Prior to printing, ink drops are ejected from an ink ejection head or nozzle (28) and an amount of deflection is sweepingly varied until the ink drops hit a target (57), thereby providing a reference which compensates for variations in an amount of charge of the ink drops, a deflection voltage and an ink drop velocity. The ink is caused to fall in drops from a container (48) having a predetermined volume and the number of drops per unit time, corresponding to the ink viscosity, is counted. The temperature of the ink is raised when the number of drops is below a predetermined number and vice-versa.

The present invention relates to an ink ejection printing apparatus for an ink jet printer. Such a printer comprises an ink ejection nozzle in which is provided an ultrasonic vibrator. Application of ejection or drive pulses to the vibrator causes an ink jet ejected from the nozzle to be atomized into drops or droplets. The ink drops are electrically charged by an electrode. A deflection voltage is applied to deflection electrodes which deflect the charged droplets onto paper for printing. Where it is desired not to print a dot, no charging voltage is applied and the ink droplets are caught by a gutter. A prior art example of such an ink ejection printing apparatus is disclosed in IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin Vol. 16, No. 12, May 1974, Japanese patent publication No. 47-43450 and Japanese patent application disclosure No. 50-46450.
One problem in a system of the present type is to synchronize application of the charging pulses applied to the charging electrode with the position of the ink drops. The charge will be optimum only if the charging pulses are applied to the charging electrode at the time the ink drops are adjacent to the electrode. Synchronism can be achieved by providing a sensing electrode downstream of the charging electrode for sensing the amount of charge on the ink drops and varying the phase between ink ejection pulses and charging pulses until a desired charge value is achieved. This is known as a phase sweep operation and is disclosed in Japanese patent publication No. 47-43450 and Japanese patent application disclosure No. 50-60131.
Another problem is in adjusting the amount of deflection of the ink jet to an optimum value. If the deflection is too great or too small, the printed image will be distorted, particularly enlarged or reduced in relation to the main scan feed pitch. This can, in extreme cases, produce an unintelligible image. The problem is compounded by the fact that the deflection is a function of a number of variables, including the charge on the ink drops, the mass of the ink drops, the deflection voltage, the spacing between the deflection electrodes and the ejection velocity of the drops. Mere adjustment of the ink drop charge using the phase sweep operation cannot result in a predetermined amount of deflection since the deflection also depends on the other variables.
Another problem involves the viscosity of the ink. If the viscosity of the ink is too high, the printing density, or the darkness of the printed characters or pattern will be too high and vice-versa. The ink viscosity varies in accordance with changes in various parameters such as temperature, the length of time the ink has been stored in a reservoir and the like. The viscosity increases with storage time due to solvent evaporation and general degeneration of the ink. The viscosity of the ink causes changes in the ink ejection velocity and drop or particle size. In a demand type ink ejection system, if the viscosity of the ink is not proper, the ink will trickle down from the outlet of the nozzle and greatly degrade the printing quality.

Deflection compensated ink ejection printing apparatus


A cable tie including a stripe body having a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface. A plurality of convex portions are disposed on the first surface in a regularly arranged manner. A first end of the stripe body has a stationary portion, while a second end opposite to the first end has a movable portion. A pawl hole and a pawl are formed on the stationary portion, and the width of the pawl hole is greater than that of the movable portion. Each of the convex portions of the stripe body has a hook oriented toward the first end. Therefore, the hooks engage the pawl when the movable portion of the stripe body passes through the pawl hole for achieving a securing effect.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a cable tie and, in particular, to a cable tie formed with hook-like structures.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Cable ties are used widely in daily life, and are frequently used for securing or binding objects. Due to the capability of easily being used, carried, stored, and high safety in operation, cable ties are strongly demanded by people.
Well-known cable ties can be classified into unreleasable cable ties and releasable cable ties. Both types of cable ties are operated on the same concept basis. That is a slot is formed at an end of the cable tie with a teeth-like structure to be engaged with teeth formed on a tape body of the same cable tie so as to tightly secure the object to be bound for the convenience of tidying.
A common releasable cable tie is referred to one having the capability of allowing the teeth on the tape body engaged with the teeth-like structure in the slot to be successfully released. A releasable cable tie is therefore can be reused. Frequently, a releasable cable tie is used in simple tidying of an object such as power cords to be bound.
On the other hand, an unreleasable cable tie is the one that does not allow the teeth of the tape body engaged with the teeth-like structure in the slot to be released. In the unreleasable cable tie case, once the tape body of the cable tie is inserted into the slot for engagement, the only thing to do with the cable tie is to pull the tape body to make the resulted close loop become tighter, and the cable tie is not able to be disabled without cutting or damaging. Thus, an unreleasable cable tie is for single use only.
In response to the large market demand for cable ties, cable ties should be designed to be much simple for convenience of mass production in addition to having good securing performance, easiness of storage, and convenience of use. Currently, it is unavoidable that a cable tie would have an excess portion after the resulted close loop being pulled tight for securing an object to be secured. Such an excess portion is usually unable to be neatly positioned and affects the fineness of the cable tie, and therefore causes inconvenience when securing objects. This excess portion though can be cut off; however, a requirement for a pair of scissors or other tools significantly reduces users' convenience of operating the cable tie.
Moreover, inconvenience also comes from some cable ties designed to have a complicated structure in accompany with other parts that would be assembled in usage of the cable ties. In addition, the high manufacturing cost of these cable ties is always a critical question for the manufacturer.
In view of this, diminishing the operational inconvenience for cable tie users while maintaining the complete securing effect of the cable tie and further improving the neatness thereof after use are desired for the cable tie manufacturers.


An output power detecting circuit of transmitter, comprises a signal detecting unit connected between the transmitter output end and the transmitter control unit to detect an output signal of transmitter, a reference voltage generating unit, a differential amplifier having non-inverted input end, inverted input end and output end to supply a detection voltage to the control unit from the output end and a voltage limiting element connected between the inverted input end and reference potential point, wherein the detection voltage output from the signal detecting unit is supplied to the non-inverted input end, the reference voltage output from the reference voltage generating unit and an additional reference voltage of the transmitting level indicating voltage output from the control unit are respectively supplied to the inverted input end, the additional reference voltage supplied to the inverted input end is limited with the voltage limiting element and the detection voltage increasing with increase of the detection voltage is kept within the dynamic range for gain control of the control unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an output power detecting circuit of transmitter and particularly to an output power detecting circuit of transmitter which restrains, when an output signal level of a transmitter increases, a detected voltage output from an output power detecting circuit from increasing exponentially and from exceeding the dynamic range of a control unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a mobile communication system such as a hand-held telephone system or the like realizes communications between a base station installed at the fixed area and mobile stations respectively provided at moving vehicles or the like. In this case, since distance between the base station and mobile station in which the communication is established changes from time to time, the level of transmitting signal which is transmitted from the mobile station and is received to the base station, namely the field intensity of the receiving radio-wave at the base station changes to a large extent depending on the position of the mobile station at the time of communication and the normal communication is disabled in some cases between the base station and mobile station depending on the position of the mobile station. In view of avoiding such phenomenon, in the mobile communication system such as hand-held telephone system, the base station monitors the signal level transmitted from the mobile station at the time of communication between the base station and mobile station. When such signal level is lower or higher than the normal level range, the base station transmits a transmitting level instruction (TX-AGC) signal (hereinafter, referred to as TX-AGC signal) in the constant period, for example, in every period of 1.25 ms to the mobile station in order to indicate increase or decrease of the transmitting signal level. Upon reception of the TX-AGC signal, the mobile station increases or decreases the transmitting signal level depending on the content of instruction of TX-AGC signal in order to realize normal communication between the base station and mobile station.
Here, FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of structure of the mobile station used in the mobile communication system of the related art.
As illustrated in FIG. 2, a mobile station is composed of a signal transmitting system 20T, a signal receiving system 20R and a transceiver system 20C. In this case, the signal transmitting system 20T comprises an isolator 22, a power amplifier (PA) 23, a drive amplifier (DA) 24, a signal mixer (MIX) 25, a TX-AGC amplifier (TX-AGC AMP) 26, a modulator (MOD) 27, a digital-analog converter (D/A) 28 and an output power detecting circuit 29 and these structural elements 22 to 29 are connected as illustrated in FIG. 2. The signal receiving system 20R comprises a low noise amplifier (LNA) 30, a signal mixer (MIX) 31, a band-pass filter (BF) 32, an RX-AGC amplifier (RX-AGC AMP) 33, a demodulator (DEM) 34, a low-pass filter (LF) 35 and a digital-analog converter (D/A) 36 and these structural elements 30 to 36 are connected as illustrated in FIG. 2. Moreover, the transceiver system 20C comprises a duplexer 21, a control unit (CPU) 37 and a transmitting/ receiving antenna 38 and these structural elements 21, 37, 38 are connected as illustrated in FIG. 2.
The mobile station used in the mobile communication system of the related art comprising the structural elements explained above almost operates as explained below.
In the case where communication is performed between a mobile station and the base station, the transmitting signal from the mobile station is formed as the transmitting base-band signal in the control unit 37 and this base-band signal is supplied to a modulator 27 and is then converted to the modulation signal in the frequency higher than the base-band signal. The modulation signal obtained is amplified in the TX-AGC amplifier 25 to be the signal level depending on the TX-AGC signal supplied from the control unit 37 through the digital/analog converter 28 and is then mixed in the frequency with a local oscillation signal in the signal mixer 25 and is converted to a high frequency signal. This high frequency signal is amplified up to the predetermined level in the drive amplifier 24 and is then amplified up to the level suitable for the transmitting signal in the power amplifier 23. The amplified high frequency signal is supplied as the transmitting signal to the duplexer 21 via the isolator 22 and is then supplied to the transmitting/receiving antenna 38 from the duplexer and finally transmitted as the radio-wave signal from the antenna 38.
Meanwhile, the receiving signal in the mobile station is supplied, when the radio-wave signal transmitted from the base station is received by the transmitting/receiving antenna 38, to the duplexer 21 and it is then supplied to the low noise amplifier 30 from the duplexer 21 and then amplified to have the predetermined signal level. The amplified receiving signal is mixed in the signal mixer 31 with the local oscillating signal to become the frequency-mixed signal. Thereafter, the frequency-mixed signal is then supplied to the band-pass filter 32 and only the intermediate frequency signal is extracted from the frequency-mixed signal. The extracted intermediate frequency signal is amplified up to the predetermined level in the RX-AGC amplifier 38 and the amplified intermediate frequency signal is supplied to the demodulator 34 to be demodulated into the base-band signal to become the receiving base-band signal. The receiving base-band signal obtained is supplied to the control unit 37 through elimination of unwanted frequency element in the low-pass filter 35 and is then supplied to an application circuit not illustrated from the control unit 37.
At the time of starting the communication between the mobile station and base station, the TX-AGC signal is supplied to the mobile station from the base station in the constant period, for instance, in every period of 1.25 ms to designate the signal level to be transmitted from the mobile station. The mobile station supplies, upon reception of the TX-AGC signal transmitted thereto with the transmitting/receiving antenna 38, this TX-AGC signal to the control unit 37 through the signal receiving system 20R like the receiving signal. The control unit 37 generates a digital TX-AGC signal depending on the supplied TX-AGC signal and the detected voltage from the output power detecting circuit 29. This digital TX-AGC signal is then supplied to the digital-analog converter 28 for the digital-analog conversion, the analog gain control voltage obtained is supplied to the TX-AGC amplifier 26, thereby signal gain of the TX-AGC amplifier 26 is set to the value determined by the analog gain control voltage, namely to the value instructed with the TX-AGC signal.
Moreover, a part of the transmitting signal obtained at the output of the power amplifier 3 is supplied to the output power detecting circuit 29. The output power detecting circuit 29 detects the transmitting signal supplied to form a detection voltage corresponding to the transmitting signal and compares this detection voltage with the reference voltage to generate the detection voltage indicating the result of comparison and then supplies the detection voltage to the control unit 37. The control unit 37 arithmetically processes the detection voltage supplied to generate the digital TX-AGC signal in order to control the gain of the TX-AGC amplifier 26. This digital TX-AGC signal is supplied to the TX-AGC amplifier 26 via the digital-analog converter 28. Thereby the gain of the TX-AGC amplifier 26 is controlled as explained above.
Moreover, the control unit 37 arithmetically processes the receiving base-band signal level to generate the digital RX-AGC signal for controlling the gain of the RX-AGC amplifier 33. This digital RX-AGC signal is supplied to the digital-analog converter 36 for the digital-analog conversion and is then supplied to the RX-AGC amplifier 33 as the analog RX-AGC signal in view of adjusting the signal gain of the RX-AGC amplifier 33 to the adequate level.
Next, FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram illustrating an example of structure of the output power detecting circuit 29 used in the mobile station of the related art illustrated in FIG. 2.
As illustrated in FIG. 3, this output power detecting circuit 29 comprises a signal detecting unit 37, a reference voltage generating unit 38, a voltage comparing unit 39, a signal input terminal 40 and a detecting voltage output terminal 41. In this case, the signal detecting unit 37 is composed of a coupling capacitor 371, a first diode 372, a second diode 373, a bypass capacitor 374, a shunt capacitor 375, a first series resistor 376 and a first shunt resistor 377 and each structural element 371 to 377 is connected as illustrated in FIG. 3. The reference voltage generating unit 38 is composed of a third diode 381, a fourth diode 382, a buffer resistor 383, a DC power source 384, a second series resistor 385 and a second shunt resistor 386 and each structural element 381 to 386 is connected as illustrated in FIG. 3. Moreover, the voltage comparing unit 39 is composed of a differential amplifier 391 and a logarithmic amplifier 392 and the entire part is formed of the exclusive integrated circuit. Each structural element 391 to 392 is connected as illustrated in FIG. 3.
The output power detecting circuit 29 of the structure explained above almost operates as explained below.
When the transmitting signal obtained at the output of power amplifier 23 is supplied to the signal input terminal 40, this transmitting signal passes the coupling capacitor 371 and is then detected with the detecting circuit consisting of the first diode 372, second diode 373 and bypass capacitor 374 and is then converted to the detection signal. This detection signal is smoothed with the shunt capacitor 375 and thereafter it is divided in voltage with the circuit consisting of the first series resistor 376 and first shunt resistor 377 and is then supplied as the detection voltage to the non-inverted input terminal (+) of the differential amplifier 391. Moreover, a DC voltage output from the DC power supply 384 passes through the series connection circuit of the buffer resistor 383, third diode 381 and fourth diode 382, thereafter divided in voltage with the circuit consisting of the second series resistor 385 and the second shunt resistor 386 and is then supplied as the reference voltage to the inverted input terminal (xe2x88x92) of the differential amplifier 391. The differential amplifier 391 compares the detection voltage with the reference voltage to generate a comparison voltage which is equal to the voltage difference of such voltages and then supplies the comparison voltage to the logarithmic amplifier 392. The logarithmic amplifier 392 amplifies the comparison voltage supplied and then supplies the amplified output to the detection voltage output terminal 41 as the detection voltage.
In this output power detecting circuit 29, the logarithmic amplifier 392 is used as the voltage comparing unit 39. Here, if only a differential amplifier 391 is used as the voltage comparing unit 39, an increasing rate of the detection voltage increases in the form of exponential function for the transmitting signal for the sequential increase of the transmitting signal in the unit of decibel. Therefore, when the transmitting signal reaches a certain level, the detection voltage supplied to the control unit 36 becomes too large and it exceeds the dynamic range for gain control in the control unit 36. Meanwhile, when the differential amplifier 39, and logarithmic amplifier 392 are used for the voltage comparing unit 39, since it is controlled in the logarithmic amplifier 392 that the increasing rate of the detection voltage increases in the form of the exponential function for the transmitting signal, the area in which the detection voltage and transmitting signal change through almost linear correspondence can be widened, namely the gain control dynamic range in the control unit 36 can be widened.
Moreover, in the output power detecting circuit 29, a temperature compensating unit consisting of the third diode 381 and the fourth diode 382 is provided in the reference voltage generating unit 38 and thereby the temperature characteristic of the DC voltage output from the temperature compensating unit is set almost equal to the temperature characteristic of the detection signal output from the detecting circuit unit including the first diode 372 and second diode 373 . Accordingly, each temperature characteristic of the detection signal and DC voltage is canceled at the time of voltage comparison in the differential amplifier 391 and thereby the comparison voltage having no temperature characteristic can be obtained at the output of the differential amplifier 391 and the detection voltage having no temperature characteristic can be output from the detection voltage output terminal 41.
The output voltage detecting circuit 29 of the related art uses the differential amplifier 391 and logarithmic amplifier 392 in the voltage comparing unit 39 to widen the area where the detection voltage and transmitting signal change through almost linear correspondence and can attain the wide dynamic range for gain control in the control unit 36, but cannot use a general purpose integrated circuit when the voltage comparing unit 39 is formed of the differential amplifier 391 and logarithmic amplifier 392. As a result, an exclusive integrated circuit must be used. Accordingly, the exclusive integrated circuit forming the voltage comparing unit 39 increases in size and higher cost is required to attain the exclusive integrated circuit. Therefore, manufacturing cost of the output power detecting circuit rises and total structure also increases in size.
The present invention has been proposed considering the background explained above and it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an output power detecting circuit of the transmitter which can provide linear relationship between the detection voltage and transmitting signal and also attains the wide dynamic range for gain control in the control unit without use of exclusive integrated circuit of a large size.
In order to attain the object explained above, the output power detecting circuit of transmitter of the present invention comprises a signal detecting unit connected between the transmitter output end and the transmitter control unit to detect an output signal of transmitter, a reference voltage generating unit, a differential amplifier having non-inverted input end, inverted input end and output end to supply a detection voltage to the control unit from the output end and a voltage limiting element connected between the inverted input end and reference potential point, wherein the detection voltage output from the signal detecting unit is supplied to the non-inverted input end, the reference voltage output from the reference voltage generating unit and an additional reference voltage of the transmitting level instructing voltage output from the control unit are respectively supplied to the inverted input end, the additional reference voltage supplied to the inverted input end is limited with the voltage limiting element and the detection voltage increasing with increase of the detection voltage is kept within the dynamic range for gain control of the control unit.
In an example of the structure explained above, the voltage limiting element is formed of a zener diode.
Moreover, in the other example of the structure explained above, the reference voltage generating unit includes a temperature compensating circuit and cancels the temperature characteristic of the detection voltage output from the signal detecting unit with the reference voltage having the temperature characteristic output from the temperature compensating circuit.
According to the output power detecting circuit of transmitter providing these structures explained above, the additional reference voltage adding the reference voltage and transmitting level indicating voltage is applied to the inverted input end of the differential amplifier to shift the reference voltage, increase of detection voltage indicated by exponential function due to the increase of transmitting signal is controlled with the additional reference voltage having added the transmitting level indicating voltage to provide almost linear relationship between the transmitting signal and detection voltage, moreover a voltage limiting element, for example, a zener diode is connected between the inverted input end and the reference potential point, and further increase of the additional reference voltage when the transmitting signal is saturated is limited with this zener diode. Thereby, drop of the detection voltage due to further increase of the additional reference voltage when the transmitting signal is saturated can be prevented. As a result, it is now possible to attain the low price and small-size output power detecting circuit of transmitter in which the increasing rate of the transmitting signal and increasing rate of the detection voltage can be set to almost linear rate without use of the logarithmic amplifier and a wider dynamic range for gain control can be obtained in the control unit.

Transmitter output power detecting circuit


Techniques for secure and efficient interfacing with a cloud computing service are described. In an embodiment, a cloud computing management service is programmed or configured to communicate with a cloud computing service. The cloud computing management service can be accessed by software engineers that are looking to deploy a software instance to a computing device of the cloud computing service. Thus, the cloud computing management service acts as an intermediary layer in front of the cloud computing service. In an embodiment, the cloud computing management service may store one or more frequently-used system parameters for deployment of software instances. The parameters conform to company's security protocols, compliance protocols, and/or other standards.

The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.
On-demand cloud computing services allow software engineers to deploy software instances to cloud-based computing devices, allowing the software engineers to scale up existing projects or deploy new projects. However, existing cloud computing services require software engineers to provide a wide variety of highly technical parameters and settings for the deployment. The provisioning of these parameters and settings can be time-consuming and prone to user error. Furthermore, deploying a software instance to a new cloud-based computing device runs the risk that the cloud-based computing device does not conform to expected security protocols, compliance protocols, or other best practices. This means that a new deployment of a software instance to a cloud-based computing device may pose a security risk for the software instance. What is needed is a way to efficiently deploy software instances to cloud computing devices in a secure manner.
While each of the figures illustrates a particular embodiment for purposes of illustrating a clear example, other embodiments may omit, add to, reorder, and/or modify any of the elements shown in the figures.

Apparatus and method of securely and efficiently interfacing with a cloud computing service


Disclosed is a laundry treatment apparatus and, more particularly, to a laundry treatment apparatus which is reduced in size to enhance portability. The laundry treatment apparatus includes a body configured to be separably coupled to a support structure provided at the outside of the laundry treatment apparatus, the body serving to support clothes, a suction portion provided in the body to inhale outside air to the inside of the body, a fan configured to introduce the outside air to the inside of the body through the suction portion, a heater configured to heat the air introduced through the suction portion, and an exhaust portion provided in the body to discharge the air passed through the heater to the outside of the body.

A general laundry treatment apparatus refers to an apparatus that includes a cabinet defining the external appearance of the apparatus and a receiving compartment provided inside the cabinet and that serves to remove odors, wrinkles, moisture, or the like from clothes by supplying steam and hot air to the clothes received in the receiving compartment.
In the case of worn clothes, odors, wrinkles, or the like may remain in the clothes, which may be unpleasant for a user who wears the same clothes. To overcome this, the user has to wash the clothes, which reduces the lifespan of the clothes and increases the maintenance costs of the clothes. In addition, the user has to additionally perform, for example, ironing in order to remove wrinkles generated in the clothes. A laundry treatment apparatus may be used to solve these problems.
To remove odors, wrinkles, moisture, or the like from clothes received therein, the laundry treatment apparatus may eject steam to the clothes and use hot air to dry the clothes which contain moisture due to the ejected steam.
When steam is ejected to the clothes received in the laundry treatment apparatus, water particles as water vapor are bound with odor particles remaining in fibrous tissues and, in turn, the odor particles are removed from the clothes as the water particles bound with the odor particles evaporate in the process of drying the clothes by supplying hot air thereto.
In addition, when steam is ejected to the clothes received in the laundry treatment apparatus, wrinkles in the clothes are reduced or removed in the process of drying the clothes, wetted by the steam, using, for example, hot air.
As exemplarily illustrated in FIG. 1, a conventional laundry treatment apparatus 100′ includes a cabinet defining the external appearance of the apparatus, and a receiving compartment 10′, in which clothes are received, is defined in an upper region of the cabinet. The receiving compartment 10′ is opened and closed by a door 60′. An electric machine room 20′ is located in a lower region of the cabinet. The electric machine room 20′ receives, for example, a steam supply device (not illustrated) to generate steam to be supplied to the receiving compartment 10′ and a hot air supply device (not illustrated) to supply hot air to the receiving compartment 10′. The steam supply device (not illustrated) received in the electric machine room 20′ is adapted to eject steam through a steam ejection unit 50′ received in the receiving compartment 10′.
The conventional laundry treatment apparatus 100′, however, has the following problems.
First, the conventional laundry treatment apparatus requires the receiving compartment in which clothes are received and, thus, is bulky.
Second, the conventional laundry treatment apparatus must be operated even when it is desired to refresh only a single shirt or pair of pants, which results in wasted power.
Third, the conventional laundry treatment apparatus has low portability and is limited in terms of the times and places that it can be used by users.


A method of forming a scribe line having a sharp snap line entails directing a UV laser beam along a ceramic substrate such that a portion of the thickness of the ceramic substrate is removed. The UV laser beam forms a scribe line in the ceramic substrate in the absence of appreciable ceramic substrate melting so that a clearly defined snap line forms a region of high stress concentration extending into the thickness of the ceramic substrate. Consequently, multiple depthwise fractures propagate into the thickness of the ceramic substrate in the region of high stress concentration in response to a breakage force applied to either side of the scribe line to effect clean breakage of the ceramic substrate into separate circuit components. The formation of this region facilitates higher precision breakage of the ceramic substrate while maintaining the integrity of the interior structure of each component during and after application of the breakage force.

As is well known to those of skill in the art, passive and hybrid microelectronic circuit components (hereinafter circuit "components"), are fabricated in an array on or in the interior of a ceramic substrate. The ceramic substrate is cut, sometimes called diced, to singulate the circuit components from one another.
For the past 30 years, the predominant method of singulating ceramic substrates involved using a pulsed CO2 laser dicing process in which a pulsed laser was aligned with and then directed along a street to form a "post hole" scribe line. FIG. 1 is a scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of a post hole scribe line 2 formed by pulsed CO2 laser cutting. As shown in FIG. 1, post hole scribe line 2 includes spaced-apart shallow vias 4 that extend into the thickness of a ceramic substrate 6 along the length of scribe line 2. Following formation of the post hole scribe line, force is applied to the ceramic substrate portions on either side of the scribe line to effect breakage of the ceramic substrate into separate pieces.
Although pulsed CO2 laser cutting offers advantages in speed, cleanliness, accuracy, and reduced kerf, the use of the post hole scribe line creates separate ceramic pieces having jagged and uneven side edges as well as significant melted slag residue. As shown in the SEM of FIG. 2, ceramic substrate piece 6 formed in accordance with the post hole scribe line method has sinusoidal-shaped side edges 8 rather than the preferred straight and smooth side edges. Further, ceramic substrate piece 6 includes slag residue 7.
Pulsed CO2 laser cutting also leads to distortion of the interior structure of the ceramic surface, resulting in structurally weak components. Specifically, the strength of the ceramic substrate is reduced, decreasing its ability to withstand thermal or mechanical stress. The structural weakness of the interior often evidences itself in an increased number of microcracks present near the laser scribe line. FIGS. 3A and 3B are SEMs showing cross-sections of ceramic substrate pieces formed using pulsed CO2 laser cutting. FIG. 3A shows a ceramic substrate piece at 10× magnification, and FIG. 3B shows the side edge of a ceramic substrate piece at 65× magnification. Both figures show multiple microcracks 9 extending from side edge 8 into the interior of the ceramic substrate piece 6. According to Weibull's strength theory, the flexural strength of the ceramic substrate decreases as the density of microcracks increases (Weibull, W., Proc. Roy. Swedish Inst. Engrg. Research, 193.151 (1939)). Manufacturing costs increased because many of the circuit components were discarded as a consequence of their insufficient flexural strength.
Until recently, fired ceramic substrates had length and width dimensions of about 6×8 inches and a thickness of about 1 mm. The uneven side edges, slag residue, and microcracks formed as a result of pulsed CO2 laser cutting were tolerable when scribing ceramic substrates having these specifications.
However, recent technological advances in component miniaturization necessitate singulation of circuit components having length and width dimensions of about 1 mm×0.5 mm (0402) or 0.5 mm×0.25 mm (0201) and a thickness of between about 80 microns and about 300 microns. Circuit components of this density and/or thickness cannot tolerate such uneven side edges, slag residue, and microcracks resulting from either pulsed CO2 or ND:YAG laser cutting because these methods of laser cutting adversely affect the specified circuit component values and/or subsequent component processing.
One prior art attempt to singulate these smaller and thinner circuit components entailed sawing through the ceramic substrate using a saw blade that had been aligned with a "street" created by the thick and thin film patterns formed on or in the interior of the ceramic substrate as part of the process of forming the circuit components. Alignment of the saw blade and street was achieved using an alignment system. Tape was preferably attached to the ceramic substrate before sawing to provide support for the singulated circuit components upon completion of sawing. Problems with this prior art method include inexact positioning and alignment of the saw blade, mechanical wobbling of the saw blade, and uneven or rough surfaces resulting from the mechanical nature of cutting with a saw blade. Further, the width of the scribe line had to be sufficiently large to accommodate the width of the saw blade. A typical saw blade is 75-150 microns wide along its cutting axis, producing cuts that are about 150 microns wide. Because the resulting scribe lines had relatively large widths and therefore occupied a greater portion of substrate surface, fewer components could be produced for any given size of ceramic substrate. This resulted in more wasted surface area, less surface area available for circuit component parts, and a greater than optimal cost of each circuit component.
The method by which most large-sized chip resistor components are formed involves initially precasting the scribe lines into a ceramic substrate in an unfired state. The resistor components are then printed on the fired ceramic substrate, and the substrate is broken along the scribe lines to form separate circuit components.
For smaller circuit components, a YAG laser is used to form the scribe lines in a fired ceramic substrate. These scribe lines are used to align subsequent printing steps. However, YAG laser scribing is slow and does not provide the desired vertical breaks. An ultraviolet (UV) YAG laser may replace the YAG laser, yielding much higher scribe speeds and better breaks. However, as circuit component size further decreases, use of this method became untenable because the circuit components were of such a small size that it became impossible to align the printing patterns to the previously formed scribe lines.
It consequently became necessary to form off-axis scribe lines. This need was also evident for ceramic components (chip capacitors, conductors, filters, etc.) that had been fired, a process that entails exposing the ceramic substrate to temperatures of between about 750° C. and about 1100° C. Prolonged exposure to these high temperatures causes the ceramic substrates to warp along one or both axis, resulting in the formation of a non-standard shaped ceramic substrate. Thus, a need arose for a laser that could align with and accurately scribe these nonstandard-shaped ceramic substrates to form multiple nominally identical circuit components. Those skilled in the art will understand that the printing and scribing sequence can be interchanged without affecting the end result.
Additionally, many circuit components have a top layer that includes metal. This layer can extend into either or both of the streets extending along the x-axis or the y-axis. Those of ordinary skill will readily recognize that the existence of metal in the top layer prevents the use of a CO2 laser since the metal reflects the CO2 laser beam. Further, mechanically sawing a metal-containing layer is undesirable because the ductile nature of many metals, such as copper, make mechanical sawing of a metal-containing layer an extremely slow and difficult process.
Via drilling using an UV YAG laser has been used extensively in the printed wiring board (PWB) industry. Specifically, a UV-YAG laser emits a laser beam that cuts through the top, metal-containing layer before the underlying organic material is drilled. Thus UV laser drilling of copper, and other metals used in the fabrication of circuit components, is well understood by those of ordinary skill in the art.
What is needed, therefore, is an economical method of forming a scribe line in a ceramic substrate that facilitates the clean breakage of the ceramic substrate into separate circuit component parts having clearly defined side margins, minimal slag residue, and a reduced incidence of microcracking.

Method of forming a scribe line on a ceramic substrate


A multi-layer perceptron circuit device using integrated configuration which is capable of incorporating self-learning function and which is easily extendable. The device includes: at least one synapse blocks containing: a plurality of synapses for performing weight calculation on input signals to obtain output signals, which are arranged in planar array defined by a first and a second directions; input signal lines for transmitting the input signals to the synapses, arranged along the first direction; and output signal lines for transmitting the output signal from the synapses, arranged along the second direction not identical to the first direction; at least one input neuron blocks containing a plurality of neurons to be connected with the input signal lines; and at least one output neuron blocks containing a plurality of neurons to be connected with the output signal lines.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multi-layer perceptron circuit device which is widely used in various fields such as recognition problems for letters and voices, optimal control problem for robot motion, general process control problem, and neuro-computers.
2. Description of the Background Art
A perceptron is a neural network invented by Rosenblatt and others in 1940's, which has a multi-layer structure. In general, when a number of layers in this multi-layer structure is large, it is called a multi-layer perceptron.
In general, the multi-layer perceptron has a configuration shown in FIG. 1 which resembles neuron structure in the human brain, for which various mathematical analysis has already been made with regards its information processing capability. For instance, there is a theorem by Kolmogorov which states that "A perceptron having n(2n+1) neurons can express an arbitrary continuous function with n variables". The parameters of the perceptron are given by combination weights of the synapse connections between neurons, and self-governing or adaptive type network can be constructed by updating these parameters according to partial differential equations called the learning equations. More recently, D. E. Rumelhart and J. L. McClelland developed the Backward Error Propagation Algorithm (BEP) in which these parameters can be determined by the method of steepest descent.
Referring now to FIG. 1, a conventional multi-layer perceptron will be described in some detail.
FIG. 1 shows a case of three-layer perceptron comprising the first layer called an input layer which generally contains n.sub.s neurons S.sub.i (i=1, 2, . . . , n.sub.s), the second layer called an intermediate layer which generally contains n.sub.A neurons A.sub.i (i=1, 2, . . . , n.sub.A), and the third layer called an output layer which generally contains n.sub.R neurons R.sub.i (i=1, 2, . . . , n.sub.R). For the sake of simplicity, the FIG. 1 shows the case in which n.sub.S =n.sub.A =n.sub.R =3. Also, in FIG. 1, the combination weights for the synapse connections are designated as RS.sub.i j and RA.sub.i j (i, j=1, 2, 3). In FIG. 1, signals are propagated from left to right, and an input signal and an output signal of each neuron have in general a mapping relation of a non-linear function having a monotonous change such as a logistic function. Also, the input signals for the neurons of the input layer are assumed to be given externally in forms resembling sensing organ stimulating signals, and each of the neurons A.sub.i and R.sub.i of the intermediate layer and the output layer receives a sum of signals coming in with each signal being weighted by the combination weights RS.sub.i j and RA.sub.i j associated with each synapse connection. In other words: ##EQU1##
Next, the Backward Error Propagation algorithm will briefly be reviewed.
The Backward Error Propagation algorithm is a learning algorithm for a case in which a teacher signal is given to the output layer, in which weights are updated according to the following equations: EQU R.sub.ij (t+.DELTA.t)=.alpha.R.sub.ij (t)+.eta..epsilon..sub.j f(y.sub.i (t)) (3)
where f is a mapping from an input signal y.sub.i (t) to an output signal, R.sub.i j represents either RS.sub.i j or RA.sub.i j, .alpha. is called a forgetting factor for which a value 1 corresponds to a case with no forgetting and a value less than 1 corresponds to a case with forgetting with a smaller value indicating faster forgetting, .eta. is called a relaxation factor which determines relaxation in the transition according to the above eq.(3) of the weights to the final values, and .epsilon..sub.j is a signal containing error information which will be given by: EQU .epsilon..sub.j =(T.sub.j -f(y.sub.j (t)))f'(y.sub.j (t)) (4)
for a case in which the neuron is located in the output layer, and where T.sub.j is a teacher signal and a prime indicates a differential, and: ##EQU2## for a case in which the neuron is not located in the output layer.
Now, such a conventional multi-layer perceptron and learning equation for its parameters such as the Backward Error Propagation algorithm just described has been practically implemented, such that the multi-layer perceptron is usually represented only as diagrammatically as FIG. 1 or by a breadboarded circuit at best, and the algorithm is usually checked by either a theoretical calculations or simulation experiments.
In practically implementing the multi-layer perceptron by integrated circuits, there are several problems to be overcome, such as the following.
First of all, there is a problem concerning the arrangement and the wiring of the multi-layer perceptron diagrammatically shown in FIG. 1. Namely, a number of wirings required between two layers containing n neurons is n.sup.2, so that as n increases more sophisticated arrangement and wiring are required in order to avoid undesirable situation such as overlapping of wirings. Moreover, since an integrated circuit can accommodate only a limited number of elements within, it is preferably for each integrated circuit to be easily extendable by connecting other integrated circuits.
Secondly, the possible practical implementation of the Backward Error Propagation algorithm has not been achieved, so that although the use of the method of steepest descent is advocated in this algorithm, how to break this algorithm down to practically implementable blocks have to be worked out.
Thirdly, after the multi-layer perceptron circuit device is constructed, there still is a problem of how to activate an entire device uniformly.


A method of controlling a transport system for transporting a work from one station to another, which system includes a plurality of stations arranged in a circular row, a transport robot assembly including two manipulator arms, a main controller for controlling the transport system in its entirety relative to the transport robot assembly, and a robot controller for controlling sequential operation of the transport robot assembly. The method is practiced by causing the main controller to transmit to the robot controller a transport command for causing the transport robot assembly to transport the work; in response to the transport command, calculating the direction and angle of swivel required for each of the manipulator arms to angularly move to transport the work from one of the stations towards another one of the stations, in reference to the current position of the respective manipulator arm and the number of such one of the stations; based on a result of the calculation, selecting one of the manipulator arms that may angularly move a minimum angular distance from such one of the stations to such another one of the stations; and causing the robot controller to drive the selected manipulator arm to angularly move in the direction, in which the selected manipulator arm is permitted to travel the minimum angular distance from such one of the stations to such another one of the stations, after the work has been removed from such one of the stations.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a method of controlling a transport system and, more particularly, to a method of controlling the transport system including a transport robot or manipulator having two manipulator arms that is generally used in the manufacture of semiconductor devices or liquid crystal displays.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the transport system used for transporting works such as, for example, semiconductor wafers or liquid crystal substrates, a robot or manipulator having two manipulator arms is generally employed to increase the efficiency of transport of the works. An example of the prior art transport system utilizing the two-arm robot is shown in FIG. 7. Referring to FIG. 7, reference numeral 4 represents a load lock chamber for accommodating a stack of works, and reference numerals 5 to 8 represent processing chambers in which chemical vapor deposition and etching are carried out successively to the works. A transport robot or manipulator 10 is shown as positioned at a center region of the circle having respective portions occupied by the chambers 4 to 8 and includes a first manipulator arm AM1 and a second manipulator arm AM2. This transport robot 10 is controlled by a main controller 20 through first and second robot controllers 30 and 31 for controlling the respective first and second manipulator arms AM1 and AM2.
In the prior art transport system shown in FIG. 7, each work is removed from the load lock chamber 4 through a vacuum-side door and is then transported to any one of the processing chambers 5 to 8. The work which has been subjected to a predetermined process such as, for example, chemical vapor deposition, in the processing chamber is subsequently transported either to the next one of the processing chambers 5 to 8 for subsequent processing or back to the load lock chamber 4.
A circuit block diagram of each of the first and second robot controllers 30 and 31 shown in FIG. 7 is shown in FIG. 8, and the manner in which communications are exchanged among the controllers 20, 30 and 31 are diagrammatically shown in FIG. 9. As shown in FIG. 8, each of the first and second robot controllers 30 and 31 includes an input/output (I/0) circuit 30a or 31a for interfacing between the main controller 20 and the respective robot controller 30 or 31, and a transport control circuit 30b and 31b for feeding a servo-driver 30c or 31c with position information required to execute a transport command, said servo-driver 30c or 31c being operable in response to the position information to drive a motor for actuating the associated manipulator arm AM1 or AM2.
Let it be assumed that the transport system shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 is instructed to execute two commands 1 and 2, as shown in FIG. 9, to transport the work in the load lock chamber 4 to the processing chamber 6 and to transport the work in the processing chamber 7 to the processing chamber 5, respectively.
When the command 1 is to be executed, the main controller 20 transmits to the first robot controller 30 a first swivel instruction to swivel the first manipulator arm AM1 to a position aligned with the load lock chamber 4. In response to this first swivel instruction, the first robot controller 30 causes the first manipulator arm AM1 to be swivelled to the position aligned with the load lock chamber 4, followed by generation to the main controller 20 a first completion signal indicative of completion of the swivel of the first manipulator arm AM1 to the position aligned with the load lock chamber 4. After having received the first completion signal, the main controller 20 transmits to the first robot controller 30 a first removal instruction to cause the first manipulator arm AM1 to remove the work from the load lock chamber 4. The first robot controller 30 having received the first removal instruction causes the first manipulator arm AM 1 to remove the work from the load lock chamber 4 and then supplied the main controller 20 with a second completion signal indicative of completion of removal of the work from the load lock chamber 4.
In response to the second completion signal, the main controller 20 transmits to the first robot controller 30 a second swivel instruction to swivel the first manipulator arm AM1 to a position aligned with the processing chamber 6. The first robot controller 30 upon receipt of the second swivel instruction causes the first manipulator arm AM1 to be swivelled to a position aligned with the processing chamber 6 and subsequently supplies the main controller 20 with a third completion signal indicative of completion of swivel of the first manipulator arm AM1 to the position aligned with the processing chamber 6. Generation of this third completion signal from the first robot controller 30 takes place upon completion of swivel of the first manipulator arm AM1 to the position aligned with the processing chamber 6.
Upon receipt of the third completion signal, the main controller 20 supplies the first robot controller 30 with a first placement instruction to set the work carried by the first manipulator arm AM1 to the processing chamber 6. After the work has been set to the processing chamber 6, the first robot controller 30 generates a fourth completion signal to the main controller 20, informing the main controller 20 of completion of placement of the work in the processing chamber 6. In this way, the command 1 is executed completely.
The command 2 is executed in a manner substantially similar to that described above in connection with the command 1 with communications being exchanged between the main controller 20 and the second robot controller 31 as shown in a lower portion of FIG. 9, to thereby complete the required work handling.
As discussed above, in the prior art transport system, the main controller 20 is required to transmit detailed and specific instructions to any one of the first and second robot controllers 30 and 31 and, therefore, communication between the main controller 20 and any one of the first and second robot controller 30 and 31 tends to be complicated and time-consuming.


A refrigerating apparatus having two evaporators which are mounted respectively in the refrigeratory food compartment and the frozen food compartment, and wherein the refrigerant gas flow in the evaporator of the refrigeratory food compartment is controlled by both temperatures of the refrigeratory food compartment and the frozen food compartment.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improved refrigerating apparatus which includes two compartments and more particularly to such an apparatus wherein each compartment has evaporation therein.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, the prior art refrigerating apparatus such as the two-compartment type refrigerator, includes two evaporators, each evaporator mounted in the frozen food compartment and the refrigerated food compartment, and the refrigerant gas flow is automatically controlled by the temperature of each compartment as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 48-901 (Tokunaga et al) and Japanese Utility Model Publications No. 47-26435 (Ushida et al) and No. 49-18274 (Kondoh).
However, in Ushida et al, the refrigerant gas flow of the first evaporator is controlled by an electromagnetic valve connected between a first capillary tube and the first evaporator. As a result, the valve frequently frosts due to refrigerant evaporation occurring between the first capillary tube and the first evaporator, and the solenoid coil of the valve locks, thus causing electrical accidents.
Both Tokunaga et al and Kondoh includes three capillary tubes and an electromagnetic valve, and the valve is connected between the condenser and the one capillary tube. But these references are undesirable, because, it is necessary that each capillary tube take into account the conduit resistance for setting. As a result, one compartment is not cool for the refrigerant gas so as to not flow to the second evaporator when the valve is opened.


A projectile includes a core having a substantially conical head extending from a tip to an outwardly projecting annular lip. A substantially cylindrical body projects from the conical head adjacent to the annular lip and extends to a substantially flat tail end face. An annular slot is bounded between the annular lip and the cylindrical body. An annular groove encircles the body between the conical head and the tail end face. A plastic sabot has a front end with a chamber recessed therein. The chamber is bounded by an inner side surface having a substantially dome shaped annular bulge radially inwardly projecting therefrom. The body of the core is received within the chamber of the sabot such that the front end of the sabot is received within the annular slot on the core and the bulge on the sabot is received within the groove on the core. In another embodiment, a plurality of spaced apart fins inwardly project from the inner side surface of the sabot. The fins are oriented parallel with the longitudinal axis of the sabot. A plurality of spaced apart flutes are longitudinally recessed within the body of the core. The flutes are complementary to the fins and are positioned such that the fins are received within the corresponding flutes when the body of the core is received within the chamber of the sabot.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to projectiles and, more specifically, projectiles including a non-discarding sabot for discharge from a rifled barrel.
2. Present State of the Art
Guns, such as hand guns and rifles, are designed to interact with a cartridge for discharging a projectile, commonly referred to as a bullet. A cartridge includes a metal case which houses a charge such as gun powder. Mounted at one end of the case is a primer. The projectile is crimped or otherwise secured to the opposing end of the case.
During operation, the cartridge is positioned within the chamber of a gun. By depressing a trigger, a hammer strikes against the primer. In turn, the primer ignites the gun powder which burns at an extremely fast and almost instantaneous rate. As the gunpowder burns, it produces a gas. The rapid expansion of the gas detaches the projectile from the case and pushes the projectile down and out the end of the barrel.
It has long been known that imparting an axial rotation to the projectile significantly improves the accuracy in which the projectile can be fired. Several approaches have been used to impart rotation to the projectile. The most common approach is to form a series of spiral grooves that longitudinally extend along the interior surface of the barrel. The projectile is configured to engage the grooves and thus rotate as the projectile travels the length of the barrel. Momentum allows the projectile to continue to spin after the projectile leaves the barrel.
Depending on the type of projectile used, different approaches have been used to engage the projectile and the grooves. For example, some projectiles are made from relatively soft lead alloys. During discharge, the force of the expanding gas causes the projectile to obterate and radially expand, thereby engaging the grooves. Where the projectile is made of a harder material, the projectile is configured having a diameter slightly larger than the inner diameter of the barrel. As a result, the projectile is forced into the grooves as the projectile travels within the barrel.
Although the operation of guns has become a refined science, there are still several shortcomings associated with conventional projectiles. For example, extended firing of a gun, such as commonly encountered in the military, results in pressure from the expanding gases wearing or deteriorating the interior surface of the gun barrel. Significant wear on the barrel occurs much earlier when hard projectiles are used. The resulting wear on the barrel can produce irregular flight paths in the projectile and can reduce the speed and distance which the projectile travels. In such cases, it is necessary to replace the gun or at least the barrel thereof.
The problem with using lead alloy bullets is that they produce lead build-up on the interior surface of the barrel. Lead build-up increases the resistance on the projectile and can radically increase pressures as well as offset the flight path of the projectile. One approach to solving this problem has been to use various cleaning materials to remove the lead build-up from the interior surface of the barrel. This cleaning process, however, requires the use of toxic solvents that produce a harmful lead waste.
Discarding sabots have been used as another approach to overcoming some of the above problems. A discarding sabot is simply a plastic jacket that is placed over the projectile. During firing, the expanding gas results in expansion of the projectile and sabot such that the sabot, rather than the projectile, engages the grooves of the barrel. By engaging the grooves, the sabot rotates which in turn imparts a rotational movement to the projectile. As the projectile exits the barrel, the sabot is caught by the surrounding air and peeled off of the projectile, allowing the projectile to freely travel. The discarding sabot thus eliminates and prevents the need for the metal projectile to engage the interior surface of the barrel. As a result, wear on the barrel is minimized. Furthermore, there is no metal fouling or buildup in the barrel.
Although sabots produce some advantages, conventional discarding sabots also produce significant problems. For example, as a discarding sabot leaves the barrel, it rapidly expands to release the projectile. In some instances, the sabot breaks apart resulting in a fouled bore. The discarding sabot can produce bore fouling. Specifically, the discarding sabot can clog or otherwise obstruct such systems as sound suppressors, flash suppressors, gas recoil systems, recoil reduction systems, and bore evacuators. Furthermore, if the sabot does not evenly release the projectile, the projectile can become imbalanced and subsequently tumble.


A novel family of amine azides having a cyclic structure therein is disclosed. These compounds have attractive properties as rocket propellants.

Hypergolic propellants are characterized by spontaneous reaction upon component mixing and high energy yield per unit mass. As a result of these characteristics, hypergolic propellants are commonly used to power spacecraft, tactical missiles and reactive thruster controllers.
Many conventional hypergolic fuel-oxidizer combinations have the desirable properties of high energy density per unit mass, high specific impulse and short ignition delays. Unfortunately, many of the hypergolic fuels having these properties are derived from hydrazine and include monomethylhydrazine (MMH), unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine, or combinations thereof. As hydrazines as a class are acutely toxic and suspected carcinogens, costly safety precautions and handling procedures are required. (E. W. Schmidt. Hydrazine and Its Derivatives: Preparation, Properties, and Applications. New York, N.Y.: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2001).
Various 2-azidoethanamines have been synthesized and evaluated as potential non-carcinogenic hypergolic fuel compounds. (D. M. Thompson et al. "Hypergolic Azide Liquid Fuels." Proceedings of the 1998 JANNAF Propulsion Meeting, CPIA Publication 675, vol. III, pp. 515–523, 1998.). Within the class of 2-azidoethanamines, 2-azido-N,N-dimethylethanamine (DMAZ), having the structure (CH3)2NCH2CH2N3, appears to be one of the better candidates. DMAZ yields performance comparable to a fifty—fifty mixture by weight of hydrazine and unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine in inhibited red fuming nitric acid (IRFNA) oxidized experimental systems. However, DMAZ-IRFNA systems do not meet higher performance standards set by monomethylhydrazine-IRFNA systems, the primary shortcoming being a longer ignition delay. A longer ignition delay results in a greater accumulation of unreacted propellant in the combustion chamber prior to ignition. When the unreacted propellant finally ignites, it produces a pressure transient proportional to the amount accumulated. Therefore, to avoid rupturing the combustion chamber, the chamber must be sized to accommodate the expected transient. Since rocket performance is degraded by larger combustion chamber sizes, shorter ignition delays, leading to smaller propellant accumulations, are desirable. To date, the class of 2-azidoethanamines has not yielded an acceptable substitute for hydrazine-based hypergolic propellants. Thus, there still exists a need for a non-carcinogenic fuel that has energy density, specific impulse and ignition delay characteristics associated with hydrazine compounds.

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


A channel estimation method of a channel estimation apparatus in a wireless communication system is provided. The method includes predefining a plurality of weight tables about at least one of a speed and a Carrier to Interference-and-Noise Ratio (CINR) using a correlation value considering offset compensation; selecting a weight table to be used for channel estimation based on at least one of the estimated speed and the CINR, from the plurality of weight tables; and multiplying a pilot channel estimation value and the selected weight table, and performing data channel estimation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wireless communication system, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE) channel estimation that considers offset compensation in the wireless communication system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the 4th Generation (4G) communication system, research is being conducted to provide users with services of various Qualities of Service (QoS) at a data rate of about 100 Megabits per second (Mbps). The typical 4 G communication system is an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.16 system. The IEEE 802.16 system employs an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing/Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDM/OFDMA) scheme in order to support a broadband transmission network in a physical channel.
An OFDM scheme is a scheme of transmitting data using a multi-carrier. That is, the OFDM scheme is a type of Multi Carrier Modulation (MCM) scheme of converting serial input symbol sequences into parallel symbol sequences, modulating each of the symbol sequences into a plurality of subcarriers having mutual orthogonality, i.e., a plurality of sub-channels, and transmitting the modulated subcarriers.
The OFDM scheme based on multi-carrier transmission is advantageous as compared to other systems in estimating a channel having a multipath fading characteristic, because data signals are represented in a 2-dimensional structure of a symbol axis and a subcarrier axis and pilot signals also are transmitted in this structure. The number of assignable pilots is restricted according to the system requirements because, when a pilot signal is a bigger part of a signal, the channel estimation performance can be better, however, the transfer rate of a data signal is worse, relatively. After an OFDM system first estimates a channel of a pilot signal, the OFDM system estimates a channel of a data signal using a channel estimation value of the pilot signal. An example of a pilot signal channel estimation scheme is a Least Square (LS) scheme. Examples of data signal channel estimation schemes are linear interpolation, Low-Pass Filter (LPF), MMSE schemes and the like.
The linear interpolation scheme of estimating a channel between a Base Station (BS) and a Mobile Station (MS) is advantageous in that implementation is not overly complex, but is disadvantageous in that estimation performance for a channel having a multipath fading characteristic is degraded due to frequency selectivity and time variance.
On the other hand, the MMSE scheme has excellent estimation performance for a channel having a multipath fading characteristic. The MMSE scheme is known as a channel estimation scheme having good linear channel estimation performance. The MMSE scheme is a scheme of, after estimating a channel for a pilot tone in a Least Square (LS) technique, performing operation of auto-correlation between pilot tones and cross-correlation between a data tone and the pilot tone, and estimating a channel for the data tone as in Equation (1) below.
                                          h            ^                    d                =                                                            R                dp                                                          (                                                      R                    PP                                    +                                                            1                                              CINR                        P                                                                                I                                                  )                                                    -              1                                                                    h              ^                        P            LS                                              (        1        )
In Equation (1), "ĥd" represents a data channel estimation value, "Rdp" represents a cross-correlation value between a data tone and a pilot tone, and "RPP" represents an auto-correlation value between pilot tones. The "CINR" represents an estimated Carrier to Interference-and-Noise Ratio (CINR), and "ĥpLS" represents a pilot LS estimation value. Here, it is widely known that, on the general assumption that a complex gain of each path has independent identical distribution (i.d.d.) and has the same time-varying characteristic, a correlation function (R) can have a separation property of a form of Equation (2) below.
                              R                                (                          correlation                                                                                matrix                        )                          =                                            R              f                        ×                          R              t                                =                                    ∑              n                                                                  (                                                      σ                    n                    2                                    ·                                      ⅇ                                                                  -                        j                                                                                2                                            π                                                                                k                                                                                Δ                                                                                f                                                                                τ                        n                                                                                )                            ·                                                J                  0                                                                  (                                      2                                                              π                      ·                      l                      ·                                              T                        s                                            ·                                              f                        D                                                                              )                                                                                (        2        )
In Equation (2), the "Rf" represents a frequency correlation value, and the "Rt" represents a time correlation value. "n" represents the number of paths, and "σn2" represents an average power of an Nth multipath component. "k" represents relative subcarrier spacing, and the "l" represents relative symbol spacing. "Δf" represents subcarrier spacing, and "τn" represents a delay time of the Nth multipath component. "J0" represents a 0th Bessel function or a function performing function similar to this, and Ts" represents a symbol period, and "fD" represents maximum Doppler.
As above, the MMSE scheme has a characteristic in which the number of operations necessary for estimating a channel is considerably large compared to other schemes because of the operation of auto-correlation between pilot tones and cross-correlation between a data tone and a pilot tone and the like. Moreover, the MMSE scheme has a problem in that it is difficult to apply in a real system because of the need for prior knowledge of a power delay profile of a channel, a CINR, a speed and the like. Also, because the existing MMSE scheme does not consider frequency offset and time offset compensation of removing a phase bias element in a subcarrier/symbol direction, the MMSE scheme has a problem in that channel estimation errors caused by frequency selectivity and the Doppler effect are accumulated.

Apparatus and method for MMSE channel estimation in consideration of offset compensation in wireless communication system


Generally speaking, systems, methods and media for managing an application usage metering system are disclosed. Embodiments of the method may include initiating discovery agents for one or more server resources and interrogating by the discovery agents the one or more server resources to discover a plurality of discrete server processes and associated discovery data for each process. Embodiments may also include collecting discovery data for the discovered discrete server processes in a centralized repository and mapping one or more of the processes to an application and a customer based on the collected discovery data. Further embodiments may also include performing an administrative function based on the mapped discrete server processes, such as generating a customer bill, generating a report based on the mapped discrete server processes, assigning a customer to a process, or changing a status of a discrete server process.

Computer systems are well known in the art and have attained widespread use for providing computer power to many segments of today's modem society. Computer systems such as personal computers (PCs) and servers may typically include a system unit having a central processing unit (CPU) and associated volatile and non-volatile memory, including random access memory (RAM) and basic input/output system read only memory (BIOS ROM), a system monitor, a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive, a fixed disk storage drive (also known as a "hard drive"), user input devices, and a network interface adapter. One of the distinguishing characteristics of these systems is the use of a motherboard or system planar to electrically connect these components together. Computers systems typically include software such as computer programs in addition to the hardware. As advances in semiconductor processing and computer architecture continue to push the performance of computer hardware higher, more sophisticated computer software has evolved to take advantage of the higher performance of the hardware, resulting in computer systems that continue to increase in complexity and power.
Computer systems have thus evolved into extremely sophisticated devices that may be found in many different settings. One problem with computer systems today is balancing the cost of the computer hardware with fluctuating demands on computer resources. In most networked computing systems, there are times when demands on computer resources are relatively high and other times when demands are relatively low. A computer system utilized by an e-commerce retailer may, for example, have greater need of computing resources during busing shopping seasons such as during the time leading up to Christmas or Mother's Day. Another problem facing computer administrators today is providing satisfactory access to an application to multiples users in an organization. In many cases, for example, an administrator must facilitate installation of an application on the computer system of each user as well as maintaining and updating the applications, which can be a labor-intensive process, particularly for large organizations with many users.
One solution to these problems is provide for on demand applications that a user may access via a network only when needed, ensuring usage of the latest version of the application and providing the opportunity to charge users only for their specific usage. This model has proven popular as customers are charged only for their usage and need not overpay during times of minimal need. Accurate billing for usage is desired by both the application provider and its customers so that the customer is charged for their precise usage. Billing for on demand application usage is often based on a transaction billing system that charges for each usage of an application, the time of usage, or other metric, but such a billing system does not provide a pure representation of application usage of information technology (IT) resources such as the CPU or memory and is thus less desirable. Billing for on demand application may also be accomplished by measurement of usage of different, specific computer resources (such as processor cycles, memory usage, etc.) to provide a more accurate billing. Resource usage billing methodologies, however, often fail when applications are hosted on distributed platforms or in a shared or multi-application environment. Hosting of applications on multiple computer platforms or resources makes it difficult to track application usage, resulting in inefficient manual corrections by administrators. Similarly, a resource may be utilized by multiple users and/or applications simultaneously, providing additional difficulties in efficiently and effectively tracking application usage.

Application usage metering management system

International Business Machines Corporation


An inorganic water-softening bead is disclosed having a density of from 36 to 46 lbs/cu ft consisting of at least 66% of sodium alumino silicate on an anhydrous basis; from 1 to 20% of sodium silicate; from 1 to 20% of a solubilizing agent, such as sodium sulfate; and the remainder being water. The sodium alumino silicate has a silica to aluminum oxide ratio of between 2:1 and 4:1 and a sodium oxide to aluminum oxide ratio of between 0.8:1 and 1:1. The sodium silicate has a silica to sodium oxide ratio of between 1:1 and 3.3:1.

1. Field of the Invention
In general, the present invention relates to water softeners and more especially to sodium alumino silicate water softeners.
2. Description of Prior Art
The detersive effect of even the best surfactants in detergents is severely decreased by the presence of calcium ions. Hard water has very little soil removing power. Therefore, it has been established that good cleaning of cottons by the usual organic surfactants including soap, can only be achieved if the calcium and magnesium ions of the system have been reduced to an insignificant level. To do this, various water softeners have been added to the detergents to sequester the calcium and magnesium ions. Examples of such water softeners have been phosphates and carbonates.
Phosphates and carbonates are good water softeners but, for ecological reasons, they have become undesirable additives in a detergent. Therefore, sodium alumino silicate has been recently used as a water softener. A sodium alumino silicate is added to a slurry of the detergent, which is then spray dried into bead form.
Some manufacturers do not use spray drying operations in forming the detergent. These manufacturers obtain a particular particle size and a particular density by blending, so that there will be no fractionation by later handling. This process works well with phosphates, but it does not work well with sodium alumino silicates. The problem has existed of how to get the sodium alumino silicate into the detergent so it will not separate upon handling for those who do not use the spray drying process.


An automatic performance apparatus that can change the performance speed of desired sections in a piece of music automatically performed. The apparatus comprises a section designator for designating a specific section in the piece, a time evaluator for counting performance duration of the piece, a modifier for modifying either the duration of the specific section (or the duration of a section other than the specific section) by modifying the tempo of the automatic performance or duration of notes of the performance data so that the performance duration of the automatic performance becomes equal to the desired duration. Thus, the total duration of the piece is adjusted to the desired duration while maintaining the duration of the specified section (or the duration of the sections other than the specified section).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic performance apparatus that can change the performance duration of a piece of music.
2. Prior Art
An automatic performance apparatus which stores performance data of a piece of music into a performance data memory, and automatically performs the piece by sequentially reading the data from the memory, has been developed.
Among these types of automatic performance apparatuses, there are some that can shorten or lengthen the performance duration of a piece: for example, "Model 4050 Autolocator/performance-duration-and-tempo-management sequencer" of Fostex Cooperation in Japan is known. These types of automatic performance apparatuses are used for performing pieces of predetermined duration, for instance, sound track music of a cinema film or commercial music on TV which are connected with visual images.
In the sound track music, a piece of music is divided into a number of performance sections, and these sections are successively assigned to consecutive scenes of a film so that the scenes and the music are synchronized. Generally speaking, the total duration of scenes and that of music do not match, and hence, the performance duration must be adjusted.
The conventional automatic performance apparatus mentioned above, however, adjusts the performance duration only by uniformly regulating the reproduction speed of the piece as shown in FIG. 1A. In FIG. 1A, for example, the former performance duration Ta1 and the latter performance duration Tb1 are uniformly shortened to duration Ta2 and duration Tb2, respectively. Thus, the conventional apparatus can only uniformly shorten or lengthen the performance sections. Consequently, duration adjustment as shown in FIG. 1B is impossible: the duration adjustment, in which the duration Ta1 of the former performance section assigned to one scene is maintained Ta1, while the duration Tb1 of the latter performance section is shortened to Tb2 so that the total duration is matched to the desired duration, is difficult. When the adjustment shown in FIG. 1B is inevitable, the reproduction speed must be changed by external operation during the performance. The operation, however, is very difficult and cannot achieve the adjustment of the total performance duration.
The adjustment in a manner shown in FIG. 1B is also required in the following case: the alteration of the tempo of a piece sometimes changes the expression or image of the piece; and some sections may have more impact than others, giving a disharmonious feeling to the audience, while other sections scarcely affect the image when the performance speed thereof is changed. Hence, it is desired that the tempo of the sections which scarcely affect the image of the piece is modified, while the tempo of the other sections is maintained The adjustment shown in FIG. 1B can be applied in such a case.

Musical score duration modification apparatus


In a cerebrospinal fluid shunt including a flow control device forming a portion of a fluid conduit, a capacitive element is provided for reducing overdrainage of cerebrospinal fluid due to the pulsatile nature of cerebrospinal fluid flow. The capacitive element includes a reservoir having a base and a housing for the base which cooperatively define a fluid flow pathway through the reservoir. A pair of spaced, substantially parallel, flexible diaphragms form opposite sides of the housing such that each flexible diaphragm has an outer surface which forms an exterior surface of the reservoir, and an inner surface in contact with and subject to pressure variations of cerebrospinal fluid within the reservoir. A raised ring surrounds each diaphragm and forms a recess in which the respective diaphragm is positioned. The capacitive element accommodates the pulsatile nature of cerebrospinal fluid flow between a cerebrospinal fluid source and the flow control valve by varying the fluid capacity of the reservoir.

This invention relates generally to surgically implantable physiological shunt systems and related flow control devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to shunt systems including one-way flow control devices for controlling the flow of cerebrospinal fluid out of a brain ventricle, and to capacitive elements in such shunt systems designed to reduce overdrainage of cerebrospinal fluid due to the pulsatile nature of cerebrospinal fluid flow.
In the medical arts, to relieve undesirable accumulation of fluids it is frequently necessary to provide a means for draining a fluid from one part of the human body to another in a controlled manner. This is required, for example, in the treatment of hydrocephalus, an ailment usually afflicting infants or children in which fluids accumulate within the skull and exert extreme pressure and skull deforming forces.
In treating hydrocephalus, cerebrospinal fluid accumulated in the brain ventricles is typically drained away utilizing a drainage or shunt system including a catheter inserted into the ventricle through the skull, which is connected to a tube which conducts the fluid away from the brain to be reintroduced into the peritoneal cavity or into the vascular system, as by extending a distal catheter through the patient's jugular vein to the atrium portion of the heart. To control the flow of cerebrospinal fluid and maintain the proper pressure in the brain ventricle, a pump or valve is placed in the conduit between the brain and the peritoneal cavity or the heart. An exemplary flow control device is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,560,375.
Although such drainage systems have provided successful results, a problem of overdrainage of the cerebrospinal fluid from the brain ventricles sometimes exists. Overdrainage of cerebrospinal fluid may result in excessive reduction of the cerebrospinal fluid pressure within the brain ventricles and predispose the development of a subdural hematoma or hydroma, and excessive reduction of ventricular size leading to shunt obstruction because of impingement of the ventricular walls on the inlet holes of the ventricular catheter. This overdrainage can be caused by the siphoning effect of hydrostatic pressure in the distal shunt catheter. The siphoning effect of hydrostatic pressure may be created by the elevation of the ventricular catheter inlet with respect to the distal catheter outlet (i.e., when the patient sits, stands or is held erect). In order to prevent such overdrainage caused by the siphoning effect of hydrostatic pressure in the distal shunt catheter, siphon control devices have been placed in the conduit, typically between the flow control device and the peritoneal cavity or the heart. An exemplary siphon control device is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,795,437.
Current cerebrospinal fluid shunts include flow control devices which are unidirectional by design. This characteristic is desirable to prevent reflux of distal fluids into the ventricular system. However, in normal physiology, as demonstrated by continuous magnetic residence imagery (MRI), cerebrospinal fluid flows in a pulsatile nature out of and back into the cerebellar structures as driven by increases and decreases in blood pressure. This pulsatile flow is compromised with the introduction of a one-way valve in the treatment of obstructive hydrocephalus.
Present flow control devices, by their nature, rectify the pulsatile normal flow (analogous to alternating current flow) of the cerebrospinal fluid into an abnormal uni-directional flow (analogous to electrical direct current flow). This can cause an increase in flow rate (overdrainage) due to the continuous expulsion of cerebrospinal fluid out of the ventricular system without allowing the natural return. Proximally induced overdrainage of cerebrospinal fluid often requires revision due to obstructed ventricular catheters.
Accordingly, there has been a need for a surgically implantable shunt system capable of reducing overdrainage of cerebrospinal fluid due to the pulsatile nature of cerebrospinal fluid flow. In this regard, a capacitive element is needed which allows for the placement of a uni-directional valve in the shunt system to prevent reflux while accommodating proximal pulsatile flow within the ventricular system. Additionally, such a novel capacitive element is needed which may be utilized in connection with existing cerebrospinal fluid flow control devices. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides other related advantages.

Pulsatile flow-accommodating fluid shunt

Pudenz-Schulte Medical Research Corporation