A power controller provides a distributed generation power networking system in which bi-directional power converters are used with a common DC bus for permitting compatibility between various energy components. Each power converter operates essentially as a customized bi-directional switching converter configured, under the control of the power controller, to provide an interface for a specific energy component to the DC bus. The power controller controls the way in which each energy component, at any moment, will sink or source power, and the manner in which the DC bus is regulated. In this way, various energy components can be used to supply, store and/or use power in an efficient manner. The various energy components include energy sources, loads, storage devices and combinations thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to power generation and processing systems and in particular to distributed generation power systems.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional power generation and distribution systems are configured to maximize the specific hardware used. In the case of a turbine power motor, for example, the output or bus voltage in a conventional power distribution system varies with the speed of the turbine. In such systems, the turbine speed must be regulated to control the output or bus voltage. Consequently, the engine cannot be run too low in speed else the bus voltage would not be high enough to generate some of the voltages that are needed. As a result, the turbine would have to be run at higher speeds and lower temperatures, making it less efficient.
What is needed therefore is a power generation and distribution system where the bus voltage is regulated by a bi-directional controller independent of turbine speed.
The present invention provides in a first aspect, a power controller which provides a distributed generation power networking system in which bi-directional power converters are used with a common DC bus for permitting compatibility between various energy components. Each power converter operates essentially as a customized bi-directional switching converter configured, under the control of the power controller, to provide an interface for a specific energy component to the DC bus. The power controller controls the way in which each energy component, at any moment, will sink or source power, and the manner in which the DC bus is regulated. In this way, various energy components can be used to supply, store and/or use power in an efficient manner. The various energy components include energy sources, loads, storage devices and combinations thereof.
In another aspect, the present invention provides a turbine system including a turbine engine, a load, a power controller, an energy reservoir for providing transient power to the DC bus and an energy reservoir controller, in communication with the power controller for providing control to the energy reservoir. The power controller includes an engine power conversion in communication with the turbine engine, an utility power conversion in communication with the load and a DC bus.
These and other features and advantages of this invention will become further apparent from the detailed description and accompanying figures that follow. In the figures and description, numerals indicate the various features of the invention, like numerals referring to like features throughout both the drawing figures and the written description.


A composite material protected by oxidation at intermediate temperatures exceeding 850.degree. C. comprises fiber reinforcement densified by a matrix which includes at least one self-healing phase including a glass-precursor component such as B.sub.4 C or an Si--B--C system, together with excess free carbon (C) at a mass percentage lying in the range 10% to 35%. The, or each, self-healing phase can be interposed between two ceramic matrix phases, e.g. of SiC. While the material is exposed to an oxidizing medium, oxidation of the free carbon promotes oxidation of the precursor and transformation thereof into a glass capable of plugging the cracks in the matrix by self-healing.

The field concerned by the invention is that of thermostructural composite materials, and more particularly ceramic matrix composite (CMC) materials. These materials are characterized by their mechanical properties which make them suitable for building structural elements, and by their ability to maintain these mechanical properties at high temperature. Thermostructural composite materials are used in particular for making parts that are subjected to high thermomechanical stresses in aviation or space applications, e.g. parts of engines or fairing elements, or in friction applications, e.g. disk brakes for land vehicles or for aircraft.
CMC type thermostructural composite materials are constituted by fiber reinforcement densified with a matrix, the reinforcing fibers being of a refractory material such as carbon or a ceramic, and the matrix being a ceramic. Densifying the fiber reinforcement consists in filling the accessible pores of the matrix. It is performed by chemical vapor infiltration or by impregnation using a liquid precursor for the matrix and then transforming the precursor, generally by heat treatment. An intermediate coating or "interphase", in particular of pyrolytic carbon can be deposited on the fibers to optimize bonding between the matrix and the fibers, e.g. as described in document EP-A-0 172 082.
It is necessary to protect thermostructural materials against oxidation, particularly when they contain carbon, even when carbon is present only in an interphase between ceramic fibers and a ceramic matrix. The thermomechanical stresses to which such materials are subjected in use inevitably give rise to the matrix cracking. The cracks then provide access for oxygen in the ambient medium all the way to the core of the material.
A well-known method of protecting composite materials against oxidation consists in forming a coating having self-healing properties, which coating may be external or internal, i.e. it may be a coating anchored in the residual accessible pores. The term "self-healing" is used herein to designate properties whereby the material at its operating temperature passes to a viscous state that is sufficiently fluid to fill cracking of the matrix and thus block access to ambient oxygen. The self-healing coatings used are typically glasses or vitreous compounds, or else precursors therefor, i.e. substances capable of forming a glass by oxidizing at the operating temperature of the composite material (in situ glass formation).
Proposals have also been made in document FR-A-2 688 477 to form at least one continuous phase at the surface of the matrix or within the matrix, which phase is constituted by a ternary Si--B--C system. The relative proportions of silicon, boron, and carbon are selected so as to make it possible, by oxidation, to form a glass having the required viscosity characteristics for healing cracks at the intended operating temperatures, which temperatures may be as much as 1700.degree. C.
Undeniably, that protection technique considerably increases the lifetime of thermostructural materials in an oxidizing atmosphere. Nevertheless, it has been observed that protection is less effective at intermediate temperatures, i.e. about 450.degree. C. to 850.degree. C., than it is at higher temperatures.

Composite material protected against oxidation by a self-healing matrix, and a method of manufacturing it

Societe Nationale D'Etude et de Construction de Moteurs D'Aviation


A glowswitch starter according to the invention is provided with a discharge vessel (1) which is closed in a gastight manner and which has a wall (2), with a pair of electrical conductors (3a, 3b) passed through a portion (2b) of the wall of the discharge vessel, and with a bimetal element (4a) in the discharge vessel which is conductively connected to one (3a) of the electrical conductors (3a, 3b), the discharge vessel containing an ionizable filling. The glowswitch starter according to the invention, which is characterized in that at least that portion (2b) of the wall through which the electrical conductors are passed is made from a glass containing at least 5% BaO by weight, has a short ignition delay time.

The invention relates to a glowswitch starter provided with a discharge vessel which is closed in a gastight manner and which has a wall, with a pair of electrical conductors passed through a portion of the wall of the discharge vessel, and with a bimetal element in the discharge vessel which is conductively connected to one of the electrical conductors, the discharge vessel having an ionizable filling.
Such a glowswitch starter is known from EP 634 884. Such a glowswitch starter may be used, for example, in a device for operating a discharge lamp with preheatable electrodes, in which case the glowswitch starter shunts the discharge lamp and is connected in series with the electrodes. The operation of such a glowswitch starter in such a device is as follows. A glow discharge will be generated between the electrical conductors of the glowswitch starter under the influence of a voltage present across the discharge lamp, after an ignition delay time. This glow discharge heats the bimetal element connected to one of the electrical conductors, which causes said bimetal element to deform such that it makes contact with the other electrical conductor. The creation of this contact extinguishes the glow discharge, and a current will flow through the electrodes of the discharge lamp through the electrical conductors and the bimetal element of the glowswitch starter. This current brings the electrodes of the discharge lamp to a temperature at which an emission of electrons takes place to a degree sufficient for the discharge lamp to ignite. The bimetal element of the glowswitch starter cools down during heating of the electrodes of the discharge lamp and is deformed such that the contact between the two electrical conductors of the glowswitch starter is broken. The interruption of the contact also interrupts the current through the lamp electrodes, and an inductive element connected in series with the lamp generates an ignition voltage pulse. If a discharge between the electrodes of the discharge lamp is initiated by this ignition voltage pulse, the voltage across the discharge lamp, and accordingly the voltage between the electrical conductors of the glowswitch starter, is reduced to the point where no further glow discharge takes place. If no discharge is initiated between the electrodes of the discharge lamp by the ignition voltage pulse, however, the process described above will repeat itself. It is desirable for the ignition delay time which elapses between the moment at which a voltage is offered to the electrical conductors of the glowswitch starter and the moment at which a glow discharge arises to be short, i.e. shorter than 1 s. A hydrogen getter is present for this purpose in the discharge vessel of the known glowswitch starter, which getter comprises an alloy of palladium and zirconium. It is a disadvantage, however, that this requires additional operations for inter alia dosing and applying the getter. Radioactive elements are also used, for example .sup.85 Kr, as an ingredient of the ionizable filling, or Ti.sup.3 H.sub.x on the discharge vessel wall. This measure also involves additional operations, especially because radioactive elements are to be handled with great care for reasons of safety.

Glowswitch starter with specific glass envelope composition


A plating system for stabilization of a bony segment includes a plate engageable to at least first and second bony elements. For spinal stabilization, the plate is attached at least to first and second vertebrae with at least one bone fastener in each vertebra. Retaining members are attachable to the plate to prevent the bone fasteners from backing out of the plate. One retaining member is a variable retaining member that allows the bone fasteners to toggle in the plate without interference. A second retaining member is a fixed retaining member that fixes the bone fasteners relative to the plate.

Various types of plating devices and systems have been used to stabilize portions of bones including the spine. Spinal stabilization techniques have employed plating on the posterior, anterior, lateral, postero-lateral and antero-lateral portions of a spinal column segment. Such plating systems can provide fixation of a spinal column segment for the repair of injured or diseased vertebrae, intervertebral discs, and other elements of the spinal column. Such plating systems can also be employed alone or in combination with other implants, such as other plating or fixation systems, or interbody fusion devices.
While spinal plating systems and other bone fixation systems are known, the need remains for additional improvements. The present invention is directed to satisfying this need, among others.

Plating system for stabilizing a bony segment


Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. In a wireless communications system, a user equipment (UE) may receive, from a base station, an indication of a set of component carriers (CCs) for the UE and a respective frequency range (FR) for each CC of the set of CCs. Each CC-FR pairing may be associated with a respective priority of a set of priorities. The UE may initiate a plurality of timers, where each timer of the plurality of timers may correspond to a respective CC-FR pairing. After expiration of a timer of the plurality of timers, the UE may measure one or more reference signals of a subset of the set of CCs based at least in part on a capability of the UE and a priority of the respective CC-FR pairing associated with the timer.

Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include fourth generation (4G) systems such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) systems, or LTE-A Pro systems, and fifth generation (5G) systems which may be referred to as New Radio (NR) systems. These systems may employ technologies such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), or discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFT-S-OFDM). A wireless multiple-access communications system may include one or more base stations or one or more network access nodes, each simultaneously supporting communication for multiple communication devices, which may be otherwise known as user equipment (UE).
Some wireless communications systems may support devices performing search and measurement (SAM) processes, which may aid in beam management or beam adaptation for such devices. It some cases, however, a device may have limited capability for performing a given number of SAM processes.

Techniques for parallel search and measurement in wireless communications


A method of displaying data includes defining a primary display screen having a data display area and at least one linking area. At least one secondary display screen is also defined. At least one of the linking areas is associated with at least one of the secondary display screens.

Computer systems are often used during business presentations. Typically, slides that include information organized into charts, spreadsheets, documents, and photographs, for example, are presented on a computer monitor or projected onto a display screen. During the presentation, it is often desirable to refer back to a previously presented slide, thus requiring the presenter to sequentially scroll or toggle backwards until the previous slide is redisplayed.
While multiple monitor computer systems allow for the simultaneous presentation of multiple slides, navigating a multiple monitor system is often difficult and non-intuitive, as the individual display areas of each monitor are simply interconnected end-to-end. Therefore, if a computer system includes three monitors and the user is running the slide show on the first monitor and wants to display a slide on the third monitor, the user must drag the slide through the display area of the second monitor prior to positioning it within the display area of the third monitor.


A multilevel Chain-And-Tree model provides a framework for an image based decision system. The decision system enables separation of effects of defects within one component from other components within a common subject. The framework provides for linking of structure constraints of components of a common subject and for checking and resolving their consistency. The framework allows discrimination between subtle image changes and natural variations of the subject. The framework for standard data representation facilitates production process control.

An image-based decision system processes and extracts information from an image or multiple images to make decisions such as the presence of objects of interest, disease, defects; or the acceptance of measurement parameters such as dimensions, intensity, structures, color, relative position and motion, etc. Image-based decision systems have broad applications such as machine vision, non-contact gauging, inspection, robot guidance, medical imaging, etc.
Many image-based decision tasks involve the detection of defects or gauging of dimensions from man-made manufacturing components, parts or systems. Template matching, golden template comparison and caliper based edge detection are the primary prior art approaches for performing simple machine vision inspection and measurement tasks (Silver, B, "Geometric Pattern Matching for General-Purpose Inspection in Industrial Machine Vision", Intelligent Vision '99 Conference—Jun. 28–29, 1999).
There is often a teaching phase and an application phase for an image-based decision system. In the prior art approach, template region(s) or a golden template is selected by a human and stored in the system in the teaching phase. In addition, edge detection calipers are specified at image regions of interest for edge detection through multiple one-dimensional projection and simple differentiation. In the application phase, a template search is applied to locate the template region(s) in the input image. The located template locations are used to establish a reference coordinate system and/or for deriving points and structures for measurements. Edges are detected from each caliper regions and/or a golden template is subtracted from the normalized input image for defect detection or dimensional measurements (Hanks, J, "Basic Functions Ease Entry Into Machine Vision", Test & Measurement World, Mar. 1, 2000; Titus, J, "Software makes machine vision easier", Test & Measurement World, Oct. 15, 2001)
There are many long-standing difficulties with the prior-art approach.                1. The prior art teaching process requires human selection of template region(s) and the selection and specification of edge calipers and thresholds for measurements. It is mostly performed in an ad-hoc fashion that often requires experienced personnel and an extensive trial-and-error process. The effectiveness of the resulting inspection process is highly dependent on the experience level of the person who sets up the process. This is inconsistent, expensive, and manual (i.e. not automatic).        2. The prior art approach is intended for simple inspection tasks that check simple measurement results against a pre-defined tolerance for a Pass/Fail decision. The measurements are designed according to the convenience of the machine vision system. They often lack physical meaning and do not usually smoothly correlate to physical changes. Therefore, they may only be able to detect gross defects and will have difficulty discriminating between subtle changes and natural variations. For example, a hole measurement algorithm may incorrectly reject a hole due to tilt of the object (for example, caused by a component staging variation) being measured even though the hole is correctly manufactured. Algorithms could be developed to check the tilt angle and other factors before making the hole measurement. However, there may be cases that an incorrectly manufactured hole is mistakenly accepted as a good hole in a tilted object even though the object is not tilted. The creation of a robust algorithm that compensates for different factors requires advanced knowledge, experience and the resulting algorithm could be rather complicated and difficult to test. Some prior-art approaches provide pre-packaged solutions for high volume and well-defined applications to ease this difficulty. However, the pre-packaged approach lacks the flexibility to optimize and adjust configuration and process for many applications.        3. In objects with many components, there is no systematic way of separating variation effects of each component. Therefore, in order to accommodate components with large variations, defects in components with small variations may be missed. Conversely, in order to detect defects in components with small variations, false alarms may be detected from components with large variations.        4. In objects with many components, there is no systematic way of separating effects of each component. Therefore, a defective component in an object may hinder the ability of the inspection system to properly inspect the other components of the object that may also be defective.        5. There is no systematic way of linking structure constraints of components of a common object and check and resolve their consistency. For example, a line on component 1 is designed to be parallel to a line on component 2. When a 10 degree rotation is detected in line component 1, line component 2 is assumed to be rotated by 10 degrees as well. If the measured rotation angle of line component 2 does not match that of line component 1, a method of conflict resolution and estimate refinement should be provided. This is not included in the prior art framework. Special application dependent ad-hoc approach is sometimes used in prior art if the structure linkage is desirable.        6. There is a wealth of design and structure information that are inherently available in manufactured parts. As the quality and precision requirement in manufacturing becomes increasingly important, inspection data becomes a critical resource for production process control. The prior art inspection process only acquires the specific data that are explicity taught into the inspection system. These data are often rather limited. Furthermore, the acquired data are stored in an ad-hoc fashion. There is no standard format and structure of the data. This shortcoming significantly limits the usefulness of machine vision data for statistical process control, process trend and failure analysis and increases the difficulty for users.        7. Prior art approaches cannot be easily generalized to three-dimensional inspection with flexible viewing distance and angles such as parts without fixtures.

Multilevel chain-and-tree model for image-based decisions


A 3-phase inverter module is provided, which includes first and second U-phase switching elements connected in series to each other to constitute a U-phase inverter, first and second V-phase switching elements connected in series to each other to constitute a V-phase inverter, first and second W-phase switching elements connected in series to each other to constitute a W-phase inverter, a U-phase high voltage integrated circuit for generating a control signal for controlling the U-phase inverter according to a U-phase input signal, which has a fault-out terminal for the U-phase, a V-phase high voltage integrated circuit for generating a control signal for controlling the V-phase inverter according to a V-phase input signal, which has a fault-out terminal for the V-phase, and a W-phase high voltage integrated circuit for generating a control signal for controlling the W-phase inverter according to a W-phase input signal, which has a fault-out terminal for the W-phase.

The present invention relates to a 3-phase inverter module, and more particularly, to a 3-phase inverter module which can perform 3-phase fault-out detection and 3-phase current detection, a motor driving apparatus using the same, and an inverter integrated circuit package.
An inverter module can be used for various purposes. One example is an inverter module for driving a motor. The inverter module for driving a motor (particularly, a 3-phase inverter module for driving a 3-phase motor) generally includes a plurality of switching elements and a High Voltage Integrated Circuit (HVIC) for controlling the switching elements. One or a plurality of integrated circuits may be used as the high voltage integrated circuit.
If a single high voltage integrated circuit is used, a plurality of switching elements must be controlled using the single high voltage integrated circuit. This requires long wirings, which may cause noise and increase signal delay. This also has limitations in that output currents are detected only for two phases.
To address these problems, in some systems two high voltage integrated circuits may be used. Specifically, the first high voltage integrated circuit can control one set of switching elements of the first, second, and third phases and the second high voltage integrated circuit can control another set of switching elements of the first, second, and third phases. However, this arrangement may also cause noise and increase signal delay due to an increase in the number or length of wirings. Further, in these systems Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) can be present due to the time gradient dv/dt of the voltage v, thereby degrading the performance of components of the inverter module and increasing the dead time.
In other systems, three high voltage integrated circuits may be used to control the switching elements that constitute 3-phase inverters. However, in this case, Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBTs) are used as the switching elements, thereby limiting the rating and reducing the efficiency of the inverter module. This also has limitations in that it is not possible to cope with faults occurring in the module.

3-phase inverter module, motor driving apparatus using the same, and inverter integrated circuit package


In various embodiments, a drainage device includes an inner lumen configured for draining fluid from a target site and one or more outer lumens for transmitting dilution fluid to the inner lumen. According to one embodiment, the drainage device includes one or more eyelets and/or a distal opening through which the fluid from the target site enters the inner lumen. In one or more embodiments, the dilution fluid is transmitted to the inner lumen through one or more ports that may output the dilution fluid directly into the inner lumen or into the eyelet. According to one embodiment, as the fluid from the target site flows through the drainage device, the dilution fluid reduces clotting processes such that formation of blockages within the inner lumen is prevented or at least reduced. In some embodiments, the dilution fluid is substituted with, or provided in addition to, pharmaceutical solutions or other infusions.

Thoracic catheters, also called chest tubes, are used for the drainage of blood, fluids, and air from the mediastinal or pleural chest cavities. Previous embodiments of thoracic catheters have demonstrated an undesirable buildup of materials within the catheter, which can lead to various complications. For example, coagulation of blood within the catheter can cause clogs leading to inadequate drainage. As another example, coagulated fluids may be deposited back to the chest cavity, which can cause complications including, but not limited to, internal clotting, blockages, and other issues which may be collectively classified under Retained Blood Syndrome (RBS).
As stated above, RBS can be induced during previous approaches to thoracic catheterization, for example, in instances where catheter blockages result in insufficient drainage. In such instances, blood may clot inside the patient and cannot be reabsorbed by the body. To address such complications, previous approaches include inserting vacuum powered chest tubes and maintaining a negative pressure for several days to remove this excess blood from the patient. When this blood enters the chest tube it may immediately begin to clot (e.g., due to contact with a foreign surface), which can gradually cause the chest tube to become occluded. Eventually, the chest tube may become substantially ineffective due to the increasing occlusion, thereby causing a multitude of complications including postoperative atrial fibrillation, hemothorax, fibrothorax, and cardiac tamponade. The current techniques for eliminating clogs, include milking or stripping the chest tubes. Such techniques are typically time and energy-intensive, and have demonstrated a lack of efficacy and safety. Furthermore, such approaches may be implemented reactively following blockage detection and, thus, may not actively preempt clot formation.
Therefore, there is a long-felt but unresolved need for a system or method that actively reduces the likelihood of blockage formation within chest tubes and other catheters.

Methods and devices to prevent obstructions in medical tubes


A locking system with at least one locking element has a sleeve (2) with an inner groove (3) and an outer groove (4), which lie in a common plane and encircle at least one half of the circumference, the outer groove (4) accommodating a radially pre-stressed spring washer (9) forming an open sector in the circumferential direction between the legs (12) on either side, which are pointedly bent towards the inside and extend through assigned radial openings (5) of the sleeve (2) into the inner groove (3).

The invention is directed to a locking system with components, such as transporting helixes of drilling tools, which rotate and/or strike partially, springs, gearwheels, clutches and couplings, switch levers and the like which can easily be mounted and dismounted and fixed axially on cylindrical shafts.
According to U.S. Pat. No. 4,645,372, a locking system for rapidly mounting and dismounting positive connections on cylindrical shafts consists of the shaft, having an encircling, radial groove, and an external, coaxially disposed sleeve with a radial opening, which contains a locking element in the form of a ball, and, in the locking state, is forced into an axially positive engagement in the groove of the shaft by a locking sleeve, under the tension of a spring, and can be shifted axially.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,335,947, such a locking system is disclosed, with a locking element in the form of a ball and a locking sleeve, under the tension of a spring, can be shifted axially, and is used for the axially fixed connection of pipes.
Further in DE 19727187 A1, a screw bit is connected over a locking system with the tool shaft of an electrical hand operated tool driving device, and a locking element in the form of a ball engages an inner recess of a sleeve.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,957,387, a locking element in the form of a ball, in addition to an axially displaceable locking sleeve, providing a positive connection by force, is forced directly into the groove by a peripheral, radially pre-tensioned spring, which temporarily fixes the shaft axially.
It is a primary object of the invention to provide a locking system for a cylindrical shaft, which, dynamically, can be stressed strongly in the axial direction and can be easily mounted and dismounted.
Essentially, the locking system comprises at least one locking element, advantageously in the form of a ball, a shaft with an axially limited, radial recess, for receiving the locking element, and a sleeve. Moreover, the sleeve has a coaxial central opening for the sleeve, and a radially extending insertion opening for the locking element, and an inner and an outer groove located in a common plane extending perpendicular to the sleeve axis and circling at least around half of the circumference. The outer groove supports a radially pre-tensioned spring washer, which has spaced radially inwardly directed legs forming an open sector. The legs are bent radially inwardly towards the inside on either end and extend through radially extending openings of the sleeve into the inner groove.
Advantageously, for reasons of symmetry, two balls are used as locking elements, which advantageously engage two radially facing spherically shaped recesses in the shaft, located diametrically opposite one another.
Furthermore, an external and elongated, axially extending groove is assigned to the openings and permits a pointed dismounting tool to be inserted behind the spring washer.
Advantageously, the outside of the sleeve has a flattened region laterally outwardly of the insertion opening, as a result of which a positive torque can be applied.
The spring washer is pre-installed in the outer groove encircling the sleeve. The two legs of the spring washer extend into the inner groove through the radially extending openings. During locking, the sleeve is pushed over a shaft, especially within a drilling tool, so that the insertion opening lies over a recess, disposed in the shaft of the drilling tool. A ball is inserted and, by rotating the sleeve is guided into the inner groove. By rotating the sleeve further, the ball forces one leg of the spring washer through the openings to the outside. After passing over the ball, the leg then catches behind this ball. While retaining the direction of rotation, the insertion opening is placed over the second recess in the shaft of the drilling tool and the second ball, like the first one, is inserted into the inner groove of the sleeve. Together with the recess of the shaft and the inner groove of the sleeve, the ball forms a positive axially fixed connection. The locking is thus possible without any additional device. For the unlocking, a stiff, pointed device, such as a screwdriver, is required, which engages along the axially extending groove behind the spring washer.
The advantages of the invention lie in the easy handling of locking and unlocking. The locking system can be put statically and dynamically under heavy axial loads and, to a lesser extent; also under high dial loads, which occur particularly drilling percussion drilling. The locking and unlocking can be repeated frequently. Special devices or tools are not required for this purpose.
The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and specific objects attained by it use, references should be had to the drawings and description matter in which there are illustrated and described preferred embodiments of the invention.


Set-delayed cement compositions and methods of using set-delayed cement compositions in subterranean formations. Embodiments include a method of drilling a wellbore in a subterranean formation comprising: circulating a drilling fluid comprising a set-delayed cement composition in the wellbore while drilling the wellbore, wherein the set-delayed cement composition comprises: pumice, hydrated lime, a set retarder, and water. A method of displacing a fluid in a wellbore comprising: introducing a spacer fluid comprising a set-delayed cement composition into a wellbore such that the spacer fluid displaces one or more prior fluids from the wellbore, and wherein the set-delayed cement composition comprises: pumice, hydrated lime, a set retarder, and water.

Cement compositions may be used in a variety of subterranean operations. For example, in subterranean well construction, a pipe string (e.g., casing, liners, expandable tubulars, etc.) may be run into a wellbore and cemented in place. The process of cementing the pipe string in place is commonly referred to as "primary cementing." In a typical primary cementing method, a cement composition may be pumped into an annulus between the walls of the wellbore and the exterior surface of the pipe string disposed therein. The cement composition may set in the annular space, thereby forming an annular sheath of hardened, substantially impermeable cement (i.e., a cement sheath) that may support and position the pipe string in the wellbore and may bond the exterior surface of the pipe string to the subterranean formation. Among other things, the cement sheath surrounding the pipe string functions to prevent the migration of fluids in the annulus, as well as protecting the pipe string from corrosion. Cement compositions also may be used in remedial cementing methods, for example, to seal cracks or holes in pipe strings or cement sheaths, to seal highly permeable formation zones or fractures, to place a cement plug, and the like.
A broad variety of cement compositions have been used in subterranean cementing operations. In some instances, set-delayed cement compositions have been used. Set-delayed cement compositions are characterized by remaining in a pumpable fluid state for an extended period of time (e.g., at least about 1 day to about 2 weeks or more). When desired for use, the set-delayed cement compositions should be capable of being activated whereby reasonable compressive strengths are developed. For example, a cement set activator may be added to a set-delayed cement composition whereby the composition sets into a hardened mass. Among other things, the set-delayed cement composition may be suitable for use in wellbore applications, for example, where it is desired to prepare the cement composition in advance. This may allow, for example, the cement composition to be stored prior to its use. In addition, this may allow, for example, the cement composition to be prepared at a convenient location and then transported to the job site. Accordingly, capital expenditures may be reduced due to a reduction in the need for on-site bulk storage and mixing equipment. This may be particularly useful for offshore cementing operations where space onboard the vessels may be limited.
In addition to cementing, drilling and fluid displacement are two other subterranean operations that utilize treatment fluids. Drilling requires the use of drilling fluid or as it is also known, drilling mud. Drilling fluids may be used to maintain hydrostatic pressure in the wellbore, prevent formation damage, suspend cuttings, and to transport cuttings to the surface. Drilling fluids may be water-based or oil-based. Typical water-based drilling fluids may be composed of solely water or a mixture of water and various types of clay. Oil based drilling fluids typically use a base fluid of a petroleum product.
Fluid displacement utilizes one or more fluids to displace another fluid from the wellbore. Typically this may be done to prevent contamination of one fluid with another or the contamination of one fluid with the formation. A displacement fluid or as it is also known, a spacer fluid, may be water-based fluids. In most instances, spacer fluids may be used to separate drilling fluid from a cement composition during a cementing operation. Because the spacer fluid will be used to separate two other fluids, such as the drilling fluid and the cement composition, the spacer fluid should be compatible with both treatment fluids.
Switching between treatment fluids in a subterranean operation can be costly in both time and resources. Varied fluid types may require separate fluid storage, additional manpower, and additional equipment. In addition to the increased operating expenses, varied fluid use may create additional worksite problems such as higher environmental burdens, fluid incompatibilities, and the inability to reuse fluids and materials once their respective portion of the operation has been completed.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Set-delayed cement compositions comprising pumice and associated methods


Various embodiments provide for active suppression circuitry. The active suppression circuitry can be used with a circuit for a memory system, such as a dual data rate (DDR) memory system. For example, some embodiments provide an active suppression integrated circuit. The active suppression integrated circuit can be used by a memory system to efficiently suppress power supply noise caused by resonance of a power delivery network (PDN) of the memory system, thereby improving power integrity of the memory system input/output.

Memory traffic can comprise write and read bursts with low-power idle periods in between the bursts. To optimize computational throughput of a host system, a central processor unit (CPU) and a controller of the host system usually dictate traffic frequency and data pattern of memory (e.g., dual data rate (DDR) memory). Some computing systems can have very large memory interfaces on a single system-on-a-chip (SOC), and several recent DDR-based memory systems use a large number of parallel input/outputs to achieve desired data bandwidth between memory and a SOC.


A recording apparatus includes a transportation section that transports a recording target medium, and a control section that controls the transportation section. The transportation section includes a drive roller that is provided so as to be contacted with a first face of the recording target medium and that applies a forwarding force piece to the first face, and an air blowing section that is provided at a position opposite the drive roller and that blows air onto a second face of the recording target medium. The air blowing section performs an adjustment of an amount of air blown from the air blowing section itself under the control of the control section.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus.
2. Related Art
Heretofore, there has been used a type of recording apparatus in which a recording target medium is transported by using a transportation mechanism provided with a driving roller. For example, in JP-A-2007-152785, there has been disclosed a recording apparatus in which a recording target medium is transported by using a transportation mechanism constituted by a pair of rollers which include a driving roller and which pinch the recording target medium.
In existing recording apparatuses, such a structure in which a recording target medium is transported by a transportation mechanism constituted by a pair of rollers which include a driving roller and which pinch the recording target medium is common. With respect to a pair of rollers, particularly, a type of pair of rollers, one being a driven roller disposed at an image-recorded face side of a recording target medium, the other one being a driving roller disposed at an opposite side of the recording target medium from the image-recorded face side, has been commonly used.
For such an existing recording apparatus as described above, nevertheless, a transportation defect, such as a roller mark which is left on a recording target medium as a result of such a structure in which the recording target medium is pinched by a pair of rollers, has sometimes occurred. Particularly, a case where a roller mark a driven roller leaves on an image-recorded face of a recording target medium results in degradation of recording quality has sometimes occurred.


A process for producing an angled bore in a component, wherein a straight bore is first let into the component and, after the straight bore is let into the component, this component is deformed so that an angled bore course is produced.

The invention is based on a process for producing an angled bore in a component. A process of this kind for producing an angled bore has been disclosed by the reference DE-OS 195 47 423 for producing the fuel supply conduit in a valve holding body of a fuel injection valve for internal combustion engine. The supply conduit in the valve body, which conduit is embodied there as an angled bore, is embodied by way of an oblique bore from a first end face of the valve holding body, which bore feeds into a longitudinal bore in the valve holding body that is eccentrically let in from the second end face. Thus, a sharp and indefinite intersection is produced at the transition between the two bores, wherein fatigue fractures are produced at this intersecting edge when there are high compression threshold loads of the fuel flowing through the inside of the supply conduit, particularly those above 1800 bar. Even modern manufacturing processes for grinding this bore transition between the oblique bore and the straight bore, e.g. with an abrasive grinding means, are insufficient to increase the compression threshold strength in this bore transition region so that it also suffices for very high loads of the kind that occur, for example, in modern internal combustion engines.
Furthermore, this kind of angled bores can currently be produced only at a high manufacturing cost.
The process according to the invention for producing an angled bore in a component has the advantage over the prior art that an angled bore can be produced inside a body in a manner that is simple for technical manufacturing reasons, wherein the transition between the oblique bore part and the straight bore part is embodied without an intersecting edge. On the one hand, this has the advantage that the flow behavior inside the angled bore can be improved and that in addition, the high-pressure tightness and thereby in particular the compression threshold strength at the transition between the oblique bore and the straight bore can be sharply increased in relation to the known manufacturing process. The manufacture of the angled bore thereby occurs in a simple manner by means of two essential process steps: in a first step, the bore is let into a component as a straight bore and in a second step, this component is deformed so that an angled bore course is produced. In this connection, the component, e.g. in its initial state before the production of the bore, can have an angled shape and after the boring process, is brought into a straight shape so that an angled bore is produced in a straight component.
Alternatively, this process can also be used in a component that is straight in its original state, e.g. a cylindrical component, wherein three main process steps are now required. In this connection, in a first main process step, the component is deformed out of its original shape, for example is bent. In another, second main process step, the bore, preferably a through bore, is let into the component wherein starting from a first end face, this bore can now be advantageously embodied as a bore that passes straight through axially. In a third main process step, the part of the component which was bent out of the original shape in the first process step is deformed back into the original shape, preferably bent back, so that the component now once more has essentially the same shape as it did before the production of the bore. This deformation is preferably produced by means of a bending process, wherein if need be, the component is thermally heated before the deformation. Slight shape deviations before and after the manufacturing process of the bore in the component can occur depending on the manufacture, but are so small that they remain within certain tolerances and are consequently negligible. The angled bore can thereby extend from one end face of the component to the opposite one, but it is alternatively also possible to provide the entry or exit opening of the bore on the radial circumference wall.
The manufacturing process of angled bores according to the invention is suitable for all components which preferably have an elongated shape, e.g. cylinders. The manufacturing process for angled bores according to the invention can be used in all areas of mechanical engineering, in particular fuel injection technology for internal combustion engines, and is described in the following exemplary embodiment of a valve holding body of a fuel injection valve for internal combustion engines in which very high loads occur in terms of the compression threshold strength. The angled bore in the exemplary embodiment is embodied as a through bore from a first end face to a second end face of the component, but alternatively, angled blind bores can also be produced by means of the manufacturing process according to the invention. Furthermore, the angled bore can be embodied as a diametrically uniform bore, but it is also possible to embody it as a stepped bore with different bore diameters, as described in the exemplary embodiment. To this end, after the production of the first bore with the smaller bore diameter, a second bore with a correspondingly larger bore diameter is advantageously produced, wherein the bore depth then determines the length of the larger diameter bore.
Other advantages and advantageous embodiments of the subject of the invention can be inferred from the description, the drawings, and the claims.

Process for producing an angled bore in a component


A scanning optical microscope using a wavefront converting element suffers minimum off-axis performance degradation and allows the wavefront converting element to be controlled by a simple method. Further, a pupil relay optical system is simple in arrangement or unnecessary. A laser scanning microscope includes a laser oscillator and a wavefront converting element for applying a desired wavefront conversion to a laser beam emitted from the laser oscillator. An objective collects a wavefront-converted approximately parallel laser beam emerging from the wavefront converting element onto a sample. A detector detects signal light emitted from the sample. An actuator scans the objective along a direction perpendicular to the optical axis.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to scanning optical microscopes and, more particularly, to a laser scanning microscope (LSM) that performs focal point movement along the direction of the optical axis by using a wavefront converting element.
2. Discussion of Related Art
It has heretofore been necessary in order to obtain a three-dimensional image of a specimen with an LSM, for example, to capture optical images of successive planes inside the specimen by mechanically moving either the specimen or the objective along the direction of the optical axis. With this method, however, it is difficult to realize positional control with high accuracy and high reproducibility because the method needs mechanical drive. In a case where the specimen is moved, high-speed scanning cannot be effected when the specimen is large in size.
In observation of a biological specimen, if the objective is scanned in the state of being in direct contact with the specimen or immersed in a culture solution of the specimen, vibrations of the objective adversely affect the specimen under observation.
To solve the above-described problems, Japanese Patent Application Unexamined Publication (KOKAI) No. Hei 11-101942 discloses an adaptive optical apparatus. The apparatus is a microscope having an optical element (wavefront converting element) capable of changing power. The arrangement of the microscope is shown in FIGS. 27 and 28. In this prior art, a wavefront converting element is inserted in either or both of a viewing optical path and an illuminating optical path to change the focal length of the optical system and to correct aberration due to the change of the focal length by using the wavefront converting element. With this arrangement, it is possible not only to form and move a focal point in the object space without changing the distance between the objective and the specimen but also to correct aberration.
In the above-described prior art, it is preferable to place the wavefront converting element in the pupil plane of the objective or at a position conjugate to the pupil plane from the viewpoint of allowing the wavefront converting element to effectively perform its functions of moving the focal point in the object space and making aberration correction. If the wavefront converting element is not conjugate to the pupil plane, illuminating light or image-forming light will pass at different positions on the wavefront converting element according to the height of the object detected by the objective. To perform focal point movement or aberration correction, the wavefront shape has to be changed according to the object height. If the wavefront shape cannot properly be changed, image quality is likely to degrade considerably in an area where the object height is high.
If the wavefront converting element is changed into an optimum shape in accordance with a change in the object height, even if the wavefront converting element is not conjugate to the pupil plane, it is possible to avoid image quality degradation in an area where the object height is high. To realize this, however, the wavefront converting element needs to be controlled at high speed so as to provide an optimum rotationally asymmetric configuration. This is extremely difficult.
For the reasons stated above, it is desirable that the wavefront converting element should be placed at a position conjugate to the pupil. This is, however, difficult to implement because of the following problems.
A variety of objectives are used in microscopic observation, and the pupil position differs for each objective. Therefore, when a plurality of objectives are switched from one to another to perform observation, it is difficult to keep the pupils of the objectives in conjugate relation to the wavefront converting element at all times.
Further, the wavefront converting element needs to be placed in conjugate relation to the position of a laser scanning member and also to the position of the objective pupil. Accordingly, at least two pupil relay optical systems are required. Therefore, the apparatus becomes large in size and complicated unfavorably.
Further, in the above-described prior art, a reflection type wavefront converting element is incorporated in the illuminating optical path or/and the light-detecting optical path. Therefore, the prior art uses beam splitters as shown in FIGS. 27 and 28. Accordingly, when a non-polarized laser is used as a light source, together with a non-polarization type beam splitter, the amount of light is reduced to ¼ every time the laser beam travels via the wavefront converting element.
More specifically, the amount of light is reduced to ¼ in the process of illumination and also reduced to ¼ in the process of detection. That is, the amount of light is reduced to 1/16 in total. If a linearly polarized laser is used as a light source, together with a polarization beam splitter and a quarter-wave plate, the loss of light in the process of illumination can be prevented. However, in observation of fluorescence in a non-polarized state, the amount of light is reduced to ½ in the process of (fluorescence) detection.
Further, even when a polarization beam splitter and a quarter-wave plate are used as stated above, it is not always possible to use a linearly polarized laser as a light source. If a non-polarized laser is used to observe fluorescence, the amount of light is reduced to ½ in the process of illumination and also reduced to ½ in the process of detection. That is, the amount of light is reduced to ¼ in total.


An electronic display device using a barrier includes a display unit displaying an image corresponding to a two dimension (2D) or a three dimension (3D), and a barrier facing the display unit and providing a 2D image or 3D image to a user. The barrier includes first and second substrates facing each other. First and second electrodes are alternately formed on the first substrate and having first gaps therebetween. A third electrode is formed on the second substrate. A dark colored layer is formed to correspond to the first gap. A liquid crystal layer is disposed between the first and second substrates.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electronic display devices, and, more particularly, to an autostereoscopic electronic display device using a barrier.
2. Description of the Related Art
In electronic displays, a stereoscopic device can provide different images to left and right eyes of a user so that the user can perceive distance and have a stereoscopic sense of the image. An autostereoscopic electronic display is configured to provide a stereoscopic image to a user even when the user does not use an instrument such as polarizing spectacles.
The conventional autostereoscopic electronic display employs a method for space-dividing an image displayed on an image display unit by providing a parallax barrier, a lenticular lens, or a micro-lens array, for example, on the front surface of the image display unit.
The parallax barrier may be formed in a liquid crystal shutter using technologies such as a transmissive type of liquid crystal display. In this case, a mode conversion between a two-dimensional (2D) image mode and a three-dimensional (3D) mode (stereoscopic image mode) becomes possible. As such, the parallax barrier can be effectively applied to a laptop computer or a mobile phone.
Generally, the parallax barrier includes light blocking portions arranged in a stripe pattern and light transmitting portions arranged in a stripe pattern. Therefore, a right eye image realized by right eye sub-pixels reaches the right eye of the user through the light transmitting portions of the parallax barrier, and a left eye image realized by left eye sub-pixels reaches the left eye of the user through the light transmitting portions of the parallax barrier. Accordingly, the user can perceive the image displayed on the image display unit as a stereoscopic image.
However, since the electronic display having the parallax barrier is designed to divide the image into the right and left eye images to display the 3D image, the resolution of the 3D image is reduced to be half the resolution of the 2D image.
To solve this problem, a time-division driving type of electronic display has been developed. The time-division driving type electronic display alternately displays the left and right eye images on the display unit at a predetermined time intervals. In order to realize this, the parallax barrier forms the light blocking portions and the light transmitting portions such that patterns of the light blocking portions and light transmitting portions change with each other. By employing this time-division driving method instead of the space-division driving method, the electronic image display can display the 3D image with resolution that is not deteriorated.
In the time-division driving method, the parallax barrier is required to operate to quickly change patterns of the light blocking portion and the light transmitting portion. Generally, electrodes forming the parallax barrier are alternately arranged to form the light blocking portion and the light transmitting portion. Minute gaps are formed between the arranged electrodes, and therefore light leaks from the gaps. Since the light causes an increase of crosstalk of a 3D image, quality and contrast of the screen are deteriorated.


A rail threader comprising a top plate having side plates extending downwardly from the opposite sides thereof. A vertically disposed plate extends upwardly from the top plate and is adapted to serve as an abutment for the loose rail during the threading operation. The inside surface of one of the side plates has a pair of bars extending inwardly therefrom. When the rail threader has been positioned on a rail, a spacer bar is positioned between one side of the rail and the inside surface of the other side plate. A pair of bolts threadably extend through the other side plate and draw the bars on the first side plate into engagement with one side of the rail. The rail threader is securely held onto the rail by the engagement of the rods and the spacer bar which are urged into engagement with the opposite sides of the rail by the bolts. The loose rail may be threaded into the center of the tracks or threaded outwardly from the center of the tracks through the use of the rail threader.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a rail threader and more particularly to a device which may be mounted on a fixed rail to enable a loose rail to be threaded between the rails of the track or to be threaded outwardly from between the rails of the track.
2. Background Art
Spare or loose rails are frequently stored by the side of a railroad track, at predetermined spaced-apart locations, to enable a length of a fixed rail of the railroad track to be quickly replaced in the event of damage thereto. If a rail is damaged, and must be replaced, the section crew simple needs to go to the nearest location where a rail is stored rather than requiring a loose rail to be shipped from some central supply area.
The loose rails are normally positioned on a rail rest closely adjacent the side of the track at predetermined intervals. When it is desired to move the loose or spare rail to the location where it is to be used, the rail is normally first rolled towards the track by means of rail turning tools or the like. Once the loose rail has been rolled to a position closely adjacent the track, it is necessary to thread the loose rail into the center of the track so that the loose rail may be pulled to the location where it is needed.
The threading of the rail into the center of the track is extremely difficult and is sometimes dangerous. The rail simply cannot be pulled into the center of the track by a Hy-Railer or the like since the loose rail simply tends to slide on the rail and will not thread itself into the center of the track. In the past, to thread the rail into the track, the workers utilized lining bars and attempted to pry or roll the loose rail over one of the fixed rails. The loose rails are extremely heavy and frequently weigh in excess of 1,700 pounds which makes the lining bar method of threading the rail extremely difficult and sometimes dangerous.


A method for controlling a wind turbine is disclosed, the wind turbine comprising a set of wind turbine blades (1), each wind turbine blade (1) being provided with at least one air deflector (2) being movable between an activated position in which it protrudes from a surface of the wind turbine blade (1) and a de-activated position. The occurrence of an event causing a change in operational conditions is registered, and a new operating state for the wind turbine is determined, the new operating state meeting requirements of the changed operational conditions. The air deflectors (2) of the wind turbine blades (1) and pitch angles of the wind turbines blades (1) are controlled in order to reach the new operating state for the wind turbine, and in such a manner that the control of the pitch angles of the wind turbine blades (1) is performed while taking information regarding the control of the air deflectors (2) into account.

Modern wind turbines are controlled and regulated continuously with the purpose of ensuring optimal power extraction from the wind under the current wind, and weather, while at the same time ensuring that the loads on the different components of the wind turbine are at any time kept within acceptable limits, and while respecting any externally set operational constraints.
During operation a wind turbine needs to be able to adapt to and shift between changing operational conditions. Such changing operational conditions may originate in different ambient conditions, e.g. wind or weather conditions, as well as in grid related events. An ambient condition may be a wind directional change or a gust, and a grid related event may be to adapt the turbine to a new power reference, adapting the operation to a grid loss, etc.
When adapting for a new operational condition it is important to take into account how fast the turbine needs to react to a new situation, how fast the operational state should be changed, as well as the loads involved in the transition of the operational states.
Modern wind turbines are often controlled based on pitch actuation which regulates the aerodynamic properties of the wind turbine blades. By pitching the blades, it is possible to control the lift and drag experienced by the wind turbine blade. It is normal practise to pitch the blades according to some pitching strategy, in connection with adapting the turbine to a new operating situation. In order to provide further possibilities for controlling the aerodynamic properties of a wind turbine blade, a number of concepts have been proposed, including so-called air deflectors. Air deflectors are elements configurable to be in an activated state where they are pushed out of the blade to alter the aerodynamic properties of the blade, and in a de-activated state where a top portion of the air deflector forms a portion of the surface of the rotor.
An example of an air deflector system is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 8,192,161.

Method for controlling air deflectors and pitch angles of wind turbine blades


A communication system having a central station and a plurality of terminal stations coupled through a bi-directional communication path such that the terminals communicate with each other through the central station, has dedicated communication channels assigned to couple a terminal station with another terminal station and common communication channels simultaneously assigned to the plurality of terminal stations in a multiplexing manner. The central station has a control unit for selecting one from the dedicated communication channels and the common communication channels in response to a communication request from a terminal station.

The present invention relates to a communication system having at least two types of communication channels which has a central station and a plurality of terminal stations connected through a bi-directional communication path such that the terminals communicate with each other through the central station. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a communication system suitable for use in multimedia applications utilizing a wide variety of information forms such as audio information, output data of computers, text information, graphics, moving pictures, and so on.
In recent years, communication systems utilizing CATV (Community Antenna TV) networks have drawn attention as a new communication infrastructure in Japan as well as in the other countries. An example of a communication system responding to this trend is an MCA/C telephone system which is also given a common name of "analog CATV telephone" in a practical world. Since the MCA/C telephone system is an application of a multi-channel access (hereinafter abbreviated as "MCA") scheme based on the FM radio communication technology, which has already given positive achievement in the field of radio communications, to the CATV network, the name "MCA/C" was derived from MCA with "C" as the meaning of "on Cable" added thereto.
The MCA/C telephone system utilizes a 2.5 MHz band for each of uplink and downlink in a CATV transmission path to provide 200 communication channels at carrier frequencies located at intervals of 12.5 KHz, as shown in a main specification table of FIG. 11.
An example of the conventional MCA/C telephone system is illustrated in FIG. 7. Specifically, FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the MCA/C systems of a type which shares part of facilities for a CATV system for operation. The illustrated system comprises a head end 1 positioned in a central portion of the CATV system and a plurality of trunk line cables 2-1-2-n extending from the head end 1 to different directions.
The head end 1 is provided with an input/output distributor unit 101 from which the trunk line cables 2-1-2-n branch out. The input/output distributor unit 101 is connected to CATV broadcasting facilities, generally designated by 102, and a block convertor 103 through which a line control unit 104 and a communication management unit 105 are connected to the input/output distributor unit 101.
While the trunk line cables 2-1 - 2-n are extended in every direction, it is a general tendency to divide the trunk line cables in a plurality of directions in order to limit the number of subscribers accommodated therein and the length of cables. The trunk line cables in the respective directions are extended by inserting bi-directional relay amplifiers 3-1, 3-2 at multiple stages.
Branch cables branched from the bi-directional relay amplifiers 3-1, 3-2 have tap-off units 4-1, 4-2 from which the branch cables are further branched to respective subscribers 5-1, 5-2, thus configuring a tree type network as a whole.
Customer stations of the respective subscribers 5-1, 5-2 each include a distributor 501, a television receiver 502, a network terminal unit 503, a telephone 505, and a personal computer having a function of facsimile (hereinafter abbreviated as "FAX/PC") 506, such that the subscribers 5-1, 5-2 are permitted to receive television programs on multiple channels as well as to utilize the telephone, FAX/PC and so on for intra-communications within the system. The intra-communications employ a bi-directional transmission scheme in which a direction from subscribers to the head end is defined "uplink" and a direction from the head end to subscribers is defined "downlink".
Instead of the MCA/C telephone system, the development of a system generally called a "digital CATV telephone" has been advanced in recent years to follow the trend of digitization in the world. A time-division multiple access (hereinafter abbreviated as "TDMA") scheme is employed as a means for implementing the digital CATV telephone.
In a digital CATV telephone system under development, a communication channel has a bandwidth equal to the bandwidth assigned to one channel of the NTSC television standard.
Examples of the TDMA schemes for the digital CATV telephone systems are given below:
1 An exemplary system utilizes an entire 6 MHz bandwidth and performs quadrature phase shift keying modulation (hereinafter abbreviated as "QPSK modulation") to ensure a transmission rate of approximately 8 Mbps, so as to realize a TDMA scheme which provides a unit transmission rate of 64 Kbps for each terminal.
2 Another exemplary system divides a 6 MHz bandwidth into four 1.5 MHz subchannels and performs QPSK modulation in each of the subchannels to ensure a transmission rate of approximately 2 Mbps, so as to realize a TDMA scheme which provides a unit transmission rate of 64 Kbps.
FIG. 10 illustrates a conceptual block diagram for explaining a line connecting operation in TDMA telephone communications utilizing a CATV network. Specifically, uplink time slots (channels) ts1, ts2, . . . , tsn and downlink time slots (channels) Ts1, Ts2, . . . , Tsn are shown along a transmission path. A terminal station 51 uses an uplink time slot ts1 for transmission and a downlink time slot Ts1 for reception, respectively, while a terminal station 52 uses an uplink time slot ts2 for transmission and a downlink time slot Ts2 for reception, respectively. A switching between an uplink time slot and a downlink time slot, represented by broken line arrows in the drawing, is performed by a switching unit 41 and a multiplexer unit 42 in a head end 40. Also, the terminal stations 51, 52 have network terminal units 513, 523 connected to a CATV transmission path and telephones 515, 525 connected to the network terminal units 513, 523, respectively.
FIG. 12 is a table listing main specifications for the TDMA scheme illustrated in FIG. 10. The table shows that the TDMA scheme of FIG. 10 utilizes a 6 MHz bandwidth for each of uplink and downlink in the CATV transmission path, and forms four subchannels which are assigned four carrier frequencies located at intervals of 1.5 MHz to provide 24 channels per subchannel and a communication channel having a total of 96 channels.
The first MCA/C telephone system used in practice as a general-purpose communications system utilizing a CATV network has a limit in its utilization. On the other hand, currently developed digital CATV telephones are now in a transition phase of the development. The TDMA schemes employed in so far disclosed digital CATV telephone systems have the following features and problems in relation to the characteristics of CATV networks, utilization form, business form, and so on.
First, the characteristics of CATV networks will be described.
(1) Bi-directional CATV networks having a tree-type network suffer from noise ingress (noise which has intruded into a distribution system and a customer line system and flows into a head end) in an uplink transmission band which is a peculiar phenomenon in the CATV networks. Thus, a transmission scheme exhibiting a higher noise resistance is required for the uplink transmission band in comparison with the transmission of television video signals and so on in a downlink transmission band.
(2) While the noise ingress may occur due to interference of radio equipment or the like in a particular band, a main cause of the noise ingress is generally considered to be an intrusion of noise generated from home electric appliances, industrial machines, or the like. An analysis of such noise with a spectrum analyzer or the like shows that impulse noise having narrow width and a short duration randomly occurs on the frequency axis. It can be said from this observation that a transmission scheme using a wider bandwidth is more likely to suffer from interference of the noise.
(3) In conventional CATV networks, even if bi-directional facilities are provided, the uplink transmission band including up to extreme ends of cables has been utilized less frequently than the downlink transmission band. Therefore, no attention has been paid to countermeasures to noise ingress in existing CATV networks, and a variety of experiments have gradually revealed that the level of noise ingress is generally in an unfavorable situation.
To improve the level of noise ingress, it is necessary to examine all terminals one by one to confirm sources of noise intruding into the uplink, to reinforce the shielding for cables themselves and contact portions of coaxial cables, and so on. However, since a single CATV system includes several thousand to fifty thousand terminals to be checked and repaired, a huge cost is anticipated to take countermeasures to the noise.
(4) The CATV network must also cope with noise possibly generated in its own network in addition to noise intruding from the outside as mentioned above. Such noise generated in the network is mainly caused by non-linearity of transmission paths.
Generally, CATV networks perform relay amplification at multiple stages in order to compensate for line loss. Thus, the CATV network has a problem of inter-channel interference generated by cross modulation, intermodulation, and so on due to non-linearity of the relay amplifiers, depending on the characteristics of relay amplifiers and the number of relay stages. As examples of countermeasures to prevent the influence of inter-channel interference from exceeding a tolerable limit, total transmission power is limited per channel of the television, and the number of channels is limited when a bandwidth assigned to one channel of the television is used in a frequency division multiple access scheme.
Since trunk line cables have been gradually replaced with optical fibers in CATV networks, a less number of relay stages is required so that the non-linearity of transmission paths tends to be improved as an overall network.
(5) It has been found that when wide-band high-speed digital transmission is performed in a CATV network, reflected waves caused by impedance miss-match of transmission paths may exert influences on the CATV network. To solve this problem, it would be necessary to modify the entire network even including customer lines and terminal equipment at extreme ends, so that an ideal modification of the network is anticipated to be difficult from the viewpoint of a cost required therefor.
(6) In CATV networks, a single coaxial cable is used to communicate uplink and downlink signals therethrough. Generally, CATV networks in Japan employ an uplink band from 10 MHz to 50 MHz and a downlink band from 70 MHz to 450 MHz (or 750 MHz). Even if the entire uplink band is available for transmission, a total number of available channels, each assigned a 6 MHz bandwidth, is merely six. In addition, the above-mentioned noise ingress is not present uniformly over the entire band but concentrates in a band from 10 MHz to 25 MHz. Thus, channels in such a noisy band cannot be used in practice. In the United States, the uplink band is narrower than that in Japan and is assigned a range of 10-30 MHz.
It can be understood from the circumstance mentioned above that the uplink channels are precious and should be efficiently utilized.
Next, the characteristics of the MCA/C telephone system will be described.
(7) Since the MCA/C telephone system employs a narrowband transmission scheme as compared with the characteristics of transmission paths used in the CATV network as mentioned above, it can advantageously provide fairly good transmission and a larger number of channels. However, the MCA/C telephone system has a disadvantage that the data transmission rate is limited to approximately 9,600 bps and cannot provide services which require higher transmission rates than this limit.
Next, the TDMA scheme has the following problems.
(8) As mentioned above, since digital CATV telephone systems employing currently known TDMA schemes use a wide band such as 6 MHz or 1.5 MHz, they are susceptible to the influence of noise ingress having the nature as mentioned above. In addition, the digital CATV telephone systems are disadvantageously susceptible to the influence of reflections due to impedance miss-match because of the wide-band high-speed transmission.
(9) Noise levels at respective terminal stations distributively located in a tree-type CATV network are not uniform but exhibit large variations depending on directions of trunk lines to which they are connected. However, to ensure a uniform transmission quality in an entire system, it is desirable to maintain a ratio of a carrier level to a noise level (C/N) at the same level at all terminal stations. A scheme which employs separate carriers to respective communication channels can employ weighted power distribution which assigns a higher transmission level to a communication with a terminal station connected to a path with a higher noise level within a tolerable range of total transmission power for one television channel. However, it is difficult to apply the weighted power distribution to the TDMA scheme which transmits a plurality of communication channels with a single carrier.
(10) In the TDMA scheme, PCM transmission at a rate of 64 Kbps is performed on a channel among analog telephones connected to an associated network. As a result, the TDMA scheme is inferior to the MCA/C telephone system in terms of a frequency utilization efficiency per 6 MHz. Specifically, when comparing these schemes in terms of the number of channels constituting an audio transmission band (0.3-3.4 KHz), the TDMA scheme has 96 channels while the MCA/C telephone system has 200 channels. Even in this case, the MCA/C telephone system utilizes only a limited 2.5 MHz band within the 6 MHz band.
(11) The CATV telephone systems typically employ a fixed rate system in order to avoid a huge facility cost which would otherwise be required to a meter rate telephone accounting management system. The fixed rate system charges the same telephone rate for a predetermined period irrespective of an actual utilization amount. There is a demand for a CATV telephone system which can accommodate as many subscribers as possible at a lower rate. The telephone communications schemes may be classified into the following two. A first scheme is an instantaneous communications scheme, such as a line connection scheme for the existing subscriber telephone system, in which once two terminals are connected through a line, the terminals occupy the line so that any other terminal is not permitted to access to the line until a call between the two terminals is terminated. A second scheme is a delay base scheme, as employed by LAN (local area network), in which a common line is assigned to a plurality of terminals such that each terminal is given a waiting time to access to the common line. In personal computer communications, the data transmission rate is determined by a signal transmission rate of each terminal even if a maximum signal transmission rate of a communication line is high. Also, even when computer terminals are connected through a communication line, there may be a period in which no data is actually transmitted therebetween. Thus, a line utilization ratio for some data communications between personal computers may generally indicate a small value. The latter communications scheme such as that employed by LAN may be appropriate for subscribers who have a data processing apparatus such as a computer connected to a CATV telephone system.
To increase the line utilization ratio, it is advantageous to employ a scheme which accommodates many terminals in a single channel and provides a delay base communications for these terminals, as is actually implemented in LAN. In such a LAN-type communications scheme, efficient utilization of lines can be accomplished by absorbing a difference in rate between terminals and lines and by allowing other terminals to utilize a line during a non-operating time during which the line is occupied but not actually utilized. However, in the TDMA scheme which relies on an instantaneous line switching scheme, communications with an increased line utilization ratio is difficult to realize.
(12) In addition, the TDMA scheme requires the assignment of two time slots, i.e., two channels for respective uplink and downlink in order to provide full-duplex communications, similarly to the assignment of audio channels in an MCA/C scheme, later described. In the LAN-type communication scheme, which assumes the employment of half-duplex communications, a bi-directional communication line can be constituted of only one channel.
While a variety of forms can be thought for data communications, most of them are data transmission from one terminal to another terminal. A system which reserves an empty line for always allowing for bi-directional simultaneous communications is disadvantageous in terms of the line utilization efficiency.
(13) The TDMA scheme employed in the CATV telephone system is based on 64 Kbps per channel. Generally, network terminal units at extreme ends of the network do not have a rate converting function, so that a terminal unit operating at a transmission rate different from that of the line requires an adaptor for the rate conversion. Since it is assumed in LAN that the rate of lines is basically different from that of terminals, the terminals in LAN are adapted to flexibly correspond to any transmission rate.
Finally, problems implied in LAN will be described.
(14) For example, in a LAN system as indicated by the LAN standard IEEE 802.3, a terminal connected to a node is allowed to transmit at any moment under predetermined conditions, and there is no means provided for controlling a total amount of traffic in a network such as regulation of transmission or the like.
When a LAN type communications scheme is applied to a CATV network, it is necessary to assume a system capable of accommodating a great number of subscribers. For example, it is thought that the CATV network should have a function of limiting new communication requests (regulating the assignment of these requests to a busy channel) in a traffic condition in which a waiting time exceeds a predetermined value.
(15) Some data supplied through a CATV network may often require fast and continuous data transmission, as is the case of a moving image. A communications scheme like LAN, which is designed basically for intermittent data transmission in packet units, is not suited to fast and continuous data transmission. To solve this problem, it will be necessary to occupy a channel in a condition close to line switching to enable the provision of continuous data transmission service depending on the form of information transmission.
Such a service is not intended for all of ordinary subscribers. For example, in an at-home welfare service, this service may be limited for particular utilization, for example, communications between hospitals or welfare centers and solitary elders' houses.
(16) The LAN system generally employs a transmission scheme which uses an entire band of a cable serving as a common transmission path. There has not been found any example which divides an entire band to form a plurality of channels for providing different services on the respective channels.

Communication system having at least two types of communication channels


One embodiment according to the present disclosure is an imaging apparatus including pixels. The pixel includes a junction type field effect transistor (JFET) provided in a semiconductor substrate. The JFET includes a gate region and a channel region. An orthogonal projection of the gate region onto a plane parallel to a surface of the semiconductor substrate intersects an orthogonal projection of the channel region onto the plane. Each of a source-side portion of the orthogonal projection of the channel region and a drain-side portion of the orthogonal projection of the channel region protrudes out of the orthogonal projection of the gate region.

Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to imaging apparatus, imaging systems and manufacturing methods of imaging apparatus.
Description of the Related Art
An imaging apparatus which utilizes Junction type Field Effect Transistors has been proposed. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-165736 describes an imaging apparatus including a plurality of pixels. Each pixel includes a Junction type Field Effect Transistor. In the Junction type Field Effect Transistor described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-165736, a channel region is sandwiched between a surface gate region and a buried gate region. The channel region is connected to a drain region at the end portion of the buried gate region.
Also, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-196789 discloses a method of manufacturing a Junction type Field Effect Transistor. According to the method described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-196789, a surface region, a channel region, and source and drain regions of the Junction type Field Effect Transistor are formed by ion implantations using, as masks, different resist patterns from each other.

Imaging apparatus, imaging system and manufacturing method of imaging apparatus


As an example of embodiments, there is disclosed a peripheral device control method of realizing a function designated by the user by controlling a peripheral device. The method has an installation function information obtaining step of obtaining installation function information showing what functions have been installed or what functions are not installed among functions which are realized by communicating with the peripheral device, a display control step of controlling a process to display the installed functions or/and the functions which are not installed so that they can be discriminated by using the installation function information obtained in the installation function information obtaining step, a receiving step of receiving an instruction of addition, updating, or deletion of the functions displayed by the displaying process which is controlled in the display control step, and a function managing step of executing at least one of a process to add and validate the function received in the receiving step, a process to delete and invalidate the designated function, and a process to update the function as an updating target to another designated function and validate such another designated function in accordance with the instruction received in the receiving step.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a peripheral device control apparatus, a user interface, a peripheral device control method, a computer program, and a computer-readable recording medium.
2. Related Background Art
Hitherto, a method called "version-up" has generally and widely been used as a method of adding and updating functions of a printer driver.
There is also used a method whereby by additionally installing an additional module by using a dedicated installer, a function is added to an existing printer driver or functions of the existing printer driver are updated.
As mentioned above, hitherto, the function has been added to the printer driver or the functions of the printer driver have been updated by constructing the driver as a module and installed. However, the module to be installed is a module which is inevitably highly independent.
Further, there is no particularly effective method of deleting the functions which already exist in the printer driver. As an exception, only when a driver set in which a GUI for using the function has been masked exists, the driver in which such a function has been masked can be used. There is also a case where the function added by additional installation is uninstalled by activating the foregoing dedicated installer.
However, according to such version-up means, in order to expand the functions of the printer driver by adding a new module to the printer driver module, it is necessary to recompile the new module or reinstall and reactivate it.
As mentioned above, if the version-up means is used, the recompilation and reactivation have to be performed each time the functions of the printer driver are expanded, so that it is very inconvenient.
Further, in the case of adding and updating the function, if the version-up means is used, the existing printer driver which operates without any problem is replaced with the printer driver of a new version.
That is, in exchange for such an advantage that several functions are added and errors are corrected by the printer driver of the new version, the user has to accept the whole operation specification of the printer driver of the new version.
Therefore, in dependence on circumstances, a possibility that a slight difference is caused between a print result of the existing printer driver and that of the printer driver of the new version can be considered and it largely disadvantages the user.
Further, it is also possible that the introduced printer driver of the new version influences another existing family driver.

Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and control program


Fluorochemical oligomeric silanes, compositions comprising such silanes and/or the condensation products of such silanes, and coatings produced with such compositions.

The use of fluorinated silanes, i.e., silane compounds that have one or more fluorinated groups for rendering substrates such as glass and ceramics oil and water repellent are known. For example EP 1341741 describes compositions comprising fluorinated polyether silanes for rendering ceramics oil and water repellent. EP 1225187 discloses fluorochemical compositions containing an oligomeric fluorochemical silane dissolved or dispersed in an organic solvent. The fluorochemical compositions are particularly useful for rendering substrates such as ceramics and glass water and/or oil repellent.
EP 1369453 relates to a fluorochemical composition comprising (a) a fluorinated oligomer that comprises one or more groups capable of undergoing a polycondensation reaction and (b) a non-fluorinated compound that has groups capable of polycondensation. The invention also relates to compositions that comprise a partial or substantially complete condensate of the components (a) and (b). The fluorochemical compositions can be used to treat substrates and are capable of rendering such substrates oil and water repellent and/or to provide stain repellency thereto.
Further coating compositions containing perfluoropolyethersilanes and alkoxysilanes are described in EP1444305 and EP 1444289.
Despite the many known fluorochemical compositions to provide repellency properties to a substrate, there continues to be a desire to find further compositions, in particular those that have improved durability, i.e., the repellency properties last longer even under abrading conditions.

Fluorochemical composition comprising fluorinated oligomeric silane


A semiconductor integrated circuit device capable of suppressing variations in transistor characteristics due to the well proximity effect is provided. Standard cell rows are arranged in a vertical direction, each standard cell row including standard cells arranged in a horizontal direction. In the standard cell rows, positions of the N well and the P region in the vertical direction are switched every other row. Adjacent standard cell rows share the P region or the N well. A distance from a PMOS transistor located at an end of a standard cell row to an end of an N well is greater than or equal to a width of an N well shared by standard cell rows.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for designing the layout of a semiconductor integrated circuit and, more particularly, to a semiconductor integrated circuit device designed by arranging standard cells.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, the layout of a semiconductor integrated circuit is designed by arranging circuit components called standard cells. For example, standard cells are arranged in a horizontal direction to form a standard cell row, and a plurality of standard cell rows are arranged in a vertical direction to form a circuit block. Each standard cell has a PMOS transistor and an NMOS transistor. In the N-well structure, the PMOS transistor is formed on an N well and the NMOS transistor is formed on a P substrate. In the twin-well structure, the PMOS transistor is formed on an N well and the NMOS transistor is formed on a P well.
Also, in order to achieve low power consumption required by recent mobile apparatuses, a standard cell block is formed on a triple well so that a power supply control technique or a substrate control technique is applied. In the triple-well structure, the PMOS transistor is formed on an N well and the NMOS transistor is formed on a P well, and the N well and the P well are formed on a triple-well that is a deep N well. In addition, the P well is separated from a P substrate by the triple-well. FIG. 48 schematically shows the triple-well structure.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-133416
Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-165670
With the development of even smaller microstructures, a phenomenon called a well proximity effect is more likely to occur. The well proximity effect is a phenomenon such that, when impurities are implanted into a well, the impurities are reflected and scattered from a resist and are then implanted into a channel region of a transistor, so that the impurity concentration of the channel exceeds a set value, resulting in an increase in threshold value of the transistor.
The impurity implantation amount due to the reflection and scattering differs, depending on a space between the transistor and the well, and tends to increase with a decrease in the space. The space between the transistor and the well as used herein corresponds to a distance from the transistor to an end of the well. In smaller microstructures, the space between the transistor and the well (layout rule) is further narrowed, so that the well proximity effect is more likely to occur as a side effect.
Typically, in the step of logic design of an electronic circuit, it is assumed that the same cells have the same characteristics. However, when the space between a transistor and a well differs on the layout, the transistor characteristics of a product may differ due to the influence of the well proximity effect. Therefore, there is a mismatch between the design and the product in terms of circuit operation timing or the like, resulting in a defective product. In addition, a decrease in yield, a decrease in circuit performance due to addition of a design margin for securing a difference in characteristics, and an increase in block area lead to a reduction in competitiveness.
On the other hand, in order to cause the same cells to have the same characteristics, the space between the transistor and the well needs to be constant or be broadened to an extent that can prevent reflected and scattered impurities from reaching so the influence of the well proximity effect is negligible.
An exemplary portion where variations in characteristics due to the well proximity effect occur is an end portion of a standard cell row. Specifically, the space between a transistor and a well is considerably large in the vicinity of a center of a cell row since a cell is interposed between adjacent cells on both sides thereof, whereas there is only a space having a well width included in a single cell at an end portion of a cell row. Therefore, a difference occurs in characteristics.
Also, a difference in characteristics is likely to occur at the uppermost or lowermost standard cell row. In a typical semiconductor integrated circuit designed using standard cells, every other standard cell row is flipped, and two vertically adjacent standard cell rows share a well region. In other words, the width of a well region is broad with the exception of the uppermost row or the lowermost row. Therefore, the uppermost or lowermost standard cell row has a smaller well width than those of the other portions, so that a difference in characteristics occurs therein.
The above-described problem has become significant with the development of even smaller microstructures. Conventionally, no measures in which the influence of the well proximity effect and the space between a transistor and a well are taken into consideration have not been taken in layout design.