A specialized communication controller class is used to manage communications in an object oriented programming system. Classes in the system are not designed to communicate directly with each other, and communication between classes is routed by this controller class. As a result, there is no need for each class to keep track of any hierarchical relationship of classes in an application in order to be able to communicate with other classes. Members of the object oriented programming system contain parameter files and can send commands to the controller class. The controller class executes the commands without return result to the senders. Similarly, the controller class can send commands to other class members, and these commands are executed without returning result to the controller class.

When digital computers were first available, the amount of memory in a computer was very small. Consequently, the size of a computer program was also very small. The challenge of writing a good computer program was to squeeze as much functions as possible in the available memory, i.e., the code to implement each function should be as small as possible. As the amount of memory increases, there is no need to place a premium on reducing the size of computer programs. Instead, the challenge becomes developing methods to write large applications efficiently and free of bugs. It is found that making software "modular" goes a long way in meeting this challenge. This is because it is much easier to write many small programs (and integrate them in an appropriate manner) than to write one large program. This approach can be used by both the traditional procedural-oriented programming environment and the recent object-oriented programming environment.
In modular programming, a complex system is decomposed into several subsystems. Each subsystem is associated with a program module. The subsystem could itself be decomposed into lower level subsystems (which are associated with lower level program modules). Ideally, these program modules are independent modules that can communicate with other program modules. As a result, programming can be performed by a team of programmers, with each programmer taking care of a small number of program modules. Consequently, modular programming encourages team work. Further, it is comparatively easy to debug and maintain each program modules. This is because defective or unsatisfactory program modules could be isolated and modified while the rest of the system is either not affected or minimally affected.
In order to combine program modules into a large application, the modules must be able to communicate with each other. An important factor for using modular programming successfully is that communication between program modules are handled efficiently. If the communication is cumbersome, the modules would use much computer resource for communication (instead of performing useful work) and the programmers would spend much time in writing codes to handle program communication.

System for managing communication between program modules


A method is disclosed for controlling an IGBT component and a gate driver. An exemplary method includes producing, with two separate driver circuits, a gate voltage for controlling the IGBT component, the outputs of the driver circuits being connected to free ends of a series connection of resistive components. A location, such as a midpoint between the series connection, forms the gate voltage.

IGBTs are power semiconductor components which are used, for example, as switches in high power applications. An IGBT is a gate controlled component, which can be turned on and off from its gate.
The properties of IGBTs can make them very attractive to be used in high-power applications, since IGBT switches are able to switch high currents at high voltage levels. Further, IGBT switches are fast in operation, with tolerable turn-on and turn-off losses. This is due to the fact that simultaneous time of the voltage over the component and current through the component is short.
IGBTs can include a gate drive circuit which is able to quickly charge the internal capacitances of the component for turning on the component. Similarly, the drive circuit can remove the charge from the gate for cutting the current from the component. The gate drivers are connected to the gate and emitter terminals of the components, and a purpose of the driver is to control the potential of the gate with respect to the emitter. When an IGBT is turned on, the gate is made positive with respect to the emitter, and when a turn-off is desired, the potential of the gate is made negative with respect to the emitter.
For this purpose, gate driver circuits include a two-sided auxiliary voltage, from which positive and negative gate voltages with respect to an emitter can be derived. This two-sided voltage can be generated from a voltage divided with a series connection of capacitors such that a midpoint of the capacitors can be connected to the emitter of the controlled component. Either a positive or negative voltage with respect to the emitter can then be controlled at the gate.
Gate driver circuits can also shut down the controlled IGBT in the event of excessive current flowing through the component. Over current situations, which can be generated by short circuits, should be removed from the circuit by shutting down the component in question. The IGBT which is conducting an over current cannot be turned off in a normal manner, since the quick removal of excessive current would cause voltage spikes across the collector and emitter of the component. This voltage spike could destroy the component and the devices connected to the component.
Known gate driver circuits which are also operable to remove short circuit current using soft shutdown can be complicated structures having many different components and therefore involving a large surface area. An example of a gate driver circuit is presented in U.S. Pat. No. 6,335,608.

Method of controlling an IGBT and a gate driver


An electric heating apparatus heats a circulating fluid for a basin or pool. A section of a duct is connected, at its upstream end, to an intake duct for the fluid. Its downstream end is connected to a duct for the discharge of that fluid, this forming an end-to-end series for conducting the fluid. The apparatus includes a plurality of heating elements elongated in the direction of the elongation of the duct. The heating unit includes the heating element mounted on an elongated base and approximately parallel with the longitudinal dimension of said base. The heating unit is mounted on the duct in such a manner that the base closes an opening which is provided to facilitate the assembling of the heating unit on the duct. The heating elements are supported by a support that is movably mounted inside an opening in the base.

The present invention relates to an electric heating apparatus meant for heating a fluid in circulation and more especially for the heating of water in a basin or a pool, etc.
An electric heating installation meant for a pool generally comprises an electric heating apparatus, a system of pipes starting from the basin for transporting the fluid to be heated toward the heating apparatus, and the heated fluid from the heating apparatus toward the basin. A circulation pump mounted in series in the piping system makes possible the circulation of the fluid to be heated.
The patent document FR-A-2 621 992 describes an electric heating apparatus for a fluid in circulation, especially for the water of a pool. This apparatus comprises a U-shaped tube provided so that it can be connected, by its upstream end, to a fluid intake duct and, by its downstream end, to a fluid discharge duct. The upper parts of the two arms are T-shaped, the T(s) receiving an elongated heating element, such as immersible heaters, that are placed approximately in the axis of the ducts that form the legs of the U.
This heating apparatus gives full satisfaction, but it nevertheless has a certain number of drawbacks: its structure is relatively fragile and complex, this increasing its cost of fabrication. Also, it is not very compact, and therefore relatively difficult to install.
Attempts have been made to remedy these drawbacks by providing a heating apparatus of the type that comprises a piping section provided to be connected to a fluid intake duct and to a fluid discharge duct, said apparatus also comprising a heating unit fixed inside said section and in the longitudinal axis of the latter. This heating unit is made up of a metallic plate under which there is set, by means of threaded sockets, a heating element of the coil type. Such an apparatus is described in the American patent document U.S. Pat. No. 4,924,069.
A major drawback of this plate is found in the fact that in order to proceed to the replacement of the heating element it is necessary, each time, to remove from under the place the sockets for the fixation of that heating element.

Means for electrically heating a circulating fluid in a basin or pool


A valve timing control apparatus includes: a first passage which is formed in the vane rotor, which extends in the radial direction at a position apart from the first lock member and the second lock member in the circumferential direction, which includes an opening portion located in an outer end portion of the first passage, and which receives a hydraulic pressure different from a hydraulic pressure within the advance angle hydraulic chambers and a hydraulic pressure within the retard angle hydraulic chambers; a second passage which is connected to the first passage and hydraulic pressure receiving portions of the first lock member and the second lock member; and a seal member which is press-fit in the opening portion of the outer end portion of the first passage.

The present invention relates to a valve timing control apparatus for an internal combustion engine which is configured to control an opening and closing timing of an intake valve and an exhaust valve in accordance with a driving state.
There is a valve timing control apparatus of a vane type which is arranged to lock a lock pin for fixing a valve timing, into a lock hole at an intermediate position between a most retard angle and a most advance angle, for improving start-up performance at the start.
In this valve timing control apparatus, when the lock of the lock pin is released, it is preferable to move the lock pin in a rearward direction, not by the hydraulic pressure within the advance angle hydraulic chambers and the retard angle hydraulic chambers, and also without receiving an influence of the hydraulic pressure within the advance angle hydraulic chambers and the retard angle hydraulic chambers.
Accordingly, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2011/162601 A1 (corresponding to Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2010-270746) discloses a valve timing control apparatus arranged to act, through a passage for the lock release only, a hydraulic pressure on an annular end surface which is for receiving the pressure, and which is formed on the outer circumference surface of the lock pin, and thereby to move the lock pin in a rearward direction to release the lock.
The passage for the lock release only is a passage hole which is formed by drilling to penetrate through the vane rotor in the radial direction for the ease of the manufacturing operation. Accordingly, a seal member such as a ball is press-fit in an opening portion of the penetrating passage hole on the outer circumference side to close.

Valve timing control apparatus for internal combustion engine


A three-dimensional (3-D) integrated circuit (3DIC) with a graphene shield is disclosed. In certain embodiments, at least a graphene layer is positioned between two adjacent tiers of the 3DIC. A graphene layer is a sheet like layer made of pure carbon, at least one atom thick with atoms arranged in a regular hexagonal pattern. A graphene layer may be disposed between any number of adjacent tiers in the 3DIC. In exemplary embodiments, the graphene layer provides an electromagnetic interference shield between adjacent tiers or layers in the 3DIC to reduce crosstalk between the tiers. In other exemplary embodiments, the graphene layer(s) can be disposed in the 3DIC to provide a heat sink that directs and dissipates heat to peripheral areas of the 3DIC. In some embodiments, the graphene layer(s) are configured to provide both EMI shielding and heat shielding.

I. Field of the Disclosure
The technology of the disclosure relates to three-dimensional integrated circuits (3DICs).
II. Background
Mobile communication devices have become common in current society. The prevalence of these mobile devices is driven in part by the many functions that are now enabled on such devices. Demand for such functions increases processing capability requirements and generates a need for more powerful batteries. Within the limited space of the housing of the mobile communication device, batteries compete with the processing circuitry. These and other factors contribute to a continued miniaturization of components and power consumption within the circuitry.
Miniaturization of the components impacts all aspects of the processing circuitry including the transistors and other reactive elements in the processing circuitry. One miniaturization technique involves arranging integrated circuits in not just an x-y coordinate system, but also in a z-coordinate system. That is, current miniaturization techniques use three-dimensional (3D) integrated circuits (ICs) (3DICs) to achieve higher device packing density, lower interconnect delay, and lower costs. Currently, there are several techniques to manufacture or form 3DICs.
A first technique to form a 3DIC is selective epitaxial layer growth. Selective epitaxial layer growth can produce acceptably decent quality ICs, but this technique is expensive due to the rigorous requirements associated with the process. A second technique to form a 3DIC is a wafer-on-wafer manufacturing technique, whereby electronic components are built on two or more semiconductor wafers separately. The two or more semiconductor wafers are stacked, aligned, bonded, and diced into 3DICs. Through silicon vias (TSVs) are required and provided to effectuate electrical connections between the stacked wafers. Misalignment or TSV defects in any of the stacked wafers can result in an entirely defective integrated circuit due to the interdependence of the IC on the various layers. A third technique to form a 3DIC is a die-on-wafer technique, whereby electronic components are built on two semiconductor wafers. In this technique, one wafer is sliced and the singulated dice are aligned and bonded onto die sites of the second wafer. This die-on-wafer technique can also suffer from alignment issues. A fourth technique to form a 3DIC is a die-on-die technique whereby electronic components are built on multiple dice and then stacked, aligned, and bonded. This approach suffers from the same misalignment problem which may render the final 3DIC unusable.
A fifth technique to form a 3DIC is a monolithic technique, whereby electronic components and their connections are built in layers on a single semiconductor wafer. The layers are assembled through an ion-cutting process. The use of the layers in this fashion eliminates the need for precise alignment and TSVs. In the monolithic approach, a receptor wafer is prepared with integrated components thereon. An oxide layer forms on a top surface of the receptor wafer. A donor wafer is prepared by subjecting the donor wafer to an ion (typically hydrogen) implantation process. The surface of the donor wafer with the ion implantation is then stacked onto the oxide layer of the receptor wafer. The oxide layer of the receptor wafer bonds with the surface of the donor wafer through an annealing process. The donor wafer is then removed, transferring a silicon layer to the receptor wafer. Additional electronic components and interconnects are fabricated over the transfer silicon layer sequentially. The monolithic approach is less expensive than epitaxial growth and eliminates the risk of misalignment, resulting in more functional devices than the techniques that rely on wafer-to-wafer, wafer-to-die, or die-to-die alignment.
The monolithic approach makes integrated circuits with small footprints, but the density of active components in the three-dimensional integrated circuit generates relatively greater amounts of heat than a simple two-dimensional integrated circuit. High temperatures can negatively impact performance of the active components in the circuit. Further, by arranging the circuit in three dimensions instead of just two dimensions, new opportunities for electromagnetic interference (EMI) or crosstalk between circuits are also created. EMI also negatively impacts performance of the active components in the circuit.

Three-dimensional (3-D) integrated circuits (3DICS) with graphene shield, and related components and methods


In another form of the invention an apparatus for precisely locating an associated arrow embedded in an associated target having a first center which includes a plurality of corner cube reflectors disposed having a second center with the plurality of corner cube reflectors being arrayed generally around a first side of the target. The apparatus includes a light detection and transmitting module disposed on the side of the target which is generally opposite the plurality of corner cube reflectors and generates and receives pulses of light after the light has been reflected off one of the plurality of corner cube reflectors. The apparatus includes apparatus for determining the exact location of an arrow embedded in the target.

The invention relates to an apparatus to precisely locate an arrow embedded in a target, such as a dart in a game of darts.
Dart games are popular in England and are gaining in popularity in the United States. Traditionally, after an arrow or dart has been thrown into the target, a person has to visually inspect the target to determine where the arrow landed. That person has to then calculate the score according to the rules of the game being played. The applications for such devices include use in places of entertainment and in dart leagues and dart tournaments.
The prior art includes complex apparatus used for diversified purposes:
The apparatus shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,845,346 Touch Panel Having Parallax Compensation and Intermediate Coordinate Determination uses light sources and light receiving elements in sequentially driven pairs to accomplish a scan operation, and uses an interrupted signal to determine position.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,187,545 Article Orientation Determining Apparatus employs a column of sequentially pulsed radiation emitters and corresponding detectors and develops binary data indicative of the number of emitters that are unblocked during each scan.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,243,877 Electro-Optical Target For An Electro-Optical Alignment Measuring System describes a reflective target that includes a photoelectric sensor for producing an electric signal indicative of the lateral displacement of the reflective target and a reflective surface (mirror) for returning a portion of the optical reference beam to a photo sensor positioned adjacent the reference beam source to provide information relative to the angular position of the reflective target.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,346,994 Secondary Alignment Target For An Electro-Optical Alignment Measuring System employs a beam splitter in which the refracted sub-portion furnishes optical information regarding transverse orientation of the target, while the reflected sub-portion is re-reflected by the beam splitter to furnish a return beam containing optical information regarding rotational orientation of the target.
The apparatus shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,052,066 Light-Emission Gun Amusement Machine For Home Use comprises of a light source, screen, and mirror as disposed between the screen and light source.
The apparatus shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,281,926 Method and Means For Analyzing Sphero-Cylindrical Optical Systems utilizes a beam splitter and mirror for finding the refractive properties of lenses.
The apparatus shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,154,404 Jam Detector For Inserter utilizes horizontal and vertical photo sensors and associated retro-reflective targets to detect jams by sensing an interruption of the horizontal beam and an uninterrupted retro-reflection of the vertical beam.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,154,002 Probe, Motion Guiding Device, Position Sensing Apparatus, and Position Sensing Method has a differential optical transducer which has two light source elements which emit light beams and two light sensor elements which receive these beams and a electronic circuit that compares the signal from light sensor elements and provides an output signal which indicates the position of the second member relative to the first member.
The apparatus shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,877,816 Remote-Angle-of-Rotation Measurement Device Using Light Modulation and Electro-Optical Sensors includes a rotating disc-type linear polarizer in combination with a reference linear polarizer and a target linear polarizer. The photo sensors are arranged to receive modulated light separately from the target and reference polarizer and sinusoidal output signals representative of the modulated light received by the photo sensors are generated.
While such apparatus are suitable for some applications, they are not wholly satisfactory. The noted patented inventions apply to a myriad of diverse inventions, having only a casual relationship to the present apparatus.
It is an object of the invention to provide apparatus to precisely locate an arrow in a target.
It is an object of the invention to display the score of a dart game.
Another object of the invention is to provide apparatus that will function with a standard, unmodified bristle board target and standard unmodified darts.
Still another object of the invention is to be able to program different game rules into the apparatus and to calculate the score.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide apparatus that is reliable.
It is an object of the invention to provide apparatus which is inexpensive to manufacture.
It is also an object of the invention to enable the apparatus to be used with targets of various diameters.


A differential pressure flow measurement system includes a pressure sensor coupled to measurement circuitry. An elongate probe is configured to be inserted into a conduit which carries a flow of process fluid. The pressure sensor senses a pressure difference in the fluid flow generated as the fluid flows past the probe. A vortex shedding stabilizer is positioned proximate the elongate probe and in the flow of process fluid. The vortex shedding stabilizer is configured to stabilize vortex shedding in the flow of fluid proximate the elongate probe.

The present invention relates to measuring flow of process fluid in industrial processes. More specifically, the present invention relates to measuring flow using an averaging pitot tube using differential pressure.
The process industry employs process variable transmitters to monitor process variables associated with substances such as solids, slurries, liquids, vapors, and gases in chemical, pulp, petroleum, pharmaceutical, food and other processing plants. Process variables include pressure, temperature, flow, level, turbidity, density, concentration, chemical composition and other properties. A process flow transmitter provides an output related to a sensed process fluid flow. The flow transmitter output can be communicated over a process control loop to a control room, or the output can be communicated to another process device such that operation of the process can be monitored and controlled.
Measuring the rate of fluid flow in a confined conduit by modifying the internal geometry of the conduit and applying an algorithm to the measured differential pressure in the flowing fluid, is known. The geometry of the conduit is traditionally changed by altering the cross section of the conduit, such as with a venturi meter, or by the insertion into the conduit of a flow altering device such as a orifice plate, an averaging pitot tube or the like.
An averaging pitot tube generally includes a body that slightly impedes fluid flow within the conduit. A pressure difference between the upstream side and the downstream side of the pitot tube is measured and correlated to flow rate. However, variations in the differential pressure may cause inaccuracies in the flow rate determination.

Differential pressure based flow measurement device having improved pitot tube configuration


A process for supercooling a liquid or solid wherein the solid or liquid is placed in contact with a coolant, the coolant having a temperature of at or just above the metastable limit temperature of the liquid or solid.

High levels of supercooling are not generally required in industrial processes for two related reasons. Firstly, the supercooled state is unstable and spontaneous crystallisation can theoretically occur at any time. Secondly, nucleation from a highly supersaturated system is rapid, leading to small crystal sizes. In many industrial processes, where crystallisation is used as a separation technique, large crystals rather than small crystals are required.
However, although for industrial separation processes crystallisation at high levels of supercooling is seen as a disadvantage, there are areas, especially within the food industry, where the small crystals resulting from high nucleation rates are an advantage.
It would therefore be advantageous to be able to achieve a high degree of supercooling in a liquid or solid. To date attempts to achieve a high degree of supercooling have been unsuccessful. In academic studies high levels of supercooling have been created by rapidly freezing very small samples of material. At industrial scale, however, any method for producing, handling and utilising supercooled materials must ensure that crystallisation does not take place until required. Thus supercooling to approximately only 1.degree. C. below the equilibrium freezing temperature of the material has been achieved.
The state of the art is confirmed by the teaching given in the latest edition of the book "Crystallisation" (J. W. Mullin, 1993, Butterworth-Heinemann). This book states that supercooling below about 0.5.degree. C. is not possible in a stirred system.
We have now observed that by determining the metastable limit temperature for a system, we are able to controllably produce materials cooled close to the metastable limit temperature without inducing crystallisation. Thus supercooling to temperatures greater than 1.degree. C. below the equilibrium freezing temperature of the material can be achieved.
The term "metastable limit temperature" is a well known term within the art. A suitable method for measurement is described in "Crystallisation", J Mullin, Butterworth 1972, p.178 & 179 and FIG. 6.4.


An optical performance monitor for accurate monitoring of the OSNR of a WDM optical signal is provided wherein a demultiplexing arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) having a plurality of Vernier input ports is disposed between an optical switch and a photodiode array coupled to the output ports of the AWG. In operation, the optical switch sequentially provides the input optical signal into each of the Vernier ports, and signals detected by photodiodes are stored in a memory unit. The apparatus is capable of monitoring the OSNR of the WDM signal with a frequency step which is M times smaller than a frequency spacing between the AWG transmission bands, while enabling the OSNR monitoring in an enhanced dynamic range by providing accurate noise sampling.

Optical communication systems employing wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) technology achieve large transmission capacity by spacing optical channels as closely as possible, typically less than a nanometer (nm) apart. As the channel spacing decreases, monitoring spectral characteristics of the channels becomes more critical in verifying system functionality, identifying performance drift, and isolating system faults. For example, such monitoring is critical in detecting wavelength drift, which can readily cause signals from one optical channel to cross into another. Also, real-time feedback to network elements is critical to ensure stable operation of optical amplifiers commonly employed in the network.
Optical instruments for measuring optical power as a function of wavelength, called optical spectrum analyzers (OSAs), are known in the art. Most conventional OSAs use a wavelength tunable optical filter, such as a Fabry-Perot interferometer or diffraction grating, to resolve the individual spectral components. In the latter case, light is reflected off the diffraction grating at an angle proportional to the wavelength. The spectrum of the light is then analyzed on the basis of the angle at which the light is diffracted using a detector array. Alternatively, the diffracted light is moved over a slit and then detected using a small detector.
Traditional optical spectrum analyzers (OSAs) are manufactured as laboratory devices which operate under laboratorial environmental conditions. A sophisticated wavelength and optical power calibration from time to time is required to ensure the wavelength and power accuracy of the device. Furthermore, they are generally bulky as well as costly.
Optical communication systems require industrial grade optical performance monitors (OPM), which function similarly to the traditional OSA, but are however subject to stringent industrial requirements. They must be relatively inexpensive, compact in size, with the reporting power and wavelength accuracy nearly the same as laboratorial grade OSAs, however without requiring extra calibration during the lifetime of the device, and be capable of monitoring light at densely spaced frequency points with high wavelength resolution and high dynamic range.
It is advantageous to have an OPM capable of monitoring all channels in one optical band of an optical communication link. It is also advantageous to have an additional functionality of monitoring an optical to signal noise ratio (OSNR) for each channel, which requires monitoring not only individual channels, but also light between channels to estimate an optical noise level, thereby further increasing spectral resolution requirements for an OPM. Today's WDM networks may employ as many as 200 channels with 25 GHz spacing between the channels in one optical communication band of approximately 5000 GHz; these networks would benefit from an OPM capable of monitoring at lest 200 frequency channels with 25 GHz spacing. Such an OPM could also be advantageously used in communication systems having 200 GHz, 100 GHz, and 50 GHz spaced channels by providing an OSNR monitoring capability.
One type of industrial-grade OPMs acquires all monitored spectral points of an optical spectrum of an input signal in parallel by dispersing the input light in space and using a plurality of photodetectors, e.g. a photodiode array (PDA), to simultaneously acquire spectral information at a plurality of monitored frequencies; a bulk grating, a blazed fiber Bragg grating, a waveguide echelle grating or an array waveguide grating (AWG) can be used as such a dispersive element.
Disadvantageously, both the size of the dispersive element and the number of photodiodes in the PDA scale proportionally to the wavelength resolution, thereby increasing the size and cost of the device and reducing it reliability. If the OSNR of each channel is to be measured, several photodetectors have to be provided within the dispersed light of a single channel. Thus, a four channel optical monitor typically requires at least 12 photodiodes. Since current photodiode arrays are typically supplied in strips of up to 128 photodiodes, this allows monitoring of just over 30 channels.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,617,234 issued Apr. 1, 1997 in the name of Koga et al. discloses a multi-wavelength simultaneous monitoring circuit capable of precise discrimination of wavelengths of a WDM signal, and suitable for optical integrated circuits. The device proposed by Koga is an AWG that has a single input port and multiple output ports and has photodetectors coupled to the output ports of the AWG. An AWG has a functionality of splitting an input signal into several output frequency bands, each having a bandwidth b, centered at a set of frequencies fn spaced by an output frequency spacing Δf≧b, and dispersing them in space to different locations where they are picked up by output waveguide to be output through their respective output ports. Koga's device requires an AWG having a number of output ports equal to a number of monitoring channels with frequency resolution better than spacing between the channels, and a number of costly photodetectors equal to the number of channels to be monitored, without providing an OSNR measurement capability.
AWGs offer several advantages when used as the dispersive elements, such as relative compactness, option of on-chip integration with other optical components of an optical circuit thereby drastically lessening optical losses and reducing cost and complexity of the optical circuit, and manufacturing technology amenable to mass-production. However, they typically offer only limited frequency resolution with a limited number of output channels, typically between 8 and 40, with a frequency spacing between output channels ranging from 400 to 50 GHz. Decreasing the frequency spacing further below 25 GHz as may be necessary for accurate OSNR monitoring requires progressively larger and more expensive devices, with increasing cost per monitored channel.
Another known type of OPMs involves sequential acquisition of spectral data points, and is based on tunable filters with output coupled to a typically single photodetector, wherein the spectrum is measured by scanning the filter passband over a frequency range of interest, and adjacent spectral points are accessed sequentially in time. The tunable filter employed in this approach can be based on a bulk—surface or volume—grating, a fiber Bragg grating, a tunable linear or ring resonator. However, using tunable filters may require complex dynamic control loops and real-time monitoring of the tuning to ensure reproducibility. Higher wavelength resolution requires larger tunable filters and progressively more strict requirements on tuning filters wherein progressively finer tuning is required, complicating the control loops and affecting reproducibility issues.
Recently, attempts have been made to provide a solution to this problem of scaling by combining the aforedescribed sequential and parallel acquisition approaches in a way wherein the size, the design complexity, e.g. the number of photosensitive elements, and the control complexity of the monitor scales sub-linearly with a number of monitored wavelengths within a monitored range of wavelengths.
A U.S. Pat. No. 6,915,030 to Svilans et al. assigned to JDS Uniphase, the assignee of this application, discloses an AWG-based OPM that combines a single-input port AWG with a tunable filter having a bandwidth and an FSR to obviate the aforementioned problems, by monitoring a larger number of channels, greater than a number of AWG output ports and associated photodiodes. The tunable filter pre-selects periodic subsets of channels to be input through the single input port of the AWG, and different subsets of channels are sent sequentially to the input port of the AWG thereby time-sharing the AWG and associated photodiodes coupled to the output ports thereof to acquire information about a number of spectrally-resolved channels larger than the number of AWG output ports and coupled to them photodiodes. Although the devices described by Svilans et al. offer considerable advantages by reducing the number of photodiodes per WDM channel, it employs a tunable filter that may require real-time monitoring and relatively complex control circuitry to ensure wavelength tuning reproducibility.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,753,958 in the names of Berolo et al discloses an alternative approach to monitoring of a large number of wavelength with a relatively small number of photodiodes without dynamically tuning frequency-selective elements that may require complex real-time monitoring and control. Berolo et al teach an OPM that has an optical input port coupled through a switch to a plurality of input waveguides, which are sequentially switched to provide light received from the input port via one of the input waveguides to a waveguide echelle grating, which disperses the light toward a plurality of photodetector. The echelle grating disperses light received from an input waveguide in dependence upon the input waveguide position, so that light picked up by the photodetectors has different centre wavelengths depending on via which of the input waveguides the light entered the grating. By arranging the input waveguides so that the centre wavelengths sampled by photodiodes shift by a fraction of the channel spacing of the WDM signal when the light is switched between adjacent input waveguides, the WDM signal carried by the light can be sampled with a frequency period equal to the fraction of the channel spacing.
The method of Berolo et al may enable monitoring a WDM signal at a number of wavelength equal to the number of photodiodes times the number of input ports in a compact relatively inexpensive device. However, the particular approach of Berolo et al wherein spectrally adjacent central wavelengths shifted by a small fraction of the channel spacing equal to the OPM resolution are sampled by coupling the light into adjacent input waveguides may be severely limiting at least in some applications, since it may require the input waveguides to be positioned close to each other when the required spectral resolution is small, as for the OSNR measurements, which may lead to an undesirable optical coupling between adjacent input waveguides.
An object of this invention is to provide an optical performance monitor having a dispersive element with multiple output ports and switchable multiple input ports configured for accurately measuring the OSNR of individual WDM channels of a multi-channel optical signal without unwanted optical coupling between the input ports.
It is another object of this invention to provide a method of accurate OSNR measurements for multiple optical channels of a WDM optical signal in an optical performance monitor, wherein the optical spectrum of the WDM signal is sampled at a plurality of sampling frequencies by switching between input ports of a multi-input multi-output AWG.
Another object of this invention is to provide an optical performance monitor and a method of using thereof for accurate simultaneous OSNR measurements for multiple optical channels of a WDM optical signal, wherein an optical spectrum of the WDM signal is sampled at a plurality of sampling frequencies by switching between input ports of a multi-input multi-output AWG, and wherein spectral samples at adjacent sampling frequencies are acquired by switching between non-adjacent input ports.


A media content playlist generation and access system for a video entertainment network is herein disclosed whereby a plurality of media content emanating from various disparate networks may be conglomerated into a customized list. The list may contain stored media content, which are customarily stored in the head end portion of a CATV network, media content accessible via the Internet, or yet to be aired media content. The system also provides for manipulation of the playlist from various consumer electronic display devices that are interconnected to the Internet, or the PSTN, thereby allowing further customization of the playlist at the user's convenience. Additionally, a multiple user account system is provided wherein multiple user accounts may be configured in order to allow a corresponding multiple individualized playlists, which are each customized to suit each user's tastes.

Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a playlist system for cable television distribution networks, and more particularly, to a playlist generation and modification system whereby consumer electronic display devices such as personal computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), as well as telephonic devices may be used to modify, access, or play the contents of the playlist at the user's discretion.
Background of the Invention
Available television program offerings have grown from those provided by a relatively few aerial broadcast programming sources to over several hundred channels, which are currently available from most cable access television (CATV) providers, and digital broadcast satellite (DBS) providers. Additionally, recent technology advances in video distribution techniques have enabled the transmission of video programs that are transmitted to the consumer at a user specified time such as video on demand (VOD), near video on demand (NVOD), and other interactive television (ITV) type services. These ITV services have served to broaden the choices available to users by alleviating the necessity of viewing video programs only during the programming source's allocated time slot.
NVOD and VOD services are generally defined as a type of ITV services, wherein the user may order and view a video program directly from the convenience of their own home. Whereas NVOD provides selective distribution of video programs to users only at times designated by the CATV provider, VOD enhances the utility of NVOD by enabling view of the requested video program at virtually any user selected time. It has been claimed by some that VOD services offer a viable alternative to the conventional video store. However, in order to be competitive with video stores, which typically provide a large selection of video programming choices, VOD services must also provide a similarly broad selection of video programs in order to suit the discriminating consumer.
In addition to the wide variety of video program offerings that are now provided by the CATV provider, other disparate network platforms such as the Internet provide a large selection of media content which is useful or interesting to many consumers. This content now available via the Internet may include video programs accessible via the Internet, as well as news and weather information, e-mail, instant messaging services, and the like. Thus, it would be advantageous to provide a system for direct access of content from a video distribution network such as provided by a typical CATV provider along with Internet content, wherein said content is accessible from a single user interface such as a user's television terminal.
In order to manage the rather large selection of VOD content available with today's ITV systems, user configurable playlists have been developed that allow the user to organize a selected group of video programs in an easy to manage fashion. U.S. Pat. No. 5,861,906 to Dunn, et al. discloses one such system wherein a playlist consisting of pointers or monikers to available video programs on a head end server are stored in various different sub-directories for access by a user in an easy to retrieve manner. Playlist generation and storage systems such as this have served their purpose well, however there is no teaching or suggestion by the '906 disclosure to provide a playlist generation and storage mechanism that is capable of accessing useful content from other disparate network platforms such as is known to exist over the Internet. Moreover, there is no teaching or suggestion within the '906 disclosure to provide for the generation or modification of an existing playlist from other consumer electronic display devices within disparate network platforms such as a telephone network (PSTN), or from a personal computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), or other device that is interconnected to the Internet. Additionally, there is no teaching or suggestion within the '906 disclosure to provide a media content modification or access system wherein a consumer electronic display device may access and view the media content therein.
Means existing to facilitate and control access rights to various types of informational media are commonly termed Digital Rights Management (DRM). Current implementations of DRM include the ability to control access to varied forms of media content such as video programs, textual documents, music, books, and even eCommerce. It is important to note that the DRM standard is not only limited to the control of media in a digitized format; DRM may also be enabled to control access to digital media as well as older, legacy analog media. DRM systems provide for the purchase of media content as well as controls its use according to any licensing agreements associated with that particular media content. Thus, it would be advantageous to provide a media content modification and access system that incorporates at least one DRM system that is available to control the access of media content that is available from varied network platforms.
Therefore, what is needed" is a media content modification and access system for the organization of various types of content including video programs, and other related user services in an easily accessible manner, wherein differing types of consumer electronic display devices such as cellular telephones, Internet enabled telephones, PDAs, personal computers, gaming stations, and the like are capable of the modification and access of such a list. Additionally, these consumer electronic display devices should be able to play media content contained within the list.

Media content modification and access system for interactive access of media content across disparate network platforms


Provided are methods for solid state pretreatment of active materials (e.g., prelithiation of silicon monoxide) while forming treated negative active material structures. Also provided are the formed structures, negative electrodes comprising these structures, and electrochemical cells comprising these electrodes. In some examples, silicon monoxide structures are mixed with lithium hydroxide structures or some other lithium-containing structures. The mixture is heated in an inert environment to form treated negative active material structures. These treated structures comprise various lithium-containing components, some of which trap lithium. When an electrochemical cell, formed with these treated negative active material structures, is initially charged and additional new lithium ions are introduced into the negative electrodes (e.g., from the positive electrode), a larger portion of these new lithium ions forms reversible components (rather than irreversible components) in the negative electrode than, for example, in a conventional cell without any such treatment.

High-capacity rechargeable batteries with long cycle lives are highly desirable for various applications. However, many types of active materials, especially high capacity active materials, suffer from poor cycle life and, in particular, poor first-cycle Coulombic efficiency (CE). This issue has been attributed to various undesirable reactions, which irreversibly trap active materials and/or ions, used to carry the electrical charge between negative and positive electrodes. Once the active materials and/or ions are irreversibly trapped, they are no longer available for supporting the charge transfer. These trapped materials effectively become the "deadweight" and "dead volume" in the cells, negatively impacting both gravimetric and volumetric capacities. The cycling is provided by the remaining active materials and/or ions and is often substantially lower than the initial capacity or the theoretical capacity.
Various approaches have been proposed in the past to mitigate the negative effects of these undesirable reactions. For example, adding lithium metal in contact with or mixed into negative electrodes has been proposed. However, the uniform distribution of lithium metal on the electrode surface or within the electrode volume is difficult to achieve. Furthermore, special processing environments are needed for handling lithium metal. These environments (e.g., with low humidity and/or oxygen) are often not practical on the production scale. Other approaches involve forming lithium metal layers on the surface of negative electrodes by thermal evaporation or expose a negative electrode to molten lithium. However, these approaches are also hardly scalable or practical for manufacturing. Yet another approach involves adding prelithiation reagents, such as LiF/Co, to positive electrodes to compensate for future losses of lithium ions. However, these reagents are difficult to synthesize and produce a significant volume of inoperable byproducts after releasing lithium ions. Overall, no practical solutions for industrial manufacturing-scale prelithiation are currently available.
What is needed are new methods and negative active material structures preventing irreversible trapping of lithium ions, such as solid state pretreatment of active materials.

Solid state pretreatment of active materials for negative electrodes in electrochemical cells


An element (13) for making a flip-over presentation unit (1), shaped by a bundle of strips of material (2) provided with an adhesive strip (5) onto which sheets (15) can be adhered, which strips of material (2) are provided with holes (4) through which at least one binding spiral (3) is passed, wherein the element (13) is provided with a rigid support (14) in which the binding spiral (3) is fixed, wherein the width of the support (14) corresponds mainly to the width of the sheets (15), wherein the binding spiral (3) is fixed to the support (14) by detachable parts (19) provided with toothings (26) extending between the coils of the binding spiral (3), wherein the support (14) is provided with alignment members (12) to align the sheets (15) with respect to the strips of material (25).

Presentation means made in the form of a hanging or self-standing calendar, for example, are known, in which the calendar contains a set of printed strips on which the days of the month, and optionally text, photographs, images and the like, are applied, and whereby the sheets of this calendar are flipped backwards at the end of a month in order to make the next sheet with the next month visible.
A drawback of these classic calendars is that they are impersonal given that the optional images are pre-printed.
Calendars are also known in which all the sheets, with the exception of the last one, are provided with a window, whereby a photograph can be placed on this last sheet at the same height as the window in the previous sheets.
A drawback of those calendars is that the same photograph is seen for a long time period and that the photograph, for example, cannot be adapted over the months according to the seasons or other preferences of the user.
Furthermore, also photographic albums are known in the form of a bundle of tied sheets in which photographs can be inserted in a removable or non-removable manner.
A drawback is that the photographs usually come loose or can slide out of them.
Furthermore, these photographic albums are very cumbersome to use given that the sheets have, over nearly their entire surface, a layer of self-adhesive glue onto which the user must place the photographs and then a transparent film is placed on the sheet.
The drawback of said films is that they can become loose over time, and this will be enhanced if creases or dog's ears arise at the edges of the sheets.
Another drawback is that the layer of glue may be discoloured over time, which will give the photographic album an unaesthetical and non-professional look.
Another drawback of known photograph albums is that they cannot be used as a decorative element such as, for example, in the shape of an element which can be fixed to the wall or placed on a table or cabinet.


A necktie positioning device having an elongated body member which engages a sliding member which is joined to an arm. The arm projects outwardly from the body member and is adapted for insertion in a belt loop, and, when so inserted, and when the inner flap of a tie is held against a preselected marking on the body member, the device determines the correct length of tie prior to tying.

This invention relates to men's neckties and more particularly to the everyday task of putting on a tie.
As is known, ties are worn by well dressed men everywhere as part of their business attire. Ties are also a large part of men's casual attire.
It is important for a man's tie to look presentable. Aside from the style, the most noticeable thing about a tie is its length. A tie that is too short or too long is considered sloppy dressing. In fact, the optimum arrangement is to have the tip of the outer flap (the visible portion of the tie) just touch the top of the belt buckle at the waistline.
Unfortunately, it can often be difficult to estimate the correct length of a tie in the morning (when a man may not be fully awake!) and guesswork is usually involved. The man only knows if he guessed correctly at the length of his tie after he has finished tying it. If it is incorrect then he must either accept a poor appearance for that day or he must start over, which wastes time and raises his frustration level.
The prior art shows many Pretied Neckties of the types shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,875,239 to Patterson and U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,115 to Knapp. Although these neckties may give the correct length of tie they are often undesirable because many men are reluctant to wear anything other than a traditional necktie.
Another concept, which is indicated by U.S. Pat. No. 5,003,636 to Marostica, actually requires the user to sever the necktie to employ the device. Not only is severing one's tie a frightening proposition, but it would be somewhat costly and time consuming to equip each one of a user's ties with such a device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,059,906 to Kurtz describes a tie locating device which comprises first and second elongated members which are slidably attached and relatively movable along a longitudinal path.
This device is rather unreliable in providing for the correct length of tie because when both hands are holding the tie ends onto the device (as is required by the device), it is quite difficult to know if the tie is evenly taut. If the tie is not evenly taut then the device will not function correctly and an unsatisfactory appearance will be the result.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an easy to use device which can quickly and accurately provide a man with the proper length of tie before he ties it.
It is another object to provide a device which will work adequately for most of a user's ties without requiring any modifications whatsoever to the ties.
It is still another object to provide such a device which can be manufactured and sold at an extremely affordable price.


The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for intra prediction. The intra prediction method for a decoder, according to the present invention, comprises the steps of entropy-decoding a received bitstream, generating reference pixels to be used in the intra prediction of a prediction unit; generating a prediction block from the reference pixels on the basis of a prediction mode for the prediction unit and reconstructing an image from the prediction block and a residual block, which is obtained as a result of entropy encoding, wherein the reference pixels and/or the prediction block pixels are predicted on the basis of a base pixel, and the predicted pixel value can be the sum of the pixel value of the base pixel and the difference between the pixel values of the base pixel and the generated pixel.

Recently, demands for high-resolution and high-quality images have increased in various fields of applications. As images have higher resolution and higher quality, amount of information on the images also increases. Accordingly, when video data is transferred using media such as existing wired and wireless broad band lines or is stored in conventional storage media, transfer and storage costs of the video data rise.
Thus, high-efficiency video compression techniques may be utilized to effectively transmit, store or reproduce images with superior resolution and superior quality.

Method and apparatus for intra prediction within display screen


The method for limiting the output voltage of a PEM fuel cell system operating in, or near, zero load conditions, in such a way as to minimize degradation of performance over time, comprises:                supplying a hydrogen stream to the anode of the fuel cell;        supplying an oxygen stream to the cathode of the fuel cell;        monitoring an output voltage of the fuel cell;        monitoring a hydrogen pressure in the fuel cell;        monitoring an oxygen pressure in the fuel cell;        limiting the hydrogen stream and the oxygen stream while actuating controllable recirculating pumps for the hydrogen and the oxygen in such a way as to bring and maintain the hydrogen and oxygen pressures below 1 barabsolute while maintaining the hydrogen pressure between 70 and 130% of the oxygen pressure, so that the output voltage remains below 0.90 volts.

Electrochemical fuel cells of the above-mentioned type convert reactants, namely a stream of hydrogen and a stream of oxygen, into electric power and water. Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) generally comprise a solid polymer electrolyte membrane disposed between two porous electrically conductive electrode layers so as to form a membrane electrode assembly (MEA). In order to induce the desired electrochemical reaction, the anode electrode and the cathode electrode each comprise one or more catalyst. These catalysts are typically disposed at the membrane/electrode layer interface.
At the anode, the hydrogen moves through the porous electrode layer and is oxidized by the catalyst to produce protons and electrons. The protons migrate through the solid polymer electrolyte towards the cathode. The oxygen, for its part, moves through the porous cathode and reacts with the protons coming through the membrane at the cathode electrocatalyst. The electrons travel from the anode to the cathode through an external circuit, producing an electrical current.
FIG. 1 illustrates, in exploded view, a prior art proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack 10. Stack 10 includes a pair of end plate assemblies 15, 20 and a plurality of fuel cell assemblies 25. In this particular example, electrically insulating tie rods 30 extend between end plate assemblies 15, 20 to retain and secure stack assembly 10 in its assembled state with fastening nuts 32. Springs 34 threaded on tie rods 30 interposed between fastening nuts 32 and end plate 20 apply resilient compressive force to stack 10 in the longitudinal direction. Reactant and coolant fluid streams are supplied to, and exhausted from, internal manifolds and passages in stack 10 via inlet and outlet ports (not shown) in end plate 15.
Each fuel cell assembly 25 includes an anode flow field plate 35, a cathode flow field plate 40 and an MEA 45 interposed between plates 35 and 40. Anode and cathode flow field plates 35 and 40 are made out of an electrically conductive material and act as current collectors. As the anode flow field plate of one cell sits back to back with the cathode flow field plate of the neighboring cell, electric current can flow from one cell to the other and thus trough the entire stack 10. Other prior art fuel cell stacks are known in which individual cells are separated by a single bipolar flow field plate instead of by separate anode and cathode flow field plates.
Flow field plates 35 and 40 further provide a fluid barrier between adjacent fuel cell assemblies so as to keep reactant fluid supplied to the anode of one cell from contaminating reactant fluid supplied to the cathode of another cell. At the interface between MEA 45 and plates 35 and 40, fluid flow fields 50 direct the reactant fluids to the electrodes. Fluid flow field 50 typically comprises a plurality of fluid flow channels formed in the major surfaces of plates 35 and 40 facing MEA 45. One purpose of fluid flow field 50 is to distribute the reactant fluid to the entire surface of the respective electrodes, namely the anode on the hydrogen side and the cathode on the oxygen side.
One known problem with PEMFCs is the progressive degradation of performance over time. Actually, long-term operation of solid polymer fuel cells has been proven, but only under relatively ideal conditions. In contrast, when the fuel cell has to operate in a wide range of conditions, as is the case for automotive applications in particular, the ever-changing conditions (often modeled as load cycling and start-stop cycles), have been shown to reduce durability and lifespan drastically.
Different types of non-ideal conditions have been identified in the literature. A first of these conditions is referred to as "high cell voltage"; it is known that exposing a fuel cell to low or zero current conditions, leads to higher degradation rates in comparison to operation at an average constant current. A second non-ideal condition is "low cell voltage"; it is further known that drawing a peak current from the fuel cell also leads to increased degradation rates. It follows from the above that, in order to preserve the lifespan of a fuel cell, it is preferable to avoid both "high cell voltage" and "low cell voltage" operating conditions. In other words, the fuel cell should be operated only in a limited voltage range.
In order the cope with the abrupt changes in load that are typical of automotive applications, an electrochemical energy storage unit, such as a battery or a super capacitor, is usually associated with the fuel cell. The battery can work as a buffer: supplying electric power when there is a peak in the load and, conversely, storing excess electric power in case of low or zero load conditions. In principle, such an arrangement allows operating the fuel cell in the desired limited voltage range. However, once the battery is completely charged, it obviously ceases to be available for storing the excess electric power supplied by the fuel cell. A known solution to this last problem is simply to shut down the fuel cell until the level of charge of the battery reaches a lower threshold. However, start-stop cycles also contribute to the degradation of performance over time.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method for limiting the output voltage of a PEM fuel cell system


The process includes the following steps: forming a layer of meltable material (102) on an initial substrate (100); forming a first layer of dielectric material (104) and engraving this layer (104) to form openings (106) therein; forming metal blocks (108) in the openings (106); depositing a metal layer (110) covering the blocks; engraving the metal layer (110) to form conducting tracks (112); forming a layer of dielectric material (114) covering the conducting tracks and engraving this layer (114) to form openings therein; forming metal blocks (118) in these openings; separating the interconnection substrate from the initial substrate by heating the meltable material to a temperature equal to or exceeding its melting temperature.

Technical field
This invention relates to a process for manufacturing an interconnection substrate to connect a chip onto a reception substrate.
Interconnection substrates act as intermediaries for the installation of one or several electronic chips on a support, for example such as printed circuit boards. Their essential function is to adapt the very tight pitch between chip inputs and outputs with the much more widely spaced connection terminals made on printed circuit boards.
Therefore the invention is particularly applicable to electronics in which VLSI chips are used on conventional printed circuits.
As described above, the essential function of interconnection substrates is to adapt the pitch of reception substrate connection terminals to the very small pitch of chip inputs and outputs. Another also very important function is to absorb mechanical stresses that occur between the chip and the reception substrate. These stresses are mainly due to differences in thermal-mechanical expansion between the chips and the printed circuit.
As shown in section in FIGS. 1 and 2, interconnection substrates 10 comprise a side 12 with input terminals 14 connected to one or several chips 16, and a side 18, opposite side 12, with output terminals 20 connected to a reception substrate 22. Chip 16 may be connected to the input terminals 14 either through wire connections 24, called "wire bonding" (FIG. 1), or through meltable microballs 26 using a technique known as "Flip-Chip" (FIG. 2). Chip 16 is advantageously protected by a cover 17.
Interconnection substrates 10 are mounted on the reception substrate 22 by balls 28 made of a meltable material which connect output terminals 20 to reception substrate conducting tracks not shown on the figures.
The meltable balls 28 connecting the interconnection substrate to the reception substrate are usually larger than the microballs 26 which connect the chips to the interconnection substrate. Therefore, to avoid any confusion, meltable balls 28 are called "macroballs" in the remainder of this description. The typical diameter is of the order of 200 to 800 .mu.m.
These macroballs are beneficially used instead of any other type of link such as links by pins. They are better capable of absorbing differential expansion stresses between the chips and the reception substrate and therefore reducing stresses exerted on the chips.
The connection between interconnection substrates on support substrates by means of macroballs is known as BGA ("Ball Grid Array"). Reference can be made to document (1) cited at the end of this description.
Document (1) also describes the various types of interconnection substrates and microballs used for a BGA interconnection.
In general, the interconnection substrate is based on bimaleid-triazine (BT) or epoxy glass. However, a distinction is made between BGA on a rigid interconnection substrate and BGA on a flexible circuit.
Rigid interconnection substrates have a multi-layer structure formed for example by silk screen printing on a rigid epoxy and glass fiber board.
In this type of structure, input terminals are connected to output terminals through plated through holes and possibly intermediate metal levels made in the interconnection substrate. By plated through holes is meant usually mechanically made through holes that are plated to enable electrical contact between the front and back sides or between two metal levels.
On FIGS. 1 and 2, plated through holes and intermediate metal levels are identified as reference 30. Since these figures are cross-section views, and not all terminals are necessarily in the plane of the section, some plated through holes only appear partially.
Known interconnection substrates mostly use known manufacturing techniques such as silk screen printing and electrolytic growth.
Rigid substrates formed from a multi-layer ceramic structure obtained by hot pressing are also known. Such structure is shown for example in page 12 in document (1).
Pages 65 and 66 in document (1) describe a BGA technique on a flexible circuit. The flexible circuit that forms the interconnection substrate has a copper-polyimide-copper type structure similar to that used in TAB (Tape Automatic Bonding) techniques, using a layer of a material marketed under the name of Kapton as insulator, and copper conducting films silk screen printed on one or both sides of the flexible circuit, the connection between the two sides then being made by plated through holes.
After assembling the chips on a flexible circuit strip and packaging these chips, the strip is cut out provided with macroballs and then placed on a reception printed circuit.
Finally, regardless of the intermediate substrate structure used, it is manufactured using silk screen printing, rolling and through hole plating techniques. The use of plated through holes is the only known way of transferring signals processed by chips from input terminals to output terminals.
Known interconnection substrates have poor performances for the transmission of high frequency signals from chips to the reception substrate, or between chips.
It may be noted that chips (or integrated circuits) use metal tracks usually made of aluminium with a thickness of the order of 1 .mu.m. These tracks form transmission lines, and are isolated for example using a mineral insulation of the same thickness. The electrical transmission properties of these lines enable the transport of high frequency signals over a maximum length of 15 mm.
Therefore, integrated circuits are designed so that they are hardly larger than 15 mm along the side. However, interconnection substrates which must make connections between a large number of chips create frequency limitation problems. Therefore, in order to improve their electrical performances, the resistivity of their conducting tracks has to be reduced. Reducing the resistivity means increasing the thickness of metal tracks, and the thickness of the dielectric materials separating the conducting levels. This can be done using normal techniques for printed circuits, co-sintered multi-layer ceramics or flexible circuits, by increasing the thickness of the polyimide insulating layers (10 .mu.m). However, this type of action limits the pitch resolution between the terminals, and the chip input and output density, which is contradictory to the primary function of interconnection substrates.
Thus, an additional intermediate interconnection substrate is used for interconnection substrates designed to hold a large number of chips, commonly called MCM (Multi-Chip-Module) interconnection substrates.
FIG. 3 shows an example of an MCM type structure. This structure, in the same way as the structures shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, comprises a reception substrate 22 provided with macroballs 28. However, several chips 16, 16' must be connected not only to the reception substrate 22, but also to each other and are connected to an additional intermediate interconnection substrate 31, rather then being directly connected to the interconnection substrate 10.
The intermediate interconnection substrate 31 is made on a silicon board and has three to five copper conducting levels separated by thick polyimide insulating layers. The purpose of the intermediate substrate is to enable fast (i.e. high frequency) signal exchanges between chips and from chips to the interconnection substrate 10.
An intermediate interconnection substrate 31, although it does provide a solution to the fast interconnection of a large number of chips, forms an additional expensive element in transferring chips onto the reception substrate. Also, three interconnection operations are necessary: an interconnection of the chips onto the additional intermediate substrate, an interconnection of the intermediate substrate onto the interconnection substrate, and then a transfer of the interconnection substrate onto the reception substrate. This increases the time and cost of the operation.
Thin film MCM type structures are also known. Examples of these structures are described for example in document (2) referenced at the end of this description.
One purpose of this invention is to provide a process for making an interconnection substrate that does not have the limitations described above.
Another purpose of this invention is to provide a process for making an interconnection substrate enabling interconnection of a plurality of chips on a reception substrate, and capable of transmitting high frequency signals. By high frequency signals is meant signals with a frequency exceeding 50 MHz.

Process for manufacturing an interconnection substrate to connect a chip onto a reception substrate


In order to ascertain the actuating position of a vehicle part that is moved by an electric actuating motor via an actuating mechanism, an angle of rotation correlating with the number of motor shaft rotations during the actuation process or a motor signal correlated therewith are ascertained during an actuation process. An actuating position measure for the actuating position of the vehicle part is derived from the angle of rotation or the motor signal correlating therewith. During this process, an unloaded angle of rotation, through which the motor shaft rotates during an initial no-load phase of the actuation process without motion of the vehicle part is compensated by a predetermined correction term. The correction term is changed according to a stored dependency on a characteristic quantity for the age of the actuating mechanism.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for ascertaining an actuating position of a vehicle part that can be moved by means of an electric actuating motor via an actuating mechanism. The invention also relates to an associated actuating device for automatically moving the vehicle part. The vehicle part to be moved is, in particular, a vehicle window. The actuating device is, in particular, an electric motor driven window regulator, preferably a cable window regulator.
2. Description of the Background Art
A conventional cable window regulator usually has an electric actuating motor whose motor shaft is coupled to the vehicle window to be moved. The actuating motor is typically driven by a control unit, e.g. composed of a microcontroller. The current actuating position of the window generally is calculated continuously by the control unit during each actuating operation, in particular in order to be able to move to specific window positions in a targeted way.
The actuating position of the window usually is derived by the control unit from the angle of rotation through which the actuating motor rotates during the actuation process. This angle of rotation and the speed of the motor shaft that can be derived therefrom are often measured directly. A Hall sensor that works together with a ring magnet attached to the motor shaft in a rotationally fixed manner is typically used for this purpose. Alternatively, the angle of rotation of the motor shaft can also be ascertained from the motor current, in particular by counting so-called current ripples.
It is disadvantageous that the "logical actuating position" of the vehicle window derived from the angle of rotation of the motor shaft usually matches the actual "mechanical" actuating position only to within a certain error. The reason for this, in particular, is that the actuating mechanism coupling the motor shaft to the window always has a certain system tolerance (also called "system slack"), as a result of which the window is only "soft-coupled" to the motor shaft.
A relatively high system tolerance normally occurs in cable window regulators. The system tolerance here is substantially dependent on the setting properties of the control cable, and for this reason is also referred to as "cable slack."
The system slack of a cable window regulator manifests itself to an especially marked degree during a reversal of the actuating direction, especially since the control cable here must be rewound from the state in which it is tensioned in the original direction until a sufficient tension has been established in the opposite direction in the control cable. During the rewinding, the motor shaft moves while the window to be moved remains stationary.
In the conventional methods for ascertaining the (logical) window position from Hall signal pulses or the counting of current ripples, the process of overcoming the system slack consequently results in a counting of pulses that are not correlated with a corresponding movement of the window. The logical window position is thus variable relative to the mechanical window position, which manifests itself as errors in approaching the desired window position. Since the count error associated with the system slack changes its sign with the actuating direction, a desired actuating position is approached differently from different actuating directions.
The error-prone positioning of the window by conventional cable window regulators is a substantial disadvantage for the so-called short-stroke function in particular, in which the window is moved out of the upper door seal of a frameless vehicle door in order to permit the vehicle door to be opened without resistance. Vehicle manufacturers often place tight limits on the short-stroke motion. This is intended to ensure that the window travels completely out of the window seal on the one hand, but on the other hand the window is not open too wide after the short stroke, especially since additional safety precautions, such as automatic pinch protection, are otherwise required in some cases by the applicable legal requirements for the reverse motion of the window.
However, a precise approach is desirable for other actuating positions of a window as well, in particular for approaching the upper or lower pre-shutoff points, where the window normally is stopped before actually reaching the (upper or lower) blocked state. Moreover, precise positioning of a window is also desirable when approaching the so-called RELAN (Relax After Normalization) point, for example. This term is understood to mean the particular window position to which the window is often moved back after adjustment travel to the upper or lower blocked state in order to release the tension in the actuating mechanism.
Apart from this, an ascertainment of the actuating position corrected for the influence of the system slack is also beneficial for other window regulator types as well as other actuating devices in a vehicle, in particular seat adjustments, door and roof actuators, etc.
Because the system slack in conventional cable window regulators changes primarily due to the age-related setting properties of the cable system, a cable tensioner is sometimes used in such window regulators that irreversibly adjusts itself in the event of elongation of the cable path, and thereby compensates for the age-related increase in the system slack. However, such a cable tensioner requires additional material and assembly expense, which it is desirable to avoid.
A method for numerical compensation of the system slack in controlling the motion of a window is known from DE 196 32 139 C1, which corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 6,166,508, and which is incorporated herein by reference. Here, the period of the motor rotation is sensed in a time-resolved manner during an actuation process using motion signals of the actuating motor or motor shaft. An initial no-load phase of the actuation process, during which the motor shaft rotates while overcoming the system slack without motion of the vehicle part, is identified by comparison of the time-dependent period with a threshold. During the course of the prior art method, an actuating position measure for the actuating position of the window corrected by the motor rotation during the no-load phase is ascertained by the means that all motion signals before the threshold is exceeded are assigned to the system slack and accordingly are not evaluated for determining the actuating position measure.

Precise ascertainment of actuating position for a motor-driven vehicle part

Brose Fahrzeugteile GmbH & Co. KG, Hallstadt


A carburetor (18) has a carburetor housing (17) wherein an intake channel (19) is guided having a flow cross section of less than 3 cm2. The carburetor (18) includes a partition wall (11) which partitions the intake channel (19) into a mixture channel (21) and an air channel (8). The partition wall (11) runs in the longitudinal direction of the intake channel (19). The carburetor (18) has a throttle flap (24, 64) pivotally journalled on a throttle shaft (25, 45, 55, 65, 75). A venturi (23) is formed upstream of the throttle shaft (25, 45, 55, 65, 75) in the mixture channel (21). A fuel opening (28) opens into the mixture channel (21) at the venturi (23). A device for dethrottling the mixture channel (21) and/or for dethrottling the air channel (8) is provided in order to compensate or equalize the nonuniform throttling of the air channel (8) and the mixture channel (21) by the throttle flap (24, 64).

U.S. Pat. No. 6,889,637 and United States patent publication US 2005/0120985 A1 disclose a carburetor wherein an intake channel is guided in the carburetor housing of the carburetor. The intake channel section, which is guided in the carburetor, is partitioned in its longitudinal direction by a partition wall into a mixture channel and an air channel. A fuel opening opens into the mixture channel.
Carburetors of this kind can have an intake channel which has a small flow cross section, especially, a flow cross section of less than 3 cm2. It has been shown in this type of carburetor that an uncontrolled leaning of the air/fuel mixture, which is prepared by the carburetor, results when the throttle flap pivots out of the completely open position in a direction toward the closed position.


A method and apparatus for blending a video signal responsive to a chroma motion result is disclosed. The method and apparatus are configured to determine whether any chroma motion exists within the video signal and providing the chroma motion result, to provide a first blending signal based on the chroma motion result; to provide a second blending signal based on the chroma motion result; to modulate temporal filtered luma and chroma components of the video signal with the first blending signal, to modulate spatial filtered luma and chroma components of the video signal with the second blending signal, and to add the modulated temporal luma and chroma signals to the modulated spatial luma and chroma signals to provide a blended video signal.

1. Field of Invention
Aspects of the present invention are directed to luminance and chrominance separation processing of a video signal, and more particularly to determining chroma motion within fields and across fields of a video signal.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Transitioning from analog over-the-air television (TV) to digital TV is a United States telecommunications goal. At the time of writing this application, Congress has passed a bill that set a date for the transitioning from analog to digital over-the-air television to Feb. 17, 2009, with the final step being the President had yet to sign the bill. If the bill is passed, the result will be that analog broadcast stations operating in the United States must convert to a digital broadcast format by this date. One result is that all consumers that receive over-the-air analog TV broadcasts must be able to receive digital TV (DTV) signals by this date or they will no longer be able to receive TV signals. There are estimates that fifteen percent of the households in the United States rely on over-the-air reception of analog TV signals and will therefore lose their TV service by this date, unless they have television sets that are capable of receiving DTV signals. The fifteen percent number is due, in part, to the expense of DTV receivers and the lack of affordable digital-to-analog converters boxes for analog TV sets. Further, the lack of inexpensive DTV converter boxes will affect the transition of second and third analog TV sets to the DTV format in the consumer's home. Accordingly, there is a need for a low cost converter bus to convert over-the-air DTV format to CST analog TV format.
In the National TV Systems Committee (NTSC) standard for television transmission, RGB (Red, Green, Blue) signals from a television camera are converted into a luma signal and a chroma signal to allow for efficient transmission. The luma signal, which is typically labeled with a Y, represents the brightness and maximum detail of a picture. The chroma signal is a combination of two color differences R−Y (Red minus Y) and B−Y (Blue minus Y). These color difference signals are used to modulate the phase and the amplitude of a 3.58 MHz sub-carrier signal. The phase modulation represents the hue, or specific color intended, where the amplitude modulation of this signal represents the intensity, or saturation, of the color difference signal. The frequency of the sub-carrier signal is chosen such that the chroma signal can be frequency interleaved with the luma signal to generate a composite video base band signal (CVBS).
When a television set receives the NTSC CVBS signal, the composite signal is decoded in a decoder to separate the luma and chroma signals. The chroma signal is then demodulated to the R−Y and B−Y component signals that can be used to recreate the RGB signals to be displayed on the television screen. Since the luma and chroma signals share the same bandwidth at around 3.58 MHz and the luma and chroma signals are not prefiltered before they are added together, the luma and chroma signals cannot be fully separated in the decoding process. Thus, as a result of crosstalk between the luma and chroma signals, various decoding artifacts can be present. A number of methods have been designed to achieve better separation of luma and chroma signals during the decoding process in order to minimize the decoding artifacts. For example, there are two well-known methods for separating the luma and chroma signals which involve filters that are designed to discern one portion of the CVBS signal from the other. The first method uses a notch/bandpass filter, and the second method uses a comb filter. These methods are described, for example, in published U.S. application no. US2005/0134745 A1, herein incorporated by reference. As is described in more detail in this reference, the drawback of the notch/bandpass filter approach is that luma resolution is lost and heavy display artifacts result when the high frequency luma signal provided by the filter is treated as a chroma signal thereby producing a known "rainbow pattern" artifact, and a dot crawl artifact results when a high frequency chroma signal is considered to be a luma signal.
Comb filtering methods are based on the sub-carrier signal phase, which is reversed by 180° between two adjacent lines in a frame/field of the CVBS (thereby also between two adjacent frames, since there is an odd number of lines within a frame). There are two types of comb filtering: line comb filtering and frame comb filtering. For both methods, the basic concept involves adding or subtracting two signals that have the chroma phase reversed by 180°. For example, referring to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a portion of a NTSC CVBS signal including a few lines and a few fields of the signal. One can see that between field D and field E of the first frame 0, the chroma component is reversed in phase by 180°. In addition, as between field D in the first frame and field G in the second frame, for the same line, the chroma component is reversed by 180°. Accordingly, when adding the signals between these fields, the chroma signal is canceled out and the luma signal is provided, and when subtracting the signals between these fields of lines, the luma information is canceled out and the chroma signal is provided.
For line combing, one, two or three lines can be used and the corresponding fields can be added and subtracted to obtain the luma and chroma signals. A three-line adaptive comb filter is often referred to a 2D adaptive comb filter. However, line combing methods, although producing better results than the notch/bandpass filters, still show cross/color vertical resolution crawls and dot crawls, for example, when a single line color is present.
Frame combing is similar to line combing, but instead of comparing two adjacent lines within the single frame, two fields with the same line position within two adjacent frames are used for the combing, which results in a comb filtering process that is a temporal domain comb filter. However, frame combing can only be performed for still portions of a CVBS image. If motion is present, then the 2D adaptive comb filter is used.
Referring to FIG. 2, there is illustrated one embodiment of a luma and chroma separator for separating the luma and chroma components of a CVBS signal. The separator 100 includes a 2D comb filter 102, a temporal comb filter 104, a motion detector 106, and a blender 108. The separator can be used to perform motion/adaptive decoding also known as 3D adaptive decoding. As can be seen from FIG. 2, the CVBS is provided to the 2D comb filter, the temporal comb filter and the motion detector. The 2D comb filter outputs a separated luma and chroma signal as described above to the blender 108. The temporal comb filter provides a separated luma and chroma signal across a frame as described above to the blender. The motion detector determines whether motion is present in the CVBS signal and provides a motion decision on line 107 to the blender. If the motion detector determines that motion is present in the CVBS, the blender blends the 2D comb filtered signal and provides the separated luma signal on line 109 and chroma signal on line 111 to the demodulator 110. The demodulator 110 demodulates the high frequency chroma signal on line 111 to a baseband chroma signal. Alternatively, if the motion detector determines that there is no motion between the frames of the CVBS, then the 3D signal is blended by the blender 108 and provided at outputs 109 and 111.
Thus, referring now to FIG. 3, there is illustrated a process 300 of 3D adaptive decoding that can be accomplished with the separator of FIG. 2. The separator 100 (see FIG. 2) receives the CVBS signal at 302, the motion detector 106 (see FIG. 2) performs a motion detection at 304 according to detection processes known in the art, e.g. a luma motion detection. If motion is detected at 306 Yes, the blender 108 (see FIG. 2) selects the output of the 2D comb filter 102 and if motion is not detected at 306 No, the output of the 3D comb filter 104 is selected. If no motion is present, then the output of the 3D comb filter output signal is applied at 310, and if motion is present, the output of the 2D comb filter is applied at 308.
However, there is a need to more accurately detect whether there is true motion in the CVBS signal. In addition, there is a need for a low cost motion detector that will allow for converting DTV signals to analog signals for continued use of analog television sets after the conversion to a DTV signal format.

Method and apparatus for detecting chroma field motion in a video signal


A lug nut engaging retention for plastic wheel trim includes a plurality of tubular sockets which project axially from the inner face of the wheel trim. Each socket comprises three concentric arcuate lug nut engaging panels. Two of the panels include lips that snap over a peripheral flange of a lug nut, while the third panel is fixed relative to the wheel trim and serves as a centering guide. A circumscribing ring engages the periphery of the panels adjacent their apical ends to reinforce the radially inwardly directed bias of the lipped panels. Three legs are positioned about the socket center at a radius greater than that of the panels. Each leg includes a pair of axially spaced abutments which engage the ring to limit axial movement of the ring relative to the panels.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to wheel trim and more particularly to a lug nut engaging retention system which resists degradation at elevated wheel temperatures.
2. Antecedents of the Invention
Plastic wheel trim have been employed for several years. Among the attributes of plastic wheel trim are resistance to water, road salt and other environmental factors, which effected corrosion in metal wheel trim.
A primary advantage of plastic wheel trim was that it was light in weight and thus did not significantly contribute to total vehicle weight. As such, the employment of plastic wheel trim was one of several factors contributing to increased vehicle mileage efficiency.
Further, plastic wheel trim was moldable into a variety of attractive configurations and was susceptible to any of a variety of outer finishes including metal plating and painting.
A significant problem with respect to plastic wheel trim was obtaining satisfactory retention to the wheel. A variety of systems have been proposed for retaining plastic wheel trim with varying degrees of success.
Wheel trim have been secured to the outer wheel weight rim of a wheel, however, metal barbs were required which had a tendency to scratch the wheel and induce wheel corrosion.
It has been found that plastic wheel trim retention systems which engage a wheel lug nut have proven most effective. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,998,780, issued to Martin E. Russell, et al., disclosed a wheel trim retention comprised a series of plastic caps which were captured in apertures extending through the wheel trim. The caps included internal threads which engaged specially configured wheel lug nuts having mating external threads.
While the retention system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,998,780 proved to be effective in securely retaining the wheel trim, vehicle owners found that the removal and mounting of the wheel trim to a vehicle wheel was not a simple task, since a lug nut wrench was required to rotate the caps. Further, specially configured lug nuts were required.
Snap on retention systems were preferred because of their simplicity in mounting and dismounting the wheel trim, however, the engagement between a plastic retention and a lug nut suffered significant problems because wheel heat, generated by the vehicle breaking system, resulted in elevated temperatures not only of the wheel disk, rotor or brake drum, but additionally, the lugs and the lug nuts. The plastic retainers which were in contact with the lug nuts were thus subject to elevated temperatures, which resulted in degraded retentivity and the loss of the wheel trim on a highway, freeway or other roadway and concomitant hazards to motorists attempting to avoid the road debris.
While attempts have been made to employ metal socket clips to grip lug nuts, as exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 4,133,583 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,297,854, such approach resulted in increased manufacturing costs. Further, difficulty was often encountered in mounting the wheel trim to the wheel because the metal clips did not provide sufficient guidance for centering the wheel trim on the wheel, with the wheel trim having a tendency to float. Further, unless costly alloys were employed, the clips were subject to corrosion from water and road salts which was accelerated by the elevated temperatures of the lug nuts.


An LED light fixture including a housing portion and a base together defining an open space therebetween permitting air/water-flow therethrough. The housing portion forms a chamber enclosing at least one driver. The base extends from the housing portion and supports at least one LED illuminator outside the chamber. The housing portion and the base may each be formed as part of a one piece with the open space along at least three sides of the base. Alternatively, the base may be a separate structure secured with respect to the housing. Such base may be a single-piece extrusion supporting a plurality of LED modules or comprise a plurality of extruded heat sinks. Each heat sink may support one or more LED modules.

In recent years, the use of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in the development of light fixtures for various common lighting purposes has increased, and this trend has accelerated as advances have been made in the field. Indeed, lighting applications which previously had typically been served by fixtures using what are known as high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps are now being served by LED light fixtures. Such lighting applications include, among a good many others, roadway lighting, factory lighting, parking lot lighting, and commercial building lighting.
High-luminance light fixtures using LED modules as a light source present particularly challenging problems. One particularly challenging problem for high-luminance LED light fixtures relates to heat dissipation. It is of importance for various reasons, one of which relates to extending the useful life of the lighting products. Achieving improvements without expensive additional structure is much desired.
In summary, finding ways to significantly improve the dissipation of heat to the atmosphere from LED light fixtures would be much desired, particularly in a fixture that is easy and inexpensive to manufacture.