A technique for preventing damage to ball bearings in small form factor devices where the drive motor has at least one piezoelectric crash stop ring disposed about the shaft and inside the rotor of the motor. The crash stop ring must be dimensioned to permit only a small amount of movement of the rotor relative to the shaft. The permitted movement is less than the minimum movement which would cause damage to the elements of the ball bearing.

As precision devices such as disk drives are reduced in size, the components of the disk drive assembly likewise must be reduced in size. Whenever the ball bearings of the disk drive motor are made smaller to fit into the small form factor disk drives, the ability of the ball bearing assemblies to withstand impact and shock forces is significantly reduced. Although the design of the component, specifically the ball bearing, may be substantially the same as the design for its larger predecessor counterpart, the reduced load rating of the individual components of the ball bearing assembly cannot accommodate the same level of forces without experiencing failure as may be exerted onto the larger ball bearing assemblies. Because the precision manufacture of small form factor disk drives requires extremely fine tolerances and provides little allowance for deviations in performance, augmentation of the shock tolerance of the reduced size components is required in order that these disk drives be sufficiently rugged to withstand impacts and shocks which can be commonplace.
Shocks exerted onto the ball bearings can be axial, in the direction of the axis of the shaft on which the bearing is disposed; radial, substantially perpendicular to the axis of the shaft; or a combination of radial and axial should the impact force be exerted at a distance displaced from the plane of the ball bearing. In addition to the force factors of axial and radial force vectors, a moment or torquing about the ball bearing assembly can occur due to an off-line force coupled with one of the ball bearing assemblies acting as a pivot and the other ball bearing assembly being the source of the resistance to the moment. For ball bearings which absorb a substantially axial impact, the load of the impact is shared by all of the balls in the ball bearing assembly. However, if a ball bearing assembly is impacted in a radial direction, quite possibly only one of the balls of the ball bearing assembly may carry the entire load of the impact.
As the impact occurs in the radial direction, the force exerted on the outer race will impart a force to one or more of the balls placed between the outer race and the inner race, and then only on those balls which are resident in the semi-circular annular region between the outer and inner races and on the side of the shaft where the impact force is focused.
As will be appreciated whenever there are a small number of balls in the ball bearing assembly, six for example, and one of those balls is directly between the axis of the force impacting the outer race against the ball and toward the axis of the shaft, all or substantially all of the impact force will be carried by that single ball. As the force is transmitted against the inner race by the ball or balls positioned to carry the impact force, the shaft of the device, such as a disk drive for example, will resist any movement of the inner race. Depending on the magnitude of the shock or impact force, the material in the inner and outer races or the balls will begin to deform to a varying extent. Responding to a small force, the ball will tend to penetrate the respective race surfaces by a corresponding small amount. No damage will occur so long as the penetration of the ball into the race of the ball bearing assembly or the ball deformation is totally within the elastic limits of the material from which the inner and outer races are fabricated. Once the impact force has been dissipated and the ball bearing assembly returns to its unaffected state, the elastic nature of the deformation will permit the balls and races of the ball bearing to restore themselves to an unaffected shape and surface.
On the other hand, should the shock or impact force be sufficient to deform the inner and outer races or balls beyond their elastic limit and into a region of plastic deformation, the surface of the race or ball is deformed to the point where the race or ball surface will not resume its original configuration and thus will present an irregularity as the balls roll past the point of penetration causing vibration and runout of the bearing. Due to bearing vibration and runout, there is a resulting runout of the rotor of the disk drive motor. Since the rotor is attached to or is part of the hub which in turn supports the magnetic disks, there will be a correspondent runout of the disk. Runout of the disk is unacceptable beyond very small limits because the runout will cause recording track misregistration and it will be impossible to read data which has been previously recorded on the magnetic disk surface in a circular track of a precise radius.
Similarly, if data is being recorded on a disk which is experiencing runout beyond an acceptable limit, the recording track being laid down on the surface of the disk may not correspond to the position of the track at a future time as an attempt is made to read the data from the magnetic disk.
While the deformation in the inner and outer race surfaces may be only measurable in micro inches in a very small precision ball bearing, these small surface disruptions are sufficient to severely degrade the performance of the bearing and the device incorporating the bearing.
Due to manufacturing tolerances, design constraints as well as the inherent elasticity of the materials from which the bearings, shaft and the hub of the disk drive are manufactured, some very limited movement of the rotor may occur about and/or along an X or Y axis and along the Z axis, where the axis of rotation and the Z axis are coincident and the X and Y axis are radial to the shaft. Depending upon the point of impact or shock, the most likely motion will be a rotation of the rotor may occur about either or both of the X and Y axes. This rotation of the hub and consequently the inner and outer races will compress at least one ball in each of the ball bearing assemblies. Depending on the amount of the rotational movement and the spacing of the bearings, the compression may exceed the elastic deformation limit of the material of the races.
Where the bearing assemblies are both placed at positions near one end of the rotor and consequently one end of the shaft, the potential for bearing damage is increased. This increased potential for damage is due to the lever arm through which the impact force may act, thereby increasing the force on the balls and races. The only viable approach to preventing any damage caused by shock or impact forces is to cushion the device to absorb some or all of the forces or to block transmission of the forces to the bearing assemblies.

Crash stop shock ring for the protection of disk drive motor bearings

International Business Machines Corporation


A device for cracking open an egg is shown, having egg-size sensing means for determining the size of an egg positioned in the device, thereby providing for automatic calibration of the device to the specific size of an egg to be cracked. The calibration determines how much would the distance between the piercing members and the imaginary longitudinal axis of the egg be reduced before the piercing members stop their advancing towards the egg and start moving apart for cracking its shell open. The device can thus open eggs of different sizes, e.g. having widths between 40 and 50 millimeters, accurately without requiring special preparation or manual calibration. A method for cracking open an egg based on said device is also shown.

It is sometimes difficult and messy to crack open and egg, and, moreover, to separate the yolk of the egg from the white. Various egg-separating devices are known in the art that facilitate performance of this task including, U.S. Pat. No. 4,068,573 to Romero, U.S. Pat. No. 4,665,813 to Maisonneuve, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,083,508 to Banks et al.
A main concept followed by many devices for cracking open an egg is to penetrate the egg's shell by means of piercing members, and to spread its shell parts apart from the penetration area. One main problem, which has not yet fully been solved by the currently available devices, is suitability of the device to eggs of different sizes. Even though all eggs look the same, each has its own size, and therefore, the penetration of the piercing members of the egg cracking device into the egg's shell should start at a different distance between the piercing members and an imaginary longitudinal axis of the egg, per each egg size. Respectively, spreading the shell parts apart should start with a different distance between the piercing members and said imaginary axis of the egg per each egg size, i.e. immediately after the egg's shell has been penetrated. Further penetration should simultaneously be stopped in order to avoid smashing the shell and its contents. None of the available devices teaches how a device of a predetermined size can handle a range of different sizes of eggs, e.g. of widths between 40 and 50 millimeters, while independent of the egg's size, keeping an accurate correlation between stopping the penetration stage and starting the spreading apart stage.
It is therefore a main object of the present invention to provide a mechanism for automatically determining the size of an individual egg to be cracked and automatically calibrating the cracking device for matching the size of each such individual egg.

Device for cracking open and separating an egg


A method for determining a luminance threshold value of a video region includes: performing a plurality of luminance threshold value generation operations on the video region included in a plurality of video frames, respectively. Each luminance threshold value generation operation includes: generating a total luminance value according to a plurality of luminance values of a plurality of pixels in the video region; subtracting a current luminance threshold value temporarily stored in a register from the total luminance value to generate a luminance error value; performing a specific filtering operation on the luminance error value to generate a filtered luminous error value; accumulating the filtered luminance error value to generate an accumulation result; and updating the current luminance value in the register according to the accumulation result and a luminance approximative value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to motion detection, and more particularly, to a method and a related apparatus for determining a luminance threshold value of a video region. As a result, the luminance threshold value can further be utilized for establishing a background model of the video region, and can therefore be a criterion for motion detection.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Motion detection is a technique that determines whether moving objects exist in a video sequence and then tracks the moving objects, analyzing motion of the moving objects by means of detecting difference of video frames. This technique is widely applied in many fields, such as professional sport games, security systems and military surveillances.
In the conventional art, a method for detecting motion called background model method is popular. This method establishes a background model in the video sequence in advance and then separates the moving object from the video frame. The background model method firstly divides each frame into a fixed number of video regions, and generates a luminance threshold value of each video region. The generated luminance threshold values of the video regions are utilized as criterions for detecting the moving object(s) in the video sequence. Thus, when a total luminance value of the video region changes (e.g. the total luminance value of this video region is different between two contiguous video frames), and a difference between the change of the total luminance value and the luminance threshold value is higher than a certain amount, it is considered that there is a moving object existing in/passing through this video region. Then, by analyzing all the video regions that are judged as having a moving object existing in/passing through, the moving object can be picked up from the video sequence. The most often seen method for generating the luminance threshold value is that which samples the total luminance value of the video region in a certain period, and then obtains a relative steady level of the total luminance value in this period. This level of the total luminance value is utilized as the luminance threshold value within the period and as a criterion for determining whether a moving object exists in/passes through the video region. To obtain the luminance threshold value, the total luminance is sampled in this period, and after the period ends, all sampling results are averaged for representing the level of the total luminance value during the period. To exactly show the changes of the background model, this luminance threshold value needs to be updated often so that motion detection can be correctly performed when the background changes. The process regarding the aforementioned description is already summarized into steps 110-114 shown in FIG. 1. A detailed description is omitted here since these contents should be well known to those skilled in the art.
Hardware costs are considerable in the conventional art, wherein most hardware costs relate to storage apparatus used for recording each sampled result. For example, the luminance threshold value of a video region is attempted to be updated every 10 seconds, and the total luminance value is sampled 30 times in a second (that is, in a video device capable of generating 30 frames per second, the total luminance value of the video region is sampled for each frame). As for each video region, 300 storage spaces (e.g. register file) are needed for recording each sampled result, and also, an averaging circuit is necessary for generating the luminance threshold value of the video region. In addition, most of the hardware costs are consumed by the storage apparatus since the precision of the average calculation results from the sampling time and sampled data. If the sensitivity of the motion detection needs to be enhanced, the hardware costs of the conventional method will increase considerably.

Method for determining luminance threshold value of video region and related apparatus


The present invention relates to a rapid assembled small-sized block polymer material with low quenching temperature and the preparation and application thereof. In particular, the present invention discloses a block copolymer, and glass transition temperature of the block copolymer is less than 120° C. The present invention also discloses the preparation and application of the block copolymer. The block copolymer can achieve excellent phase separation and rapid patterning at a lower annealing temperature (e.g. 80° C.) and a shorter annealing time (e.g. 30 s), and a photolithographic pattern with a very high resolution (e.g. 5 nm half-pitch) can be further obtained by etching, which provides a new photolithographic mean for further extension of Moore's Law to achieve semiconductor photolithography with a resolution of less than 10 nm, or even 5 nm (half-pitch).

The research and development of nanomaterials and nanodevices is a hotspot in the field of materials in the 21st century. It is a common goal pursued by scientific research workers and industrial manufacturers to obtain stable and fine nanostructures quickly and easily. Especially in the field of semiconductor, it is very important to precisely control the size and morphology of the nanostructure so as to obtain microstructure with smaller size defects. This kind of material has a broad application prospect in the next generation of nanoelectronic devices such as semiconductor, display, storage, sensors and drug release. Meanwhile, the nanomaterials also have advantages such as high information storage capacity, rapid working speed, accurate and controllable structure, and portability.
Photolithography technology is one of the most widely used technologies in the micro-graphic processing, and it is also the foundation of the semiconductor industry. However, due to the limitation of light scattering effect and processing technology, it is difficult for current photolithography technology to reach 10 nm scale. It is a simple and efficient method for the preparation of highly ordered nanostructures to use the micro phase separation of the block copolymer.
However, the self-assembly of the existing block copolymer materials (such as PS-b-PMMA) usually requires a higher annealing temperature (above 160° C.) and a longer annealing time (such as 6 hours), and the time-consuming and energy-consuming process is difficult to meet the needs of modern industrial production. In addition, the PS-b-PMMA-based material self-assembled by PS-b-PMMA on the wafer has some defects, which hinders its application in practical production.
To sum up, there is an urgent need in the art to develop a highly-ordered block copolymer material which can achieve rapid self-assembly at low temperature or even at room temperature in a short time and has potential self-healing properties to reduce self-assembly defect rate.

Rapid self-assembled small-sized block polymer material with low quenching temperature and the preparation and application thereof


Parachute harness including laterally spaced apart right and left main lift web and leg strap devices, a parachute container disposed therebetween and connected on the top by shoulder straps and on the bottom by articulating rings which also serve to connect the bottom of the main lift web with the opposite ends of respective leg straps.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to sky diving parachutes and more particularly has reference to a parachute harness which provides relatively free movement for the jumper, both before and during the jump.
2. Description of the Prior Art
One of the major drawbacks to sky diving is the restriction placed on a jumper's movements by the parachute harness itself. Once the jumper puts on the harness, his body movements are severely limited in degree and range. The result is that what were once simple movements now become long, drawn out and strenuous activities because of the restricting nature of most parachute harnesses. In fact, such restricting harnesses tax the endurance of the jumper even before he has made his jump.
In a sport such as sky diving, safety of the jumper during the jump is of tantamount importance. From a physical standpoint, a diver who is fatigued before the dive is more likely to make errors in preparing for the dive because of the distraction that a taxing harness presents. More importantly, from a mental standpoint, fatigue arising from challenging physical tasks undertaken in pre-jump activity can dull the jumper's alertness during the dive and make him or her more prone to mistakes.
Parachute harnesses employed in skydiving activity serve first to mount a container for storing the folded canopy and second to, when the canopy is deployed, suspend the jumper. Such harnesses are typically constructed of webbing material joined together by stitching. For instance, a harness may incorporate laterally spaced apart shoulder and leg straps joined together and connected with the lower portion of a parachute container by means of laterally projecting webbing tabs. The juncture point is thus typically constructed of a plurality of sandwiched together layers of webbing which, when stitched, cause the harness components to present considerable resistance to the wearer's body movements. Thus, such simple movements and raising of the jumper's leg to step up into the passenger compartment of an airplane may be resisted by the relative inflexibility of the leg strap relative to the parachute container and/or chest strap.
With the current popularity of skydiving as a recreational sport, the transport of multiple jumpers in a single airplane from an air field to a jumping altitude has become a fairly common recreational endeavor. There is a certain economic motivation to provide for relatively rapid loading and take off of the airplane so as to minimize the time the aircraft is in use for each jump. In this regard, there is great benefit to expeditious loading of the aircraft and seating of the jumpers for take off. This process may involve a group of 15 or more jumpers approaching the aircraft and entering through a side entry door or opening. In the process, the jumpers are required to follow a certain procedure which may involve stepping up into the aircraft and moving to a bench or seat area to be seated, sometimes in close proximity to one another. Thus, freedom of movement is important.
Moreover, repeated jumps in close sequence results in repeated abrupt application of forces through the harness to the jumper's body thus requiring a harness construction which will apply those suspension forces to the jumper's body without undue discomfort.
In the past, parachute harnesses utilized in skydiving have typically exhibited a resistance tending to hinder movement of the jumper both during his or her ground activity and sometimes even while moving about in the aircraft to perform the jump itself.
An impressive array of harness devices have been proposed in the past which incorporate various buckling and connector arrangements intended for quick release or to facilitate convenient adjustment of the harness to the sizes of jumpers having different stature or girth dimensions. Examples of some of these prior devices appear in different U.S. patents. For instance, a quick release parachute harness has been proposed which includes leg straps connected by means of oppositely disposed straps tethered on one end to a waist band, the opposite extremities of which define shoulder straps. A device of this type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,431,358 to Wilson. While satisfactory for the quick release feature intended by Wilson, such devices fail to provide for convenient and secure mounting of a parachute canopy container to the harness itself in such a manner as to provide for relatively unrestricted movement of the jumper while, at the same time, providing for comfortable distribution of carrying forces upon deployment of the canopy.
Another example of a quick release harness is a harness incorporating oppositely disposed chest straps which thread at their lower extremities freely through connector rings mounted on the corners of a somewhat triangular shaped crotch support to then bifurcate and fan out into a waist band and leg strap. A device of this type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,692,263 to Pravaz. Harnesses of this type have not gained general popularity in the sky diving field due, in part, to the complicated construction thereof and to the fact that they fail to employ a practical and reliable arrangement for mount of the parachute container and a configuration for the harness connector to afford free movement for the jumper.
Examples of rapidly adjustable and quickly releasable harnesses are general use harnesses of the type including a sling-like seat having forwardly projecting straps terminating in free ends having rings carried therefrom for threading therethrough of what might be termed combination chest, waist and shoulder straps. A device of this type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,757,744 to Pravaz. While incorporating features which might allow for quick release, such a device is not generally acceptable for skydiving activity since there is no practical arrangement for mounting the parachute container or for comfortable distribution of forces upon canopy deployment.
Other body harnesses have been proposed for suspending victims from a helicopter or the like. One such harness incorporates a main vertical chest strap carrying a ring at the bottom end for connection with snaps employed on the ends of leg straps. A device of this is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,979,028 to Zakely. Suspension of a skydiving jumper from a chest strap of this type would have no practical application in the everyday practice of the sport.
Thus, there exists a need for equipment which provides the jumper with comfort and maneuverability during pre-jump and jumping activity while loading in a balanced and comfortable manner upon deployment of the canopy.


A method for the control of shifting processes in a vehicle transmission from an initial gear to the next higher target gear includes the steps of continuously determining the vehicle acceleration (a) and the driven rpm (n.sub.2) behind the vehicle transmission. A shifting process is triggered when the acceleration value (a) and the essentially simultaneously recorded driven rpm value (n.sub.2) fall on a shifting point which lies on a shifting characteristic (n.sub.2 (a)) in an acceleration-driven rpm diagram, where the shifting characteristic (n.sub.2 (a)) has a stepped course with at least two break points (a.sub.-- max; a.sub.-- min) and the slope of the shifting characteristic for acceleration values a.sub.-- min<a<a.sub.-- max is always smaller than or equal to the slope of the shifting characteristic for acceleration values a.ltoreq.a.sub.-- min or a.gtoreq.a.sub.-- max. In other words, the following applies:. .linevert split.n.sub.2 (a.sub.1).linevert split..ltoreq..linevert split.n.sub.2 (a.sub.2).linevert split. where PA1 a.sub.1 .di-elect cons. [a.sub.-- min<a<a.sub.-- max] and PA1 a.sub.2 .di-elect cons. ]a.sub.-- max<a<.infin.[ or PA1 a.sub.2 .di-elect cons. [0<a<a.sub.-- min[.. When connecting the vehicle transmission with different axle-drive ratios, the shifting characteristic (n.sub.2 (a)) with break points (a.sub.-- max; a.sub.-- min) is the same for all possible axle-drive ratios.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns methods and apparatus for the control of the shifting processes of a vehicle transmission.
2. Description of Related Technology
Drive lines, especially drive lines with automatic transmissions which operate according to the principle of a torque converter with external power branching, in combination with connected mechanical working points, shifting programs with fixed switch points, or simple acceleration-dependent shifting programs are known. In the former, full load shifting normally occurs in the upper rpm range of the engine, n,. The shifting up, which is decisive for the fuel, occurs at about 80 to 90% of the nominal engine rpm. As a result, larger engine power is utilized to produce better acceleration of the vehicle, which may be necessary on a slope or when there are many passengers in the vehicle, especially in the case of buses. However, this also results in a higher fuel consumption because, at a higher rpm, the engine operates in a less favorable region of the characteristic (see e.g., FIG. 3 showing the engine characteristic of consumption as a function of load and rpm). In a braking operation, that is, in gear but with the gas on zero, the engine rpm has no influence on fuel consumption, since the fuel supply is stopped. In order to avoid vibration between gears, down shifting generally occurs at a lower rpm than up shifting, except for during kickdown. Furthermore, the shifting programs with fixed switch points are designed so that, for partial load or without load, certain shift points occur at lower engine rpm than at full load. In addition, a so-called overstep or kickdown function can be provided which opens up the possibility of running the gears to the maximum permissible engine rpm. Such shifting programs with fixed shift points operate either in a power-oriented manner characterized by increased fuel consumption, or they are operated very much oriented to consumption.

Methods and apparatus for controlling shifting processes in a vehicle transmission


An exemplary method includes a sporting event statistics recording system that provides a graphical user interface for display, the graphical user interface including an icon representative of a participant in the sporting event, detects a first user input associated with the icon, determines that the first user input is associated with a first action performed during the sporting event, records a first statistic for the sporting event based on the participant represented by the icon and the first action associated with the first user input associated with the icon, detects a second user input associated with the icon, determines that the second user input is associated with a second action performed during the sporting event, and records a second statistic for the sporting event based on the participant represented by the icon and the second action associated with the second user input associated with the icon.

Statistics are increasingly being used in sports to evaluate individual and/or team performance, to determine strengths/weaknesses of players, and/or to develop strategies for facing opposing players/teams. Typically, recording statistics associated with a sporting event (e.g., a soccer match, a football game, a basketball game, etc.) includes either manually recording statistics by hand (e.g., by using a pen and paper to record statistics during a sporting event) or sending a video recording of the sporting event to a third party that analyzes the video recording of the sporting event and generates statistical data. However, manually recording statistics associated with a sporting event is often cumbersome, inaccurate, limited in scope, and difficult to implement when there is a fast pace of play during the sporting event. For example, conventional statistics recording software tools support recording of only a limited set of statistics (e.g., basic statistics for a single participant in a sporting event), are useful for only one type of sporting event, are cumbersome to use, and/or do not support recording of a robust set of statistics at a fast pace as required by certain sporting events. Although utilizing a third party to generate statistical data based on a video recording of the sporting event typically results in a more accurate data set, such services are costly, typically do not provide statistics for individual players, and usually require one or more days before the statistics are available for consumption.

Methods and systems for recording statistics associated with a sporting event


A transmission line resonator includes a half-wavelength stepped-impedance resonator with two ends short-circuited to ground, and a capacitive element with one end connected to a center portion of the stepped-impedance resonator and the other end short-circuited to ground. The stepped-impedance resonator includes a first transmission line, a second transmission line, and a third transmission line. The second transmission line has a second line impedance and a second line length, with one end being connected to one end of the first transmission line and the other end being short-circuited to ground. The third transmission line has the second line impedance and the second line length, with one end being connected to the other end of the first transmission line and the other end being short-circuited to ground. The first line impedance is lowered in comparison with the second line impedance.

As resonators for use in high frequency bands and microwave bands, a quarter-wavelength or half-wavelength uniform transmission line resonator has been mainly used. In recent years, as indicated by Non-Patent Document 1, a stepped-impedance resonator (hereinafter, referred to also as "SIR") configured by a plurality of transmission lines having different line impedances has been utilized for the purpose of realizing a small size, spurious suppression or various coupling systems.
The SIR includes various structures. As its typical example, a one-end-opened and the other-end-shorted SIR of a quarter-wavelength type and an open-ended SIR of a half-wavelength type are proposed. As indicated by Non-Patent Documents 2 and 3, since the quarter-wavelength SIR makes it possible to achieve the smallest size, it has been conventionally developed and put into practical use actively. Moreover, in recent years, because of the development of LTCC (Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramics) processing technology, many quarter-wavelength SIR's have been utilized as filters for use in microwave band radio systems as shown in Patent Literature 1.

Transmission line resonator, bandpass filter using transmission line resonator, multiplexer, balanced-to-unbalanced transformer, power divider, unbalanced-to-balanced transformer, frequency mixer, and balance-type filter

The University of Electro-Communications


An information processing apparatus includes a memory, and a processor that executes a process in the memory. The process includes detecting a sign of a fault of a storage device that prohibits write access to a storage area of the storage device and permits read access to the storage area during a fault, and storing a copy of data to be written to the storage device as first copy data in the memory when the sign of a fault is detected.

Solid state drives (SSDs), which allow the speed of data access to be higher than hard disk drives (HDDs), have recently been being used. An SSD includes a storage area made of a flash memory or the like, and also includes a controller (SSD controller), a cache, and a storage area.
When accessing data in such an SSD, a computer uses an AT Attachment (ATA) command, as in the case of an HDD, so as to transfer write and read data to an SSD controller.
It is known that a storage element used for the storage area of an SSD has a limitation in the number of writing and therefore a fault would occur when an SSD is used for a long time.
To address this, a self-diagnostic function called Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T.) for early detecting a disk fault and predicting a failure is known as a technology for detecting a failure of an SSD or HDD before the failure occurs.
As a technique for protecting data stored in the SSD, there is also a method in which an SSD controller detects a failure in the SSD and causes the storage area to be in a read-only (ReadOnly) mode, thereby prohibiting writing of data to protect the storage area.
In an information processing apparatus provided with such a conventional SSD, however, when writing of data is prohibited in the SSD by causing the storage area to be in a read-only mode, a controller would sometimes notify the information processing apparatus of the success of writing at the point when write data is stored in a cache of the SSD. Thereby, when an attempt is made to read data from an SSD, such a situation arises that data to be read is not saved in the SSD. This leads to a problem of reduction in reliability.
Japanese National Publication of International Patent Application No. 2010-521014 discloses an example of the related art.
"S.M.A.R.T. Attribute Annex", Sep. 30, 2005, [Mar. 21, 2012 searched], The Internet URL:http://www.t13.org/documents/UploadedDocuments/docs2005/e05148r0-ACS-S MARTAttributesAnnex.pdf) discloses a related technology.

Information processing apparatus, control method


A job processing system includes a host computer and an image forming apparatus connected via a network with each other, the host computer includes a job register acceptor that accepts a job register and a communication device that sends the job register to the image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus includes a display controller and a job execution controller, the job execution controller controls sequential execution of a plurality of jobs shown in the changed job register in accordance with an execution order of the plurality of jobs, and the display controller keeps from making an update to cause a display of the changed job register immediately after a network interface device receives the changed job register, but makes an update to cause a display of the changed job register when a predetermined display updating condition is achieved after the receipt of the changed job register.

In recent years, there has been developed a job processing system which includes a host computer and an image forming apparatus connected via a network with the host computer and in which the host computer accepts a job register showing a plurality of jobs and the execution order of the plurality of jobs and the image forming apparatus sequentially executes the plurality of jobs shown in the job register sent from the host computer in accordance with the execution order.


An electric plug is disclosed which includes a detection circuit, which detects electric current and voltage and removes high frequency noises from power supply; an electric energy measuring and converting circuit, which receives detected signal from the detection circuit and outputs a corresponding electric energy signal; a microprocessor, which proceeds with electric energy signal processing, time counting and data storing processes according to the electric energy signal received from the electric energy measuring and converting circuit; a DC power supply circuit, which provides the necessary working voltage to the electric energy measuring and converting circuit and the microprocessor; and an LCD circuit, which displays electric energy and time data.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electric plugs and more particularly to an electric plug having display means to indicate consumed power and electric energy. The invention has power and electric energy detection and measuring circuits and a LCD digitalized and incorporated into a small electric plug with two operation buttons provided outside the housing of the electric plug for operation. Through the use of the electric plug in an electric appliance, the user can conveniently monitor the consumed power and electric energy and other related data.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
Current commercial power or electric energy measuring instruments such as electric meter, watt-hour meter, etc., commonly have a big housing that cannot be installed in an electric plug. Therefore, it is difficult to monitor the consumed power and accumulative consumption of electric energy of an electric appliance. When wishing to know the consumed power or accumulative consumption of electric energy of an electric appliance, an expensive electric meter or watt-hour meter would have to be used.

Electric plug having display means to indicate consumed power and electric energy


Digital video signals, such as the signals generated by an image sensor in a Bayer format, are converted into an encoded format. In the Bayer format, the pixels of each line are alternately coded with two colors, and then converted into the encoded format. In the encoded format, the pixels of the digital video signals are reordered into sets of adjacent pixels, such that the sets group pixels coded with the same color. The encoded signal data results in a reduced switching activity when transmitted over a bus.

Digital signals in the Bayer format, such as those provided by an image sensor in a camera for example, have the format shown in FIG. 1. Basically, a matrix format is being dealt with in which each row is alternately coded with two colors: odd rows are alternately coded with the red and green colors, while even rows are alternately coded with the green and blue colors. In the layout shown in FIG. 1, the respective letters R, G and B stand for red, green and blue.
When an image sensor, such as the one schematically indicated as reference 1 in FIG. 2, is to be connected to a processor 2 for processing the pixel data to reconstruct the image, a problem arises due to the fact that data items in the Bayer format are highly uncorrelated with each other. During transmission on the bus B to the processor 2 (FIG. 2), the data in question gives rise to a high switching activity.
The problem can be addressed, at least in principle, by applying data encoding techniques on the bus B for reducing switching activity. For example, on small-size buses, such as those up to 8 bits, the technique known as bus inverter (BI) is a good encoding technique for the majority of cases. The results deriving from the application of this technique can vary, and in quite a significant manner, depending on the type of data being transmitted.

Process and system for processing signals arranged in a bayer pattern


The invention provides a method, a system, and a computer program product checking for human interaction dynamically to enable access to a resource in a computing environment. The method comprises collecting a plurality of objects. For each object, a plurality of properties is defined. A set of objects is selected from the plurality of collected objects. Thereafter, queries are generated based on the properties of the selected objects. Queries which have a non-unique or ambiguous response are removed. One of the remaining queries is randomly selected. The answer to the query, based on properties of the selected objects, is stored. The selected set of objects and the selected query are presented to the user who is trying to gain access to the resource. The user is enabled access to the resource if the response received from the user is validated against the stored answer of the selected query.

Security is an important aspect in the computing environment today. Various security measures are used to protect resources from malicious attacks. One such security measure includes using CATPCHAs to protect resources. A CAPTCHA stands for Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart. This test is used to detect whether a party that is requesting access to a resource is a human or a computer. CAPTCHAs help in protecting resources intended for humans by preventing automated software or "bots" from utilizing or abusing the resources. Resources such as web-mails, blogs and online-voting are vulnerable of abuse and need protection against the abuse. For example, a bot can create thousands of email accounts if it gets access to a web-mail. This activity heavily uses the server bandwidth and severely impacts the quality of the service. Similarly, a bot that gets access to a blog or online-voting can make automated postings and voting, respectively. As a result, the blog can be used by the bot for malicious activities such as commercial promotion, harassment, or even otherwise for degrading the blog service. Similarly, automated voting by a bot can easily influence the results of online-voting.
The earlier used CAPTCHAs involved warping or distorting the image of text or set of characters such that it could be easily identified and reproduced by humans. Bots or computer programs often failed to recognize the information present in these images and could not reproduce the correct information. As these images were presented at random, one could not have any prior idea about the textual information being displayed. However, with improvement in Optical Character Recognition (OCR) techniques, decoding such CAPTCHAs became possible. CAPTCHAs were then improved by embedding a distorted text image on a background image to form an image. Thereafter, to further add to the complexity, the text was struck through using an angled line which made identification by a computer system even more difficult. Another option used for increasing the difficulty level was to crowd the characters together. In other words, some extent of overlap in characters was used to increase the CAPTCHA's difficulty level. However, further developments in the OCR technology have made it possible to break these CAPTCHAs as well.
Efforts were then made to make CAPTCHAs that are not prone to be broken by OCR techniques. The CAPTCHAs developed then were based on image recognition rather than character recognition. For instance, a CAPTCHA included three to four different images in which an object was presented to a user; it further asked him/her to identify the common object. At the back-end, creating such a CAPTCHA included having a number of images corresponding to a predefined object and displaying three to four randomly selected images to the user. However, techniques evolved to decode such CAPTCHAs also. Such CAPTCHAs are based on static logic or hard artificial intelligence problems. Once the logic has been identified, a bot can decode all CAPTCHAs generated by that system. The one-time identification of the logic can be performed manually with few attempts and then the solution can be given to a bot to break all CAPTCHAs generated by that system and gain access to resources.
In light of the limitations associated with the existing CAPTCHAs, a need exists for a challenge for assuring human interaction that is difficult for a computer program or a bot to decode.

System and a method for generating challenges dynamically for assurance of human interaction


The disclosed subject matter generally relates to hybrid positioning systems and methods, more specifically, systems and methods of integrating a wireless local area network (WLAN) based positioning system (WLAN-PS) and a satellite positioning system (SPS) to improve accuracy of location estimates by selecting the best set of measurements from both systems.

1. Field
The disclosed subject matter generally relates to a hybrid positioning system and, more specifically, to selecting the best set of measurements between WLAN Access Points and satellite measurements to estimate the location of a mobile device.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years the number of mobile computing devices has increased dramatically, creating the need for more advanced mobile and wireless services. Mobile email, walkie-talkie services, multi-player gaming and call-following are examples of how new applications are emerging for mobile devices. In addition, users are beginning to demand/seek applications that not only utilize their current location but also share that location information with others. Parents wish to keep track of their children, supervisors need to track the locations of the company's delivery vehicles, and a business traveler looks to find the nearest pharmacy to pick up a prescription. All of these examples require an individual to know his own current location or the location of someone else. To date, we all rely on asking for directions, calling someone to ask their whereabouts or having workers check-in from time to time to report their positions.
Location-based services are an emerging area of mobile applications that leverage the ability of new devices to calculate their current geographic positions and report them to a user or to a service. Examples of these services range from obtaining local weather, traffic updates and driving directions to child trackers, buddy finders and urban concierge services. These new location-sensitive devices rely on a variety of technologies that all use the same general concept. By measuring radio signals originating from known reference points, these devices can mathematically calculate the user's position relative to these reference points. Each of these approaches has its strengths and weaknesses depending upon the nature of the signals and measurements, and the positioning algorithms employed.
The Navstar Global Positioning System (GPS) operated by the US Government leverages about two-dozen orbiting satellites in medium-earth orbits as reference points. A user equipped with a GPS receiver can estimate his three-dimensional position (latitude, longitude, and altitude) anywhere at any time within several meters of the true location as long as the receiver can see enough of the sky to have four or more satellites "in view." Cellular carriers have used signals originating from and received at cell towers to determine a user's or a mobile device's location. Assisted GPS (AGPS) is another model that combines both GPS and cellular tower techniques to estimate the locations of mobile users who may be indoors and must cope with attenuation of GPS signals on account of sky blockage. In this model, the cellular network attempts to help a GPS receiver improve its signal reception by transmitting information about the satellite positions, their clock offsets, a precise estimate of the current time, and a rough location of the user based on the location of cell towers. No distinction is made in what follows between GPS and AGPS.
All positioning systems using satellites as reference points are referred to herein as Satellite-based Positioning System (SPS). While GPS is the only operational SPS at this writing, other systems are under development or in planning. A Russian system called GLONASS and a European system called Galileo may become operational in the next few years. All such systems are referred to herein as SPS. GPS, GLONASS and Galileo are all based on the same basic idea of trilateration, i.e., estimating a position on the basis of measurements of ranges to the satellites whose positions are known. In each case, the satellites transmit the values of certain parameters which allow the receiver to compute the satellite position at a specific instant. The ranges to satellites from a receiver are measured in terms of the transit times of the signals. These range measurements can contain a common bias due to the lack of synchronization between the satellite and receiver (user device) clocks, and are referred to as pseudoranges. The lack of synchronization between the satellite clock and the receiver (user device) clock can result in a difference between the receiver clock and the satellite clock, which is referred to as internal SPS receiver clock bias or receiver clock bias, here. In order to estimate a three dimensional position there is a need for four satellites to estimate receiver clock bias along with three dimensional measurements. Additional measurements from each satellite correspond to pseudorange rates in the form of Doppler frequency. References below to raw SPS measurements are intended generally to mean pseudoranges and Doppler frequency measurements. References to SPS data are intended generally to mean data broadcast by the satellites. References to an SPS equation are intended to mean a mathematical equation relating the measurements and data from a satellite to the position and velocity of an SPS receiver.
WLAN-based positioning is a technology which uses WLAN access points to determine the location of mobile users. Metro-wide WLAN-based positioning systems have been explored by several research labs. The most important research efforts in this area have been conducted by the PlaceLab (www.placelab.com, a project sponsored by Microsoft and Intel); the University of California, San Diego ActiveCampus project (ActiveCampus—Sustaining Educational Communities through Mobile Technology, technical report #CS2002-0714); and the MIT campus-wide location system. There is only one commercial metropolitan WLAN-based positioning system in the market at the time of this writing, and it is referred to herein as the WPS (WiFi positioning system) product of Skyhook Wireless, Inc (www.skyhookwireless.com).
FIG. 1 depicts a conventional WLAN-based positioning system based on WiFi signals. The positioning system includes positioning software 103 that resides on a mobile or user device 101. Throughout a particular target geographical area, there are a plurality of fixed wireless access points 102 that transmit information using control/common channel signals. The device 101 monitors these transmissions. Each access point contains a unique hardware identifier known as a MAC address. The client positioning software 103 receives transmissions from the 802.11 access points in its range and calculates the geographic location of the computing device using the characteristics of the radio signals. Those characteristics include the MAC addresses, the unique identifiers of the 802.11 access points, the Time of Arrival (TOA) of the signals, and the signal strength at the client device 101. The client software 103 compares the observed 802.11 access points with those in its reference database 104 of access points. This reference database 104 may or may not reside in the device 101. The reference database 104 contains the calculated geographic locations and power profiles of all access points the system has collected. A power profile may be generated from a collection of measurements of the signal power or signal TOA at various locations. Using these known locations or power profiles, the client software 103 calculates the position of the user device 101 relative to the known positions of the access points 102 and determines the device's 101 absolute geographic coordinates in the form of latitude and longitude or latitude, longitude and altitude. These readings then can be fed to location-based applications such as friend finders, local search web sites, fleet management systems, and an E911 service.
In the discussion herein, raw WLAN measurements from an access point are generally intended to mean received signal strength (RSS) and/or times of arrival (TOAs) and/or time differences of arrival (TDOAs). References to data are generally intended to mean the MAC address, one or more record(s) of it, one or more power profile(s), and other attributes based on previous measurements of that access point. References to a WLAN-PS equation are intended to mean a mathematical equation relating the WLAN-PS measurements and data to the location of the mobile device.
A WLAN-based positioning system can be used indoors or outdoors. The only requirement is presence of WLAN access points in the vicinity of the user. The WLAN-based position systems can be leveraged using existing off-the-shelf WLAN cards without any modification other than to employ logic to estimate position.
FIG. 2 illustrates a conventional way of integrating WLAN-PS and SPS, which consists of a WLAN-PS 201 and a SPS 206, and a location combining logic 210.
WLAN-PS 201 and SPS 206 are stand-alone systems and each can operate independently of the other system. Thus, the result of each system can be calculated independent of the other system. The estimated location along with the expected error estimation of each system can be fed to the location combining logic 210. The expected error estimation also is referred to as HPE (horizontal positioning error) herein. The nominal rate of location update of SPS 206 and WLAN-PS 201 is once per second. The location combining logic 210 combines location estimates calculated in the same second by both systems.
WLAN-PS 201 is a conventional system which estimates the location of a mobile device by using WLAN access points. WLAN-PS 201 can include a scanner of WLAN APs 202, a select WLAN APs device 203, a trilateration device 204, and HPE estimation device 205.
WLAN Scanner 202 detects WLAN APs surrounding the mobile device by detecting the received power (RSS, received signal strength) and/or time of arrival (TOA) of the signal. Different methods can be used to detect WLAN APs including active scanning, passive scanning or combination of passive and active scanning.
The select WLAN APs device 203 selects the best set of WLAN APs to estimate the location of the mobile device. For example, if ten WLAN APs are detected and one AP is located in Chicago and the other nine are located in Boston, without any other information, the Boston APs are selected. This is an indication that Chicago AP has been moved to Boston. Please see U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/359,154 as filed Feb. 22, 2006 and entitled "Continuous Data Optimization of Moved Access Points in Positioning Systems," the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. In the conventional system the best set of WLAN APs can be selected based on geographical distribution of WLAN APs in addition to corresponding parameters of WLAN APs, including received signal strength, signal to noise ratio, and the probability of being moved.
The trilateration device 204 can use WLAN APs and their corresponding measurements and characteristics to estimate the location of the mobile device. Received signal strength or TOA measurements from the WLAN AP can be used to estimate the distance of the mobile device to the WLAN AP. The aggregation of distance estimates from different WLAN APs with known location of the APs can be used to calculate location of the mobile device. Trilateration device 204 also can use a method which is called nearest neighbor, in which a location with a power profile similar or closest to the power reading of the mobile device is reported as the final location of the mobile device. The power profile of each WLAN AP or entire coverage area can be found in the calibration phase of the system by detailed survey of the coverage area.
HPE estimation device 205 is the module which estimates the expected error of the position estimate of the mobile device. The HPE or Horizontal Positioning Error is calculated based on previously scanned APs and their characteristics and also on characteristics of the received signal as was discussed in co-pending Skyhook Wireless application Ser. No. 11/625,450 entitled "System and Method for Estimating Positioning Error Within a WLAN Based Positioning System," the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
The SPS system 206 consists of a satellite signal receiver and measurement device 207, trilateration device 208, and the SPS HPE estimation device 209.
The satellite signal receiver and measurement device 207 receives signals from the satellites in view of the device, decodes the received signal, and measures the satellite parameters from each satellite. The measurements can include pseudorange, carrier frequency, and Doppler frequency.
The trilateration device 208 uses measurements from at least four satellites and location of the satellites in view to estimate location of the user device, velocity, and direction of travel of the mobile device.
HPE estimation device 209 estimates the expected error of the estimated location. The HPE estimation device 209 is conventional and calculates expected error based on geometry of the satellites and signal quality of the received signal from satellites, for example, DOP (dilution of precision), and C/N (carrier to noise ratio).
Location combining logic 210 receives location and HPE estimates calculated for almost the same second from WLAN-PS 201 and SPS 206. In other words, measurements and estimations which are made at the same time are compared and combined. Practically, measurements and estimations within one second can be considered the same time. The location combining logic 210 of the user device reports one estimated location by selecting one of them or linearly combining them. For example, location combining logic might select one of the estimated locations provided by WLAN-PS 201 or SPS 206 based on reported expected error, HPE, or it might report weighted average of estimated locations by both systems according to the HPE.

Methods and systems for determining location using a hybrid satellite and WLAN positioning system by selecting the best SPS measurements


A papermaking screen, especially for the sheet forming zone, has one paper side and one machine side with a first type of transverse yarns of the paper side and a second type of transverse yarns (25 to 40) of the machine side. The transverse yarns are woven with at least one type of longitudinal yarns (41 to 56). The longitudinal yarns (41 to 56) on the machine side within the machine-side pattern repeat bind two respective transverse yarns of the second type (25, 28; 31, 34; 37, 40). The division of the intersections for the longitudinal yarns is then improved, so that marks in the paper to be produced are prevented to the greatest extent possible.

The dewatering of the fiber suspension by filtration is an important process within the papermaking process. The fiber suspension is a mixture of wood or cellulose fibers, fillers, auxiliary chemical agents and mainly water. This filtration process, which is often also called sheet formation, takes place in the sheet forming part of the wet part of the papermaking machine.
To be able to produce a paper sheet as uniform as possible, it is necessary to increase the amount of water to approximately 99% within the fiber suspension immediately before sheet formation. During the sheet forming process, this proportion is reduced to approximately 80% by filtration. The paper fibers and the fillers and auxiliary agents remain as fiber mat on the papermaking screen.
While in the past dewatering took place mainly by the papermaking screen on Fourdrinier paper machines, double screen machines are being used more and more often today, preferably so-called gap formers. They are characterized in that the fiber suspension is sprayed into a gap formed by two papermaking screens. Dewatering takes place at the same time by two screens to significantly accelerate the filtration process and the production rate of the papermaking machine. At present, papermaking machines for the sanitary paper domain have speeds of more than 2,000 meters/min.
These extreme conditions in the papermaking machine require sheet forming screens designed especially for this purpose and offering high fiber support with high stability and openness. In addition, a low tendency to marking of the fabric, that is to say, high fabric uniformity, is necessary especially for the domain of graphic paper.
A fabric or papermaking screen which most satisfies these requirements is described in DE 100 30 650 C1.


A phase lock loop operates independent of temperature and process variation by digitally loading a VCO until reaching the desired operating frequency. The VCO reaches a high output frequency even under worst case processing by controlling multiple current mirrors to increase inverter switching current without slowing the response of the VCO to changes in loop node voltage. An Initialize-to-VDD circuit sets the loop node voltage to V.sub.DD so that the load control circuit need only increase loading to slow down the VCO to the desired operating frequency. A frequency range detector monitors the output frequency of the VCO and passes control signals to a load control circuit to activate digital loads and slow down the VCO to the desired operating frequency.

The present invention relates in general to phase lock loops and, more particularly, to a high frequency voltage controlled oscillator with digital controlled loads.
A conventional phase lock loop (PLL) generally includes a phase detector for monitoring a phase difference between an input signal and an output signal of a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO). The phase detector generates an up control signal and a down control signal for a charge pump to charge and discharge a loop filter at a loop node at the input of the VCO. The loop voltage developed across the loop filter determines the output frequency of the VCO. The up and down control signals driving the charge pump set the proper loop filter voltage at the input of the VCO to maintain a predetermined phase relationship between the signals applied to the phase detector.
PLLs are widely used in data communications, local area networks in computer applications, microprocessors and data storage applications to control data transfers. PLLs are often implemented with Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) technology to provide low cost and low power operation allowing a system designer to extend the tracking range and frequency-aided acquisition. As the operating frequency of PLLs continue to increase to meet the demand for higher communication data rates, the system designer must deal with problems of temperature and manufacturing process variation affecting the operation of the PLL. The VCO is a primary temperature and process sensitive component affecting high frequency PLL operation. Ideally, the VCO should operate at a known frequency given a loop node voltage. However, the actual operating speed of a VCO, given a loop node voltage, is often uncertain.
A typical maximum operating frequency for a conventional VCO is 100 MHz under worst case processing. It is desirable for the VCO to operate at least 200 MHz with the loop node voltage at its maximum (V.sub.DD), even under worst case processing and high temperature conditions based on operating environment and wafer characteristics. However, under the best case temperature and processing conditions, the same VCO design may operate at a much higher frequency, say 860 MHz, with the same loop node voltage V.sub.DD. In fact, the entire frequency-gain curve (MHz/volt) of the VCO operation is affected by temperature and processing conditions. For example, the VCO frequency gain under worst case processing may be 17 MHz/volt at 200 MHz, while under best case processing conditions, the VCO frequency gain is 365 MHz/volt. Thus, the uncertainty in VCO output frequency as a function of temperature and process parameters given a loop node voltage, effects accuracy, stability, jitter and tuning range of the PLL.
Hence, a need exists for a high frequency VCO to operate at a known frequency given a loop node voltage.

Circuit and method of controlling a VCO with capacitive loads


Methods and systems for providing lawful intercept of a media stream in a media gateway include establishing a call context between a first termination and a second termination and establishing a tap context with at least one tap termination, which refer to the first termination. The call context defines a call media stream between the first and second terminations associated with a call between first and second end users. The tap context defines at least one tap media stream from the first termination to the at least one tap termination. The tap media stream is a one-way media stream that carries either the mouth portion of the call media stream, the ear portion of the media stream, or a combination of the mouth and ear portions of the media stream from the first termination to the at least one tap termination. Multiple tap contexts can be created to support the lawful intercept of the call by multiple law enforcement agencies.

Court-authorized access to telephone communications is an important tool for effective law enforcement. The introduction of new, digitally-based technologies, transmission modes, services, and features have made it increasingly difficult for law enforcement to conduct court-authorized electronic surveillance. Tapping calls in packet-based communication networks is particularly difficult because communication channels may be dynamically provisioned, such that there is no static line to tap, and because subscribers frequently move from one service provider to another. In packet-based communications networks, a media gateway is a network entity that switches media stream communications between its input and output ports and may translate the media stream from one format to another format. Media gateways do not participate in call signaling and consequently do not maintain call state information. A media gateway controller performs signaling functions to establish and tear down calls across media gateways.
One problem with lawfully intercepting communications in conventional media gateways is that the protocols used to control connections in media gateways fail to provide an easily scalable mechanism for intercepting a media stream. For example, the MEGACO protocol, as described in ITU-T Recommendation H.248, includes commands for establishing and modifying contexts in a media gateway. A context is analogous to a call or a communications session between one or more parties. In a media gateway, a context is defined by its endpoints, referred to as terminations. Typically, a context has two terminations in the media gateway—one for communications to and from one party and one for communications to and from another party. The context also defines the direction of the communication, or media stream, between the terminations.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a call context 100 having a lawful intercept through a media gateway modeled after a traditional three-way calling configuration. In FIG. 1, the call context includes a bidirectional media stream 102 between Termination A 104 and Termination B 106 in a media gateway 107. The media stream 102 carries media traffic between Termination A 104 and Termination B 106 and allows end users to communicate normally. A third termination, Intercept A 108, is added to the context to accommodate authorized monitoring of the media stream 102 by law enforcement. A TDM matrix 109 switches the media stream 102, 110 between the terminations. Normally, in a three-way call, the media stream between each termination is bi-directional. However, it is desirable for the media stream 110 toward Intercept A 108 to be one-way to prevent sound that might lead to the detection of Intercept A from being received by the other terminations. Thus, the media stream 110 toward Intercept A 108 is configured as a one way only stream to allow law enforcement to monitor the call without interference.
The MEGACO protocol provides for a topology descriptor, which is used to specify flow directions between terminations in a context. The default topology of a context is that each termination's transmission is received by all other terminations. Changing the association between terminations changes the topology of a context. Thus, to implement a lawful intercept using the topology descriptor, the lawful intercept media streams should be configured as one-way toward the law enforcement monitoring termination.
A shortcoming of this arrangement becomes apparent if more than one law enforcement agency is intercepting the media stream. As shown in FIG. 2, three intercept terminations 108 have been added to the call context to accommodate interception by three different agencies. Changes made to the call impact each termination in the context. For example, if the end user on Termination A 104 wishes to add another termination to establish a three-way conversation or if one of the law enforcement agencies wishes to cease its interception of the call, the topology descriptor in the call context would need to be updated, which involves several steps of MEGACO commands. This can be a cumbersome management task and may result in delays in establishing or terminating calls. Moreover, the media gateway may limit the number of terminations permitted in a call context. The limitation on terminations may limit the number of lawful intercepts that could be applied and may altogether prevent the application of a lawful intercept.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide a mechanism to permit the lawful intercept of a call while minimizing the increased load on call management resources.


A transceiver for low-complexity beam steering. The transceiver has a first antenna array including a first sub-aperture with a first native beam steering angle and a second antenna array including a second sub-aperture with a second native beam steering angle different than the first native beam steering angle. The first antenna array and the second antenna array are arranged in the transceiver such that the first sub-aperture is combinable with the second sub-aperture to form a combined aperture when the first antenna array and the second antenna array are excited.

Two-directional beam steering for phased array antennas can be used for communications applications as well as radar applications. Examples of communications applications include point-to-point wireless backhaul, point-to-multipoint fixed wireless installations, wireless infrastructure mesh network, and others. Non-limiting examples of radar applications include automotive long-range radar, indoor robotic navigation, and others.
One conventional type of beam steering technique involves electro-mechanical phase control, but only allows control of a single beam. In addition, it is difficult to extend to a larger number of elements in a one-dimensional (1D) array, it is not viable for two-dimensional (2D) arrays, and it is susceptible to mechanical tolerances and sensitive to shock and vibration. Another type of conventional beam steering involves summing a forward signal with a reverse signal reflected from a phase shifter at the end of a main transmission line to determine phase shifts. However, this method requires a larger number of amplifiers and can only be used to steer a single beam.

Low-complexity beam steering in array apertures


A method of producing a sand mold, comprising: after defining a mold space at least by a pattern plate, a flask, and a squeeze means, and after blow-charging molding sand held in a sand blowing device located above the mold space into the mold space by ejecting a first compressed air near sand ejecting ports of the sand blowing device thereby fluidizing the molding sand near the sand ejecting ports, while supplying a second compressed air to a surface of the molding sand held in the sand blowing device, moving the squeeze means toward the pattern plate, where in the pressure of the first compressed air and the period of time for supplying the first compressed air are adjusted to produce a good sand mold. To determine the period of time for ejecting the first compressed air, the distance of the movement of the squeeze feet toward the pattern plate is measured when the squeeze of the molding sand in the mold space is completed, and the difference between the measured distance and a target distance is calculated. The period is adjusted to be a shorter or lengthened one based on the result of the calculation.

A conventional method of producing a sand mold is disclosed in JP 2002-346697A, wherein after a mold space is defined by a flask placed on a pattern plate, a filling frame placed on the flask, and multiple squeeze heads inserted in the filling frame from above, and after the molding sand located at sand ejecting ports of a sand blowing device is fluidized by ejecting a compressed air to the molding sand at that location, a compressed air is supplied to the upper surface of the molding sand in the sand blowing device for a predetermined period of time to blow-charge the molding sand from the sand blowing device into the mold space, and the squeeze heads are lowered to squeeze the molding sand such that the level of the upper surface of the produced sand mold coincides with that of the flask.
However, in the conventional method of producing a sand mold as configured above, the squeeze length of the molding sand varies as the CB value (compactability) of molding sand, which is a property of the molding sand, varies. Thus the level of the upper surface of the produced sand mold tends to be lower or higher than that of the flask.
To attempt to overcome this drawback, the position, or level, of the squeeze heads are changed to change the volume of the mold space. However, if the volume after changed is large, the period of time for blow charging the molding sand, which is the period for supplying a compressed air to the surface of the molding sand, would be short and causes insufficient blow charging.
Further, the inventors of the present invention have developed a molding machine, wherein after upper and lower mold space halves are defined by upper and lower flasks, each formed with a sand blow-in port in its sidewall, a match plate disposed between the upper and lower flasks, and upper and lower squeeze means provided with a plurality of squeeze feet to be inserted in the upper and lower mold space halves from the openings located at one side opposite to the other side of each of the upper and lower flasks located at the match plate, and after molding sand is blow charged from the sand ejecting nozzles of a sand blowing device through sand blow-in ports into the upper and lower mold space halves, the upper and lower squeeze heads are approached each other to compact the molding sand in the mold space halves to produce mold halves. However, since in this conventional molding machine the compressed air is ejected under a high pressure to blow charge the molding sand well, the sand ejecting nozzles tend to be clogged, casing insufficient blow charge and necessitating troublesome cleaning of the nozzles.


In a method of manufacturing a circuit forming board, a first sheet having a first direction is transferred in a second direction, so that the first direction of the first sheet is parallel to the second direction. Films are stuck onto both surfaces of the first sheet while transferring the first sheet in a third direction orthogonal to the first direction of the first sheet. This method allows a connecting member, such as conductive paste, to electrically couple between layers of the circuit forming board.

As electronic apparatuses have had a reduced size and included dense arrangement in their packages, circuit-forming boards having electronic components mounted thereon employ double-sided and multi-layer boards which can have more circuits and more components mounted thereon.
A conventional circuit forming board disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 6-268345 will be explained. FIG. 6 illustrates a method of manufacturing prepreg sheet 13, a material of the board. A fiber sheet, such as glass cloth 11, used as a reinforcing member is dipped into varnish 12, impregnating impregnation material containing solvent having thermosetting resin diluted therein, thus impregnating glass cloth 11 with a predetermined amount of varnish 12. In order to adjust the amount of varnish 12, varnish 12 is squeezed by rollers, and then, is heated to change into a semi-cured state (stage B). The glass cloth in the stage B containing varnish is cut into pieces having a predetermined size, thus providing prepreg sheets 13 as material of circuit forming boards.
As shown in FIG. 6, prepreg sheet 13 is cut into a rectangle having longitudinal direction 202. The longitudinal direction 202 is oriented along a machine direction (MD), a direction in which glass cloth 11 is transferred. Film is stuck onto each surface of prepreg sheet 13 by a method shown in FIGS. 7 and 8.
FIG. 7 is a perspective view illustrating a process of sticking the film on prepreg sheet 13. FIG. 8 illustrates prepreg sheet 13 and film 14 seen along direction 204 in the process. Prepreg sheet 13 is introduced between films 14 along direction 201 (MD), i.e. the longitudinal direction 202, and then, films 14 are pressed onto prepreg sheet 13 by heated rollers 15, thereby heating and pressing prepreg sheet 13. Since the resin impregnated in prepreg sheet 13 is in the semi-cured state, the resin melts due to the heating, hence allowing film 14 to adhere temporarily onto prepreg sheet 13. Then, films 14 are cut into pieces having predetermined sizes along line 203, hence providing laminated prepreg sheet 16.
A method of manufacturing the circuit forming board will be described hereinafter. FIGS. 9A-9G show sectional views of the circuit forming board for illustrating the method of manufacturing the board. FIG. 9A shows laminated prepreg sheet 16 including prepreg sheet 13 and films 14 adhering onto both surfaces of sheet 13. As shown in FIG. 9B, prepreg sheet 16 is pierced by a laser beam, thereby forming a via-hole 17. The hole 17 is then filled with conductive paste 18 by printing, as shown in FIG. 9C. Conductive paste 18 is formed by mixing metallic particles, such as copper, with thermosetting resin, such as epoxy resin. Then, as shown in FIG. 9D, films 14 are peeled off. Since a small amount of resin component of films 14 melting on the surfaces of prepreg sheet 13 to allow films 14 to be temporarily stuck onto prepreg sheet 13, films 14 can be peeled off easily. As shown in FIG. 9D, paste 18 projects from sheet 13 by the thicknesses of films 14 after the peeling of the films. Then, as shown in FIG. 9E, copper foils 19 are placed on upper and lower surfaces of sheet 13, and then is hot-pressed by a hot presser, such as a vacuum hot presser. The resin component of sheet 13 melts and undergoes molding and curing steps, and then conductive paste 18 is compressed. As a result, copper foils 19 on both surfaces of sheet 13 are electrically connected to paste 18, as shown in FIG. 9F. Then, copper foils 19 are etched to have a predetermined pattern for forming circuit 20, as shown in FIG. 9G, thus providing a double-sided circuit forming board.
In the foregoing method, sheet 13 shown in FIG. 9D, upon having an uneven thickness, causes variation of a compressing rate of paste 18 at the hot-pressing, as shown in FIGS. 9E and 9F. The variation causes variation of a resistance of paste 18 which connects circuits 20 on both surfaces of the circuit forming board, thereby adversely affecting quality and reliability of the board.
That is, via-hole 17 formed in a thick portion of prepreg sheet 13, as shown in FIG. 9D, reduces a compression rate of paste 18, hence increasing a resistance of paste 18.
On the contrary, via-hole 17 formed in a thin portion of sheet 13 increases the compression rate of paste 18, hence reducing a resistance of paste 18. As such, the compression rate actually varies from a standard rate estimated based on an amount of the metallic particles mixed with the thermosetting resin, hence reducing the reliability of the coupling.
If the circuit forming board is required to have equal resistances, for instance, for handling high frequency signals, it is undesirable to allow electric resistance of paste 18 to vary according to a position of the board.
Even after films 14 are stuck onto prepreg sheet 13 having a large variation of the thickness, the variation of the thickness of sheet 13 still remains, hence allowing the variation of the thickness of the sheet 13 to remain even in laminated prepreg sheet 16. This problem also occurs in cases other than the case that glass cloth 11, a woven fabric, is employed as the material of prepreg sheet 13, i.e., the fiber sheet as the reinforcing member. This problem may occur in the case that unwoven fabric is employed. Woven fabric is impregnated with an amount of varnish 12 less than unwoven fabric. A larger amount of varnish 12 is accordingly attached at the surfaces of prepreg sheet 13, hence allowing the variation of the thickness of the woven fabric to affect electrical properties of conductive paste 18.
As thinner circuit forming boards have been recently demanded, glass cloth 11 becomes thin. This increases the amount of varnish 12 attached at the surface of prepreg sheet 13, hence making the above problem more serious.
In order to prevent the problem, it is essential that prepreg sheet 13 shown in FIG. 9A has an even thickness.
However, an accuracy limitation of manufacturing apparatuses limits flatness of the thickness of prepreg sheet 13 to a certain level when varnish 12 is squeezed with rollers, as shown in FIG. 6, and when films 14 are stuck onto both surfaces of sheet 13.

Method of manufacturing circuit forming board


A semiconductor integrated circuit is equipped with a memory cell including a capacitor composing a ferroelectric body that stores data depending on a polarization state determined by an applied voltage and a direction of the voltage, a sense amplifier circuit that reads out data from the memory cell, and a reference potential generation circuit that generates a reference potential VREF for the sense amplifier circuit. When supplying the reference potential VREF to the sense amplifier circuit, when data is read from the ferroelectric body, the reference potential VREF from the reference potential generation circuit is supplied to the sense amplifier circuit based on a signal PLR for driving a cell plate that forms one of electrodes of the capacitor.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for supplying a reference potential to a sense amplifier circuit in a semiconductor integrated circuit that is equipped with a memory cell including a capacitor as a charge storage capacitor and a switch element as a transfer gate, a semiconductor integrated circuit, a semiconductor device equipped with many of the semiconductor integrated circuits, and an electronic apparatus using the semiconductor device, and more particularly to a technology to control the timing for supplying a reference potential to a sense amplifier circuit at the time of data reading.
2. Conventional Technology
A conventional semiconductor integrated circuit structure equipped with capacitors having ferroelectric bodies and their operation are shown in a block diagram in FIG. 6 and in a timing chart shown in FIG. 7, respectively.
First, the circuit structure shown in FIG. 6 is described. As being well known, memory cells 1xcx9c4 arranged side by side include, as their components, capacitors 9, 10, 11 and 12 as charge storage capacitors formed from ferroelectric bodies, and Nch transistors 5, 6, 7 and 8 as transfer gates for switching the capacitors, respectively. With a sense amplifier 13 for reading data being at the center, each of the memory cells 1 and 2 is connected to the sense amplifier 13 through a bit line BLR on the right side of the sense amplifier 13, and is also connected to a plate line PLR on the right side. On the other hand, each of the memory cells 3 and 4 is connected to the sense amplifier 13 through a bit line BLL on the left side, and is also connected to a plate line PLL on the left side. Gates of the Nch transistors 5, 6, 7 and 8 of the memory cells are connected to corresponding independent word lines WL1R, WL2R, WL1L and WL2L, respectively. Each of the bit lines BLR and BLL is connected to one of the source/drain of each of the Nch transistors 15 and 16, respectively. The other of the source/drain of each of the Nch transistors 15 and 16 is grounded, and gates thereof are connected to signal lines for providing pre-charge signals PRC.
The sense amplifier 13 receives an input of a sense amplifier drive signal SA and outputs data read out from each of the memory cells. A reference potential VREF is inputted in the sense amplifier 13 from a reference potential generation circuit 14 through the Nch transistors 17 and 18. Gates of the Nch transistors 17 and 18 connect to signal lines that transfer reference potential application signals REFL and REFR, respectively.
Also, a block selection circuit 19 outputs a block signal BLK to selectively switch between a group of the signal lines on the right side to be driven (WL1R, WL2R, PLR, REFR) and a group of the signal lines on the left side (WL1L, WL2L, PLL, REFL), and to select among the memory cells 1xcx9c4 that are subject to a reading operation or a writing operation.
Next, a reading operation is described with reference to FIG. 6 and FIG. 7. FIG. 5 is a timing chart of a reading operation. For example, when the memory cell 1 is read, the pre-charge signal PRC is lowered from the power supply potential VDD to the GND potential, and then the block signal BLK is elevated to the power supply potential VDD. Subsequently, the reference potential application signal REFR is elevated, then, the bit line BLL is charged to the reference potential VREF because the Nch transistor 18 is turned on, such that the bit line BLR retains the GND potential (in an open state). Next, the GND potential on the word line WL1R is set to the power supply potential VDD, to thereby put the transistor 5 in an ON state. Subsequently, when the GND potential on the cell plate line PLR is set to the power supply potential VDD, a potential corresponding to a charge (data) associated with a polarization retained in the ferroelectric capacitor 9 is generated on the bit line BLR. Here, when the reference potential VREF is set at a value intermediate the bit line potentials that are to be generated respectively corresponding to H level and L level of data, the sense amplifier 13 detects and amplifies the magnitude of the potential, such that data corresponding to H level or L level of memory cell data are outputted. It is noted that, in here, WL1L, WL2L, PLL and REFL are fixed at the GND potential by the BLK signal.
In the conventional semiconductor integrated circuit, as shown in FIG. 7, the timing to turn on the sense amplifier 13 (the timing at which the sense amplifier drive signal SA is elevated to the power supply potential VDD) must be set, in theory, at least after t3. In addition, in practice, a response delay in the detection sensitivity of the sense amplifier, a delay time in which AV (a potential difference on the bit line BLR, BLL with respect to the reference potential VREF) becomes sufficiently large, and the like have to be considered. Therefore, the timing to turn on the sense amplifier 13 has to be set in a period after t4. For this reason, a fatal problem as a memory device, namely, slow reading speed, has not been overcome.
The present invention solves the problem described above, and its object is to quicken the timing to apply a reference potential to be supplied to a sense amplifier, to thereby quicken the on-timing of the sense amplifier, and to improve the reading speed.
In a method for supplying a reference potential to a sense amplifier in a semiconductor integrated circuit in accordance with the present invention, a method is provided for supplying a reference potential to a sense amplifier in a semiconductor integrated circuit equipped with a memory cell including a capacitor composing a ferroelectric body that stores data depending on a polarization state determined by an applied voltage and a direction of the voltage, a sense amplifier circuit that reads out data from the memory cell, and a reference potential generation circuit that generates a reference potential for the sense amplifier circuit, wherein, when the data is read from the ferroelectric body, a reference potential from the reference potential generation circuit is supplied to the sense amplifier circuit based on a signal that drives a cell plate that composes one of the electrodes of the capacitor.
Also, in a semiconductor integrated circuit in accordance with the present invention, the semiconductor integrated circuit reads the data from the ferroelectric body by the method for supplying a reference potential described above, and is equipped with a memory cell including a capacitor composing a ferroelectric body that stores data depending on a polarization state determined by an applied voltage and a direction of the voltage, a sense amplifier circuit that reads out data from the memory cell, and a reference potential generation circuit that generates a reference potential for the sense amplifier circuit.
Furthermore, in a semiconductor integrated circuit in accordance with the present invention, the semiconductor integrated circuit is equipped with a memory cell including a capacitor composing a ferroelectric body that stores data depending on a polarization state determined by an applied voltage and a direction of the voltage, a sense amplifier circuit that reads out data from the memory cell, and a reference potential generation circuit that generates a reference potential for the sense amplifier circuit, wherein a plate line is connected to a cell plate that composes one of the electrodes of the capacitor for transmitting a drive signal for reading out the data, and wherein a switch element is interposed in a supply path for supplying the reference potential between the reference potential generation circuit and the sense amplifier circuit, wherein the switch element is connected to the plate line, and is placed in an ON state upon receiving the drive signal that is transmitted to the plate line, and the reference potential is supplied to the sense amplifier circuit through the switch element.
Also, in a semiconductor device in accordance with the present invention, the semiconductor device is equipped with a memory cell group including many of the memory cells arranged side by side, the bit line and the plate line, the word lines, and the sense amplifier circuit in the semiconductor integrated circuit described above, wherein a data output line is connected to the sense amplifier circuit for reading out the data.
Furthermore, an electronic apparatus in accordance with the present invention is equipped with the semiconductor device described above.
In accordance with the present invention described above, a reference potential to be applied to the sense amplifier is applied at the same timing as a potential shift on the bit line, such that the timing of the sense amplifier is quickened, and therefore the reading speed can be improved.

METHOD FOR SUPPLYING REFERENCE POTENTIAL TO SENSE AMPLIFIER CIRCUIT IN SEMICONDUCTOR INTEGRATED CIRCUIT, SEMICONDUCTOR INTEGRATED CIRCUIT, SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE EQUIPPED WITH MANY OF THE SEMICONDUCTOR INTEGRATED CIRCUITS, AND ELECTRONIC APPARATUS USING THE SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE


A complex Fourier transform is performed on measured values of wall thickness at points in a cross section of a pipe in an axial direction, types of thickness deviation are classified, thickness deviation amount is calculated from the absolute value of the complex Fourier component, the position of a thick or thin portion of thickness deviation is calculated from the phase of the complex Fourier component, and manufacturing conditions of the pipe are adjusted based on these variables. The relationship r·exp(jθ) between the thickness deviation amount r and phase θ of a first-order thickness deviation obtained for cross sections in the axial direction is subjected to a complex Fourier transform as a function of pipe longitudinal direction, the thickness deviation is further classified by the frequency of twist of the thickness deviation, and an action is taken to prevent the thickness deviation according to the classified thickness deviation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a manufacturing method/manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing a seamless pipe while preventing occurrence of thickness deviations, a thickness deviation information derivation apparatus for deriving information about a thickness deviation, and a computer program for realizing a computer as the thickness deviation information derivation apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
A typical example of a manufacturing method of seamless pipes is a method using a mandrel mill. In this method, first, a billet heated to a required temperature in a heating furnace is pierced and rolled by a piercing mill to obtain a hollow shell, next the hollow shell is drawn and rolled using the mandrel mill, and then sizing rolling to adjust the external diameter and wall thickness is performed using a reducing mill or a sizing mill.
In a seamless pipe manufactured by the above-mentioned process, various types of thickness deviations as shown in FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B may occur. FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B are cross sectional views of a seamless pipe with various types of thickness deviations. FIG. 1A shows cross sections in the direction of the axis of the seamless pipe, and FIG. 1B shows a cross section including the central axis of the seamless pipe. Various factors are listed as the causes of the thickness deviations. Among them, as a factor related to manufacturing equipment, for example, misalignment between the central axis of a plug for use in piercing and the central axis of the billet, or uneven heating temperature of the billet due to insufficient heating in the heating furnace, is listed. A first-order thickness deviation is caused by this factor. On the other hand, a second-order thickness deviation and a fourth-order thickness deviation are caused by the misalignment of the roll position from a set target position in the mandrel mill and the deviation of the radius of a mandrel bar used in the mandrel mill from an appropriate value. Moreover, a third-order thickness deviation and a sixth-order thickness deviation are caused by tool defects in the reducing mill or the sizing mill. Further, as shown in FIG. 1B, there is a deviation of wall thickness changing in the longitudinal direction. A possible cause of this thickness deviation is a deviation due to inclined rolling, such as, for example, the above-mentioned first-order thickness deviation caused by the piercing mill.
In order to prevent occurrence of such thickness deviations, it is necessary to measure the wall thickness of a manufactured seamless pipe, know the state of a thickness deviation, when it is detected, specify the cause of the thickness deviation, and adjust the manufacturing equipment or manufacturing conditions to eliminate the specified cause.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 59-7407 (1984) discloses a technique of dividing the cause of a first-order thickness deviation that occurs in an inclined rolling mill, such as a piercing mill, by noticing the degree of twist of a thin portion in a cross section of a seamless pipe in the longitudinal direction. On the other hand, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-135409 (1986) discloses a technique of determining the cause of thickness deviation by measuring the wall thickness of a seamless pipe spirally and analyzing a first-order thickness deviation, a third-order thickness deviation of a 120° cycle, and a second-order thickness deviation of a 180° cycle by Fourier analysis of the measurement results. Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-271241 (1996) discloses a technique in which two gamma rays are passed through a seamless pipe, and a first-order thickness deviation is specified based on the difference between the attenuation amounts of the two gamma rays.
In the prior arts mentioned above, the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 59-7407 (1984) has the problem that, when there are various types of thickness deviations, it is difficult to determine the form of twist of the first-order thickness deviation. On the other hand, since the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-135409 (1986) does not disclose a method of analyzing the position of a thickness deviation in the circumferential direction, this technique has the problem that it is impossible to determine an adjustment position where manufacturing conditions are to be adjusted to prevent the thickness deviation, and an adjustment amount. Further, it does not disclose specific measures to prevent a fourth-order thickness deviation of a 90° cycle, a sixth-order thickness deviation of a 60° cycle, etc. Additionally, the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-271241 (1996) has the problem that it is impossible to divide an even-number-order thickness deviation and an odd-number order thickness deviation.

Manufacturing method and manufacturing apparatus of pipe, thickness deviation information derivation apparatus, and computer program