Heterogeneous resources of an integrated network environment are managed from a single network management station by correlating information pertaining to those resources. The integrated network environment is generally managed by a predetermined application tool executing on the management station that provides an application-centric map of the network for communicating with resources conversant with the application tool. Information pertaining to other protocol-specific resources are overlaid on the map to facilitate monitoring of those specific resources by the application tool. As a result, the station can interactively access the application-centric resources while also obtaining status information from the protocol-specific resources of the network.

A computer network is a geographically distributed collection of interconnected subnetworks for transporting data between stations, such as computers. A local area network (LAN) is an example of such a subnetwork consisting of a transmission medium, such as coaxial cable or twisted pair, that provides relatively short distance communication among interconnected stations. The stations typically communicate by exchanging discrete packets or frames of data according to predefined protocols. In this context, a protocol consists of a set of rules defining how the stations interact with each other.
Most networks are typically organized as a series of hardware and software levels or "layers" within each station. These layers interact to format data for transfer between, e.g., a source station and a destination station communicating over the network. Specifically, predetermined services are performed on the data as it passes through each layer and the layers communicate with each other by means of the predefined protocols. This layered design permits each layer to offer selected services to other layers using a standardized interface that shields those layers from the details of actual implementation of the services.
In an attempt to standardize network architectures, i.e., the sets of layers and protocols used within a network, a generalized model has been proposed by the International Standards Organization (ISO). The model, called the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) reference model, is directed to the interconnection of systems that are "open" for communication with other systems. The proposed OSI model has seven layers which are termed, in ascending interfacing order, the physical, data link, network, transport, session, presentation, and application layers. These layers are arranged to form a "protocol stack" in each station of the network.
FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic block diagram of prior art protocol stacks 125 and 175 used to transmit data between a source station 110 and a destination station 150, respectively, of a LAN 100. Each protocol stack comprises a collection of protocols, one per layer, and is preferably structured according to the OSI seven-layer model. As can be seen, the protocol stacks 125 and 175 are physically connected through a communications channel 180 at the physical layers 124 and 164. For ease of description, the protocol stack 125 will be described.
In general, the application layer 112 contains a variety of protocol functions that are commonly needed by software processes, e.g., sending process 104, executing on the station, while the presentation layer 114 is responsible for the presentation of transmitted data in a meaningful manner to the application layer. The session layer 116, transport layer 118 and, as described herein, the network layer 120 are substantially involved in providing pre-defined sets of services to aid in connecting the source station to the destination station.
IEEE standard 802 defines a flexible network architecture oriented to the implementation of LANs. Although it generally conforms with the OSI model, the IEEE approach addresses only the lowest two layers of that model, the physical and data link layers. Specifically, the physical layer 124 is concerned with the actual transmission of signals across the communication channel; in this context, the physical layer defines the types of cabling, plugs and connectors used in connection with the channel.
The data link layer 122, on the other hand, is responsible for transmission of data from one station to another. In the IEEE 802 architecture, the data link layer is divided into two sublayers: logical link control (LLC) and media access control (MAC). The LLC sublayer 180 allows the overlying network layer to access the services of the LAN without regard to the actual network implementation; more specifically, the LLC layer initiates control signal interchange, organizes data flow, interprets commands and generates responses.
The MAC sublayer 182 is primarily concerned with controlling access to the transmission medium and, to that end, defines rules or procedures by which the stations must abide in order to share the medium. The MAC layer further provides addressing and framing functions, the latter including the addition of header and trailer information needed to identify the boundaries of frames, to synchronize communication between source and destination stations.
Data transmission over the LAN 100 therefore consists of generating data in, e.g., sending process 104 executing on the source station 110, passing that data to the application layer 112 and down through the layers of the protocol stack 125, where the data are sequentially formatted as a frame for delivery onto the channel 180 as bits. Those frame bits are then transmitted to the protocol stack 175 of the destination station 150, where they are passed up that stack to a receiving process 174. Data flow is schematically illustrated by solid arrows.
Although actual data transmission occurs vertically through the stacks, each layer is programmed as though such transmission were horizontal. That is, each layer in the source station 100 is programmed to transmit data to its corresponding layer in the destination station 150, as schematically shown by dotted arrows. To achieve this effect, each layer of the protocol stack 125 in the source station 110 typically adds information (in the form of a header field) to the data frame generated by the sending process as the frame descends the stack. At the destination station 150, the various encapsulated headers are stripped off one-by-one as the frame propagates up the layers of stack 175 until it arrives at the receiving process.
As noted, a significant function of each layer in the OSI model is to provide services to the other layers. One type of service offered by the layers is a "connectionless" network service where each transmitted packet carries the full address of its destination through the network. A key function of a router is determining the next station to which the packet is sent; this routing function is preferably performed by the network layer within each station. Moreover, a network layer protocol is generally used to implement a connectionless network service, the latter of which primarily defines a packet format. When the network layer receives a packet from the transport layer for transmission over the network, it encapsulates the packet with a header containing, inter alia, source and destination addresses. An example of a network layer protocol is Internet (IP) network layer protocol.
A vendor-developed network architecture in wide-spread use is the Systems Network Architecture (SNA) developed by International Business Machines Corp. SNA is a mainframe-oriented network architecture that also uses a layered approach. The services included within this architecture are generally similar to those defined in the OSI model, although local area networks typically do not conform completely to the SNA architecture. However, SNA is significant to LAN technology because a LAN must often connect to, and be made a logical part of, an SNA mainframe network.
Access to the LAN is typically shared among the stations in accordance with various access control methods depending upon the topology of the subnetwork and the type of transmission control employed. A popular subnetwork topology is a ring network that is typically formed by configuring the communication channel as a loop and coupling the stations at intervals around the loop. The stations communicate by transmitting and receiving discrete signals in the form of data frames according to predefined protocols. Acceptance of a frame by each station, in turn, is determined on the basis of an address contained in the frame.
With LANs that employ a ring topology, a commonly used access control method is token passing. Token passing is a form of distributed transmission control wherein all the stations on the subnetwork cooperate in controlling access to the communication channel. Here, a small message or token is passed from one station to the next along the ring. If the token is marked as free, the station receiving it can transmit a message over the ring. A token ring network is an example of a ring topology that uses token passing as an access control method.
Token ring networks may be interconnected using intermediate stations, such as a router or bridge, whose primary function is to transfer frames between the rings. A route is the path a frame travels through the subnetworks from a source station to a destination station. Depending upon how the rings are interconnected, there may be more than one possible path for a frame to follow. Once the source station has "discovered" an optimal path to the destination, it transmits specifically-routed frames over the subnetworks; as the name implies, these frames include information specifying the route to, along with the address of, the destination station.
Source-route-bridge (SRB) is a source routing technique used by a source station to discover the optimal path to a destination. According to this networking technique, the source station specifies the optimal route, which is determined in accordance with routing information acquired from the stations of the network. A special type of frame, called an explorer frame, is typically used by the source to collect and store that information in a routing information (RI) field of the frame.
In an embodiment of SRB networking, the source station issues an explorer frame that is received by each station on the local ring subnetwork. Here, the source is unaware of the MAC address of the intended destination station and the path (or paths) for reaching that station, so it issues the explorer frame having a broadcast address that all stations are configured to receive. Each bridge/router copies the frame and supplies information relating to the route (i.e., bridge and ring numbers) within the RI field; it then distributes the copy to all stations on its interconnected ring. Eventually, a copy of the broadcast explorer frame reaches every station on every LAN of the network. Each station may respond to the source by issuing a response frame containing its MAC address and the routing information. The source station examines the information contained in these response frames and selects an optimal path to the intended destination based on that information; it then may communicate with that destination by sending data frames over that selected path.
As noted, routers and bridges may be employed to interconnect a plurality of LANs; this, in turn, extends the effective "size" of the computer network and increase the number of communicating stations. Such an enlarged topology of internetworked computing stations requires services directed to managing the network. Lower-layer standards, such as IEEE 802, address network management to some extent, yet they typically do not deal with complex network management requirements associated with the higher network layers.
Network management applications are available to address certain of the management requirements of a complex network, but they typically deal with a single, protocol-centric view of the network. For example, SNA-based management systems (such as NetView) provide a SNA-centric view of entities coupled to the network. These entities include a physical unit (PU), i.e., a component that monitors a station's resources, and a logical unit (LU) which consists of logical services by which a user may access the SNA network. On the other hand, an IP-centric network view of resources (such as IP routers) is provided by management systems employing, e.g., a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). Here, SNMP agents are associated with the routers and these agents communicate with the management console, e.g., a workstation, via a SNMP protocol.
A network management problem arises in the context of an integrated network environment comprising interconnected heterogeneous resources, such as SNA entities and IP routers. A host computer running, e.g., NetView is capable of managing the SNA entities and, in particular, the frame traffic originated by PU/LU components. However, because the routers are IP devices that encapsulate these frames within IP protocol packets, the management tool has no knowledge of the routers and thus cannot manage the encapsulated SNA traffic.
A known solution to this heterogeneous network management problem uses two distinct management application platforms: the Netview application executing on the host computer to manage the SNA resources and a SNMP application executing on a management console station to manage the IP routers. However, use of two distinct management platforms is generally cumbersome and inefficient, particularly because there is no means for correlating the SNA and IP resources. The present invention is directed to the efficient management of an integrated computer network of heterogeneous resources and, further, to a correlation technique that allows such management from a single console station.

Correlation technique for use in managing application-specific and protocol-specific resources of heterogeneous integrated computer network


A digital electronic control apparatus for controlling at least one electronic control element comprises. The apparatus comprises first and second pulse width modulated output signal generators, the frequency of the second signal being different from the first. The second pulse width modulated signal is provided as a function of a digital value determined by at least one of a characteristic and operating condition of the at least one electronic control element. An AND-gate receives the first and second pulse width modulated signals and is capable of producing an output signal for controlling the at least one electronic control element a first and second pulse width modulated signal having a first frequency.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to a digital electronic control apparatus providing a pulse width modulated output signal for the control of at least one electronic control element of a hydraulic system. The present invention relates specifically to a digital electronic control supplying a pulse width modulated output signal for the control of an electric solenoid which is used for actuating a hydraulic valve which, in turn, is adapted to adjust hydraulic characteristics, like for instance the pressure and/or the flow of a hydraulic medium like hydraulic oil.
2. Description the Prior Art
Digital electronic control apparatus of the above mentioned type are already known and in use. For instance, such apparatus includes a current controller which supplies an output signal for maintaining a control element in a position determined by a desired value signal.
Typically, the digital output signal (control or controlling value) of the current (I) controller is transformed into a pulse width modulated signal (PWM-signal), the duty cycle of which is proportional to the output signal value of the current controller. The electronic control can also be designed as an exclusively current control chain.
The PWM-signal is used for switching an electronic switch that supplies, for instance, the coil of a solenoid with voltage so that the solenoid is switched on and off with constant frequency in accordance with the duty cycle. As a result thereof an energizing current and an induced current, respectively, occur alternately, and a respective proportional voltage is derived from a metering resistance and is supplied as the actual value signal (middle value of current=current middle value) to the current controller.
DE 37 07 442 Al discloses a prior art control electronic apparatus.
The known PWM-control electronic apparatus are adjusted to the impedance of the control element so as to be controlled such that a 100% use is made of the digital resolution of the control value. In case, the electronic control is used to control a control element having a different, for instance a lower impedance, then the digital resolution of the control value can not be obtained up to 100%. For instance, if the electronic control is designed for a control element having an impedance of 24 ohms then a control element having a impedance of 12 ohms can use the control value only in the amount of 50%, inasmuch as in this case twice the current is reached.
Thus, a control electronic apparatus is desirable which provides, for different impedance values, a high resolution of the electronic control values.

Digital control electronic having a pulse width modulated (PWM)-output signal for the control of electric control elements of a hydraulic system


For purposes of assembling contact pins (12) disposed in a row onto a circuit board (16), the pins (12) are grasped via a force fit in an insulating body (20) at their ends facing away from the circuit board (16)and are supported to prevent tilting. The body (20) has a suction surface (26) for an automated assembly device. After insertion of the pins (12) into the circuit board (16) and after the soldering process, the body (20) is pulled off the pins (12), so that they sit freely in the circuit board (16).

Electrical connections to circuit boards make use of plug-in connectors, among other things, in which contact pins are disposed in one or several rows. In general, these pins of the plug-in connector, which serve as electrical contacts, are assembled onto the circuit board. To attach the pins and to produce a conductive connection with the circuit board, both through-hole assembly (THT technology) and surface mounting (SMD technology) are used. In general, the pins are held in an electrically insulating body in the form of a pin strip, and this body holds the pins at the spacing desired for the plug-in connector.
For purposes of automatic assembly, automated assembly devices are frequently used that grasp the pin strip with a suction head, in order to remove it from a feed magazine and place it onto the desired location on the circuit board. For this purpose, a small suction plate is provided, which is set onto a few pins of the pin strip and pulled off after the pin strip has been positioned and soldered onto the circuit board.
In the attached drawing, examples of this known device are shown in FIGS. 16 to 20. FIGS. 16 to 18 show an assembly device using the through-hole or push-through method. The pin strip has an insulating body 10 made of plastic, into which pins 12 are inserted at a predetermined raster distance. For purposes of handling the pin strip by means of an automated assembly device, a small suction plate 14 (pick-and-place pad) is set onto the center pins 12, which plate forms a suction surface for the suction head of the automated assembly device. The automated assembly device grasps the pin strip at the small suction plate 14 with its suction head, and positions the pin strip on a circuit board 16. After the pins are positioned and soldered onto the circuit board 16, the small suction plate 14 is pulled off, as shown in FIG. 17. FIG. 18 shows the pin strip as assembled onto the, circuit board 16, using through-hole technology, in a partial sectional view. FIGS. 19 and 20 show a corresponding pin strip, in which the pins 12 are angled away at the ends where they are to be set onto the circuit board 16, SO that surface assembly of the pin strip onto the circuit board 16 is enabled, as shown in FIG. 20.
Such a device for assembling a pin strip onto a circuit board is known, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 6,224,399 B1.

Device for assembling pins onto a circuit board background


The present invention relates to a fuel cell having an anode; a cathode opposing the anode; a first electrolyte membrane disposed between the anode and the cathode; a second electrolyte membrane disposed between the anode and the cathode; and an A/C junction electrode disposed between the first electrolyte membrane and the second electrolyte membrane, the A/C junction electrode comprising a first gas diffusion layer; a second gas diffusion layer; a current collector disposed between the first gas diffusion layer and the second gas diffusion layer; a first catalyst layer disposed between the first electrolyte membrane and the first gas diffusion layer; and a second catalyst layer disposed between the second electrolyte membrane and the second gas diffusion layer.

A fuel cell is an electrochemical device for directly converting chemical energy to electricity with higher efficiency than that of mechanical generators. A rapidly expanding need for electric power sources has stimulated the worldwide research and development of fuel cells for transportation, portable computer, cellular phone and various electronic devices. Typically, a fuel cell is assembled using a 2-electrode configuration. The cathode, or positive electrode, is coated with a catalyst for oxygen reduction. The anode is coated with a catalyst for fuel oxidation. An electrolyte, between the cathode and the anode, provides ionic conductivity for ion transport, and induces the electrochemical reactions at the electrode/electrolyte interface.
A fuel cell generally uses liquid or gaseous fuel, such as alcohol or hydrogen. In a hydrogen fuel cell, the electrode reactions is:
At the anode,2H2→4H++4e−E0 =0.0V   (1)
At the cathode,O2+4H++4e−→2H2OE0=1.23V   (2)
The overall reaction is,2H2+O2→2H2OE0cell=1.23V   (3)
An electro-oxidized molecule of hydrogen generates two protons and two electrons. Meanwhile, a molecule of oxygen is electro-reduced by receiving four electrons. The electro-reduced molecule of oxygen combines with 4 protons to form two molecules of water. The theoretical cell voltage of such a fuel cell is 1.23 V. However, because of slow kinetic rate and high over potential for oxygen electro-reduction, the actual cell voltage is only 1.0 V in open circuit, and 0.75 V in operational status.
In an alcohol fuel cell, such as a direct methanol fuel cell, the electrode reaction is:
At the anode,CH3OH+H2O═CO2+6H++6e−E0=0.02V   (4)
The overall reaction of a methanol fuel cell is,
                                                        CH              3                                    OH                    +                                    3              2                                                  O              2                                      =                                            CO              2                        +                          2                                            H                2                                          O                                                                                E                cell                0                                              =                      1.21                                                                          V                                              (        5        )
An electro-oxidized molecule of methanol generates one molecule of carbon dioxide, six protons and six electrons. The theoretical voltage for a methanol/oxygen fuel cell is 1.21V. However, due to very slow kinetics and high over potential of methanol electro-oxidation, such a fuel cell has only 0.7 V for open circuit voltage and 0.4 V in operational status. Furthermore, the greatest challenge for direct alcohol fuel cell is fuel crossover from the anode to the cathode, leading to cathode depolarization, decreasing overall fuel cell's voltage and lowering fuel efficiency. Fuel crossover is a greater problem with increasing fuel concentration. In order to reduce fuel crossover, generally, a fuel cell can use only very low concentration of fuel, for example, less than 1 M for a methanol fuel cell.
Therefore, the inventors have provided an improved fuel cell for generating hydrogen gas, electrical power and mediation of electrochemical reactions and reactant transport.

Methods and apparatus of an anode/cathode (A/C) junction fuel cell with solid electrolyte

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army


The invention concerns a tool head for employment in machine tools with multiple indexable cutting inserts (20, 20′, 20″). The tool head includes a base body (12), a tool shank (14) projecting axially beyond the base body (12) and at least two blade receptacles (18, 18′, 18″) which are spaced apart at least in the circumferential direction for receiving respectively one indexable cutting insert. The active main cutting edge of the different indexable cutting inserts therein have a differing adjustment angle (α, α′, α″) relative to the axis of the base body. In order to reduce the blade costs, the same type of indexable cutting insert (20, 20′, 20″) is provided in the different blade receptacles. Besides this, the active main cutting edges (34) of the indexable cutting inserts are subdivided along their length into at least two blade segments (36, 36′, 36″) in alignment with each other, wherein for the indexable cutting inserts in the various blade receptacles (18, 18′, 18″) respectively only one of the cutting segments (36, 36′, 36″) is effective with the associated adjustment (α, α′, α″).

1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a tool head for use in a machine tool, the machine tool having base body, a tool shank adapted to be coupled to a rotating machine spindle projecting axially beyond the base body and two cutting insert receptacles spaced apart in the circumferential and/or in the axial direction for receiving respectively one indexable cutting insert, of which the active main cutting surfaces exhibit deferring adjustment angles relative to the axis of the base body.
2. Description of the Related Art
In known machine tools of this type (DE-A-196 05 156), which are designed for finishing valve seat rings and tappet guide bores in cylinder heads, three cutting inserts are provided arranged distributed about the circumference of the base body, wherein one is provided for producing the tight seat bevel for the valve and the other two are provided for producing an inlet and an and outlet protective bevel. The tight seat bevel is associated with a high precision requirement. For producing the three beveled areas, until now three different cutting inserts were employed, which are secured to the tool head by clamping in different positions and orientations. Each of these cutting inserts has a predetermined bevel angle for the associated purpose. In the case of wear then, during tool change-out, care must be taken to ensure that on the appropriate insert receptacle respectively the correct type of replacement insert is introduced. Disadvantages associated therewith include the difficulty of manipulation during change-out of cutting inserts and the high cost of cutting inserts.

Tool head with at least two indexable cutting inserts


A transaction system has machine recognition of speech. It has dialogue control fed by the recognition, and speech generation fed by the dialogue control for outputting question and verifier statements from a repertoire set. A human-machine dialogue is executed until the dialogue control has recognized a viable transaction formulation with a plurality of user-provided slot fillers to specify the transaction. Dialogue control builds a directed and loopless status graph with nodes that each have their own slot filler and associated metric, and are interrelated through logic relations. The building can amend a node's metric and under control of conflict detection or lowering of a particular node's metric, discard the node in question and its filler, including of derived nodes and also of one-to-one derival nodes of the discarded node. A subset of problems is detected for a particular item outputted by the speech generation for ascertaining a particular slot filler, as combined with a subsequent unsatisfactory recognition. Then the speech generation outputs a further question statement for ascertaining the latter slot filler.

The invention relates to a transaction system based on machine-based speech recognition, comprising a speech input, speech recognition means fed by said speech input, dialogue control means fed by said speech recognition means, and speech generation means fed by said dialogue control means for outputting question statements and verifier statements from a statement repertoire set, and for executing a human-machine dialogue with said system, until said dialogue control means has recognized a viable transaction formulation comprising a plurality of user-provided slot fillers for specifying said transaction. By way of example, the transaction may relate to a financial transaction, to an enquiry system such as pertaining to a trains timetable or a telephone directory, or to a ticket or other commodity ordering service. Depending on the envisaged reliability level, the correspondence between what the user person wishes to convey, and the understanding thereof by the machine, must concord to certain often high levels of confidence. First, the message comprises so-called slot filler items, that may represent numbers, locations, prices, clock times, dates, and various other, depending on the field of application, and which items represent the backbone of the message. The slot filler items must be recognized, both as to their content, and as to their context. Sometimes, the message may have more than one slot filler item for the same slot. The statements may be built from smaller units of speech such as words, so that the statements are stored indirectly, as it were.
As the case may be, the message may contain qualifiers, such as `not`, `or`, that can have a distinct influence on the meaning of associated slot filler items, and therefore, must be recognized as well. Finally, the user speech can comprise general items that have no relevance for the content of the message, but which may not be confused with the two earlier categories. Often, the user person cannot provide the message in the form of a single sentence; the message must then be extracted from the user in bits and pieces. Also, various problems can occur in the dialogue that must by necessity ensue.

Transaction system based on a bidirectional speech channel by status graph building and problem detection for a human user


A method and structure for a content addressable memory (CAM) array having a plurality of memory cells. Each of the memory cells has capacitive storage devices, transistors connected to the storage devices, a wordline connected to and controlling the transistors, bitlines connected to the storage devices through the transistors, combined search and global bitlines connected to the capacitive storage devices. These cells are further arranged into columns, each containing multiplexers connected to the combined search and global bitlines, data-in lines connected to the multiplexers, and search-data lines connected to the multiplexers. Further, the multiplexers select between the data-in lines and the search-data lines to allow the combined search and global bitlines to be alternatively used as data lines and search lines. Also, in the invention each of the columns further has drivers between the multiplexers and the combined search and global bitlines. The drivers drive signals between the multiplexers and the combined search and global bitlines during search and write operations.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to content addressable memories and more particularly to an improved content addressable memory (CAM) that utilizes a single pair of lines as both the global bitlines and the search lines.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, CAM arrays have four vertical wires in each column. These are the true and complement bit lines and the true and complement search data lines. DRAM arrays accommodate fewer bits per bit line because of their low bit fine drive, which reduces the maximum column length of the array. This problem is remedied in conventional DRAM arrays by using global bit lines in the column direction to multiplex several banks of memory. However, in a DRAM CAM architecture, the use of global bit lines requires that each memory cell have six wires running over it in the column direction. This can become the pitch limiting factor of the array. The invention described herein provides the addition of global bit lines to a DRAM-based CAM array with no additional area penalty within the array core.
In view of the foregoing and other problems, disadvantages, and drawbacks of the conventional content addressable memories the present invention has been devised, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a structure and method for improved content addressable memories.
In order to attain the object(s) suggested above, there is provided, according to a preferred aspect of the invention a dynamic random access memory content addressable memory (DCAM) array having a plurality of CAM cells. Each of the CAM cells has storage elements, transistors connected to the storage elements, a wordline connected to and controlling the transistors, bitlines connected to the storage devices through the transistors, and combined search and global bitlines connected to the storage elements. The cells are arranged in columns, each of which also contains multiplexers connected to the combined search and global bitlines, data-in lines connected to the multiplexers, and search-data lines connected to the multiplexers. Further, the multiplexers select between the data-in lines and the search-data lines to allow the combined search and global bitlines to be alternatively used as data lines and search lines.
Preferably, one or more drivers are provided between the multiplexers and the combined search and global bitlines. The driver drives a signal between the multiplexer and the combined search and global bitlines during search and write operations.
As mentioned above, it is desirable to utilize global bitlines in DRAM CAM arrays; However, the use of global bitlines requires a large number of wires, which limits the pitch of the array. The invention directly addresses this issue by utilizing currently available wires (search lines) 33, 34 as the global bitlines, thereby providing global bitlines without requiring any additional physical lines or area penalty within the array core.

Use of search lines as global bitlines in a cam design

International Business Machines Corporation


A circuit arrangement includes a programmable logic device. The programmable logic device includes configuration logic circuitry. The programmable logic device also includes configurable interconnects. The circuit arrangement further includes a storage device configured to provide data to the programmable logic device. The storage device communicates with the programmable logic device via a bi-directional interface.

PLDs have increasingly proliferated in many areas of technology, such as data processing and signal processing applications. The inherent flexibility of the PLD and the ability to re-configure the PLD have in part led to their popularity. System designers and even system end-users can program the PLDs and re-configure the functionality of part or all of the system. Re-configuring the system avoids costly and time-consuming re-design of the system or its various components or sub-systems.
Configuring a PLD typically involves providing configuration data to the PLD. Conventional systems use configuration memories such as a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), or an electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM) to store the configuration data. These configuration memories, however, have certain disadvantages. First, they have a relatively high cost, but relatively low density. Second, even in the case of EEPROMs (to which one can write information), the PLD or the user does not have access to any unused capacity of the memory. In other words, the unused capacity of the EEPROM is not available to either the PLD or the user and is "wasted." Third, conventional configuration memories or devices typically use additional logic circuitry (such as a processor or controller) that tends to increase costs. A need exists for a low-cost configuration device that overcomes the disadvantages of the conventional solutions.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Apparatus and methods for communicating with programmable devices


Described herein are systems and method for monitoring weather conditions and controlling field operations based on the weather conditions. In one embodiment, a system for monitoring weather conditions for field operations includes a plurality of weather devices for monitoring weather conditions of fields with at least at one weather device in proximity to each field being monitored and at least one weather device having an electronics module for determining weather data including precipitation data. The system also includes an agricultural computer system having at least one processing unit for executing instructions for monitoring weather conditions. The at least one processing unit is configured to execute instructions to receive weather data from the plurality of weather devices for monitoring weather conditions of fields, to process the weather data, and to generate data including precipitation rate for monitoring weather conditions and operations of the plurality of weather devices.

Planters are used for planting seeds of crops (e.g., corn, soybeans) in a field. Some planters include a display monitor within a cab for displaying a coverage map that shows regions of the field that have been planted. The coverage map of the planter is generated based on planting data collected by the planter.
A combine harvester or combine is a machine that harvests crops. A coverage map of a combine displays regions of the field that have been harvested by that combine. Weather conditions such as rain, hail, drought, etc. may negatively impact crop yields. The operator of a planter or combine has more difficulty in making decisions in regards to planting, fertilization, harvesting, etc. for different field regions with no knowledge of current weather conditions.

Systems, methods, and devices for monitoring weather and field conditions


A method of controlling bolus delivery in a pulse flow oxygen concentration system for a patient includes providing a pulse flow oxygen concentration system that delivers concentrated oxygen gas to the patient in boluses having a pulse bolus duration, the pulse flow oxygen concentration system including an open control for controlling the pulse bolus duration of the boluses; determining one or more respiratory conditions of the patient; and adjusting the open control to adjust the pulse bolus duration of the boluses in accordance with the determined one or more respiratory conditions of the patient.

The field of this invention relates generally to portable oxygen concentration systems and methods, and particularly to systems and methods for providing bolus delivery pulse control in a portable oxygen concentration system.
There is a burgeoning need for home and ambulatory oxygen. Supplemental oxygen is necessary for patients suffering from lung disorders, for example, pulmonary fibrosis, sarcoidosis, or occupational lung disease. For such patients, oxygen therapy is an increasingly beneficial, life-giving development. While not a cure for lung disease, supplemental oxygen increases blood oxygenation, which reverses hypoxemia. This therapy prevents long-term effects of oxygen deficiency on organ systems, in particular, the heart, brain and kidneys.
Oxygen treatment is also prescribed for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), and for other ailments that weaken the respiratory system such as heart disease and AIDS. Supplemental oxygen therapy is also prescribed for asthma and emphysema.
Portable oxygen concentrators are commercially available for providing ambulatory respiratory patients with COPD and other respiratory ailments with gaseous oxygen. A portable oxygen concentrator converts ambient air into concentrated gaseous oxygen. The portable oxygen concentrator is small and light-weight, allowing the ambulatory respiratory patient to readily use and transport the portable oxygen concentrator inside and outside the home. As a result, the respiratory patient can lead a more active lifestyle, which can improve the patient's overall health.

System and method for controlling bolus pulse duration based on inspiratory time in an oxygen concentation system


The present invention relates to a positive photosensitive resin composition and a method for forming patterns by using the same. The positive photosensitive resin composition includes a novolac resin (A), an ortho-naphthoquinone diazide sulfonic acid ester (B), a dye (C) and a solvent (D). The novolac resin (A) further includes hydroxy-type novolac resin (A-1), which is synthesized by condensing hydroxylbenzaldehyde compound with aromatic hydroxyl compound. The dye (C) includes at least one (C-1) selected from the group consisting of diazo dye, anthraquinone dye and chromium (III, Cr3+) azo dye, as well as triarylmethane dye (C-2). Since the positive photosensitive resin composition can form colorfully fine patterns on metal circuits, and such patterns are not decolored after being etched, thereby beneficially blocking the reflected light of the metal circuits.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a positive photosensitive resin composition and a method for forming patterns by using the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to a positive photosensitive resin composition for forming colorfully fine patterns on metal circuits, wherein such patterns are not decolored after being etched, thereby beneficially blocking the reflected light of the metal circuits during a manufacturing process of a semiconductor integrated circuit device, a thin film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) device or a touch panel.
2. Description of Related Art
Depending upon the microminiaturization of various electronic products in daily life, the demand for high resolution in various smart phones, slim TVs and microprocessors with high-performance is increased gradually, so that a more accurate representation of the light lithography process is required to form patterns with finer line width.
For the aforementioned purposes, a positive photosensitive resin composition disclosed in the Japanese Patent Laid-open publication No. H11-143067 includes a novolac resin, a dye for absorbing ultraviolet light, a photoacid generator and a bridging agent catalyzed by acids. During synthesis of the novolac resin in this Japanese Patent Laid-open publication, a deuterium (D)-substituted dimethyl sulfoxide solution is used, to improve the photosensiblity and chemical resistance of the positive photosensitive resin composition.
However, in the prior art, after the metal circuits are etched, it is often found problems that the photoresist patterns adhered on the metal circuits are decolored easily or insufficient to light shielding rate, which cause that the photoresist layer cannot block the reflected light of the metal circuits. Particularly, in a process of a semiconductor integrated circuit device, a thin film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) device or a touch panel, if the photoresist patterns are decolored easily or insufficient to light shielding rate, the photoresist layer cannot block the reflected light of the metal circuits, thereby reducing the resolution of the subsequent lithography process. Therefore, it is important how to prevent the etched patterns formed by the positive photosensitive resin composition from being decolored.
Accordingly, it is desired to provide a positive photosensitive resin composition material for forming patterns that are not decolored after being etched, so as to overcome the aforementioned problems of the prior art.

Positive photosensitive resin composition and method for forming patterns by using the same


Provided are an inkjet ink prepared by dissolving or dispersing a specific dye in an aqueous medium and containing one of at least one alkylene diol where one alkylene group has at least 3 carbon atoms or homologue thereof and at least one polymer compound; and an ink set containing an ink including a specific dye and an ink including one compound capable of interacting with the dye; thereby being able to provide an ink and the like having a good jet-out stability, and forming images of good quality with neither beading nor bronzing, and the images formed of the inks have good fastness to heat, light and ozone.

With the recent popularization of computers, inkjet printers are much used for printing on paper, films, cloths and others, not only in office work but also for home use.
The inkjet recoding method includes a system of applying pressure to ink drops by the use of a piezoelectric device to thereby make the ink drops jet out, a system of thermally bubbling ink to jet the ink drops, a system of using ultrasonic waves, and a system of sucking and jetting ink drops by electrostatic force. For the ink compositions for such inkjet recording, usable are aqueous inks, oily inks and solid (hot-melt) inks. Of those, aqueous inks are most used because of their productivity, handlability, odorlessness and safety.
Colorant to be used in such inkjet recording inks must satisfy the following requirements: Its solubility or dispersibility in solvent is good; it enables high-density recording; its hue is good; it is fast to light, heat, air, water and chemicals; it well fixes in image-receiving material and hardly bleeds out; its storage stability in inks is good; it is not toxic; its purity is high; and it is inexpensive and is readily available. However, it is extremely difficult to seek such colorant that satisfies all these requirements on a high level. Various dyes and pigments have been already proposed for inkjet, and are now in practical use. At present, however, no one knows colorant that satisfies all the requirements. Dyes and pigments heretofore well known in the art such as those listed in Color Index (C.I.) could hardly satisfy both the color hue and the fastness, which inks for inkjet need.
The inventors have studied a high performance ink having both the color hue and the fastness, relating to and ink for inkjet containing a dye. In such study, the inventors found that storage stability of images become lower when aqueous inks are used, and particularly, aqueous inks have week to humidity and deteriorations of image come about when stored in high-humidity, because of dye-movement. Further, inks for inkjet may cause beading or bronzing as they may aggregate and crystallize on image-receiving material, and this is problematic since it lowers the image quality. In addition, inks are desired to have good jet-out stability through nozzles.

Ink and ink set for inkjet, and inkjet recording method


A method of analyzing Stoneley waveforms obtained in a well logging operation, includes analyzing the waveforms by means of multiparameter inversion using one or more externally provided parameters to obtain borehole fluid slowness and borehole fluid attenuation. and analyzing the Stoneiey waveforms by multiparameter inversion using the borehole fluid slowness and borehole fluid attenuation and the externally provided parameters so as to determine a parameter, such as mobility, related to permeability of the formation being logged. Complex conjugate back propagation [using a maximum likelihood/least mean squares error estimator or] by applying Prony's method and fitting model-derived dispersion curves can be used to obtain mobility.

Permeability is a critical parameter in determining the productivity of oil-bearing formations. It is conventionally measured by removing samples of the formation through coring and then evaluating the cores in a laboratory. This is a slow and expensive process. In "Synthetic Microseismograms: Logging in Porous Formations", Geophysics, Vol. 39, No. 1 (February 1974), J H Rosenbaum suggested that permeability could be measured acoustically by means of the Stoneley wave, a borehole acoustic mode, using Biot's theory to model the fluid saturated formation. Such measurements of permeability from Stoneley are potentially faster, less expensive, and more thorough than core measurements. An example of such a technique is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,101 ("the '101 patent", incorporated herein by reference) which proposes a model based on Biot's theory relating Stoneley phase slowness to a number of parameters including permeability (mobility). It has been proposed to use this model by conducting calibration measurements in regions of no permeability and known permeability so as to derive a complex dispersion curve. This is compared with complex dispersion curves from the model parameterized by permeability. The permeability of the best-fitting model dispersion curve is the permeability estimate for the formation. Suitable borehole logging tools for performing such measurements can include a monopole source, two dipole sources and an array of receivers and are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,850,450, 5,036,945 and 5,043,952 all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
This approach and others relating permeability to Stoneley slowness often suffer from errors in the estimate of permeability which can sometimes be as high as 260% total relative permeability error. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method which allows this error to be reduced.

Methods of analyzing stoneley waveforms and characterizing underground formations


An over-the-top type cabinet door prop unit is characterized in that it comprises a fitting case to be rigidly fitted to the inner surface of one of the lateral walls of the cabinet, a movable spring holder vertically movable relative to the fitting case containing it and urged downward by compression springs, a link arm pivotably linked at the upper end to the movable spring holder by a pivot pin and a swing arm swingable around an arm spindle located in a lower portion of the fitting case and having a base section arranged around the arm spindle and linked to the lower end of said link arm by a link pin and an arm section extending from the base section and pivotably linked at the distal end thereof by an anchor pin to an anchor pin bearing secured to the over-the-top type cabinet door and that the pivot where the link arm and the base section of the swing arm is linked by the link pin is located closer to the cabinet door relative to the vertical axial line connecting the pivot pin and the arm spindle when the over-the-top type cabinet door is closed and moved onto the vertical axial line in the initial stages of the opening motion of the cabinet door and then further away from the cabinet door relative to the vertical axial line in the subsequent stages of the opening motion of the cabinet door until the cabinet door is placed on the top wall of the cabinet.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a cabinet door prop unit to be used for the door of a piece of storage furniture such as a storage cabinet, that may be an over- or under-the-top type door with a hinge mechanism, a pull-down-and-open type door, a pull-up-and-open type door, a swing-sideways type door or a door of any other relevant type as will be described hereinafter, in order to absorb the energy of the moving door and prevent it form slamming shut simply by fitting it to the door, on one hand, and also to the inner wall surface of one of the lateral walls, the top wall or the bottom wall, whichever appropriate, of the cabinet main body so that the door may be opened and closed easily, slowly and comfortably.
2. Prior Art
FIG. 18 of the accompanying drawings schematically illustrates a known under-the-top type cabinet door with a hinge mechanism, with which the door a can be opened and temporarily stored under the top wall c of the cabinet main body b (Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 60-18528). Such a known door arrangement has the drawback that the door a has to be fitted and positionally regulated properly with toil because the slide mechanism of the door including a slide rail g and a roller h is located within the cabinet and the internal storage space of the cabinet main body b is reduced by the door a that is stored inside the cabinet main body b when it is opened in addition to the fact that a support arm d and a short arm e have to be fitted to the door a and the cabinet main body b and a coil spring has to be arranged between the door a and the short arm e in order to make the door operate properly.
Additionally, the support arm d and the spring f become exposed to the outside to damage the appearance of the storage cabinet when the door a is opened and the user may have one or more than one of his or her fingers smashed between the spring f and the support arm d by mistake.


A method of integrating a component into an information system of a vehicle is provided, in which at least one application executable or provided by the component is made available to a user of the vehicle by a man-machine interface of the information system. The integration of the component into the information system with respect to the input and/or output of information by the user is carried out in a personalized manner with respect to a user of the component.

The invention relates to a method of integrating a component into an information system of a vehicle, in which at least one application executable or provided by the component is made available to a user of the vehicle by a man-machine interface of the information system. The invention also relates to a computer program product as well as to an information system in a vehicle.
A retrofitting or a connection of components, as, for example, a telephone, an MP3 player, etc., in a vehicle is oftentimes difficult to implement because of a lack of technical preparation. Here, the problem arises concerning the operation of these temporarily or permanently retrofitted components. In particular, for reasons of ergonomics and driving safety, an operation of the retrofitted components by input and output devices present in the means of transport makes sense. As input devices, function keys, touch screens, mouse devices etc. are frequently available in a vehicle for the haptic operation, and microphones are available for the voice input. Graphic indications, such as displays, lights, etc. or voice output by way of microphones are used for the output.
For the operation in the vehicle, increasingly also so-called information systems with multifunction operating units are increasingly available, which offer a maximal amount of flexibility by use of graphic displays as output devices and the pertaining operating elements as input devices. Driving safety demands a strict schematization of the information system that can be operated by the driver without great diversion. This schematization is expressed by a defining of the input/output rules for these multifunction operating units. Thus, it may be stipulated in these rules that, for example, starting at a certain speed, no haptic operation should take place or that a display should indicate information only in a minimum letter size.
In the case of retrofitted components, it is difficult to provide a maximum of operability with a simultaneously strict schematization because neither the extent and type of the functionality or the interaction demands of the components to be operated can be predicted, nor are the information systems standardized relative to all vehicle equipment, all lines of production or covering all makes of all vehicles.
From German Patent document DE 101 34 717 A1, a method is known for configuring an information system in a means of transport. In the case of this method, the integration of retrofitted components as well as input/output devices takes place automatically and in a manner adapted to the input/output rules of the information system. Within the scope of this method, when connecting an additional component to the information system, a component input/output rule is transmitted by way of an interface to the information system. The component input/output rule is integrated by the information system into the input/output unit and the input/output processes such that the component can be controlled by way of the information system.
Input/output processes are all communications and interaction processes between the output devices, the input devices, the information system and/or the component. The set of input/output rules contains information concerning the version, the selection possibilities, the expansion possibilities, the type and manner of operation as well as the available input and output devices and the possible integration and interaction processes for the information system. In the component input/output rule, it is stipulated that a corresponding assignment is to be used for a type of component input/output rule already stored in the information system.
In this manner, it is taken into account in the known method which menu tree is already present, whether voice input or output is possible or whether a graphic display is present and function keys are available. By way of the input/output rules, further conditions can be defined in that it is indicated that the maximal number of displayable entries in a graphic display should not exceed a certain value. By use of the rules, it can, for example, also be indicated that, although function keys are available on the input device, only voice operation is permitted.
The method described in German Patent document DE 101 34 717 A1 permits the integration of a component into an information system of a vehicle in which the operation of the information system by the driver can take place without any great diversion by way of the input/output devices available in the vehicle. In this case, the operation takes place while taking into account safety-related aspects, so that, during the drive in the vehicle, certain functions of the component may not be available under certain circumstances, while the latter can be operated and used during the drive.
It is an object of the present invention to indicate a method of integrating a component into an information system of a vehicle, which permits an improved integration of the component into the function sequences of the information system. It is a further object of the present invention to indicate a corresponding computer program product as well as an information system in a vehicle, which permit the further improved integration of the component into the information system.
The invention provides a method of integrating a component into an information system of a vehicle, in which at least one application executable or provided by the component is made available to a user of the vehicle by a man-machine interface of the information system. In the case of this method, the integration of the component into the information system with respect to the input and/or output of information is carried out in a personalized manner in regard to a user of the component.
In the case of the method according to the invention, it is possible for a user to integrate the component with respect to the operation into the information system. The user can carry out the integration according to his wishes and needs, so that the component with the applications running on it can be used by him in the best possible manner. Because of the fact that the user integrates the component with the applications executable or provided thereon in a manner known to him into the information system, his attention is not diverted during the operation while he is driving the motor vehicle. This results in an improvement of traffic safety.
In this case, it is advantageous for a respective application of the component to be personalized with respect to its operation.
In particular, the personalization takes place within the scope of the integration of the component by way of the man-machine interface or a computer that can be connected with the latter.
According to an advantageous further development, the information system has an especially tree-type menu structure which comprises a number of menus selectable by way of the man-machine interface, in which case it is defined by way of the man-machine interface to which of the menus the at least one application executable or provided by the component is assigned for the selection. This permits the use of an existing menu structure of the information system, in which case the user can freely select at which point in the menu structure he wants to carry out the operation of the component or of the application that can be executed or is provided on the latter. Operating sequences can thereby be simplified.
By use of the man-machine interface, all communications and interaction processes between the user of the information system and the vehicle are carried out by way of input and output devices available in the vehicle. The execution of the application is not only the running of the application but especially also its operation, for example, by way of various, possibly nested menus or voice input instructions.
As an alternative, the personalization takes place before the integration of the component by use of the component itself or a computer. Particularly in the case of the last variant, it is possible for the user to not carry out the personalization by way of the operating devices (man-machine interface) available in the vehicle. The user can, for example, carry out the personalization at his computer or laptop and transmit the personalization information to the component to be integrated into the vehicle or to the information system, whereby the integration process into the vehicle will be simplified for the user.
Within the scope of the personalization of the operation, for example, an occupancy of input and/or output devices (for example, a key occupancy of keys or softkeys) of the main-machine interface, of bookmarks and of voice instructions is defined.
It is further advantageous for a respective application of the component to be assigned according to a preset criterion to a predefined menu of the menus of the menu structure. The assignment according to predefined criteria can take place, for example, according to logical aspects. A predefined criterion may, for example, be a category. If an application executed or provided by the component concerns, for example, a service for the navigation or a service connected therewith, according to this variant, the latter is advantageously provided in the menu structure in the "Navigation" domain.
According to a further advantageous development, when integrating the component into the information system, for a respective application, one or more parameters are determined which represent the input and/or output of information of a respective application of the component by way of the information system. By means of the parameters, as a result of the information system, an integration of an application of the component can take place into the menu structure of the man-machine interface. Such parameters may, for example, comprise a main category (for example, navigation, entertainment, telephone, office, air-conditioning, etc.) as well as one or more subcategories that are independent thereof (such as radio, CD, MP3 player; telephone book, last selected calling number; new navigation destination, last stored navigation destinations, etc.). The parameters are therefore used for the technical integration of the input and/or output structures of the components into the information system.
The parameters are advantageously determined during the first-time integration of the component into the information system and are stored in a memory. The storage may, for example, take place in a memory of the information system of the vehicle or in a memory of the component or in another memory, particularly a central databank. In the case of each subsequent connection of the component to the information system, the parameters will be read out of the memory and used for its integration. If the parameters are stored in a memory of the component or in a central memory, they will be available in a plurality of vehicles. The components can therefore be used in a simple manner in a plurality of vehicles, which permit a linking of the component. In this case, the corresponding parameters have to be determined and stored only once. When the component is connected with the information system of the vehicle, the parameters will be transmitted to the information system for further processing.
According to an advantageous further development, at the start of an application of the component connected to the information system, at least one priority value is assigned to the application with respect to the man-machine interface, the priority value indicating a rank by which the application of the component is treated with a higher or lower priority with respect to a further application that is being executed or is to be executed by the information system.
By the assignment of a priority value to the application with respect to the man-machine interface, the application executed or provided by the component can be integrated into a priority management of the man-machine interface of the vehicle. In this manner, it is ensured that important information, such as status messages of the vehicle relating to the operating condition, will not be hidden, masked or, in the case of an acoustic output, interrupted by the application of the component. By use of the priority value, the "importance" of the application in relation to other applications executed by the information system can be defined in a simple manner, whereby the target-oriented function of the information system is not impaired.
According to a further advantageous development, a message is transmitted to the information system at the start of the application of the component, in which message the resources of the man-machine interface required by the application for its execution are described, a respective priority value being assigned to one or more of the required resources of the man-machine interface. Resources are generally all devices for the output of information, particularly of audio or video data, as well as all input devices. Resources are therefore, for example, loudspeakers, displays and the like. In this manner, it is defined which priority value the application has when using a certain resource of the man-machine application with respect to other applications that are being executed or are to be executed by the information system. It can therefore be ensured with a high probability that the application executed or provided by the component will not disadvantageously influence the vehicle's own priority management of the man-machine interface.
According to a further advantageous development, the priority value is dynamically changed as a function of a vehicle parameter. Such vehicle parameters may, for example, be the vehicle speed, in which case, when a predefined speed is exceeded, information on an output device is hidden in order to ensure driving safety. It can hereby also be controlled whether or not a menu for operating the application is still permitted to be displayed as a function of the vehicle parameter.
Advantageously, one or more of the following devices are integrated as a component into the information system of the vehicle: An audio player, particularly a portable CD player, an MP3 player or web (radio) player or video player, particularly a portable DVD player, TV player, or video camera.
A further development provides that, in the case of an application of the component executed by the information system and a not target-oriented separation of the component from the information system, a treatment of the application termination takes place according to which:
the application is indicated as no longer being available, or
the application is removed from the information system, or
data intermediately stored in the information system continue to be processed beyond the application termination for a predefined time period, or
data only partially transmitted to the information system by the application are reloaded or completed, or
a prediction of the connection termination takes place.
With this development variant, it is ensured that, in the event of a not target-oriented separation of the component from the information system, neither the application, nor the information system can be damaged with respect to the software running thereon. As a result, the target-oriented function of the information system can be ensured.
According to a further advantageous development, data, such as, images and texts, in particular, used regularly during the start of the application for the output of information by way of the man-machine interface are transmitted into a memory of the information system, in which case the data, if they are needed during the execution of the application, are loaded from the memory of the information system. This can improve the reactivity of the application. Furthermore, the danger of diversion during the drive is reduced. In order to be able to organize the regularly used data provided in the memory of the information system, each piece of data (text component or icon) can be provided with an unambiguous ID by which the respective data can be called and processed. Furthermore, translations may be provided in the memory for texts or text components, which translation will be used in the vehicle depending on the language adjustment.
In a further development of the invention, a partial area of a display surface is made available to the application of the component for the visual output of information by way of a display of the man-machine interface, another partial area remaining under the control of the information system. According to a special variant of the execution, the information intended for the output is generated in the partial area available to the application by the application executed on the component. According to an alternative execution variant, the information intended for the output is generated in the partial area available to the application by the information system under the control of the application. In the former case, only the display of the man-machine interface is used by the application for the output of information, while the computing-intensive steps for the so-called rendering of the images are executed by the component on which the application is running. Therefore, only the display of the man-machine interface is used for the output. In contrast, in the latter case, the generating of the information to be displayed takes place by a computer unit of the information system itself, the data required for the visualization being provided by the application of the component.
A further development provides that the application accesses at least one vehicle-specific parameter by way of a defined programming interface, or the at least one vehicle-specific parameter is provided to the application by way of the defined programming interface, and the application processes the at least one parameter that was made available. In this case, it may particularly be provided that the at least one vehicle-specific parameter represents a current driving situation of the vehicle, a vehicle condition, and/or takes into account a current location of the vehicle. In particular, as a result of the application of the component, the position of the vehicle, its speed, a tank content, a language or a tuned-in radio station can be taken into account and processed. Especially, so-called location-based services can thereby be offered by way of the application.
The invention further comprises a computer program product, which can be loaded directly into the internal memory of a digital computer of a vehicle and includes software code sections by which the steps of the described process can be executed when the product is running on the computer.
The invention further creates an information system in a vehicle, which can be operated by way of a man-machine interface and provides information to a user of the vehicle, in which case at least one application executable or provided by a component can be integrated into the information system. According to the invention, the information system has devices by which the integration of the component into the information system with respect to the input and/or output of information can be carried out in a personalized manner with respect to a user of the component.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of one or more preferred embodiments when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Method for integrating a component into an information system of a vehicle

Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft


The present invention is a computerized image-viewing device that allows the user to sequentially advance or reverse stored images by voice recognition and/or other sounds wherein the voice recognition means is electronically coupled with different colored buttons located on the viewer wherein the buttons electronically illuminate by vocal, sound or computer switch input.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to computerized image-viewing devices and more particularly to a new system that allows the user to sequentially advance or reverse images by voice and/or sound recognition wherein different colored buttons electronically illuminate on voice or sound command.
2. Prior Art
The use of portable image-viewers, display-devices, music-readers and electronic books are known in the prior art. The idea of image advancing devices and/or page-turners has been an interest to many inventors.
The following patents represent related patent-documents that I have found through my patent search.
For example:
Rubincam, U.S. Pat. No. 4,159,417 Jun. 26, 1979
Rubincam's Electronic Book is described as a device using digital memory and display along with a storage container that presents digitally encoded information on a display screen. His invention uses holographic cards to store information.
Hatakeyama U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,302 Jul. 12, 1988
Hatakeyama et al, image-displaying apparatus presents a device for displaying a plurality of images.
The object of this apparatus was to provide easy and efficient searching of documents contained in microfilm or electronic files.
Van d.Abbeel U.S. Pat. No. 4,779,510 Oct. 25, 1988 Van den Abbeel describes an electronic apparatus for displaying music. This apparatus although cumbersome proposes a console having a screen for displaying electronically stored music for each musician of an orchestra. Accompanying the viewing screen is a keyboard for use by the user, and a microphone to pick up sounds emitted during the performance of a selection of music. As the performance proceeds, the musical score displayed on the screen is automatically shifted page by page.
Fernandez, U.S. Pat. No. 4,855,725 Aug. 8, 1989
Fernandez describes a microprocessor based simulated book based upon using a compact disk (CD-ROM), LCD screen and a connection to a mass storage PC. This device has the size and shape of a book and could possibly be bound in leather. The device is driven by the microprocessor and has a viewable screen. It has switches on a tactile pad similar to a track-ball and is used for scrolling through information on the screen. This Ebook has several pages of walk-away memory (about 20 pages) that can be used for later reading when not connected to the mass storage.
Tsuchiya U.S. Pat. No. 5,239,665 Aug. 24, 1993
Tsuchiya describes an Electronic Book that has special keys for changing pages and certain portions of text. This Ebook permits retrieval from laser cards and floppy disks. Here the user can read visual presentations of information at a speed at which the user can read books. Tsuchiya makes special mention of the importance of Ebooks for social reasons of saving space and saving the trees on planet earth.
Oliva, U.S. Pat. No. 5,438,344 Aug. 1, 1995
Oliva describes a portable video book for displaying information stored on a CD-ROM disk.
The goal here was to provide a simpler way to read a book by using the CD-ROM and video display. Designed to help children perhaps with poor eyesight, the display could change text sizes.
Van Kruistum, U.S. Pat. No. 5,703,624 Dec. 30, 1997
Van Kruistum describes a compact-portable image viewer for read-only files. A LCD screen is included along with a standard floppy disk drive to receive non-volatile floppy disks. After an image is displayed on the LCD screen the device allows the user to press a key to pan the image for magnification and for different viewing.
Reavey U.S. Pat. No. 5,847,698 Dec. 8, 1998
Reavey's Electronic Book Device combines the look and feel of a convention book along with electronic technology. This has a single flat panel or a dual flat panel display that accesses information on memory cards. The display screens can display text and graphics in black and white or in a color format. This Ebook has three different viewing modes on the viewing panels.
Gaston, U.S. Pat. No. 5,956,048 Sep. 21, 1999 Gaston describes and electronic book system that is ergonomically shaped with thumb-shaped frontal depressions for comfortable gripping. Control buttons are mounted for thumb manipulation. This apparatus is battery-powered and includes a memory, which receives text downloaded from a computer. This unit is equipped with a stand to help connectivity to the PC. The stand is modular with corresponding male and female data ports. Information can be stored on a ROM chip and plugged into the unit to view information. Gaston suggests that book publishers could offer books or novels with encoded onetime-accessing of the data to prevent unauthorized copying of the information.
Kuno et al. describes a portable display device capable of presenting a document in an easy to read format. This is accomplished by having at least two display screens and by providing the user with two modes. The first mode allows the screens to be linked together to view information and the second allows the user to view information on the screens independent of each other.
Froeber U.S. Pat. No. 5,991,594 Nov. 23, 1999
Froeber describes an electronic book using a LCD screen and PCMCIA cards. The apparatus also includes a pair of speakers, a speech processor/synthesizer and bookmark buttons.
MacMahon U.S. Pat. No. 6,037,954 Mar. 14, 2000
McMahon describes a portable hand-held reading device with improved ruggedness and usability features. Comprises a display screen, control panel and a memory device. Includes "bookmarking" and scrolling features forward and backward through a document. Text size can also be controlled. Removable memory is provided with CD-ROM or Micro CD-ROM. Shock-resiliency, easy-grip and impact absorption to protect the device is of keen interest.
Chombo U.S. Pat. No. 6,313,828 Nov. 6, 2001
Chombo's electronic book relates two LCD screen panels connected to each other with a hinge. Some of the functions include: PCMCIA slot, power supply, external device inputs, hard-drive, audio processor, video processor, RAM memory and processor along with a CD-ROM drive. Here, Chombo tries to merge peak technology from Personal Computers (PC) with an Ebook.
Eberhard U.S. Pat. No. 6,331,867 Dec. 18, 2001
Eberhard describes a user interface and other software features that facilitate viewing and the management of information by using touch-sensitive display screen. This is a hand-held computing device that is adapted to communicate with a PC via a "cradle".
Jacklin U.S. Pat. No. 6,396,472 May 28, 2002
Jacklin describes a device and process for displaying images and sound. Here, this device receives information from memory cards and non-volatile digital recording mediums (in miniature scale).
This apparatus also is a display for digital photographs with accompanying stored audio recordings.
Harada U.S. Pat. No. 6,486,890 Nov. 26, 2002
Harada, et al., describes a portable image device having an open display function like a book that displays electronic sheet information. The object of this invention was to provide the user with the option of viewing images on two screens or the same image on both screens. Selecting these modes is up to the user.
Kondo U.S. Pat. No. 6,512,497 Jan. 28, 2003 Kondo et al., describes an image information display device providing a two-screen (liquid crystal) electronic book that reduces energy consumption. Two screens may be used or the user can choose only one of the existing screens to conserve energy.
The foregoing prior art generally describes the various portable viewing devices and electronic books. There are many similarities with all of them. They all seem to have some kind of memory storage, portals for memory cards, digital cards, CD-ROM or floppy disks. Liquid crystal display (LCD screens) seems to be the choice of most electronic books and image viewers. Navigating through the various programs can be accomplished by pressing buttons, scrolling devices or touch-screen technology. However, it is the view of this inventor that there are individuals who find it difficult, inconvenient or impossible to reach an arm or hand to access the controls on any of these devices. There are those who are physically handicapped or challenged who would find little or no help from any of the devices or electronic books available. For individuals unable to move a hand, finger or foot, the inventions based upon the prior art would not allow those individuals to function in an independent manner.

Sequential image advancing system (the S.I.A.S.)


An object of the present disclosure is to display a captured image and a shake corrected image thereof on the same screen. An imaging device is provided and has a configuration provided with a correction amount calculator that calculates a correction amount for correcting image shake in a frame image, a shake corrected image generator that generates a shake corrected image in which the image shake is corrected by performing a geometrical conversion with respect to a current frame image based on the correction amount, and a synthesized image generator that generates a synthesized image in which the current frame image and the shake corrected image are disposed on the same screen.

In the related art, for the purpose of correcting image shake in a captured image generated when a monitoring camera shakes, there is known a technology configured to detect a shake of a monitoring camera by a vibration detection means (vibration sensor) and instruct a shake correction mode with respect to a shake correction means for performing a shake correction of the captured image (PTL 1) in accordance with the analysis result of detected shake component.

Image capturing device and captured image display method

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


A method of minimizing imprint in a ferroelectric capacitor uses a gradually attenuated AC field to electrically depolarize the ferroelectric capacitor before being packaged. The AC field is linearly attenuated, and generated using a series of voltage pulses, down to a minimum allowed voltage. A final pulse is a positive voltage to minimize hydrogen degradation during packaging. Thermal depoling can also be used.

The present invention is related to ferroelectric memories, and more specifically, to a depolarization technique used for minimizing imprint in the ferroelectric memories.
In ferroelectric capacitors in ferroelectric memories, polarization is switched from one state to the other with an applied electric field. The desired behavior is that the polarization will switch easily from one state to the other, regardless of how long the first state has been stored or what its storage temperature profile has been. But in real-world parts, some capacitors will have a tendency to favor the state they have been storing for a long time. This is known as imprint as the state stored becomes imprinted onto the polarization orientation. If a capacitor becomes imprinted, it will be more difficult to write the new opposite state when desired. In extreme cases, the capacitor may not be able to switch to the opposite state.
High temperature excursions while a capacitor is polarized can accelerate imprint. The temperature range required for packaging is such an excursion that can accelerate imprint. Imprint caused by assembly can have a yield impact. Polarization is the driving force for imprint. By depolarizing the capacitors before packaging, imprint can be significantly reduced and yield and reliability improved.
FIGS. 1(a)-1(c), entitled "Polarization Configurations", show three polarization configurations for a ferroelectric capacitor.
In FIG. 1(a), a Thermally Depolarized PZT Ferroelectric Capacitor (>400° C.) shows that the polarization vectors are randomly oriented. Thermal depolarization further means that the polarizations are randomly oriented and the net polarization is zero. It is the most effective and complete way to depolarize a ferroelectric capacitor. However, it requires high temperatures that might generate changes to the product and impact the performance of the circuits. Another limitation of thermal depolarization is that there is no selectivity and every ferroelectric capacitor is depolarized. In a more advanced ferroelectric device, some ferroelectric capacitors are used for storing engineering and configuration information, and such data should never be changed or lost.
In FIG. 1(b), a net polarization in a Polarized Ferroelectric Capacitor leads to imprint during the process that the device is packaged. The thermal budget of package assembly is equivalent to ˜185° C. for 4 hours. Although the parts are not powered up, a net polarization exists in the ferroelectric capacitors due to using the conventional testing process. The polarization vectors are always the same as the polarity of the last electric pulse to polarize the capacitor during wafer test.
In FIG. 1(c), an Electrically Depolarized Ferroelectric Capacitor shows a desired net zero polarization of the ferroelectric capacitor. Since the polarization is the driving force for imprint, zero net polarization or much reduced polarization will eliminate or reduce imprint during packaging. This invention teaches how to eliminate or reduce polarization by thermal depolarization and electrical depolarization.

Method minimizing imprint through packaging of F-RAM


A circuit including a first element sampling noise from and discharging noise to a signal line in response to an input signal transitioning on selected edges of a clock signal. A second element samples noise from and discharges noise to the signal line in response to another input signal transitioning on other edges of the clock signal differing from the selected edges of the clock signal such that noise coupled into substrate and supply are independent of the input signal.

Noise and harmonic distortion in mixed-signal circuitry, such as digital to analog and analog to digital converters (DACs and ADCs), comes from a number of sources. For example, the voltages at the summing nodes in some operational amplifier circuits do not completely settle after switching operations, resulting in high frequency noise on the corresponding signal lines. This high frequency noise is then sampled onto the parasitic capacitance within the circuitry and subsequently folded-back into the signal baseband during later switching operations. Unacceptable noise and distortion can also be the result of an inadequate power supply rejection ratio (PSRR) within the various circuits and current "kicks" on the signal lines caused by the switching of unbalanced loads.
In noise sensitive applications, including audio processing, the minimization of distortion and noise are critical design factors, since often their ultimate effect is perceptible to the end-user. However, designing to minimize noise and harmonic distortion presents significant challenges, especially when other design factors must be considered, such as circuit complexity, chip area, and power consumption.

Low noise data conversion circuits and methods and systems using the same