Disclosed is a system for determining one or more lines of code uniquely executed corresponding to a plurality of test cases executed on a computer program of an IT enabled application. The system creates a plurality of test cases (either manually or automatically). The system further enables a test case execution tool and a code coverage tool. The test case execution tool executes each of the plurality of test cases on the plurality of lines of code. On the other hand, the code coverage tool monitors the one or more lines of code, of the plurality of lines of code, executed for each test case. Subsequently, the system further determines Test Case To Code Mapping (TCTCM) indicating a subset, of the plurality of lines of code, executed at least once by the test case execution tool upon execution of one or more test cases of the plurality of test cases.

One of the biggest challenges that have been observed in the field of software testing is to ensure quality of a software product before deploying the software product in a production environment. One way to ensure the quality is by testing each line of code of a computer program pertaining to the software product. For testing each line of code, a plurality of test cases may be created that tests functionality pertaining to each feature of the software product. However, the plurality of test cases may not always facilitate a software tester to test each line of code as there might be possibility that one or more test cases may test the lines of code that have been tested at least once upon execution of another test case. In other words, it is a cumbersome task for the software tester to know what functional and system level testing yields in terms of the amount of actual lines of code that has been covered by the one or more test cases. For example, one may have 100 Test cases or 1000 test cases and still may be covering only 10% of the total lines of code or 80% of the total lines of code. This may sometimes provide erroneous information to the software tester as some code snippets of the computer program may not be tested at all before deployment of the software product.
In addition to the above, since the software product has a plurality of features, the challenge is to find a way to map each feature and execution to a code snippet that implements such feature(s). There has been lot of traditional approaches where complex tools may be used to address the aforementioned challenges, however, such tools are associated with challenges that may include, but not limited to, accuracy, labor intensive, and management overhead.

Method and system for determining mapping of test case(s) to code snippets of computer program


A dihedral shaped device is provided, which includes two plates forming between them an angle of [pi]−2[alpha], where 0<[alpha]<[pi]/4. Each plate has a ground plane, at least one dielectric layer and a network of radiating elements. An incident wave is reflected by the device by virtue of a double reflection from both plates. The network of radiating elements of each plate allows a phase shift to be generated, from the exterior towards the centre of the dihedron, along an axis perpendicular to an axis of intersection of the two plates, according to a set phase law, allowing a deviation to be introduced relative to a specular reflection for a given operating frequency.

3.1 Maximizing the RCS
A first prior-art solution used to maximize the RCS (i.e. to obtain a big RCS) consists of the use of a metal dihedron.
FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate the principle of reflection in a metal dihedron 1 having an internal dihedral angle (the angle between the two metal plates 2, 3 forming the metal dihedron 1) of π/2 for different angles of incidence β (β=0 in FIG. 1A and β≠0 in FIG. 1B). In other words, the two plates 2, 3 mutually form an angle of π−2α, with α=π/4.
It can be seen that the incident wave is reflected in the direction from which it has come, through a double reflection on each of the metal surfaces 2, 3 of the metal dihedron. It is this double specular reflection that maximizes the RCS of the object (the metal dihedron) by virtue of Descartes law of reflection. The behavior is similar to that of a retro-reflector in optics. The principle remains the same for a big variation of the angle of incidence β (about ±15° for the major lobe). In other words, the interesting property of a metal dihedron is that it has an almost constant RCS (with a variation of 3 dB relative to the maximum RCS) for a variation in the angle of incidence β of about ±20° relative to the direction of incidence of the zero incidence configuration.
This first prior-art solution has a major drawback: the two metal plates, having a dimension of L×L for example, must form an angle of π/2 in order that the double reflection mechanism may be efficient (i.e. in order that it may have an angle of the incident wave that is equal to the angle of the reflected wave). This results in a 3D object with a relatively large space requirement in depth (P=L/√{square root over (2)}) (see FIG. 1A).
A second prior-art solution consists of the use of a Van Atta array. In this case, this is a single, plane printed array. However, such an array requires printed interconnection lines between the different elements of the array. These lines cause losses, parasitic radiation and complexity in design.
A third prior-art solution consists of the use of heterodyne retrodirective array type structures that use the principle of phase conjugation for the re-sent signal. These structures are more difficult to implement since they are based on an active structure (multiplication with a local oscillator oscillating at a frequency double that of the received signal).
3.2 Minimizing the RCS
There are several known techniques for reducing the RCS of objects (and therefore of a dihedron) in the case of a mono-static radar configuration.
A first family of methods modifies the surface impedance of the faces of a dihedron, for example by depositing an absorbent material on the faces of the dihedron. Thus, the mechanisms of reflection are attenuated by the presence of this absorbent material.
We must also refer to the materials that absorb the waves emitted by radars (also known as RAMs or Radar Absorbent Materials). These RAMs can be described as having a heterogeneous structure of several layers of composite materials in which the electromagnetic wave is absorbed (magnetic materials for example).
Another method which can be likened to the attenuation of the wave by the material is that of "trapping" the incident electromagnetic wave in the material by means of a particular geometry. This geometry is described in terms of a ground plane and a given thickness of material (the Salisbury screen).
Finally, it is also possible to set up combinations of different types of materials in order that the summation of the waves reflected by each of these materials will be destructive (by the combination of an AMC (Artificial Magnetic Conductor) type structure and a PEC (Perfect Electric Conductor) type structure).
Thus, all the solutions briefly described here above and dedicated to reducing the RCS in a mono-static radar configuration are essentially based on the absorption of the incident electromagnetic wave either by means of materials with special absorbent properties or by a particular geometrical arrangement of layers of materials.

Flattened dihedral-shaped device possessing an adapted (maximized or minimized) equivalent radar cross section

INSTITUT NATIONAL DES SCIENCES APPLIQUEES

CNRS—CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE


An ionizer includes a probe having multiple coaxially aligned conduits. The conduits may carry liquids, and nebulizing and heating gases at various flow rates and temperatures, for generation of ions from a liquid source. An outermost conduit defines an entrainment region that transports and entrains ions in a gas for a defined distance along the length of the conduits. In embodiments, various voltages may be applied to the multiple conduits to aid in ionization and to guide ions. Depending on the voltages applied to the multiple conduits and electrodes, the ionizer can act as an electrospray, APCI, or APPI source. Further, the ionizer may include a source of photons or a source of corona ionization. Formed ions may be provided to a downstream mass analyser.

Modern-day mass analysis/spectrometry relies on a supply of ionized analyte to a downstream mass analyser. Ionized analyte may be supplied by an ionizer that transforms non-ionized analyte—often in solvent—into gas phase ions.
Downstream, ions may be separated based on their mass to charge ratio, typically by accelerating them and subjecting them to an electric or magnetic field. This allows for the detection and analysis of a variety of chemical samples. Mass-spectrometry has found a wide variety of applications—and may be used in the detection of unknown compounds, or the identification of known compounds.
Known ionization techniques include electron impact (EI); atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI); electrospray ionization (ESI); atmospheric pressure photoionization (APPI); and matrix assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI).
Existing ionizers typically use a single one of these techniques, and each of these techniques suffers some imitations, such as sensitivity, depending on the analyte to be analysed.
Accordingly, there remains a need for new ionization techniques, and ionizers.

PerkinElmer Health Sciences Canada, Inc.


A system, method and computer program product for managing typesetting of digital ink structured content on computing devices. Each computing device has a processor and at least one system application for recognizing handwriting input under control of the processor. The system application determines dimensional information of at least digital ink text elements of structured content, calculates a first font size for each typeset ink text element respectively corresponding to the digital ink text elements based on at least part of the dimensional information, categorizes the typeset ink text elements into one or more categories of the structured content, determines a second font size for each typeset ink text element based on the first font size of each typeset ink text element of the respective category, and display, on a display associated with the computing device, the typeset ink text elements at the respective determined second font sizes.

Computing devices continue to become ubiquitous to daily life. They take the form of computer desktops, laptop computers, tablet computers, hybrid computers (2-in-1s), e-book readers, mobile phones, smartphones, wearable computers, global positioning system (GPS) units, enterprise digital assistants (EDAs), personal digital assistants (PDAs), game consoles, and the like. Further, computing devices are being incorporated into vehicles and equipment, such as cars, trucks, farm equipment, manufacturing equipment, building environment control (e.g., lighting, HVAC), and home and commercial appliances.
Computing devices generally consist of at least one processing element, such as a central processing unit (CPU), some form of memory, and input and output devices. The variety of computing devices and their subsequent uses necessitate a variety of interfaces and input devices. One such input device is a touch sensitive surface such as a touch screen or touch pad wherein user input is received through contact between the user's finger or an instrument such as a pen or stylus and the touch sensitive surface. Another input device is an input interface that senses gestures made by a user above the input interface. A further input device is a position detection system which detects the relative position of either touch or non-touch interactions with a non-touch physical or virtual surface. Any of these methods of input can be used generally for the input of handwritten content. The user's handwriting is interpreted using a handwriting recognition system or method.
One application of handwriting recognition in computing devices is in the creation of diagrams which are hand-drawn on a computing device to be converted into typeset versions. Diagrams are drawings that explain or show arrangement and relations (as of parts). Diagrams generally include shapes having arbitrary or specific meanings and text with relationships to these shapes. There are many type of diagrams, such as flowcharts, organizational charts, concept maps, spider maps, block/architecture diagrams, mind-maps, block diagrams, Venn diagrams and pyramids, to name but a few.
Generally, diagrams are created to have shape elements containing text. In conventional digital (e.g., non-handwriting) diagramming applications, the size of the typeset text (e.g., the font size) within the shape containers is governed by pre-set parameters. For example, in MICROSOFT® POWERPOINT®, GOOGLE® Drawings and GOOGLE® Slides settings can be made by users to wrap text within shapes, reduce the font size when the shape size is reduced, or resize the shape when overflowing text is input. It is problematic however to apply such operations on the text and shapes of handwritten diagrams.
This is because, with respect to the digital ink (i.e., the rendered visualization of the input handwriting) version of the diagram it is difficult to resize the text and non-text in digital ink without distorting the handwriting, which adversely impacts on user experience and on the content itself since additional user effort is required with possible reduction in quality. Further, if such operations are not carried out on the digital ink but are carried out for the typeset content upon conversion of the digital ink, the resulting typeset version of the diagram may be quite different to the originally intended diagram.
Further issues exist with respect to hierarchical structures (e.g., trees) within diagrams. That is, many diagram types have levels of information, such as organizational charts, mind-maps, etc., in which each level of information is displayed in a way which visually represents the level order. In such cases, with respect to the typeset version of the diagram the different levels of the hierarchy are easily rendered with text sizes and shape sizes that are specific for the level through pre- or post-selection by users, the use of style templates and the like, or interpretation of the content.
However, representing such hierarchical levels in digital ink is difficult because as the Applicant has found, the handwriting of users without and within such different levels varies to a great degree (for example, it has been noted that users cramp handwriting to fit within already drawn shapes), such that any intended differentiation in element size is difficult to interpret through the handwriting recognition process itself. That is, if the height (or size) of the digital ink is mapped directly to font size when typesetting, the converted content may have many different font sizes for similar blocks (levels) and perhaps reversed font sizes for different levels, e.g., higher levels have smaller font size than lower levels. This can be corrected post-typesetting through intervention by users, e.g., via block or menu selection, however this reduces user experience and productivity. Alternatively, a default or standard font size can be applied across all levels or individually for each level regardless of the handwritten text size.
Another application of handwriting recognition in computing devices is in the creation of tables, and the input of content and data into tables, or other structured content, like lists. Like diagrams, tables are created to have 'containers' corresponding to bordered or non-bordered columns and rows defining cells containing text and may have hierarchical structure, such as column and line headings which are to have font sizes or other styling differences to the body of the table. As such, like diagrams, interpreting sensible text and non-text sizing of the typeset version of the handwritten table or list input is difficult when considering the input itself.

System and method for managing digital ink typesetting


A system which can be configured to communicate command codes to one or more home appliances which includes a keypad and a relay unit. At least one key on the keypad is associated with at least one command code from a plurality of command codes stored in a memory. The system determines if the at least one key on the keypad has been activated or if a command signal transmission that identifies the at least one key on the keypad has been received from the relay unit. When it is determined that either the at least one key has been activated or the command signal transmission that identifies the at least one key has been received, the system communicates to the one or more of home appliances the one or more command codes that have been associated to the at least one key on the keypad.

This invention relates generally to remote controls and, more particularly, relates to a system and method for using a remote control to control home appliances.
It is known in the art to use remote controls to control the operation of home appliances. Furthermore, it is known in the art to provide remote controls with macro command capabilities whereby one or more user selected control commands can be transmitted to one or more home appliances in response to activation of a single remote control key. By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,959,751 to Darbee, et al., issued on Sep. 28, 1999 and entitled "Universal Remote Control Device," discloses a remote control with programming that allows a user to define a sequence of operations that the remote control will perform in response to activation of a macro key on the remote control. The user defines the sequence of operations by placing the remote control into a macro definition mode and, thereafter, activating one or more keys on the remote control. When the macro key is subsequently activated, the remote control will perform the operations that have been assigned to the one or more keys that were activated during the macro definition mode. The operations performed by the remote control in response to activation of the macro key can include sending control commands to one or more home appliances for the purpose of controlling the operation of the home appliance(s).
It is also known in the art to use macro commands to control the operation of home appliances within an integrated control network. For example, the "Smart" line of products offered by General Electric provides a system for integrating existing home appliances, such as audio/video, heating and cooling, security, lighting, and other voltage products, into a control network. The integrated control network can be programmed to include "house macros" that allows multiple control commands to be issued to one or more home appliances attached to the network. The "house macro" control commands are issued to the home appliances in response to the activation of "smart switches" that are connected to the integrated control network.
To communicate control commands within the integrated control network, all of the products connected to the integrated control network must be capable of responding to and/or transmitting messages using the CEBus protocol. The CEBus protocol is the underlying protocol for the messages that are routed throughout the integrated control network. Message routing is performed by a system manager that has no direct physical connection to the home appliances. Rather, the system manager sends CEBus protocol messages to the home appliances over standard powerlines. Within the system manager is stored the programming for the system level functions (i.e., house macros, light scenes, master clock, etc.) that determine which control commands are transmitted to the home appliances residing on the network.
While integrated control networks do work for their intended purpose, they do suffer disadvantages. For example, the "Smart" line, integrated control network requires the use of "controllers" which respond to the CEBus messages to control the operation of home appliances that do not directly support CEBus protocol messaging. To this end, the home appliances are further required to be hard-wired to the "controllers." Accordingly, since control of conventional home appliances can only be accomplished through the use of specialized devices and intricate hard-wiring, integrated control networks are not a practical solution to home control for those consumers that are cost conscious and/or not technically savvy.

System and method for controlling home appliances


A security system (10), operable to produce an ALARM signal indicative of glass breakage in a region (16) in which a human being (24) may legitimately be present, has a human presence detector (12), a glass breakage detector (14), and an alarm signal activator (30) that includes a one-shot timer (52). A HUMAN PRESENCE DETECT signal (36, 38) output from the human presence detector triggers or retriggers the timer to produce an active output for a predetermined holdoff time interval T.sub.H. The active output causes a gate (58) to prevent a glass breakage alarm or GB DETECT pulse (46) from the glass breakage detector from reaching a control panel (34) and thus from triggering the ALARM signal if the GB DETECT signal occurs within the holdoff time interval after a HUMAN PRESENCE DETECT signal. Another gate (64) prevents a GB DETECT pulse (48) from reaching the control panel if that pulse occurs while the human presence detector is detecting human presence in the region (38). A GB DETECT signal (44, 50) that occurs at any other time reaches the control panel and triggers the ALARM signal (86, 88). The system may also activate a service or illumination unit (90) to provide a service or illumination to the region following a HUMAN PRESENCE DETECT state or may trigger a HUMAN PRESENCE ALARM pulse (100) when a HUMAN PRESENCE DETECT state arises when a REGION UNOCCUPIED signal has been activated.

Acoustic glass breakage detectors are used in security systems for homes and other structures to detect an attempt by an intruder to enter the structure by breaking a pane of glass such as found in a window or a glass door. Such detectors are normally installed inside the structure so that an intruder cannot disable or disarm them from outside the structure.
Most such detectors work by using a microphone to detect acoustic information or sounds, analyzing the sounds to extract a reduced set of significant parameters, and comparing the values of that set of parameters against the values of a set of predetermined glass break parameters that correspond to a glass breakage event. If the values of the set of significant parameters have a predetermined relationship with the values of the set of predetermined glass breakage parameters, a signal is generated to a central alarm control panel, which then generates an alarm (as an example, a siren) audible locally at the structure and/or a remote alarm (as an example, an alarm signal transmitted by telephone or radio). Sounds for which the values of the set of significant parameters do not have the predetermined relationship with the values of the set of predetermined glass breakage parameters do not lead to an alarm signal.
A home or business owner ordinarily can set the control panel to arm or disarm a glass breakage detector. Historically, control panels have been set to arm such a detector only in a structure that is not occupied by people and therefore is relatively quiet. As an example, such a detector has typically been armed to protect a business only when all employees have left, and the business has closed, for the night.
It would be desirable to arm an acoustic glass breakage detector to protect a person legitimately present in a structure from possible harm caused by an intruder. A locally audible alarm triggered by a glass breakage event could deter an intruder and could warn the legitimate occupant. The glass breakage event could also be signalled to a remote location so that authorities can be called to the structure.
Unfortunately, acoustic glass breakage detectors of the types now commercially available are not able to distinguish many common household or business sounds from true glass breakage events. Serious problems are caused by false alarms when such a detector is armed to protect a structure having a legitimate occupant. Thus, such a detector is typically not armed when someone is legitimately present in a structure to be protected because the risk of false alarms is intolerably high.

Method of and apparatus for operating a security system to produce an alarm signal


This invention provides an imaging lens assembly comprising: in order from an object side to an image side: a first lens with positive refractive power having a convex object-side surface and a convex image-side surface; a second lens with negative refractive power having a concave object-side surface; a third lens with positive refractive power having a convex image-side surface, at least one of both surfaces thereof being aspheric; and a fourth lens with negative refractive power having a convex object-side surface and a concave image-side surface on which at least one inflection point is formed; wherein there are four lenses with refractive power, an on-axis spacing between an aperture stop and an electronic sensor provided therein is SL, an on-axis spacing between the object-side surface of the first lens and the electronic sensor is TTL, they satisfy the relation: 0.75<SL/TTL<0.90.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging lens assembly, and more particularly, to a compact imaging lens assembly used in a mobile phone camera.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, with the popularity of mobile phone cameras, the demand for compact imaging lenses is increasing, and the sensor of a general photographing camera is none other than CCD (charge coupled device) or CMOS device (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor device). Furthermore, as advanced semiconductor manufacturing technology has allowed the pixel size of sensors to be reduced and the resolution of compact imaging lenses has gradually increased, there is an increasing demand for compact imaging lenses featuring better image quality.
A conventional imaging lens assembly for mobile phone cameras, such as the one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,365,920, generally comprises four lens elements and an aperture stop disposed in front of the four lens elements, wherein two spherical-surface glass lenses are used as the first and second lens elements, and being adhered together to form a doublet and thereby to correct the chromatic aberration. Such an arrangement of optical elements, however, has the following disadvantages: (1) the freedom of the system is curtailed due to the employment of excess number of spherical-surface glass lenses, thus the total track length of the system cannot be reduced easily; (2) the process of making the glass lenses adhered together is complicated, posing difficulties in manufacture.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,277,238 provides an imaging lens array comprising four respective lenses wherein a plurality of lenses are double-sided aspherical lenses so that the total track length of the system can be effectively reduced and the image quality can be improved as well. However, placing the aperture stop in front of the first lens element increases the sensitivity of the system, making it more difficult to control the manufacturing yields of the lens assembly.
Therefore, a need exists in the art for an imaging lens assembly that requires simple manufacturing process, maintains a proper total track length and a moderate sensitivity and is applicable to high-resolution mobile phone cameras.


An interchangeable nose-piece for releasable connection to a pair of sport sunglasses is shown. The sport sunglasses include a curved plastic shield and a releasably connected standard nose-piece. The interchangeable nose-piece includes means for supporting a pair of prescription eyeglass lenses and connection means which substantially conform to the standard nose-piece for interchangeable use and releasable connection to the sport sunglass shield.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to sunglasses. More particularly, the invention relates to attachments or mountings for releasably attaching prescription lenses onto sunglasses.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of sunglasses has become more prevalent over the years. Sunglasses are recognized as useful for the protection of the eyes against ultraviolet rays. In fashion, new designs and colors have made them increasingly attractive as part of a person's overall wardrobe. In outdoor sports and outdoor activities, they have gained increasing acceptance. In certain sports, bicycling for example, specially designed sport sunglasses have gone from the exception to standard equipment.
Approximately 30% of all persons who might use sunglasses have the need for prescription lenses, either eyeglass lenses or contact lenses. Contact lenses may be used with sport sunglasses. However, many sport sunglasses now available have lenses made of a relatively thin, high strength polycarbonate plastic having an often complex curvature. Prescription lenses cannot readily be made to conform to such shapes and are unavailable commercially.
With conventional sunglasses, those other than sport sunglasses, a prescription can be made and corrective lenses mounted on the frame. Other known combinations of prescription lenses and sunglass lenses include use of a clip-on sunglass lens over a prescription eyeglass lens. The reverse has also been done, prescription lenses have been clipped over the frame of a pair of sunglasses to provide the necessary correction.
Many of the sport sunglasses referenced above are made so that the lenses and nose-pieces can be easily separated from the frames. No one has previously supplied an interchangeable nose-piece or insert for readily mounting prescription lenses onto sport sunglasses.

Sunglasses with detachable prescription eyeglasses


A vehicle battery diagnosis system diagnoses the state of degradation of a battery of a vehicle equipped with the battery as a motive power source. The system includes: an information accumulation portion that accumulates degradation information regarding the battery; an information processing portion that reads information from the information accumulation portion, and that creates a plurality of types of screen information that are different from each other in display format, for a plurality of information recipients; a display portion that displays a screen that corresponds to at least one of the types of screen information created by the information processing portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a vehicle battery diagnosis system and, more particularly, to a vehicle battery diagnosis system that diagnoses the state of degradation of a battery of a vehicle equipped with the battery as a motive power source.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, taking into consideration environmental issues such as global warming and the like, the development of vehicles equipped with a battery as a motive power source, such as electric motor vehicles, hybrid motor vehicles, etc., is being vigorously pursued.
The battery degrades as time passes. Therefore, in the case where a battery degrades after many years of use, it becomes necessary to replace the battery.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 10-4603 (JP-A-10-4603) discloses a display device for a vehicle-mounted battery which displays information regarding the state of charge and the time of replacement of the battery installed in the vehicle.
This display device has a construction in which a narrow and long display portion that displays the state of the battery using a first division that indicates that the battery is in a good state, a second division that indicates that the battery needs to be replaced, and an intermediate division between the first division and the second division is disposed at a driver's seat.
In recent years, in the field of hybrid motor vehicles, a vehicle capable of plug-in charging whose battery is constructed so as to be able to be charged from an external device is being considered. In the case where the plug-in charging is possible, it is preferable that the battery be charged with as much power as possible so as to restrain the consumption of the fuel, such as gasoline or the like, in terms of reduction of exhaust gas and cost. However, such a manner of use leads to full use of the battery capacity, so that the service life of the battery is more greatly affected than in a vehicle that is not capable of plug-in charging. Therefore, it is becoming increasingly important to diagnose the service life of the battery.
In the case where information regarding such a battery is displayed, a manufacturer, a dealer and a user desire different kinds of information. Manufacturers, and maintenance-repair shops, such as a car dealer or the like, need more detailed information, while it is preferable to provide users with information that is easy to understand.


An apparatus includes an integrated circuit (IC). The IC includes a current source, to sink or source an output current, in response to a control signal, and a switch-capacitor resistor coupled to the current source. The apparatus further includes a controller coupled to derive the control signal from a voltage across the switch-capacitor resistor, the controller further to provide a switch control signal to the switch-capacitor resistor.

Electronic circuits often operate on or process both analog and digital signals, sometimes called mixed-signal. Some sensors or transducers as well as natural properties or attributes, such as temperature, pressure, and the like, either constitute analog quantities or, in the case of sensors, often produce analog signals. Also, some transducers accept as inputs analog signals. Conversely, signal-processing circuits and building blocks increasingly use digital signals and digital techniques for reasons such as repeatability, stability, flexibility, and the like, as person of ordinary skill in the art understand. To interface the signal-processing circuits with analog circuits, signal conversion circuits are used. In addition, standalone analog circuitry are often used in electronic circuits, such as integrated circuits (ICs).
Because of the above developments and trends, a variety of analog circuitry (either alone or in a mixed-signal context) are used to perform a number of tasks, such as amplification, comparison, signal conversion, and the like. Analog circuitry often uses one or more types of signal sources, such as voltage sources or current sources. In the case of ICs, the current signals are usually generated using circuitry integrated in the IC, sometimes also using one or more external signals provided to the IC. Calibration of current signals (e.g., bias currents) of relatively small values are usually performed by amplifying the current (even though doing so introduces errors), and measuring the amplified current.
The description in this section and any corresponding figure(s) are included as background information materials. The materials in this section should not be considered as an admission that such materials constitute prior art to the present patent application.

Apparatus for electric current measurement or calibration and associated methods


Disclosed is an automatic floorplan operation apparatus for automatically performing a layout of cells onto a plurality of arrangeable areas which are optionally permitted to be overlapped on a chip. This apparatus evaluates degrees of cell densities in the respective arrangeable areas based on cell distributions therein by an objective function. When the evaluation is insufficient, an area definition correction unit also provided in the apparatus corrects the cell densities in accordance with FDM so that the cell densities in the overlapped and the independent areas are made uniform. This correction is carried out by a shift routine and a transformation routine, and is automatically repeated until the most suitable floorplan can be obtained.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic floorplan operation apparatus for design automation of a semiconductor integrated circuit such as a standard cell and a gate array and more particularly, to an automatic floorplan operation apparatus for performing a layout of cells in a plurality of arrangeable areas which are permitted to be overlapped.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A design procedure of a semiconductor integrated circuit (called LSI hereinafter) is ordinarily carried out as shown in FIG. 1. Namely, a system design is carried out in a step S1, then a logic design to compose an electronic circuit is prepared in a step S2. Subsequently, a layout design on an LSI chip based on the logic design step S2 is carried out in a step S3, further the layout design is verified in a step S4. Thereafter, a sample is prepared in a step S5.
A floorplan is made before an automatic placement and a wiring process in the layout design step S3. For example, the floorplan is prepared to obtain a suitable layout on a semiconductor chip, by which various circuit elements can be uniformly arranged. Moreover, the plan also is made for shortening wiring length to control delay of signals under severs timing conditions and for reducing the whole area of the chip.
FIG. 2 shows an example of a layout of an LSI. In the floorplan, an outline of the composition of a chip 2 is determined. Namely, the object of the floorplan is to determine how to wire a power source wire 1 to the respective cells 3 in the chip 2, what order input-output cells 4 are arranged on the periphery of the chip 2, where blocks 5, such as a RAM and a ROM, having relatively large areas and previously completely designed are to be arranged on the chip 2, and where collective cells respectively having specific functions are arranged.
Particularly, the result of the floorplan process concerning shape and layout region of the collective cells is very important because it has a great deal of influence on layout and wiring after the floorplan, the integration degree of elements in the chip, and efficiency in the use of the chip area and the design.
FIGS. 3A to 3D show examples of results of floorplans for an LSI in which respective elements are related in a logical hierarchy structure.
Reference characters A, B, C and "others", respectively designate modules in which the collective cells and macro blocks are divided. Namely, FIGS. 3A to 3D show several ways to separately arrange these modules A, B, C, D and others on the chip 2. For example, in the logical hierarchy structure shown in FIG. 3A, when only the module C has severe conditions on timing, a floorplan is based particularly on the position and the shape of the module C, while the result of a floorplan based on the building block method becomes as shown in FIG. 3B, and that based on the slicing structure method becomes as shown in FIG. 3C.
However, in the case of the building block method, an unavailable area 6 (wiring area among blocks) where cells can not be arranged is made around the modules or blocks A, B, C, D, and others. When an unavailable area 6 is defined in advance, the flexibility of automatic placement and wiring after the floorplan is restricted, so that the placement and wiring can not be carried out effectively.
In the case of the slicing structure method, the unavailable area is not made around the blocks A, B, C, D and others. However, since overlaps between these blocks are not permitted, an extremely long longitudinal or transverse area 7 as shown in FIG. 4A is likely to be required. When an arrangeable area is extremely long and thin, the automatic placement and wiring can not be carried out effectively. Thus, the block area must be enlarged more than necessary.
To solve the problems, it is possible to use a method in which arrangeable areas are permitted to be overlapped as shown in FIGS. 3D and 4B. As compared to the former two methods in which all the collective cells are assigned to each area even if there is no necessity for constraints such as timing constraints, the shapes and the positions of the respective collective cells can be optionally decided by the latter method where the arrangeable areas are permitted to be overlapped. Thus, automatic layout and wiring are not restricted so severely as in the former methods, thereby expecting a higher density layout. For a layout designer, the working amount can be reduced by flexibility of design owing to the method in which arrangeable areas are permitted to be overlapped by optionally determining the shape and the position of the areas.
For example, in the case of the building block method shown in FIG. 3B, the wiring area must be considered to decide the positions of the respective blocks A, B, C, D and others. While, in the case of the slicing structure method shown in FIG. 3C, the positioning for the modules A, B, D, and others other than the module C which is not particularly required must be decided. Therefore, the flexibility of design is restricted. While, in the case of the method shown in FIG. 3D, where the arrangeable areas are permitted to be overlapped, only the required positioning of the module C can be preferentially decided, then the automatic layout of the modules can be decided suitably and flexibly.
Moreover, as compared to the methods where the shapes and positions of these modules are decided without overlaps of the arrangeable areas, it is possible for the designer to approximately decide them. For example, in the layouts of the floorplan shown in FIGS. 3B and 3C, the designer must evaluate the shapes and the positions of the respective modules relatively correctively in advance to reduce the unavailable area. Therefore, the flexibility of design is restricted. When rough evaluation can be acceptable in the case of method where the arrangeable areas are permitted to be overlapped, flexibility is increased.
FIG. 5 shows another example of a floorplan in which overlap is also permitted. In a chip 2 having the same logical-hierarchy structure as shown in FIG. 3A, cells .alpha. (other than cell groups of a1, a2 composed of collective cells in a module A) are with overlap assigned on arrangeable areas (herein, the whole area in the chip 2) of cells and macro blocks other than modules A, B in the chip 2. Moreover, arrangeable areas .beta. for cells and macro blocks in the module B, .alpha.1 for cells in the cell module a1, and .alpha.2 for the cell module a2 in the module A are respectively so arranged as to be slightly overlapped with one another. When such a floorplan in which overlap permitted is used, the unavailable area as mentioned above is not fixed on the chip 2, further the shapes and the positions of the respective modules for the cells and blocks are not restricted. Thus, the floorplan should have a wide flexibility of design.
However, in the methods where the overlap is permitted, the overlap can not be permitted without limit. To utilize the chip area efficiently, it is necessary to eliminate non-uniformity of cell density in the chip in which a ratio is a ratio of the cell area to the area of the chip substrate, and to make a floorplan to realize a facile layout and wiring for the post-processes.
The reasons are as follows. In a portion where the cell density is high, the density of wiring becomes extremely high. As a result, unwired portions or wiring shorts between the wires are likely to be caused in the case of an LSI of the gate array type, or the chip area must be increased in an LSI of the standard-cell type. While, in a portion of lower cell density, of course, unused portions are generated in the placement and the wiring area. Namely, when the cell density is non-uniform, a portion of an excessively high density and another portion having unused area are present in the chip at the same time, thus the chip area is not effectively used. Therefore, it is important to make the cell density uniform in the floorplan in which the overlap of arrangeable areas is permitted.
Various methods to automate a floorplan based on the building block method and the slicing structure method have been conventionally proposed. Particularly in the method called the Force Directed Method (FDM; based on a dynamic technique) used in the building block method, a wiring length is defined by an evaluation value as a positional energy, and the optimization of the floorplan is carried out by minimizing the evaluation value by mutually shifting the respective arrangeable areas little by little (cf. reference literature 1, 2, and 3 hereinafter).
In the FDM, the algorithm is relatively easy, and a plan by a designer can be an initial value, further the designer can easily improve the arrangeable areas automatically designed. However, the inventors have not seen examples where the dynamic technique is applied to the automatic floorplan in which the overlap is permitted or to making cell density uniform.
As stated above, in the building block method and the slicing structure method used in the conventional floorplan, the flexibility of design for the arrangeable areas is relatively narrow. While, even in the conventional method in which the overlapped areas are permitted, making cell density uniform in a chip is not sufficiently realized.


A vertical topology light emitting device comprises a metal support structure; an adhesion structure on the metal support structure, wherein the adhesion structure comprises a first adhesion layer and a second adhesion layer on the first adhesion layer; a metal layer on the adhesion structure, wherein the adhesion structure is thicker than the metal layer; a GaN-based semiconductor structure on the metal layer, wherein the GaN-based semiconductor structure has a thickness less than 5 micrometers; a multi-layered electrode structure on the GaN-based semiconductor structure; and a protective layer on a side surface and a top surface of the GaN-based semiconductor structure, wherein the protective layer is further disposed on the multi-layered electrode structure.

This application is a continuation of application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/934,852 filed Jul. 3, 2013, which is a continuation of Ser. No. 13/678,333 filed Nov. 15, 2012, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/285,557 filed Oct. 8, 2008, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,106,417 issued Jan. 31, 2012, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/882,575 filed Aug. 2, 2007, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,772,020, issued Aug. 10, 2010, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/497,268 filed Aug. 2, 2006, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,368,115 issued Feb. 5, 2013, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/118,317 filed Apr. 9, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,294,172 issued Oct. 23, 2012, which are hereby incorporated by reference to their entirety for all purposes as if fully incorporated herein.


A detecting method for detecting an internal state of an inspective rechargeable battery (Ba), said internal state including a deterioration state, an electricity storable capacity, a remaining capacity, and an internal resistance of said inspective rechargeable battery (Ba), comprising: (1) a step in which basic data (BD) of characteristics of a normal non-deteriorated rechargeable battery (Bn) as a reference rechargeable battery for said inspective rechargeable battery (Ba) are provided; and (2) a step in which for said inspective rechargeable battery (Ba), a voltage value or/and a current value thereof are measured, and the measured result is compared with said basic data (BD) obtained in said step (1) to judge whether or not said inspective rechargeable battery (Ba) is of a deterioration mode and to detect the internal state thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a detecting method for detecting internal state of a rechargeable battery and a detecting device suitable for practicing said detecting method. The internal state here is meant to include deterioration state, remaining capacity (=presently stored electricity quantity=dischargeable capacity), usable capacity (=presently residual electricity quantity which is still able to operate an instrument), charging capacity, electricity storable capacity, and internal resistance of said rechargeable battery. The present invention also relates an instrument provided with said detecting device. The present invention includes a program of detecting said internal state of said rechargeable battery and a medium having said program accommodated therein which are available in said detecting method and said detecting device.
2. Prior Art
In recent years, along with development of semiconductor elements and development of miniature, light-weight and high performance rechargeable batteries, mobile instruments such as portable personal computers, video cameras, digital cameras, cellular phones, and personal digital assistants including palmtop PCs have been rapidly progressed.
Separately, in recent years, the global warming of the earth because of the so-called greenhouse effect to an increase in the content of CO2 gas in the air has been predicted. For instance, in thermal electric power plants, thermal energy obtained by burning a fossil fuel is converted into electric energy, and along with burning of such fossil fuel, a large amount of CO2 gas is exhausted in the air. Accordingly, in order to suppress this situation, there is a tendency of prohibiting to newly establish a thermal electric power plant. Under these circumstances, so-called load leveling practice has been proposed in order to effectively utilize electric powers generated by power generators in thermal electric power plants or the like, wherein using a load conditioner having a rechargeable battery installed therein, a surplus power unused in the night is stored in rechargeable batteries installed at general houses and the power thus stored is used in the daytime when the demand for power is increased, whereby the power consumption is leveled.
Separately, in recent years, electric vehicles comprising a rechargeable battery and which do not exhaust any polluting substances have been proposed. Besides hybrid powered automobiles in which a combination of a rechargeable battery and an internal combustion engine or a fuel cell is used and the fuel efficiency is heightened while restraining exhaustion of polluting substances have been also proposed. As the rechargeable battery used in these electric vehicles and hybrid powered automobiles, a high performance rechargeable battery having a high energy density is expected to be developed.
Such rechargeable battery used in the mobile instrument, the load conditioner used for practicing the load leveling, the electric vehicle and the hybrid powered automobile typically includes a rechargeable lithium battery (including a lithium ion battery) in which reduction-oxidation reaction of lithium is used, a nickel-hydride rechargeable battery, a nickel-cadmium rechargeable battery, and a lead rechargeable battery.
Incidentally, in each of the mobile instrument, the load conditioner in the load leveling, the electric vehicle and the hybrid powered automobile, it is important to be able to precisely detect the dischargeable capacity (the remaining capacity), the usable capacity and the lifetime of the rechargeable battery in order to prevent the operation of the mobile instrument, the load conditioner, the electric vehicle or the hybrid powered automobile from being suddenly stopped.
In order to detect the usable capacity of a rechargeable battery, there is known a method wherein the voltage of the battery is measured and based on the measured result, the usable capacity is estimated.
The term xe2x80x9cremaining capacityxe2x80x9d of the rechargeable battery is meant a presently stored electricity quantity which can be discharged.
The term xe2x80x9cusable capacityxe2x80x9d is meant a presently residual electricity quantity of the rechargeable battery with which an instrument (or apparatus) having said rechargeable battery can be still operated. The usable capacity is included in the term remaining capacity.
Aforesaid method is applicable in the case of a lithium ion rechargeable battery whose anode material comprising a carbonous material difficult to convert into a graphite and which is distinguished from a graphite, because the battery voltage is gradually decreased in proportion to the quantity for the electricity to be discharged, and therefore, the presently residual electricity quantity can be detected by measuring the battery voltage. However, the method is not always applicable in other rechargeable batteries whose battery voltage is not gradually decreased in proportion to the quantity for the electricity to be discharged as in the case of the lithium ion rechargeable battery (whose anode comprising a graphite), where it is difficult to precisely detect the remaining capacity for the reason that the battery voltage is varied depending on the electric current flown and it is not proportional to the quantity for the electricity to be discharged. Besides, in the case of a rechargeable battery whose performance has been deteriorated to close its lifetime, it is extremely difficult to detect the remaining capacity. Separately, in the case of a lithium ion rechargeable battery whose anode material comprising a graphite series carbonous material, because the battery voltage with respect to the quantity for the electricity to be discharged is flat, the remaining capacity is difficult to obtain from the battery voltage in accordance with the foregoing method.
There is known other method in order to detect the remaining capacity of a rechargeable battery, wherein a cumulative discharged-electricity quantity is memorized and the cummulative discharged-electricity quantity is subtracted from a charged-electricity quantity to obtain a presently residual electricity quantity (that is, a remaining capacity). However, this method has such disadvantages as will be described in the following. That is, the current value and the discharge time are necessary to be always memorized. Besides, in the case where additional charging is performed for the rechargeable battery which is unknown with respect to the discharge depth, although the charged-electricity quantity at that time can be detected, the remaining capacity of the rechargeable battery after the rechargeable battery is subjected to charging cannot be precisely detected because the remaining capacity of the rechargeable battery before the additional charging is unknown. When the method is adopted in this case, because the method is to obtain a remaining capacity by comparing the cumulative discharged-electricity quantity with the remaining capacity prior to the discharging, a large error is likely to occur in the measurement.
Therefore, the method is difficult to cope with a rechargeable battery whose performance has been deteriorated to close its lifetime, where it is difficult to precisely detect the remaining capacity.
Now, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2066/1992 discloses a method for observing the capacity of a lead battery in accordance with recovery characteristic of the battery voltage after pulse discharge. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 136774/1992 discloses a method wherein for a rechargeable battery, when the power source is ON, discharging is temporarily performed at a large current to detect a decrease in the battery voltage, the detected decrease value is compared with a prejudged battery voltage value, where when the difference is great, the residual capacity is judged to be insufficient. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 16607/1999 discloses a method wherein for a rechargeable battery, the battery voltage when a prescribed current is applied for a prescribed period of time is measured and the measured battery voltage is collated with a previously established battery voltage-residual capacity corresponding table to obtain a residual capacity of the battery. However, for a rechargeable battery whose performance has been deteriorated to increase the internal resistance or to decrease the battery capacity, any of these methods is difficult to precisely detect the residual battery capacity.
Separately, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 134742/1997 discloses a method wherein for a rechargeable battery, the internal impedance directly before reaching the discharge termination voltage is measured by an impedance-measuring instrument while flowing an alternate current to determine whether or not the rechargeable battery is deteriorated with respect its performance. However, this method is not practically applicable for the reason that such impedance-measuring instrument for measuring the impedance is required to have an alternate current-generating circuit and because of this, the apparatus involved unavoidably becomes large-sized, and in addition, during when the rechargeable battery is operated, the measurement cannot be performed.
Under these circumstances, there is an increased demand for providing a detecting method and a detecting device which enable one to precisely detect the presently residual electricity quantity for any rechargeable batteries even when they are such that their battery capacity is decreased or their internal resistance is increased and their performance is deteriorated. Besides, a detecting method and a detecting device which are applicable in any rechargeable batteries in order to precisely detect their lifetime, i.e., deterioration of their performance are expected to be developed.
The present invention is aimed at solving the shortcomings in the prior art in that in any of the proposed methods, the detection precision of the presently residual electricity quantity of the rechargeable battery is inferior.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a detecting method which enables one to detect the presently residual electricity quantity of any rechargeable battery at an improved precision even when the rechargeable battery is a rechargeable battery whose performance is deteriorated.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a detecting device which enables one to detect the presently residual electricity quantity of any rechargeable battery at an improved precision even when the rechargeable battery is a rechargeable battery whose performance is deteriorated.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an instrument provided with said detecting device.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a program of detecting internal state of said rechargeable battery and a medium having said program accommodated therein which are usable in said detecting method and said detecting device.
The term xe2x80x9cinternal statexe2x80x9d is meant to include deterioration state, remaining capacity (electricity storable capacity), usable capacity, and internal resistance of the rechargeable battery.
The present inventors conducted studies through experiments in order to find out a practically applicable detecting method capable of precisely detecting internal state of a given rechargeable battery, said internal state including the deterioration state, electricity storable capacity, remaining capacity, usable capacity, and internal resistance.
Particularly, the experiments studies were conducted in the following manner. First, examination is conducted of whether or not a rechargeable battery is normal or deteriorated with respect its performance. In the case where the rechargeable battery is found to have been deteriorated, prior to detecting the rechargeable battery, the deterioration mode is judged depending on the situation of the kind of the deterioration mode, the remaining capacity or the internal resistance is computed.
As a result, it was found that this manner is effective in precisely detecting the internal state of the rechargeable battery.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, for a number of normal rechargeable batteries, data of characteristics of these batteries are provided; based on said data, a judgment mode is established; for a given rechargeable battery to be examined, judgment is conducted of whether the battery is short-circuited, whether the internal resistance of the battery is increased, and whether the electricity storable capacity is decreased respectively with reference to previously established standard of judgment; thereafter, depending on the state of the battery (the shutdown state, the charging state, or the discharging state), the extent of deterioration of the battery is grasped, and the remaining capacity (the presently stored electricity quantity) of the battery is computed. Thus, it is possible to detect the internal state of the battery at a high precision.
Further, by equipping a battery module, an instrument or a machine with an apparatus designed so that a detecting method for detecting internal state of a rechargeable battery at a high precision according to the present invention can be function, it is possible to make the battery module or the instrument or machine in which a rechargeable battery is used as a power source to exhibit the performance to the full.
The detecting method according to the present invention comprises:
(i) a step in which a plurality of normal non-deteriorated rechargeable batteries are provided, these batteries are separately subjected to charging and discharging under various temperature conditions and at various rates of charge or discharge where their battery voltages, and their presently stored electricity quantities (their electricity quantities capable of being discharged) or their discharging capacities are obtained, and from these factors, basic data are obtained; and
(ii) a step in which for a rechargeable battery (ii-a) to be detected, the voltage value or/and the current value thereof are measured, and the measured result is compared with said basic data to judge:
(a) the rechargeable battery (ii-a) is short-circuited,
(b) the internal resistance of the rechargeable battery (ii-a) is increased,
(c) the electricity storable capacity (the quantity of electricity capable of being stored) of the rechargeable battery (ii-a) is decreased,
(d) the electricity storable capacity of the rechargeable battery (ii-a) is decreased and the internal resistance thereof is increased, or
(e) the rechargeable battery (ii-a) is not deteriorated (normal).
Here, the xe2x80x9cnormal rechargeable batteryxe2x80x9d means a rechargeable battery which can achieve a specification of performance such as a nominal capacity or the like of a product (a rechargeable battery).
The xe2x80x9celectricity storable capacityxe2x80x9d is meant the quantity of electricity capable of being stored in a rechargeable battery, which is corresponding to a nominal capacity as a product. In other words, the presently stored electricity quantity (that is, the remaining capacity) indicates the quantity of electricity capable of being discharged from the then state thereof.
In the present invention, judgment of a combination of two or more of the foregoing items (a) to (e) is also included.
The above-described basic data includes the following factors.
(1) For a normal rechargeable battery having a given open-circuit voltage (Voc). The remaining capacity (Q) [the presently stored electricity quantity] of the battery to the open-circuit voltage (Voc) is measured.
Data or function formula of the relationship with respect to Voc(Q) or Q(Voc) of the open-circuit voltage (Voc) of the battery to the remaining capacity (Q) [the presently stored electricity quantity]. The function Voc(Q) is an open-circuit voltage function formula as a function of the remaining capacity (Q). The function Q(Voc) is a function formula of the remaining capacity (Q) as a function of the open-circuit voltage (Voc).
(2) For a normal rechargeable battery in a full charged state, battery voltages Vd are measured under various temperature conditions T and at various discharge rates Id. The charging is tentatively suspended, where the open-circuit voltage (Voc) is measured. Data or function formula Vd(Voc, Id, T) of the relationship of the battery voltages Vd to the Id, Voc and T. Or the data or function formula Vd(Q, Id, T) or Q(Vd, Id, T) computed from the data or function formula of the relationship of the Voc(Q) of the open-circuit voltage (Voc) to the remaining capacity (Q) described in the above (1).
(3) In the above (2), when the internal resistance of the battery is made to be Rd, there is established relation expression Vd=Vocxe2x88x92Idxc3x97Rd or Rd=(Vocxe2x88x92Vd)/Id.
Data computed from this relation expression or function formula Rd(Voc, Id, T) or Rd(Vd, Id, T) obtained based on the data. Or the data or function formula Rd(Q, Id, T) or Q(Rd, Id, T) of the internal resistance (Rd), obtained from the data or function formula of the relationship with respect to Voc(Q) of the open-circuit voltage (Voc) to the remaining capacity (Q) in the above (1).
(4) For a normal rechargeable battery with no electricity stored therein maintained under temperature condition T, the rechargeable battery is subjected to charging at a charge rate (Ic), where the battery voltage (Vc) is measured, and the charging is tentatively suspended, where the open-circuit voltage (Voc) is measured.
Data or function formula Vc(Voc, Ic, T) of the relationship of the battery voltage (Vc), the open-circuit voltage (Voc), and the charge rate (Ic). Or data or function formula Vc(Q, Ic, T) or Q(Vc, Ic, T) of the battery voltage (Vc), computed from the data or function formula Voc(Q) with respect to the open-circuit voltage (Voc) to the remaining capacity (Q) in the above (1).
(5) In the above (4), when the internal resistance of the battery is made to be Rc, there is established relation expression Vc=Voc+Icxc3x97Rc or Rc=(Vcxe2x88x92Voc)/Ic.
Data computed from this relation expression or function formula Rc(Voc, Ic, T) obtained based on the data. Or data or function formula Rc(Q, Ic, T) or Q(Rc, Ic, T) of the internal resistance (Rc), obtained from the data or function formula of the relationship with respect to Voc(Q) of the open-circuit voltage (Voc) to the remaining capacity (Q) in the above (1).
The foregoing basic data comprises at least data or a function formula selected from the above (1) to (5).
According to the detecting method for detecting internal state of a rechargeable battery in the present invention, on the basis of the foregoing basic data or function formulas and in accordance with a prescribed judgment mode while referring to information selected from the open-circuit voltage, battery voltage and internal resistance of a rechargeable battery to be detected in a shutdown state, a charging state, or a discharging state, it is possible to precisely detect the internal state of rechargeable battery.
In the present invention, it is assumed that the transient battery voltage when the charge rate or the discharge rate is changed can be expressed by an exponential function exe2x88x92t/xcfx84 (with e being the base of the natural constant, t being a time, and xcfx84 being a time constant which is decided by the impedance or the like of the battery), and based on the function, the internal resistance, an increase ratio of the internal resistance, and a decrease ratio of the electricity storable capacity are computed, whereby the remaining capacity (the dischargeable capacity) can be obtained.
Further, in the detecting method of the present invention, by computing the remaining capacity which is reached to the minimum voltage (the lowest operating voltage) required in order to operate an equipment in which a rechargeable battery is used as a power source and referring to the consumed current or the consumed power of the equipment, it is possible to find out the residual operating time of the equipment. By this, it is possible that sudden stoppage of the operation of the equipment is avoided in advance and at a suitable occasion, replacement of the rechargeable battery by a new rechargeable battery or charging for the rechargeable battery is performed.
Thus, the present invention provides a detecting method and a detecting device which enable one to detect internal state of a rechargeable battery at a high precision. According to the present invention, it is possible to readily control a power source of an equipment or an apparatus in which the rechargeable battery is used as the power source. In addition, it is possible to readily find out the residual operating time of the equipment or apparatus, the timing required to charge the power source, and the timing required to replace the rechargeable battery by a new rechargeable battery. Further, by adding the detecting device of the present invention to a battery module, a charger, an equipment or a apparatus in which a rechargeable battery is used as a power source, it is possible that the performance of the rechargeable battery as the power source is exhibited to the utmost limit. In addition, it is possible to make the equipment or apparatus to efficiently operate so as to maximize the function. Further, by adding the detecting device of the present invention to an inspection equipment to determine whether a rechargeable battery product is good or not good prior to shipping, shipment inspection for a rechargeable battery product can be performed at a high precision.
According to the present invention, the energy which a rechargeable battery possesses can be used to the full, and it makes it possible to desirably prolong the operating time of an instrument in which a rechargeable battery is used as the power source.

Detecting method for detecting internal state of a rechargeable battery, detecting device for practicing said detecting method, and instrument provided with said detecting device


A firing system for a thermal cracking furnace is provided. The firing system includes a plurality of air inlets for introducing air into the furnace interior, the air inlets being generally arrayed along a lengthwise row on the floor of the furnace at a predetermined proximity to one of the sidewalls, and a plurality of start up fuel ports disposed intermediate the row of air inlets and the radiant coils of the furnace. The firing system also includes a plurality of normal operation fuel ports disposed intermediate the row of start up ports and the radiant coils and an assembly for selectively controlling the overall supply of fuel to the start up fuel ports and the normal fuel operation ports to effect supply of fuel solely to the start up fuel ports during a start up mode of operation of the firing system and supply of fuel solely to the normal operation fuel ports during a normal mode of operation.

The present invention relates to a firing system for a thermal cracking furnace and, more particularly, a firing system for a thermal cracking furnace of the type having hearth burners for heating radiant walls of the furnace to thereby effect heating by radiation of radiant coils.
A thermal cracking furnace thermally cracks a hydrocarbon feedstock such as naphtha, ethane, and propane during circulation of the feedstock through radiant coils suspended within the furnace. Coke and tar products produced by pyrolysis of the hydrocarbon feedstock during the cracking process leads to eventual fouling of the radiant coils, necessitating cleaning (decoking) or replacement of the coils. The selectivity, yield, and run lengths between decoking cycles are typically closely related to the heat flux profile along the vertical extent of the radiant coils.
The thermal cracking process involves combustion of a fossil based fuel such as gas in a manner which unavoidably results in the creation of NO.sub.X. NO.sub.X emissions are recognized to be a significant source of air pollution. Thus, environmental emissions standards have been and continue to be imposed by various governmental authorities which limit the amount of NO.sub.X gases which can be emitted into the atmosphere. Several designs have been proposed to inhibit the production of NO.sub.X gases including designs which limit the production of NO.sub.X gases due to the mixing of fuel and furnace or flue gases for combustion in a combustion zone of a thermal cracking furnace. Although these designs may be advantageous, there still remains the need for burner designs for a thermal cracking furnace having improved NO.sub.X reduction characteristics.

Firing system for the improved performance of ethylene cracking furnaces


A lubrication system for an electric motor or other dynamoelectric machine in which a first or lubricant applying wick is inserted into a receptacle in the hub of the end shield of the motor. A first portion of this wick extends inwardly toward the rotor shaft for contact therewith and for the application of lubricant thereto. Another portion of this wick is tapered (i.e., inclined with respect to the longitudinal centerline of the motor) and cammingly engages a portion of the hub when the wick is retained in its installed position so as to urge or force the first portion of the wick inwardly toward the shaft and to positively maintain lubricant applying contact between the wick and the shaft. A reservoir wick engages the first wick so as to supply lubricant to the first wick.

This invention relates to a lubrication system for use with an electric motor or other dynamoelectric machine and is more particularly concerned with a wick-type lubrication system.
In many electric motor designs, the rotor shaft of the motor is journalled in bushings or sleeve bearings which are pressed into respective openings in the hubs of the end shields at the opposite ends of the motor. Each of the bearings and the shaft journalled therein is typically lubricated by a thin film of oil or other lubricant fed into the sleeve bearing and onto the shaft by means of a felt wick carried within each of the end shields. Typically, prior art motor lubrication systems (such as illustrated in FIG. 7) utilize a feeding wick which contacts the rotating shaft through a window provided in the bushing or sleeve bearing. In turn, this feeding wick is in contact with a lubricant impregnated reservoir wick for continuously supplying lubricant to the feeding wick.
However, certain problems were encountered with many of these prior art wick-type lubrication systems. For example, it was difficult for a production worker on an assembly line to manually install the feeding wick within the hub of the end shield. In many instances, it was necessary for the worker to physically deform or bend the feeding wick from its "as formed" shape so as to enable it to be inserted into the end shield hub. Also, in certain instances, it was found that the feeding wick would not always make and maintain lubricating contact with the shaft and thus it would not properly lubricate the shaft.

Lubrication system for dynamoelectric machine


Technologies for detecting absorption of electromagnetic radiation traveling through a measurement volume of interest are described herein. In a general embodiment, a laser is used to emit electromagnetic radiation through the measurement volume where absorption is desirably detected. An optical collector receives a portion of the radiation and directs a first fraction of the portion back to a gain medium of the laser, where the radiation is amplified and emitted again, and directs a second fraction to an optical sensor that can detect absorption in the measurement volume based upon attenuation of energy of the radiation. As the radiation feeds back to the gain medium and is emitted again, energy at attenuated wavelengths is amplified less than at other wavelengths. Thus, attenuation of energy of the radiation due to absorption in the measurement volume is cumulative, and relatively small absorptions are amplified, allowing smaller absorptions to be detected more easily.

Intra-cavity laser absorption spectroscopy (ICLAS) is a technique used to detect very low concentrations of certain atomic and molecular species. A laser generally comprises a gain medium, a resonator cavity, and an energy source, called a pumping source. A conventional resonator cavity is constructed with two mirrors that reflect light back and forth between one another, with the gain medium in between. The gain medium is stimulated by light from the pumping source, and the light is amplified as it passes through the gain medium. The amplified light is then reflected by one of the mirrors, whereupon it passes through the gain medium again and is further amplified. As the light is reflected back and forth between the two mirrors, the light is continually amplified until reaching some steady state, ultimately resulting in a coherent beam of light or other electromagnetic (EM) radiation.
In ICLAS, a sample of interest is placed inside the resonator cavity of a laser. The mirrors confine most of the optical radiation emitted by the gain medium to the cavity of the laser, creating a multi-pass absorption effect in the sample as light is reflected and travels back and forth between the mirrors and through the sample. As the light travels through the sample, some wavelengths of the light may be absorbed by the sample more than others. When the light then returns to pass through the gain medium, the attenuation of the light at certain wavelengths as a result of the absorption in the sample causes the light at those wavelengths to be amplified less than light at wavelengths not absorbed by the sample. As the light is repeatedly fed back through the sample and the gain medium for amplification, incremental attenuation of light at wavelengths absorbed by the sample results in a larger total attenuation that can be observed with optical sensors. Because ICLAS requires that the sample be placed within the resonator cavity of the laser, ICLAS is an in-situ measurement technique primarily suitable for measurement of samples in laboratory environments.

Extended cavity laser absorption spectroscopy

National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC


An arc source macroparticle filter (1) includes a circular cathode (2) for emitting particles and an extended cylindrical anode (3) adjacent to and co-axial with the cathode for accelerating the emitted particles. Toroids (4) generate a magnetic field to define a continuous non-linear plasma duct (5) for directing charged particles and separating therefrom undesirable larger particles. The duct is minimally non-linear to permit high rates of charged particle transmission. Arc source filter (1) allows heating and/or the deposition of a variety of surface coatings to a workpiece (8).

The invention was developed primarily for use with electron bombardment and the deposition of metal ions and their associated oxides, and will be described hereinafter with reference to these applications. However, it will be appreciated that the invention is not limited to these particular fields of use, and is also suitable for vacuum deposition of nitrides and carbides.
Macroparticles are those particles emitted from the cathode with sizes ranging between 0.1 microns up to 10 microns. Without removal of these macroparticles from the plasma the resulting coating is found to be non-uniform and cratered. When a coating is to be applied in a high precision application such as those associated with microelectronic or optical fields, macroparticles are particularly undesirable.
The presence of macroparticles in the plasma prevents prior art arc sources from being effectively able to produce electron beams for heating of associated work pieces. When applied to this manner of operation the macroparticles would partially cover and mark the workpiece making it unsuitable for further coatings.
In conjunction with the above mentioned problem, the presence of macroparticle does not create a favourable environment for the deposition of various coatings, in particular vanadium dioxide. This coating is of considerable interest due to its transition between semiconductor and metallic properties over a small temperature range, but is difficult to produce in the exact atomic proportions required.
In the past, many macroparticle filters have included the use of 90.degree. bending of the plasma by magnetic fields so that the much larger macroparticles would separate from the plasma. However, an extended magnetic field is needed to produce the required bending and confining of the plasma. These prior art devices only accommodate positive ion currents of less than 200 mA for 100 A arcs, and thereby have a very restricted deposition rate and film growth rate.

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization


An improved method for replicating a spiral groove pattern. The pattern is recorded in a photoresist layer which is then developed to reproduce the pattern in the photoresist layer. The pattern is transferred to a metal layer and formed in the surface of a plastic substrate. The improvement comprises the additional steps of uniformly irradiating the photoresist layer and removing the irradiated photoresist surface layer.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,842,194 of Clemens discloses a video disc having a playback system utilizing variable capacitance. In one configuration of the Clemens system information representative of recorded picture and sound is encoded in the form of a relief pattern in a relatively fine spiral groove on the surface of a disc record. For example, groove widths of about 2.7 micrometers and groove depths of about 0.5 micrometer may be used. During playback, a pickup stylus about 2.0 micrometers wide having a thin conductive electrode thereon, for example, about 0.2 micrometer thick, engages the groove as the record is rotated by a supportive turntable. Capacitive variations between the stylus electrode and the record surface are sensed to recover the prerecorded information.
Keizer, U.S. Pat. No. 4,162,510, which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a playback stylus which may be used with the Clemens system. The keel tipped pickup stylus comprises a dielectric support element having a body, a constricted terminal portion and shoulders interconnecting the body with the constricted terminal portion.
The constricted terminal portion is defined by a prow, a substantially flat rear surface remote from said prow, side surfaces extending from the side edges of the rear surface, a bottom surface, which preferentially conforms to the groove shape, extending from the bottom edge of the rear surface and a plurality of additional surfaces extending from the prow and intersecting the bottom and the side surfaces. The maximum separation between the substantially parallel side surfaces is less than the given groove width.
A method for manufacturing the keel tipped stylus is disclosed by Keizer in U.S. Pat. No. 4,104,832 also incorporated herein by reference. A tapered dielectric support element, made from a hard dielectric material such as diamond or sapphire, is contacted with an abrasive lapping disc having a deep, trapezoidal coarse pitched groove. The lands on the lapping disc lap the shoulders of the keel tipped stylus and the walls of the abrasive groove form the substantially parallel side surfaces of the constricted terminal portion.
Abrasive discs can be generated by a method described by Ryan, "Material and Process Development for Video Disc Replication," RCA Review, Vol. 39, pages 87-115 (1978). A master recording is preferably made in photoresist by optical recording techniques, although other recording methods such as electron beam or electromechanical may also be employed. A metal matrix master, which is a negative replica of the surface of the photoresist master recording, is prepared from the master recording. A metal matrix mold, which is a positive replica of the master recording, is prepared from the matrix master. A metal stamper is then prepared from the matrix mold. The stamper is a negative of the master recording and is used to reproduce the appropriate groove pattern in the surface of plastic discs, which are then coated with an abrasive.
The copending application of Carroll et al. Ser. No. 118,088, filed Feb. 4, 1980, entitled "Method for Preparing Stylus Lapping Discs" disclosed a method of replicating a spiral groove pattern wherein a metal article generated during the replication process has the junctions between its surfaces filled in so that concave junctions result. Playback styli having improved lifetimes result when lapping discs fabricated by the Carroll et al. method are used. Also, metal parts generated during the replication process separate more easily.
Another problem has been encountered during the replication process. It is sometimes difficult to obtain a metal part which reproduces the pattern recorded in the photo-resist master.

Uniform light exposure of positive photoresist for replicating spiral groove in plastic substrate


A method of manufacturing an object. A thermoplastic matrix material is melted to transform it into liquid matrix material. The liquid matrix material is fed into a chamber via one or more matrix inlets. A fiber is also fed into the chamber via a fiber inlet. The fiber in the chamber is contacted by the liquid matrix material. A coated fiber is extruded from an extrusion outlet of the chamber onto a substrate, the coated fiber comprising the fiber with a coating of the liquid matrix material, the substrate comprising a previously extruded coated fiber. The fiber moves in and out of the chamber at the same velocity relative to the chamber. The coating fuses with the previously extruded coated fiber and solidifies after it has fused with the previously extruded coated fiber. Relative movement is generated between the extrusion outlet and the substrate as the coated fiber is extruded from the extrusion outlet.

An extrusion-based additive manufacturing system is described in WO2012/037329. The system uses a coated fibre as consumable feedstock. The coated fibre has a core portion and a shell portion with different peak crystallization temperatures. Both the core and the shell portions are melted in an extrusion head, and after they have been deposited the portion with the higher crystallization temperature crystallizes before the other portion. This allows the extruded material to resist gravity and the pressure of subsequent layers, while also reducing distortions.


A pump a shaft portion arranged to extend in a vertical direction; a rotor portion arranged to surround an outer circumference of the shaft portion, and including a magnet; and a housing joined to the shaft portion, and arranged to contain the rotor portion. The housing includes a stator arranged opposite to the magnet; a rotor accommodating portion arranged to accommodate the rotor portion; and an inlet and an outlet each of which is arranged to pass through a portion of the rotor accommodating portion. A surface of at least one of the rotor portion, the shaft portion, and the rotor accommodating portion includes at least one first dynamic pressure groove arranged to support rotation of the rotor portion. A surface of at least one of the rotor portion and the rotor accommodating portion includes at least one second dynamic pressure groove arranged to transfer a fluid from the inlet to the outlet.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pump arranged to transfer a fluid through a pressure generated by a dynamic pressure groove.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, electronic components containing CPUs or the like have been reduced in size, and an increase in the amount of arithmetic processing has increased the amount of heat generated by the electronic components. One method of cooling such an electronic component is to load a refrigerant liquid in a heat pipe, and cause the refrigerant liquid to circulate in the heat pipe to cool the electronic component. For efficient cooling of the electronic component, use of a pump to cause circulation of the refrigerant liquid is effective. Miniaturization of the electronic components demands miniaturization of pumps.
A known small-sized pump is described in, for example, JP-A 2007-218154. The known small-sized pump described in JP-A 2007-218154 is a vortex pump including: an impeller including a disc-shaped blade portion including a plurality of blades at an outer circumference thereof, and a tubular bearing portion including a bearing at an inner circumference thereof; a shaft arranged to support the impeller such that the impeller is movable in a thrust direction; a drive apparatus arranged around the bearing portion of the impeller to rotate the impeller; and a case member arranged to contain the impeller, the shaft, and the drive apparatus. The case member includes a fluid transfer portion arranged to accommodate the blade portion, and a drive apparatus accommodating portion arranged to accommodate the drive apparatus. Dynamic pressure grooves arranged to generate dynamic pressures in accordance with rotation of the impeller are defined in both faces of the impeller or in surfaces of the case member which are opposed to the respective faces of the impeller. The dynamic pressure grooves are defined at positions inside of the blades.
The impeller of the known pump includes the blade portion including the plurality of blades, which are arranged to transfer a fluid, and the tubular bearing portion including the bearing at the inner circumference thereof. The known pump needs to include a space to accommodate the blade portion, which makes it difficult to further reduce the size of the electronic component.