content of the transmitted signal can also introduce ISI.
Channel equalizers in the receiver are often used to counter ISI induced by the multipath-effect. For ISI caused by the transmit filter, a matched filter may be implemented in the receiver to create an ISI-free composite filter. This approach is not always taken, however. For example, the pulse-shaping filters specified in CDMA standards such as IS-95 and 1xEv-DV are not ISI-free. As a result, the pulse-shaping filters in these systems introduce unabated ISI that degrades the ability of the receive side to accurately estimate the channel and detect the transmitted symbols.
Needed, therefore, is a way to reduce or eliminate ISI effects in MC-CDMA systems that use pulse-shaping filters in order to improve system performance. The present invention provides just such a solution.

Apparatus and method for improved performance in radio telecommunication systems that use pulse-shaping filters


The high carbon steel wire rod contains 0.65% to 1.20% of C, 0.05% to 1.2% of Si, 0.2% to 1.0% of Mn, and 0.35% or less (including 0%) of Cr, further contains P and S each in an amount restricted to 0.02% or less, where 80% or more of the metal structure is constituted by a pearlite structure; and an average tensile strength TS and an average lamellar spacing λ of the high carbon steel wire rod show the relation of TS≦8700/√{square root over ( )}(λ/Ceq)+290 in which Ceq=% C+% Mn/5+% Cr/4. The high carbon steel wire rod can omit a patenting treatment before or during wire drawing, is superior in wire drawability, and exhibits a low drawing resistance in a wire drawing die in an as-hot-rolled state.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a high carbon steel wire rod with a reduced drawing resistance in a drawing die and superior in wire drawability, in an as-hot-rolled state.
2. Description of the Related Art
As wire rods to be subjected for drawing into very thin wires for use in steel cords or semiconductor cutting saw wires, a high carbon steel wire rod (corresponding to JIS G3502: SWRS72A, SWRS82A) are used that have a carbon content of about 0.7 to 0.8% and a diameter of 5.0 mm or more. If these high carbon steel wire rods are broken in a wire drawing work, the productivity is impaired markedly. To avoid this, the high carbon steel wire rods need to have excellent wire drawability.
Heretofore, for attaining an excellent wire drawability of a high carbon steel wire rod, there has been adopted a method where after hot rolling, the wire rod is cooled with water and then subjected to blast-cooling to make the wire rod structure into a fine pearlite structure, or a method where the wire rod is further subjected to intermediate patenting once or twice before or during a wire drawing process.
Recently, high carbon steel wires have been required to have smaller wire diameters. To meet this requirement and also from the standpoint of improving the productivity, it is desired to provide a direct patenting material or a direct drawing material which permit omission of the patenting treatment before or during wire drawing. To increase the productivity, the high carbon steel wire rods have been increasingly required to have a more excellent breakage resistance and the improved die life.
To meet such requirements, various techniques for improving the wire drawability of the high carbon steel wire rods have been proposed. Japanese Published Examined Patent Application No. 3-60900, for example, proposes a technique to control the tensile strength and the proportion of coarse pearlite, which is recognizable under an optical microscope of 500×, contained in pearlite into appropriate values dependently on C equivalent of a high carbon steel wire rod.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-63987 proposes a technique where an average colony diameter of the pearlite structure in a high carbon steel wire rod is set at 150 μm or less and an average lamellar spacing is set at 0.1 to 0.4 μm to thereby improve the wire drawability. Incidentally, the colony indicates a region where lamellar directions of pearlite are regular. The plural colonies form a nodule or a block which is a region where the ferrite crystal orientation is constant. As described in these techniques, the wire rod after hot rolling is produced by adjusting its coiling temperature by water-cooling and then adjusting the amount of blast by a Stelmor adjusting cooler.
According to the technique described in Japanese Published Examined Patent Application No. 3-60900, the die life is improved because a coarse pearlite having a coarse lamellar spacing is present about 10% to 30%. The technique however suffers from insufficient resistance to wire breaking during wire drawing and also an insufficient wire drawability, both required for a direct patenting material or a direct drawing material.
The technique of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-63987 can improve the die life by making the lamellar spacing somewhat coarser, i.e., to 0.1 to 0.4 μm. Making the lamellar spacing coarser like this results in an average colony diameter of as coarse as 40 μm or more (see its working Examples). This is an insufficient breakage resistance required for a direct patenting material or a direct drawing material.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,783,609 proposes a technique where in order to improve the die life, the lamellar spacing of pearlite is made somewhat wider to decrease the strength of the wire rod, in addition to reducing an average grain diameter of a pearlite nodule which has a physical meaning as a crystal grain to a certain value or smaller. The technique improves the breakage resistance and attains excellent wire drawability even in the case of a pearlite structure having a relatively wide lamellar spacing.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-302743 proposes a technique to produce a high strength steel wire rod where the breakage resistance is not deteriorated even when the wire rod could be flawed during conveyance with consequent formation of a hard structure subjected to plastic deformation on the steel surface. According to the technique, a high carbon steel wire rod where 70% or more of the structure is pearlite or bainite or a mixture of the two is heated to and retained for 100 seconds or shorter in a temperature of 300° C. to 600° C. before wire drawing, following which the wire rod is cooled by being left as it is or with water.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-179325 proposes a technique where a coil is subjected to slow cooling and is softened. The technique however does not intend for use in a direct patenting material or a direct drawing material. Specifically, the technique discloses that the coil cooling rate on a cooling conveyor after hot rolling is controlled by adjusting steel components, austenite grain diameter at the beginning of slow cooling, wire diameter, ring space, and the temperature in a slow cooling.
However, the techniques of U.S. Pat. No. 6,783,609 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-302743, have no viewpoint of diminishing the drawing resistance of a wire drawing die and improving the wire drawability, and fail in having a sufficient wire drawability required for a direct patenting material or a direct drawing material. Further, simply softening a high carbon steel wire rod after hot rolling (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-179325) is also insufficient in wire drawability.

Method for producing high carbon steel wire rod superior in wire-drawability


A system for controlling the defrost cycle of an evaporator comprising a sensor in the coil of an evaporator or downstream of the coil, the sensor configured to determine changes in the liquid mass ratio of the refrigerant in the evaporator. The difference in liquid mass ratio relating to frost buildup on the outside of said evaporator. When the difference in liquid mass ratio reaches a predetermined amount, corresponding to an unsatisfactory frost buildup, a defrost cycle is initiated. When the liquid mass ratio returns to a value that corresponds to a defrosted evaporator, the defrost cycle is discontinued.

Conventional refrigeration systems achieve cooling by allowing a refrigerant such as ammonia or a fluorocarbon to evaporate in the coils of an evaporator. As the refrigerant evaporates, it absorbs heat from the surrounding area. A fan or other air moving device is used to draw air through the evaporator so that heat is removed more effectively from the air in the space that is being refrigerated.
As the temperature in the evaporator is generally below the freezing point of water, water vapor in the air often condenses on the evaporator coils and solidifies as frost. The buildup of frost adversely affects the cooling efficiency of the evaporator due to two cooperating factors. First, frost is a thermal insulator. The thicker the frost layer on the evaporator coils, the less efficient the heat transfer between the air and the evaporator. In addition, the buildup of frost restricts the air flow through the evaporator coils. As a result, less air is cooled. Eventually, as frost builds up, the combined effects of reduced air flow and reduced heat transfer require that the evaporator be defrosted to restore cooling efficiency.
One method for defrosting evaporators in prior systems has been to defrost them automatically and periodically under timed control. The time between the defrost cycles is set by an operator based on experience with the system.
Other prior systems have tried to initiate defrost cycles only when the frost buildup is large enough to adversely impact the cooling efficiency of the refrigeration system. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,123,792, a system is described which measures the power consumed by an electric fan motor which draws air over the evaporator. The principle of operation of this system is that frost buildup on the evaporator impedes air flow. As frost builds, the motor works harder to drive the fan, and when a particular set point for power consumption by the fan is reached, the system presumes that defrost is required and a defrost cycle is initiated. Other systems, such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,400,949, also use information regarding fan motor power consumption but combine that information with information regarding the temperature of the refrigerated space and the temperature of the unit cooler to determine whether defrost is required.
Other frost detection systems such as those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,045,971 and 4,232,528, employ photoelectric sensors to detect the level of frost buildup on an evaporator coil. The system in U.S. Pat. No. 4,831,833 uses an air velocity sensor in the air flow path to determine whether defrost should be initiated.
Another prior art system senses the differences in air temperature on each side of the evaporator in the refrigerated space as well as the temperature of the refrigerant leaving the evaporator. The data from the sensors is processed to determine if there is a frost buildup requiring the initiation of the defrost cycle.

Method and apparatus for initiating coil defrost in a refrigeration system evaporator


A least recently used cache replacement system in which the data cache is logically partitioned into two separate sections, demand and prefetch. A cache directory table and a least recently used table are used to maintain the cache. When a new demand data page is added to the cache, a most recently used (MRU) pointer is updated and points to this new page. When a prefetch page is added to the cache, the least recently used pointer of the demand section is updated with its backward pointer pointing to this new page. A cache hit on a demand of prefetch page moves that page to the top of the least recently used table. When a free page is needed in the cache, it is selected from the demand or prefetch sections of the memory based on a comparison of the demand hit density and the prefetch hit density so to maintain a balance between these two hit densities.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an improved method for managing the operation of a cache memory in which both demand and prefetched data can be stored, and more particularly to an improved method for allocating space in the memory between demand and prefetched data on the basis of frequency of use.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In many data processing systems, a high-speed memory commonly called a "cache" is provided between the working memory of the central processing unit and a main memory. The cache enables a relatively fast access to a subset of data which has been previously transferred from main memory to the cache and thus improves the overall speed of the data processing system. Commonly, data transfers from main memory to cache are in pages or blocks of data and include both demand data pages and prefetched data pages. Demand data is data transferred to the cache as a result of a specific request from the central processing unit. When transferring demand data to the cache, it is advantageous to also transfer additional unrequested data (i.e. prefetched data) at the same time if it is likely the additional data will be soon requested.
When a cache is filled, data must be removed from the cache when new data is written in. Commonly, data cache management systems use the frequency of use of data in the cache as a criteria for selecting data to be removed from the cache. Least recently used (LRU) is a common criteria for replacement because of its simplicity and efficiency.
In the prior art, in replacing data in the cache, demand and prefetched data has been treated equally, without regard to the size of the incoming data of each type. Under this condition too large a portion (in terms of finding demanded data in cache) of the total cache storage capacity may be allocated to store prefetched data, especially when large amounts of data are prefetched in connection with each main memory demand data access.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,489,378, entitled Automatic Adjustment of the Quantity of Prefetch Data in a Disk Cache Operation, describes a dynamic mechanism to determine the number of prefetched data blocks in each disk cache operation. U.S. Pat. No. 4,807,110, entitled Prefetching System for a Cache Having a Second Directory for Sequentially Accessed Blocks, describes a way to select the data blocks for prefetching using two-level cache directories. Both these patents consider prefetching in the cache operation but use a conventional Least Recently Used (LRU) scheme for replacement.

Hit-density-based replacement for data cache with prefetching

International Business Machines Corporation


Knives (10, 182) each include a handle (12, 184) having a blade (14, 90, 194) pivotally attached to the handle. The blade is movable between a closed position in which it is received within a groove (36, 192) of the handle and an open position. The blade has a working portion (38, 198) and a tang portion (44, 98, 204), which remains within the groove when the blade is in its open position. A locking pin (72, 208) extends transversely of the handle and blade and is movable along a pair of elongated openings (74, 216), and engages the tang portion (44, 98, 204) of the blade to lock the blade in its open position. A spring (78, 228) biases the locking pin toward the tang.

Folding knives and tools suitable for many purposes are well known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,030,058 to Doles, U.S. Pat. No. 1,189,005 to Seely, U.S. Pat. No. 2,188,762 to Schrade, U.S. Pat. No. 3,868,774 to Miori, U.S. Pat. No. 4,233,737 to Peohlmann, U.S. Pat. No. 4,240,201 to Sawby et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,274,200 to Coder, U.S. Pat. No. 4,451,982 to Collins, U.S. Pat. No. 4,502,221 to Pittman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,670,984 to Rickard, U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,932 to Elsener, U.S. Pat. No. 4,896,424 to Walker, U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,379 to Neely, U.S. Pat. No. 5,425,175 to Rogers, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,461,786 to Miller are representative of the available prior art.
As disclosed in several of the aforementioned patents, there are many different mechanisms for locking tool blades in an open position. For example, the patents to Sawby et al., Miller and Seely each disclose a variation of a "lock back" mechanism. This construction entails forming a notch on a tang of the blade which is engaged by a lug located on the spine of the knife to lock the blade in an open position. A shortcoming of this type of mechanism is that excessive wear can cause the locking mechanism to fail, thereby rendering the knife unsafe for use.
The patents to Neely and Collins each disclose another type of locking mechanism. As disclosed in these patents, a blade has a tang that is engaged by a member to prevent the blade from rotating from its open position. For example, in Collins, a slidable bolt is biased towards the tang to lock the blade in its open position. A shortcoming with Collins's knife construction is that the bolt is generally parallel with the blade, and the mechanism depends on the spine of the handle for strength. Neely's knife suffers from the same disadvantage as Collins's, and from the fact that the blade may be unlocked inadvertently by pulling the blade axially away from the handle during a normal cutting motion of the knife.
What is needed, then, is a stronger lock mechanism than has previously been available for holding a blade of a folding tool in an open, or extended, position, yet which is capable of being manufactured at a reasonable cost.


Flip chip monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMIC) devices formed on gallium arsenide substrates and use thermally bumped diodes and field effect transistor devices to achieve improved heat dissipation and power protection. Flip chip limiter MMIC devices and transmit/receive switch MMIC devices are specifically provided by the present invention. The flip chip gallium arsenide limiter and transmit/receive switch MMIC devices use plated metallized bumps for both I/O connections and for thermal connections to a host substrate (aluminum nitride). The present invention also incorporates coplanar waveguide transmission line, thereby eliminating backside processing of the gallium arsenide substrates. The transmit/receive switch device provides power protection in both transmit and receive modes.

The present invention relates generally to monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMIC) devices, and more particularly, to flip chip MMIC devices formed on Gallium Arsenide that employ thermally bumped diode and field effect transistor (FET) devices.
Flip chip technology involves methods used to interconnect semiconductor die to a host substrate. Generally, bumps (solder, or hard plated bumps) are used in place of wirebonds for I/O connections. Flip chip bump interconnection technology is a concept that has been around for many years. Most of the past work in this technology area has concentrated on the use of solder bump technology in conjunction with silicon-based integrated circuits.
The closest known prior art relating to the present flip chip limiter is a conventional face-up limiter MMIC device. The closest known prior art relating to the present transmit/receive switch is a conventional face-up transmit/receive switch MMIC device. The limiter and face-up transmit/receive switch MMIC devices require full wafer processing, including costly backside processing such as wafer thinning, along with via and backside metallization. Because this design is based on conventional microstrip transmission line media, the performance of this circuit is very sensitive to backside processing, especially wafer thinning. Finally, and most importantly, gallium arsenide is not an excellent thermal conductor. Under high incident RF conditions, large amounts of heat will be seen at the locations of active devices. This heat must then be dissipated through the gallium arsenide. It is this heat dissipation limitation which limits the power protection capability of the prior art.
Accordingly, it is an objective of the present invention to provide for improved flip chip MMIC devices formed on Gallium Arsenide that employ thermally bumped diode and field effect transistor (FET) devices. It is a further objective of the present invention to provide for improved flip chip limiter monolithic microwave integrated circuits formed on Gallium Arsenide employing thermal bumped diode devices. It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide for improved transmit/receive switch monolithic microwave integrated circuits formed on Gallium Arsenide employing thermal bumped FET devices.

Gallium arsenide monolithic microwave integrated circuits employing thermally bumped devices


In a receiver of a digital radio communication system, a combined channel estimate is formed by averaging a long channel estimate with a short channel estimate.

In TDMA radio communication systems (TDMA=Time Division Multiple Access) and other frame based communication systems information is transmitted on a channel in the form of signal frames or bursts. In order to synchronize the receiver to these signal frames each signal frame comprises a known synchronization word in a predetermined position within each signal frame. In for instance the European GSM system for mobile telephony this synchronization word is 26 bits long. When the receiver expects a new signal frame from the transmitter, a training sequence that is identical to the transmitted synchronization word is generated by a training sequence generator in the receiver. The received signals are compared to the locally generated training sequence, and when the best possible correlation is obtained between this sequence and the received signals, synchronization is considered to exist between the locally generated and the received signal.
In addition to the synchronization itself the training sequence is also used for channel estimation. Since the radio channel often is subjected to multiple path propagation the receiver comprises some sort of equalizer to eliminate this phenomenon. The equalizer requires a time limited estimate of the impulse response of the channel. This impulse response can be obtained from the correlation signal. Forney 1! and Ungerboeck 2! describe two different algorithms that, given the channel impulse response and Gaussian channel noise with known correlation properties, determine the most likely sent sequence. Both algorithms will work properly, but with degraded performance, if an approximate estimate of the channel impulse response is used instead of the true impulse response, or if the noise is non-Gaussian. The equalizer makes use of the channel estimate to initialize and update e.g. filter taps. An example is the Maximum Likelihood Sequence Estimation (MLSE) detector, where an FIR-filter is used directly as a model of the channel 2!. Another example is decision feedback equalizers (DFE) 4!, where the filter taps in both forward and feed-back are calculated from the channel estimate.
When the channel is estimated from a received synchronization word the estimate will contain noise, since the received data is noisy and the training sequence is of finite length. Even a channel estimate that is updated continuously will be noisy. The noise content in the channel estimate will be very high in e.g. fading dips, since the signal level in that case is low compared to the noise or interference level, giving a low signal-to-noise ratio in the received data. The synchronization process is also disturbed by receiver noise. An incorrect and unstable synchronization gives an incorrect channel estimate as a secondary effect, thereby causing a substantial loss in receiver performance. The noisy channel estimate gives incorrect settings for the filter taps in the detector or equalizer, e.g. the MLSE will have an incorrect FIR channel model. This causes degraded demodulation performance in a way similar to the degradation from noisy received samples. The effect is that the interference or noise in the received samples has a double impact--first the channel model is impaired, then the incorrectly set equalizer will have to equalize and demodulate noisy samples.
A common feature of the described prior art is that the channel estimate is used directly in the detection or equalization procedure without considering the noise content of the estimate. However, for example the MLSE is optimized in the sense that it gives the most likely demodulated symbol sequence only if the receiver noise is additive Gaussian and the channel estimate is exact. It is not optimal if there is noise in the channel estimate.
A method of reducing the influence of noisy taps in the channel estimate is proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,251,233 (Labedz et al). There it is suggested to delete taps in the channel estimate that are below a certain threshold value, thereby reducing the noise contribution from noisy taps with low content of useful signal. Totally eliminating some channel estimate taps may, however, remove vital information, since it is very difficult to distinguish between useful signal energy and noise energy in a tap.
EP-A-0 535 403 describes a method in which a channel estimate of a current burst is combined with a channel estimate of a previous burst. Both estimates have the same number of taps.

Method and apparatus for channel estimation


Characteristics of a fluid are determined, in one embodiment, by flowing the fluid (which may contain charged particles) between a plurality of electrode pairs, applying respective DC voltages across at least two of the electrode pairs, and measuring resulting currents through the fluid at the respective electrode pairs. In one example, respective plates of the electrode pairs are configured so that they do not fully encircle one another.

Many factors contribute to the quality of a printing process. It can be appreciated that there is an ongoing desire to improve the quality of the print jobs. Therefore, monitoring one or more characteristics associated with a printing process may be desirable as this may promote higher quality print jobs. Nevertheless, monitoring certain characteristics may be difficult, such as one or more characteristics associated with a static pool of ink of a printing press, for example.
Various ink parameters strongly influence the performance of the press regarding print quality, operational stability and life time of consumables, therefore measuring and controlling such ink characteristics may be desirable.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A robot control unit (30) comprises: a setting means (40) for setting operating ranges of each shaft and a working tool of the robot (20); a storage means (33) for storing an inertial running distance of the robot decided by at least one of the operating speed of the robot and the weight of the working tool; and an arriving range calculation means (36) for calculating an arriving range to which the robot arrives according to the operating range, which has been set by the setting means, and the inertial running distance stored by the storage means. Due to the foregoing, while consideration is being given to the inertial running distance of a robot, the arriving range of the robot is made. Further, a display means (41) for displaying the arriving range may be provided. In the case where each shaft of the robot and the working tool deviate from the operating range, a stopping means (34) for stopping the robot may be provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a robot operating range setting device for setting an operating range of an industrial robot which will be referred to as a robot hereinafter.
2. Description of the Related Art
In factories, etc., robots are used to carry out various work under the condition that working tools are attached to the hands. Alternatively, in some cases, robots execute various work under the condition that the hands of the robots hold workpieces. At the time of executing work as described above, it is necessary to prevent the working tools and others from interfering with peripheral devices of the robots. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-121215 discloses a method in which an operation range of the working tool is set so that the working tool cannot interfere with the peripheral devices.
In this connection, a robot control unit is usually provided with an operating range monitoring function. In the case where each shaft of the robot or a forward end portion of the tool operates deviating from a respectively set operation range, electric power supplied to a motor of the robot is shut off by this operating range monitoring function and the robot is stopped. As a result, each shaft or the working tool of the robot is prevented from colliding with peripheral devices.
However, even after electric power supply to the motor of the robot has been shut off, each shaft of the robot slightly runs by inertia. Accordingly, a position at which the robot stops deviates from the operating range, which is set for each shaft, by a distance of inertial running. By this inertial running, each shaft of the robot collides with the peripheral devices.
Therefore, it is required that the operating range of the robot be smaller than an actual arriving range while considering the inertial running distance. However, since this inertial running range various by an operating speed of the robot and/or a load weight of the working tool, it is difficult for an operator to set the operating range while estimating an actual arriving range. Therefore, it takes a lot of time for the operator to set the operating range. Further, in the method disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-121215, no consideration is given to such an inertial running distance.
The present invention has been accomplished in view of the above circumstances. It is an object of the present invention to provide a robot operating range setting device capable of making a robot arriving range in which consideration is given to an inertial running distance of the robot.


An unmanned aerial vehicle, UAV, is operable in an autonomous mode. The UAV comprises an upwards-configurable sensor an actuator and a controller. The upwards-configurable sensor is configurable in an upwards-facing configuration during an autonomous procedure such that a field of view of the upwards-configurable sensor includes airspace directly above the UAV during the autonomous procedure. The controller is operable to control the actuator during the autonomous procedure based on data captured by the upwards-configurable sensor to cause the UAV to make physical contact with an object in the airspace directly above the UAV during the autonomous procedure.

A UAV, which may also be known as a 'drone' or an 'unmanned aircraft system (UAS)', is an aircraft that does not have a human pilot aboard.
A UAV may carry an item. Examples of such items include, but are not limited to, people, food, medicine, parcels, tools etc.
A UAV may be in the form of a rotorcraft (or 'rotary-wing aircraft'). An example of a rotorcraft is a multicopter (or 'multirotor'). A multicopter is a rotorcraft that has more than two rotors, a rotor being a vertically oriented propeller. The multicopter is lifted and propelled by its rotors. Examples of multicopters include, but are not limited to, tricopters, quadcopters, hexacopters and octocopters, which have three, four, six and eight rotors respectively. Quadcopters are also known as 'quadrotor helicopters' or 'quadrotors'.
A UAV may be in another form. For example, a UAV may be fixed-wing, hybrid etc. A hybrid UAV may comprise both wings and one or more rotors.
A UAV may be operable in one or more operating modes. Different operating modes may have different levels (or 'degrees' or 'measures') of autonomy. For example, a UAV may be temporarily or permanently operable in a non-autonomous mode as a remotely piloted aircraft, where the UAV is under the control of a remote human operator. A UAV may be temporarily or permanently operable in a fully autonomous mode, where the UAV is fully under the control of one or more on-board computing systems of the UAV. A UAV may be temporarily or permanently operable in one or more intermediate modes, with one or more intermediate levels of autonomy between these two extremes.
The UAV may be able to perform one or more predetermined autonomous procedures. Examples of such predetermined autonomous procedures include, but are not limited to, self-level, hover, return-to-home, orbit and follow-me.


A detachable mirror apparatus includes a U-shaped frame including a primary female section and a pair of male leg sections engaged with the primary section. Each leg section has a linear shape. A mechanism is included for removably securing the frame to a selected portion of the vehicle. The apparatus further includes a mechanism for identifying the object lying within the second line of sight by reflecting an image of the object onto the first line of sight such that the operator can identify the object while seated within the vehicle. Such an identifying mechanism is selectively positional at various angles offset from a vertical plane.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to a detachable mirror apparatus and, more particularly, to a detachable trailer winch mirror apparatus for assisting an operator to view an object disposed along a secondary line of sight offset from the operator's primary line of sight.
2. Prior Art
The use of electric winches is well known in the prior art. A winch is normally located towards the bottom of a vehicle's front end. As such, it is virtually impossible to view the winch while seated in the driver's seat. This may become a troublesome issues, since an operator located in a vehicle may not be able to tell when the winch is not functioning properly, thus resulting in damage to this expensive piece of equipment.
Electrical winches are not the only vehicle attachments that are difficult to view from the driver's seat. A variety of hitches are available for connecting a trailer to a tow vehicle. Most of these hitches consist of a hitch member rigidly secured to the lower portion of the tow vehicle and a mating hitch member rigidly secured to the lower portion of the trailer.
Since such hitch members are affixed to the lower portions of their respective vehicles, the person operating the tow vehicle may find it difficult, if not impossible, to view the hitch members during the alignment process. Consequently, the tow vehicle operator must often make numerous coupling attempts before the trailer and tow vehicle are properly aligned for coupling. This may include the process of the driver backing up a few feet, stopping, and getting out and walking around to the rear of the vehicle in order to check the alignment.
As such, it is advantageous for the tow vehicle operator to view the hitch members during the alignment process, thereby making the coupling process more efficient. Devices are known in the prior art for mounting a mirror to the top of a tailgate. While they are useful for pick-up trucks, they cannot be adapted to other types of vehicles. Another limitation is present as well since many of these devices use frictional contact to hold them against the painted surfaces of the tailgate. As the vehicle moves, the clamping forces exerted by these devices may damage the vehicle's paint finish.
Accordingly, a need remains for a detachable trailer winch mirror apparatus in order to overcome the above noted shortcomings. The present invention satisfies such a need by providing a detachable mirror that is easy to use, versatile in function, safe and convenient. Such a mirror advantageously gives an operator the peace of mind that their winch is operating properly by providing a clear view thereof. This eliminates the need for a second individual to observe the winch during operating conditions while also preventing damage to such expensive winch equipment. Such a detachable mirror apparatus is also easily adaptable to use on the rear of a vehicle to ensure the proper alignment of a towing hitch with a trailer.

Detachable trailer-winch mirror apparatus


A device for reading code lines on a moving carrier in which the lines extend transverse to the direction of movement. The reading head extends across the web and has a row of sensors subdivided into groups. The sensors of each group have a length equal to the maximum length of the coding traces and the total row has a substantially greater length so that the sensors are subdivided along the row into groups. The signals from sensors of preceding groups in a direction of signal flow along the row are summed e.g. at operational amplifiers before being summed with the corresponding sensor outputs of subsequent groups.

It is known to provide a traveling web, e.g. a fabric at the time of manufacture with coding elements in the form of coding traces which extend transversely of the direction of travel of the web, parallel to one another in spaced relationship in the direction of travel. The coding tracings can be markings intended to be optically sensed or tracings detected by other sensor means, for example magnetic sensors. The coding may be applied at the time of manufacture and can identify different patterns, regions of the fabricated web, or the like.
Reading heads for such codes on code carriers can have a row of sensors responsive to the coding elements and the length of the row, which can extend transversely of the direction of travel, can be large and the mutual spacing of the sensors along the row can be small with respect to the maximum length of the coding elements or traces which can be of different length to convey the coded information. An evaluating circuit can be provided for the sensor signals.
In an earlier conventional device utilizing these principles, the total length of the sensor row defines the width of the reading region within which the coding can be detected and read. This reading width is greater than the maximum trace length of the coding so that the coding can be evaluated independently of its exact position in the reading region. As a consequence, there is no need to provide exact positioning of the code carrier as it travels by the reading region. Since the coding will always lie in the reading region the coding traces will not give rise to errors of the kind which has troubled earlier systems. Furthermore, errors along the length of a coding trace are eliminated.
For evaluating the sensor signal, this earlier system requires, independently from the reading width and from the total number of sensors in the row, only as many signal processing channels as will correspond to sensors along a coating trace of maximal length.
With this limitation in the signal processing channels, the signals from those sensors which correspond to the length of a coating trace are delivered to the signal processing channels.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,790,756, the output signals of all signals after digitalizing, are fed to a shift register which is read out into the signal processing channels. The signal shifting in the register is effected until a first sensor signal appears at the register location corresponding to the first signal processing channel. This method has been found to have the disadvantage that, for each sensor, a respective circuit is required for digitalizing the sensor signal and by the need for shift registers with register locations for all of the sensors. With a large number of sensors this could be achieved only at high cost. Another drawback was the sensitivity of the device to noise or spurious signals which could appear at the sensors without having been generated by coding traces and could contribute errors in the read out of the signal processing channels with the result that false signal processing an signal evaluation can occur.

Apparatus for reading coding on a moving coding carrier, especially a travelling fabric web


Binary probe and clamp compositions conduct methods for target hybridization detection. Where the probe is a substrate for exonuclease cleavage, the composition provides quantitation and detection of PCR products, by real-time and end-point measurements. Where the probe is an amplification primer, the composition provides an improved method for labelling and detection of PCR products. Probes and clamps may be labelled with fluorescent dyes, quenchers, hybridization-stabilizing moieties, chemiluminescent dyes, and affinity ligands. Clamps may be nucleic acid analogs, such as 2-aminoethylglycine PNA.

Nucleic acid hybridization assays comprise an important class of techniques in modern biology, with diverse applications in diagnosis of inherited disease, human identification, identification of microorganisms, paternity testing, virology, and DNA sequencing. Primer extension reactions are key components of many nucleic acid hybridization assays and amplification methods. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification method has enabled advances in cloning, analysis of genetic expression, DNA sequencing, genetic mapping, drug discovery, and the like (Gilliland, 1990; Bevan, 1992; Green, 1991; McPherson, 1995).
The specificity and affinity of two or more strands of nucleic acid and nucleic acid analog molecules hybridizing by Watson/Crick and non-Watson/Crick base pairing are key parameters of efficient nucleic acid hybridization assays. Covalently attached labels, or moieties, which improve or stabilize hybridization are desirable.
Another important aspect of nucleic acid hybridization assays is the method used to facilitate detection of the hybridization event. Fluorescent methods have many advantages over radioisotopes where either the target polynucleotide or the probe or primer can be easily and safely labelled with fluorescent dyes. Methods to lower the costs of labelled probes and primers, or their functional equivalents, are highly desirable. There remains a need for further improvements in the specificity, affinity, and detection of nucleic acid hybridization assays.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Binary probe and clamp composition and methods for target hybridization detection


Eight character symbols, all of equal pitch, and two blank symbols are arranged on a reel in a rotational direction thereof. As to each of the eight character symbols, one stop position is set so as to stop the center of the character symbol at a winning line. As to each of the two blank symbols, three stop positions are set. One of the three stop positions is selected on the basis of a random number and the blank symbol is stopped at the selected stop position. Accordingly, although the number of equally spaced symbols is ten, fourteen stop positions are obtained. The reel is rotated by a step motor. The stop position is determined according to the number of drive pulses supplied to the step motor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control method and device for stopping a reel on which a plurality of symbols including blank symbols are arranged in rotational direction.
2. Description of the Related Art
A slot machine has a plurality of, generally three, four or five, reels built in. Various symbols are arranged on a peripheral surface of the reel. In a stopped state of the reel, at least one of the symbols is adapted to be observed through a symbol display window relative to each reel. Upon starting a game, three reels are simultaneously rotated. When all of reels are stopped by a player's operation of a stop button or by an automatic stop mechanism, presence of winning and kind of winning are determined in accordance with a combination of symbols displayed in the symbol display window.
On the reel, character symbols and blank symbols are arranged at constant pitch. The character symbol has a letter pattern or a character pattern, for example, "7", "BAR" and "cherry". The blank symbol does not have any pattern. As shown in FIG. 4, such a reel is manufactured by sticking a symbol sheet 3 on an outer periphery of a reel main body 2 assembled in cylindrical frame form. The symbol sheet 3 is a strip-like sheet having the identical length L with peripheral length of the reel main body 2. Various symbols are printed on the symbol sheet 3 at constant pitch P. The symbol sheet 3 is stuck to the reel main body 2 such that top of the symbol sheet 3 is adjusted to a predetermined home position index S.
The reel main body 2 is directly connected to a drive shaft of a step motor 5. The step motor 5 is rotated according to the number of drive pulses supplied thereto. The number of drive pulses is counted by a counter 6. The reel main body 2 is provided with a light-shielding tab 7 adjusted to the home position index S. The passage of the light-shielding tab 7 is detected by a photo-interrupter 8 while the reel is rotated. The photo-interrupter 8 outputs a detection signal every detection of the light-shielding tab 7. The detection signal is inputted to the counter 6 as a reset pulse, thereby counted value of the counter 6 is reset to zero once a rotation.
When the step motor 5 is rotated by 1.8 degree relative to input of one drive pulse, two hundred drive pulses are required to make a rotation of the reel. And when ten symbols are arranged on the reel, twenty drive pulses are required to rotate the reel by one symbol. It is preferable to display the symbol such that the center of the symbol is substantially adjusted to a winning line when the reel is stopped. Ten drive pulses are required to rotate the reel by an interval .alpha. from the home position index S to the center of first symbol "7". If a position at which the photo-interrupter 8 is set coincides with a position of the winning line, the center of the first symbol "7" is stopped at the winning line by stopping the reel when the counted value of the counter 6 is ten.
Accordingly, in order to stop the center of the Nth symbol of the symbol sheet 3 at the winning line, the drive pulses are supplied to the step motor 5 such that the counted value of the counter 6 becomes "20N-10". In the foregoing description, the position of the winning line is adapted to coincide with the setting position of the photo-interrupter 8 for the sake of convenience. However, if the stop position of the step motor 5 is set taking a gap between the position of the winning line and the setting position of the photo-interrupter into account, it is not necessary to adjust the positions thereof.
When the symbol sheet 3 shown in FIG. 4 is used, if the symbol "7" is provided as one among ten symbols, the probability of the symbol "7" stopping at the winning line is 1/10. In case of changing the probability, the number of symbols "7" should be increased or the number of all symbols should be increased or decreased. Anyway it is required to change the symbol sheet to another one. Particularly, in case of reducing the probability of the symbol "7" to less than 1/10, the number of all symbols must be increased. According to that, stop positions of the step motor 5 must be reset. The operation of resetting the stop position is troublesome. In any case, for changing the appearance probability of the symbol, there arises a problem that changing operation is troublesome.
The appearance probability of specific symbol may be determined by software without regard to number of symbols arranged on the symbol sheet. When reel stopping control is performed such as to stop the symbol selected on the basis of the probability determined by software at the winning line, a difficult hardware change is not required. However, the appearance probability of the specific symbol determined by software would then have no relation with that of the physical reel. In other words, although the appearance probability of the symbol "7" is 1/10 relative to physical reel, it may be changed to any value, for example 1/15, by software. In such a manner, the number of stop positions determined by software does not coincide with that of the physical reel. That is not preferable.

Control method and device for stopping a reel


A plate holder instrument includes a base and a clamp. The clamp is displaceable relative to the base in a longitudinal direction and forms a plate receiving recess with the base. The clamp is displaceable between a released position to allow a bone plate to be loaded into and removed from the plate receiving recess, and a clamped position to lock a plate in the plate receiving recess. An actuator is displaceable relative to the base in a first direction to move the clamp to the released position and a second direction to move the clamp to the clamped position. The plate holder instrument can be combined with one or more surgical instruments, bone plates, screws, tools, taps, depth gauges, screw drivers and/or other accessories as a kit.

Spinal fusion is a procedure in which damaged vertebrae are removed, and vertebral bodies adjacent to the removed vertebrae are fused together with graft material. The spine must be immobilized during fusion. To immobilize the spine, one or more fixation rods are anchored to the vertebrae to limit movement.
Cervical-occipito fixation may be accomplished by using fixation rods attached to a bone plate that, in turn, is anchored to the occiput bone on the posterior of the skull. One example of such a bone plate is described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,348,981 assigned to Aesculap Implant Systems, LLC, the contents of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. Occipital bone plates are attached to the skull with bone screws that are inserted through openings in the bone plates. Prior to inserting the screws, the holes for the screws must be drilled and tapped.
Drilling and tapping holes at the rear of the skull is a difficult procedure that requires a significant amount of force to penetrate the dense cortical bone. The process is further complicated by the angle of approach that is required for instruments. In addition, the drill depth must be controlled with precision, which is difficult to do while at the same time applying significant force on the drill at a difficult angle of approach.

Surgical instrumentation for cervical-occipito fixation


A convexo concave amplifying device for exhibiting a convexo concave by amplifying a sense of a convexo concave of an object, comprising a sensing member and an exhibiting member. The sensing member 101 comprises a flexible sheet able to contact with the surface of the object O and to deform along the surface of the object. The exhibiting member 120 that is formed on a surface of the flexible sheet and has a deformation resistance smaller than that of the flexible sheet in at least one of directions orthogonal to a direction of thickness of the flexible sheet. With such construction, the object convexo concave can be amplified and exhibited.

In the following, a background art of convexo concave amplifying device and convexo concave detecting method using it, deformation sensing device and convexo concave detecting method using it, and convexo concave position exhibiting device and convexo concave position exhibiting method will be explained.
1. Convexo Concave Amplifying Device and Convexo Concave Detecting Method by Use Thereof
In a field of a tactile substitution and an artificial reality, many studies have been made for exhibiting an artificial feeling for human. For example, a tactile sensing exhibiting system whose sensing portion and displaying portion are disposed on the two sides thereof has been developed. An optical sensor reading a printed matter and a touch sensor are disposed as the sensing portion. For the displaying portion, a method of exhibiting the artificial tactile sensing by electrically stimulating a tactile receptor is adapted. Thus, this tactile sensing exhibiting system can exhibit the feeling of touching the thing which the user can not feel by himself.
However, the resolution and the sensitivity of the sensing portion and the displaying portion are insufficient. Also, the tactile sensing exhibiting system using a complex mechatronics technique is apt to invite trouble due to the complex structure. Thus, much time and labor are required for the maintenance. Further, sensing portion and the display portion can hardly be downsized.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,657,021 and 4,793,354 disclose means for easily detecting or sensing the convexo concave of the object. The detecting means is a touch enhancing pad comprised of two flexible sheets, and small amount of lubricant oil sealed between the two sheets. In using the touch enhancing pad, with one sheet being contacted and rested on a surface of a subject, the other sheet in contact with the finger is moved together with the finger.
As a result, movement of the lubricant oil reduces influence of friction between the subject and the fingertip, whereby the convexo concave of object can be clearly detected by smooth moving of the finger-tip. This touch enhancing pad has been put into the market by the name of "BSE (Breast Self-Examination) Pad", and is approved by FDA as a self-examination assisting tool for the breast cancer.
Generally, the tactile sensing of the finger may get dull on the condition that some intervening material is interposed between the surface of the object and the finger tip. This pad can, without using the complex mechatronics technique, detect the object convexo concave clearly. However, it can hardly detect the small or fine convexo concave, and is not practical as the tool to detect the convexo concave of the object extensively. Further, though it has a simple construction that the lubricant oil is sealed between the two sheets, it is afraided that the lubricant oil is leaked by the damage of the sheet.
The technique for detecting the convexo concave of the object has been required in many field. In the convexo concave detecting method, the subject (surface of the object) has been inspected by contacting for example a dialogue type sensor (contact type), or by an image processing (non-contact type). However, the former type is not suitable for the extensive inspection of the object. The latter type suffers from dispersion of the detected result due to luster and blot existed on the surface of the object. Further, the both types requires expensive apparatus and much time for setting.
Therefore, in the strain inspection of a steel plate of manufacturing process in practice, for example, vehicle manufacturing process, skilled workers detect the convexo concave by the hand. However, difference in degree of skill brings different result of the detection. In addition, long period is required for the workers to acquire the skill of detecting the convexo concave. For this reason, the detecting method which can be carried out cheaply and which can detect the convexo concave easily has been required.
2. Deformation Sensing Device and Convexo Concave Detecting Method by Use Thereof
In these days, there have been many social problems such as extremely small birth rate, aging and medical care. The numbers of persons supporting a welfare service and an infrastructure may become short in the future. For this reason, a human-type robot (humanoid) which moves and reacts in the same way as the human may be required in the society. In order not to harm the person, the human-type robot needs to be covered by an artificial skin made of a soft material. Also, the artificial skin needs to have a tactile sensing function equivalent to the human skin, for example the functions to sense contact with the object and property of the object.
For realizing such function, the artificial skin in which a strain sensing elements such as a strain gauge or PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride) sensor is embedded into the flexible material such a rubber etc. have been developed and used. However, due to poor or small elasticity and flexibility, the strain sensing element disposed in the flexible material may be broken by the stress concentration thereof. The strain sensing element and the flexible material may be peeled, or the flexible material may be cracked. In addition, since the strain gauge or the PVDF sensor has the limit of detection range, it is difficult to use them combined with the flexible material.
A tactile sensing sheet using a pressure sensitive rubber which can sense the stress acting in the normal direction thereof has been known. It however can not sense the stress acting in the tangential direction (shearing stress)
For example, Japanese unexamined patent publication H05-5397 has disclosed an external force measuring apparatus of shield excavator comprising a load detecting portion and a pressure receiving plate. One end of the load detecting portion is fixed to a bottom plate of a concave portion, and a strain gauge is mounted on the load detecting portion. The pressure receiving plate is fixed to the other end of the load detecting portion.
In this external force measuring apparatus, the external force received by the pressure receiving plate is transmitted to the strain gauge of the load detecting portion to be measured. However, if the both ends of the load detecting portion are fixed, there is a possibility that the strain gauge is broken by that the load detecting portion distorts largely. For this reason, applying the construction of H05-5397 to the flexible material can not overcome the breakage of strain gauge. Larger strain of the load detecting portion may surpass the detection range of the strain gauge.
3. Convexo Concave Position Exhibiting Device and Convexo Concave Position Exhibiting Method
As mentioned above, in the manufacturing process in practice, the skilled worker detects the convexo concave on the surface. The method of easily detecting the convexo concave and easily finding out the position of the convexo concave has been required.
With regard to exhibiting the result from detecting the surface information of the object by several sensors, for example, an invisible convexo concave on the surface of the steel plate, it is general to display the image-processed result from sensing the surface information by a detecting member (c.f. Japanese unexamined patent publication 2001-153811).
However, in order to exhibit the detected position by displaying the surface information detected by the detecting member, the position where the detecting member is detecting is needed to be measured by using a magnetic sensor, a passive linkage system, a CCD camera, and so on. Therefore, the detecting apparatus becomes large, requires a large installation space, and has a difficulty in transporting.
Instead of displaying, sounding may be used for exhibiting that the sensor detects the information on the predetermined condition. However, it is difficult to find out the detected position at the moment of sounding in the case that the surface of the object is extensively sensed with time.

Convexo concave amplifying device and convexo concave detecting method by use thereof, deformation sensing device and convexo concave detecting method by use thereof, and convexo concave position exhibiting device and convexo concave position exhibiting method

Abstract: A deformation sensing device for sensing a deformation thereof comprising a capsule deformable by stress, a viscous fluid F contained in the capsule, and a relative movement sensing member that is disposed inside of the capsule and senses a relative movement against the viscous fluid. With such construction, property of the object such as the convexo concave or the stress can be detected.


The present invention relates to a power supply terminal of connecting devices of electrical conduction that includes an insulating terminal block. An earth wire connecting block, zero wire connecting block and two live wire connecting blocks are juxtaposed in said terminal block. Said earth wire connecting block, zero wire connecting block and two live wire connecting blocks respectively have the corresponding wiring input terminal and wiring output terminal. It is characterized in that said terminal block also includes a switch module with wiring input terminal and wiring output terminal, corresponding connections and conductions between said wiring input terminal, said wiring output terminal and said live wire connecting blocks can be carried out through the connectors; switch module is arranged between two live wire connecting blocks and is adjacent to two live wire connecting blocks; switch module includes a input sub-connecting block and two output sub-connecting blocks, wherein said input sub-connecting block set up wiring input terminal and switch end; said output sub-connecting blocks respectively set up wiring output terminal and switch end; said two live wire connecting blocks respectively set up switch end; said connector is connected between said switch end. The present invention has strong adaptability.

The present invention relates to connecting devices of electrical conduction, especially relating to a power supply terminal.
Existing power supply terminals are often directed at specific power supply mode, on the market the same machine may need to apply to single-phase, two-phase or three-phase power supply, etc., in different occasions, location (or countries), even if all the internal structures of this kind of machine are the same, the different power supply modes lead to the variety of power connection, which need the professional to connect power wiring according to the variety, this will cause many unnecessary troubles, sometimes, even needing re-designed machines' style because of the variety of power connection, and therefore, existing power supply terminal has poor adaptability.


An insert cooperates with the channel in a material moving board. The insert is adapted to reach at least 3/4 of the way from the front edge to the rear edge of the board. The insert is preferably brazed to the channel and is made primarily of tungsten carbide and a cobalt binder.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a carbide insert which is brazed into a material-moving board or blade and, more particularly, to a carbide insert which is adapted to extend substantially the full width of the board.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is standard in the industry to put an insert, most commonly made of an alloy of tungsten carbide, in the lower edge of a board or blade in order to strengthen it. An example of such an insert is shown in the patent to Stephenson, U.S. Pat. No. 3,529,677. It is noted that this insert does not extend the full width of the board, but instead is only a portion of the width of the board. While such an insert is useful in somewhat reducing the wear on the board, it is also true that part of the metal or other substance making up the board does tend to deteriorate since the board still is in contact with the ground. Because the board is typically made of a softer material than the insert, it tends to wear away from the insert and the insert then falls out and the board itself must be replaced.
The reference to Stephenson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,934,654, takes a step in correcting this problem. It is noted that in this reference, the carbide insert is shaped such that a larger portion of the insert is touching the ground and a much smaller portion of the board touches the ground. Such a system will help to a certain extent in reducing the wear on the board. However, where the board touches the ground there will still be wear and the board will wear away from the insert causing the insert to fall out and requiring replacement of the board.
The patent to Adrian et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,427,186, shows a different method for reducing wear on a board. However, this insert correlates primarily to wear which would occur on the front edge of a board. The problem of the board wearing away from touching the ground still remains.
A similar problem was addressed in the patents to Ferreira, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,471,770 and 5,611,157, where a rubberized wear pad is attached to the bottom of a board. The primary purpose in this system is to prevent wear to a road from the use of the board. Of less concern is damage to the board itself. The wear pad will have some effect in keeping the board from deteriorating, however in many applications such a pad will deteriorate rapidly and require frequent replacement. However, such a system is not effective for each application, since in many instances it is desirable that a metal rather than a polyurethane edge be used.
Those skilled in this art have failed to solve the problem of providing an insert structure which adequately protects the material-moving board from rapid wear, is readily adaptable to conventional boards, is itself significantly resistant to wear erosion to provide a sufficient useful life, and which may be more securely attached to the board to resist premature separation from the board.


A memory controller includes logical-physical address conversion table, an access number storing section configured to store the number of accesses to read out data from a memory cell in association with a logical address, a storage state checking section configured to check a storage state of data stored in the memory cell at every predetermined number of accesses, and a refresh processing section configured to perform refresh processing to restore the data stored in the memory cell if the storage state of the data is in a predetermined degraded state.

1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a memory controller configured to perform control for storing and reading data from a host into and out from a NAND-type flash memory section having a plurality of memory cells, a semiconductor memory device which includes the memory controller, and a control method of the semiconductor memory device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Nonvolatile semiconductor memory devices having a NAND-type flash memory section performs processing to erase data stored in a plurality of memory cells called a block at once, so that a structure of the memory device is simplified and low cost and high capacity are achieved. Further, since semiconductor memory devices have no moving section and their power consumption is low, they have been widely used as storage devices of hosts of portable telephones, portable music players or the like. However, the NAND-type flash memory section has a limit on the number of writes/erasures and the number of readouts.
As for write/erase processing with respect to a memory cell of the NAND-type flash memory section, a limit on the number of writes/erasures is caused because high voltage is applied to a gate on a substrate and an electron is injected into a floating gate. If write/erase processing is executed many times, an oxide film around the floating gate is degraded and data may be destroyed. To prevent write/erase processing from concentrating on a certain memory cell, so-called wear leveling is performed in which a memory controller counts the number of erase processes, replaces a memory cell whose number of erase processing is large with a memory cell whose number of erase processing is small so that the numbers of write/erase processing are averaged.
In a semiconductor memory device which performs the wear leveling, it is difficult for a host to identify a data storage position using a physical address which indicates a physical position of a memory cell in a memory section. To solve this, a concept of logical space is constructed and a physical address is converted to a logical address which indicates a position of a memory cell in the logical space. A logical-physical address conversion table (hereinafter referred to as a "conversion table") is used to convert a logical address to physical address.
On the other hand, the limit on the number of readouts is caused by read disturb. In a case of the NAND-type flash memory section, the read disturb refers to a phenomenon in which electrons are injected gradually into a floating gate because read voltage is applied also to non-selected memory cell from a word line. Therefore, as only readout processing is repeated for readout from a memory cell which stores data, threshold voltage during data readout is changed, that is, a data storage condition is degraded. Accordingly, readout errors are increased, and reliability of read-out data is decreased.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-326867 has disclosed that in order to prevent read disturb, rewrite processing is performed on a memory cell whose number of readouts is large as necessary, that is, refresh processing is performed to return threshold voltage in its original state.
In refresh processing in known semiconductor memory devices, a memory cell is identified using a physical address, and thereby the number of readouts is counted and managed. However, since the number of readouts is counted while a logical address is associated with a physical address with respect to memory cells in all area divided into block units, processing is complicated. Furthermore, since a storage section associated with a conversion table in a complicated manner is required, a circuit size is increased.
On the other hand, tolerances of read disturb of a plurality of memory cells in a memory section are very different depending on factors such as manufacturing variations and position in the memory section. To ensure reliability of data to be read out in spite of read disturb, refresh processing needs to be performed at every predetermined number of readings, in which harmful effect does not occur even in a reference memory cell where read disturb is most likely to occur among the plurality of memory cells. However, excessive refresh processing leads to an increase of the number of writes/erasures more than necessary so that the memory cells are degraded, and the reliability of data to be read out may be reduced on the contrary.

Memory controller, semiconductor memory device and control method thereof


An optical media drive contains light reflective surfaces positioned about a transparent center portion of the optical media. The light reflective surfaces reflect laser light from a laser unit of the drive which is directed toward the transparent center portions of the optical media. Defects such as cracks in the optical media disturb the reflection. The disturbance is detected by a laser lens and represented by a signal corresponding to the size of the defect. Information about the cracks is used to determine a safe spin rate for the optical media.

Optical media typically come in the form of a round disc, which is spun in a drive device. The surface of the optical media is read by a laser device which moves radially about the disc as the disc spins to read data on the disc. Spin rates of the media have greatly increased since the original design. CD-ROM drives now have spin rates of 60 times the original spin rate. Such rates are still increasing.
High spin rates create destructive forces on optical media discs. If the discs have cracks or other structural integrity defects, they can break apart in the drive, destroying the disc, and harming the drive. The higher speed drives are both more expensive, and more likely to cause a disc to break apart, increasing the likelihood of catastrophic failure of both the disc and the drive.


A shift control apparatus for use in an automotive vehicle including an engine, an automatic transmission, and an engine accelerator operable to change the amount of air permitted to enter the engine. The apparatus monitors the speed of operation of the accelerator and repetitively samples the accelerator operation speed to accumulate the last accelerator operation speed values for a short period of time so as to form a first frequency distribution of the accelerator operation speed values and accumulate the last accelerator operation speed values for a long period of time so as to form a second frequency distribution of the accelerator operation speed values. The first frequency distribution corresponds to a driver's present vehicle driving inclination and the second frequency distribution corresponds to a driver's normal vehicle driving inclination. A deviation of the first frequency distribution from the second frequency distribution is detected and used to select one of a plurality of shift schedules. A shift change is produced in the automatic transmission according to the selected shift schedule.

This invention relates to an apparatus for controlling the shift operation made in an automatic transmission.
It is the current practice to perform shift control with the use of a shift schedule which specifies a target gear or speed ratio as a function of vehicle speed and throttle angle. The shift schedule is normally designed to provide a good balance of fuel economy and vehicle driving performance. With such a conventional shift control utilizing a single shift schedule, however, it is difficult to reflect the driver's driving inclination on the shift control since the driver's vehicle driving inclination is different from one driver to another.
For example, Japanese Patent Kokai Nos. 6-241304, 6-48225 and 6-221414 disclose a shift control apparatus arranged to perform shift control with a selected one of normal and power shift schedules. The power shift schedule is selected to attach a greater importance to the vehicle driving performance than the normal shift schedule when the speed of operation of the accelerator exceeds a reference value at a low vehicle speed. Since the reference value is a fixed value, however, the shift control cannot match the driver's individual vehicle driving inclination.


A charge pump system includes a logic circuit, a signal processing circuit, a charge pump circuit, a switching circuit, a first controllable discharge path, and a second controllable discharge path. The logic circuit receives a program enabling signal and generates a first control signal. The signal processing circuit receives a pump enabling signal, and generates a second control signal and a third control signal. The charge pump circuit receives the third control signal and generates an output signal. The switching circuit has a control terminal receiving the third control signal, a first terminal connected with the output terminal of the charge pump circuit, and a second terminal connected with a reservoir capacitor. The first controllable discharge path receives the first control signal, and the second controllable discharge path receives the second control signal.

Generally, a non-volatile memory comprises a memory cell array. The memory cell array consists of plural memory cells. In addition, each memory cell has a charge storage device, such as floating gate transistor or SONOS transistor, etc.
During a program cycle of a non-volatile memory, a high voltage is received by the memory cell array. Consequently, hot carriers are injected into the floating gate of the floating gate transistor of a selected memory cell. Generally, the high voltage received by the memory cell array is provided by a charge pump circuit.
For example, if no hot carriers are injected into the floating gate, the memory cell has a first storing state (e.g. the state "1"). Whereas, if the hot carriers are injected into the floating gate, the memory cell has a second storing state (e.g. the state "0").
FIG. 1 is a schematic circuit diagram illustrating the relationship between a charge pump circuit and a memory cell array according to the prior art. An enabling terminal En of the charge pump circuit 110 receives a program enabling signal En-pgm. An output terminal O of the charge pump circuit 110 is connected with a decouple capacitor C and the memory cell array 120. Moreover, a controller (not shown) of the non-volatile memory may issue the program enabling signal En-pgm to determine a program cycle.
When the program enabling signal En-pgm is activated, the program cycle is started. Meanwhile, an output signal Vout with a high voltage (e.g. 15V) is outputted from an output terminal O of the charge pump circuit 110 to the memory cell array 120. The decouple capacitor C may reduce the overshoot voltage and the ripple voltage of the output signal Vout.
Moreover, when the program enabling signal En-pgm is inactivated, the program cycle is ended. Meanwhile, the output signal Vout from the output terminal O of the charge pump circuit 110 is changed to a low voltage (e.g. a ground voltage).
As mentioned above, during the program cycle, the memory cell array 120 receives the high voltage to program the selected memory cell. However, if the output signal Vout is maintained at the high voltage, the programming efficiency of the memory cell array 120 is deteriorated.

Low power consumption charge pump system and associated control circuit and method for non-volatile memory cell array


A foldable electric vehicle includes a front frame including two side mounts; a front foot rest including two mounting members and a rear hole; a rear foot rest including two mounting members, a front pivotal board, and a spring biased lock pin locked in the hole; a rear pedestal including two mount elements, two chair supports, and a top hook; hinges for connecting the front frame and the front foot rest, connecting the front foot rest and the rear foot rest, and the rear foot rest and the pedestal; two front links each pivotably secured to the side mount and the mounting member; two rear links each pivotably secured to the mount element and the mounting member; a chair including a transverse rod and a spring biased lock rod locked in the hook; and two sets of two pivotal bars pivotably connected to chair supports and the chair.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to electric vehicles and more particularly to a foldable electrically powered vehicle such as personal mobility vehicle having improved characteristics.
2. Description of Related Art
The popularity of personal mobility vehicles (PMVs) has dramatically increased over the last several decades. Although conventional PMVs provide the desired mobility to an operator, they suffered from several disadvantages. Firstly, they were difficult to store during nonuse. In short, they are bulky to be stored in a small room. Secondly, they were difficult to transport in a car also due to bulkiness.
Prior art have attempted to solve the problems of the transportation and storage of a PMV by collapsing or folding same. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 8,720,995 B2 to Wu et al. discloses a foldable seat rack mountable between a body rack and a seat of a foldable motorized vehicle. It includes main supporting rods, upper rods, lower rods, a seat base, hooks, and an elastic element. Main supporting rods are fixed on two sides of the body rack respectively. Upper rods are pivoted on upper ends of the main supporting rods respectively. Lower rods are pivoted on middle portions of main supporting rods and a rear end of seat base respectively. Hooks are fixed on the upper ends of the main supporting rods respectively. The foldable seat base has a middle shaft. Middle portions on two sides of the seat base are opened with slide slots. Two ends of the middle shaft pass through the slide slots freely and are hooked by hooks. An elastic element is placed between the front end of the seat base, and the middle shaft.
However, the '995 patent has disadvantages including the seat rack being not structurally strong, no connection between the chassis plates and the upper rods (or the lower rods), and the folding process being difficult.
Thus, the need for improvement still exists.


A medical pump includes a chassis having a fixed seat, and a main carriage having a carriage footing for receiving a fluid delivery device and restricting its movement. An actuator automatically moves the main carriage between open and closed positions to engage the fluid delivery device to the seat. The seat establishes the position of both the main carriage and fluid delivery device in the closed position. The actuator is connected to the main carriage by a rear carriage assembly having a manual release element for disengaging the actuator from rear carriage assembly and thereby from the main carriage. A processing unit detects jam conditions by processing carriage position data and electrical load data from the actuator.

The present invention relates to a means of automatically loading and unloading a pump cassette or other fluid delivery device into a medical pump.
Modern medical care often involves the use of medical pump devices to deliver fluids and/or fluid medicine to patients. Medical pumps permit the controlled delivery of fluids to a patient, and such pumps have largely replaced gravity flow systems, primarily due to the pump's much greater accuracy in delivery rates and dosages, and due to the possibility for flexible yet controlled delivery schedules. Of the modern medical pumps, those incorporating a diaphragm cassette are often preferred because they provide more accurately controlled rate and volume than do other types of pumps.
A typical positive displacement pump system includes a pump device driver and a fluid delivery device, including but not limited to a syringe, tubing, section of tubing, or a disposable cassette. The disposable cassette, which is adapted to be used only for a single patient and for one fluid delivery cycle, is typically a small plastic unit having an inlet and an outlet respectively connected through flexible tubing to a fluid supply container and to the patient receiving the fluid. The cassette includes a pumping chamber, with the flow of fluid through the chamber being controlled by a plunger or plunger activated in a controlled manner by the device driver.
One of the requirements for many pumps, including cassette pumps, is that they are able to dictate the proper positioning of the fluid delivery device or cassette when loaded. The proper positioning of the cassette is critical to ensure that any pump elements (including the plunger and/or sensors) that interact with the cassette are precisely aligned and positioned to accurately produce the desired output of the cassette or sense conditions related to the pump.
Previous pumps attempted to accomplish the proper positioning of the cassette by providing a molded seat that a user would manually push the cassette into. Once the cassette is forced into the molded seat, retentive snap elements engage the outer surface of the cassette to hold the cassette within the molded seat.
These previous pumps often have few if any physical elements to ensure proper cassette orientation to the pump. They also do not ensure proper and complete seating of the cassette to the pump. Additionally, they have insufficient means for monitoring if the cassette was indeed oriented correctly and/or fully seated to the pump.
Therefore, a principal object of this invention is to provide a medical pump having an automated loading system with improved positioning of the fluid delivery device.
A further object of the invention is to provide a medical pump that monitors proper fluid delivery device loading.
Another object of the invention is to provide a medical pump having an indicator window for indicating channel conditions.
A still further object of the invention is to provide a medical pump having an illumination element for illuminating a main carriage area where the fluid delivery device is loaded.
Another object of the invention is to provide a medical pump having a manual release element for manually ejecting a fluid delivery device from the pump.
These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Fluid delivery device identification and loading system


A method of aggregating events in a PCIe (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express) multifunction device minimizes reported error messages, where several functions share a common PCIe interface logic. A predetermined number of function entities with logical gates, connected in daisy chain configuration, process incoming information, and a decision is made whether each function entity will generate a blocking control or a pass-through control. The error messages are aggregated across the function entities in a single clock cycle with the help of an error controller. The functions can be from IEEE 1394 interface, graphics display controller, sound card, PCIe switch, or PCIe to PCI bridge connection. Each function preferably has a different configuration and security level setting for error reporting and messaging. There may be a plurality of parallel daisy chains, and the PCIe device may include three layers namely, a physical layer, data link layer and transaction protocol layer (for error logging, reporting).

The rate of innovation in computer technology and more particularly in desktop computers is phenomenal, as known by users of computers. It is also highly visible that software makers create new products and versions to support the latest advances in processing speeds, memory size and hard disk capacity, while hardware vendors release new devices and technologies to keep up with the demands of the latest software. As data acquisition rates increase with advances in silicon technologies, larger amounts of data must be transferred to the PC for processing. These transfers are handled by the data bus connecting the data to the PC memory. However, the rate at which data transfers occur is often the bottleneck in measurements, and is the primary reason that many instruments have incorporated expensive onboard memory.
To address the growing appetite for bandwidth, a new bus technology called PCI Express (known as the PCIe) has been introduced. Originally designed to enable high speed audio and video streaming, PCIe devices are also being used to improve the data rate from measurement devices to PC memory by up to 30 times versus the traditional PCI bus used on older generation desktops.
Developments in PCIe; PCIe was introduced by industry to overcome the limitations of the original PCI bus. Developed and released by Intel® over a decade ago, the original PCI bus operated at 33 MHz and 32 bits with a peak theoretical bandwidth of 132 MB per second. In the implementation of the PCI bus, the bus bandwidth is shared among multiple devices, to enable communication among the different devices on the bus. As devices evolved, new bandwidth hungry devices began starving other devices on the same shared bus. To provide the bandwidth required by these modern devices, PCIe was developed by an industry consortium of PC and peripheral vendors and began shipping in standard desktop PCs. Already, most desktop machines from the leading suppliers include at least one PCIe slot. As known, the most notable PCIe Express advancement over PCI is its point-to-point bus topology. The shared bus used for PCI is replaced with a shared switch, which provides each device its own direct access to the bus. And unlike PCI which divides bandwidth between all devices on the bus, PCIe provides each device with its won dedicated data pipeline. Data is sent serially in packets through pairs of transmit and receive signals called lanes, which enable 250 MBytes/s bandwidth per direction, per lane. Multiple lanes can be grouped together into ×1 ("by-one"), ×2, ×4, ×8, ×12, ×16, and ×32 lane widths to increase bandwidth to the slot.
PCIe dramatically improves data bandwidth compared to legacy buses, minimizing the need for onboard memory and enabling faster data streaming. Notably, because of the sealable lane topology of PCIe, data acquisition vendors can implement a PCI Express connector with the number of lanes suitable to the requirements of the device.
Software compatibility is also ensured by the PCI Express specification. At boot time, generally the operating system can discover all of the PCIe devices present and then allocate system resources such as memory, I/O space, and interrupts to create an optimal system environments. And because the PCIe physical layer is generally transparent to application software, programs originally written for PCI devices can run unchanged on PCIe devices that have the same functionality, and PCI and PCIe devices can be used together in the same system. This retroactive compatibility of PCIe software with traditional PCI is helpful in preserving the software interests of both vendors and users.
Multifunction PCIe devices according to specification will generate unique types of events targetted to the root complex to indicate error conditions through a link. Those events if not dealt with across different functions, will result in a situation where too many events flood the link, thus reducing link bandwidth. It is noted that the specification for a PCExpress multifunction device limits the multifunction device to generating only a limited number of error messages per event. A method is therefore needed to determine which of the functions will be allowed to issue an error message when an event occurs.

Aggregation of error messaging in multifunction PCI express devices