There is disclosed a vehicle anti-theft device for blocking at least a pedal arm for a brake or clutch of a vehicle. The device includes a first member having a lower movable plate and a shaft extending therefrom. A second member is provided with an upper stationary plate that includes a second hollow shaft. The first shaft slides in the second hollow shaft, whereby the upper and lower movable plates are adapted to receive at least one pedal arm of a vehicle therebetween. A key lock cooperates with the locking member for locking and unlocking the first shaft with respect to the second hollow shaft. The device includes a base plate for bearing upon the floor of a vehicle. In use the first shaft is pulled upwards for moving the lower plate towards the upper plate for enclosing and blocking the pedal arm therebetween. When the first shaft is pushed downwards with respect to the second hollow shaft, the upper and lower plates are separated to free the pedal arm.

This application is a Continuation-In-Part of the International Application N.degree. PCT/FR95/01,402 designating the United States and filed on Oct. 24, 1995, the benefit of the international filing date thereof is claimed.
This invention relates in general to a vehicle anti-theft device for blocking at least a pedal arm, for instance a brake pedal only in case of an automatic clutch vehicle and both clutch and brake pedals in case of a manual clutch vehicle.
Document GB-A-2,023,520 in the name of Stoodley discloses an anti-theft locking arrangement for motor vehicles. This arrangement comprises
a socket member provided with a lower bracket which is permanently secured to the floor of the vehicle by several bolts, PA1 a removable shaft member telescopically fitting into said socket member and provided with an upper cross-bar so that, in use, the cross-bar is pushed home downwardly against the clutch and brake pedals arms which are depressed towards the floor of the vehicle until the pedal arms abut against the lower bracket, PA1 a key lock provided at the upper free end of the shaft member co-operating with a locking member for locking and unlocking the shaft member with respect to the socket member, PA1 said locking member being engageable into a series of blind holes provided into the socket member for blocking the upper cross-bar into its lowermost position. PA1 a first member comprising a lower movable plate provided with a first shaft extending upwardly, PA1 a second member comprising an upper stationary plate provided with a second hollow shaft wherein the first shaft slides longitudinally, said lower and upper plates being adapted to receive at least one pedal arm therebetween, PA1 a key lock mounted onto the upper free end of the first shaft and co-operating, through a control rod housed into said first shaft, with a locking member for locking and unlocking the first shaft with respect to the second shaft, said locking member being housed in said first shaft and engageable with a vertical series of holes provided in said second shaft, and PA1 a base plate intended to bear upon the vehicle floor and connected to the upper plate while being spaced away therefrom by a distance adapted to the height separating the pedal to be blocked into its dead position from the floor, PA1 said first shaft being pulled upwards for moving the lower plate towards the upper plate for enclosing and blocking the pedal arm therebetween, said first shaft being pushed downwards to open said plates and to free said pedal arm. PA1 a first member comprising a lower movable plate provided with a first shaft extending upwardly, PA1 a second member comprising an upper stationary plate provided with a second hollow shaft wherein the first shaft slides longitudinally, said lower and upper plates being adapted to receive a brake pedal arm therebetween, PA1 a key lock mounted onto the upper free end of the first shaft and co-operating, through a control rod housed into said first shaft, with a locking member for locking and unlocking the first shaft with respect to the second shaft, said locking member being housed in said first shaft and engageable with a vertical series of holes provided in said second shaft, and PA1 a base plate intended to bear upon the vehicle floor and connected to the upper plate while being spaced away therefrom by a distance adapted to the height separating the pedal to be blocked into its dead position from the floor, PA1 said first shaft being pulled upwards for moving the lower plate towards the upper plate for enclosing and blocking the pedal arm therebetween, said first shaft being pushed downwards to open said plates and to free said pedal arm. PA1 a first member comprising a lower movable plate provided with a first shaft extending upwardly, PA1 a second member comprising an upper stationary plate provided with a second hollow shaft wherein the first shaft slides longitudinally, said lower and upper plates being adapted to receive a clutch pedal arm and a brake pedal arm therebetween, PA1 a key lock mounted onto the upper free end of the first shaft and co-operating, through a control rod housed into said first shaft, with a locking member for locking and unlocking the first shaft with respect to the second shaft, said locking member being housed in said first shaft and engageable with a vertical series of holes provided in said second shaft, and PA1 a base plate intended to bear upon the vehicle floor and connected to the upper plate while being spaced away therefrom by a distance adapted to the height separating the pedal arms to be blocked into its dead position from the floor, PA1 said first shaft being pulled upwards for moving the lower plate towards the upper plate for enclosing and blocking the pedal arms therebetween, said first shaft being pushed downwards to open said plates and to free said pedal arms.
However, this arrangement has several drawbacks since only the upper part thereof is removable and the lower part is permanently secured to the floor. Indeed, this lower part could provide discomfort to the driver and may even lead to an accident since the socket member stands still between the brake and clutch pedals. When an urgent braking of the vehicle is desired, the driver may try to depress the socket member instead of the adjacent brake pedal.
On the other hand, such an arrangement cannot be easily and quickly carried away by the driver for use into another vehicle, since the lower part is permanently secured to the floor of the vehicle. Moreover, the floor of the vehicle is damaged by the installation of the lower part in this arrangement.
Moreover, in the locked position of the anti-theft arrangement of Stoodley, the pedals are not kept in their dead or rest position but maintained in a constantly depressed state, which does not correspond to the normal use of the pedals and thereby may cause damage to their control system. For instance, in some vehicles, when the brake pedal is depressed, the rear lights are switched on, which would cause the discharging of the battery. In vehicles provided with a fluid control clutch system, when the clutch pedal is depressed, the fluid system is constantly maintained under pressure, which may damage the fluid circuit and generate leakages.

Vehicle anti-theft device for blocking at least a pedal arm


Method and apparatus for transferring particulate matter, such as seed, from a bulk supply to planting apparatus such as a planter or drill utilizing a pneumatic conveyer system including a lightweight, portable rotary air lock for introducing the particulate matter into the pneumatic conveying system. The system further includes a blower for pressurizing the pneumatic conveyer line and a discharge device at a remote end of the pneumatic conveyor line for delivering the seed or other particulate matter directly into the seed boxes associated with the planting apparatus. An adapter is also included for coupling the lightweight rotary air lock to a bulk supply container such that the lightweight rotary air lock is held at a predetermined angle with respect to the vertical. Fixing the angle at which the lightweight, portable rotary air lock is held with respect to the vertical promotes a substantially complete fill of the rotary air lock device, maximizes seed transfer efficiency and minimizes the risk of damage caused by shearing effects within the rotary air lock.

a. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to improvements in pneumatic conveyors, and more particularly conveyors of the type used for transporting particulate matter, such as seed, from a bulk storage facility to a planter, drill or similar planting apparatus.
b. Description of Related Prior Art
The recent economic environment has had a dramatic effect on farmers. Minimizing labor-intensive activities and maximizing productivity has become a crucial element for survival in the farming industry.
During planting season, loading seeds into a planter or drill has always been a very labor-intensive operation. One common method for loading a planter or drill is to manually haul or dump seed contained in fifty-pound bags into seed boxes located on the planting apparatus. On each refill, a farmer will carry several bags from his pickup truck, or other storage medium, to the planter or drill. Each bag must be torn open and poured into a seed box. The time consumption and fatigue associated with this manual labor can be very significant and wasteful.
In prior years, this operation was not as much of a problem as it is today because farmers were more typically utilizing two- and four-row planters, and were farming relatively small numbers of acres. In the mechanized agricultural industry of today, however, many farmers utilize twelve- to twenty-four-row (or more) planters and/or large drills that hold forty or more bushels of seed to farm thousands of acres.
Prior art attempts at reducing the time and labor required to fill planters and drills have included providing a large, bulky rotary air lock device connected to a portable seed bin and a pneumatic seed conveyor designed to discharge seeds directly into the planter and drill seed boxes. This system, however, is difficult to handle due primarily to the weight associated with the prior art rotary air lock's metal housing and multi-vane rotor which, as a practical matter, severely limits its portability. These devices generally weigh 400 to 500 pounds. In addition, a ponderous rotary air lock device of this design can cause significant damage to the seed transferred by shearing seeds which become caught between the heavy rotor blades and housing. This, of course, can greatly reduce the seed yield and overall productivity.
Another device aimed at reducing the difficulties of loading planting apparatus with seed is disclosed and claimed in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,608, which is incorporated herein by reference. Instead of providing a large, heavy rotary air lock as discussed above, the '608 patent substitutes a venturi unit into a pneumatic seed conveyor connected to a large supply of seeds. The venturi unit causes the seed to be transferred from the seed supply to the pneumatic conveyor by creating a pressure differential and, ultimately, to the planter or drill boxes, as described thoroughly in the '608 patent and therefore omitted here. Although the portability of the venturi unit system represents a significant improvement over a system which includes a large, bulky rotary air lock, operation of the venturi unit system may sometimes encounter problems with unacceptable conveyor line pressure losses and seed clogging, which thereby reduces its seed transfer efficiency.
The present invention as disclosed herein meets the goals attempted by the prior art devices discussed, but does not suffer from the disadvantages mentioned, thereby providing the user of the present invention with the added benefits of greater effectiveness, portability and ease of use.

Pneumatic grain conveyor and related method


A method for transmitting a reference signal in a multi-antenna system is provided. The method includes: selecting at least one orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol in a subframe containing a plurality of OFDM symbols; allocating a channel quality indication reference signal (CQI RS) capable of measuring a channel state for each of a plurality of antennas to the selected at least one OFDM symbol; and transmitting the CQI RS, wherein the CQI RS is allocated to an OFDM symbol which does not overlap with an OFDM symbol to which a common reference signal to be transmitted to all user equipments in a cell or a dedicated reference signal to be transmitted to a specific user equipment in the cell is allocated.

To maximize performance and communication capacity of a wireless communication system, a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) system has drawn attention in recent years. Being evolved from the conventional technique in which a single transmit (Tx) antenna and a single receive (Rx) antenna are used, a MIMO technique uses multiple Tx antennas and multiple Rx antennas to improve transfer efficiency of data to be transmitted or received. The MIMO system is also referred to as a multiple antenna system. In the MIMO technique, instead of receiving one whole message through a single antenna path, data segments are received through a plurality of antennas and are then collected as one piece of data. As a result, a data transfer rate can be improved in a specific range, or a system range can be increased with respect to a specific data transfer rate.
The MIMO technique includes transmit diversity, spatial multiplexing, and beamforming. The transmit diversity is a technique in which the multiple Tx antennas transmit the same data so that transmission reliability increases. The spatial multiplexing is a technique in which the multiple Tx antennas simultaneously transmit different data so that data can be transmitted at a high speed without increasing a system bandwidth. The beamforming is used to add a weight to multiple antennas according to a channel condition so as to increase a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) of a signal. In this case, the weight can be expressed by a weight vector or a weight matrix, which is respectively referred to as a precoding vector or a precoding matrix.
The spatial multiplexing is classified into single-user spatial multiplexing and multi-user spatial multiplexing. The single-user spatial multiplexing is also referred to as a single user MIMO (SU-MIMO). The multi-user spatial multiplexing is also referred to as a spatial division multiple access (SDMA) or a multi user MIMO (MU-MIMO). A capacity of a MIMO channel increases in proportion to the number of antennas. The MIMO channel can be decomposed into independent channels. If the number of Tx antennas is Nt, and the number of Rx antennas is Nr, then the number of independent channels is Ni where Ni≦min{Nt, Mr}. Each independent channel can be referred to as a spatial layer. A rank represents the number of non-zero eigen-values of the MIMO channel and can be defined as the number of spatial streams that can be multiplexed.
For the purpose of data transmission/reception, system synchronization acquisition, channel information feedback, etc., there is a need to estimate an uplink channel or a downlink channel in the wireless communication system. Channel estimation is a process of recovering a transmission signal by compensating for signal distortion in an environment where a rapid change occurs due to fading. In general, channel estimation requires a reference signal or a pilot known to both the transmitter and the receiver.
In the multi-antenna system, each antenna may experience a different channel, and thus there is a need to design a deployment structure of a reference signal by considering each antenna. Conventionally, when a signal is transmitted from a base station to a user equipment, reference signals are deployed under the assumption that up to 4 antennas are used. However, a next generation wireless communication system can transmit a downlink signal by using a more number of antennas, i.e., up to 8 antennas. In this case, how to deploy and transmit the reference signals needs to be taken into account.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for transmitting reference signal in multi-antenna system


Power is managed in a computer system that includes a power-using device. The power used by the device is regulated based on a measured rate of communications with the device.

This invention relates to managing power in a computer.
Computer systems typically conserve power by shutting off system devices (e.g., a hard drive, a monitor) when they are idle. A timer associated with each component is reset each time the device is activated. When the timer expires, the device is automatically powered down. Examples include display monitors which are configured to dim after remaining idle for a preset period of time.
Other parameters that affect power consumption include the processing speed of computers and the spin time of disk drives in the system.
In some systems, a user can reconfigure the timer and other power characteristics of a device using specially designed configuration software.


A solar simulator including a support structure, two or more lighting modules connected to the support structure, wherein each lighting module includes a mounting structure and at least one multi-lamp assembly connected to the mounting structure, and a mobile sensor platform configured to sense light intensity and/or light spectrum.

During the design and manufacture of solar cells, there is often a need to test the cells for power generation and overall operating efficiency. One option for testing solar cells is exposing the solar cells to natural sunlight, as if the solar cells were in deployment. However, for a variety of reasons, it is often not practical (or even feasible) to expose test solar cells to natural sunlight.
Thus, solar simulators have been developed as an alternative to testing solar cells with natural sunlight. Advantageously, solar simulators use artificially generated light, such as light produced by electrically powered lamps, which facilitates the indoor testing of solar cells under carefully controlled laboratory conditions.
Use of solar simulators has not been limited to solar cells. Indeed, solar simulators have been used to test various objects. For example, solar simulators have been used to test objects, such as building materials, automobiles, aircraft and space vehicles, for thermal and ultraviolet exposure issues.
Unfortunately, many traditional solar simulators produce a limited area of illumination and are not scalable to accommodate larger objects. Therefore, many traditional solar simulators are not suitable for testing objects, such as large solar arrays, building materials, automobiles, aircraft and space vehicles.
Furthermore, while the illumination produced by traditional solar simulators may resemble the spectral distribution of natural sunlight, there are often discrepancies in the spectral distribution, the spatial uniformity, the angle of propagation and the divergence of the generated illumination, which may compromise test results. For example, concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) devices focus light onto a small area of solar cells and, therefore, require precise spatial uniformity, spectral balance, angle of propagation and divergence to adequately simulate solar illumination.
Accordingly, those skilled in the art continue with research and development efforts in the field of artificial solar illumination.

Solar simulator and method for solar simulation


A continuous online auction system and method enabling the auctioning of products. An online product auction system comprises an auction center having a microprocessor operably connected to a storage media. The online product auction system also includes a product receive module configured to execute in the auction center. The product receive module is further configured to receive a set of product data for a first product to be auctioned wherein the product data includes one or more seller parameters. The online product auction system further includes a seller proxy module configured to execute in the auction center. The seller proxy module is configured to modify one or more seller parameters for the product based upon one or more auction parameters for the first product.

1. Field
The present invention is related to systems and methods for conducting transactions using networked computers. More particularly, the invention relates to a system and method for performing an online auction.
2. Description of the Related Art
Traditional auctions usually require the physical gathering of the products and the bidders at a predetermined location. An auction is scheduled to occur at a specific location at a scheduled time. Typically, interested bidders show up at the location prior to the scheduled auction time to inspect the items to be auctioned off. The bidders then attend the auction, wait for the interested products to be auctioned, and bid on these interested products.
At these traditional auctions, the products are disadvantageously made available to the interested bidders for a limited duration prior to the scheduled auction. During this limited time, the interested bidder has the task of inspecting the products which are of interest and to "book out" the product one at a time. Typical auctions may involve hundreds of products, and determining a value for each product in such a short period of time is inherently inefficient. Moreover, requiring the products to be transported to the auction location adds increased inefficiencies in the distribution channel between the seller and the buyer.
Traditional auctions have the further disadvantage that products are generally auctioned off one at a time. The auctioneer typically places a product up for auction and solicits bids from the auction floor. Once the highest bid is accepted, the product is closed to further bidding, and the next product is brought forward. This process of auctioning off one product at a time in a sequential manner is limiting because the interested bidder may have to wait through the entire auction in order to place a bid on the interested products. Moreover, because of the high number of products and the limited auction time, a product is presented for auction for only a very short period of time. Thus, a potential bidder is not afforded the luxury of time in deciding whether to place a bid.
At some auctions, more than one auctioneer is active at a time, and thus, more than one product is capable of being auctioned off at a time. This is more efficient in that more products may be auctioned off in a lesser period of time. But, simultaneous auctions require the interested bidder to concurrently monitor more than one auction to ensure that an interested product is not missed. This is inefficient because more than one bidder representing the same buyer has to be present at the auction. Further inefficiencies are introduced because the products cannot be auctioned off simultaneously to the same group of bidders.
More recently, the World Wide Web ("www") has experienced an increasing number of auction sites. Typically, a seller places a product up for auction through one of these sites. The seller provides information such as, by way of example, a product description, including a photograph of the product in some instances, the duration of the auction, and possibly a required minimum selling price. This information is presented through one or more web pages. A bid history is also presented through one or more web pages so that interested bidders may place a valid bid on a desired product.
These auction systems enable the simultaneous auctioning of products as well as increasing the duration of time a product is presented for auction. But, conventional auction systems are inefficient because the participating bidders have to continuously monitor their auctions in order to keep abreast of the bidding activity. Furthermore, these systems have the added disadvantage in that the interested bidders have to continuously search for active auctions involving products of interest.
Having placed a product up for auction, the seller generally loses the flexibility of altering certain auction parameters during the auction period. For example, the seller may not be permitted to alter information such as the bidding increments, the minimum starting bid, or the minimum acceptable selling bid. This is generally inefficient because the seller has to wait through an unsuccessful auction before adjusting the auction parameters such that a successful auction may result.

Continuous online auction system and method


The invention relates to a method and a device for recording digital data representative of an operating variable of an observed system, the digital data representative of said variable being obtained in the form of samples, the method comprising a data recording over time. The method receiving successive samples representative of said observed variable, and for a current sample, for at least two observation windows of different sizes, each observation window including a number, equal to the size of said window, of successive samples received before the moment in time corresponding to the current sample,                calculating an average value per observation window,        calculating a difference between the current sample and each of said average values,        comparing each difference, in absolute value, to a predetermined threshold value associated with said observation window, and in case of excess, triggering a recording of the current sample in a non-volatile memory.

Integrated and predictive monitoring and maintenance implements an operating data reading of the equipment of a system, using appropriate sensors, the data being read over time. These data are next processed by calculation algorithms to perform proper operation tests, and various diagnostics making it possible for example to predict the wear of the equipment of the system, and a breakdown risk. The implementation of such algorithms advantageously makes it possible to avoid any breakdowns, therefore to increase the operating security of the system and to reduce the maintenance costs.
HUMS systems have applications in many fields, for example for the supervision and maintenance of industrial manufacturing systems, piloting systems, or embedded environmental monitoring systems, for example airborne.
Conventionally, it is necessary to observe and record very large volumes of operating data, with a sufficiently fine recurrence not to miss any significant state changes of the observed operating variable. This causes a need for storage areas, for example nonvolatile memories, having very large capacities. In practice, this involves a large bulk, which is sometimes not compatible with the field of application, for example in an airborne system.
The invention aims to address these drawbacks, by proposing a recording method and device making it possible to reduce the volume of data recorded for an observed operating variable.

Method and device for recording digital data representative of an operating variable of an observed system


A tilt-down tower is configured to rotate downward to avoid damage in extreme weather. The tilt-down tower includes a base plate attached to a plurality of base vertical supports. A lower mast is rotationally coupled to the a plurality of base vertical supports with a lower mast pivot rod such that the lower mast rotates about the lower mast pivot rod. The lower mast is mechanically coupled to a lower mast winch line bracket. An upper mast is attached to the lower mast and configured to accommodate a wind turbine. A ladder is immediately adjacent to the base plate and the a plurality of base vertical supports. A winch is attached to the ladder and configured to accommodate a winch line. The winch line is attached to the lower mast winch line bracket and released such that the lower mast and upper mast rotate toward the ground in order to hold the upper mast below the lower mast.

The embodiments herein relate generally to power systems.
Prior to embodiments of the disclosed invention, it was difficult to maintain systems that integrated solar and wind power systems. The prior art includes: U.S. Patent Application Publication 2012/0112546 filed by Culver; U.S. Pat. No. 8,288,884 issued to Malcolm; and U.S. Pat. No. 8,330,296 issued to Ottman.
None of Culver, Malcom or Ottman teach a system that can be used to rotate, raise and lower a tower. This functionality allows a user to more easily maintain the wind turbine since climbing the tower is no longer required.


A top for a convertible vehicle, the top including a storage space for storing the top in an opened state of the top, an essentially shape-preserving covering member for covering the storage space in a closed state of the top, and a rear top section. The top section is arranged at least partially above the storage space in the closed state of the top, and the covering member is connected to the rear top section by at least one connecting member. Movement of the top section can move the covering member via the connecting member.

The present invention relates to a top for a convertible vehicle, and in particular a top comprising a storage space for storing the top in an opened state of the top, an essentially shape-preserving covering member for covering the storage space in a closed state of the top, and a rear top section, wherein the top section is arranged at least partially above the storage space in the closed state of the top.
It is known to store openable tops for convertible vehicles in an opened state of the top in a vehicle storage space generally arranged on the rear side. The storage space should also be upwardly covered in the closed state of the top. This means that an open cavity which firstly does not have an attractive appearance and secondly conceals the risk of, for example, children being able to throw objects into the storage space during the journey, does not remain.
From the construction of convertible tops, it is known to cover the storage space by means of a separately driven, movable lid element. Such a separately movable lid element may be coupled, for example, to a rear top-compartment lid and is generally provided with its own driving device.
German patent application DE 101 46 267 A1 describes a top for a convertible vehicle, with a storage space for the top, wherein the top comprises three roof parts, the storage space being covered by a tailgate and at least partially also by an essentially shape-preserving covering member designed as a covering element, and a rear top section, in particular a rear window arranged in the rear roof part, being arranged at least partially above the storage space in a closed state of the top. The covering element is coupled to a rear side of a seat and therefore to the body of the vehicle by means of a four-bar-linkage arrangement, with one of the joints of the four-bar linkage being guided in a longitudinally displaceable manner on the covering element. A first force-application unit, comprising an electric motor, a gear and a driving cable, is arranged on the covering element. It is a disadvantage that both, the four-bar-linkage arrangement and the force-application unit, take up a space which was designated for the top. A disadvantage of arranging the force-application unit on the covering element is that the force-application unit not only has to support the covering element but also in addition its own weight against the body.
German patent document DE 196 37 038 C1 describes a covering for a linkage passage opening of a linkage for a top of a convertible, where the linkage passage opening is to be covered by an elastic element, especially a tightening strap. The tightening strap is fastened to a retaining element, it being possible for the retaining element to be lowered and therefore for the linkage passage opening to be closed. A disadvantage is that the tightening strap, although suitable as a covering for a small opening, such as a linkage passage opening, is not, however, suitable for covering a storage space of a top, in particular just because of the fact that very great stretching forces are required for this. A further disadvantage is that the retaining element causes the overall arrangement will become quite complex.


The present invention relates to a magnetic tunnel junction device and a manufacturing method thereof. The magnetic tunnel junction device includes: i) a first magnetic layer including a compound having a chemical formula of (A100-xBx)100-yCy; ii) an insulating layer deposited on the first magnetic layer; and iii) a second magnetic layer deposited on the insulating layer and including a compound having a chemical formula of (A100-xBx)100-yCy. The first and second magnetic layers have perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, A and B are respectively metal elements, and C is at least one amorphizing element selected from a group consisting of boron (B), carbon (C), tantalum (Ta), and hafnium (Hf).

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a magnetic tunnel junction device. More particularly, it relates to a method for manufacturing a magnetic tunnel junction device using an amorphous material with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Recently, various types of memories have been developed. For example, a magnetic random access memory (MRAM), a phase-change random access memory (PRAM), and a resistive random access memory (RRAM) have been developed.
The MRAM uses a magnetic tunnel junction (MJT) element as a data storage element. The magnetic tunnel junction element included in a memory cell is based on ferromagnetic tunnel junction properties. The magnetic tunnel junction element consists of two magnetic layers separated by an insulating layer, and the current flows in the insulating layer through the tunneling mechanism. Here, when the relative magnetization directions of the two magnetic layers are parallel to each other, the magnetic tunnel junction element has low resistance. In contrast, when the two magnetic layers have an antiparallel magnetization configuration, the magnetic tunnel junction element has high resistance. The low resistance and the high resistance indicate digital data, respectively, corresponding to 0 and 1.
Thermal stability is defined as the ability of retaining the digital data for a long period of time. The thermal stability is proportional to anisotropy energy of the magnetic layer of the magnetic tunnel junction element. In the majority of cases, the ferromagnetic materials used in the magnetic tunnel junction element have an in-plane magnetic anisotropy, for example, represented by shape anisotropy energy, and therefore the total anisotropy energy is small. In order to solve this problem, a ferromagnetic material with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, for example, represented by high crystalline anisotropy energy, is used as a material of the magnetic tunnel junction element. Accordingly, the total anisotropy energy of the magnetic tunnel junction device is large so that the magnetic tunnel junction device can have superior thermal stability with a small volume.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Method for manufacturing a magnetic tunnel junction device

KOREA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY


Applications and their application components run on a cloud platform and an underlying cloud runtime infrastructure. The cloud platform provides a service that exposes an interface to remotely change log levels of logger objects defined in application components. The application logs are generated and stored for the application components on the cloud runtime infrastructure of the cloud platform. Log levels affect the content stored in the application logs. The exposed interface is instantiated to process remote requests for managing application logs and log levels for a specified application component. The application component is deployed on the cloud platform. The requested change in the log levels is performed based on the implementation of the interface. The change in the log levels is performed in the configuration data on the cloud runtime infrastructure provided by the cloud platform.

Cloud computing refers to the hardware, system software, and applications delivered as services over the Internet. Cloud computing can be defined as data centers plus a layer of system software services designed to support creating and scalable deployment of application services. The Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model represents applications that are accessible from various client devices through a thin client interface such as a web browser. Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) is another category of cloud computing solutions that gives developers the tools to build and host web applications. Another level of cloud-computing solution is Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), which offers web-based access to storage and computing power. The consumer does not need to manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure but has control over the operating system, storage, and deployed applications. To deliver highly available and flexible services (i.e., computation as a service), and owing to the maturity of virtual technology, Virtual Machines (VMs) are used as a standard for object deployment in the cloud. When an application is built on top of a PaaS offering, the application developers that maintain the application need access to the underlying infrastructure. Direct access to the underlying infrastructure in a PaaS environment is usually given to a defined number of users, such as platform operators. Monitoring systems help administrators to identify resource bottlenecks or problems and take the required action.
During the development phase, it is a common practice to insert logging statements within the code to produce informative logs at runtime that can be helpful for troubleshooting or for analysis purposes. Logging is a process of creating and storing permanent records of events for a particular system or software application that can be reviewed, printed, and analyzed. These records can contain short messages, the source of the records, timestamps of the events, log levels specifying the importance of the records, etc. Log messages can include a detailed sequence of statements that describe the events happening during an operation as they are executed. Logger objects may have predefined levels that specify the granularity that will be applied when logging messages in log files. A logging configuration can be defined for a particular software application or a component. The logging configuration may define the log levels that will be applied, while the software application or component is running.
Since version 1.4, Java® itself comes with the capable logging package, java.util.logging (Java® Logging framework), which enables a Java® Virtual Machine (JVM)-wide logging configuration shared by all applications running in the JVM. The Java® logging framework is a logging package for the Java® Platform that defines some log levels, e.g., fatal, error, warning, info, debug, trace, others. Based on the log level and the events that occur during the execution of the application, log messages are generated and stored as logged data (e.g. in log files). Log messages can be used not only by application developers, but also by the system administrators that identify problems in the system operations.
Logging relevant application details at runtime is a practice that has been followed since the early days of programming It is essential to keep logs during the whole execution of a given software application or a system. Log messages are very helpful during the maintenance process of an application. The log levels defined for logger objects denote the level of importance or relevance of a certain message. This is also applicable to SaaS solutions. To retrieve the logged data for an application deployed on a PaaS solution, the underlying cloud infrastructure needs to be accessed. When an event has occurred and troubleshooted is necessary, the log messages can be reviewed. If the information received from the log messages is not enough for the troubleshooting tasks, the log level for the logger object may be changed accordingly. This way, when the event occurs again, a large portion of log messages will be logged in the log file with detailed information that can help for the resolution of the issue.

Managing application log levels in cloud environment


A device is provided for checking a probe for measuring the pressure of a flow, the probe comprising an internal volume and at least one orifice communicating with the outside of the volume. The device comprises: an acoustic transmitter and an acoustic receiver; connection means to connect the device to the probe, such that the transmitter transmits an acoustic signal propagated in the internal volume, and such that the receiver picks up an acoustic signal observed in the internal volume; processing means suitable for comparing the observed signal to a reference signal. The connection means are configured in such a way that an incorrect connection of the probe disturbs the propagation in the internal volume of an acoustic signal transmitted by the transmitter. The processing means are configured to detect an incorrect connection of the probe by comparing the acoustic signal observed in the internal volume with the reference signal.

In effect, piloting any aircraft entails knowing its relative speed in relation to the air, that is to say to the relative wind. This speed is determined using static pressure Ps and total pressure Pt measurement probes. The total Pt and static Ps pressures provide the modulus of this speed vector.
As is known, the total pressure Pt can be measured using a so-called Pitot tube. This is a tube that is open at one of its ends and blocked at the other. The open end of the tube substantially faces into the flow. The stream of air situated upstream of the tube is progressively slowed down until it reaches an almost zero speed at the tube inlet. The slowing down of the speed of this stream of air increases its pressure. This increased pressure forms the total pressure Pt of the flow of air. The principle of such a total pressure measurement probe is recalled in FIG. 1. The probe 10 is intended to be fixed through an opening 11 produced in the skin 12 of an aircraft. The probe 10 comprises a part 13 that is external to the skin 12 and formed by a Pitot tube 14 borne by a strut 15. The probe 10 also comprises an internal part 16 essentially comprising an electrical connector 17 and a pneumatic connector 18. The connector 17 makes it possible to electrically connect the probe 10 to the aircraft, for example to connect heating means for the deicing of the probe 10. The connector 18 allows for the pneumatic connection of the Pitot tube 14 to a pressure sensor or other measurement device, situated inside the skin 12 of the aircraft. The probe 10 is positioned on the skin 12 of the aircraft such that the Pitot tube 14 is oriented substantially on a longitudinal axis of the aircraft, excluding laminar boundary layer, for the direction of the flow, embodied by an arrow 19, to substantially face an inlet orifice 20 situated at a first end 21 of the Pitot tube 14. In the example represented, the Pitot tube 14 is fixed relative to the skin 12 of the aircraft. It is of course possible to mount the Pitot tube 14 on a moving strut such as, for example, a paddle that can be oriented in the axis of the flow as is, for example, described in the patent published under the number FR 2 665 539.
In practice, the flow of air can convey solid or liquid particles, such as, for example, the water from the clouds, that are likely to penetrate into the Pitot tube and build up in the tube at the blocked end. To prevent such a build-up from disturbing the pressure measurement, one or more drain holes and water traps are generally provided, to avoid any risk of obstruction of the ducts responsible for transmitting the total pressure to the pressure sensors situated inside the skin of the aircraft or to the instruments of the aircraft instrument panel. As represented in FIG. 2, the Pitot tube 14 thus comprises, in proximity to an end 22, a drain hole 23 that makes it possible to discharge particles likely to penetrate inside the tube 14. Still at the end 22 of the tube, an air line 24 opens into the tube 14 to form therein a pressure tap 40 at which the air pressure is to be measured. The pressure tap 40 is generally constructed in such a way as to avoid the ingestion of water into the tube 14 and thus form a water trap. The line 24 is, for example, linked to a pressure sensor not represented in FIG. 2. The pressure sensor makes it possible to effectively measure the pressure of the air prevailing inside the tube 14 at its end 22. Apart from the drain hole or holes 23, the sections of which are small compared to that of the tube 14, the tube 14 is closed at its end 22. The pressure measured at this end therefore represents the total pressure Pt of the flow of air.
The drain holes make it possible to discharge the liquids and any particles that may penetrate into the tube. The slowing down of the air in the tube is therefore not complete and the total pressure Pt measurement is affected. More specifically, the greater the efforts that are made to avoid the build-up of water or of particles of significant size, the more the total pressure measurement is affected by increasing the dimensions or the number of drain holes. Conversely, the greater the efforts to improve the total pressure Pt measurement by reducing the dimensions or the number of drain holes, the greater the risk of build-up of water or of particles. With a Pitot tube, there therefore has to be a trade-off between quality of the total pressure Pt measurement and risk of disturbance of the measurement because of the penetration of water, or of particles conveyed by the flow of air where the measurement is performed.
In the operational life of aircraft, the drain holes can be polluted, because of the ingestion of dust, insects, plant residues or other foreign bodies. Because of their size and the position of the Pitot tubes on the fuselage of an aircraft, the periodic checking of the integrity of the drain holes is difficult.
The checking of the drain holes of the Pitot tubes is generally done visually. The operator responsible for maintaining the aeroplanes inspects the drain hole or holes using a small lamp. If foreign bodies are observed, the probe is dismantled, and its pneumatic circuits cleaned. This operation is all the more difficult when the aeroplane is of large size. Access to the probe and to the drain holes whose diameter is generally less than 1 mm is difficult.
Also known from the applicant is a checking device intended to be temporarily connected to the pressure measurement probe, and that makes it possible to check, using an acoustic transmitter and an acoustic receiver, the non-blocking of the internal cavities and the drain holes of the probe. The principle of such a device is notably described by the patent published under the reference FR 2 959 822. It is also recalled by FIG. 2 of this application. The checking device 25 comprises a transmitter 26 and a receiver 27 intended to be connected to an internal volume 30 of the probe, formed by the inside of the tube 14, the drain hole or holes 23 and the line 24. The transmitter transmits an acoustic signal that is propagated in the internal volume 30 and the receiver is configured to pick up an acoustic signal observed in the internal volume 30. The device also comprises processing means 28 that make it possible to compare the acoustic signal observed in the internal volume to a reference acoustic signal measured on a probe that is not clogged, in order to establish the presence of particles in the internal volume.
The principle of the device is therefore based on a characterization of the architecture of the internal volume, by means of a measurement of the internal acoustics of the probe. The detection of pollution or of clogging of the drain holes is based on the comparison of this measurement with a reference signal measured on a non-clogged probe. It will be understood that an incorrect connection of the probe alters the internal acoustics measured by the device. The comparison of an acoustic signal measured for a probe incorrectly connected to the device, to the reference signal, can thus incorrectly conclude that the drain holes of a probe are clogged. To ensure an effective check, the connection of the device with the probe has to be reproducible. It is also desirable to have means that make it possible to check the reliability of the connection with the probe.

Device and method for checking a probe for measuring the pressure of a flow


A method and apparatus for controlling an industrial robot. Values of .theta..sub.i for positions/postures of robot axes are determined, when a work mounted to the end of a robot hand is located adjacent to the end of a fixed tool, the tool being separated from the robot. Positions/postures Xi are determined in a reverse representation of the robot base for a coordinate system of the end of the hand, for the values of .theta..sub.i, by a forward transformation operation by which positions/postures of the end of the hand with respect to the base are determined using the values .theta..sub.i. Positions/postures T.sub.i in a matrix representation of the end of the tool in the coordinate system of the end of the hand are also determined, for the positions/postures of the axes, based on X.sub.i and predetermined positions/postures P of the end of the tool using the coordinate system of the base. Intermediate positions/postures T.sub.j each between two T.sub.i positions/postures are determined, using an interpolation function. Positions/postures X.sub.j are determined in a reverse matrix representation of the base using the coordinate system of the end of the hand based on P and T.sub.j. Positional values .theta..sub.j corresponding to positions/postures of the axes and to X.sub.j are determined, using a reverse transformation operation. The robot is then driven using .theta..sub.j.

The present invention relates to a control method and control apparatus for performing work such as welding, sealing or other work which can be performed by industrial robots.
When work using conventional industrial robots has been performed, the work object (work) is fixed, and then an arc welding torch attached to the hand of the robot is moved along the line of work. However, the posture of the welding torch when this is done changes with the progress of the work so as to be undesirable with respect to the work quality. And since the tool is fitted to the hand of the robot, the cables connecting the tool have to be suitably processed so as not to become an obstruction. Also, with this technology, each of a plural number of works are conveyed in sequence and the conveyed work has to be stopped accurately at a predetermined position so that there is also the problem that the apparatus for doing this has a complex structure.

Industrial robot control method and apparatus


A containment system for significantly reducing the emission of high frequency electromagnetic waves from a computer system into the external environment. The containment system includes the combination of two enclosures and a shielding assembly. One of the enclosures is associated with the high frequency components and the other with the low frequency components of the computer system. The shielding assembly is positioned between the two enclosures to prevent high frequency electromagnetic waves from passing from one chamber to the other over the connection between the two chambers.

It is known that certain computer system components emit electromagnetic waves, and in particular radio frequency ("RF") waves, at relatively low frequency, for example, at about 1 GHz. The emission of these low frequency electromagnetic waves has not been of great concern. However, some computer system components emit high frequency electromagnetic waves which if allowed to escape to the external environment would be of concern. This concern is that the escaping high frequency electromagnetic waves could cause interference, for example, with electronic systems that have equipment that operate in that frequency range.
As an example, a computer system may have a CPU module in its cardcage portion. The CPU may emit high frequency electromagnetic waves in the 5 GHz range. The CPU may be connected to a storage device that emits low frequency electromagnetic waves in the 1 Ghz range. Even though the computer system enclosure generally shields against the emission of high frequency electromagnetic waves to the external environment, the high frequency electromagnetic waves can possibly escape through connections between the CPU and storage device, and ultimately through openings in the computer system to the external environment which permit access to the storage device, such as an opening for a removable media storage device of which a tape drive is representative.
It is desirable to have a system that prevents the emission of high frequency electromagnetic waves to the external environment by means of connections of computer system components and openings in the computer system enclosures.
The present invention solves these and other problems as set forth in the remainder of the specification and as shown in the accompanying drawings.

System for reducing the emission of high frequency electromagnetic waves from computer systems


A fastening device secures an actuating cable in a U-shaped opening in a holder into which the fastening device can be inserted radially, wherein the arms of the opening and the attachment part comprise catch members for fixing the attachment part radially, the catch members engaging one behind the other in the inserted state. In order to be able to detach the fastening device again, the catch members are formed in such a way that they project beyond the holder in the axial direction. The projections formed in this way can then be gripped and the locking can be released by pressing the projections together. In order to improve the manipulation both during assembly and during dismantling, it is proposed to design the handle on the catch member in such a way that one respective lug is formed integrally on each of the catch members.

This application claims the priority of Italian application TO 96 A 000245 filed Mar. 29, 1996 in Italy.
The invention relates to a fastening device for an actuating cable assembly of the type having an actuating covering and actuating core.
Actuating cables of this type comprise an actuating covering and a core movable axially therein. Actuation is performed by a movement of the core relative to the actuating covering in the form of a relative movement. It is therefore necessary to secure both the core and the actuating covering by a respective fastening device in both the axial and the radial directions.
A fastening device of this type is already known from German Patent Document DE-GM 93 13 485 Ul. The fastening device comprises a U-shaped opening in a holding means into which the fastening device can be inserted radially, in which case the arms of the opening and the attachment part comprise catch members for fixing the attachment part radially, the catch members engaging one behind the other in the inserted state. A stop on both sides is formed for example by a groove, in the base of which the catch members are situated. This fastening device allows radial insertion of the holding means, in which case the catch members snap into each other when the end position is reached. In order to be able to detach the fastening device again, the catch members are formed in such a way that they project beyond the holding means in the axial direction. The projections formed in this way can then be gripped and the locking can be released by pressing the projections together.
In contrast, an object of the invention is to provide a fastening device for an actuating cable in which the manipulation is improved both during assembly and during dismantling.
According to the present invention it is proposed to design the handle on the catching members in such a way that one respective lug is formed integrally on each of the catching members. In this way it is advantageously possible to grip the catching members securely and also to be able to grip and manipulate the catching members securely under difficult fitting conditions, so that in this case too a trouble-free insertion and removal of the actuating cable is possible. In this connection it is particularly advantageous that customary tools, as known for example for assembling and dismantling circlips for shafts, can be used for this purpose.
Advantageous further features are provided in preferred embodiments of the invention. It is thus proposed that the catching members should not be integrally formed directly on the actuating cable, but should be formed as part of a separate securing device. This securing device can be pre-assembled on the fastening device, so as to facilitate assembly. Should the catch member be damaged during the fitting or removal of the actuating cable, the fastening device can be restored simply by replacing the securing device, and the actuating cable need not be replaced. At the same time, it also becomes unnecessary to assemble and position the actuating cable once again.
If, as proposed in a further embodiment, the securing member is additionally designed in such a way that the attachment part is rotatable about the longitudinal axis thereof with respect to the securing member, the assembly is further simplified, since twisting in the actuating cable can now be eliminated during assembly. At the same time, torsional forces are prevented from building up, so as to prolong the life of the actuating cable as a whole, which is designed primarily for stressing with longitudinal forces but not for stressing with torsional forces.
The proposed locking device makes it possible for the securing device to be pre-assembled in such a way as to prevent its loss. If the locking device is further formed by hookshaped members which engage over the catch members, the locking device does not need to be opened separately for assembling the securing device and with it also the fastening device.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


A pumping light source unit for Raman amplification includes at least one pumping light source that outputs a first pumping light covering a current amplification band; at least one additional pumping light source that outputs a second pumping light covering an amplification band to be extended; and a setting control unit that controls a setting for a gain of an entire amplification band by resetting outputs of the first pumping light and the second pumping light. The pumping light source unit has a function of extending the amplification band in a stepwise manner.

1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pumping light source having an amplification-band extending function for Raman amplification, capable of extending an existing amplification band stepwise while maintaining a flat amplification band, a Raman amplifier using the same, and a method and a program for setting an amplification band extension.
2) Description of the Related Art
An amount of information transmission has been increasing rapidly according to the spread of the Internet in recent years. To cope with this rapid increase in the amount of information transmission, an increase in a transmission capacity and an increase in a density of transmission of a transmission system are desired. As a method of expanding a transmittable capacity in a WDM system, there is a method of extending a signal band. As a conventional technique for extending a gain wavelength band of a Raman amplifier used in the WDM system, there is a method of extending the gain wavelength band from a wavelength band of about 1530 nanometers to 1565 nanometers called a C band to a wavelength band of about 1565 nanometers to 1625 nanometers called an L band. This is a method of extending the gain wavelength band from the C band to a (C+L) band at a time (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-73852 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-15845).
However, when it is unnecessary to extend an amplification band to be larger than a required amplification band, there is a problem in that excess capital investment is performed. In some cases, it is desired to extend an amplification band little by little while controlling initial investment and collecting capital investment costs. In the market, the advent of a flexible Raman amplifier, which is capable of extending a flat amplification band by an extension unit smaller than that in the past, has been demanded.

Pumping light source having amplification-band extending function for Raman amplification, Raman amplifier using the same, and method and program for setting amplification band extension


The present invention discloses a method for handover of User Equipment (UE) a service connection being made via the UE, comprises: if fast cells are set up as base stations starts up, handover from a normal cell to a first fast cell with a radio bearer set up therein when the UE moving speed exceeds a threshold, set up a same radio bearer at a current fast cell as the radio bearer set up at the first fast cell when the UE is leaving the first fast cell for the current fast cell adjacent to the first fast cell, release the radio bearer at the first fast cell after the UE leaves the first fast cell, and re-registering into an adjacent normal cell when the service connection is terminated, or handover to the adjacent normal cell from the current fast cell when the measured moving speed of the UE is below the threshold.

As well known, quality of wireless communication in trains will be affected a lot due to increasing high-speed mobility of trains. High-speed mobility will lead to the following problems for wireless communication.                UE in service stays in an individual cell for shorter time;        Doppler shift will increase delay of UE handover so that handover can't be finished in one individual cell;        Frequently handover will lead to bad user experience.
As a result, how to minimize the bad impact caused by high-speed mobility is very necessary, especially for the handover issues.
The existing solution, as shown in FIG. 1, called "large cell solution" to reduce the handover times is that the cells along railways are configured into one specific network (i.e. only serve for the users in the railways) and also increase coverage of one individual cell with remote base station, which may still have the following problems.                Low capacity. Large cell solution has the same capacity as the normal cell, but its coverage is large. So the average capacity per square meter is relative lower than normal cell.        Low spectrum efficiency. As well known, spectrum is very significant resource for the Operators. If coverage area of the whole network is certain, the larger the coverage for the whole spectrum is, the lower the spectrum efficiency is.        Inconvenient for Network Expansion. The configuration of the large cell solution is set at the beginning of the network planning. If expanse of the network is needed, Hardware of base stations has to be reinstalled.

Methods, apparatus and system for handover of UE


A method, system, apparatus, and signal-bearing media for finding a logical unit data structure associated with a command and a logical unit of a device, selecting a command table based on the logical unit data structure and a host that issued the command, indexing the command into the command table, and performing a routine indicated by the command table in response to the indexing. The command table may be a normal command table if no other host has reserved the logical unit or a reserved command table if another host has reserved the logical unit.

Computer systems need a way to store and retrieve data from a variety of data devices, such as disk drives, printers, display screens, and scanners. In the past, each computer typically had its own directly-attached devices, which no other computer was capable of using. But, this was a cumbersome and expensive design because sharing data among computers was difficult and a particular device might stay idle and unused for lengthy periods. For example, a retail store might have multiple cash registers, but each cash register storing its own price/product data locally is less efficient and more cumbersome than every cash register accessing the same price/product data on one common disk drive. Also, a printer is a device that a computer user might need for only short periods, so each computer attaching its own local printer is more expensive than multiple computers sharing one printer.
In order to overcome the aforementioned cumbersome and expensive solutions, computers were connected in networks, and one computer was allowed to store and retrieve data from another computer's data devices. But, accessing data devices on another computer created the problem of multiple computers attempting to access the same device concurrently. For example, one computer might attempt to read data from a tape drive while another might attempt to issue a rewind command to the same tape drive, yielding unpredictable results.


A data processing apparatus for detecting a probability of speech based on video data is disclosed. The data processing apparatus may include at least one processor, and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions executable by the at least one processor, where execution of the instructions by the at least one processor causes the data processing apparatus to execute a visual speech detector. The visual speech detector may be configured to receive a coordinate-based signal. The coordinate-based signal may represent movement or lack of movement of at least one facial landmark of a person in a video signal. The visual speech detector may be configured to compute a probability of speech of the person based on the coordinate-based signal.

Typically, background noise or babble noise may pose a problem in a video-conferencing scenario when determining whether a person is speaking or not. Further, the existence of background or babble noise may make it difficult to understand the person's spoken words. According to one conventional approach, visual speech recognition may recognize spoken word(s) by using only the video signal that is produced during speech. Typically, visual speech recognition deals with the visual domain of speech and involves image processing, artificial intelligence, object detection, pattern recognition, statistical modeling, etc. In one example, the visual speech recognition may employ face detection for "lip reading" to convert lip and mouth movements into speech or text based on visemes. A viseme is the mouth shapes (or appearances) or sequences of mouth dynamics that are required to generate a phoneme in the visual domain. However, visemes cover only a small subspace of the mouth motions represented in the visual domain, and therefore may be limited to a relatively small subset of words.

Visual speech detection using facial landmarks


A non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery comprising a negative electrode having a current collector provided with convex portions and concave portions on both surfaces, a first columnar body formed in a tilting orientation on the convex portion on one of the surfaces of the current collector, and a second columnar body formed in a tilting orientation on the convex portion on the other surface, a positive electrode having a positive electrode current collector provided with a positive electrode mixture layer containing a positive electrode active material capable of reversibly inserting and extracting lithium ions on both surfaces, and a separator interposed between the positive electrode and the negative electrode in a confronting manner, wherein the first columnar body and the second columnar body on the negative electrode are tilted to an orthogonal direction of a winding direction of the current collector.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery of a cylindrical configuration, and more specifically to a negative electrode structure of the same.
2. Background Art
With the advancement in recent years of electronic apparatuses for their portability and cordless operation, secondary batteries such as nickel hydrogen batteries and lithium ion batteries gain attention as driving power sources because they are smaller in size, lighter in weight and higher in energy density.
A typical lithium ion secondary battery comprises a positive electrode made of a complex oxide containing lithium, a negative electrode containing a lithium metal, a lithium alloy or a negative electrode active material capable of inserting and extracting lithium ions, and an electrolyte.
There are also some researches reported in recent years on certain elements having the property of inserting lithium ions and theoretical capacity densities exceeding 833 mAh/cm3 in place of carbon materials such as graphite that have been used conventionally as the negative electrode material. Silicon (Si), tin (Sn) and germanium (Ge) having the property of alloying well with lithium, oxides and alloys of these elements are some examples of the elements used for the negative electrode active material having the theoretical capacity density exceeding 833 mAh/cm3. Of these materials, silicon particles and silicon-containing particles such as silicon oxide particles are studied broadly as less expensive alternatives.
Various kinds of lithium ion secondary batteries are proposed currently that use lithium inserting elements as the negative electrode materials. Among them, Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication, No. 2002-83594 (hereafter referred to as "patent document 1") discloses a lithium ion secondary battery having a thin film of lithium inserting alloy deposited on a current collector by such means as the CVD method and sputtering method to form a negative electrode.
When the film-like negative electrode material is used as the one discussed above, however, the lithium inserting element exhibits a large degree of expansion and contraction due to insertion and extraction of the lithium ions. If the negative electrode used contains an active material made of Si, for instance, the negative electrode active material changes to a substance symbolized by Li4·4Si under a state of inserting lithium ions to its maximum level. A ratio of increase in volume of the active material reaches up to 4.12 times when it turns from Si to Li4·4Si. This tends to cause separation of the current collector from the negative electrode material, wrinkling and the like of the negative electrode due to weakening of adhesion between the current collector and the negative electrode material over repeated cycles of charging and discharging. It is likely that the separation and wrinkles, if occurred, degrade the charging and discharging cycle characteristics of the secondary battery.
Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication, No. 2003-303586 ("patent document 2") is directed to address the above problem, and it discloses an electrode for secondary battery having a thin film of columnar bodies made of an active material, which are formed discretely with void spaces provided among them on a current collector. Similarly, Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication, No. 2004-127561 ("patent document 3") discloses a secondary battery provided with a thin film of an active material formed selectively into a predetermined pattern with void spaces on a current collector of a negative electrode. It is claimed there that these structures obviate physical contacts among the adjoining columnar bodies by virtue of the void spaces provided even if the columnar bodies expand due to insertion of the lithium ions, and they can hence prevent wrinkles and fractures from being developed in the current collectors
Moreover, Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication, No. 2005-196970 ("patent document 4") discloses a method of forming a negative electrode, wherein a current collector is provided with convex portions and concave portions on its surface, and a film-like negative electrode material is formed thereon in a tilting orientation with respect to a plane perpendicular to the main surface of the negative electrode material. It indicates that this structure can distribute stresses produced by expansion and contraction of the negative electrode material due to charges and discharges into directions of both parallel and perpendicular to the main surface of the negative electrode material, thereby preventing wrinkles and damages from being developed. In the secondary batteries shown in the patent documents 2 and 3, however, the thin films of the lithium inserting alloy are formed into either columnar bodies or in a predetermined pattern selectively with void spaces provided among them, and in an upright form in the direction of the normal to the current collector. In addition, a positive electrode active material is positioned in a manner to confront the pillar-shaped thin film as well as the void spaces through which the current collector is exposed. For this reason, the lithium delivered from the positive electrode active material deposits on the exposed current collector while also being inserted in the confronting thin film in the beginning of electrical charge. As a result, the thin film becomes less efficient in extracting the lithium during the electrical discharge. It also allows lithium metal to deposit easily, which can be the primary cause of jeopardizing the safety and decreasing the capacity. These phenomena become more pronounced as the charging and discharging cycle is repeated.
According to the secondary battery disclosed in the patent document 4, on the other hand, the negative electrode having the lithium inserting alloy formed in the tilting orientation increases the surface area confronting the positive electrode active material and also prevents the current collector from being exposed, which can use the lithium effectively and avoid deposition of the lithium metal. In other words, the secondary battery of the patent document 4 comprises negative electrode 100 having pillar-shaped negative electrode materials 150 and 160 formed in the tilting orientation on top of convex portions 130 on current collector 110, as shown in FIG. 16A to FIG. 16C, and a cylindrical secondary battery is produced by winding an electrode group formed of laminated negative electrode 100, a separator (not shown in the figures) and a positive electrode (not shown). Negative electrode materials 160 are formed in the upright orientation along a width direction of current collector 110, which is orthogonal to the winding direction, but in the tilting orientation in the winding direction, as shown in FIG. 16B and FIG. 16C. However, current collector 110 having a width W in a fully discharged state expands to an extent of δw in the width direction due to increase in volumes of negative electrode materials 150 and 160 as a result of inserting lithium ions when being charged, which causes the adjoining negative electrode materials 150 and 160 to come in contact with and push against one another, as shown in a diagrammatic illustration of FIG. 17. It is for this reason that the width of current collector 110 as well as the other relevant dimensions need to be reduced in order to make it fit into a battery case, in consideration beforehand of the dimensional changes. This gives rise to a problem that a space inside the battery case cannot be used effectively, thereby limiting improvement of the battery capacity. If any such consideration is not given to the dimensional changes, on the contrary, current collector 110 comes into abutment against insulation plates provided on the top and the bottom of the electrode group inside the battery case due to its expansion, and results in buckling or the like deformation of current collector 110. As a result, a large stress is developed in the junctions between current collector 110 and negative electrode materials 150 and 160, thereby giving rise to another problem that negative electrode materials 150 and 160 separate from current collector 110. Or, there still is a possibility that the current collector wrinkles or deforms even if negative electrode materials 150 and 160 stay not separated. There are cases as a consequence that the cycle characteristics and reliability became impaired.

Non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery


Applications executing in a mobile device utilize a protocol for inter-application communication to overcome restrictions of a sandboxed environment. Applications advertise their exposed capabilities using structured definition files, which are consumed by other applications. Applications can invoke the advertised capabilities by exchanging inter-application communication (IAC) messages in the form of URLs or other platform-specific mechanisms. URL messages are formatted according to parameters and URL schemes specified by the provided definition files.

Desktop applications are traditionally feature-rich because of available display screen sizes for desktop computers and other hardware capabilities, which encourage developers to provide extensive programming interfaces and to grow to support many use cases and workflows. In many cases, native desktop applications have full access to a user's file system, network-accessible resources, and even the data of other desktop applications. These capabilities have led to several ways in which one application can interact with another application, such as with shared libraries, plug-in systems, etc.
Shared libraries, such as those used by suites of applications, e.g., Microsoft Office suite, enable applications focused on one type of task (e.g., word processing) to have the ability to embed features and content from another application (e.g., spreadsheet), thus seamlessly working as a suite while remaining as independent applications. Plug-in systems integrate external code into another running application, providing complete access to the running process's data and extending functionality. Server management software, such as the VMware vSphere Client for Windows made available by VMware, Inc. of California, provides this type of plug-in functionality, which has enabled both second and third parties to provide advanced functionality by extending the vSphere Client user interface. Additionally, distribution and installation of desktop applications is not limited in any way. Whether read from a disk, downloaded from the Internet, or input from the user, any application code may be executed once it is on a desktop computer.
However, in contrast, applications for mobile devices (i.e., mobile applications) can be limited by the devices on which the mobile applications execute. A smaller screen, compared to desktop computers, means less information can be displayed at once. Less internal storage encourages network connectivity and persisting data within the "cloud" or remote servers. Further, mobile applications tend to run within environments that are much more restrictive than desktop applications. In some cases, mobile applications are distributed through user- or platform-specified channels, which determine whether an application is appropriate for distribution. For example, applications may be downloaded and installed onto a mobile device from an application store (e.g., Android Market, iPhone App Store, Amazon Appstore, various carrier or device manufacturer based application stores, etc.). Some of these channels even require an application review process with humans acting as gatekeepers to ensure quality and acceptability of applications distributed through their platform. Such restrictions provide additional safety and security to users while also imposing different constraints than when producing applications for desktop computers and limiting some functionality.
As such, these restrictions on mobile applications present a challenge when attempting to apply traditional techniques for inter-application communication and operability used for desktop applications to mobile applications.

Inter-application communication on mobile platforms


An interferometric fiber optic gyroscope employing an integrated, width pshed, optic chip containing annealed proton exchange waveguides and a Mach-Zehnder interferometer for sensing a ramp induced signal from loop closing electronics to achieve a highly improved gyroscope scale factor linearity and dynamic range. An edge light emitting diode (ELED) operating at 1.3.mu. wavelength is employed as the light source in the gyroscope. A decorrelator optical fiber segment is employed between the light source and the chip, and a Lyot depolarizer optical fiber segment is employed between the chip and one side of the fiber optic coil. Also, an intermediate output of the loop closing electronics is shown to have reduced scale factor sensitivity to light source wavelength change.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fiber optic gyroscopes and more particularly to closed loop fiber optic gyroscopes.
2. Description of Related Art
The basic configuration of the interferometric fiber optic gyroscope (IFOG) was developed at Stanford University in 1981. The configuration of the basic Stanford interferometric fiber optic gyroscope is depicted in FIG. 1. A light source passes light through the interferometer optics and is split into two beams that propagate around the fiber optic coil of the gyro in opposite directions. The light is then recombined and the resultant intensity at the detector is proportional to the phase difference between the two beams. The phase difference between the two beams is in turn proportional to an input rotation rate about the input axis of the gyro. In the absence of rotation, the interferometer optics insure that both beams traverse the same optical path and thus yield a nominally zero bias for the gyro. In the basic Stanford configuration a phase modulator was constructed of a cylindrical piece of piezo-electric crystal with optical fiber wrapped around it which was placed to one side of the fiber optic sensing coil of the gyro. Applying a sinusoidal voltage to the crystal causes the crystal to expand and contract, thus lengthening and shortening the fiber, which in turn induces phase modulation onto the light traveling through the optical circuit of the gyro. The output of the gyro is then synchronously demodulated at the first harmonic. Synchronous demodulation at the first harmonic transforms the output of the gyroscope from that of a raised cosinusoid to a sinusoidal scale factor. The sinusoidal scale factor is more desirable because of the slope through zero, which is attractive from a controls standpoint, and is anti-symmetric, thereby making it possible to tell the direction that the gyro is rotating. The effect of the synchronous demodulation of the photo diode output is shown in FIG. 2. Thus, in the prior art, Stanford University defined a reciprocal optical circuit and demonstrated the need for waveguide-type optical devices to achieve inertial grade performance. In fact, Stanford University fabricated the entire interferometric fiber optic gyro from a single length of fiber optic waveguide. The Stanford interferometric fiber optic gyroscope is more fully described in the Stanford Report No. 3586 of June 1983 by Ralph Alan Bergh G. L., of Stanford, Calif., incorporated by reference herein.
The Stanford device as well as others of the prior art did not, however, address the additional problems which are now addressed by the present invention. The scale factor of the gyroscope, although superior to the raised cosinusoid, is still sinusoidal. A linear scale factor is highly desirable. Thus, the Stanford gyro did not provide the most desirable end result. Further, the Stanford gyro output is a simple analog dc voltage whereas a digital output is preferred. The fiber optic components used in the prior art interferometric fiber optic gyro are mechanically unstable and impractical in a hostile environment, as configured in the prior art devices.

Closed loop, depolarized interferometric fiber optic (IFOG) gyroscope with self adjusting serrodyne phase nulling

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


A lithium-manganese composite oxide containing a lithium-iron-manganese composite oxide represented by the composition formula. Li1+x−w(FeyNizMn1−y−z)1−xO2−δ, where 0<x<⅓, 0≤w<0.8, 0<y<1, 0<z<0.5, y+z<1, and 0≤δ<0.5, in which at least in a state of charge of a lithium ion battery using the lithium-manganese composite oxide as a positive-electrode active material, at least some of iron atoms are pentavalent.

Recently, a wide variety of electronics and electronic systems have been developed. Along with the development, higher performance of storage batteries serving as a power source has been desired. Particularly, lithium ion batteries are widely spread as a secondary battery serving as a power supply for electronics such as a mobile communication device and a laptop computer. In view of environmental load reduction, use of the lithium ion batteries as batteries for driving automobile motors and as stationary storage batteries and installation of the lithium ion batteries in the next-generation robots and drones are expected and a further increase in capacity of the batteries is required. In addition, in case a rapid power-output change occurs, charge and discharge at a high rate is required.
In small and portable lithium ion secondary batteries currently in use, lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO2) is mainly used as a positive electrode material, and cobalt as a rare metal is contained in a large amount. It is a factor that raises the cost of lithium ion batteries. In particular, batteries for driving automobile motors and stationary storage batteries have been increased in size. In the circumstance, it is difficult to use LiCoO2 containing a rare metal, cobalt, in view of cost.
As an alternative material for LiCoO2 serving as a positive electrode material, e.g., lithium nickel oxide (LiNiO2) and lithium manganese oxide (LiMn2O4), which are formed of cheap elements abundantly present as resources, are known. However, LiNiO2 has a problem in that safety of a battery is low in charging. LiMn2O4 has a problem not only in that capacity is low but also in that trivalent Mn leaks out into the electrolytic solution in charging and discharging at a high temperature, with the result that battery characteristics may deteriorate.
In contrast, in order to increase capacity and reduce cost, a Li-rich layered positive electrode material of Li2MnO3 system has been investigated. For example, Patent Literature 1 and Non Patent Literature 1 disclose a Li2MnO3 based positive electrode material for a lithium ion secondary battery, the material containing iron, which is abundantly present as a resource and enables cost reduction, and having a layered halite structure.
Patent Literature 2 discloses a Ti and Ni containing lithium-manganese composite oxide represented by the composition formula: Li1+x(M1−n−mNimTin)1−xO2 where 0<x<0.33, 0.05<m<0.3, and 0.3<n<0.5 and having a mixed phase consisting of a layered halite structure crystal phase and a cubic halite structure crystal phase, as a positive electrode material that can be obtained from inexpensive materials and exhibit excellent charge and discharge characteristics.
Patent Literature 3 discloses a method for simply producing a positive electrode material for a lithium ion secondary battery, consisting of a lithium ferrite composite oxide having a layered halite structure. The composition formula of the lithium ferrite composite oxide is Li1+x(Mn1−n−mFenNim)1−xO2 where 0<x<⅓, 0.01≤m≤0.50, 0.05≤n≤0.75, and 0.06≤m+n<1.
Patent Literature 4 discloses, as a lithium-manganese composite oxide expected as a positive electrode material replaceable for a lithium cobalt positive electrode material, a lithium-manganese composite oxide having a monoclinic layered halite structure represented by the composition formula: Li1+x(Mn1−m−nFemNin)1−xO2 (0≤x<1/3, 0≤m≤0.6, 0≤n≤0.3) where the molar ratio of Mn, Fe and Ni and the average oxidation number fall within predetermined ranges, for providing a novel material that can exhibit more excellent charge and discharge characteristics.

Lithium-manganese composite oxide, and method for producing same, and positive electrode material, positive electrode and lithium ion secondary battery using same


Partial upgrading processes can include thermal treatment combined with solvent deasphalting, and recycling of certain streams, to process bitumen feedstocks and produce a bitumen product. The thermal treatment can be done so that the feedstock is in liquid phase at conditions below incipient coking conditions. Solvent deasphalting can be done before or after thermal treatment depending on the configuration of the process. Subjecting the bitumen feedstock to a partial upgrading can facilitate viscosity reduction of the bitumen feedstock and can facilitate avoiding the need for the addition of an external source of hydrogen.

Bitumen generally has a high viscosity, irrespective of whether it has been recovered by mining operations or by in situ recovery processes. This high viscosity can make the pipeline transportation of bitumen difficult. Various methods exist to decrease bitumen viscosity and increase suitability for pipeline transportation, although such methods have various drawbacks.
For instance, bitumen upgrader facilities of various designs can upgrade the bitumen to produce less viscous products. However, conventional upgrader facilities have high associated capital and operating costs. In addition, in some conventional upgrading methods such as severe thermal cracking, hydrogen originally present in the bitumen is lost to the gas phase such that, in the absence of added hydrogen, significant yet undesirable olefin production can occur. In order to meet pipeline specifications, the olefin content of the bitumen must be minimized, typically to less than 1 wt % (1-decene equivalent). Thus, upgrading methods that produce bitumen products having a high olefin content must therefore use an external source of hydrogen, via some form of hydroprocessing, to provide sufficient hydrogen, i.e. to compensate for at least some of the bitumen hydrogen losses that occurred during cracking, to saturate or convert the olefins by breaking down the carbon-to-carbon double bond and convert them to single bonds, and stabilize cracked products to achieve targeted bitumen quality requirements. Hydroprocessing can include the addition of hydrogen in a separate unit. On the other hand, for economic and technical reasons, various traditional hydroprocessing methods are generally avoided since external hydrogen production has high associated costs. Indeed, any approach using external hydrogen is likely to have higher capital and operating costs.
Another option to improve bitumen viscosity is to dilute the bitumen, for example with naphtha or natural gas condensate as a diluent. Diluted bitumen is often referred to as "dilbit". While bitumen dilution does not have the same capital cost penalty as a bitumen upgrader facility, it still has high associated operating costs. For example, since dilbit includes a significant volume of diluent (e.g., one third diluent and two thirds bitumen per barrel of diluted bitumen), significant pipeline capacity is therefore taken up by the diluent for pipelining of the dilbit as well as the return pipelining of separated diluent to be reused in bitumen dilution. Thus, since diluent travels to and from the bitumen recovery operation, approximately a third of the pipeline capacity can be required for diluent transport and approximately a third of the hydrocarbon inventory can be diluent, which is costly and inefficient.
Other bitumen upgrading methods involve high severity operating conditions and/or significant coking and/or hydrocracking, which can also involve technical challenges as well as high capital and operating costs.
Various challenges exist in terms of technologies for bitumen upgrading and viscosity reduction.

Partial upgrading of bitumen with thermal treatment and solvent deasphalting