Each of divided bit line pairs is selectively connected to a sub-input/output line pair through transfer gates. A register is connected to the sub-input/output line pair. Data is transferred through the sub-input/output line pair between the register and a selected bit line pair. A sense amplifier is connected to each of the bit line pairs. Sense amplifiers are independently driven by separate sense amplifier activating signals. Therefore, even if data is transferred to the selected bit line pair from the register, fluctuations in potential on the bit line pair caused in such a case does not affect a sense amplifier activating signal connected to a non-selected bit line pair. As a result, data stored in the non-selected memory cell is prevented from being destroyed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to semiconductor memory devices and a data transferring method therein, and more particularly, to a semiconductor memory device having a hierarchical organization in which a plurality of bit line pairs are connected to a sub-input/output line pair through transfer gates and a register for storing data is connected to the sub-input/output line pair and a method for transferring data from the register to memory cells.
2. Description of the Background Art
FIG. 1 is a partial circuit diagram showing a structure of a conventional two-port memory device, showing a portion corresponding to a pair of bit lines. In FIG. 1, this two-port memory device comprises a random access memory (RAM) portion and a serial access memory (SAM) portion. The two memory portions are connected to each other by transfer gates 1. On-off control of the transfer gates 1 is performed in response to a transfer gate control signal TG. The SAM portion comprises a register 2 having a latching function. The RAM portion comprises a sense amplifier 3, a bit line pair BL and BL, word lines WL.sub.1, WL.sub.2, . . . , memory cells MC each having a transfer gate 4 for memory cell and a capacitor 5 for memory cell, and bit line precharging transistors 6. The sense amplifier 3 is activated by sense amplifier activating signals SAE and SAE, to amplify and detect a very small potential difference between the bit line pair BL and BL. On-off control of each of the transfer gates 4 is controlled by selecting or non-selecting a corresponding word line. Each of the bit line precharging transistors 6 is turned on when a bit line precharging signal BLP is activated, to precharge the bit line pair BL and BL at a precharge voltage V.sub.BL.
Referring now to a timing chart of FIG. 2, description is made on an operation for transferring and writing data to memory cells from the register 2 shown in FIG. 1.
First, at the time t1, the transfer gate control signal TG becomes the "H" level, so that the transfer gates 1 are turned on. Consequently, data stored in the register 2 is transmitted to the bit line pair BL and BL through the transfer gates 1. On this occasion, in the RAM portion, when the bit line pair BL and BL is being precharged, the data stored in the register 2 is destroyed. Thus, the transfer gate control signal TG is adapted to be the "H" level after the bit line precharging signal BLP becomes the "L" level so that the bit line pair BL and BL are electrically isolated from each other.
After the data stored in the register 2 is transmitted to the bit line pair BL and BL, a potential on the word line WL is raised at the time t2, so that the transfer gate 4 is turned on. Thereafter, at the time t3, the sense amplifier activating signals SAE and SAE are respectively brought to the "H" and "L" levels, so that the sense amplifier 3 is activated. Consequently, the data transmitted onto the bit line pair BL and BL, i.e., the data stored in the register 2 is written into the memory cell MC.
In the above described semiconductor memory device in which a single register 2 is connected to each bit line pair through a pair of transfer gates 1, data can be transferred from the register 2 to memory cells MC according to the above described transferring method.
Meanwhile, in the semiconductor memory device shown in FIG. 1, the number of memory cells MC connected to a single bit line pair BL and BL is large, so that parasitic capacitance of each bit line is increased, whereby the number of read errors is increased.
Therefore, it is considered that a single bit line pair is divided into a plurality of bit line pairs, each of the divided bit line pairs is connected to a single sub-input/output line pair through transfer gates, and data is transferred to or from a data register through this sub-input/output line pair, so that parasitic capacitance of each of the bit line pairs is decreased, whereby the number of read errors is decreased. An example of a semiconductor memory device fabricated based on such an idea is shown in FIG. 3.
In the semiconductor memory device shown in FIG. 3, a single register 2 corresponds to two bit line pairs BL.sub.1 and BL.sub.1 and BL.sub.2 and BL.sub.2 (a single register may correspond to three or more bit line pairs). Sense amplifiers 3.sub.1 and 3.sub.2 are respectively connected to the bit line pairs BL.sub.1 and BL.sub.1 and BL.sub.2 and BL.sub.2 . The sense amplifiers 3.sub.1 and 3.sub.2 are activated by common sense amplifier activating signals SAE and SAE. In addition, the bit line pair BL.sub.1 and BL.sub.1 is connected to a sub-input/output line pair sub-I/O and sub.-I/O through a transfer gate 7.sub.1, and the bit line pair BL.sub.2 and BL.sub.2 is connected to a sub-input/output line pair sub.-I/O and sub.-I/O through a transfer gate 7.sub.2. The sub-input/output line pair sub.-I/O and sub.-I/O is connected to the register 2 through transfer gates 1. The register 2 is connected to an input/output line pair I/O and I/O through I/O transfer gates 8. On-off control of the I/O transfer gates 8 is controlled by an output signal Yi from a column decoder (not shown).
The above described semiconductor memory device shown in FIG. 3 is adapted such that the transfer gates 7.sub.1 and 7.sub.2 are selectively turned on in response to sense amplifier connect signals SAC1 and SAC2, so that one of the two bit line pairs is connected to the sub-input/output line pair sub.-I/O and sub.-I/O, whereby data stored in the register 2 is transferred to a memory cell connected to one bit line of a desired bit line pair.
Meanwhile, in the semiconductor memory device shown in FIG. 3, if and when data is transferred from the register 2 to a memory cell connected to one of the plurality of bit line pairs BL.sub.1 and BL.sub.1 and BL.sub.2 and BL.sub.2 , data stored in a memory cell connected to bit lines of a non-selected bit line pair, i.e., a bit line pair to which data is not transferred is liable to be destroyed, that is, data opposite to the stored data is liable to be stored. When transient occurs on the bit line BL.sub.1, it is coupled onto SAE and SAE lines by the sense amplifier 3.sub.1 of thence to the sense amplifier 3.sub.2. If large enough to activate the sense amplifier 3.sub.2 during unbalanced capacitive coupling of BL.sub.1 +BL.sub.2, data is destroyed. This will be described with reference to a timing chart of FIG. 4.
As an example, let us consider a case in which the data stored in the register 2 is transferred to a memory cell MC.sub.11 connected to the bit line BL.sub.1 of the bit line pair BL.sub.1 and BL.sub.1 and selected by a word line WL.sub.1. Meanwhile, in the initial state, it is assumed that the sub-input/output lines sub.-I/O and sub.-I/O are respectively brought to the "H" and "L" levels depending on the data stored in the register 2, and "L" level data are stored in memory cells MC.sub.11 and MC.sub.12 respectively connected to the bit lines BL.sub.1 and BL.sub.1 out of memory cells selected by the word line WL.sub.1, as well as in memory cells MC.sub.21 and MC.sub.22 respectively connected to the bit lines BL.sub.2 and BL.sub.2 .
First, when a column address strobe signal CAS falls at the time t1, the sense amplifier connect signal SAC1 rises at the time t2 in order to connect the sub-input/output line pair sub.-I/O and sub.-I/O to the bit line pair BL.sub.1 and BL.sub.1 . Consequently, a pair of transfer gates 7.sub.1 is turned on, so that the data stored in the register 2 is transferred to the bit line pair BL.sub.1 and BL.sub.1 . Meanwhile, since a bit line pair connected to the sub-input/output line pair sub.-I/O and sub.-I/O is selected based on information stored in a column address for selecting a bit line pair, the sense amplifier connect signal SAC1 corresponding to the bit line pair BL.sub.1 and BL.sub.1 to be selected after the column address strobe signal CAS rises.
Thereafter, at the time t3, a potential on the word line WL.sub.1 rises, so that the data stored in the memory cells MC.sub.11 and MC.sub.21 connected to the word line WL.sub.1 are read out onto the bit line pair BL.sub.1 and BL.sub.2. In this case, since current driving capability based on the register 2 is larger than that based on the data stored in the memory cell MC.sub.11, the data stored in the register 2 is maintained. Meanwhile, in order to shorten a period during which a bit line pair is electrically floating (that is, to shorten a period from t3 to t4 which elapses until a sensing operation is initiated) after the potential on the word line WL.sub.1 is raised, the potential on the word line WL.sub.1 is raised after the sense amplifier connect signal SAC1 rises. Thereafter, at the time t4, the sense amplifier activating signals SAE and SAE respectively become the "H" and "L" levels. Accordingly, the sense amplifiers 3.sub.1 and 3.sub.2 are activated, which respectively amplify and detect potential differences between the bit line pair BL.sub.1 and BL.sub.1 and BL.sub.2 and BL.sub.2
Meanwhile, when the data stored in the register 2 is transferred to the selected bit line pair BL.sub.1 and BL.sub.1 at the time t2, noises are included in the sense amplifier activating signals SAE and SAE due to capacitive coupling of transistors constituting the sense amplifier 3.sub.1. During a period from t2 to t3, the sense amplifier activating signals SAE and SAE fluctuate due to the noises until the sense amplifier can be activated. The sense amplifier 3.sub.2 is then activated, so that the potential difference between the bit line pair BL.sub.2 and BL.sub.2 is amplified. On this occasion, the data stored in the memory cell MC.sub.21 has not read out onto the bit line BL.sub.2 yet. Thus, the bit line pair BL.sub.2 and BL.sub.2 remain at a precharge voltage V.sub.BL, so that the potential difference therebetween should not exist. However, when there exist imbalance between potentials on bit lines caused by parasitic capacitance of each bit line and the dissymmetry of amplification sensitivity which inherently exists in the sense amplifier 3.sub.2, the sense amplifier 3.sub.2 undesirably amplifies the potential difference between the bit line pair BL.sub.2 and BL.sub.2 . If the potential difference between the bit line pair BL.sub.2 and BL.sub.2 amplified by the sense amplifier 3.sub.2 is contrary to a potential difference based on data read out from the memory cell MC.sub.21 selected by the word line WL.sub.1, the data stored in the selected memory cell is inverted, i.e., destroyed.
As described in the foregoing, in the semiconductor memory device shown in FIG. 3, data in a memory cell belonging to a non-selected bit line pair, i.e., a bit line pair to which data is inhibited from being transferred is undesirably destroyed.

Semiconductor memory device and data transferring structure and method therein


Pharmaceutical compositions for the inhibition of bone resorption comprising a pharmaceutical carrier and a therapeutically effective amount of a benzopyran derivative represented by the general formula (I) ##STR1## wherein the broken-lined bond denotes an optional double bond, R.sub.1 denotes a hydrogen atom or a hydroxyl group, R.sub.2 denotes a cyano group, a phenylsulfonyl group or a halogen-substituted methoxyl group, and R.sub.3 denotes a group having the formula ##STR2## Since they inhibit bone resorption, they are useful for the treatment and prevention of diseases associated with bone metabolism.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to novel pharmaceutical compositions for preventing or treating diseases involving abnormal decreases in calcium and bone matrix from the bone (bone resorption). Abnormal bone resorption occurs not only in osteoporosis but also in rheumatoid arthritis, Paget disease, bone metastasis of malignant tumor, hyperthyroidism, or post-oophorectomy state. In addition, it is associated with neural excision or prolonged disuse or fixation of the extremities. As a result, fragility of bone and risk of fracture are increased. Moreover, it is estimated that patients with such diseases, particularly, osteoporotic patients will increase as the population of elderly people aged 65 years or more rapidly grows in Japan owing to the prompt prolongation of the Japanese' average life span. The term "osteoporosis" as used in the present specification refers to senile osteoporosis and postmenopausal osteoporosis.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Pharmaceutical compositions including vitamin D.sub.3, calcitonin, estrogens and bisphosphonate derivatives have been used in clinical practice. Their therapeutic results, however, are not entirely satisfactory, and a better pharmaceutical composition is highly desired.

Pharmaceutical composition of benzopyranes for the inhibition of bone resorption


Low viscosity, fast curing binders for nonwoven cellulosic materials comprise an aqueous dispersion of discrete particles of a highly functionalized emulsion copolymer resulting from the copolymerization of a water insoluble olefinic non-ionic organic compound, a water soluble olefinic carboxylate compound and a water soluble olefinic hydroxy ester or a water soluble olefinic amide or a mixture of hydroxy ester and amide. The emulsion copolymer dispersion is admixed with a latex to provide a binder having a relatively low viscosity and capable of reaching about 80 percent of fully cured wet tensile strength in 8 seconds or less.

During the past few years there has been a substantial growth in the production of high-strength paper and cloth products having a nonwoven, randomly-oriented structure, bonded with a polymeric resin binder. Such products are finding wide use as high-strength, high-absorbency materials for disposable items such as consumer and industrial wipes or towels, diapers, surgical packs and gowns, industrial work clothing and feminine hygiene products. They are also used for durable products such as carpet and rug backings, apparel interlinings, automotive components and home furnishings, and for civil engineering materials such as road underlays. There are several ways to apply a binder to these materials, including spraying, print binding, and foam application. Further, depending on the end use, various ingredients such as catalysts, cross-linkers, surfactants, thickeners, dyes, and flame retardant salts may also be incorporated into the binder.
In the high-speed, high-volume manufacture of cellulosic products such as wet wipes, an important binder property is a fast cure rate; i.e., the finished product must reach substantially full tensile strength in a very short time after binder application so that production rates are not unduly slowed down. In these products, such a property is usually obtained by using a binder which is either self cross-linkable or by incorporating an external cross-linker into the binder formulation. When this is done, the cross-linker apparently not only interacts with the binder monomers but with the hydroxyl groups on the cellulose fibers to quickly form very strong bonds.
At present, there are a number of available binder formulations which meet this requirement. However, these materials are typified by incorporating one or more constituents which, over some period of time, will emit formaldehyde in amounts which may be sufficient to cause skin and respiratory irritation in many people, particularly children. Most recently, several of the leading manufacturers of nonwoven cellulosic products have expressed a desire to replace such binders with products offering equivalent levels of performance in cellulose but without the emission of formaldehyde. Although a number of ostensibly "zero" formaldehyde or "O CH.sub.2 O" cellulose binders have been proposed, they have either not been truly "O" in formaldehyde content or have not shown sufficiently fast cure rates to be acceptable in high-volume production applications.
One approach to a fast curing, "zero" formaldehyde binder for nonwoven cellulosic materials utilizes a binder comprising a solution copolymer formed by reacting a mixture of two or more water soluble olefinically unsaturated organic comonomers. The solution copolymer is admixed with a non-formaldehyde emitting latex to produce a final composition which is essentially free of formaldehyde and which, when cured on nonwoven cellulosic material, will achieve about 80 percent of fully cured wet tensile strength in 8 seconds or less.
While this approach results in providing zero formaldehyde emitting binders which are capable of fast curing, solution copolymers raise the viscosity and cause thickening of the binders in which they are incorporated. In certain applications, it is necessary to maintain the viscosity of the binder at a relatively low level in order to assure adequate penetration of the binder into the nonwoven substrate.

Low viscosity, fast curing binder for cellulose


A pulley gear for an infinitely-variable pulley drive has one pulley disposed on a drive shaft and another pulley disposed on an output shaft, and a transmission element circulating between the pulleys. An output side pressing force is applied to the output side pulley by a pressure medium and a drive side pressing force is applied to the drive side pulley by the pressure medium. The pulley gear has a valve that generates a torque-dependent pressure through the torque-dependent relative movement of a first ring, a jacket, and a second ring, thereby providing a load-dependent pressing force. A cylinder and the second ring form a first cylinder-piston aggregate, and the jacket and first and second rings form a second cylinder-piston aggregate. The first ring has a first cam track thereon and the second ring has a second cam track. The surface of the second ring which is exposed to the pressure medium and which has the cam tracks has a greater area than an area of the surface of the second ring exposed to the pressure medium and oriented towards the first cylinder-piston aggregate.

This application claims the priority of German Patent Application No. P 199 10 438.7, filed Mar. 10, 1999, which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
The invention relates to an infinitely-variable pulley drive having two pulleys, respectively disposed on the drive shaft and the output shaft, with a transmission element that circulates between the pulleys, and pressing forces for setting and maintaining the gear transmission being generated by a pressure medium on the drive and output pulleys. A sensor is disposed on the drive shaft that receives torque and generates the pressing forces as a function of the load. The pressure medium flows to the sensor with the output-side pressure and the sensor generates a torque-dependent pressure through a torque-dependent relative movement between at least two valve parts of a valve, thereby supplying the necessary load-dependent pressing force. The sensor operates as a torque-dependent pressing device having oppositely-located pressing cam tracks and, between the cam tracks roller bodies are inserted. The first ring of the device, which has one half of the pressing cam tracks, is fixedly secured to the shaft to co-rotate therewith. The other half of the pressing cam tracks is disposed on a second ring, which is disposed to be displaced axially on the shaft, between the first ring and a cylinder that is fixed to the shaft. The second ring and the cylinder form a first cylinder-piston aggregate that is acted upon by the output-side pressure medium. The second ring and the shaft form a valve for the return flow of the pressure medium from the first cylinder-piston aggregate via a shaft bore, with which the chamber between the first and second rings is connected. A chamber between the first and second rings is closed by a cylinder jacket that radially adjoins one of the rings on the outside, is oriented toward the other ring and is coaxial to the drive shaft, the jacket forming a second cylinder-piston aggregate with the other ring.
In such pulley drives, the arrangement is typically such that one of the pulleys can be axially displaced on each shaft, but is connected, at least indirectly, to co-rotate with the shaft, and is embodied as a pressure cylinder of a piston fixed to the shaft, to which the pressure medium is metered by a rectangular control plunger for setting and maintaining the gear transmission, the plunger being, for example, connected via a control lever to one of the axially-displaceable pulleys, while the two other pulleys are fixed axially and against relative rotation with respect to the shaft.
A pulley gear of the type mentioned at the outset is known from, for example, German Patent Document No. 28 28 347. This document also discloses a design in which a torque sensor is seated on the drive shaft of the gear and is charged by the pressure-medium pressure present in an output-side cylinder-piston aggregate.
The fact that the chamber between the first and second sensor rings is closed to the outside in the known gear to form a second cylinder-piston aggregate, as described in detail in the cited document, serves to form another chamber outside of that chamber in order to damp the movement of the second, axially-displaceable ring in one of the two directions of movement with the aid of the pressure-medium volume located in this chamber.
An aspect of the nature of pulley gears of the present type is that, with respect to a particular drive torque, the necessary pressing force between the output-side pulleys and the transmission element circulating between them depends on whether the transmission position of the gear is set at slow or fast output ratio settings. At slow output ratios (i.e., a slower rotation speed on the output side than on the input side) a higher pressing force is required than when the gear is set at faster output ratios. The same is true when, for example, in an application in a motor vehicle, the total overall speed of the gear increases, which also requires a corresponding increase in the level of the pressing forces.
With these circumstances in mind, in gears of the present type, in which the pressing force between the pulleys and the transmission element is determined by a torque sensor, it is desirable to set the output-side pressing force at a higher value when the transmission position is set for a slow output ratio, or when the transmission is operating at a higher total overall gear speed. It is also desirable to avoid overly-high pressing forces when the transmission is set for fast output ratio operation or operating with a low total overall gear speed.
It is an object of the invention to provide an infinitely-variable pulley gear that avoids the occurrence of overly-high pressing forces when the transmission is set for fast output ratios or operating at a low total overall speed, that also provides a sufficiently high pressing force for transmission positions with a slow output ratio or operation at a high total gear speed.
This object and others to become apparent as the application progresses, are accomplished by the invention, according to which, briefly stated, the surface which is exposed to the pressure medium and which forms part of the second ring has, at its side having the cam track, a greater area than at its side oriented toward the first cylinder-piston aggregate.
This feature according to the invention utilizes the effect exerted by centrifugal force on the pressure medium located in the second cylinder-piston aggregate. According to this effect, at high rotational speeds the pressure medium is exposed to a correspondingly higher centrifugal force, and exerts a correspondingly higher pressure on the axially displaceable, second ring. If the pressure-charged surface of the second ring on the side facing the second cylinder-piston aggregate is larger than on the side facing the first cylinder-piston aggregate, at high output-side speeds at the second ring an additional control variable results at the second ring, which likewise results in an additional throttling effect of the torque sensor, and thus a correspondingly higher pressing force on the output side than at low speeds, without the gear being exposed to an overly high pressure in transmission positions with fast output ratios. The same applies for the above-discussed total gear speed.
The features of the invention, which can employ simple, automatically-acting means, thus avoid application of too much pressure, so the gear operates extremely cost-effectively and reliably.
A design that has proven useful according to the invention is for the outside or major diameter of the second cylinder-piston aggregate to be larger than that of the first cylinder-piston aggregate, with an identical, common inside or minor diameter.
The subject of the invention can be readily implemented in different torque sensor designs, depending on how the drive-side torque is to be introduced because of further structural requirements. For example, the shaft may be divided into segments between the first and second rings, and the torque may be introduced into the gear by way of the shaft part supporting the first ring. It is also possible, however, to introduce the torque into the gear by way of the second ring, in which case the drive shaft is not segmented. Teeth provided at the outer circumference of the second ring, for example, for transmitting force can permit the introduction of the torque via the second ring. Finally, to provide a space-saving design, it can be advantageous for the cylinder for the first cylinder-piston aggregate to be formed by the adjacent pulley that is supported in an axially fixed manner, and fixed against relative rotation with respect to the drive shaft, so that providing a special component for the cylinder is not necessary.

P.I.V. Antrieb Werner Reimers GmbH and Co. KG


An auxiliary power assisted steering system of a motor vehicle is provided. When a power limit for the system supplying the auxiliary power assist (or a limit for the specified steering angle) is exceeded, at least when considered over time, the gear ratio between the steering angle selected by the driver and the travel of the tie rod pivot point is adjusted to be more indirect in comparison with the preselected gear ratio. The superimposing unit may superimpose an additional steering angle acting in the opposite direction on the driver's steering angle, so that the displacement speed of the tie rod pivot point is reduced or the travel of the tie rod pivot point may be readjusted to the steering angle selected by the driver with a time delay.

The present invention relates to a power assisted steering system of a motor vehicle, having a steering gear for converting the driver's intended steering, based on his steering maneuver, into a displacement movement of the tie rods assigned to the steerable wheels and having a superimposing unit with which an additional steering angle in the same direction or in the opposite direction can be superimposed on the steering angle selected by the driver so that the gear ratio between the steering angle selected by the driver and the travel of the rod pivot point on the steering gear is variable with respect to the gear ratio selected by the steering gear. With regard to the technical background, reference is made to German patent document Nos. DE 100 32 340 A1 and DE 101 26 424 A1.
Steering, i.e., driving the steerable wheels of a motor vehicle, requires force, i.e., power. This is particularly true of the lower the rotational speed of the wheels being steered. The greatest power demand thus occurs in parking a vehicle with the wheels braked, i.e., when the steerable wheels are braked and are thus blocked to prevent them from rotating while at the same time being driven, i.e., steered. Furthermore, the power demand is especially high in the range of the two possible end positions, i.e., close to the maximum possible wheel angle, because, among other things, the lateral strain in the wheel tire increases with an increase in the wheel steering angle.
Steering systems and/or mechanical steering gears are usually designed so that the overall ratio becomes more direct in proximity to the end position, i.e., with rack-and-pinion steering in the area of the end positions of the rack travel, so the total steering angle applied by the driver of the vehicle to the steering wheel (steering maneuver) is limited to a reasonable level from one end position to the other. In addition, the tie rod forces increase greatly with an increase in steering angle owing to the change in gear ratio in the tie rods. Both result in an especially high power demand in the end positions of the rack travel (in the case of rack steering).
In conventional power assisted steering systems, the auxiliary power is applied mainly hydraulically. However, auxiliary power systems using electric motors are also known. Regardless of which auxiliary power system is installed, larger dimensions of the auxiliary power assist are necessary because of the great power demand of an auxiliary power steering system, especially in the end positions of the rack travel and/or in the range of large steering angles (near the respective end position). Thus, powerful motors or hydraulic pumps must be provided, and their drive in turn has a high energy demand, so the burden goes to the energy balance, i.e., consumption by the drive unit of the motor vehicle, since this usually drives (directly or indirectly) the unit that supplies the auxiliary power for the steering system.
One possible remedy for this problem is described in German Patent DE 101 26 424 A1, according to which the steering ratio is designed to be more indirect in the end positions, so that the unit supplying the auxiliary power for the steering system (a so-called "servo device") can be designed with the smallest possible dimensions. In the case of rack steering, a lower steering ratio in the end positions results in a lower rack travel per unit of steering angle selected by the driver by using the steering wheel or the like, so that logically a lower power is then required. However, as a direct result of such a steering ratio design, the steering angle range on the driver's steering wheel is increased when the steerable wheels are to be steered, e.g., from one end position to the other end position. To reduce this consequence which is uncomfortable for the driver while at the same time supplying the most indirect possible steering in the range of the zero position of the steering wheel, i.e., when driving straight ahead, according to DE 101 26 424 A1, the design of the steering gear is such that a relatively direct gear ratio is provided in an intermediate range between the zero position and the respective end position. The curve of the gear ratio, i.e., the rack travel (which is the travel of the tie rod pivot point on the steering gear) as a function of the steering angle selected by the driver with his steering wheel therefore has first an ascending area (starting from the zero position) and then has a descending area (at larger steering angles).
It has been found that a relatively direct steering ratio is still required in the range of the straight ahead position of the steering wheel, even with the known measure described here, if the total steering angle that must be applied to the steering wheel by the driver is to be kept within a reasonable size. One disadvantage of this is that in the range of the zero position, the steering should have a certain indirectness to be able to avoid extreme steering of the vehicle at small steering angles and thus ensure adequate stability. Another disadvantage of this known system according to German patent document No. DE 101 26 424 A1 is the fact that the gear ratio of the steering gear is represented fixedly (i.e., mechanically) in the rack contour, so it is impossible to implement different gear ratio curves.
In addition, steering systems with a so-called superpositioning unit are known. Such systems are capable of superimposing an extra steering angle acting either in the same direction or in the opposite direction upon the steering angle selected by the driver using the steering wheel (his steering maneuver in general). For example, this superimposing unit may be a servo motor having a planetary gear, whose first input is connected to the driver's steering wheel, whose second input is connected to a worm gear drive driven by the electric servo motor and whose output is mechanically connected to the input of the steering gear. Thus an additional steering angle can be adjusted via the electric motor with the worm gear drive and is then relayed to the steering gear.
For such a steering system the present invention provides a measure with the help of which the maximum power demand for driving the steerable vehicle wheels, which is especially high in the vicinity of both end positions, as already described above, and can be reduced without having to accept any great disadvantages.
The method of achieving this is characterized in that when a power limit for the system supplying the auxiliary power assist or a limit value for the steering angle specification is exceeded, at least when considered over time, the gear ratio between the steering angle selected by the driver and the travel of the rack pivot point on the steering gear is adjusted to be more indirect in comparison with the specified gear ratio.
In accordance with the present invention one of the measures to be described in greater detail below for reducing the power demand of the auxiliary power assist shall be implemented only as needed, i.e., essentially as a function of the power currently required from the unit supplying the auxiliary power assist. A comparison may be performed with a threshold value or a limit value (preferably specified), although that is not absolutely necessary. A measure for reducing the power demand may be implemented even if it is to be expected that a power limit is exceeded. However, if a concrete threshold value for the power demand is specified, it is preferably selected in such a way that it is reached only in extreme situations, e.g., in a parking operation with a very rapid steering to high friction value. Only if this threshold value is reached and/or exceeded is a measure for reducing the power demand initiated.
Initiating a measure for reducing the power demand on exceeding a limit value for the specified steering angle also goes in the same direction. Whenever the driver selects with his steering maneuver, in particular the steering wheel, a particularly large steering angle (or steering wheel angle) which is above a limit that has been set as suitable (and thus fundamentally requires a particularly high power for implementation), a measure for reducing the power demand is initiated.
In accordance with exemplary embodiments of the present invention a measure for reducing the power demand includes adjusting the gear ratio between the steering angle selected by the driver and the travel of the rack pivot point on the steering gear to be more indirect in comparison with a gear ratio specified by the steering gear, at least when considered over time. A more indirect gear ratio results in a reduced power demand. Then the displacement rate of the tie rod pivot point on the steering gear in comparison with the rate of change of the specified steering angle is reduced in the sense of a more indirect gear ratio by the fact that the aforementioned superimposing unit superimposes an additional steering angle in the opposite direction on the steering angle selected by the driver, i.e., the so-called superimposed steering adjusts a more indirect steering ratio after said limit value (power limit or steering angle limit) has been exceeded and thus in the case of rack steering, the rack traveling speed is lowered with no change in the intended steering angle speed. This avoids a need for maximum power, but it causes the required steering angle to be increased by the amount of the superimposed additional steering angle up to the end position of steering.
In the application of an inventive system, it is important to be sure that the driver steers back into the straight-ahead position along the same gear ratio curve in the return motion of his steering wheel (his steering maneuver in general) as in the original steering motion because otherwise the steering wheel is skewed at the height of the additional steering angle. Furthermore, the fact that the driver need not apply the same steering angle up to the steering stop position in all situations, depending on the power demand, so complete reproducibility is not obtained. Therefore, the maximum possible steering angle difference should not be perceived by the driver as causing interference. A design criterion for this function is thus a certain additional required steering angle demand.
Another possibility for reducing the power demand on the tie rods due to a lower travel speed of the rack of the steering gear or the like is by using a time-delay element in the controlled system. This function is very similar to the power-dependent steering ratio because at least when considered over time an indirect steering ratio is set. In accordance with the present invention the steering angle on the steerable vehicle wheels is delayed with respect to the steering movement or steering specification of the driver on reaching a certain power demand (i.e., the aforementioned power limit) or on exceeding a limit value for the specified steering angle (selected by the driver) and thus to build up the steering angle with a delay, i.e., on exceeding said limit value, the travel of the tie rod pivot point is readjusted with a time delay to the steering angle selected by the driver. The advantage of this function in comparison with the power-dependent steering ratio consists of the fact that the steering angle remains unchanged until reaching the (mechanical) steering stop. Depending on the time delay, the rack travel speed and thus the power demand on the tie rods may be reduced by a certain measure.
In accordance with exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the steering wheel angle and the steering angles on the steerable vehicle wheels are established independently of one another in principle, and the steering wheel is to reach the stop before the end of the steering operation on the wheel, so it may be advisable to provide an additional actuator or the like for displaying the steering stop in the steering column, for example, and/or with effect on the driver's steering wheel. This function may be taken over by an electric steering lock, for example.
As already explained, these measures should be initiated only on reaching or exceeding a limit value or threshold value for the steering wheel angle and/or the specified steering angle or for the power demand by the unit supplying the auxiliary power assist. Whether the limit value or threshold value is exceeded can be estimated from the respective profile of requirements or it is possible to ascertain in concrete terms that a power threshold has been reached. For example, to calculate the total power in the tie rods in the case of an electromagnetic servo steering (auxiliary power assist), the current consumed by the respective electric motor can be measured. In the case of a hydraulic steering assist, a suitable sensor system, e.g., in the form of wire strain gauges may be provided on the tie rods. If necessary, the current consumption by the superimposing unit which is driven by electric motor (superimposing steering) may also provide information regarding the power ratios in the tie rods and/or on the rack or the like of the steering gear.
In the sense of an estimate as to whether or not a power limit for the auxiliary power assist has been exceeded or will be exceeded, suitable measures to reduce the power demand may also be initiated in certain operating states. Such a measure will be taken when a reduction in power demand is in fact necessary, e.g., in a parking procedure. This can be described, for example, by the fact that the driving speed of the vehicle is less than 5 km/h. Furthermore, for example, steering when the vehicle is standing still and the wheels are braked and when the power demand is naturally high likewise represents an operating state in which a proposed change in the gear ratio is implemented, i.e., an additional steering angle in the opposite direction is superimposed in particular when the driver specifies a large steering angle; this is done in order to obtain a more indirect steering ratio.
Furthermore, in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the present invention the steering ratio is implemented essentially only in such a range in which an indirect setting will result in a relatively great reduction in power demand. Then in certain states or operating states at steering angles selected by the driver, which are above an intended steering angle that is essentially in the middle in the range between an intended steering angle of 0° and the maximum selectable steering angle, the travel of the tie rod pivot point on the steering gear which is executed at a preselected angle unit is reduced with an increase in the intended steering angle by superimposing of additional steering angles directed in the opposite direction. To reduce the steering demand on the steering gear, the steering ratio in the steering gear is designed to be more indirect but only in such areas and such operating states in which the power demand is or would otherwise be disproportionately high. In the area close to the end positions with the high power demand described above, the gear ratio is set to be more indirect by specifying a negative superimposed steering angle. The gear ratio curve thus has a falling section near the end positions and therefore reduces the power demand. This range with the "falling" section close to the end positions can also be described by the fact that it is above an essentially middle intended steering angle in the range between an intended steering angle of 0° and the maximum selectable steering angle.
In addition, the steering ratio may be set to be somewhat more direct in the area around the zero position (i.e., straight-ahead setting) in these certain operating states by adjusting positive superimposed steering angles by the superimposing unit because the measure described so far, namely to reduce the travel of the tie rod pivot point (on the steering gear) executed for each steering angle unit (preselected by the driver) by superimposing additional steering angles in the opposite direction (for relatively large steering angles in certain operating states and to thereby obtain a more indirect steering ratio), initially results in a larger total steering angle on the steering wheel from one stop to the next, but this is undesirable for comfort reasons, and this is preferably done in such a way that the required driver's steering angle remains essentially unchanged on the whole from one end position to the next.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Power assisted steering system of a motor vehicle

Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft


Improved techniques for streaming video quality analysis are described. In one embodiment, for example, an apparatus may comprise a processor element, an identification component for execution by the processor element to determine frame identifications for each of a set of tagged video frames based on frame identifiers contained in the tagged video frames, each frame identifier comprising multiple markers, each marker comprising a macroblock pattern corresponding to a symbol according to a frame identification scheme, and an analysis component for execution by the processor element to determine one or more quality metrics by comparing the set of tagged video frames with a set of reference video frames based on the frame identifications. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Using wireless video streaming technology, a user may stream video content from a source device to a target device and view the video content on a display of the target device. This may desirable when, for example, the video content resides on a handheld device and the user wishes to view the video content on a display comprising a larger viewing area, such as a television. The process of encoding the video content for transmission from the source device to the target device and decoding the video content at the target device for presentation may involve some level of degradation of the quality of the video content. In order to measure such degradation, it may be desirable to compare the quality of the video content as it is presented at the target device with the quality of the video content prior to encoding and transmission. Such comparisons may depend on matching video frames at the target device with reference frames from the source device. Conventional techniques for such matching involve performing computationally intensive peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) calculations for video frames of the target device against sets of reference frames from the source device.

Techniques for streaming video quality analysis


A sample holder for fixing and transporting a sample vial (1) within an NMR configuration comprising an outer shell (4) and a continuous hollow space disposed inside the outer shell (4) and extending along its axis for receiving the sample vial, is characterized in that a clamping device that can be switched on and off and a switching element (6) are provided inside the hollow space, wherein, in the activated state, the clamping device fixes a sample vial (1) that is introduced into the sample holder, the switching element (6) can be operated from the outside, and the clamping device can be deactivated using the switching element (6) such that, in the deactivated state, the sample vial (1) inserted into- or removed from the sample holder is not fixed. Such a sample holder may be used to realize an automatic supply device for changing NMR sample vials which has a very compact structure and can be mounted using little space.

The invention concerns a sample holder for holding and transporting a sample vial within an NMR apparatus, comprising an outer shell and a continuous hollow space which is disposed inside the outer shell and extends along its axis, for receiving the sample vial, and an automatic supply device with an inventive sample holder for automated exchange of NMR sample vials, and methods of operation thereof.
A sample holder of this type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,686,740 B2.
In NMR spectroscopy and, in particular, its industrial applications, large numbers of NMR samples must be measured automatically, i.e. without manual aid, in order to reduce personnel and improve the rate of utilization of the very expensive NMR spectrometers.
Such automated devices generally comprise a sample container which contains the NMR sample vials to be measured, with the measuring substances contained therein, a transport device, which grasps the sample holder containing the sample vial and transports it to the upper end of the room temperature bore (RT bore) of the NMR magnet, or a transport robot that removes the sample vial from a sample container and transports it to a supply device which inserts the sample vial into a sample holder, with the transport robot then transporting the sample holder, including sample vial, to the upper end of the RT bore, where the sample holder, including sample vial, is received by an air cushion device, transported on an air cushion from the upper end of the RT bore to the measuring chamber inside an RT bore, and returned to the upper end of the RT bore after measurement.
The air cushion device cooperates closely with a "docking device" (dock unit) which can i.a. receive and fix the probe head. The dock unit is located inside the RT bore and extends along its entire length. It contains the RT shim system and any gradient coils and has a cylindrical opening at its lower end into which the desired probe head can be inserted and fixed. The upper part of the dock unit has a cylindrical tube with an opening which opens to the outside at the upper end and through which the sample vial may be transported down to the measuring chamber. Compressed air is supplied below at the dock unit, which rotates the sample vial by means of an air turbine and also generates an air flow for the air cushion device. This air flows upwards along the tube that leads to the cylindrical opening at the upper end of the dock unit and escapes to the outside.
The maximum outer dimensions of the sample holder are important for the correct function of the air cushion device. It must fit into the upper opening of the dock unit with little play to prevent an excessive amount of air from escaping to the side. This produces an air cushion below the sample holder on which the sample holder including sample vial may be supported and slide downwards and upwards by reducing or increasing the air pressure.
There is an associated sample holder for any sample vial diameter, which is constructed such that its outer dimensions are preferably the same, irrespective of the diameter of the sample vial.
So-called "spinners" and "shuttles" are currently used as sample holders. In a spinner, the sample vial is rigidly clamped in the spinner, which, in turn, is formed such that it can be inserted into the upper opening of the dock unit with little play, and additionally also comes to rest exactly on the air turbine of the dock unit. The sample vial is thereby correctly positioned and centered. If required, the sample vial including spinner may be rotated using the air turbine in order to cancel inhomogeneities in the static magnetic field B0. This requires, however, that the spinner and the sample vial have a very high axial symmetry and their symmetry axes are disposed exactly on top of each other to produce rotation about a stable axis of rotation.
In the device of U.S. Pat. No. 6,686,740 B2, the sample vial whose diameter is preferably in a range between 1 and 3 mm, is loosely disposed in the shuttle, wherein a sleeve which closes the upper opening of the sample vial comes to rest on a shoulder within the shuttle. For this reason, the sample vial cannot fall downwards out of the shuttle. Loose positioning of the sample vial in the shuttle provides axial lateral and downward flexibility which considerably decreases the danger of breaking the sample vial during transport into the measuring chamber. The outer diameter of the shuttle is also dimensioned such that it can be inserted with little play into the upper opening of the dock unit. Rotation of the sample vial is not provided in this case. The outer shape of the shuttle is preferably selected to be the same as that of the spinner such that both sample holders, spinner and shuttle may be appropriately supported on the air turbine of the dock unit.
The sleeve at the top of the sample vial may also be used to hermetically seal the measuring substance inside the sample vial from the outside, in order to prevent the measuring substance from evaporating. It also permits application of an identification code (e.g. DOT matrix code) on the upper surface of the sleeve. Such an identification code is very convenient for automated sample exchange, since it defines i.a. the required adjustments of the NMR parameters during the measurement.
In some of the conventional devices for changing the NMR sample vial, each sample vial to be measured is initially manually associated with one respective sample holder (either spinner or shuttle) into which it is inserted. A transport device subsequently moves one of the sample holders, including the sample vial, from the sample container to the upper outlet of the docking unit where it is transported by the air cushion device into the measuring area.
These devices have the following serious drawbacks. Since the unit consisting of sample holder and sample vial requires a storage space that is up to 25 times larger than the sample vial alone, the sample containers must either be very large or be provided with fewer units, which is highly disadvantageous. Moreover, each sample vial requires its own sample holder such that a large number of "spinners" or "shuttles" must be provided which involves relatively high costs.
Moreover, manual supply of the sample holder with a sample vial is time-consuming and is an additional burden for the staff, and should therefore be prevented to optimize automated operation.
In order to avoid these drawbacks, modern devices automatically supply the sample holder with a sample vial and also transfer the sample holder including sample vial to the air cushion device. Supply is effected with a controlled supply robot. It grasps an individual sample vial from the sample container which exclusively contains sample vials, and inserts it from above into the sample holder. When the sample holder is a conventional spinner, the sample vial must normally be pushed through a rubber ring or another passive clamping device which is located inside the spinner and is designed to fix the sample vial. Considerable frictional forces are thereby produced between the sample vial and the clamping device. The supply robot subsequently transfers the sample holder including sample vial to the transport device which disposes this unit onto the air cushion above the RT bore of the magnet, and further handling is effected by the air cushion device.
After measurement, the sample holder including sample vial are transported to the top by the air cushion device, taken over by the transport device and returned by the latter to the supply robot which removes the sample vial from the sample holder. This process is associated with considerable friction forces when a conventional spinner is used. If the supply robot performs this process by rigidly clamping the upper end of the sample vial and subsequently drawing the sample vial out of the spinner, the sample vial can be easily broken. For this reason, the supply robot must have access to the lower end of the sample vial in order to push the sample vial out of the rubber ring or the passive clamping device through one upward pushing motion. The robot must subsequently move again upwards, grasp the loose sample vial and return it to the sample holder.
In the above-described device it is therefore important that the sample vial is inserted and removed by one pushing action each, since only in this way can the danger be minimized that the sample vial breaks or the gripper slides off the tube.
These devices have the following disadvantages. The supply robot must have access to the lower end of the sample vial when the sample vial is removed from the spinner, in order to release the sample vial from the clamping action of the spinner through one pushing motion from below.
In addition to the supply robot which is also responsible for transporting the sample vial from the sample container to the supply device, the device also requires a transport device i.e. a total of two automated systems.
Moreover, the overall device requires a large amount of space as well as its own, sometimes very large, assembly frame.
These devices additionally use conventional spinners as sample holders, as are used for manual operation, or spinners whose function resembles that of conventional spinners, which has the following further disadvantages. The force required by the device for inserting the sample tube into such a spinner is relatively large. This force is a consequence of the high contact pressure between the spinner and the sample vial which is required to obtain high precision coincidence between the symmetry axes of the sample tube and of the spinner in order to assure proper rotation. The large contact pressure generates large frictional forces between the spinner and the sample vial and wears the spinner, in particular, of the second described device that has a supply robot and requires one single spinner for all sample vials of the same diameter.
It is the underlying purpose of the invention to propose a sample holder in an automatic supply device for changing NMR sample vials that avoids the above-mentioned disadvantages, has a very compact construction, and can be mounted requiring little space.

Sample holder for holding and transporting a sample vial within an NMR apparatus and automatic supply device for the automated exchange of NMR sample vials and method of operation thereof


A collimator module which may be disposed in a radiation detector of a radiological imaging apparatus using the collimator module may include a first collimator having a plurality of openings, through which radiation having passed through an object passes, and a second collimator located below the first collimator and having a plurality of openings, through which radiation having passed through the first collimator passes. The first collimator or the second collimator is designed so as to be movable or rotatable relative to the second collimator or the first collimator. Through movement of the first collimator or the second collimator, the size of a passage region that allows radiation having passed through the object to pass through the first collimator or the second collimator is adjustable.

1. Field
Embodiments disclosed herein relate to a collimator module, a radiation detector, a radiological imaging apparatus, and a control method of the radiological imaging apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Radiation, e.g. X-rays, emitted to a particular material may pass through the material, or may be absorbed, in a predetermined amount, by the material, according to internal properties of the material, e.g., a density of the material.
A radiological imaging apparatus may refer to an imaging system that acquires a 2D or 3D image of internal tissues or structures of a particular material using radiation-transmission or radiation-absorption properties of the material. The radiological imaging apparatus is adapted to generate an image upon receiving radiation having passed through the particular material. Examples of the radiological imaging apparatus include an X-ray imaging apparatus, a Computed Tomography (CT) apparatus, and a Full Field Digital Mammography (FFDM) apparatus.
Considering an operation principle of the radiological imaging apparatus, if radiation generated from a radiation emitter of the radiological imaging apparatus is emitted to an object such as a human body, a radiation detector receives some of the radiation emitted to the object except for radiation absorbed by various internal materials of the object. That is, the radiation detector may receive radiation having passed through the object or emitted to the vicinity of the object. The radiation detector changes the received radiation into electric signals and stores the electric signals in a storage element, for example, a capacitor. An image processor of the radiological imaging apparatus reads out the electric signals stored in the storage element to generate a radiological image, and a display device, such as a monitor, displays the radiological image to the user.
As such, the user may check or examine the internal tissues, structures, or materials of the object via images.
The radiological imaging apparatus, which provides images of the internal tissues or structures of the object as described above, may be used to assist a doctor or other user in detecting abnormalities, such as diseases, in a human body, to recognize the internal configuration of mechanical elements in industrial applications, to scan the interior of luggage in the airport, and the like.

Collimator module, radiation detector having collimator module, radiological imaging apparatus having collimator module, and control method of radiological imaging apparatus


A method, apparatus, and article of manufacture for debugging target procedures contained in an object library or dynamic link library (DLL) on a running computer system. A "trace" DLL is created, wherein the trace DLL comprises a plurality of trace procedures. The trace procedures have a one-to-one correspondence with the target procedures contained in a target DLL. The trace DLL then acts as an interface between a software application and the target DLL. Rather than invoking the target procedure in the target DLL, the software application invokes the trace procedure contained in the trace DLL. In turn, the trace function in the trace DLL invokes the target procedure in the target DLL through an alternative entry point. The trace procedure may include debug statements, breakpoints, trace functions, printing functions, and other instructions that are executed before and after the call to the alternative entry point in the corresponding target procedure in the target DLL. In this manner, the calls to the target procedure in the target DLL may be monitored without disrupting the functionality of the target procedure or limiting access to the target DLL.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a method for debugging software applications. In particular, the invention provides the capability to debug shared procedures contained in an object library or dynamic link library (DLL) on a running computer system, without limiting any other application's access to the shared procedures.
2. Description of Related Art
Using conventional debugging techniques to find a problem in a software application is difficult when the application uses shared procedures or routines contained in an object library or DLL. To find errors in the shared procedures, users must place debug statements and/or breakpoints within the shared procedures or use debugger routines that prevent others from accessing the procedures. However, these debugging techniques disrupt running computer systems because they affect the functionality of the shared procedures. Thus, there is a need in the art for debugging techniques that do not limit access to shared procedures or affect the functionality of shared procedures.

Method for debugging shared procedures contained in dynamic link library files


A photopolymerizable composition comprising at least a polymerizable compound having an ethylenically unsaturated bond, a photo-radical generator, and an amine compound represented by the following Formula (I):

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photopolymerizable composition and a recording material using the same. In particular, it relates to a photopolymerizable composition and a recording material which can be used favorably in various fields, having improvements in sensitivity, storability of unprocessed stock, surface yellowing (stain) resistance, and light fixation.
2. Description of the Related Art
A photopolymerizable composition basically contains a photopolymerization initiator and an addition-polymerizable compound containing two or more ethylenically unsaturated bonds in its molecule (also referred to hereinafter as "multifunctional monomer"), and is cured by irradiation with light thereby changing its adhesiveness or making it insoluble with solvent. Owing to these properties, the photopolymerizable composition is used widely in such areas as photography, printing, metallic surface processing, and in ink. Much literature is available describing functions and applications of photopolymerizable compositions (for example, J. Kosar: Light Sensitive Systems, J. Wiley & Sons, New York, 1965, pp. 158–193, and K. I. Jacobson, R. E. Jacobson: Imaging Systems, J. Wiley & Sons, New York, 1976, pp. 181–222)).
Image formation systems utilizing photosensitive microcapsules, in which a photopolymerizable composition is encapsulated in microcapsules, have been proposed recently as methods of image formation that use a photopolymerizable composition. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) Nos. 57-124343, 57-179836 and 57-197538 disclose a method of forming dye images involving a coloration sheet on which a photopolymerizable composition comprising a vinyl compound and a photopolymerization initiator and microcapsules containing a dye have been coated. The sheet is first exposed to light, then placed on an image-receiving sheet and the entirety thereof is pressed.
JP-A Nos. 03-4087827 and 04-211252 describe photosensitive heat-sensitive coloration recording materials containing two components. One of the two components is encapsulated in microcapsules, and the other is a curable compound in a photosetting composition, or, together with a photosetting composition, is contained outside of the microcapsules. As an example of the latter, a photosensitive heat-sensitive recording material is described which is provided with a layer containing microcapsules that encapsulate an electron-donating colorless dye and a photosetting composition outside of the microcapsules that contains an electro-receiving compound, a polymerizable vinyl monomer, and a photopolymerization initiator.
As described above, recording materials utilizing a photopolymerizable composition enable image recording in a completely dry system without using, for example, a developing solution. Their use is very preferable as waste harmful to the environment is not generated.
Regarding sensitization, use of inexpensive infrared laser and blue to red-range light would be advantageous to image recording on photosensitive recording materials, however, a majority of recording materials that make use of photosensitive compositions are sensitized with UV or short-wavelength visible light and not with visible to infrared-range light, or are poor in sensitivity even if they can be sensitized. As a result, formed images are not vivid, or may have poor contrast between image and non-image regions, and thus higher sensitivity is desirable.
A composition containing a thiol-containing compound as a polymerization assistant has thus been proposed by the inventors as a photopolymerizable composition usable in various recording materials, in response to the need for higher sensitivity and photosensitivity to light sources of wavelengths longer than those of visible rays (see, for example, JP-A No. 64-013144). A problem is, however, encountered with application of this photopolymerizable composition to recording materials. When, for examle, a vinyl sulfone-based hardener is used in a gelatin binder system, the polymerization assistant reacts with the hardener with results including deteriorated storage stability or photosensitivity that changes depending on humidity.
It has also been proposed that, an amine compound such as N,N-dialkyl aniline in Japanese Patent No. 2679830 or a benzylamine compound or the like in JP-A No. 2002-308922 be added as an oxygen quencher and thereby attain higher sensitivity, improve unprocessed stock storability and reduce surface stain. The effects, however, are still not sufficient and there is room for further improvements.
The present invention has been devised to solve the aforementioned problems in the related art, and to achieve the following objects.
An object of the invention is to provide a photopolymerizable composition which responds with high sensitivity not only to ultraviolet light but also to light in the visible to infrared renge and which is excellent in unprocessed stock storability.
Another object of the invention is to provide a recording material that is capable of highly sensitive recording using not only ultraviolet rays but also visible to infrared-range rays and that is excellent in various aspects including unprocessed stock storability, surface yellowing (stain) resistance, light fixation, and humidity dependence, all in a completely dry system not requiring use of, for example, a developing solution and without generation of any waste.

Photopolymerizable composition and recording material using the same

Abstract: wherein R1 and R2 independently represent an optionally substituted aliphatic group, or may be bound to each other to form a ring, A represents an optionally substituted divalent aliphatic linking group, or may be bound to R1 or R2 to form a ring, B represents an optionally substituted divalent linking group selected from an amide linkage, a sulfonamide linkage and an ester linkage, or may be bound to R1 or R2 to form a ring, and Ar represents an optionally substituted aromatic group.


A method of revealing the device identity of a recipient Bluetooth device. When the recipient device is turned on, it displays the device identity. A user enters the device identity of the recipient device into a sending Bluetooth device in order to establish the initial communication link between the sending and recipient devices. Once the initial communication link is established, the devices are paired. It is no longer necessary to enter the device identity of the recipient device into the sending device in order to establish further communication link. Furthermore, if the recipient device has already been turned on when the user wants to establish the initial communication link, the device identity is displayed when the user sends a message or signal from the sending device to the recipient device.

A Bluetooth system provides a communication channel between two electronic devices via a short-range radio link. In particular, the Bluetooth system operates in the radio frequency range around 2.45 GHz in the unlicensed Industrial-Scientific-Medical (ISM) band. The Bluetooth radio link is intended to be a cable replacement between portable and/or fixed electronic devices. The portable devices include mobile phones, communicators, audio headsets, laptop computers, other GEOS-based or palm OS-based devices and devices with different operating systems.
The Bluetooth operating frequency is globally available, but the permissible bandwidth of the Bluetooth band and the available RF channels may be different from one country to another. Globally, the Bluetooth operating frequency falls within the 2400 MHz to 2497 MHz range. In the U.S. and in Europe, a band of 83.7 MHz bandwidth is available, and the band is divided into 79 RF channels spaced 1 MHz apart. Bluetooth network arrangements can be either point-to-point or point-to-multipoint to provide connection links among a plurality of electronic devices. Two to eight devices can be operatively connected into a piconet, wherein, at a given period, one of the devices serves as the master while the others are the slaves. Several piconets may form a larger communications network known as a scatternet, with each piconet maintaining its independence. The baseband protocol for a Bluetooth system combines circuit and packet switching. Circuit switching can be either asynchronous or synchronous. Up to three synchronous data (logical) channels, or one synchronous and one asynchronous data channel, can be supported on one physical channel. Each synchronous channel can support a 64 Kb/s transfer rate while an asynchronous channel can transmit up to 721 Kb/s in one direction and 57.6 Kb/s in the opposite direction. If the link is symmetric, the transfer rate in the asynchronous channel can support 432.6 Kb/s. A typical Bluetooth system consists of a radio link, a link control unit and a support unit for link management and host terminal interface functions. The Bluetooth link controller carries out the baseband protocols and other low-level routines. Link layer messages for link set-up and control are defined in the Link Manager Protocol (LMP). In order to overcome the problems of radio noise interference and signal fading, frequency hopping is currently used to make the connections robust.
Currently, each of the 79 RF channels is utilized by a pseudo-random hopping sequence through the Bluetooth bandwidth. The hopping sequence is unique for each piconet and is determined by the Bluetooth device address of the master whose clock is used to determine the phase of the hopping sequence. The channel is divided into time slots of 625 μs in length and numbered according to the master clock, wherein each time slot corresponds to an RF hop frequency, and wherein each consecutive hop corresponds to a different RF hop frequency. The nominal hop rate is 1600 hops/s. All Bluetooth devices participating in the piconet are time and hop synchronized to the channel. The slot numbering ranges from 0 to 227 −1 and is cyclic with a cycle length of 227. In the time slots, master and slave devices can transmit packets. Packets transmitted by the master or the slave device may extend up to five time slots. The RF hop frequency remains fixed for the duration of packet transmission.
When one Bluetooth device communicates with another Bluetooth device, one is a sending device and the other is a recipient device. There is a need to identify the sending device when pairing the sending device with the recipient device. This is necessary because, without such identification and paring, it is possible that a sending device in one's home may be accidentally connected to a recipient device of a next door neighbor, which can be just behind one of the home's walls. If the sending device is used to send images to a Bluetooth image viewer, for example, it is undesirable that the images accidentally appear on the neighbor's screen.
In general, when an end-user wishes to establish communication between a sending Bluetooth device and a recipient Bluetooth device, the user must key in the identity of the recipient device to the sending device. In the example illustrated above, the communication between the image sender and the image viewer can only be established after the end-user keys in the identification code of his or her own image viewer to the image sending device. Because each image viewer has its unique identification code, it is highly unlikely that the end-user accidentally sends his or her images to the neighbor's image viewer. The sending device in the above example can be a mobile phone and the image viewer can be a TV Dongle.
In a household that has a number of Bluetooth devices, the end-user of the devices must know the identification code for each of the devices that can or will be used as recipients. The identification code can be the last N digits of the serial number of the Bluetooth device, for example. For practical reasons, the serial number may be on a label in the battery compartment, or on a label on the bottom of a device. In order to find out the serial number, the end-user may have to take out the batteries from the battery compartment or to flip over a heavy device.
It is thus advantageous and desirable to provide a method and device for revealing the identification code of a Bluetooth device whenever the end-user wants to access it, without requiring the end-user to memorize the identification code or to go through a number of unnecessary steps to find such code.

Method and device for identifying and pairing Bluetooth devices


An apparatus and method for generating a power delivery network (PDN) of a circuit system is provided. The apparatus performs a power diagnostics on the PDN of a circuit system. According to result of the power diagnostics, a number of areas are generated and divided into at least three subsets. At least one area is selected from each of the at least three subsets, and one node is selected from each of the selected areas, and the nodes are connected sequentially to form an interconnection with at least three nodes in the PDN.

There are many researches related to the design of power delivery network (Power Delivery Network, or Power Distribution Network, or Power Network, hereinafter all referred to as "PDN"). Generally speaking, there are many nodes in the PDN. The quality of PDN are mainly influenced by the resistance of the transmission line, i.e. when current flowing through a section of the transmission line, because of the presence the resistance, the voltage drop would be generated. The voltage drop is also known as IR drop ("I" represents current and "R" represents resistance). The voltage drop would lower the stability of the circuit system, and even cause the error of the circuit. For example, in an integrated circuit (IC), large voltage drop happened in the PDN would cause malfunction of the IC. And, the quality of the PDN would influence the power integrity (PI) of the IC.
Normally, the design of the PDN would be in uniform type. For example, horizontal/vertical power stripes of the PDN have the same spacing and width. Owing to the large voltage drop, the power supply may be not enough since different areas have different power supply requirements. Or, the power supply would be overdesigned which wasting signal winding resources. To avoid the above issues are engaged by industry.
FIG. 1 illustrates a flow diagram of a current integrated circuit design (hereinafter referred to as "IC design"). The current IC design includes circuit design step 102, floorplan and PDN design step 104, circuit unit placement and clock tree generation step 106, routing step 108, and power analysis step 110. After power analysis step 110, if it is necessary to provide power distribution network adjustment, the designer should go back to the floorplan and PDN design step 104 from power analysis step 110 to redesign the PDN, for instance, to increase the dense of the PDN or to widen the line width of the PDN or to increase the numbers of the power sources. When redesigning, step 104 to step 110 should be repeated with lengthy turn-around time. The total IC design time will be lengthened. If the designer repeats redesigning for several times, it may cause a significant delay in the IC design process.

Apparatus and method for generating a power delivery network

INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE


A method is described for controlling a solenoid-operated fluid valve having an output hydraulic pressure that varies in accordance with an input solenoid control current delivered from a drive circuit. A model is provided characterizing the plant dynamics of the solenoid-operated fluid valve and the drive circuit where the model is dependent on at least one operating parameter. The method, during operation, involves measuring the value of the operating parameter and adjusting based on the measured operating parameter value one or more gain constants to be used in a selected control strategy. The model is used in adjusting the gains. Finally, the method involves determining a required solenoid control current according to the control strategy with the now dynamically-adjusted gain constants. The control strategy may be a PI control strategy. The model-based system allows easy migration of the general control strategy to different hardware configurations by developing target system specific data for the model.

Hydraulic fluid controls can be found in a variety of automotive applications such as automatic speed change transmissions as well as others. In these applications, it is often desirable to control the pressure of the hydraulic fluid.
In the specific context of an automatic speed change power transmission, it is known to use electronic transmission control units that are configured to generate electrical signals that control solenoids resulting in the control of fluid flow as well as the pressure in a hydraulic fluid line. As known, the pressure in a hydraulic fluid line can be used to control various other elements in an automatic transmission system including for example a hydraulically-actuated clutch for the engagement of individual gears. By engaging various combinations of gears (e.g., planetary gears in a planetary gear transmission), an automatic transmission system accomplishes the same task as the shifting of gears in a manual transmission. Hydraulically-actuated clutches that are found in transmissions are typically used for engaging a pair of gears (e.g., a pair of rotating members, or alternatively, one rotating member and one non-rotating member) together such that when the clutch is applied, torque can be transmitted from one shaft to the other. Shift changes may also include switching three or more clutches on occasion for certain types of shifts, and herein references to two clutch type shifts could also include the multiple shifts.
An important operating aspect of a hydraulically operated clutch relates to the pressure build-up of the applied hydraulic fluid. In general, fluid flow at a certain applied pressure is sought to be controlled and varied to apply the clutch in order to obtain a desired engagement characteristic, principally with respect to timing and smoothness. It should be appreciated that if the timing of the engagement of one gear with the disengagement of another gear is not coordinately properly, overall shift performance may suffer. It is thus desirable and known in the art to control the clutch pressure. It is known to provide a linear solenoid to control the hydraulic fluid pressure to apply and/or release the clutch. In a linear solenoid, the amount of fluid at a controlled pressure can be varied by changing a solenoid control current.
Such electro-hydraulic (EH) systems are complex, and even generally similar EH systems (e.g., alternate automatic transmission hardware platforms) have a response that is different from system-to-system, and which is dependent on the particular EH plant characteristics. For example, each EH system may have a different and unique electrical drive circuit for producing a required solenoid control current. Moreover, each may have a different and unique linear solenoid that is being driven. An overall controller may be provided for use across a variety of such similar platforms, and conventionally may employ a proportional-integral (PI) control strategy for controlling the step response of the system. It is known to provide such a generic PI controller using gain constants that are selected to give a good overall response, but under some circumstances may result in instability and/or a slow response. Inherent in the conventional approach is a compromise regarding the overall range of operating conditions expected to be encountered as well as variation in the actuator dynamics across various platforms.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,588,394 entitled "MODEL-BASED CONTROL OF A SOLENOID-OPERATED HYDRAULIC ACTUATOR FOR ENGINE CYLINDER DEACTIVATION" issued to Zheng ("Zheng"), owned by the common assignee of the present invention and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, discloses a model that characterizes a solenoid valve, which is used in an open loop context to calculate a solenoid plunger response time, which in turn is used in an overall timing calculation. The Zheng reference, however, does not teach the use of the solenoid valve model for dynamically adjusting control gains used to control the solenoid.
There is therefore a need for a system and method for providing a dynamic solenoid response adjust control that minimizes or eliminates one or more of the problems described above.

System and method for dynamic solenoid response adjust control


A method of constructing a total contact cast, that includes the steps of wrapping a lower leg with foam from above the malleoli to mid-calf, covering the foot and lower leg with stockinette; covering the foot and ankle with cast padding, and applying cast tape to the leg over the previously-applied foam and allowing the cast tape to harden. A foam pad and lateral and medial malleolar pads are applied to the leg section of the cast and a foot and ankle positioning device is applied to the leg, and cast tape is applied over the lower leg and foot and allowing the cast tape to harden. A walking support is applied to the foot. A foot and ankle positioner for a total contact cast is also disclosed.

The present invention relates to a total contact cast, particularly of the type used to treat wounds often encountered by diabetic patients. A total contact cast is designed to redistribute plantar pressures and reduce shock and shear forces that contribute to tissue breakdown and that interfere with the normal healing process of open plantar ulcers on the diabetic foot. The application of appropriate structures to reduce pressure on pedal wounds and alter a patient's gait to prevent injury or reinjury of the tissues requires the use of several types of devices and footwear during the course of healing. The healing and post-healing stages are both important in the overall treatment sequence since treatment must include not only actual healing, but treatment after healing when newly healed tissues are thin, fragile and subject to being reinjured. Ideally, a proper treatment procedure should not only heal the wound but also protect delicate, recently healed tissues from further breakdown during the wound maturation process.
Some practitioners are reluctant to use a total contact cast. Reasons may include inadequate training, a lack of confidence to administer the treatment, a wound caused or made worse when using the treatment, or poor compliance demonstrated by diabetic neuropathic patients. The practitioner must trust a patient to follow the treatment protocol. A patient who has a demonstrated history of poor judgment in managing his or her care, with the restrictions imposed by prior art total contact casts has reduced the use of total contact casts in the past.
In order for diabetic sores and wounds to heal, substantially all of the patient's weight must be removed from the sore or wound, many of which occur on the balls of the feet.
Most practitioners treating diabetic wounds use a number of alternative off-loading devices due to a perceived complexity of applying total contact casts, concern for complications reported in the literature, the cost of materials for the device, reimbursement concerns, and a fear that application of the total contact cast will take too much time. Alternative devices used by practitioners include a removable cast walker, non-removable cast walker, instant total contact cast, molded or double upright ankle foot orthosis with or without a patellar tendon-bearing addition, Charcot restraint orthopedic walkers, modified Carville healing sandal, football dressing, commercial off-loading shoes such as the half or wedge shoes or wound care shoe systems, standard post-operative shoe, and depth or custom-molded footwear.
Most practitioners choose between these devices based on their individual experience with a particular modality, clinical availability, patient preference, or insurance reimbursement. The most commonly employed device is the surgical shoe with or without internal shoe modifications despite relatively poor evidence for healing when compared to the total contact cast or the instant total contact cast.
The diabetic patient is a complicated and often frustrating entity to treat. Patience, persistence, and a commitment to the patient are required to achieve a satisfactory result. There is therefore a need for an application method and components that allow practitioners to apply an effective total contact cast without the worry of cast misapplication common to total contact kits presently on the market. An ideal resolution produces a suspended foot within a rigid external total contact limb-load cast capable of supporting even the heaviest patient. There is also a need for a total contact cast that can be applied by a single practitioner without assistance.


A towing apparatus for motorcycles and recreational vehicles having a single-wheel design. A storage box is supported by the single wheel through a swing arm and dampening assembly arrangement which dampens and absorbs shock and vibration from the ground surface. The swing arm provides movement of the single wheel along a plane parallel to the plane of rotation of the vehicle wheels. The towing apparatus couples to the trailer hitch of the motorcycle or recreational vehicle through a universal type mounting hitch which maintains the trailer in rotational alignment with the trailer hitch.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a towing apparatus for motorized vehicles. More particularly it relates to a towing apparatus having a single wheel design to be towed behind a motorcycle or recreational vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In motorized vehicles, such as two or three-wheeled motorcycles and recreational vehicles, it is desirable to have a trailer assembly which is compact in size and light in weight. Motorcycles and recreational vehicles are typically powered by small displacement engines having four or fewer cylinders. In addition, motorcycles and recreational vehicles typically have small total vehicle weights. Thus a motorcycle towing apparatus must be compatible in weight to provide for easy and efficient towing behind the motorcycle or recreational vehicle. Towing a trailer with a motorcycle or recreational vehicle may increase the risk of injury to an operator or a passenger. Hitting an obstruction on the road surface with a wheel of the motorcycle or trailer may cause the two or three wheeled motorcycle to lose control. Thus it is desirable to provide a motorcycle towing apparatus which enhances operator and passenger safety by minimizing the risk of hitting an obstruction on the road surface by minimizing the "footprint" of the combination of the motorcycle or recreational vehicle and trailer wheels on the road surface. It is also desirable to enhance operator and passenger safety by providing a motorcycle towing apparatus having handling characteristics compatible with the two-wheeled motorcycle design.
In the past, towing apparatus for motorcycles and recreational vehicles have utilized designs incorporating two wheels. Typically these designs are derived from applications within the automotive industry and may not accommodate the particular needs of two and three-wheeled motorcycles. First, the two-wheeled design inherently provides two wheels which do not "ride" the same track as the front and rear wheels of the two-wheeled and three-wheeled motorcycles. For example, the three-wheeled motorcycle has a "footprint" of three wheels on the road surface. If the three-wheeled motorcycle is towing a trailer which has two wheels, the total "footprint" of five wheels on the road surface may make it unsafe to operate the three-wheeled motorcycle. If an obstruction is on the road surface, it may be difficult to avoid that obstruction with a "footprint" of five wheels thus subjecting the operator and passenger to an enhanced risk of injury. Although two-wheeled motorcycle designs towing a two-wheeled trailer have a "footprint" of three wheels, thus making it easier to avoid an obstruction on the road surface, the operator and passenger still have an enhanced risk of injury due to a possibility of tipping over. Another problem of towing the two-wheeled trailer is that while the operator may easily look forward and concentrate on keeping the front and rear wheel of a motorcycle out of an obstruction related to a road hazard, it is not easy to do the same with the two trailer wheels since the trailer wheels are behind the line of vision of the operator. Unfortunately, injury to the motorcycle operator or passenger may result if one or both of the two trailer wheels comes into contact with the obstruction.
Another problem is that the two-wheeled trailer does not have handling characteristics compatible with the two-wheeled motorcycle design. Typically the two-wheeled motorcycle negotiates a turn by steering the motorcycle to initiate a weight shifting in order to lean the motorcycle into the turn. Unfortunately, the two-wheeled trailer design is not compatible with the two-wheel motorcycle design as it does not similarly lean thus making it more difficult for the motorcycle operator to safely predict the handling of the trailer. In addition, the ball and hitch assembly typically used to couple the trailer to the motorcycle may limit the amount of lean of the motorcycle relative to the trailer.
In one approach in the prior art, a one-wheeled trailer design is coupled to the vehicle via two hingeable support arms where the one wheel trailer follows the vehicle by a castering type action. While this approach does provide the advantage of minimizing the footprint of the motorcycle and trailer combination, it has at least two disadvantages. First, since two hingible supports are utilized to couple the trailer to the motorcycle, a pendulum effect is created tending to shift the back end of the vehicle to the outside of the turning radius resulting in a loss of control of the motorcycle. Second, the single castor-type wheel is subject to higher vibration due to the side-to-side motion possible with the castor design. This additional vibration may cause operator or passenger discomfort, or worse, may cause loss of control of the motorcycle if severe enough.


The invention relates to a prosthesis shaft for receiving an amputation stump of an extremity, comprising connecting means for a distal prosthesis device (2), wherein the prosthesis shaft (1) comprises at least one shell (11, 12), which has an arched, open cross-section and the shell ends of which in the applied state overlap each other at least partially, at least one tensioning means (14, 15) being disposed on the shell (11, 12), said means acting in the circumferential direction and tensioning the shell ends relative to each other, and the shell (11, 12) being made of a dimensionally stable plastic having regions with varying elasticity.

The prior art discloses various methods and concepts by which patients who have undergone amputations, e.g. of the lower extremities, are fitted with a prosthesis. In patients whose legs have been amputated above or below the knee or through the knee joint, a classical method for producing a prosthesis socket is the plaster cast method, in which a plaster cast is made of a patient's amputation stump and serves as a template for a stump model, and a prosthesis socket, for example a thigh socket, is formed on this stump model. This thigh socket is made from a plastic and completely surrounds the amputation stump.
Various concepts have been proposed for securing the thigh socket to the stump. For example, a liner is pulled over the amputation stump and bears sealingly on the outside on the socket. The air is removed from the space between the liner and the outer socket by way of a release valve or a pump, such that the prosthesis socket is held on the amputation stump of the patient by means of underpressure. In the case of a release valve, the air taken is released at each step, and active evacuation does not take place. In the case of a pin solution, the end of the liner is provided with a projection that is locked in the socket. Further prosthesis devices are then arranged on the prosthesis socket itself, for example prosthetic knee joints and additional devices such as a connecting element and prosthetic foot.
Adapting prosthesis socket individually to the amputation stump is extremely difficult and time-consuming and has to be done by a trained orthopedic technician. Several fittings are needed in order to individually adapt the prosthesis socket, with the result that nine to twelve months may pass between the operation and the final provision of an adapted prosthesis socket. These prosthesis sockets ensure a high degree of stability and activity of the prosthesis user. Patients with an amputation of an upper extremity are treated in a comparable manner.
However, the patients who are to be provided with prosthesis devices do not all have the same requirement for extensive mobility. For example, elderly subjects who are suffering from diabetes, and who have had to have parts of the lower extremities amputated on account of gangrene induced by diabetes, are often unable to walk long distances. In addition, there are considerable fluctuations in the volume of the amputation stump, such that a correct adaptation of the prosthesis socket to the stump is possible only with difficulty. Moreover, the patient is often unable to cooperate actively in the adaptation of the prosthesis socket. However, it is particularly important for these very patients to be fitted with a prosthesis as soon as possible in order to be able to minimize the period of confinement to bed. When treating the upper extremities, it is also important to adapt a prosthesis as quickly as possible in order to ensure that motor capacity is not lost.
EP 1 656 911 A1 describes a prosthesis socket with a closed shell and with an element which is arranged laterally therein and which is pulled in the direction of the stump via a tensioning strap that is guided into the shell through two slits. The bottom of the shell is padded and has connecting means for a lower leg.
DE 32 29 812 A1 relates to a stump-receiving shell for an artificial limb, with at least one shell which has a curved, open cross section and of which the ends at least partially overlap each other in the state when applied. Tensioning means arranged on the shell act in the circumferential direction and clamp the shell ends on each other.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Prosthesis socket and system comprising a prosthesis socket and prosthesis device