The invention relates to a method and an arrangement for counteracting inappropriate manual gearshifts in predetermined vehicle conditions by way of a gearshift control in a stage-geared transmission, arranged in a motor vehicle and having a shift servo for intensifying the shifting force applied to the gearshift control. In the case of a pneumatic or hydraulic shift servo the control unit is designed to interrupt the energy supply to the shift servo by closing a valve. The shifting force applied to the gearshift control can be measured, the level of the output force from the shift servo being determined as a function of the measured shifting force applied.

The present application is a continuation of International Application No. PCT/SE2005/000073, filed Jan. 21, 2005, which claims priority to SE 0400192-1, filed Jan. 30, 2004. The present invention relates to a method for counteracting inappropriate manual gearshifts in predetermined vehicle conditions by way of a gearshift control in a stage-geared transmission, arranged in a motor vehicle and having a shift servo for intensifying the shifting force applied to the gearshift control.
The present invention also relates to a motor vehicle stage-geared transmission, the input shaft of which is coupled to an engine arranged in the vehicle for propelling the vehicle by way of a clutch for isolating the engine from the transmission. The transmission comprises a gearshift control for manual gear selection, a sensor arrangement for detecting the shifting force applied to the gearshift control, a shift servo controlled by the sensor arrangement for amplifying the shifting force, and a clutch control for controlling the clutch.
The present invention also relates to a computer program for performing such a method with the aid of a computer.
In manually shifted vehicle transmissions it is in principle possible to engage any of the available gears. When the vehicle is underway, however, certain gears may be considered inappropriate under the prevailing operating conditions. One simple example is the engagement of a high gear with a low ratio when the vehicle is moving at slow speed. This can result in the rotational speed of the engine falling to such a level that the engine is incapable of driving the vehicle without stalling.
Under other conditions the engagement of inappropriate gears may be damaging and dangerous. A typical example is the engagement of a low gear with a high ratio when the vehicle is traveling at high speed. Such engagement can result in a very high rotational speed of the transmission input shaft. The parts of the clutch rotationally locked to this shaft may then break under the effect of centrifugal force. Moreover, if the geared coupling arrangement, which is used in engaging the gear in question, is provided with a synchromesh arrangement of known type, this is exposed to a very high stress when the input shaft is accelerated to said very high rotational speed.
However, a separate arrangement for preventing the engagement of inappropriate gears is generally not provided on simpler types of manual transmissions, like those used in smaller vehicles such as passenger cars and smaller trucks. Such an arrangement has not proved necessary. When trying to engage a low gear at high vehicle speeds, for example, the time for synchronization, that is to say acceleration of the input shaft, is so long that the driver generally manages to perceive that it is inappropriate and can discontinue the gearshift.
In heavy road vehicles, such as trucks, for example, the transmission often comprises a basic transmission having multiple possible ratios, and an auxiliary transmission, so-called range transmission. The latter has a low gear with high ratio and a high gear with no ratio, so-called direct gear. One typical such transmission is described in SE521149.
The range transmission in principle doubles the number of gears in the basic transmission. The lowest gears, with the highest ratio, are achieved by combining the gears in the basic transmission with the low gear in the range transmission. These gears are called low-range gears. In the highest gears with low ratios, on the other hand, the high gear of the range transmission is used. The term high-range gears is accordingly used for these gears. Shifting up from one of the higher low-range gears to one of the lower high-range gears frequently occurs when driving. Such shifts require shifting of both the basic transmission and the range transmission. The basic transmission must be shifted from one of its higher gears to one of its lower gears, whilst the range transmission must be shifted from the low gear to the high gear. If the shifting of the range transmission should not occur for any reason, the result would be that only the basic transmission would be shifted down to one of its lower gears. This would result in a very high rotational speed on the input shaft. The risks of this have been described above.
A usual requirement for shifting the range transmission is that the basic transmission should be in neutral position. This is because the synchromesh arrangements in the geared coupling arrangement of the range transmission would otherwise be overloaded or would have to have absurdly large dimensions. Shifting of the range transmission must therefore not be commenced before the basic transmission has come into the neutral position, and the engagement of a gear in the basic transmission must be prevented until the shifting of the range transmission has been completed.
Vehicle transmissions which comprise a basic transmission and a range transmission are therefore usually provided with a mis-shift counteracting arrangement. This prevents the engagement of a number of the gears in the basic transmission when, according to predefined rules, this is inappropriate under the prevailing operating conditions. The mis-shift counteracting arrangement can be designed in various ways.
The driver usually preselects a shifting of the range transmission, for example, by moving a rocker switch lever which is located, for example, on the gearshift control knob (usually a gearshift lever). This provides a compact gearshift pattern, a so-called overlaid H-pattern. An example of this for a transmission having four forward gears in the basic transmission is shown in FIG. 1. The overlaid H-pattern is here denoted by 101. In FIG. 1, R denotes reverse gear, LR low-range gears and HR high-range gears.
The actual shifting of the range transmission is performed after preselecting as soon as the basic transmission has been moved into neutral position. During the shifting of the range transmission an arrangement prevents engagement of the basic transmission gears. Examples of such arrangements are shown in SE513390 and DE10029527. In both cases a pneumatic cylinder is used in which the air supply is controlled by valves. When actuated, this cylinder is capable of pressing a peg-like component into an opposing groove or pit-shaped cavity in one of the components of the basic transmission gearshift control, which transmits force and movement from the gearshift control to the geared coupling arrangements of the basic transmission when shifting gear. The engagement of one or more gears in the basic transmission is thereby counteracted, depending on the shape of the peg-like component and the opposing cavity. Normally such a mis-shift counteracting arrangement is designed so that engagement of the gears in the basic transmission which would be inappropriate in that instance is not entirely blocked, but requires distinctly greater force than normal on the gearshift control.
One disadvantage of the mis-shift counteracting arrangements according to and is that the pneumatic cylinder with associated parts increases the manufacturing cost of the transmission.
DE2655263 shows another method of counteracting the engagement of gears in the basic transmission whilst shifting of the range transmission is in progress. The shift pattern is then enlarged so that the low-range gears and the high-range gears have separate positions. This is referred to as a double H-pattern and is represented schematically in FIG. 2 for a transmission having four gears in the basic transmission. In FIG. 2 the double H-pattern is denoted by 201. Shifting of the range transmission here commences when the gearshift control passes the neutral position 202 between the positions for the low-range gears LR and the high-range gears HR. If the shifting of the range transmission is done swiftly enough, it is completed before there has been time to begin any gear change in the basic transmission. The gearshift pattern itself thereby becomes a mis-shift counteracting arrangement in its own right. Furthermore, no separate control is required on the gearshift control for pre-selecting the range transmission shift. This makes it possible to keep the costs down.
A comparison with the overlaid H-pattern in FIG. 1 reveals that the double H-pattern in FIG. 2 requires considerably more lateral space for the gearshift control. This can lead to serious space problems in the driver's cab with the risk of the gearshift control catching on the driver's seat or the instrument panel. An even greater disadvantage is that the positions for certain gears end up a long way from the driver. When these gears are to be engaged, this results in a non-ergonomic working position for the driver. The result is low possible shifting forces and a risk of damage due to wear. There has therefore been a decline in the use of a double H-pattern for shifting of the basic transmission and the range transmission.
A method and an arrangement for gear shifting with overlaid H-pattern according to FIG. 1 but without any separate control on the gearshift control for pre-selection of range transmission shifting is described in DE10152960. An electronic control arrangement decides, according to predetermined rules based on the rotational speed of the engine, the vehicle speed and the movement which the driver imparts to the gearshift control, whether or not the range transmission is to be shifted. This arrangement here functions as a type of mis-shift counteracting arrangement. A major disadvantage with this system is that in practice it has proved difficult to always determine clearly which gear in the range transmission the driver wishes to engage. For certain combinations of vehicle, engine and transmission it can be difficult, given certain combinations of engine speed, vehicle speed and gearshift control movement, to decide whether the driver wishes to shift to low-range gears or to high-range gears.
One conclusion is that the overlaid H-pattern with separate control on the gearshift control for pre-selection of the range transmission shift is often to be preferred from the technical and functional standpoint. This system is also commonly encountered. However, the embodiments hitherto demonstrated have required a separate mis-shift counteracting arrangement, which has a disadvantage in terms of cost.
The use of so-called shift servos has recently increased, especially for transmissions in heavy road vehicles. A shift servo intensifies the force with which the driver, via a gearshift control, acts upon the geared coupling arrangements for the engagement and disengagement of gears in the transmission. The principle behind this is shown schematically in FIG. 3. The driver shifts a transmission 301 by means of a gearshift control 302. A connecting arrangement 303 transmits force and movement from the gearshift control to a control arrangement 304 on the transmission 301. The control arrangement 304 transmits the shifting force and the shifting movement to the geared coupling arrangement in the transmission 301, which engages the gear corresponding to the position in the gearshift pattern according to FIGS. 1 and 2, for example. The moving parts of the control arrangement 304 are also connected to a shift servo 305. By way of an energy supply element 306, the shift servo 305 receives energy, in the form of electricity, compressed air or hydraulic oil, for example, from an energy reserve (not shown). A measurement of the shifting force applied by the driver is obtained from a sensor arrangement 307 and is transmitted to the shift servo 305 by a signal relay 308. The sensor arrangement 307 may be integrated into the shift servo 305, in which case the signal relay 308 is omitted. The shift servo 305 imparts additional force for the gearshift depending on the shifting force applied by the driver. The additional force is usually proportional to the shifting force applied by the driver, up to an upper limit, which safeguards the control arrangement 304 and the geared coupling arrangements in the transmission 301.
EP1167836 shows an electronically controlled electrical actuator which intensifies the shifting force applied by the driver. DE19839855 describes pneumatic shift servos in which force-sensing valves regulate the pneumatic pressure of pistons, which deliver additional shifting force.
A shift servo makes the work of shifting gears easier for the driver. The shifting forces which the driver needs to exert on the gearshift control are significantly reduced due to the additional force of the shift servo. Any synchromesh arrangements in the geared coupling arrangements of the transmission can also be produced with a simple, cost-effective design. There is no need to resort to costly synchromesh arrangements like those in and EP0713024, for example. One disadvantage, on the other hand, is that the low forces on the gearshift control in conjunction with the large overall shifting forces make it more difficult for the driver to discover in good time any inappropriate gearshift of the type described earlier. A mis-shift counteracting arrangement becomes necessary.
Another disadvantage, which is relevant in trucks, for example, is the risk of the driver accidentally knocking against the gearshift control, for example when moving between the driver's seat and the sleeping space in the driver's cab. If, in so doing, a gear is engaged, the vehicle can be set in motion, which can constitute a safety risk. In the mis-shift counteracting arrangement in SE513390 this problem is solved in that the engagement of gears is counteracted unless the clutch pedal is depressed.
There is consequently a need, in transmissions having a shift servo and large gear ratio differences between high and low gears, for an alternative and less expensive method and arrangement for counteracting mis-shifting.
It is desirable is to provide a method and an arrangement which are cost-effective in achieving the mis-shifting counteraction function.
According to an aspect of the present invention, a method is provided for counteracting inappropriate manual gearshifts in predetermined vehicle conditions by way of a gearshift control, in a stage-geared transmission arranged in a motor vehicle and having a shift servo for intensifying the shifting force applied to the gearshift control. According to the method, an intention to shift to an inappropriate gear is registered through the gearshift control and at least the shifting force supplied by the shift servo is reduced in order to counteract engagement of the inappropriate gear.
According to another aspect of the invention, a stage-geared transmission for a motor vehicle is provided, an input shaft of which transmission is coupled to an engine arranged in the vehicle for propelling the vehicle by way of a clutch for isolating the engine from the transmission. The transmission comprises a gearshift control for manual gear selection, a sensor arrangement for detecting a shifting force applied to the gearshift control, a shift servo controlled by the sensor arrangement for amplifying the shifting force, a clutch control for controlling the clutch, and a control unit arranged to receive information on at least two of positions of the gearshift control, speed of vehicle, and position of the clutch control, the control unit being preprogrammed with information on inappropriate manual gear selection in various vehicle conditions, the control unit being designed to control the shift servo to at least reduce the shifting force of the shift servo and thereby counteract engagement of inappropriate gears.
One advantage available through certain aspects of the present invention is that gearshifts inappropriate for certain vehicle conditions can be prevented. Reducing the shifting force supplied by the shift servo means that the driver will experience an increased sluggishness in the gearshift control. In this way the driver can be made aware that the current gearshift is not a good choice of gear and damage as described above can be avoided.
According to one embodiment of the invention the shifting force supplied by the shift servo is reduced by interrupting the energy supply to the shift servo. One advantage of this is that the function is relatively easy to accomplish. From information supplied on the vehicle condition and preprogrammed information on inappropriate gearshifts in various vehicle conditions, a control unit can very easily interrupt the energy supply to the shift servo.
According to a further embodiment of the invention the control unit receives information on the applied shifting force from said sensor arrangement for detecting the shifting force applied to the gearshift control. This gives the control unit the facility for setting the shift servo to the same level of force as the measured shifting force applied, but in the opposite direction. In this way the driver experiences a transverse stop when he/she attempts to engage an inappropriate gear. Force levels other than said force level can obviously also be set. claims.

Method and arrangement for counteracting inappropriate manual gearshifts in predetermined vehicle conditions


A new Golf Club Head design, as compared to the previous art, Cylindrical in shape, with a larger more concentrated Circular face that has Circular Grooves, with a Convex back, with no Heel and Toe, has a sole plate that wraps around the convex back up to the half mark on both sides of the wooden golf club head, and a unique Neck, Hosel Tube Neck and Shaft ‘placement’ that abuts the approximate Center on the outside at right angles to the golf club head. And this new design incorporates a multifaceted hand grip for the club shaft. This Cylindrical shape head will permit the club head to be always soled and as such, the golf club will not fall backwards as the prior art does without the shaft being held firmly by the golfer. And, so, with this new multifaceted hand grip design, the golfer would not have to hold onto the club shaft any tighter in order to prevent the golf club from twisting, in his/her hands, at impact with the golf ball. The golf club head is to be of solid construction with a circular face ranging from approximately two and one-quarter (2¼) inches to two and one-half (2½) inches in diameter. The positioning of the neck, the hosel tube neck and the shaft will allow for a double driving action with the face pulling the back forward while at the same instant the back will be pushing the face forward.

An object of the present invention is about a completely new and improved Golf Club with a cylindrical Head, a circular Face with circular Grooves, a multifaceted Hand Grip for the shaft and a new and unique Neck, Hosel Tube Neck and Shaft 'placement' (location) for a full set of golf clubs, which traditionally comprises a number of wooden golf clubs, generally Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4 and a number of iron golf clubs, generally Nos. 2 through 9, a pitching Wedge and a Putter, and any other golf clubs that may be required to play the game of golf. These golf club heads have a more concentrated, compact and larger face, which will enhance the golfer in executing greater control in stroking the golf ball. And then, the club shaft, with this New Hand Grip, will not twist in the golfer's hands.
Re-inventing the Golf Club Head. The greatest break-through in Golf Club Heads. Just think about a Golf Club Head that has less wind resistance, less ground contact or drag. Golf Club Heads that can whip through the rough, or a bad lie, with the greatest of ease. Skim off or dig into sand traps with very little effort. And a club shaft, with this new Hand Grip Design, that will not twist in the golfer's hands upon contact with the golf ball. These are just a few of the many improvements and advantages of the present invention. You see, these Golf Club Heads are Cylindrical in shape with Circular Faces and Convex Backs. And the club shaft featuring a Many Sided Hand Grip, instead of the rounded grip of the prior art.
An object of the present invention is about a new Golf Club Head 'design' that shows an important and unique development, in that, all the Golf Club Heads do not have any Heels and Toes. And, as a result, these golf club heads have less resistance and ground contact permitting them to cut through rough areas with greater ease to get to the golf ball and obtaining better golf shot results, (as compared with present day golf club heads with their useless 'heels and toes' at which 'points' golfers are forever trying not to hit the golf ball).
This new feature—no Heels and Toes—eliminates the problem and difficulty golfers have in making sure that golf club heads in use today are always resting flat on the ground on their soles when addressing the golf ball. With the present invention, all the golf club heads, with their Cylindrical shape, are always soled when put to rest on the ground.

Rado's cylindrical golf club heads and multifaceted hand grips


A reclining mechanism composed of a lower arm member for attachment to a frame structure of a seat cushion of a vehicle seat, an upper arm member placed in a common plane with the first arm member for attachment to a frame structure of a backrest of the vehicle seat and having a recessed portion formed at a lower end portion thereof and opposed to a ratchet portion formed on an upper end of the lower arm member, a slide pawl slidably coupled within the recessed portion of the upper arm member to be moved toward and away from the ratchet portion of the lower arm member for engagement therewith, a pair of side plates attached to opposite faces of the lower and upper arm members, the side plates being connected with the lower arm member by means of a hinge pin for relative rotation about the hinge pin and fixed to the upper arm member, an operation shaft rotatably supported on one of the side plates, and a release arm mounted on the operation shaft for rotation therewith to retract the slide pawl from the ratchet portion of the lower arm member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reclining mechanism for a vehicle seat for adjusting an inclined angle of a back rest of the seat relative to a seat cushion.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 7-265154 is a reclining mechanism for a vehicle seat which is composed of a pair of lower arm members for attachment to a frame structure of a seat cushion of the seat, an upper arm member for attachment to a frame structure of a back rest of the seat, the upper arm member having a semi-circular external tooth portion formed at its lower end and being disposed between the lower arm members and connected to the lower arm members by means of a hinge pin for relative rotation about the hinge pin, a slide pawl slidably supported by the lower arm members to be moved in a radial direction with respect to the hinge pin and loaded by a spring for engagement with the external tooth portion of the upper arm member, and a release arm rotatable supported on the lower arm members to disengage the slide pawl from the external tooth portion of the upper arm member against the load of the spring.
In the reclining mechanism, the upper arm member is in the form of a single plate, while the lower arm members each are in the form of a thin sheet metal and pressed outward to form a recessed portion for containing the slide pawl. To enhance the engagement strength of the slide pawl with the tooth portion of the upper arm member, it is required to increase the thickness of the slide pawl and the upper arm member. It is, however, difficult to increase the thickness of the slide pawl and the upper arm member in such a construction of the reclining mechanism without causing any problem in manufacturing processes.


An apparatus for transporting a magnetic tape includes a writing head, a unit for generating pulse signal, a reading head and a unit for calculating transport speed. The writing head has at least two parallel and linear magnetic gaps spaced a predetermined distance in a tape transport direction. The unit for generating pulse signal cyclically sends a pulse signal to the writing head to write a magnetic pattern corresponding to the magnetic gaps on the magnetic tape. The reading head detects the magnetic pattern to generate a resulting pulse signal. The unit for calculating transport speed calculates a transport speed of the magnetic tape based on the pulse signal sent by the reading head. The unit incorporates a first time interval which is obtained from two parallel and linear pattern components within a magnetic pattern, and a second time interval obtained from adjacent magnetic patterns.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for transporting a magnetic tape, and more specifically, to an apparatus for transporting a magnetic tape, which is capable of detecting the transport speed of a magnetic tape, and a method for its detection.
In recent years, magnetic tapes have achieved higher-density recording, and some types of magnetic tapes such as those for computer backup have a storage capacity as large as 200 gigabytes. Such a magnetic tape has several hundreds of data tracks in its width direction to increase its recording density. As a result, each data track has not only a very small width but also a small distance with respect to an adjacent data track. In order that recording and reproducing elements of a magnetic head carry out reliable tracing on the narrow data track for data recording and reproducing, servo patterns are written on the magnetic tape in advance. In this way, during recording or reproducing data for the magnetic tape, the detection elements of the magnetic head detect displacement between the magnetic tape and the magnetic head while they are reading these servo patterns, which enables servo control for the position of the magnetic head (with respect to the magnetic tape in its width direction) (See patent document 1).
In this method, however, accurate detection of displacement of the magnetic head requires accurate recording of the servo patterns on the magnetic tape. This increases the importance of transport speed of the magnetic tape and its fluctuation as control elements for the servo patterns which are written by a servo writer. Control of the transport speed of the magnetic tape has been conventionally performed as follows. A rotational pulse of a take-up reel for winding the magnetic tape or a reel motor is converted into a voltage via a frequency-to-voltage (F/V) conversion circuit, and the converted voltage is compared with a reference voltage so as to control the transport speed. In other words, the conventional detection of a transport speed is not directly carried out based on a speed of the magnetic tape, but based on a speed of a reel motor for winding the magnetic tape. This approach tends to cause an error due to slippage while the magnetic tape is being wound by the take-up reel, thereby hindering improvement in accuracy of detection. As a result, this approach has come to be replaced by another approach using a laser Doppler velocimeter, which is capable of detecting a transport speed directly from a magnetic tape. The laser Doppler velocimeter, which is free from an effect of slippage of the magnetic tape, can detect an accurate transport speed, thereby allowing improvement in accuracy of detection. Patent document 1: Japanese Published Patent Application H08-30942 (paragraphs 0020 and 0021, and FIG. 1)
However, in the case of the laser Doppler velocimeter, it is required that strict control should be imposed on perpendicularity of a laser beam with respect to the magnetic tape. Furthermore, since an external vibration induces an error, the laser Doppler velocimeter requires extremely difficult installation, so that the fact is that satisfactory accuracy has not yet been implemented for high-recording-density magnetic tapes.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Apparatus for transporting a magnetic tape


Accordingly, the present invention provides an x-ray tomography apparatus having a patient table, x-ray tomography components located around the patient table and in an imaginary plane which intersects the table, and structure for supporting the table and tomography components and including apparatus for moving the tomography components along at least a portion of the table. In an alternate embodiment, an x-ray tomography apparatus includes an annular x-ray tomography system for continuously rotating around a patient, which structure has an electrically powered x-ray source and battery power for supplying electrical power to the x-ray source.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to x-ray tomography apparatuses and, in particular, to those apparatuses which are adapted for CAT scan operations.
2. Statement of the Prior Art
CAT scans (computerized axial tomography) have been used for many years. Generally the system operates by taking multiple, cross-sectional, slice x-rays from different angles within a single plane passing through the body. The results are mathematically compiled to create a cross-sectional image of the body in that plane. To produce these x-rays in one form, an x-ray source and an array of detectors are placed on opposite sides of an annular yoke, which yoke is made to rote within the selected plane and round the patient.
An important condition in scanning has been the accurate and consistent alignment of the tomography components and the patient both throughout the rotation and over the course of many scans and patients. Misalignment or movement can negatively influence the data of an entire scan. In order to deal with this factor, manufacturers of CAT scan apparatuses have typically produced a very large and massive machine which includes a heavy yoke for mounting the tomography components. The handling of this weight requires additional mass in the remainder of the apparatus and typically a large apparatus.
One ramification of the extra size and mass of these machines has been the requirement of a patient handling apparatus, as the weight of the patient is typically much less than the weight of the yoke and other rotating components. Thus, a moveable patient table has been used to properly position the patient in the desired location relative to the fixed yoke, and this further contributes to the size and weight of the apparatus.
A further contibutor to the size and mass of these machines has been the problem of delivering electrical power for the x-ray source to the rotating apparatus. The two approaches primarily used have been electrical brushes, or slip rings, which constantly sweep during rotation and extended cables which limit the rotation of the yoke to approximately one revolution. Unfortunately, the brush approach creates a disruptive amount of electrical interference in the very sensitive output signals of the detectors. Some of this interference can be reduced by the use of shielding; however, the shielding must be extensive as the brushes rotate around the entire large circumference of the yoke. The shielding also adds bulk and weight. More accurate machines use the extended cables which limit rotation. Unfortunately, this approach requires much larger motors and produces greater system stresses and wear, because the yoke and all of the of the moving mass must be accelerated and decelerated quickly in order to adequately operate within the limited rotational range of the yoke.
The apparatus which results from these various requirements is large, heavy, expensive and one which is difficult to relocate. It requires a large amount of floor space and thus cannot be used in space limited environments. A further disadvantage caused by the size and weight of these apparatuses is the wear experienced in the moving parts thereof.
In another form of tomography apparatus known in the prior art, the x-ray source and an array of detectors are mounted on a "C" shaped frame which is typically cantilevered and manipulated over the patient. Although this apparatus can be manipulated over a wide range, it also requires large amounts of space and mass for the manipulation apparatus.


A length adjustable fitting for blind systems, including a housing and a drive member fitted to said housing; a core component including a core member shaped for engaging a drive portion of said drive member, the core component including a support portion shaped for engaging a support member for supporting said fitting; wherein, the selective adjustment of the drive member relative to the housing moves the core member along an axis to a different position relative to the housing, wherein at each said position, the drive member engages the core member to resist movement of the core member along the axis from said position relative to said housing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a length adjustable support fitting for blind systems.
2. Prior Art
A drive component is a selectively rotatable operating device for a user to control the extension and retraction of a cover, such as a window blind. The drive component may include one or more other components, such as but not being limited to a chain or cord driven winder, electric motor, crank, winch, and manual draw mechanism with a spring booster. The drive component may be coupled to one end of a tube (e.g. having a sheet material wrapped around it for use as a cover or blind when extended). When the drive component rotates in one direction, the tube rotates to extend the sheet material. Conversely, when the drive component rotates in the opposite direction, the tube rotates to retract the sheet material.
To enable the tube to rotate more smoothly, a drive component and another fitting (referred to as an idler) may be coupled to different respective ends of the tube. The drive component and idler are each supported by different respective supporting structures (e.g. mounting brackets), which in turn are fixed to a structure such as a window sill or a wall of a building.
However, variations may occur during the installation of the supporting structures. For example, the supporting structures may be installed in positions that are slightly too far apart for engaging the drive component and idler fitted to the end of a tube. Conversely, the supporting structures may be installed in positions that are slightly too close together for engaging the drive component and idler fitted to the end of a tube. In these circumstances, the supporting structures will need to be removed and reinstalled in the correct position (which may affect the quality of the finishing on the installation surface), or a tube of a new length may need to be reordered if the deviation in distance between the supporting structure and the drive component/idler is significant. Both of these options are undesirable, and add to the complication and time needed to successfully complete an installation.
It is therefore desired to address one or more of the above issues or problems, or to at least provide a more useful alternative to existing fittings.


A driving force control system for a vehicle, which is configured to control a driving force of a vehicle by calculating an actual value of a stability factor of a running vehicle based on a detection value of a predetermined sensor, and adjusting the calculated actual value of the stability factor toward a target value of the stability factor determined depending on a travelling condition of the vehicle. The driving force control system is comprised of: a steering judging unit that judges a fact that a change rate of a steering angle of the vehicle is smaller than a predetermined reference value; a correction value calculating unit that corrects the actual value of the stability factor based on a comparison between an actual value and a target value of a physical amount with respect to a turning motion of the vehicle, in case the steering judging unit judges that the change rate of the steering angle is smaller than a reference value; and a driving force correcting unit that corrects the driving force based on the correction value.

A stability factor is one of the significant factors affecting the vehicle behavior. Provided that the vehicle is turning steadily without accelerating and decelerating, the stability factor can be expressed using an inertial mass, a wheel base, cornering powers (i.e., cornering forces) of front and rear wheels, a distance between a gravity center of the vehicle and a front axle, a distance between the gravity center of the vehicle and a rear axle and etc. Otherwise, the stability factor can be obtained based on an actual steering angle, a wheel base, a lateral acceleration and a vehicle speed. Such formula may be modified to calculate the stability factor of the case in which the vehicle is turning while accelerating or decelerating. Specifically, the stability factor of this case may be calculated using a quadratic expression in which a term multiplying a longitudinal acceleration by a coefficient and a term multiplying the square of longitudinal acceleration by a coefficient are added to the stability factor of the case without acceleration and deceleration. To this end, specifically, the coefficient relating to compliance between a load shift resulting from acceleration or deceleration and a change in a toe angle, and a coefficient relating to a cornering characteristic of tires subjected to a driving force and a braking force, are used in the above-mentioned expression.
For example, a turning radius, and a yaw rate during turning are changed depending on a value of the stability factor. Thus, the stability factor is a major parameter (i.e., a physical quantity) having a great influence on the steering characteristics of automobiles. Basically, the stability factor is governed by a structure of the vehicle, characteristics of tires etc. However, cornering powers of front and rear wheels may be changed depending on loads applied to the front and rear wheels, deterioration of the wheels with age and so on. In addition, in the formula for calculating the stability factor thus modified, the coefficients used in the linear term and the quadratic term of the longitudinal acceleration may not always correspond to designed value.
Over the years, attempts have been made to correct the stability factor for the purpose of controlling vehicle behavior. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-256366 discloses a control system configured to stabilize vehicle body attitude by suppressing the effect of driver operation disturbance or road surface disturbance. The control system taught by Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-256366 have been conceived noting a fact that the stability factor fluctuates due to fluctuation of ground loads on the front and rear wheels. Therefore, the control system taught by Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-256366 is configured to correct an axle torque in a manner such that the difference between the products of front wheel and rear wheel cornering powers and distances between the center of gravity of the vehicle and each front and rear wheels (that is, moments derived from the cornering powers of the front and rear wheels) follow the target value.
Meanwhile, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-275344 discloses a device for calibrating the zero point of a yaw rate sensor for detecting a yaw rate, that is, a turning condition of the vehicle. Specifically, the device taught by Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-275344 is configured to calibrate the zero point of the yaw rate sensor by detecting a turning condition of the vehicle using a sensor other than the yaw rate sensor, and comparing the detection value with a value detected by the yaw rate sensor.
That is, the control system taught by Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-256366 is configured to control the torque in a manner such that the actual stability factor follows the target value. For this purpose, the actual stability factor is obtained based on a detection value of the sensor for detecting a behavior of the vehicle such as the yaw rate sensor. However, if the detection value of the sensor has an accidental error, the stability factor will not represent the actual vehicle behavior. In this case, therefore, the torque may not be controlled properly to deteriorate a drive feeling.
As described, the device taught by Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-275344 is configured to calibrate the zero point of the yaw rate sensor so that an accidental error of the sensor value is reduced. However, according to the teachings of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-275344, another sensor such as a radar is required to detect a turning condition of the vehicle in addition to the yaw rate sensor, and this complicates a structure of the device and enlarges the device. Further, the calibration has to be influenced by a detection accuracy of another sensor. Thus, the device has to be improved in several respects.

Driving force control system for vehicle


Example apparatus and methods provide two types of storage for a virtual machine running on a hypervisor. The first storage is de-duplication based and the second storage is not de-duplication based. Example apparatus and methods may acquire data from the first storage to instantiate the virtual machine, to instantiate an operating system on the virtual machine, or to instantiate an application on the virtual machine from the first storage. Example apparatus and methods may write a snapshot to the second storage and then support random input/output for the virtual machine, for the operating system, or for the application from the second storage. The snapshot may selectively be collapsed or the second storage may selectively be retired and thus example systems may selectively update the first storage from the second storage. Having dual devices facilitates using de-duplication storage for de-duplication-centric I/O while non-de-duplication storage is used for random I/O.

FIG. 1 illustrates a hypervisor 100 running a virtual machine 102. In computer science, a hypervisor is a piece of computer software, firmware, or hardware that creates and runs virtual machines. A hypervisor may also be called a virtual machine monitor (VMM). A computer on which a hypervisor is running a virtual machine may be referred to as a "host machine." The virtual machine running on the hypervisor may be referred to as a "guest machine." A hypervisor provides a virtual operating platform for a guest operating system. The hypervisor also manages execution of the guest operating system. Multiple instances of guest operating systems may share virtualized hardware resources. A virtual machine (VM) is a software implemented abstraction of a set of underlying computer hardware. VMs are based on the specifications of a hypothetical computer and may, therefore, emulate the computer architecture of a tangible computer, including the functions of the tangible computer.
FIG. 1 illustrates primary data store 112 as a virtualized hardware resource. De-duplication storage 120 may be the actual hardware resource that supports the virtualized hardware resource. Systems administrators may choose to configure de-duplication storage 120 as the primary data store 112 for the virtual machine 102 for a variety of reasons. For example, virtual machines running the same guest operating system may share gigabytes of common data that is efficiently stored in a de-duplicated manner on de-duplication storage 120 and data read in when an operating system is booting may be the same for guest operating systems running on a number of virtual machines. These repetitive reads may be handled efficiently by de-duplication storage 120.
Backing up copies of virtual machines to the de-duplication storage 120 may also be very efficient since many blocks that are common to the guest operating systems will not need to actually be written to the de-duplication storage 120 since those duplicate blocks will already be on the de-duplication storage 120. Using de-duplication storage 120 as the primary data store 112 may also provide efficiencies associated with de-duplication replication for offsite disaster recovery. Instead of having to replicate common blocks that are shared by the multiple instances of the guest operating systems on the virtual machines, a single copy of the de-duplicated blocks may be replicated.
However, using de-duplication storage 120 as the primary data store 112 for virtual machine 102 may create some undesirable issues. FIG. 2 illustrates a virtual machine (VM) 102 running an operating system 103 that in turn is running an application 104 and an application 105. Initially, when the operating system 103 boots, or when an application starts up, long sequential reads of de-duplicated blocks may occur efficiently from the base disk file 230. However, after boot time, as non-boot processing occurs in the operating system 103 or applications 104 and 105, more random I/O may occur. Using a de-duplication storage apparatus to satisfy this random I/O load may provide a sub-optimal experience. By way of illustration, a guest operating system (e.g., operating system 103) may perform numerous, frequent non-sequential writes. Many of these writes may be quickly over-written. Additionally, the most recently written data may also be read frequently. The most recently written and read data may be small and unique to a specific VM. This I/O load may be ill-suited to a de-duplication apparatus.
While handling this ill-suited load may be annoying for a single VM and a single guest operating system, when a hypervisor runs multiple (e.g., hundreds) of guest operating systems, the random I/O load may begin to degrade I/O performance to an unacceptable level when a de-duplication appliance is used for the primary data store. A conventional system may attempt to mitigate this issue by providing large read caches to prevent unwanted accesses to the de-duplication data store. However, providing large read caches and other conventional approaches to mitigating performance degradation when using a de-duplication apparatus for primary VM storage may still not provide adequate performance.

Efficiency of virtual machines that use de-duplication as primary data storage


A display device includes a display panel and a lower member disposed below the display panel. The display panel includes a first non-folding region, a second non-folding region, and a folding region disposed between the first non-folding region and the second non-folding region. The lower member includes a support layer and a digitizer. The support layer comprises a first support part disposed below the first non-folding region, and having insulating property, and a second support part disposed below the second non-folding region and having insulating property. The digitizer is disposed below the first support part and the second support part.

The disclosure herein relates to a display device, and more specifically, to a foldable display device.
Display devices each include a display region activated in response to an electrical signal. Display devices may detect an input applied from the outside through the display region and provide information to a user by displaying various images. Recently, while display devices having various shapes have been developed, display regions having various shapes are being implemented.


A method for hydraulic fracturing using crosslinked guar polymers wherein the high temperature viscosity and thermal stability of said polymers is maximized by adjusting the pH such that the cationic charge density of the polymer is at its maximum. These maximums occur for guar at a pH of 10.5 and for carboxymethylhydroxypropyl guar at a pH of 10.7.

This invention relates to the hydraulic fracturing of high temperature subterranean formations. More particularly it relates to a method for fracturing subterranean formations penetrated by a well bore, wherein a fluid composition is injected into a formation through a suitable conduit at a rate and pressure sufficient to produce a fracture in the formation. It is well known that production in petroleum, natural gas and geothermal wells can be greatly enhanced by hydraulic fracturing techniques. These techniques are known in the art and generally comprise introducing an aqueous solution of a water-soluble polymer (e.g. Guar Gum) in which "proppants" (e.g. coarse sand or sintered bauxite or synthetic ceramic materials) are suspended through the well bore under extremely high pressures into the rock structure in which the petroleum, gas or steam is entrained. Minute fissures in the rock are thereby created and held open by the suspended particles after the liquid has drained off. The petroleum, gas or steam can then flow through the porous zone into the well. Polysaccharides e.g. guar and guar derivatives are the most commonly used water-soluble polymers for hydraulic fracturing.
Aqueous solutions of guar and guar derivatives develop increased viscosity upon the addition of various metal ions. Viscoelastic gels are formed by the chemical linking or cross-linking of two or more polymer chains. The result is a more ordered network structure which increases the effective molecular weight and thereby, the viscosity. The stability of these high viscosity cross-linked gels is dependent on many factors including pH and temperature. The viscosity stability of water-soluble polymer solutions as a function of time and temperature, is crucial for successful applications in the oil field area. Thermal stability is a major factor in selecting a water-soluble polymer for wells having high bottom-hole temperatures. It is well known that crosslinked fracturing fluids degrade with time as a function of temperature and shear, resulting in a loss of viscosity and proppant carrying ability in a short time at temperatures of 250.degree. F. and above.
The observed loss of viscosity as a function of time, temperature and shear, is the result of degradation by several pathways, for example chemical, biological, mechanical and radiation. Biological degradation can be minimized by the proper choice of biocide. Mechanical degradation is the result of applying a critical stress to the gel, resulting in chain scission. Its effect can be minimized by the use of properly engineered surface equipment, etc. Radiation of a polymer solution results in the formation of hydroxyl radicals which abstract hydrogen from the polysaccharide. These radicals trigger oxidation or the formation of intermediates which are easily hydrolyzed. Exposure to radiation, however, cannot usually by controlled and is dependent on time.
There are two chemical pathways of importance. One is hydrolysis of the glycosidic linkage, resulting in scission of the polysaccharide chain. The other is oxidative/reductive depolymerization. Acid catalyzed hydrolysis of the glycosidic bond is well documented. The rate of degradation by glycosidic bond hydrolysis is dependant on reaction time, system pH and temperature. Oxidative/reductive depolymerazations involve the oxidation of the polysaccharide by a radical pathway in the presence of oxygen. Transition metal ions, (e.g. iron) can promote these processes. This thermal degradation of the gels can be minimized by the addition of oxygen scavengers such as sodium thiosulfite, methanol, thiourea and sodium thiosulfate and by avoiding extremely high or low pH conditions. Previously, hydraulic fracturing fluids were pumped at pH's of from 6 to 9.
In order to maintain proppant carrying viscosities in fracturing fluids at this pH in high temperature formations where thermal degradation occurs, polymer loadings were typically increased by 50 to 100 percent. It has been common practice to pump fluids containing 60 pounds of gelling agent per thousand gallons of fluid in order to maintain sufficient viscosity at high temperatures, e.g. 300.degree. F. With the process of the present invention, as little as 30 to 40 pounds of gelling agent are needed. Increased polymer loadings not only increase the cost of the fracturing fluid but also increase the amount of insoluble material or residue remaining in the formation after the fracturing operation is complete. Residue remaining in the formation damages the formation by decreasing the permeability or conductivity of the formation and proppant pack thus reducing oil or gas recovery. The amount of residue remaining in a formation can range from as high as 7.5 percent by weight for unmodified guar down to 2 to 3 percent for hydroxypropylguar and as low as 1 to 2 percent for carboxymethylhydroxypropylguar. Formation damage caused by gel residues is a significant factor affecting productivity of a well especially when greater quantities of gel are used to offset thermal degradation.

Method for fracturing high temperature subterranean formations


A method of trapping a logout event includes receiving an HTTP request, checking if a URI of the HTTP request matches an entry in a first map, looking for an entry in a second map, checking for a logout parameter in a list of request query parameters, checking for a logout parameter in a header of the HTTP request, checking for a logout parameter in a body of the HTTP request, and triggering a logout event when the first of the entries or parameters if found. The method can be extended to call a logout handler and can be used in a wide range of web-based computing environments and in particular with policy/web/j2ee agents.

The present invention relates to a method for trapping HTTP logout events and for calling an application specific logout handle.
The identity market is growing rapidly as more and more users are falling victims to identity theft. Though there are many different identity products in the market, most of them are designed to protect applications and resources running on application servers or web servers. This is because most of the web sites visited either run on a web server or an application server. The existing products achieve the same end goals. They authenticate and authorize users to access various web-based resources. Once the user has been authenticated in web-based applications, there is a generic need to logout the user at some point of time (once the user is done with the application). Once the user triggers a logout event on a web application, it is required by identity products to trap such events and perform the necessary steps to trap logout events and perform certain housekeeping tasks (like destroying user sessions) specific to the application.
The following problems may be faced by a user may while trying to trap such a broad range of logout events.
There is no single standard for performing HTTP logouts on any application, whether it is a web application or any other HTTP browser-based application. Hence users are free to choose any mechanism through which they may prefer to logout. This makes the problem difficult for any vendor to come up with a generic solution that works for most cases.
Once the user triggers a logout by clicking a button or a URL ("Uniform Resource Locator"), the user may or may not be directed to a unique URI (Uniform Resource Identifier") that can help the trapping mechanism to detect the logout event.
Some applications redirect the user to a specific URI, others (like portal applications) pass extra parameters in the query string to denote a logout event. Some applications embed specific information in the HTTP request such as headers or HTTP request parameters. Since the list of such mechanisms are endless due to the flexibility of the HTTP protocol, application developers are free to use any of the above-mentioned events to notify a logout. However, the innumerable ways through which the application can logout results in a non-trivial problem for any framework or vendor to trap such a huge range of logout events.
It is believed that none of the present vendors in the market has the ability to trap logout events based on a set of configurable criterions. Most of them use one or more of the above-mentioned techniques to trap a logout event.
Hence a single solution used by one vendor will not suffice for any generic J2EE web-based application.
What is needed, therefore, is a mechanism to trap logout events that is generic and extensible so that it can be configured depending upon the functionality of the end application.
Finally, even if some of the vendors have products that can trap a logout event and invalidate an HTTP session, it is believed that they do not have a mechanism to synchronize the HTTP session of the application as well as the HTTP session of an application/web/portal server. In other words, it is believed that the existing vendors do not have a mechanism to plug in a generic extensible logout handler that can be configured to perform the necessary steps for logout.
Even if a specific vendor provides such a solution for a specific logout event associated with a particular application running on a specific container, the chances that the same mechanism will work in a different environment or J2EE/web container is remote.
In sum, it is believed that no existing vendor has so far been able to provide a robust an extensible mechanism to trap logout events. Most of the existing solutions are too specific to the application server/web server used, or are application specific. Hence a particular existing solution in the market to trap a HTTP logout will not work in a different scenario.
What is desired, therefore, is a generic yet very flexible mechanism that can be used by a wide set of products, including identity products, to trap HTTP logout events and allow the user to perform any number of steps afterwards through a configurable logout handler.

Method for trapping HTTP logout events and for calling an application specific logout handler


In a metropolitan area network, a method and system for maintaining an accurate total of the amount of allocated bandwidth on the network. A plurality of incoming packets are assigned to a respective plurality of queues of a metropolitan area network switch. Using a fair arbitration scheme, the respective queues are configured to empty at a specified output rate. A finish time for each respective queue is computed, the finish time describing a time at which the respective queue will be emptied using the output rate. The plurality of queues are grouped into multiple groups in accordance with their respective finish times. The earliest group includes the reserved rates of those queues having a finish time indicating an empty condition at a first time increment. The second earliest group includes the reserved rates of those queues having a finish time indicating an empty condition at a second time increment later than the first time increment, and so on. The amount of allocated bandwidth on the network is determined by tracking the sum of the reserved rates of all the multiple groups. The first time increment, second time increment, and the like are indexed with respect to a schedule clock. The earliest group thus indicates those queues that will have an empty condition at a next time increment of the schedule clock. The determination of the amount of allocated bandwidth can be accomplished in real time, thereby allowing the efficient allocation of unallocated bandwidth in real time.

The Internet is a general purpose, public computer network which allows millions of computers all over the world, connected to the Internet, to communicate and exchange digital data with other computers also coupled to the Internet. As new technologies emerge, the speed at which one can connect onto the Internet is ever increasing. Now, users on the Internet have the bandwidth to participate in live discussions in chat rooms, play games in real-time, watch streaming video, listen to music, shop and trade on-line, etc. In the future, it is imagined that the bandwidth will be such that video-on-demand, HDTV, IP telephony, video teleconferencing, and other types of bandwidth intensive applications will soon be possible.
One approach by which bandwidth is being increased relates to fiber optics technology. By sending pulses of light through glass fibers no thicker than a human hair, vast amounts of digital data can be transmitted at extremely high speeds. And with the advent of dense wavelength division multiplexing, different wavelengths of light can be channeled over the same, single fiber strand, thereby increasing its capacity several fold.
However, there is a problem with distributing the bandwidth of this new fiber optic network to end users. As is well known, some applications are insensitive to bandwidth constraints, such as latency and dropped packets. For example, email applications and basic Web browsing are relatively time insensitive to latency and dropped packets. On the other hand, applications such as real time two way voice communication or video are very sensitive to time delays caused by latency and dropped packets. Acceptable performance of these applications is highly dependent upon the provision of a guaranteed minimum bandwidth.
Unfortunately, due to network traffic congestion, network availability, routing conditions, and other uncontrollable external factors, the provisioning of a guaranteed level of bandwidth availability for certain customers has proven problematic. In general, data packets vie for available bandwidth and are routed according to a best-effort delivery model. As such, the reliability of traditional packet switched data networks is at times sub-optimal. For example, in most cases, it is very difficult to provide any kind of quality of service (QoS) using traditional LAN switches and routers on IP networks. QoS refers to the guarantee of providing timely delivery of information, controlling bandwidth per user, and setting priorities for select traffic.
Different network traffic flows (or simply "flows") are respectively associated with different applications. A flow refers to the transmission of packets from a sender to a receiver to support an application, such as transferring a Web page, implementing a voice over IP conversation, playing a video, or the like. Some flows are described as real time flows since they require very low latency (e.g., a voice over IP application). Other flows are not so much latency dependent as they are consistent data transfer rate dependent (e.g., video over the Web). For real-time application flows such as video on demand, HDTV, voice communications, etc., dropped packets or late-arriving packets of the flows can seriously disrupt or even destroy performance. And for many Internet Service Providers (ISP's), Applications Service Providers (ASP's), web sites/portals, and businesses, it is of paramount importance that they have the ability to provide these flows with a certain minimum threshold bandwidth and/or latency. For example, an e-commerce or business web site may lose critical revenue from lost sales due to customers not being able to access their site during peak hours.
Because QoS is so highly desired by some users, there are mechanisms which have been developed to provide QoS functionality. One prior art method for implementing QoS is the use of various TDM (time division multiplexing) schemes. One widely used TDM scheme is the implementation of T-carrier services (e.g., T1 line for carrying data at 1.544 Mbits/sec. and T3 line for carrying data at a much faster rate of 274.176 Mbits/sec). These T1 and T3 lines are dedicated point-to-point datalinks leased out by the telephone companies. The telephone companies typically charge long distance rates (e.g., $1,500-$20,000 per month) for leasing out a plain old T1 line. Another commonly used TDM scheme for achieving QoS relates to Synchronous Optical Network (SONET). As with T-carrier services, SONET uses TDM to assign individual channels, or flows, to pre-determined time slots. With TDM, each channel is guaranteed its own specific time slot in which it can transmit its data. Although TDM enables QoS, it is costly to implement because both the transmitter and receiver must be synchronized at all times. The circuits and overhead associated with maintaining this precise synchronization is costly. Furthermore, TDM based networking technologies are inefficient with respect to unused time slots. If flows are inactive, their allocated bandwidth is wasted. In general, with TDM technologies, unused bandwidth from inactive flows is not reallocated to other users.
Another prior art method is the use of various forms of bandwidth reservations in conjunction with asynchronous schemes. Asynchronous data transmission schemes provide numerous advantages when compared to synchronous TDM type schemes, and as such, are generally overtaking synchronous technologies in both voice and data network installations (e.g., the IP based networks of the Internet). In implementing QoS, asynchronous schemes usually function by reserving a portion of their bandwidth for "high priority" latency sensitive flows. With most asynchronous schemes (e.g., Ethernet), QoS performance deteriorates with the increasing bandwidth utilization of the network. As the percentage of available bandwidth utilized by the network increases, the less efficient the prior art asynchronous QoS reservation schemes perform. Such schemes either maintain a large margin of unused bandwidth to ensure QoS, thereby virtually guaranteeing an under-utilization of available total bandwidth, or over-allocate bandwidth, leading to the abrupt dropping data for some users and/or ruining QoS for any high priority users.
Thus what is required is a solution that provides the advantages of asynchronous data networks while efficiently implementing QoS. What is required is a solution that enables the efficient allocation of available bandwidth, thereby allowing guaranteed QoS. The required solution should be able to allocate bandwidth to individual flows asynchronously without incurring the deteriorating performance of prior art asynchronous schemes with increasing scale (e.g., extremely large number of flows) and increasing network utilization. The required solution should be able to ensure a minimum amount of reserved bandwidth without incurring the wasted bandwidth problems of prior art TDM based networking schemes where bandwidth is wasted on inactive flows.
The required solution should be able to track individual flows on an individual basis, in order to ensure individual flows are not starved of bandwidth, while simultaneously ensuring bandwidth is not over-allocated to flows which do not require it. The required solution should be able to track when individual flows are active and when they are inactive, thereby allowing the bandwidth allocated to the inactive flows to be reassigned to those flows in need of it. The required solution should be capable of tracking total allocated bandwidth in real time, thereby allowing efficient allocation of unused bandwidth in real time while maintaining QoS. The real-time total allocated bandwidth tracking should allow the dynamic allocation of unused bandwidth in real-time. The present invention provides a novel solution to the above requirements.

Method and system for bandwidth allocation tracking in a packet data network


A vibrating gyro element includes in the same plane a base portion; a pair of vibrating arms for detection extended out of the base portion on both sides in a straight line shape; a pair of connecting arms extended-out from the base portion onto both sides in directions perpendicular to the vibrating arms for detection; a pair of vibrating arms for driving each extended-out from the tip portion of each of the connecting arms to both sides perpendicularly to this tip portion; four beams extended out of the base portion; and a support portion connected to the tip of each of the beams; wherein each of the beams is once extended out of the base portion in a direction approximately perpendicular to the extending-out direction of the vibrating arm for driving.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a vibrating gyro element, a support structure of the vibrating gyro element, and a gyro sensor used in the detection of an angular velocity.
2. Related Art
In recent years, the gyro sensor having the vibrating gyro element stored in a container is largely used as a manual moving correction of an image pickup device, posture control of a mobile navigation system of a vehicle, etc. using a GPS satellite signal.
For example, a so-called double T-type vibrating gyro element is known as the vibrating gyro element in JP-A-2001-12955 and FIG. 1. In this double T-type vibrating gyro element, a detecting vibrating system extended out of a central base portion, and a driving vibrating system of about the T-type are arranged in the central base portion so as to be symmetrical leftward and rightward.
In such a double T-type vibrating gyro element, a problem exists in that a driving vibration is leaked to the base portion, and a micro vibration is given to the detecting vibrating system extended out of the base portion, and distortion due to this vibration is detected as the angular velocity even in a state in which no angular velocity is applied.

Vibrating gyro element, support structure of vibrating gyro element, and gyro sensor


A joint spectral gain adaption module, which comprises: an aided-ear loudness model, wherein an aided-ear loudness spectrum is obtained by performing computations on an aided-ear threshold elevation profile and a spectrum selected from the group consisting of an input spectrum and a first spectrum derived from the input spectrum; a bare-ear loudness model, wherein a bare-ear loudness spectrum is obtained by performing computations on a bare-ear threshold elevation profile, and a modified spectrum previously obtained; and a spectrum shaping sub-module, wherein the modified spectrum previously obtained is passed to the bare-ear loudness model as an input, and a modified spectrum and a linear spectral gain vector are obtained by performing computations on the input spectrum, the bare-ear loudness spectrum, and a loudness spectrum selected from the group consisting of the aided-ear loudness spectrum and a first loudness spectrum derived from the aided-ear loudness spectrum.

Current digital audio processing systems perform signal processing on digitized sounds. FIG. 1 shows the example of the frequency-domain audio processing system architecture employing the analysis-modification-synthesis (hereinafter abbreviated as AMS) framework, wherein an analog-to-digital conversion (hereinafter abbreviated as ADC) unit 110 is used to convert an analog input (hereinafter abbreviated as AI) signal into a digital input (hereinafter abbreviated as DI) signal, a framing and waveform analysis (hereinafter abbreviated as FWA) unit 120 is used to segment and transform the DI signal into a plurality of input spectra (in the present invention, a spectrum is a vector representation of the amplitude or the phase of each frequency component of a sound), a spectrum modification module 130 is used to process each input spectrum to obtain a corresponding modified spectrum, and a waveform synthesis unit 140 is used to perform waveform synthesis on the modified spectra to obtain a digital output (hereinafter abbreviated as DO) signal, thereafter, a digital-to-analog conversion (hereinafter abbreviated as DAC) unit 150 is used to convert the DO signal into an analog output (hereinafter abbreviated as AO) signal. The detailed description of waveform analysis and synthesis operations can be referred to reference documents 1, 2.
The spectrum modification module 130 of FIG. 2 integrates multiple audio processing modules according to the system requirements. Taking the implementation of a hearing assistive function as an example, it includes a noise reduction (hereinafter abbreviated as NR) module 160 and a dynamic range compression (hereinafter abbreviated as DRC) module 180. Some designs further include a spectral contrast enhancement (hereinafter abbreviated as SCE) module 170 for speech enhancement purpose. These three types of processing achieve their design goals by providing a gain or attenuation to the sound components at each frequency. The NR module 160 is used to suppress noise or interference components that with statistical characteristics difference from that of the speech to reduce the impact of the noise on the listener. For its principle and embodiments, refer to reference document 2. If the perceptual based NR processing is employed, the listener's auditory information such as the hearing threshold at each frequency in FIG. 2 is required (in the present invention, a hearing threshold means the lowest perceptible sound level of the listener's single ear at a specified frequency in a quiet background, and the hearing threshold of a listener's ear is represented as a vector that contains the hearing thresholds corresponding to a set of frequencies in the audio frequency range).
The SCE module 170 is used to enhance the contrast between peaks and valleys of the global or local power spectrum to make it easier for listeners to obtain clues to identify speech and music. For its principle and design examples, refer to reference document 3. Yet over-enhancing spectral contrast leads to strong noise amplification that affects listening adversely. Appropriately enhancing the spectral contrast is the key to help listeners.
In conventional audio processing, the DRC module 180 is used to adjust the level and transient behavior of the input sound at each channel to modify the sound volume and the sound quality.
Referring to reference document 4, the DRC processing in hearing aids and related applications is aimed to reduce the dynamic range of the input sound at each channel, so that the result sound conforms to the reduced auditory dynamic range of the impaired ear, that is, the sound pressure level between the listener's hearing threshold to the discomfort level at each frequency, thereby mitigating the hearing loss. In FIG. 2, a fitting procedure 190 is used to determine the compression characteristics of each channel (represented by a static mapping function of input sound level to output sound level or input sound level to channel gain) according to the hearing threshold of the listener at each frequency. The DRC module 180 then employs the compression characteristic of each channel to provide hearing assistance to the listener appropriately. Likewise, the fitting procedure in the present invention is used to determine the hearing-related setting of the audio processing modules, and the concept and operations of the fitting procedure can be referred to the prescription procedure in reference document 4.
Performing DRC processing with static mapping functions, however, does not take into account the auditory masking which is the sound perception being weakened or inhibited by temporally or spectrally adjacent sounds. This effect may not be significant for normal hearing (hereinafter abbreviated as NH) listeners. As the auditory masking getting worse with the increased hearing loss (i.e. the perception get stronger influence by sounds within a wider spectral and temporal region), listeners cannot perceive the compressed sound as expected. To provide better hearing assistance for listeners, the DRC processing should be extended to deal with the auditory masking. Similarly, for the designs of the NR and SCE processing, better hearing assistance can be achieved by extending them to deal with the auditory information of hearing impaired listeners.
Further, considering a design that performs DRC processing on the input sound of each ear separately. The ratio of the sound pressures of the two ears at each frequency will be changed after the DRC processing due to the difference on the input spectra and the compression characteristics between ears. This may affect the binaural sound localization or related operations.
Furthermore, in a serial signal processing configuration, the functions of a processing stage may be cancelled out by the processing of subsequent stages, for example in FIG. 2, the processing effects of the NR module 160 and the SCE module 170 can be partially cancelled by that of the DRC module 180. It is caused by the independent, irrelevant or sometimes conflicting design goals between signal processing stages. Though the issue can be dealt with by providing side information to the subsequent modules, such as passing a signal quality vector of the NR module 160 to the DRC module 180 in FIG. 2, the complexity of subsequent modules grows quickly as long as more processing stages and side information are engaged. The aforementioned issues have to be resolved by new designs on either module level or architecture level.

Joint spectral gain adaptation module and method thereof, audio processing system and implementation method thereof


A fuel dispenser system is provided including a partition part to separate a fuel dispensing unit from at least one electrically powered component. The partition part can be configured and arranged to seal the at least one electrically powered component from exposure to gas vapors emitted from the fuel dispensing unit. The fuel dispenser unit can include a fuel dispensing nozzle and a hydraulic component. The system can include additional fuel dispensing units. The fuel dispensing nozzle can be configured to dispense CNG, and the additional fuel dispensing nozzle can be configured to dispense CNG or another type of fuel. The at least one electrically powered component may include a transaction terminal.

Many commercial and industrial sites are commonly classified as hazardous environments due to risk of explosion or fire. Areas involving fuel-dispensing equipment, for example, are classified as hazardous due to the types of products handled by these dispensers. A well-defined classification system for such hazardous environments has been developed, and equipment can be rated to operate in various environment classes. In one such system, areas where ignitable concentrations of flammable gases, flammable liquid-produced vapors, or combustible liquid-produced vapors can exist under normal operating conditions and/or where hazard is caused by frequent maintenance or repair work or frequent equipment failure are classified as Class I, Division 1. One such environment is the inside of the hydraulic cabinet of a gasoline dispenser. In such environments, electronics are required to be "explosion proof" or "intrinsically safe," meaning that they cannot create a spark capable of ignition even in the case of a fault of electronics.
Areas where ignitable concentrations of flammable gases, flammable liquid-produced vapors, or combustible liquid-produced vapors are not normally present, but may exist due to an accidental rupture or breakdown, are classified as Class I, Division 2. This typically includes areas adjacent to Class I, Division 1 areas. The immediate area around a dispenser would be an example of such an area. Electronics used in this area are required to not be able to produce a spark capable of ignition under normal operating conditions.
The type of fuel dispensed determines the classification of the hazardous zones in and around the dispenser. Fuels with vapors that are heavier than air differ from those with properties that are lighter than air and thus create different zones. For example, CNG is lighter than gasoline/diesel vapor and behaves differently. As such, CNG dispensers must meet different (more stringent) safety requirements than, for example, gasoline or diesel dispensers.
Electronics must be designed to meet the requirements of the zone in which they will reside. In some cases this can be expensive (e.g., the design of Intrinsically Safe Barriers or Explosion-proof boxes) and, in still other cases, it may be difficult to design or protect the electronics so as to perform the desired function while meeting the zone requirements (e.g., the design of a receipt printer to be used in a Class I, Division 1 area).
Natural gas is considered to be a greener energy source than gasoline due to its lower emission profile. Its adaptation, however, has been relatively slow due to a lack of distribution network. Whereas gasoline stations are nearly ubiquitous, natural gas (e.g., CNG or Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)) fueling stations are sparse. One reason for this is due to the high cost required to implement natural gas dispensers, which requires, for example, specially designed electronics as discussed above.
To avoid the high cost of electronics specially designed to meet the environment requirements, some current CNG dispensers are physically separated from dispensers of other fuels such as gasoline, diesel, or additives. Some current CNG dispensers exclude electronics, such as payment/media terminal. Some current CNG dispensers require venting around the electronic module, for example, at the payment terminal.
Accordingly, there remains a need for a dispenser system that can utilize cheaper electronics that are not specially designed for operation in a classified hazardous environment while being safely deployed in such an environment. There is also a need for a combined fuel dispensing system that can dispense more than one type of fuel.

Fuel dispenser system with sealed partition part


A light-emitting device includes a plurality of laser elements, a light-emitting section for emitting light in response to a laser beam, and an emission control section for controlling whether each of the plurality of laser elements emits light or not. At least a part of the plurality of laser elements is positioned in such a manner that irradiation regions of the light-emitting section are positioned at least partially differently.

In recent years, researches have been actively made into a light-emitting device which uses, as illumination light, fluorescence that a light-emitting section containing a fluorescent body generates in response to excitation light emitted from an excitation light source which is a semiconductor light emitting element such as a light emitting diode (LED) or a semiconductor laser (LD: Laser Diode).
A technique related to such a light-emitting device is exemplified by light-emitting devices disclosed in Patent Literatures 1 through 4.
Patent Literature 1 allows a vehicle headlamp having variable illumination characteristics to be mechanically simply structured and improves obstacle resistance and response speed. Patent Literature 2 discloses a headlight which, while restraining an enlargement, is capable of (i) reducing electric power consumption and (ii) forming desired density in a light distribution pattern. Patent Literature 3 discloses a vehicle lamp capable of electrically switching between a horizontally wide light distribution pattern and a light distribution pattern suitable for AFS (Adaptive Front-lighting System) casting light beams leftward and rightward. Patent Literature 4 discloses a light source device which prevents a device from getting large-sized, increasing in weight, and getting high in manufacturing cost even in the light source device equipped with a function of varying light distribution.

Light-emitting device and vehicle headlight


A method of producing a conductive belt composed of a base resin containing polybutylene naphthalate resin at not less than 50 mass % nor more than 100 mass % and 1 to 3 mass % of carbon nano-fibers having a DBP oil absorption amount at not less than 150 ml/100 g. The method includes the steps of forming a conductive master batch by mixing the carbon nano-fibers with resin for use in a master batch containing the polybutylene naphthalate resin; mixing the obtained conductive master batch and resin for blending use containing the polybutylene naphthalate resin and not containing the carbon nano-fibers with each other in an unmelted state by setting a mixing mass ratio of the conductive master batch smaller than that of the resin for blending use; and meltingly molding an obtained mixture by an extrusion molder.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of producing a conductive belt, the conductive belt produced by the method, and an image-forming apparatus having the conductive belt mounted thereon.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image-forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a facsimile, a printer, and the like for forming an image by an electrophotographic method or an electrostatic printing method has a conductive belt as a transport belt, a transfer belt, an intermediate transfer belt, a fixing belt, a developing belt, a belt for use in an electrophotographic photoreceptor, and the like.
It is necessary for the conductive belt to have a proper stable volume resistivity. As the method of imparting conductivity to the conductive belt, a method of adding a conductive material such as a metal oxide, carbon black or the like to a polymer material is known. For example, the conductive endless belt using the carbon black as the conductive material thereof is described in claim 8 of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-132053 (patent document 1).
When the electronic conductive material represented by the carbon black is used, in dependence on the dispersion state of particles of the conductive material, an electric resistance value fluctuates to a very high extent inside the belt and among products. Another problem in the use of the electronic conductive material is that when agglomerates of the electronic conductive material are generated in kneading of polymer materials or in a melt extrusion by an extrusion molder, electric current collectively flows therethrough. As a result, it is difficult to control the electric resistance value of the belt and further a large number of very small projections of the agglomerations are formed on the surface of the belt. For example, when the belt is used as an intermediate transfer belt, an obtained image has an irregularity.
To make the belt conductive with the carbon black and adjust the electric resistance value of the belt to an appropriate value of 1.0×106 to 1.0×1012 Ω·cm, it is necessary to use not less than 10 mass % of the carbon black. When the mixing amount of the carbon black is large, the conductive belt becomes brittle, which may make it impossible to perform extrusion molding. For example, even though the polymer composition is molded in the shape of a belt, the conductive belt is inferior in its durability when it is driven continuously and is thus unsuitable as the belt of an image-forming apparatus. This tendency is conspicuous in a belt containing polybutylene naphthalate resin used as a polymer material, although the extent of the brittleness of the belt is different to some extent according to the kind of the polymer material.
To solve the above-described problems, a resin composition containing the carbon nano-fiber having the DBP oil absorption amount at not less than 150 ml/100 g is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-152131 (patent document 2). In this resin composition, the carbon nano-fiber serving as the conductive material has an excellent dispersibility. Thus agglomerates are not generated and the resin composition has a uniform and high conductivity, although it contains a small amount of the carbon nano-fiber.
A conductive belt was formed in accordance with the producing method described in the example of the patent document 2 by using the polybutylene naphthalate resin as the resin composing the conductive belt. As a result, the following problem occurred.
The carbon nano-fiber having the property described in the patent document 2 was added to the polybutylene naphthalate resin at the rate described in the example to form a compound of a resin composition. A belt-shaped molding was formed from the compound by extrusion molding based on the same principle as that of melt spinning method carried out in the example of the patent document 2. The obtained belt was very brittle and was unsuitable for practical use.
Patent document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-132053
Patent document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-152131

Conductive belt, method of producing same, and image-forming apparatus having same


It is inter alia disclosed to provide a left signal representation associated with a left audio channel and a right signal representation associated with a right audio channel, each of the left and right signal representations being associated with a plurality of subbands of a frequency range, and to provide directional information associated with at least one subband of the plurality of subbands associated with the left and the right signal representation, the directional information being at least partially indicative of a direction of a sound source with respect to the left and right audio channel.

In audio processing it is well-known to provide binaural or multichannel audio based on a two-channel spatial audio representation, which is created from microphone inputs.
This two-channel spatial audio representation may be rendered to different listening equipment. For instance, such a listening equipment may be a headphone surround equipment (binaural) or a 5.1 or 7.1 or any other multichannel surround equipment.
Said two-channel spatial audio representation may comprise a direct audio component and an ambient audio component, wherein this direct and ambient audio component can be used as basis for rendering the two-channel spatial audio representation to the desired listening equipment. The direction component may represent a mid signal component and the ambient component may represent a side signal component.

Backwards compatible audio representation