A gas sensor on a semiconductor substrate. The gas sensor includes an elongate sensor element extending across an opening and has first and second opposed surfaces exposed for contact with a gas to be sensed. The first surface faces away from a major surface of the substrate. The second surface faces toward said major surface. The electrical conductivity of the elongate sensor element is sensitive to a composition and/or concentration of said gas to which the opposed first and second surfaces are exposable. The gas sensor further includes a support structure arranged to increase the mechanical robustness of the gas sensor by supporting the elongate sensor element in the opening.

This invention relates to a gas sensor. In particular, this invention relates to a gas sensor provided on a semiconductor substrate.
Gas sensors are used in a number of different applications to sense the composition and/or concentration of various gases. One example application is in the field of supply chain monitoring, in which the levels of CO2 present in the air surrounding consumables such as food or beverages is monitored to determine suitability for consumption. The monitoring may typically be carried out at various stages in the distribution chain. Other applications include air quality monitoring, use in heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system in buildings or automobiles, or CO2 monitoring in greenhouses.
FIG. 1 illustrates a first example of a known kind of gas sensor 20. The sensor 20 is provided on a semiconductor substrate 2 (typically silicon), and includes an elongate sensor element 4 provided in the form of a meander line. The sensor element 4 is terminated at either end by a pair of electrical contacts 10, allowing an electrical current to be passed through the sensor element 4 during operation. The sensor element 4 is situated on an upper surface of a bridge structure 6, which extends across an opening 8 in the substrate 2. The bridge structure 6 itself comprises a thin membrane fabricated by under-etching a portion of the surface of the substrate 2 to form the opening 8. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the sensor element 4 has an upper surface that is exposed to the surrounding environment, allowing the sensor element 4 to come into contact with a gas to be sensed.
Also provided on the substrate 2 is a heater. The heater is includes a resistive element 14 through which a current is passed via a pair of electrical terminals 12. The resistive element 14 in this example is also provided in the form of a meander line. The purpose of the heater 14 in this example is to compensate for changes in ambient temperature by acting as a reference resistance.
The gas sensor 20 operates as follows. The sensor is first brought into contact with a gas to be sensed. It is noted that the gas may in some examples comprise a mixture of constituents. In such examples, the gas sensor can be used to determine the composition of the gas by determining the relative concentrations of the constituents (a common example being the concentration of CO2 present in air).
To determine the concentration of the gas present, a current is passed through the sensor element 4 via the terminals 10. This causes the sensor element 4 to heat up. The rate at which heat can be carried away from the sensor element 4 by the surrounding gas is proportional to the thermal conductivity of the gas, which in turn is proportional to the concentration/composition of the gas. Accordingly, for a given gas concentration/composition, the heated sensor element 4 will reach thermal equilibrium at a certain corresponding temperature. This equilibrium temperature can be determined by measuring the resistance of the sensor element 4. In summary therefore, measurement of the resistance of the sensor element 4 can be used to determine the concentration/composition of gas that is in the vicinity of the sensor element 4.
As noted above, the sensor element 4 is provided in the form of a meander line. This increases the sensitivity of the gas sensor 20 by increasing the surface area of the sensor element 4 within the constraints of the space that is available for the sensor element 4 on the bridge structure 6. Nevertheless, the overall sensitivity of the gas sensor 20 is limited by the overall size and surface area of the sensor element 4 available for contact with the gas.
A second example of a gas sensor 30 is shown in FIGS. 2a and 2b. FIG. 2b shows a cross section of the gas sensor 30 through the line I in FIG. 2a. In this example, the gas sensor 30 includes a sensor element 34 located on a semiconductor substrate 2. The sensor element 34 comprises a metallic resistive element in the form of a meander line, and is produced using known metallisation techniques for semiconductor wafer processing. The formation of the sensor element 34 can be integrated with the formation of other metallisation features (e.g. power or signal lines) in the substrate 2 during manufacture. These additional features 32 are shown schematically below the sensor element 34 in FIGS. 2a and 2b.
The operation of the gas sensor 30 shown in FIGS. 2a and 2b is much the same as that described above in relation to the example of FIG. 1.
As shown in FIGS. 2a and 2b, an area 38 of the substrate 2 corresponding to the centre of the meander line of the sensor element 34 has been removed by etching. In principle, this increases the sensitivity of the sensor element 34 by exposing the side walls thereof, thereby increasing the surface area of the sensor element 34 that is available for contact with the gas to be sensed. Nevertheless, the sensitivity of the gas sensor is still limited by the overall size and surface area of the sensor element 34.
JP 2005/003468 describes a flow sensor comprising a resistor supported at either end of a meander line arrangement.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,597,953 describes a gas moisture sensor having a window on which a tape heater in the shaped of a meander line is provided. The tape heater is coated with a moisture sensitive layer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,349,808 and a paper by R. Batha et al. entitled "High-Tc air-bridge microbolometers fabricated by silicon micromachining technique" published in Microelectronic Engineering 27 (1995) p. 499-502, do not describe gas sensors, but instead relate to bolometers.
JP 6,118,046 describes an atmosphere sensor comprising a heating resistor arranged on a bridged thin film insulator. US 2004/251117 describes a suspended thin film resistor.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,753,916 describes a detector for an infrared gas analyzer, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,756,878 describes a thermal conductivity measuring device. Neither of these documents relate to a gas sensor of the kind provided on a semiconductor substrate.


A method including forming a fuse link after a first fuse contact and a second fuse contact. The fuse link is in direct contact with both the first fuse contact and the second fuse contact. Embodiments of the invention provide an e-fuse that is capable of being connected to a device either through back end of line or by a long contact allowing for sufficient separation between the e-fuse and the device.

The present invention generally relates to semiconductor device manufacturing, and more particularly to a technique of fabricating an electrical fuse (hereinafter "e-fuse") with a bottom contact in a middle of line (hereinafter "MOL") of a semiconductor structure.
An e-fuse is a structure that is blown in accordance with a suitable electrical current. For example, an electrical current is provided through the e-fuse to eventually cause the e-fuse to blow and create an open circuit. Programming refers to intentionally blowing an e-fuse and creating the open circuit. In integrated circuitry memory devices, e-fuses can be used for activating redundancy in memory chips and for programming functions and codes in logic chips. Specifically, dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and static random access memory (SRAM) may employ e-fuses for such purposes.
E-fuses can also be used to prevent decreased chip yield caused by random defects generated in the manufacturing process. Moreover, e-fuses provide for future customization of a standardized chip design. For example, e-fuses may provide for a variety of voltage options, packaging pin out options, or any other options desired by the manufacturer to be employed prior to the final processing. These customization possibilities make it easier to use one basic design for several different end products and help increase chip yield.


A testability analysis system analyzes testability by evaluating controllability and observability at the level of a hardware functional description independent of architecture. The testability analysis system comprises: an input part inputting functional description data to define a hardware function; a register variable identifying part identifying register variables whereby memory elements such as a flip-flop in said functional description data are inferred; a random pattern generator applying random patterns to the register variable identified by said register variable identifying part; a simulator conducting a simulation on an event caused by applying the random patterns; and an analysis part analyzing a cause of decrease of a fault coverage by LogicBIST, which is mainly caused by the difficulty of detecting faults by the random pattern test that PRPG (Pseudo Random Pattern Generator) of the Scan-Based LogicBIST executes, based upon toggle rates and simulation events of variables (such as net and bus) in said functional description data in accordance with a result of said simulation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to testability analysis systems and methods, designs for testability system and method and, more particularly, to a testability analysis system and method, and a design for testability system and method that can analyze controllability and observability with a logic built-in self testing mechanism at the level of a hardware functional description independent of architecture for a large scale integrated circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
As an integrated circuit becomes more large-scaled and performs more complicated operations, more time is required to design a test pattern for testing the integrated circuit. In some cases, the required test design time exceeds time to design the integrated circuit.
Accordingly, it is indispensable to prepare a DFT (Design For Testability) whereby a large-scale integrated circuit is provided with some measures for reducing some burdens on test design and test implementation at a logic design level.
Recently, the DFT technique has adopted BIST (Built-In Self Test). In the BIST, a circuit for automatically testing an integrated circuit is built in the integrated circuit. By using the BIST, it is possible to efficiently test the integrated circuit even while the integrated circuit is being manufactured and is being operated in the field.
The BIST has less constraints with respect to the length of a test sequence because the number of BIST scan chains can be increased over the number of extent chains. On the other hand, it is required to suppress an increase of the chip size as much as possible. There are some methods to fulfill the testing requirement, typically an exhaustive test and a random test. The above two methods can use simple hardware such as an LFSR (Linear Feedback Shift Register) to generate a test sequence. Especially, the LFSR for generating random patterns is called PRPG (Pseudo Random Pattern Generator). Regarding evaluation of test results, there are several methods. In one method, whenever one test result is obtained, the test result is compared with an expected value. However, the BIST adopts not this method but a different analysis method. In the BIST, after a collection of test results are compressed by using a multi-input LFSR, the compressed test results are compared with a reference value (Signature Analysis). (ref. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 05-241882, and Japanese Patent No. 2711492) However, the signature analysis has a problem in that when an X (an unstable signal condition) is propagated to the multi-input LFSR, the reference value, which is called the signature, is collapsed.
Regarding test design using LogicBIST (Logic Built-In Self Test) in an integrated circuit, a conventional design flow is as follows. First, a netlist dependent upon a technology is generated by a logic synthesis from a hardware functional description independent of architecture. Then after a scan path test mechanism and a LogicBIST controller are added to the netlist, a fault simulator examines fault analysis and evaluates the fault coverage (fault detection rate). If the fault coverage is not sufficient, the controllability and the observability are evaluated based upon a report offered by the fault simulator and the netlist. Based upon the evaluation result, an appropriate testing circuit may be added or the hardware functional description may be modified in some cases. Here, the fault coverage in the LogicBIST decreases mainly because of the difficulty of detecting faults by the random pattern test that the PRPG in the Scan-Based LogicBIST executes.
According to such a conventional LogicBIST insertion flow, there arise some problems with respect to the controllability and the observability. First, the controllability and the observability cannot be evaluated without the fault simulator. Since a CAD tool is provided for each of a logic synthesis, a scan path insertion, a LogicBIST insertion and a fault simulator execution, it is necessary to consider total time to run the individual CAD tools. Second, it is difficult to analyze the controllability and the observability because the controllability and the observability analysis must be examined from the netlist being at the gate level dependent upon the technology. Third, it is difficult to incorporate the analysis result into the hardware functional description independent of the architecture. Fourth, if the testing circuit is inserted in the netlist after analyzing the controllability and the observability, the hardware performance becomes degraded.
On the other hand, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Applications No. 06-103101 and No. 08-15382 disclose a LogicBIST using LFSR.
In a technique according to Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 06-103101, the testability is analyzed for a netlist being at the gate level so as to improve the fault coverage.
However, in the technique, the testability is not analyzed at the level of a hardware functional description independent of architecture.
A technique according to Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 08-15382 is related to measures for the X (an unstable signal condition) propagation problem on the LogicBIST method and measures for a netlist being at the gate level by the simulation forcing the random patterns. However, the technique cannot be used to check the X propagation at a level of a hardware functional description independent of architecture.

System and method for improving testability independent of architecture


A chemical state monitoring system for a refrigeration system that continuously monitors and detects problems within a refrigeration system. The monitoring system comprises a sampling device for collecting refrigerant in a high pressure liquid line of the refrigeration system, a purge valve in an upper portion of the sampling device; a refrigerant state sensor for sensing a condition indicative of the state of refrigerant in the collection chamber; and a controller operatively connected to the refrigerant state sensor and to the purge valve for controlling said purge valve and detecting fault conditions based on signals from the sensor.

The present invention relates generally to refrigeration systems and, more particularly, to a monitoring system for continuously monitoring the operating condition of a refrigeration system.
Refrigeration systems are used in a wide variety of applications for cooling and/or heating. Refrigeration systems often operate at less than maximum efficiency due to problems that arise during normal operation. Examples of potential problems include poor air flow across the evaporator or condenser, a frozen evaporator coil, a contaminated evaporator or condenser coil, low refrigerant levels, mechanical problems in the compressor, and faulty relays or other electrical components. When problems such as these arise, the refrigeration system may continue to operate, but with substantially reduced efficiency. The problem may not be detected for a long period of time resulting in increased energy consumption, increased cost of operation, and possible decrease in system life expectancy. Thus, detecting potential problems in a refrigeration system can result in substantial savings in energy and costs.
Accordingly, there is a need for a simple and inexpensive method and apparatus for early detection of problems in a refrigeration system that can adversely impact efficiency of operation.

Chemical state monitor for refrigeration system


A computer processing system is disclosed that includes a cache that includes cache blocks of data. The system includes a marking sub-system, an ordering sub-system, and a replacement sub-system. The marking sub-system identifies and marks cache blocks that were provided to the cache via a wrong path with marking data. The ordering sub-system provides an order in which the cache blocks of data will be replaced in the cache, and the ordering sub-system is responsive to the marking data. The replacement sub-system replaces cache blocks in the cache in accordance with the ordering sub-system as required.

Shared-memory multiprocessor (SMP) systems are typically built around a number of high-performance out-of-order superscalar processors, each of which employs aggressive branch prediction techniques in order to achieve high issue rate. During program execution, these processors speculatively execute the instructions following the target of a predicted branch instruction. When a branch is mispredicted, the processor must restore its state to the state that existed prior to the mispredicted branch before the processor can start executing instructions down the correct path. However, during speculative execution, i.e., before the branch outcome is known, the processor speculatively issues and executes many memory references down the wrong-path. Although these wrong-path memory references are not allowed to change the processor's architectural state, they do change the data and instructions that are in the memory system, which can affect the processor's performance.
Previous analyses have studied the effects that speculatively executed memory references have on the performance of out-of-order superscalar processors. Wrong-path memory references may function as indirect prefetches by bringing data into the cache that are needed later by instructions on the correct execution path. Unfortunately, these wrong-path memory references also increase the amount of memory traffic (i.e., increased bandwidth consumption) and can pollute the cache with cache blocks that are not referenced by instructions on the correct path. Of these two effects, cache pollution—particularly in the L2 cache—is the dominant negative effect.
There is a need for a more efficient and economical cache memory system, and in particular, a cache memory system that retains the positive effects of prefetching, but improves the performance of an SMP system without significantly increasing the complexity of the memory subsystem.
In this study, we proposed an enhancement that tries to minimize the negative effects of wrong-path memory references, while retaining their positive effects (i.e., prefetching), to improve the performance of an SMP system without significantly increasing the complexity of the memory subsystem. Specifically, we propose and evaluate a cache replacement policy that is wrong-path aware. For this purpose, we add a field to each cache line to indicate whether or not that cache line was due to an instruction on the correct-path or the wrong-path. When evicting a cache block from a set, evict the oldest wrong-path cache block. Our results show that this simple mechanism can significantly reduce the negative impact that wrong-path memory accesses have on the performance of SMP systems.

Board of Governors for Higher Education, State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations


The collision of a vehicle with a pedestrian is detected by the presence of a foreign object in a sensing zone above the hood of the vehicle within a prescribed time of an initial impact with the bumper of the vehicle. The initial impact is detected with an acceleration sensor disposed in or near the front bumper and the sensing zone is defined by object detection sensors disposed on the hood or behind the windshield of the vehicle. Vehicle speed is used to discriminate against events that occur while the vehicle is stationary or moving very slowly.

A vehicle can be equipped with deployable safety devices designed to reduce injury to a pedestrian struck by the vehicle. For example, the vehicle may be equipped with one or more pedestrian air bags and/or a device for changing the inclination angle of the hood. Since these devices are only to be deployed in the event of a pedestrian impact, the deployment system must be capable of reliably distinguishing pedestrian impacts from abuse events (such as hammer blows to the front bumper) and impacts with other objects. In this regard, it has been recognized that pedestrian impacts are nearly always characterized by two impacts: a first impact with the vehicle bumper followed by a second impact with the vehicle hood. Thus, the vehicle can be equipped with one or more bumper impact sensors and one or more hood impact sensors, as suggested in the U.S. Patent Publication No. 2002/0180596 A1, for example. However, equipping a production vehicle with the required sensors can be both costly and difficult. Moreover, it can be difficult to deploy the safety devices in time to effectively reduce pedestrian injury since the collision is only detected after the pedestrian strikes the hood. Accordingly, what is needed is a pedestrian impact detection method that is more practical and cost-effective and that provides earlier detection of the impact without sacrificing detection reliability.

Vehicle sensing method for detecting a pedestrian impact


The invention relates to a light distribution control method and a light distribution control device in which plural illumination regions are arranged in the left-right direction and illuminated by a headlamp in an ADB light distribution pattern, and vehicle positions of a vehicle ahead are detected and selected ones of the plural illumination regions are reduced in light quantity according to the detected vehicle positions. In this method and device, corrected vehicle positions are set that are obtained by adding margins to the detected vehicle positions in the left and right directions, respectively, and compared with the plural illumination regions. Illumination regions where the vehicle ahead exists are reduced in light quantity.

ADB light distribution control has been proposed as one technique for producing a light distribution for preventing dazzling of the driver etc. of a vehicle(s) (hereinafter referred to "vehicle(s) ahead") located in a region ahead of the self vehicle, such as a forward vehicle running in the same direction or an oncoming vehicle, while enhancing the effect of illumination of the region ahead of the self vehicle. In the ADB light distribution control, a vehicle ahead is detected by a vehicle position detecting device and a control is performed to reduce (to zero if necessary) the light quantity in a region where the detected vehicle ahead exists and illuminate the other wide regions brightly. In recent years, ADB light distribution control has come to be applied to headlamps having such light-emitting elements as LEDs as light sources. In the ADB light distribution control using LEDs, a light distribution for illuminating a region ahead of the self vehicle brightly is formed by combining respective illumination regions of plural LEDs as light sources and, if a vehicle ahead is detected, the light quantity is reduced (to zero if necessary) in illumination regions corresponding to the detected vehicle ahead. In the following description, reducing the light quantity of illumination regions will be referred to as "light quantity reduction" in a sense that it includes reduction to zero.
In the above-described ADB light distribution control, if there occurs a deviation between a position of a vehicle ahead detected by the vehicle position detecting device and actual illumination regions in which the headlamp light quantity is reduced, the vehicle ahead may be illuminated with light to dazzling its driver etc. Or the light quantity may be reduced in an unnecessarily large region to lower the visibility of a region ahead. In particular, systems that perform an ADB light distribution control are associated with various kinds of errors such as an attachment position error of the vehicle position detecting device for detecting a vehicle ahead, a calculation error occurring in detecting a vehicle position by the vehicle position detecting device, and an illumination region setting error that is associated with an error of setting of the lamp optical axis of the headlamp. This makes it difficult to completely eliminate the deviation between a detected position of a vehicle ahead and illumination regions of the headlamp. To solve this problem, Patent document 1 proposes a technique that prevents dazzling of the driver etc. of a vehicle ahead that is caused by an error between a detected position of a vehicle ahead and illumination regions by setting detection margins for detection of a vehicle ahead and giving redundancy to a detection output using the detection margins.
In Patent document 2, plural LEDs are arranged as light sources in each of left and right headlamps. Each headlamp forms plural illumination regions arranged in the horizontal direction (left-right direction) by means of the plural LEDs, and a prescribed light distribution pattern is formed by these plural illumination regions combined. When a vehicle ahead has been detected, in each headlamp LEDs to be lit or not to be lit are changed according to a movement of the vehicle ahead. In this manner, even if a vehicle ahead is moving, illumination regions where the vehicle ahead exists is rendered in a non-illuminated state to prevent dazzling of the driver etc. of the vehicle ahead. On the other hand, regions where the vehicle ahead does not exist is illuminated to increase the visibility of a region ahead of the self vehicle.
In vehicles, in particular, automobiles, that employ ADB light distribution control, in many cases the vehicle position detecting device is installed at the center in the width direction of the vehicle body of the automobile whereas the left and right headlamps are disposed at front-left and front-right positions of the automobile. Therefore, there exists an angular deviation called a parallax angle between an angle (hereinafter referred to as a "detection angle") that is formed when a vehicle ahead is viewed from the vehicle position detecting device and an angle (hereinafter referred to as an "illumination angle") of the lamp optical axis of illumination of a vehicle ahead with illumination light emitted from the left or right headlamp. Because of the presence of the parallax angle, even if a vehicle ahead is detected with high accuracy, light quantity reduction regions of the left and right headlamps cannot be positioned correctly with respect to the vehicle ahead, possibly resulting in dazzling of the driver etc. of the vehicle ahead. To prevent dazzling of the driver etc. of a vehicle ahead due to this angular deviation, Patent document 3 proposes a technique that controls the illumination angles of the left and right headlamps by calculating a parallax angle on the basis of a distance to a vehicle ahead (intervehicle distance) and a vehicle width and corrects a detected angle for the parallax angle.

Light distribution control method and light distribution control device for a vehicular headlamp


Described is a system, method, and computer program product for performing elections in a database cluster, where system resource statistics information is used to predict a cluster node failure. Resource statistics data is classified and used to identify anomalies. The anomalies can be used to determine the probability of a cluster node failure and to then elect a new master node and/or surviving sub-cluster.

A database clustering system allows the underlying servers within the computing infrastructure to communicate with each other so that they appear to function as a collective unit. Although the servers may be configured as standalone servers, each server has additional processes that communicate with other servers and where the different servers may access a shared/common set of database storage objects. The clustered database system therefore contains a shared architecture in which multiple running instances can each be used to manage a set of shared physical data files. Each of the database instances resides on a separate host and forms its own set of background processes and memory buffers, but in which the cluster infrastructure allows access to a single shared database via multiple database instances. In this way, the separate servers (e.g., nodes) appear as if they are one system to applications and end users.
In order for the database cluster to operate properly, these servers (e.g., nodes) will need to be able to communicate with one another in order to perform work. The database cluster as a whole cannot work properly if there is a breakdown of communications between the nodes. For example, many aspects of cluster interactions (e.g., lock management, cluster management, and status updates) cannot function properly if one or more nodes in the cluster are unable to communicate with the other nodes.
When a breakdown in communications occurs, there is often the need to identify which of the surviving nodes has been or should be designated as the "master" or "leader" node. To explain, consider the situation of a 2-node cluster that experiences a communications failure. In this situation, the two nodes in the cluster will be unable to communicate with each other, and hence it would not be feasible to allow each node to continue operating independently of the other since this may result in inconsistent data changes being applied by each node. Therefore, a leadership election may need to be performed to identify a specific master node to initiate a reconfiguration of the cluster, where the node that is designated as the master node survives while the other node is evicted. This allows the master to continue operating in a data-consistent manner until the evicted node can be eventually brought up and correctly integrated into the surviving cluster. Therefore, the master/leader election in the event of a failure is a critical step, since this decision directly determines the composition of the surviving cluster.
The approach described in the preceding paragraph with respect to a 2-node cluster can similarly be applied in clusters having more than two nodes. For a cluster having more than two nodes, the reconfiguration process may result in multiple sub-clusters that group together nodes that can still communicate with each other. For example, in a 4-node cluster, a communication failure may result in a first sub-cluster having node 1 and node 2 that can still communicate with each other, a second sub-cluster having node 3 that cannot communicate with any of the other nodes, and a third sub-cluster having node 4 that likewise is unable to communicate with the other nodes. In this situation, a master election process is applied to select one of the nodes in a sub cluster to be a master and thus its corresponding sub-cluster to be the surviving cluster (the sub-cluster having nodes 1 and 2), which results in eviction of the nodes of the other sub-clusters (e.g., nodes 3 and 4).
Various approaches may be taken to identify the master node after a cluster failure. One simplistic approach is to identify the sub-cluster having the largest number of nodes, and then to elect a master from that sub-cluster. In the above example of the 4-node cluster having a first sub-cluster with nodes 1 and 2 as members, a second sub-cluster having node 3 as its sole member, and a third sub-cluster having node 4 as its sole member, this means that a member of the first sub-cluster would be elected as the master since this sub-cluster has the largest number of members.
The problem addressed by the present disclosure pertains to the situation where a tie occurs when considering the parameters and/or weights of the criteria used to select the master node. To explain, consider a 4-node cluster in which a communications failure results in two sub-clusters, where a first sub-cluster includes nodes 1 and 2 and a second sub-cluster includes nodes 3 and 4. Assume that the criteria for selecting a master is, as explained above, to identify the sub-cluster having the largest number of nodes, and then to elect a master from that sub-cluster. In this example situation, consideration of the criteria for selecting the master node results in a tie between the two sub-clusters, since both sub-clusters have an equal number of nodes.
A tie-breaker can be used when a tie occurs between two sub-clusters. For example, one possible approach that can be used as the tie-breaker is to identify the node having the smallest/lowest node ID as the master node, on the assumption that the node having the smallest node ID value is the first or earliest node started in the cluster. In the above example of the two sub-clusters where the first sub-cluster includes nodes 1 and 2 and the second sub-cluster includes nodes 3 and 4, this tie-break approach would result in election of node 1 as the master node, since node 1 has the lowest node ID number among the group of surviving nodes.
The problem is that this approach may be overly simplistic in many circumstances, and may not result in an optimal result. For example, consider if node 1 in the above example is the node that is currently the most overloaded node among the group of surviving nodes. In this situation, it may be a mistake to force the most overloaded node to assume that additional resource requirements needed to perform the duties of a master node for cluster reconfiguration simply because that node just happens to have the lowest node ID number.
Therefore, what is needed is an improved approach to implement elections in the event of a failure to a clustered database system.

Method and system to implement cluster failure prediction to facilitate split brain resolution


An apparatus and associated method for analyzing a communications link between two components on a common PCB. The communications link has a pair of through-board conductors connected by a first conductive etching on one side of the PCB. The communications link further has second etchings on an opposite side of the PCB respectively connecting each of the through-board conductors to one of the components. The first conductive etching can operably be open-circuited and connectors of an analyzer can be fitted to the through-board conductors to test the communications link between the components.

Computer networking began proliferating when the data transfer rates of industry standard architectures could not keep pace with the data access rate of the 80386 processor made by Intel Corporation. Local area networks (LANs) evolved to storage area networks (SANs) by consolidating the data storage capacity in the network. Users have realized significant benefits by the consolidation of equipment and the associated data handled by the equipment in SANs, such as the capability of handling an order of magnitude more storage than would otherwise be possible with direct attached storage, and doing so at manageable costs.
More recently the movement has been toward a network-centric approach to controlling the data storage subsystems. That is, in the same way that the storage was consolidated, so too are the systems that control the functionality of the storage being offloaded from the servers and into the network itself. Host-based software, for example, can delegate maintenance and management tasks to intelligent switches or to a specialized network storage services platform. Appliance-based solutions eliminate the need for the software running in the hosts, and operate within computers placed as a node in the enterprise. In any event, the intelligent network solutions can centralize such things as storage allocation routines, backup routines, and fault tolerance schemes independently of the hosts.
While moving the intelligence from the hosts to the network resolves some problems such as these, it does not resolve the inherent difficulties associated with the general lack of flexibility in altering the presentation of virtual storage to the hosts. For example, stored data may need to be moved for reliability concerns, or more storage capacity may need to be added to accommodate a growing network. In these events either the host or the network must be modified to make it aware of the existence of the new or changed storage space.
Intelligent data storage subsystems self-deterministically allocate, manage, and protect its respective data storage capacity, and presents that capacity as a virtual storage space to the network to accommodate global storage requirements. This virtual storage space is able to be provisioned into multiple storage volumes. A distributed computing environment uses these intelligent storage devices for global provisioning as well as for global sparing in the event of failures.
As more intelligence and related intelligent components migrate to the data storage subsystem, it is not unusual for a single printed circuit board (PCB) to contain two or more processors executing software modules. Whereas these processors were in the past located on different PCBs, it was then a rather straightforward ordeal to connect a bus protocol analyzer to the PCB in order to analyze the functionality of the processor. However, where two or more processors are connected together within the same PCB, such an analysis can be problematic.
What is needed are improvements making it possible to readily and inexpensively connect a bus analyzer to a high speed communications bus connecting two or more components in a common PCB. It is to this solution that embodiments of the present invention are directed.

Testing a high speed serial bus within a printed circuit board


A sheet storing portion includes a movable restricting portion disposed in a sheet storage body to be movable along a sheet feeding direction and restricting an upstream end in the sheet feeding direction of the sheet. A detecting portion moves in conjunction with the movable restricting portion and includes a detecting member that turns turning on and off the plurality of switches. A control portion is configured to judge the size of the sheet by patterns of ON and OFF of the plurality of switches inputted from the detecting portion and to judge that the size of the sheet stored in the sheet storing portion is the sheet specified through a specifying portion when the size of the sheet is specified through the specifying portion even if the pattern is a predetermined pattern different from a pattern of the size of the sheet specified through the specifying portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and more specifically to a configuration for detecting a size of a sheet stored in a sheet storage portion.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there is known an image forming apparatus such as a copier, a laser beam printer or the like configured to be able to attach a universal cassette, i.e., a sheet storing portion, capable of storing different sizes of sheets. Here, a sheet size detecting portion configured to detect sizes of the stored sheets is required to use the universal cassette.
As such a sheet size detecting portion, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2007-204249 discloses one using a plurality of switches. The sheet size detecting portion includes the plurality of switches provided in a body of the image forming apparatus, a sheet restricting portion provided in a sheet feeding cassette and movable corresponding to sheet sizes, and a sheet size detecting member moving in conjunction with the sheet restricting portion. The sheet size detecting portion is configured to discriminate the sheet sizes by combinations of ON and OFF, i.e., by switch patterns, of the plurality of switches turned ON and OFF by the sheet size detecting member interlocked with the sheet restricting portion moving to a position corresponding to the sheet size when the sheet feeding cassette is attached to the body of the image forming apparatus.
By the way, in a case of discriminating whether the size of a stored sheet is size A or size B (assumed to be A<B) by using such a mechanism, a point for switching the switch patterns is set between the sizes A and B. Then, if a switch pattern at a position under the switching point is detected, the size of the stored sheet is discriminated to be the size A, and if a switch pattern at a position above the switch pattern is detected, the size of the stored sheet is discriminated to be the size B.
In a case where the sheet sizes are close, i.e., in a case where lengths in the sheet feeding direction of sheets (referred to as a 'sheet length' hereinafter) are close, the switching point is set within a very narrow range in such a conventional image forming apparatus. For instance, a difference of sheet lengths is only 4 mm between a 16K size sheet (270 mm in sheet length) and an EXEC size sheet (266 mm in sheet length). In this case, the switching point of the switch pattern is set within the range of 4 mm in discriminating the size only by a position of the sheet restricting portion, i.e., a sheet rear end restricting member.
For instance, there is a case where the switch pattern is set to be switched upstream by 2 mm of a rear end of the EXEC size sheet. In this case, if a user of the image forming apparatus erroneously sets the rear end restricting member by displacing by several mm in setting the EXEC size sheet, the stored sheet is discriminated to be the 16K size sheet.
If size information of the sheet to be used by the user and inputted from a personal computer or the like is different from the sheet size detected by the sheet size detecting unit, conventionally it results in an error in general. Conventionally, while there is known a sheet feeder that is capable of feeding a sheet even if the rear end restricting member is displaced by several mm, the sheet feeder is controlled so as not to feed the sheet even if it is mechanically capable of feeding the sheet if the error occurs.
That is, even though the sheet can be fed mechanically, the sheet cannot be fed if the setting position of the rear end restricting member is displaced by several mm. In the case where the difference of the sheet lengths is thus small, an allowance of the displacement of the rear end restricting member becomes small because the switching point is set within a very narrow range.


The invention is directed to a process and more particularly, to utilizing polymer solutions to make thick film compositions. In one embodiment the process is directed to the formation of photoimageable thick film compositions for use in photo-patterning methods to make photoimageable electrodes in flat panel display applications, including plasma display panels (PDP). Polymer solutions are obtained by directly polymerizing desired monomers in a desired solvent to form a desired polymer, rather than by dissolving a pre-made polymer in a desired solvent. Other ingredients are added to the polymer solution to directly form thick film pastes, including photoimageable thick film pastes.

Since the market has been demanding ever cheaper and better quality flat panel displays, including PDPs, it has become necessary to develop new processes for each step of the manufacturing chain to enable the production of less expensive and better quality products. One technology utilized in PDP manufacturing has been thick film technology, including photoimageable thick films and photo-patterning thick film technologies. Photo-patterning technologies offer a means of making uniform finer lines and spaces compared to traditional screen-printing methods.
A photo-patterning method, such as Du Pont's FODEL® (E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company) printing system, utilizes a photoimageable organic medium, as found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,912,019; 4,925,771; and 5,049,480, herein incorporated by reference, whereby the substrate is first completely covered (printed, sprayed, coated or laminated) with the photoimageable thick film composition and dried, if necessary. An image of the pattern is generated by exposure of the photoimageable thick film composition with actinic radiation through a photomask bearing a pattern. The exposed substrate is then developed. The unexposed portion of the pattern is washed away leaving the photoimaged thick film composition on the substrate that is then fired to remove organic materials and sinter inorganic materials and to adhere the pattern to the substrate. Such a technique has been widely used in the manufacture of plasma display panels.
The organic basis of typical thick film pastes is termed a medium. A medium consists of one or more polymers dissolved in a solvent. Such polymers impart a number of properties to the paste, including viscosity and dried toughness and strength. Other materials can be added at the medium stage, including, but not limited to, rheological additives, photoinitiators, and other materials.
The commonly used and existing process of making photoimageable thick film pastes is to dissolve a pre-made polymer in a solvent, add photoinitators and other organic additives to form a photoimageable organic medium. Then, the organic medium is mixed with functional particles, such as conductive, resistive or dielectric particles, glass frits and other additives. The polymer used to make the organic medium is separately pre-made by polymerization of monomers in a low boiling point solvent, such as 2-propanol or methylethylketone, followed by removing the solvent and drying to form a polymer powder. Next, for thick film applications, the polymer powder is re-dissolved in a high boiling point solvent commonly used for thick film pastes, such as Texanol® or terpineol. The process is time-consuming, involves multiple steps, and tends to introduce many variables including potential contamination which may lead to poor quality of the final photoimageable thick film pastes.
The present invention provides a manufacturing process for thick film pastes, including photoimageable thick film pastes, by providing a novel method of forming what is termed a polymer solution. This novel method of forming a polymer solution may be directly used in a new process to manufacture thick film pastes. Essentially, the present invention provides a new method for the formation of a thick film paste, wherein manufacturing steps are reduced because there is no need to pre-make and handle the dried polymer and re-dissolve the polymer to form an organic medium.

Polymer solutions, aqueous developable thick film compositions, processes of making and electrodes formed thereof


A computerized numerical control automatic complex lathe has a main spindle for gripping and rotating a work to be machined. A first machining tool performs a main machining of the work. A turret tool rest has an outer peripheral surface for holding a set of secondary tools along the outer peripheral surface thereof. The turret tool rest is selectively indexable to bring a selected secondary machining tool into a position to effect a secondary machining of the work and is selectively movable relative to the work to enable the selected secondary machining tool to perform the secondary machining of the work. The turret tool rest further includes a plurality of tool holders for holding a plurality of secondary tools. A back spindle is disposable on a side of the work opposite the main spindle for holding a selected secondary machining tool selected from the plurality of secondary tools. The back spindle is selectively movable to enable the selected secondary machining tool to perform the secondary machining of the work.

The present invention relates to a computerized numerical control automatic complex lathe having a main spindle and a back spindle. More particularly, the present invention relates to an improvement adapted to increase the number of work processes performed on the back spindle thereby enhancing the utility of back spindle.
A conventional computerized numerical control automatic complex lathe, having a main spindle and a back spindle is known. The main spindle is constructed to grip a rod-shaped work in a work chuck so that the work can be rotated and machined for machining it and rotating it. The back spindle is positioned on the side facing the main spindle via the work and in parallel to the main spindle. On the work side of back spindle is integrally fixed a machining chuck as a back spindle tool.
The above-described computerized numerical control automatic complex lathe is so constructed that a rod-shaped work gripped in the machining chuck on the main spindle is machined with a cutting tool for main machining or a machining tool on a turret tool rest, and after the work is regripped in the work chuck on the back spindle, the work is machined with a machining tool as described above while being gripped in this chuck.
With the above-described conventional computerized numerical control automatic complex lathe, it is impossible to change the chuck on the work back spindle without stopping the machine. Also during cutting, only one kind of work that matches the chuck can be gripped. Also, a tool other than a chuck, for example a drill, cannot be mounted on the back spindle. Therefore, the work process which can be performed by the back spindle is limited to gripping only one kind of work.

Computerized numerical control automatic complex lathe


A rocking operation type electric component is presented that includes: an operation knob that has a bottomed case-shaped configuration and is rockably held; a signal generating unit that includes a movable element pressed and driven by the operation knob and generates a different electric signal in response to a position change of the movable element; and a case on which a mounting frame for pivotally supporting the operation knob is protrusively provided formed and in which the signal generating unit is received. A pair of rotation shafts which face each other are protrusively formed on inner wall portions of the operation knob, respectively. Through-holes are respectively formed in a pair of wall portions of the mounting frame which face each other. The rotation shafts are fitted into the through-holes from the outside of the mounting frame to be rotatably supported by the mounting frame.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rocking operation type electric component, such as a switch device, a variable resistor and the like, in which an operation knob is rocked (seesawed), and more particularly, to a mounting structure of the operation knob.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a rocking operation type electric component, which serves, for example, as a switch device applied to a power window mechanism for a vehicle, includes an operation knob which can be rocked and has a bottomed case-shaped configuration, a signal generating unit which includes a movable element to be pressed and driven by the operation knob and generates a different electric signal in response to a position change of the movable element, and a case which receives the signal generating unit. The operation knob is rotatably mounted on a portion of the case.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory view illustrating an exemplary mounting structure of an operation knob in this kind of conventional electric component (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 9-259703 (page 2 and FIG. 6)). Referring to FIG. 5, in a bottomed case-shaped operation knob 50, a pair of rotation shafts 53 and 54 protrude outwards from left and right side walls 51 and 52, respectively. The operation knob 50 is inserted between a pair of wall portions 55 and 56 of a case which face each other. The wall portions 55 and 56 are provided with through-holes 55a and 56a, respectively. By outwardly fitting the rotation shafts 53 and 54 from the inside of the case into the through-holes 55a and 56a, respectively, the operation knob 50 is rotatably assembled with the case. At this time, a widthwise dimension of the operation knob 50 including the rotation shafts 53 and 54 is established to be slightly larger than a gap between the pair of wall portions 55 and 56 of the case. When assembling the operation knob 50 to the case, the operation knob 50 is inserted between the wall portions 55 and 56 with the side walls 51 and 52 elastically bent inward, and then, the rotation shafts 53 and 54 are snap-fitted into the corresponding through-holes 55a and 56a. By this fact, the operation knob 50 is rotatably supported by the wall portions 55 and 56 of the case. Therefore, by controlling the rotation of the operation knob 50 within a predetermined angle, the operation knob 50 can be rocked.
In another conventional exemplary construction, shafts are respectively formed on a pair of wall portions of a case which face each other, in such a way as to protrude outward. A pair of side walls of an operation knob are provided with installation holes into which the shafts can be fitted, respectively. The wall portions of the case are inserted between the pair of side walls of the operation knob, and the shafts of the case are respectively snap-fitted into the corresponding installation holes of the operation knob. By this fact, the operation knob is rotatably mounted on the wall portions of the case.
In the conventional rocking operation type electric component shown in FIG. 5, since the operation knob 50 is inserted to rock between the wall portions 55 and 56 of the case and the through-holes 55a and 56a into which the rotation shafts 53 and 54 are fitted are exposed to the outside, if liquid such as rain water or beverage adheres to the exposed surface of the operation knob 50 or the case, the liquid is likely to leak into the case through a gap between the wall portions 55 and 56 and the side walls 51 and 52 or a gap between the through-holes 55a and 56a and the rotation shafts 53 and 54. In this regard, because a signal generating unit including contact portions is arranged inside the case, if the liquid leaking into the case from the outside adheres to the signal generating unit, a short circuit or corrosion of the signal generating unit can be caused, and operational reliability of the rocking operation type electric component can be degraded. Further, because the rotation shafts 53 and 54 of the operation knob 50 are viewed from the outside, the design or the outer appearance of the rocking operation type electric component may be deteriorated.
Also, in the latter example, because the operation knob is installed to cover the pair of wall portions of the case which face each other, it is possible to accomplish a structure for preventing to some extent liquid such as rain water or beverage from leaking into the case. However, due to the fact that the installation holes of the operation knob into which the shafts of the case are snap-fitted are exposed to the outside, the possibility of liquid to leak into the case through the gap between the installation holes and the shafts still exists. Accordingly, leakage of liquid is not completely prevented. Also, because it is the norm that the operation knob has a strength which is no greater than that of the case, when adopting the structure in which the shafts of the case are snap-fitted into the installation holes of the operation knob, a mechanical strength is insufficient around the installation holes of the operation knob, and therefore, the operation knob is likely to be broken around the installation holes. Moreover, even in this conventional example, since the installation holes of the operation knob and the shafts of the case are viewed from the outside, the design or the outer appearance of the rocking operation type electric component is deteriorated.

Rocking operation type electric component


The present disclosure relates to the use of angiotensin II, angiotensin III, or angiotensin IV in therapeutic methods for the treatment of hypotension, especially catecholamine-resistant hypotension.

Hypotension, if uncorrected, is life-threatening and occurs as the result of various underlying conditions such as trauma, septic shock or drug reactions. The first line of treatment is intravenous fluids, and if this fails to correct the hypotension then vasopressors are deployed. The first line vasopressor is a catecholamine infusion. Catecholamines are amines derived from the amino acid tyrosine, and they include epinephrine (adrenaline), norepinephrine (noradrenaline), phenylephrine, and dopamine, which act as both hormones and neurotransmitters that increase blood pressure. While largely effective at treating hypotension, some patients fail to respond to adequate doses and are defined as catecholamine-resistant. These patients frequently have a high mortality and no acceptable alternatives.

Methods for administering angiotensin II


A method for entering test mode of an integrated circuit device is disclosed. In one embodiment of the present invention, after a lockout period, a test controller generates a signal indicating the integrated circuit is willing to enter the test mode. After the signal, the test controller monitors a test interface during a predetermined period of time for a digital password. Then, in response to a valid password being received within the predetermined period, the test controller enters the test mode. In another embodiment, in addition to the above steps, in response to the valid password being received, the test controller generates an acknowledge signal. In one embodiment, the predetermined period of time takes place during a holdoff period after the lockout period. In another embodiment, the test interface is serial.

Testing a relatively complex circuit presents a number of challenges and trade-offs with respect to the use of the circuit's external pins. As pins are a relatively expensive component of modern circuits, it is desirable to keep the pin count low. Some conventional architectures dedicate selected pins to testing the circuit. While this simplifies the design, the pin count and hence the cost must be raised, if functionality is not to be sacrificed. Alternatively, the pin count can be kept constant, but at the expense of sacrificing circuit functionality due to selected pins being used for testing rather than another function. The fewer pins that the circuit has, the greater the problem of dedicating pins to testing becomes.
Testing circuits presents other problems as well, such as inadvertently entering test mode while the circuit is in its normal mode. Some conventional architectures used to test circuits allow the user to impose a supervoltage on one of the pins to trigger entry into the test mode. While this method may allow a pin to be used for more than just testing, this method is susceptible to noise accidentally causing entry to the test mode. For example, a user may generate electrostatic discharge while using a computer mouse device. The discharge may be transferred to the circuit, thus triggering entry into test mode. The result may be a program error requiring the user to reboot the computer.
Furthermore, the circuitry needed to support the above supervoltage technique may be complex. Thus, the cost of the circuit may be increased. Furthermore, the supervoltage circuitry may negatively impact issues such as circuit real estate and the designing of the circuit itself.
Still other problems are faced by the external testing device, which may have difficulty sending the analog waveform required by some circuits to put them into test mode.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide a method which allows getting into and out of test mode without disturbing normal operations. It would be further advantageous to provide a method of entering test mode of a circuit with a limited pin count. It would be further advantageous to provide such a method which does not require complex circuitry to enter circuit test mode. Finally, it would be advantageous to provide such a method for testing a circuit which minimizes the chance of accidentally entering test mode.


The invention concerns a beverage preparation apparatus (10), said apparatus having at least one chamber (1) for receiving and mixing an aqueous liquid and at least one soluble beverage ingredient, said chamber having: a cylindrical lateral side wall (11) having a liquid inlet (2), a bottom wall (12) having a beverage outlet (3), and wherein the liquid inlet (2) is positioned close to the bottom of the chamber, and wherein the liquid inlet (2) is configured so that the liquid is introduced in the chamber as a straight jet of liquid, and wherein said chamber includes a first bump (4) separating the bottom wall in two areas (121, 122), and wherein said chamber includes a second bump (5) rising from the bottom and lateral side walls of the chamber and presenting a shape designed to convert the jet of liquid into a swirl and to guide said swirl so that it flows along the line L in front of the liquid inlet.

WO 2008/071613 describes a mixing chamber for preparing frothed beverages wherein a dose of a beverage soluble ingredient is mixed with a liquid. Such a mixing chamber is particularly adapted for preparing a frothed coffee beverage from soluble instant coffee. The mixing chamber provides sufficient agitation with the water to dissolve and froth the coffee.
With the above mixing chamber, it has been observed that, once dispensed in a cup, frothed coffee does not always present an optimal aspect. Specifically, depending on design of the chamber, the crema at the top of the beverage can present the following defects: presence of big bubbles at the surface, inhomogeneous colour due to non dissolved coffee powder, few or instable crema at the surface.
It has been observed that these defects usually does not happen when a sieved baffle is positioned through the chamber. Yet such a baffle provides complexity in terms of production and cleaning.
Besides, this chamber creates strong mixing of liquid due to the use of a jet for introducing water in the chamber. This mixing provides a lot of mist and humidity, a part of which rises up to the top of the chamber and squirts out of the chamber. Humidity can settle on the internal walls of the apparatus positioned above the chamber, in particular it can reach the device dosing the soluble beverage ingredient above the chamber. The effect is drastic because humidity reacts with residues of soluble ingredient and block this device if it is not regularly cleaned. Humidity can carry beverage ingredient too out of the chamber and dirty the internal walls.
For these reasons, it has been proposed to move the mixing chamber away from the powder dosing device during the step of mixing as described in WO 2009/153157. The solution is efficient. Yet, as a consequence, the beverage preparation apparatus is larger in order to provide place for the chamber movement and its implementation is complex.
There is a need for improving this type of mixing chamber so that it enables the preparation of frothed coffee from instant coffee powder or concentrate with optimal aspect.
There is a need for improving this type of mixing chamber so that it is not necessary to move said chamber away from the dosing device during the mixing step and the beverage machine is kept simpler.
It would be advantageous to provide a mixing chamber that remains easy to assemble and to clean.

Beverage preparation apparatus comprising a mixing chamber


An interchangeable lens is disclosed which prevents the camera body and interchangeable lens from being damaged even if an attempt is made to erroneously mount therebetween. The interchangeable lens is a second interchangeable lens whose flange back is the same as that of a first interchangeable lens and includes a protruding portion protruding from a mount reference surface. The protruding amount of the protruding portion is set when the second interchangeable lens has a specific phase relationship with a first camera, so that the protruding portion contacts a first wall portion of the first camera, and is set when the second interchangeable lens has a phase relationship with the first camera other than the specific phase relationship and a bayonet lug of the second interchangeable lens contacts a bayonet lug of the first camera, so that the protruding portion is away from the first wall portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to interchangeable lenses with different amounts of protrusion from a mount reference surface toward an image plane used for a camera system including a plurality of cameras having the same mount structure, and the camera system.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the advance of digitization of cameras in recent years, there is a proposal on a single-lens reflex camera system whose lenses are interchangeable made up of single-lens reflex digital cameras which inherit the sameness in a mount shape to allow conventional interchangeable lenses to be used on one hand, and which replace a 35 mm silver-haloid film by an electronic image-pickup element such as a CCD sensor and CMOS sensor. However, an electronic image-pickup element such as CCD sensor or CMOS sensor having the same size as the 35 mm silver-haloid film is very expensive, and therefore the use of an image-pickup element (e.g., APS-C size image-pickup element) is becoming the mainstream instead of the 35 mm film.
Since such a single-reflex digital camera using an image-pickup element smaller than a conventional 35 mm film has a smaller image circle than the 35 mm film, it is possible to reduce the size of a quick return mirror in the camera body and consequently reduce the size of a camera body itself. Furthermore, when the quick return mirror becomes smaller than the conventional one, it is also possible to shorten the back focus of its interchangeable lens than the conventional interchangeable lens and its image circle is also small, which produces the merit of downsizing the interchangeable lens.
However, once the aforementioned short back-focus interchangeable lens is mounted on a 35 mm film camera body or a digital camera supporting an image circle larger than the interchangeable lens, the back end of the interchangeable lens may interfere with the quick return mirror. Furthermore, allowing an interchangeable lens dedicated to a digital camera having a short back focus (with a small image circle) to be mounted on the camera body of a conventional system causes problems such as a luminous flux failing to reach the periphery of the image-pickup surface.
Therefore, there is a necessity for means for preventing the camera body and interchangeable lens from being mounted on such a combination.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 3217273 discloses a camera system, camera body and interchangeable lens which have a common mount but imposes restrictions on the mounting of interchangeable lenses having a back focus of a certain size or smaller. This camera system, etc., provides a flange portion inside the mount of the conventional camera body and restricts the mounting of the interchangeable lens by causing a fixed protrusion provided on the interchangeable lens with a short back focus to contact this flange portion.
However, in the camera system disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 3217273, while the fixed protrusion on the lens side is in contact with the flange portion on the camera side, if the user, being unaware of this fact, continues an operation of turning the interchangeable lens with respect to the camera or pushing it against the camera, a possibility that the flange portion on the camera side or fixed protrusion on the lens side may be damaged is undeniable.

Interchangeable lens, interchangeable lens system and camera system


A method for verifying the plausibility of a measuring device for determining a quality of an aqueous urea solution in a reservoir of an SCR catalyst system comprises determining whether a filling of the reservoir has taken place, determining the quality of the aqueous urea solution in the reservoir and detecting whether an error of the measuring device is present or whether the reservoir was filled with an aqueous urea solution, the quality of which deviates from a default value consisting of a filling status of the reservoir and the quality of the aqueous urea solution in said reservoir.

The present invention relates to a method for verifying the plausibility of a measuring device for determining a quality of a urea aqueous solution in a reservoir of an SCR catalyst system. In addition, the present invention relates to a computer program which executes all steps of the inventive method if said method is run in a computing device or control device. Finally the present invention relates to a computer program product comprising a program code, which is stored on a machine-readable carrier, for carrying out the inventive method if the program is executed on a computer or in a control device.
In order to comply with increasingly stringent exhaust emission legislation, it is necessary to reduce nitrogen dioxides in the exhaust gas of internal combustion engines, in particular diesel engines. To this end, it is known to dispose an SCR catalyst (selective catalytic reduction) in the exhaust gas region of internal combustion engines, said catalyst reducing nitrogen oxides (NOx) contained in the exhaust gas of an internal combustion engine to nitrogen in the presence of a reducing agent. The proportion of nitrogen oxide in the exhaust gas can thereby be considerably reduced. Ammonia (NH3), which is added to the exhaust gas, is required for the course of the reaction. For that reason, NH3 or NH3-releasing reagents are used as the reducing agent. As a rule, a hydrous urea solution (aqueous urea solution) is used which is injected into the exhaust gas tract upstream of the SCR catalyst. Ammonia forms from this solution which acts as reducing agent. A 32.5% aqueous urea solution is commercially available under the brand name AdBlue®.
In the case of commercial vehicles, the aqueous urea solution is refilled by the driver. A refilling of the reagent by the driver, which occurs outside of specified maintenance intervals, is also being discussed for passenger vehicles in the future. A check as to whether the refilled substance actually conforms to aqueous urea solutions or, respectively, as to whether the urea concentration in the aqueous urea solution corresponds to the relevant ISO standard 22241 or to the DIN standard 70070 has not occurred to date. The lawmakers will, however, demand in the future that a check is immediately made to detect whether an attempt to defraud was made when refilling the aqueous urea solution and that corresponding measures, such as, for example, a restriction of engine start-up or a reduction in engine performance, can be introduced if fraud were detected. For this purpose, the systems will have to be expanded to include a quality sensor which determines the quality of the aqueous urea solution. An SCR system comprising such a quality sensor is known, for example, from the German patent application DE 101 39 142 A1. This document does not, however, describe how a malfunction of the quality sensor can be detected in order to prevent an erroneous detection of a deviating aqueous urea solution or a filling of the reservoir with a substance which does not have the properties of an aqueous urea solution.

Method for verifying the plausibility of a measuring device for determining the quality of an aqueous urea solution in a reservoir of an SCR catalyst system


A digital direct access arrangement (DAA) circuitry may be used to terminate the telephone connections at the user""s end that provides a communication path for signals to and from the phone lines. Briefly described, the DAA provides a programmable means for the DC termination for a variety of international phone standards. The invention may also be utilized with means for transmitting and receiving a signal across a capacitive isolation barrier. More particularly, a DC holding circuit is provided in which a programmable DC current limiting mode is available. In the current limiting mode, power may be dissipated in devices external to a DAA integrated circuit. Moreover, much of the power may be dissipated in external passive devices, such as resistors.

This invention relates to the field of digital access arrangement circuitry. More particularly, this invention relates to digital access arrangement circuitry for connecting to a variety of phone line standards. The digital access arrangement circuitry may further include isolation barrier utilizing a capacitor coupled isolation barrier.
Direct Access Arrangement (DAA) circuitry may be used to terminate the telephone connections at a phone line user""s end to provide a communication path for signals to and from the phone lines. DAA circuitry includes the necessary circuitry to terminate the telephone connections at the user""s end and may include, for example, an isolation barrier, DC termination circuitry, AC termination circuitry, ring detection circuitry, and processing circuitry that provides a communication path for signals to and from the phone lines.
Generally, governmental regulations specify the telephone interface requirements and specifications for a variety of parameters including AC termination, DC termination, ringer impedance, ringer threshold, etc. For example, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Part 68 governs the interface requirements for telephones in the United States. However, the interface requirements world wide are not standardized, and thus, in countries other than the United States the applicable standards A may include the TBR21, NET4, JATE, and various country specific PTT specifications. Because the interface requirements are not standardized from country to country, often different DAA circuitry is required for use in each country in order to comply with the appropriate standard. The requirement for different DAA circuitry, however, limits the use of one phone line interface in a variety of countries. Thus, for example, a modem in a laptop computer configured for interfacing with a phone line in one country may not necessarily operate properly in another country. Further, the requirement for different DAA circuitry in various countries hinders the design of a single integrated cost effective DAA solution for use world wide.
As mentioned above, the telephone interface requirements generally include specifications for DC termination of the telephone line. For example, the DC impedance that the DAA circuitry presents to the telephone line (typicallyxe2x89xa6300xcexa9) may be required by regulations to be less than the AC impedance that the DAA circuitry presents to the telephone line (typically≈600xcexa9). Consequently, inductive behavior is required from the section of the DAA circuitry that sinks DC loop current, which is typically called the DC termination or DC holding circuitry. This inductive behavior of the DC holding circuitry should provide both high impedance and low distortion for voiceband signals. The DC termination specifications may also include limits for the maximum current and power dissipation. For example, the TBR-21 specification requires the DC holding circuit to limit DC current to less than 60 mA with a maximum power dissipation of approximately 2 watts.
Prior techniques for implementing DC holding circuitry have included bipolar transistor (e.g., PNP transistor) implementations. These prior techniques, however, have suffered from various disadvantages. For example, although bipolar transistor implementations typically present a desired high impedance (e.g.,  greater than  greater than 600xcexa9) to the telephone network for voiceband signals, such implementations are limited. In contrast, a CMOS design would be preferable because CMOS technology allows a high level of integration, for example with other phone line interface functions. CMOS implementations on CMOS integrated circuits, however, may face considerable problems in dissipating the power consumed by the DC holding circuitry. The design of a DC holding circuit for use with multiple standards may be further complicated in that the various international specifications may conflict with regards to off-hook settling times and pulse dialing templates (which may require fast settling time constants) and high speed interface designs (such as for use in modems) which require very low frequency operation (i.e. approximately as low as 10 Hz). Furthermore, it is desirable to implement such DC holding circuits in a manner that does not cause excessive distortion at low and high frequencies.
It is also desirable that the DAA circuitry act as an isolation barrier since an electrical isolation barrier must exist in communication circuitry which connects directly to the standard two-wire public switched telephone network and that is powered through a standard residential wall outlet. Specifically, in order to achieve regulatory compliance with Federal Communications Commission Part 68, which governs electrical connections to the telephone network in order to prevent network harm, an isolation barrier capable of withstanding 1000 volts rms at 60 Hz with no more than 10 milliamps current flow, must exist between circuitry directly connected to the two wire telephone network and circuitry directly connected to the residential wall outlet.
There exists a need for reliable, accurate and inexpensive DAA circuitry for effecting the DC termination characteristics for multiple phone line standards and a DAA circuitry which also provides the necessary electrical isolation barrier.
The above-referenced problems are addressed by the present invention, which provides a reliable, inexpensive, DAA circuit that may be utilized with multiple telephone interface standards and which also provides an isolation system that is substantially immune to noise that affects the timing and/or amplitude of the signal that is transmitted across the isolating element, thus permitting an input signal to be accurately reproduced at the output of the isolation system.
The present invention provides digital direct access arrangement (DAA) circuitry that may be used to terminate the telephone connections at the user""s end to provide a communication path for signals to and from the phone lines. Briefly described, the invention provides a means for providing DC termination for a variety of international phone standards. The invention may also be utilized with means for transmitting and receiving a signal across a capacitive isolation barrier. More particularly, a DC holding circuit is provided in which a programmable DC current limiting mode is available. In the current limiting mode, power may be dissipated in devices external to a DAA integrated circuit. Moreover, much of the power may be dissipated in external passive devices, such as resistors
In one embodiment, a communication system, comprising phone line side circuitry that may be coupled to phone lines and powered side circuitry that may be coupled to the phone line side circuitry through an isolation barrier is provided. The system may further include a DC holding circuit within the phone line side circuitry, the DC holding circuit being programmable in response to data transmitted across the isolation barrier to operate the DC holding circuit in a plurality of modes. The DC holding circuit may be operable in at least a first mode to meet a first phone line interface standard and a second mode to meet a second phone line interface standard, the second phone line interface standard having a DC current limit requirement.
In another embodiment, a method of providing a communication system that may be coupled to a phone line is provided. The method may include coupling an isolation barrier between powered circuitry and phone line side circuitry and forming a DC holding circuit within the phone line side circuitry, the DC holding circuit comprising a phone line side integrated circuit and external circuitry external to the integrated circuit. The method may further comprise providing a programmable circuit for switching the DC holding circuit between at least a first and second mode of operation, the first mode of operation for at least a first phone line interface standard and the second mode of operation for at least a second phone line interface standard, the second standard having a DC termination current limit. The method may further include coupling the internal circuitry and external circuitry so that if the DC holding circuit is operated in the second mode of operation more power may be dissipated in the external circuitry during the second mode of operation than during the first mode of operation.
In yet another embodiment, a DC holding circuit for reducing power dissipation requirements of an integrated circuit a communication system that may be connected to phone lines is provided. The DC holding circuit may include at least one switchable circuit, the switchable circuit having a first state for a non-current limiting mode of operation and a second state for a current limiting mode of operation; external circuitry external to the integrated circuit; and internal circuitry within the integrated circuit, the external circuitry and the internal circuitry being coupled together wherein the external circuitry dissipates more power in the current limiting mode than in the non-current limiting mode.
In yet another embodiment, a method of providing a DC holding circuit is provided. The method may include forming the DC holding circuit with internal circuitry internal to an integrated circuit and external circuitry external to the integrated circuit. The method may further include providing a programmable circuit for switching the DC holding circuit between at least a first and second mode of operation, the first mode of operation for at least a first phone line interface standard and the second mode of operation for at least a second phone line interface standard, the second standard having a DC termination current limit. The method may further include coupling the internal circuitry and external circuitry so that if the DC holding circuit is operated in the second mode of operation more power may be dissipated in the external circuitry during the first mode of operation than during the second mode of operation.
In another embodiment a method of forming a DC holding circuit is provided. The method may include providing integrated circuitry and non-integrated circuitry to comprise the DC holding circuit, the DC holding circuit capable of meeting at least at least a first and second phone line interface standards, the at least two phone line interface standards having differing current limit specifications, the second standard limiting DC current to a lower amount than the first standard. The method may further comprise utilizing at least one switchable circuit so that the DC holding circuit may be programmed for at least one of the phone line interface standards, and coupling the integrated circuitry and the non-integrated circuitry together so that when the DC holding circuit is programmed for the second phone line interface standard, at least one circuit element of the external circuitry will receive additional DC current as compared to when the DC holding circuit is programmed for the first phone line interface standard.
In an alternative embodiment, there is provided a DC holding circuit compatible with a phone line standard having current limit requirements for reducing power dissipation requirements of an integrated circuit within a communication system that may be connected to phone lines. The DC holding circuit may comprise external circuitry external to the integrated circuit and internal circuitry within the integrated circuit, the external circuitry and the internal circuitry being coupled together wherein the external circuitry dissipates more power in at least one mode of operation.
Another embodiment provides a DC holding circuit. The method includes forming the DC holding circuit with internal circuitry internal to an integrated circuit and external circuitry external to the integrated circuit, the DC holding circuit compatible with at least one phone line interface standard having a DC current limit requirement. The method may further include coupling the internal circuitry and external circuitry so that more power may be dissipated in the external circuitry than in the internal circuitry.
A method of operating a DC holding circuit is provided. The method includes providing integrated circuitry and non-integrated circuitry to comprise the DC holding circuit, coupling the integrated circuitry and the non-integrated circuitry, and dissipating more power in the external circuitry than in the internal circuitry if the DC holding circuit is utilized for a phone line interface standard having a DC current limit requirement.

Digital access arrangement circuitry and method for connecting to phone lines having a DC holding circuit with programmable current limiting


Methods, systems, and apparatus enable provisioning of a mobile device with access information for an account. A secure element within a subscriber identity module (SIM) or universal integrated circuit card (UICC) of the mobile device may be provisioned to enable account access. Provisioning may be performed by obtaining card data for a card associated with an account using an automated data capture device, confirming validity of the account by exchanging the card data with a user authentication server, confirming validity of the mobile device by exchanging mobile device information with a device authentication server, sending a request from the mobile device to provision the mobile device after confirming validity of the account and the mobile device, receiving provisioning instructions to provision the mobile device with the access information for the account, and provisioning the mobile device with the access information for the account based on the provisioning instructions.

Access cards, such as credit cards, debit cards, customer loyalty cards, security access cards, and building access cards are linked to accounts and enable users to access things associated with those accounts. For example, a credit card enables a user to access a line of credit from their credit card account to make purchases, a debit card enables a user to access their bank account to make purchases, a customer loyalty card enables a user to access their loyalty account to accumulate/redeem loyalty "points," a security access card enables a user to access restricted information on a computer system, and a building access card enables a user to access physical areas that are restricted without proper authorization.
Mobile device such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), tablet computers and mobile phones may be configured to store virtual versions of access cards. Typically, the addition of a new access card to a mobile device takes about 10 minutes. The process to add a new access card involves manual input of all information. The complete information is then sent to a remote processing server (e.g., a bank) for approval. This process is time-consuming and provides a poor user experience. Accordingly, there is a need for more time effective and user-friendly ways to add access card information to a mobile device.

Express mobile device access provisioning methods, systems, and apparatus


A magnetic resonance imaging system (200, 300, 400) includes a radio-frequency system (216, 214) with multiple coil elements (214) for acquiring magnetic resonance data (264) and a memory (250) for storing machine executable instructions (260) and pulse sequence commands (262). The pulse sequence commands are configured for controlling the magnetic resonance imaging system to acquire the magnetic resonance data according to a SENSE imaging protocol. Execution of the machine executable instructions causes a processor (244) to: control (500) the magnetic resonance imaging system to acquire the magnetic resonance data using the pulse sequence commands; reconstruct (502) a set of folded magnetic resonance images (266) from the magnetic resonance data; calculate (504) a voxel deformation map (270) from a magnetic field inhomogeneity map; and calculate (506) a set of unfolding matrices (274) using a least partially a coil sensitivity matrix (272) for the multiple coil elements, wherein the set of unfolding matrices includes at least one modified unfolding matrix which is calculated at least partially using the a coil sensitivity matrix and the voxel deformation map. Undistorted magnetic resonance image data (276) is calculated (508) using the set of folded magnetic resonance images and the set of unfolding matrices.

A large static magnetic field is used by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanners to align the nuclear spins of atoms as part of the procedure for producing images within the body of a patient. This large static magnetic field is referred to as the B0 field or the main magnetic field.
One method of spatially encoding is to use magnetic field gradient coils. Typically there are three coils which are used to generate three different gradient magnetic fields in three different orthogonal directions.
During an MRI scan, Radio Frequency (RF) pulses generated by one or more transmitter coils cause a called B1 field. Additionally applied gradient fields and the B1 field do cause perturbations to the effective local magnetic field. RF signals are then emitted by the nuclear spins and detected by one or more receiver coils. Data can be acquired separately by the individual receiver coils. Images reconstructed from data for each of the individual receiver coils can be combined into a single image or image data using SENSitivity Encoding (SENSE) magnetic resonance imaging techniques. SENSE magnetic resonance imaging techniques are reviewed in the Journal article Pruessmann et. al., (1999), "SENSE: Sensitivity encoding for fast MRI," Magn. Reson. Med., 42: 952-962, doi:10.1002/(SICI)1522-2594(199911)42:5<952::AID-MRM16>3.0.CO;2-S.
The conference abstract Fuderer et. al., "SENSE Reconstruction using Feed Forward Regularization," Proc. ISMRM 11 (2004), p. 2130 discloses a method of solving the SENSE equations that provides a "feed forward" formulation of the SENSE reconstruction that can be calculated before the MRI scan takes place. The formulation of the SENSE equation includes a regularization term R.
United States patent application US 2016/0097831 A1 discloses an MRI system that includes an MRI sequence controller and an MRI system controller. Serving as a pre-scan unit, the MRI sequence controller performs a pre-scan for acquiring a sensitivity distribution of a coil. Serving as a main scan unit, the MRI sequence controller performs a main scan for acquiring signals of a magnetic resonance image. Serving as a corrector, the MRI system controller corrects the sensitivity distribution in accordance with a distortion that is contained in the magnetic resonance image and that results from the performing of the main scan. Serving as a generator, the MRI system controller generates an output magnetic resonance image using the corrected sensitivity distribution.
The ISMRM-2005 abstract 'Sensitivity encoding and B0-inhomogeneity—A simultaneous reconstruction approach' by C. Barmet and K. P. Pruessmann addresses the problem of B0-artefacts in parallel imaging and takes account toe the B0-induced frequency offset.

BO-corrected sensitivity encoding magnetic resonance imaging


Polymer-bound adsorbent beads are usable as a direct replacement for conventional clay-bound beads in insulating glass unit manufacture to eliminate the problem of dusting associated with conventional beads. Polymer-bound beads provide good adsorption and superior crush strength compared to clay-bound adsorbent beads previously used in insulating glass units to desiccate the space between the glass panes. The polymer-bound adsorbent beads may also be used as a substitute for conventional desiccant beads in water adsorption applications such as in bottle stoppers, sachets, blister packaging, etc.

Multiple pane insulating glass (IG) units or windows have been in use for many years. Over this time, many variations in window design have been made. Most designs involve two or more panes of glass which are held in a spaced relationship by a spacer which is located between the panes at their edges. The spacer and panes are typically fixed together by a sealant or other means. The spacer and panes thereby define a closed interior space in the insulating glass unit which is largely responsible for the insulating benefit associated with the unit.
Typically, when the IG unit is sealed, some water vapor remains in the resulting closed interior space. If no measures are taken, this water vapor would condense on the panes when the unit is exposed to typical service temperatures thereby causing fogging. A similar effect may occur if materials used to construct the IG unit contain volatile organic compounds which can pass to the interior space of the unit. To prevent fogging, most IG unit designs provide a means for adsorbing water vapor/chemical volatiles in the interior space over the expected life of the IG unit.
In conventional designs, one or more compartments are located at the periphery of the interior space either in the spacer itself or adjacent to the spacer. The compartment(s) is adapted to contain adsorbent materials (typically desiccants) in bead form in a manner such that the adsorbent beads communicate with the interior space to provide an adsorbing function for that space while the beads are retained in and by the compartment(s). Thus, fogging is prevented.
The beads used for this type of application generally consist of one or more types of molecular sieve bound by an inorganic binder (typically clay). The beads are designed to be free-flowing. Thus, they can easily be poured into the compartment to provide the desired quantity of desiccant.
While this basic IG technology has been for many years, the conventional clay-bound adsorbent beads present handling problems especially for the window manufacturer. Specifically, clay-bound adsorbent beads generally cause a large amount of dust. This dust is caused in part by the fact that clays are powdery materials by nature and also because the beads are susceptible to brittle crushing during handling which causes disintegration of the beads into dust.
The dust problem has been considered to be largely inescapable. The desire to avoid the problem has led to alternative designs which avoid the use of beaded desiccants use of desiccated adhesive resins which are adhered directly to the specially designed spacers and/or by use of special spacer constructions whereby the spacer is formed in part by a desiccated resin. These alternatives are expensive both from the point of raw materials cost and from the point of capital cost associated with the purchase of equipment needed to implement the alternatives.
Thus, there is a need for a solution to the dusting problem which still allows window manufacturers to use conventional IG unit designs and manufacturing equipment while avoiding the dust problem associated with conventional clay-bound beads.
There are similar needs for improved adsorbent beads to replace conventional inorganic-bound adsorbent beads in other applications.

Desiccation using polymer-bound desiccant beads