A file system uses a virtual node architecture to create a three-dimensional directory. A virtual node is created for each file and directory. Selected directory nodes can be linked together to create a stack. Only the top directory in each stack is normally accessible and appears to contain a union of all files and subdirectories contained in the stack. A look-up procedure is used to find a specified file or directory name by sequentially searching the stack beginning with the top directory node and returning the node corresponding to the first occurrence of the name encountered in the search. The virtual node architecture allows the present system to accommodate diverse file systems by permitting each node to designate an individual physical file storage system. The present system can also copy files and directory nodes contained in one stack node to another stack node for the purposes of file back-up or caching.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of computer file systems. More specifically, the present invention discloses a three-dimensional file system based on a virtual node (vnode) architecture.
2. Statement of the Problem
In a distributed computing environment, it is often desirable to share files among a number of users. Normally, sharing is accomplished by setting symbolic links (symlinks) to individual files or directories. Unfortunately, most file system layouts are not organized cleanly, and both sharable and un-sharable files are placed in the same directory. The result is to force the system administrator to set up symlinks at the file level. This requires hundreds or even thousands of symlinks in a typical system. Therefore, it is desirable to provide a three-dimensional file system that allows un-sharable (private) files and sharable files to be organized into different hierarchical levels to simplify system administration. This three-dimensional approach also greatly simplifies archival backups, re-mapping of file systems, and accommodation of diverse file storage devices.
Viewpathing is a concept used by many software development tools (e.g., nmake, build). A common problem faced by software development teams is source code control among members of the team. For example, one engineer may need to modify one portion of the source code while another engineer modifies another portion. It is not desirable for the two modifications to interfere with each other until the modifications are finalized and validated. One solution to address this problem is that each engineer makes their own copy of the source code for development. However, this solution often requires a huge amount of disk space. The viewpathing concept addresses this problem by allowing each user to search for files in different directories in the order specified by the VPATH variable in the user's environment. With the help of viewpathing, each user copies a few necessary files into their own working directory for modification. The viewpath is set so that the software development tools will first search the working directory for files and then search the common source directory tree for any remaining files.
A three-dimensional file system is disclosed by D. G. Korn et al., "The 3-D File System", USENIX 1989 Summer Conference Proceedings, pages 147-156, that extends the concept of viewpathing into the UNIX file system for the purpose of version control in development of multi-release software systems. In particular, Korn's file system enables one directory to be stacked or overlaid one on top of another directory. Any files in the lower-level directory, whose names are not in the top-level directory, appear as if they were part of the top-level directory. In other words, the top-level directory effectively becomes a union of itself and any lower-level directories.
The system described by Korn et al. is based on a viewpath table that is exported into the kernel process table. The kernel process keeps this table during the life of the process. The path name lookup operation (i.e., the operation to find a target file given a path name) searches the files according to the path name given. If a file is not found, the system continues the search in the remaining directories specified in the viewpath table. FIG. 7 illustrates an example of the Korn system. If a user attempts to open "usr/bin/x", the path name lookup operation first searches "/usr/bin". Since "usr/bin/x" does not exist, it looks into the viewpath table and finds that the viewpath for "/usr/bin" is "/n1/bin". The lookup operation continues the search in "/n1/bin" where it found "x". If the user wants "/usr/bin/x/c", the lookup operation first finds "x" (using the same sequence of steps described above) and looks into "/n2/x", then "/n3/x" where it finds "b". To access "a" in the "/n4/x/" directory from the "/usr/bin/x" directory, the user must use a special keyword " . . . " (for example, "ls . . . / . . . / . . . /a"). If the user requests creation of a file "/usr/bin/x/d", the operating system must first create a new directory "x" under "/usr/bin", change directory to the new directory "/usr/bin/x", and then create a new file "d" in that directory.
The system proposed by Korn et al. creates many problems. The UNIX kernel needs to keep a viewpath table for each process, and each viewpath table can be very large. The kernel also needs to remember the history of each path. For example, consider what must happen if the user changes directory to "/usr/bin/x" and creates a file "d". The kernel must remember that the history of the path is "/usr/bin/x", not "/n1/bin/x". This is not practical because the historical logs for each directory can be quite large and complex. Returning to this example, the kernel must first change the path back to "/usr/bin", create a directory "x", change to the new directory, and create the file "x". This creates a new problem in that the directory content is not consistent because directory "x" will appear to have changed. The original directory "x" contained file "a". Due to the fact that the new directory "/usr/bin/x" file is now the top level directory in the stack, directory "x" contains only file "d" and file "a" does not appear to exist. The inconsistent layout of the file system can cause application failures and also confuses users. Changing the current directory to " . . . " from a given directory could lead to any of several different directories depending on the selected viewpath. For example, changing directory to " . . . " from "/usr/bin/x" leads to "/usr/bin", while changing directory to " . . . " from "/n1/bin/x" leads to "/n1/bin", even though "/usr/bin/x" and "/n1/bin/x" could appear to the user as the same directory depending on the viewpath. This is clearly unacceptable.
The system proposed by Korn et al. only allows write operations to directories and files in the top level. All files and directories that are not in the top level can only be accessed on a read-only basis. In addition, files cannot be created or removed from lower-level directories. This creates a number of major problems, including inconsistent permission for files. For example, "/n1/bin/x/a" can be deleted, but "/usr/bin/x/a" cannot be deleted, even though both paths lead to the same file. Operations such as "rm*" will delete files in the top-level directory, but not files in the remainder of the viewpath. Similarly, commands such as "cp" (copy a file) will not perform the operation if the source file is the same name as the target file. The Korn system would require modification of these commands so that the operation is performed if the source file is in a viewpath directory and the target file is in the top-level directory. This not only breaks semantics, but also creates confusion for the user as to whether a file has actually been copied.
A virtual node (vnode) file system for UNIX is described by S. R. Kleiman, "Vnodes: An Architecture for Multiple File System Types in Sun UNIX", USENIX 1986 Summer Conference Proceedings, pages 238-247. This system is intended to allow easy implementation of multiple file system types within the UNIX kernel. Local, remote, and even non-UNIX file systems can be "plugged" into the UNIX kernel through a well defined interface, in much the same way that UNIX device drivers are added to the kernel. Traditional UNIX systems allowed only one type of file system. The Kleiman system creates a new "vnode" software layer 81 above each individual file system type 82, 83, and 84, as shown in FIG. 8. The file system dependent/independent split was done just above the UNIX kernel inode layer, since the inode is the main object for file manipulation in the kernel. The file system independent inode was renamed a virtual node, or "vnode." All file manipulation is done with a vnode object.
Similarly, file systems are manipulated through an object called a "vfs", or virtual file system. The vfs is the analog to the mount table entry in conventional UNIX systems. Each mounted vfs is linked to a list of mounted file systems. The first file system on the list is always the root, as shown in FIG. 9. The private data pointer (vfs.sub.-- data) in the vfs points to file system dependent data. In the 4.2BSD file system 83, vfs.sub.-- data point to a mount table entry.
When a mount system call is performed, the vnode for the mount point is looked up and the vfs.sub.-- mount operation for the file system type is called. If this succeeds, the file system is linked into the list of mounted file systems and the "vfs.sub.-- vnodecovered" field is set to point to the vnode for the mount point. This field is null in the root vfs. Once mounted, file systems are named by the path name of their mount points. Special device names are no longer used because remote file systems do not necessarily have a unique local device associated with them.
The public data fields in each vnode either contain data that is manipulated only by the vfs layer or data about the file that does not change over the life of the file, such as the file type (v.sub.-- type). Each vnode contains a reference count (v.sub.-- count) that is maintained by generic macros called to copy or destroy vnode pointers. When the last reference to a vnode is destroyed, the vn.sub.-- inactive operation is called to tell the vnode's file system that there are no more references. The file system may then destroy the vnode or cache it for later use. The v.sub.-- vfsp field in the vnode points to the vfs for the file system to which the vnode belongs. If a vnode is a mount point, the "v.sub.-- vfsmountedhere" field points to the vfs for the file system. The private data pointer (v.sub.-- data) in the vnode points to data that is dependent on the file system. In the 4.2BSD file system, v.sub.-- data points to an in-core inode table entry.
FIG. 9 shows an example of vnode and vfs object interconnection. In FIG. 9, vnode1 is a file or directory in a 4.2BSD type file system. As such, its private data pointer points to an inode in the 4.2BSD file system's inode table. Vnode1 belongs to vfs1, which is the root vfs, since it is the first on the vfs list. Vfs1's private data pointer points to a mount table entry in the 4.2BSD file system's mount table. Vnode2 is a directory in vfs1, which the mount point for vfs2. Vfs2 is an NFS file system containing vnode3.
Path name traversal is done by a look-up routine, which takes a path name and returns a pointer to the vnode which the path represents. If the path name begins with a "/", the path name traversal starts at the root. Otherwise, it starts at the vnode pointed to by the current directory. The look-up operation traverses the path one component at a time using the vn.sub.-- lookup operation. Vn.sub.-- lookup takes a directory vnode and a specified component as arguments and returns a vnode representing that component. If a directory vnode has "v.sub.-- vfsmountedhere" set, then it is a mount point. When a mount point is encountered going down the file system tree, the lookup operation follows the vnode's "v.sub.-- vfsmountedhere" pointer to the mounted file system and calls the vfs.sub.-- root operation to obtain the root vnode for the file system. Path name traversal then continues from this point. If a root vnode is encountered when following changing to a parent directory (i.e., " . . . "), the lookup operation follows the "vfs.sub.-- vnodecovered" pointer in the vnode's associated vfs to obtain the covered node.
The path name traversal scheme implies that files on remote file systems appear as files within the normal UNIX file name space. Remote files are not named by any special constructs that current programs don't understand. The path name traversal process handles all indirection through mount points, as discussed above. This means that in a remote file system implementation, the client maintains its own mount points. If the client mounts another file system on a remote directory, the remote file system will never see references below the new mount point. Also, the remote file system will not see any " . . . " references at the root of the remote file system. For example, if the client has mounted a server's "/usr" on his "/usr" and a local file system on "/usr/local", then the path "/usr/local/bin" will access the local root, the remote "/usr", and the local "/usr/local" without the remote file system having any knowledge of the "/usr/local" mount point. Similarly, the path "/usr/ . . . " will access the local root, the remote "/usr" and the local root, without the remote file system (or the server) seeing the " . . . " out of "/usr".
Kleiman reports that his virtual node system has been in operation since 1984 and has been released as a product by Sun Microsystems. The system has been used to provide interfaces to the 4.2BSD file system 83, the Sun Network File System (NFS) 84, and an MS-DOS floppy disk file system 82.
3. Solution to the Problem
The present system provides a three-dimensional file system based on a virtual node architecture. Although the system disclosed by Korn et al provides a three-dimensional file system and Kleiman discusses a virtual node file system, none of the prior art references teach or suggest this combination to overcome the problems associated with Korn's three-dimensional file system as described above.
In particular, the present system allows sharable and un-sharable files to be separated in different levels of a stack of directories (a Z-stack). Typically, un-sharable files (i.e., private copies) are at the top of the Z-stack and directories containing sharable files are at the lower portion of the Z-stack. The Z-stack can also be used to organize files hierarchically on different storage devices by their frequency of use, so that rarely-used files are stored on slower devices and frequently-used files are stored on faster devices. Alternatively, this system allows files to be periodically copied to slower backup devices or WORM (write once, read many) devices at off-peak times. Finally, the present system can be employed to allow a user to temporarily install software for a trial period with permanently modifying the user's computer system.

Three-dimensional file system using a virtual node architecture


Method and microwave oven for controlled boiling of a foodpiece. The foodpiece is heated rapidly into reliable boiling by a supply of maximum microwave power, thereafter a desirable degree of boiling (H.sub.eb) is carried out during a predetermined boiling time (T.sub.b) while controlling the supplied microwave power level dependent on feed-back information (HUM) from a sensor. The boiling procedure is carried out fully automatically with consequently increased user security, decreased energy consumption and improved boiling quality.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to a method at a microwave oven for controlling a boiling procedure, said oven comprising an oven cavity, a microwave source, a supply system for supplying microwaves into the cavity, a control unit for controlling power level and supply time of the microwaves supplied to the cavity, and means connected to said control unit for setting or calculating a boiling time of a solid or liquid type of foodpiece. The invention is also directed to a microwave oven, a microwave heating device and the use thereof for automatically performing a boiling procedure.
2. Technical Background and Prior Art
Prior art is represented by U.S. Pat. No. 4,791,263, disclosing a method of the kind mentioned in the introduction, in which heating starts with 70% of maximum power and proceeds until a gas sensor senses 65% change of an initial value. Based on the time used for reaching this value a time for continued heating is calculated, said heating proceeding at about 50% of said maximum power. At the end of this calculated time it is assumed that boiling has been achieved, being thereafter continued during two optional, fixed times at a power level which is predetermined. Thereafter the method proceeds to a keep-warm state at a further lower, fixed power level. From this is clear that the power level during the actual boiling is controlled in a so called "open loop" by the use of fixed times and fixed power levels.
The disclosed method has the drawback that maximum power is not used when starting the procedure thereby increasing the consumption of time, said drawback being of the same kind as shown by a generally known method, which means setting a power level of 3/4 of maximum power for example and heating during a predetermined amount of time. A further disadvantage is that the actual boiling takes place at a predetermined, fixed power level without sensing the progress of the procedure. This means that the food piece may be directly influenced by the microwaves to an extent which is too high, giving a consequent risk of overboiling, which furthermore means unnecessary consumption of energy.

Microwave food boiling controlled with sensors


The present invention discloses a method for software-hardware authentication of an electronic apparatus includes receiving a challenge string (CS) from the electronic apparatus through a challenge string input port (CSIP). The challenge string is a string of trace data generated according to some operations of software running on the electronic apparatus. An authentication result for use in an authentication process for the software to authenticate a hardware unit of the electronic apparatus or for the hardware unit to authenticate the software is generated according to the string of the trace data. The authentication process is performed according to the generated authentication result.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for authentication. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for software-hardware authentication of an electronic apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
Authentication is the act of confirming the truth of an attribute of a datum or entity. With the advent of the digital era, there has been an ever-increasing need for electronic apparatuses to provide authentication functions, especially electronic apparatuses that include both a hardware component and a software component.
Such authentication functions may include a process in which hardware authenticates software, as well as a process in which software authenticates hardware. In the case of hardware authenticating software, the (authentication dependent) hardware may enable some hardware function for normal operations of the software or disable some hardware function to inhibit some normal operations of the software according to different authentication results. In the case of software authenticating hardware, the software may determine whether it should operate normally with the hardware by performing some appropriate corrections on some of its flow control decision variables or on some of its instruction codes according to different authentication results.

Method and apparatus for software-hardware authentication of electronic apparatus


According to one embodiment, a magnetic memory device includes a magnetoresistance effect element having a structure in which a first magnetic layer, a nonmagnetic layer, a second magnetic layer, and a third magnetic layer are stacked, wherein the third magnetic layer comprises a first region and a plurality of second regions, and each of the second regions is surrounded by the first region, has conductivity, and has a greater magnetic property than the first region.

In a magnetic memory device which uses a magnetoresistance effect element (a magnetic tunnel junction [MTJ] element) exhibiting perpendicular magnetization, in order to cancel a magnetic field applied from a reference layer on a storage layer, a shift cancelling layer is provided.
However, even though the shift cancelling layer is provided, it is not easy to effectively cancel the magnetic field applied from the reference layer on the storage layer.
In order to cancel the magnetic field applied from the reference layer on the storage layer, it is effective to thicken the shift cancelling layer. However, if the MTJ element is miniaturized as a result of high integration of the magnetic memory device, processing (patterning) of a thick shift cancelling layer becomes extremely difficult. If the shift cancelling layer is made thinner, it becomes difficult to effectively cancel the magnetic field applied from the reference layer on the storage layer.
Therefore, a high-performance magnetic memory device capable of effectively cancelling the magnetic field applied from the reference layer on the storage layer is desired.

Magnetic memory device and method of manufacturing the magnetic memory device


In a method and system for dynamically improving the performance of a server in a network, a tuning system monitors a workload of the server in real time, monitors a set of internal performance characteristics of the server in real time, and monitors a set of adjustable server parameters of the server in real time. The workload of the server may include the frequency and type of service requests received by the server from clients in the network. The internal server performance characteristics may include, for example, a data cache hit ratio of a data cache in the server. The set of server parameters may include, for example, the overall data cache size or the data cache geometry of the server. The tuning system periodically alters one or more of the set of adjustable server parameters as a function of the workload and internal performance characteristics of the server. Since the tuning system is continuously monitoring workload and performance characteristics of the server and altering the server parameters accordingly, the effectiveness of a given change in the server parameters is reflected in the next set of monitored workload and performance values.

In a computer network, a client (e.g. a processor or computer in the network) that wishes to obtain a particular service will generally have a wide range of available resources that are capable of performing the service. While this is advantageous, it also creates resource management problems, e.g., which one of these resources should the client utilize? In order to more efficiently provide services to a client in a network, it is known in the art to provide a server. A server is a device, generally comprising both hardware and software, which acts as an agent between the client and one or more resources to deliver a requested service to the client.
A typical server is capable of providing a plurality of services to a plurality of clients. Changes in the type and quantity of services requested necessarily affect the performance of the server by, for example, increasing the response time of the server, i.e. the time it takes the server to respond to a service request from a client. Moreover, the manner in which a server operates is, to a certain extent, dictated by a set of server parameters. The server parameters may include, for example, the data cache buffer geometry, data cache flushing rate, and open file cache timing window of the server. If the performance of a server is unacceptable, the performance may be improved by changing the server parameters in accordance with a tuning process.
In prior art systems, the server was tuned in a static manner. Specifically, the process of tuning required a person with extensive experience with the server to gather information from the system, determine what caused a performance degradation, and then propose changes in the server parameters. The server must then be shut down and restarted with the new set of parameters. Data must then be gathered and analyzed again in order to determine if the changes had the desired effect. If the performance is still unsatisfactory, the process must be repeated.
This method has obvious disadvantages. It not only requires the personal attention of a highly trained individual but also involves a time consuming process of trial and error that requires shutting down and restarting the server. It is an object of the present invention to solve these problems by providing a dynamic system for automatically tuning a server which does not require a server shutdown.

Real-time data cache flushing threshold adjustment in a server computer


A brake disc of a rotor brake is provided including a generally cylindrical body having a first planar surface, a second, opposite planar surface, and a central opening extending there through. A plurality of first connection members extend generally outwardly from the first planar surface. The first connection members are generally equidistantly spaced about a diameter of the first planar surface. A plurality of second connection members extend generally outwardly from the second planar surface. The second connection members are generally equidistantly spaced about a diameter of the second planar surface.

Exemplary embodiments of the invention generally relate to a rotary wing aircraft, and more particularly, to a brake assembly configured to stop the rotation of a rotor shaft of a rotary wing aircraft.
A conventional disc brake assembly for the rotor of a rotary wing aircraft includes a steel disc which is coupled to a rotating component of the drive system, such as a flange of a shaft for example, using a plurality of bolts such that the disc rotates in unison with the rotor shaft. A brake caliper is mounted to the transmission housing and is positioned adjacent each side of the disc rotor. The brake caliper holds disc brake friction material pads in a position relative to the disc such that the pads can be applied to each side of the disc rotor. The brake caliper is hydraulically actuated from an assembly which displaces brake fluid through a brake line to the caliper. The brake fluid is introduced into the caliper under high pressure causing one or more movable pistons to force the pads into contact with the disc thereby stopping the drive system and thus the main rotor.
During activation of the rotor brake system, the torque created by the rotor system passes through the rotating component, the bolts, the disc, and the caliper assembly. The thru holes used to couple the disc to the rotating component create very high stress concentrations in the disc, therefore limiting the design to materials with high yield stress allowables, such as steel. Steel, however, is not a preferred material due to weight, susceptibility to distortion from thermal cycles, and corrosive properties. When the caliper is engaged, the high friction pads contact the disc surface creating thermal cycles which distort the disc. If the disc becomes distorted, the contact surface area between the pads and disc decreases, making the system less efficient. Furthermore, a layer of surface corrosion may result on a steel disc due to normal exposure to the environment. When the brake engages, the top layer of corroded material is removed, providing no benefit in stopping the drive system, and ultimately causing the disc to wear quicker. As a result of these factors, the steel disc has a smaller reliability factor, reduces fatigue life of the brake assembly, and is more susceptible to damage and failure.


Methods and apparatus for generating multiple phase-shifted clock signals from a base clock signal using programmable delays at the leaf level in a clock distribution network are described. One example method for generating and distributing multiple phase-shifted clock signals in a programmable integrated circuit (IC) generally includes generating a base clock signal, routing the base clock signal through a clock distribution network in the programmable IC to a leaf node, and applying one or more programmable delays to the base clock signal received from the leaf node to generate the multiple phase-shifted clock signals.

Integrated circuits (ICs) may be implemented to perform specified functions. One type of IC is a programmable IC, such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA). An FPGA typically includes an array of programmable tiles. These programmable tiles may include, for example, input/output blocks (IOBs), configurable logic blocks (CLBs), dedicated random access memory blocks (BRAM), multipliers, digital signal processing blocks (DSPs), processors, clock managers, delay lock loops (DLLs), and so forth. Another type of programmable IC is the complex programmable logic device, or CPLD. A CPLD includes two or more "function blocks" connected together and to input/output (I/O) resources by an interconnect switch matrix. Each function block of the CPLD includes a two-level AND/OR structure similar to those used in programmable logic arrays (PLAs) and programmable array logic (PAL) devices. Other programmable ICs are programmed by applying a processing layer, such as a metal layer, that programmably interconnects the various elements on the device. These programmable ICs are known as mask programmable devices. The phrase "programmable IC" can also encompass devices that are only partially programmable, such as application specific integrated circuits (ASICs).
These and other types of programmable ICs typically use a clock distribution network, or "clock tree," for distributing various clock signals throughout the IC. Some of the major considerations in designing a dock distribution network are skew, jitter, delay, duty cycle distortion, and power consumption. Various clock distribution topologies have been used in programmable ICs with various tradeoffs between these considerations.

Leaf-level generation of phase-shifted clocks using programmable clock delays


A steel-member manufacturing facility that can suppress distortion occurring in a quenching process while preventing increase in manufacturing cost includes: a die-cutting apparatus to form a washer; a high-frequency induction heating apparatus for quenching purpose as well as a mold-constraining cooling apparatus that heat the washer as formed and thereafter cool the washer so as to quench-harden the washer; and a high-frequency induction heating apparatus for tempering purpose that heats the quench-hardened washer so as to temper the washer. The high-frequency induction heating apparatus for quenching purpose can heat the washer by induction heating to the temperature of at least Ac1 point. The mold-constraining cooling apparatus uses a mold to constrain the heated washer while using the mold as a cooling member, thereby cooling the washer to the temperature of at most Ms point.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a manufacturing facility for a steel member, a thin bearing-member namely a thin member for a bearing, and a thrust bearing. More specifically, the invention relates to a steel-member manufacturing facility that can easily be automated, a thin bearing-member that is manufactured by the steel-member manufacturing facility, and a thrust bearing having the thin bearing-member.
2. Description of the Background Art
Generally, for a thin bearing ring/washer which is a steel member, such a material as SPCC (JIS G 3141 standard) that is a low-carbon steel or SCM415 (JIS G 4053 standard) is employed. These materials are formed into a required shape and thereafter subjected to a short-term carburizing process and subsequently to a quenching process. Accordingly, the materials are quench-hardened, namely hardened by quenching to ensure hardness of a level required for the ring/washer. In some cases, such a high-carbon steel material as SUJ2 (JIS G 4805 standard) or SAE1070 is also employed as a material for the ring/washer. In this case, these materials are formed into a required shape, thereafter heated in a controlled atmospheric furnace and subsequently rapidly cooled and thereby quench-hardened. In this way, hardness of a level required for the ring/washer is ensured.
In terms of efficient operation of the heat treatment furnace and the quenching apparatus, the above-described quench-hardening is performed through batch treatment under which heat treatment is performed lot by lot comprised of an appropriate number of steel members (rings/washers).
In some cases, for the quench-hardening of the ring/washer, induction hardening is also employed using induction heating to heat and quench the ring/washer. The induction hardening can extremely shorten the process time as compared with quenching using a controlled atmospheric furnace for example. Thus, the induction hardening can contribute to improvement of production efficiency especially in the case where one lot includes a relatively small number of steel members.
In recent years, such a product as automobile using a bearing having the thin bearing ring/washer has been being enhanced in performance and functionality. Under this situation, the level of characteristics required for the bearing is becoming higher. Further, in terms of improvement of price competitiveness, cost reduction is also an important object to be achieved.
Under the circumstances, a method of determining whether or not induction hardening has normally been performed (see for example Japanese Patent Laying-Open Nos. 11-031579 and 09-118917), a method of efficiently performing induction hardening (see Japanese Patent Laying-Open Nos. 09-031532 and 05-263125) and an apparatus for measuring the hardening depth of an induction-hardened member (see Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2004-177159) for example have been proposed.
Further, the thin bearing ring/washer used for the bearing is likely to be distorted while quenched in the manufacturing process. In the case where the ring/washer is distorted to a considerable degree, the bearing having the distorted ring/washer has a shortened lifetime.
Then, as a method of suppressing distortion of a steel material while being quenched, a method has been proposed according to which the scale thickness on the surface of the steel plate while the steel plate is being press-quenched is set to 10 μm or less. Accordingly, a component formed to have superior shape precision can be manufactured (see Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2003-231915). Further, a method has been proposed, regarding the press quenching of a steel material, according to which the steel material in the state constrained, namely prevented from distorting, by molds is immersed in a cooling fluid (see Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 07-157822). Accordingly, distortion and bending occurring in the quenching process can be reduced even for a high-hardness steel material. Furthermore, a method has been proposed according to which the outer periphery as well as the end surfaces in the width direction of a thin ring are constrained by means of a collet (constraining member) to perform quenching. Accordingly, distortion occurring in the quenching process is suppressed (see Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 05-033060).
The above-described measures to make improvements concerning the induction hardening contribute to improvements in quality and reduction in cost of the steel member. However, since a conventional quenching apparatus including an induction hardening apparatus frequently uses oil or water for example as a cooling medium for quenching, other apparatuses for processing and testing are installed in many cases at locations remote from the quenching apparatus for the purpose of avoiding influences of the oil or water. Consequently, there arises a necessity to convey the steel member between the quenching apparatus and other apparatuses, resulting in deterioration in production efficiency and increase in manufacturing cost. Moreover, the steel member, especially the one before quench-hardened, is likely to be deeply flawed while the steel member is being conveyed, due to low hardness of the steel member, which could cause defective products.
In addition, even in the case where the above-described method of suppressing distortion is applied to a thin bearing ring/washer to produce a bearing, the resultant bearing is not necessarily sufficiently long in lifetime, in consideration of the recent demands for higher-level characteristics.

Steel-member manufacturing facility, thin bearing-member and thrust bearing


A source side injection non-volatile memory cell is provided that comprises a floating gate and control gate stack (12) disposed outwardly from a channel region (26) formed on an (n-)-substrate (10). Drain region (32) and source region (30) are formed on opposite sides of stack structure (12). Source side injection of hot electrons occurs between source region (30) and floating gate (18) when relatively low voltages are placed on gate conductor (22).

Electrically programmable read-only memories (EPROMs) and electrically programmable electrically erasable read-only memories (EEPROMs) are non-volatile semiconductor memory devices based on metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs). EPROM and EEPROM cells store a bit of information as a quantity of electrons on a floating gate structure which is insulatively disposed between the channel and the control gate of a field effect transistor. A charged floating gate raises the threshold voltage of the field effect transistor channel above the voltage normally applied to the control gate during the read operation such that the transistor remains shut off when read voltages are applied to the gate, source and the drain, thereby returning a logical "0". An uncharged floating gate does not alter the threshold voltage of the channel of the field effect transistor, and therefore a normal gate reading voltage will exceed the threshold voltage, turning on the transistor when read voltages are applied to the gate, source and the drain. In this condition, a logical "1" is returned.
When EPROM or EEPROM cells use a conventional floating gate avalanche injection metal oxide semiconductor (FAMOS) structure, the floating gate is charged by avalanche injection, commonly referred to as "hot electron injection". Prior structures have allowed for source side injection where a majority of the electrons injected to the floating gate come from the source side of the cell. In these structures, a much more significant gate current can be realized since the electric field across the gate oxide near the source, as created by the voltage difference between the grounded source and the control gate is at a maximum. One such source side injection cell is disclosed in an "Asymmetrical Non-volatile Memory Cell, Arrays and Methods for Fabricating Same," filed by Liu et al. on Aug. 29, 1990, application Ser. No. 07/575,105 assigned to the assignee of the present application, now abandoned, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. The structure disclosed in the previously cited application shows significantly enhanced gate current due to the high efficiency of source side injection. The structure allows for fast programming speed at 5 volts on the drain due to the enhanced injection efficiency. Furthermore, the structure has the potential of being programmed at 3.3 volts on the drain, thus allowing the operation of this structure with scaled power supplies. However, the structure disclosed in the previously cited application requires a relatively high gate voltage to enable fast programming.
Accordingly, a need has arisen for non-volatile memory cell which allows for fast programming through the operation of source side hot electron injection at lower gate voltages.

Source side injection non-volatile memory cell


A motor driven vehicle includes an electric motor that drives wheels through a power source and an electric motor control unit that drives the electric motor. When a voltage of the power source is a predetermined value or greater, the electric motor control unit controls the electric motor such that rotational speed-torque characteristics that the electric motor has are maintained when the voltage of the power source is at the predetermined value.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a motor driven vehicle capable of providing a constant running performance when the power source voltage is a predetermined value or greater, and a method of sampling map data of the motor driven vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional electric motorcycle does not have N-T characteristics in response to the power source voltage, and thus a stable running performance is difficult to obtain. Therefore, an aspect of the present invention is to provide a motor driven vehicle capable of providing a constant running performance when the power source voltage is a predetermined value or greater.

Motor driven vehicle and method of sampling map data of the motor driven vehicle


A field-effect transistor (FET) in which an InGaAs layer formed on a GaAs substrate is formed in such a manner that the In composition ratio on the gate electrode side on the substrate surface is made small and the In composition ratio on the GaAs substrate side is made large. Thereby, the FET does not cause a decline in the mutual conductance in the FET and a decline in the noise figure (NF) even if negative voltage is applied to a gate electrode.

The present invention relates to a field-effect transistor (hereafter referred to as the FET) using a compound semiconductor. More particularly, the present invention concerns a so-called high electron mobility transistor of a pseudomorphic type in which an indium-gallium-arsenide (hereafter referred to as InGaAs) semiconductor crystal layer containing indium (hereafter referred to as In) and an aluminum-gallium-arsenide (hereafter referred to as AlGaAs) layer are formed on a gallium-arsenide (hereafter referred to as GaAs) semiconductor substrate, thereby constituting an FET.
In recent years, the use of semiconductors in high-frequency regions has become active, FETs operating at high speed at high frequencies have been required, and high electron mobility transistors using compound semiconductors have been developed. To effect higher speed, the so-called pseudomorphic-type FETs in which InGaAs whose electron mobility is greater than that of GaAs is used in a channel layer have been developed.
The basic structure of this pseudomorphic-type FET is such that In.sub.0.15 Ga.sub.0.85 As layer whose In composition ratio is, for example, 15% is formed on a GaAs substrate, AlGaAs is formed thereon, and a drain electrode, a source electrode, and a gate electrode are formed on that surface.
In the FET of this structure, the channel layer through which electrons travel is formed in the InGaAs layer, its thickness is small in the vicinity of about 150 .ANG., and the substrate side thereof abuts against GaAs having small electron affinity, so that electrons are sealed in a quantum well in InGaAs. As a result, this type of FET has an outstanding characteristic that, as compared with a conventional GaAs-type FET, g.sub.m is larger, and the short channel effect is smaller.
Energy band diagrams in cases where 0 V and negative voltage are applied to the gate electrode are respectively shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. In these drawings, the abscissa represents the depth from the gate electrode side in the lower direction of the GaAs substrate, point A indicates an interface between the gate electrode and the AlGaAs layer, point B indicates an interface between the AlGaAs layer and the InGaAs layer, and point C indicates an interface between the InGaAs layer and the GaAs substrate, while the ordinate represents energy. In addition, E shows a distribution of electrons in the direction of the depth of the semiconductor substrate when the FET is operated. It can be appreciated from FIGS. 5 and 6 that the distribution of electrons upon application of the negative voltage to the gate electrode becomes wider in the direction of the depth of the substrate, and a distance a from the surface (point A) of the substrate to the center (point D) of the distribution of electrons is large.
Since the InGaAs layer containing In is formed in the channel layer as described above, the ability is improved. However, there still exists the problem that when the negative voltage is applied to the gate electrode, the mutual conductance g.sub.m of the transistor becomes small. Also, there is a problem in that the noise figure becomes aggravated in a region where the drain current is small.
That is, g.sub.m is expressed by the following Formula (1): ##EQU1## where .mu. is the mobility of electrons, Lg is a gate length, Wg is a gate width, e is a dielectric constant of AlGaAs, Vg is a gate voltage, Vth is a threshold voltage, and a is a distance (see FIG. 5 or 6) between the gate electrode and the channel. If the negative voltage is applied to the gate electrode, the distribution of electrons becomes farther from the substrate surface, and a becomes large. As a result, g.sub.m becomes small from Formula (1).
In addition, the noise figure NF is expressed by the following Formula (2): ##EQU2## where K.sub.f is a fitting factor which is determined by the material, configuration, and the like of the semiconductor, f is a frequency during operation, Cgs is a gate capacitance, g.sub.m is mutual conductance, Rs is source resistance, and Rg is gate resistance. It can be appreciated from this Formula (2) that if g.sub.m becomes small, NF becomes large, and the noise figure becomes large.


A biaxial flow damper used in an auto-close mechanism of a sliding rail assembly is disclosed to include a cylinder body defining flow parallel flow chambers, two pistons respectively slidably mounted in the flow chambers of the cylinder body, and two piston rods respectively connected to the pistons and respectively extending out of the front and rear sides of the cylinder body for a reciprocating motion in reversed directions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a damping device for use in an auto-close mechanism of a sliding rail assembly for drawer, sliding door or furniture and more particularly, to a biaxial flow damper for drawer, which uses front and rear pistons in two parallel flow chambers in one cylinder body to provide a relatively greater resistance, enhancing the buffer effect against the movement of the auto-close mechanism, and therefore the auto-close mechanism does not require much installation space while providing a relatively longer buffer stroke to achieve a relatively better buffer performance.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various monoaxial flow dampers (including hydraulic dampers and pneumatic dampers) for use in a drawer, sliding door or any of a variety of furniture are known. Exemplars are seen in U.S. Pat. No. 6,615,450B2, U.S. Pat. No. 7,244,005, and Taiwan Utility M294879. However, these conventional designs are not suitable for the condition where a great buffer effect is required. Extending the stroke of the buffer effect to enhance the damping for application in a condition where a great buffer effect is required will complicate the structure and relatively increase the dimension. Therefore, there is a demand for a damper that eliminates the aforesaid problem.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An exemplary hinge assembly includes a shaft, a cam, a cam follower, a first elastic member, a second elastic member, a first sleeve, a second sleeve. The cam and the cam follower are sleeved on the shaft. The first elastic member is sleeved on the shaft, and configured for producing an elastic force along the shaft. The first sleeve is sleeved on the shaft, and non-rotatably connected to the cam follower. The second sleeve is sleeved on the shaft, and non-rotatably connected to the cam. The second elastic member is sleeved on the shaft, and configured for producing an elastic force for driving the first sleeve to rotate relative to the second sleeve. The controlling member resists one of the cam and cam follower, and capable of driving the cam away from the cam follower.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to hinge assemblies and, more particularly, to a hinge assembly for electronic device.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electronic device such as a mobile phone, a notebook computer, or a personal digital assistant (PDA) generally has a main body and a cover pivotally mounted on the main body via a typical hinge assembly.
The typical hinge assembly includes a shaft, a rotatable stand, a fixed stand, a cam, a cam follower, a plurality of spring washers, and a nut. A flange is formed on a proximal end of the shaft, and a threaded portion is formed on a distal end of the shaft. The shaft extends through the rotatable stand, the cam, the cam follower, the spring washers, and the fixed stand. The rotatable stand and the cam are non-rotatably connected to the shaft. The nut engages with the threaded portion of the shaft, so that the spring washers produce an elastic force along an axis of the shaft. The main body of the electronic device is connected to the fixed stand, and the cover of the electronic device is connected to the rotatable stand.
However, when the electronic device is operated to an open position, the cover must be turned a predetermined angle relative to the main body by a user before the cover rotates relative to the shaft automatically via an engagement force of the cam and the cam follower. Thus, the electronic device applying the typical hinge assembly is inconvenient for use.
Therefore, a hinge assembly to solve the aforementioned problems is desired.

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd.


A semiconductor memory device includes a first block and a second block adjacent to each other in a column direction, each block including first and second memory cell arrays each including a plurality of local bit lines and a local sense amplifier shared by the first and second memory cell arrays, a plurality of global bit lines shared by the first block and the second block, a global sense amplifier configured to sense data transferred to the global bit lines, first and second replica cell groups provided in the first and second blocks, first and second replica bit lines connected to the first and second replica cell groups, an activation circuit connected to each replica bit line, and configured to activate the local sense amplifier, an edge cell group surrounding the first block and the second block, and a contact region surrounding the edge cell group.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor memory device, e.g., a semiconductor memory device including a static memory cell.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a static random access memory (SRAM) using the hierarchical bit line method is beginning to be used as the degree of micropatterning and the operating speed of SRAMs increase. This SRAM using the hierarchical bit line method comprises a plurality of memory cell arrays, a local sense amplifier for reading data from each memory cell array, and a global sense amplifier for inputting data to and receiving data from each local sense amplifier.
That is, a plurality of local bit lines whose bit line capacitance is reduced by finely dividing a bit line are connected to a plurality of local sense amplifiers. Each local sense amplifier amplifies data and sends the amplified data to a global bit line, and a global sense amplifier connected to the global bit line decides the data. In this manner, data is read from a memory cell by the two stages of bit lines/sense amplifiers. The cell current can be reduced because the capacitance of each bit line can be reduced by thus hierarchizing the bit lines.
A memory cell array placed on the far side of the local sense amplifier from the global sense amplifier has a replica cell for controlling the activation timing of the local sense amplifier. That is, a line delay equal to that occurring when accessing a memory cell farthest from the global sense amplifier is reproduced using the replica cell, and the local sense amplifier is controlled using the timing of a signal generated by this replica cell.
Note that as a related technique of this kind, a technique that readily optimizes the operation timing in a static semiconductor memory device using a dummy memory cell is disclosed (Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2004-71118).

Semiconductor memory device including a static memory cell


The present invention provides a multistep electronic circuit device comprising a plurality of parts and elements mechanically or electrically bonded in sequence to each other and to a substrate with a plurality of solders, which comprises as the parts and elements the substrate, input and output pins and LSI chips, and optionally packages and a cooler bonded through multistep bonding, the bondings of the parts and elements including at least one CCB bonding and at least one sealing, the solders each having a lower melting point than the heatproof temperature of the part or element to be bonded with the solder, and one of the solders having a melting point of at least 10.degree. C. lower than that of the other solder used at the bonding step immediately before. The solders used are selected from Au10-15wt%Ge alloy (melting point: 356.degree.-450.degree. C.), Pb1-5wt%Sn alloy (melting point: 314.degree.-325.degree. C.), Pb10-13wt%Sn alloy (melting point: 270.degree.-300.degree. C.), Au20wt%Sn alloy (melting point: 280.degree. C.), Sn3-6wt%Sb alloy (melting point: 232.degree.-243.degree. C.), Sn2-8wt%Ag alloy (melting point: 221.degree.-235.degree. C.), Sn35-55wt%Pb alloy (melting point: 183.degree. -200.degree. C.) and Sn45wt%Pb18wt%Bi (melting point: 135.degree.-160.degree. C.).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multistep electronic circuit device comprising electronic circuit elements, wiring substrates and cooling elements, more particularly to an electronic circuit device capable of being easily assembled in spite of the complicated order of assembling the device, easily disassembled for maintenance, and highly reliable for a long period of time.
2. Description of Related Art
It has hitherto been proposed to assemble various electronic circuit devices such as a computer and electronic automatic exchange with various kinds of solders for many purposes of giving high-speed operation and many functions to the devices and miniaturizing the devices. Particularly, typical examples of prior art high-density electronic circuit devices are one which was assembled with up to three solders, as shown in FIG. 2 attached hereto (see Nikkei Electronics, Mar. 26, 1984, p. 161) and one as shown in FIG. 17 attached hereto (see Japanese Patent KOKAI (Laid-Open) No. Sho 60-226142). In FIG. 2, input and output pins 5 are bonded to a substrate 4 with an AuSn system solder. In FIG. 17, input and output pins 5 are bonded to a circuit board 3 with a Ag solder 4, then LSI chips 6 are bonded to the substrate 3 with a solder 7 of Pb5wt%Sn and a sealing cap 1 is bonded to the substrate 3 with a solder 2 of Sn37wt%Pb eutectic alloy. These electronic circuit devices are featured by being made with the maximum three kinds of solders in such a manner that LSI chips are bonded directly to a substrate to realize the high density of the device (referred to as a multi-chip mounting method) or through the basic steps of connecting input and output pins to a substrate, bonding LSI chips to the substrate and air-tight sealing the device with known solders by melting the solders. Solders used for each of the bondings are Ag solders and AuSn solders for the bonding of the pins, a Pb5wt%Sn solder for the bonding of the LSI chips, and a Sn37wt%Pb solder for the sealing.
However, the electronic circuit devices required to be further improved in their performance were hardly realized by prior art structures of device and prior art solders.
For the purposes of improving the performance of the electronic circuit devices, i.e., giving high-speed operation and many functions to the devices, miniaturizing the devices and making the devices highly reliable, fundamentally (1) LSI chips must be integrated in a larger scale and (2) such LSI chips must be mounted in a higher density. That is, more logic circuits and memory circuits are built in one chip and these LSI chips are assembled in a high density, and in addition, the leads between the chips are made as short as possible, thereby improving a transfer speed of signals.
However, the above-mentioned manners are accompanied with the following difficulties: when the LSI chips are integrated in an ultra-large scale with increased amounts of logic circuits and memory circuits, (1) that a great number of signal-input and output terminals and power terminals for driving the LSI chips are required, (2) that high-speed switching requires ultra-high frequency circuits of several hundreds of MHz to several hundreds of GHz, (3) that this high-speed switching of the great number of circuits requires an increased amount of power, so that the generated amount of heat is highly increased, and (4) that formation of the circuits in a micron or submicron order causes the LSI chips to be very sensitive to surface contaminations due to various impurity ions and/or various gases in each of the steps of assembling the LSI chips. The highly reliable, miniaturized and easy-assembled LSI chips are obtained by overcoming the above-mentioned difficulties.
There are also some difficulties in making high-density mounted, finely patterned LSI chips with improved transfer speed of signals on a substrate and with very short leads, and in using a ceramic having a low dielectric constant and an organic thin film circuit.
Prior art techniques cannot overcome all these difficulties and avoid the contamination of the LSI chips. Furthermore, there is also such a problem that the heat generation of the LSI chips prevents the cooling of the device with good efficiency.

Electronic circuit device and method of producing the same


An optical modulator includes a confinement region of semiconductor material defining at least a portion of a light path through the optical modulator. The optical modulator also includes electrical contacts for connection with a voltage source for injecting carriers into the confinement region. The injected carriers impede light propagating through the confinement region, to thereby modulate light intensity. Contact regions in electrical contact with the confinement region remove injected carriers from the confinement region. Methods of modulating light and of making the optical modulator are also disclosed.

In fiber optic telecommunication systems, information is carried by light. Infrared wavelengths in the range of about 1.1 μm to 1.6 μm are common to silica fiber optic communication. Silicon is nearly transparent within this wavelength range, making silicon a desirable material for guiding optical data streams between active components of such systems.
For infrared light emission in the range of about 1.1 μm to 1.6 μm, lasers that emit at wavelengths within this range can be used as the light source. The laser output is a continuous wave carrying no data or information. For optical communications, an optical modulator can be used to encode data onto the continuous wave of light. Silicon waveguide-based optical modulators have been made. It would be desirable, however, to have an optical modulator device that can provide higher speed operation and improved efficiency.

Optical modulator and methods of making and using optical modulator

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A gauge is provided, preferably for patient use, in which a piston moves linearly within a gauge body against the force of a spring. A diaphragm separates the sensing side of the piston from the clean or atmosphere side of the piston. The diaphragm rolls against the piston and the wall of the chamber during changes in pressure, and does not interfere with accuracy of the readings. Dampening is provided out of the patient fluid stream. The sight glass through which measurements are read produces an optical magnification. A baffle prevents entrained particles from the patient from entering the gauge in significant amounts. A surface-to-surface seat enables the gauge to be mounted as a saddle seat on a duct, regulator or the like.

In the art of gauges, particularly gauges for suction control, and most particularly in the medical field where air, other gas or fluid emanating from a patient is to be controlled, it is desirable to have a gauge that is tolerant of abuse, but which lends itself to being repeatedly taken apart, cleaned and sterilized.
Generally, dial or rotary gauges, with a pointer for rotary indication have been employed. Such gauges typically require relatively sophisticated know-how and tools for calibration, are not tolerant of abuse and are difficult or nearly impossible to clean and sterilize.


Sampling devices are used to obtain samples of fluids to be analyzed and to determine the composition of the fluid in the sampled environment. A sampling apparatus with an inflatable sample bag used to collect and store liquid, air, vapor, and or gas samples by drawing the sample into the bag through an inlet, a sorbent tube, cassette, and/or other collection media is described. The means for extracting the sample and moving it into the sample bag comprises means for expanding the volume of a sample bag and creating a vacuum or reduced pressure within the sample bag. The means for expanding the include separating walls of a sample bag by use of gravity, pneumatic pressure, a biasing force, hydraulic force, for example or increasing the volume of a sample bag retaining container by such forces. Such sampling apparatuses do not require use of a sampling pump.

Fluid sampling is regularly performed to determine the amount of various target compounds in an area such as a chemical facility, a laboratory, confined space, or other area which could potentially be contaminated by chemical compounds. Samples may be taken over a short sampling period of time indicating "instantaneous" exposure of personnel to the compounds ("grab sample") or the sample taken over an extended sampling period of time to determine an average exposure of the personnel to the compound over the extended sampling period of time. Conventionally, samples are typically drawn into a sample bag by a sampling pump or collected on a cassette attached to the pump.
There are basically two conventional sampling systems, a direct sampling system and an indirect sampling system. A typical direct sampling system is shown in FIG. 1-A. As shown in FIG. 1-A, a conventional direct sampling apparatus or device 61 comprises a sampling pump 60 that draws a gas to be sampled from the surrounding environment and discharges the sampled gas through the tubing 65 into a sample bag 62. The sample bag 62 comprises an inlet 66 with a tubing connection. The inlet 66 may further be attached to a valve that may be opened during the sampling process and closed to retain the sample in the sample bag 62. The sample bag 62 may then be removed from the sampling device 61 and sent to a laboratory for analysis. In a direct sampling apparatus, the inlet of the sampling pump 60 is in fluid communication with the area to be sampled and the outlet of the pump 60 is in fluid communication with the inner volume of the sample bag 62. As such, the gas to be sampled flows through the sampling pump 60 and tubing 65. In such a direct sampling system, the gas contacts the internal components of the sampling pump 60 and the inner wall of the tubing 65, this contact may result in contamination of the sampled gas or loss of a portion of the sample as it attaches to or reacts with the material in the pump or with the walls of the tubing resulting in a sample that represents less than the actual concentration of the contaminant. The internal components of the pump and inner wall of the tubing may still comprise a residue of previously sampled gas or may be contaminated from a cleaning or maintenance procedures. To eliminate the chance of contamination of the sampled gas and/or loss of a portion of the components of the sampled by contact with the sampling pump or other components of the direct sampling apparatus, indirect sampling apparatuses may be used.
A typical indirect sampling apparatus is shown in FIG. 1-B. As shown in FIG. 1-B, a conventional indirect sampling apparatus 63 also comprises a sampling pump 60. However, the sampling pump 60 in an indirect sampling method draws air from inside a hermetically sealed box 64 (sometimes referred to as a "lung box") to create a vacuum. A lung box 64 is a rigid walled hermetically sealed box with a connector for the pump 60 inlet and a connector 65 to provide fluid communication between the sample bag 62 with the exterior area to be sampled. A sample bag 62 within the lung box 64 expands due to the vacuum and thus draws gas from the area to be sampled through tubing 65 into sample bag 62. The sample bag 62 in an indirect sampling system also comprises an inlet 66 with a tubing connection and a valve that may be opened during the sampling process and closed to retain the sample in the sample bag 62. The sample bag 62 may be removed from the lung box 64 and sent to a laboratory for analysis. As the pump draws air out of the lung box 64, the walls of the gas-sampling bag 62 are pulled apart by the resultant vacuum thus increasing the inner volume of the sample bag 62 and providing driving force for the ambient gas to be sampled to fill the sample bag 62. The indirect sampling apparatus 63 may be more bulky than a direct sampling apparatus 61 but provides a lower risk of contamination, cross-contamination of samples and/or loss of a portion of the contaminant. Drawbacks for both of the conventional direct and indirect sampling apparatuses include the necessity of carrying and storing bulky equipment, charging the pump batteries, maintaining and calibrating the pump regularly and calibrating the pump by trained personnel before and after use of the pump for time weighted average (TWA) samples, and to establish a clean stationary sampling place. Further, in certain applications such as, but not limited to, chemical, petrochemical, petroleum, and natural gas facilities, the electronic pumps of direct and indirect sampling apparatuses must be certified as intrinsically safe to ensure the electronic pump does not create a spark sufficient to cause an explosion or a fire.
The high prices of both direct and indirect sampling apparatuses and the ancillary equipment affect the overall cost of the sampling. These sampling apparatuses require that the sampling pump be well calibrated and can pump consistently particularly when performing a sampling process through an extended period.
A more sophisticated sampling apparatus includes a SUMMA Canister 70 as shown in FIG. 1-C. A SUMMA canister is a stainless steel vessel which has specially passivated internal surfaces using a "Summa" passivation process. A Summa passivation process combines an electro-polishing step with chemical deactivation to produce a surface that is chemically inert. Due to the passivation of the surface, chemical compounds are not absorbed on the surface and samples retained in a SUMMA canister are stable for a longer period than a sample retained in a conventional sample bag. To draw a sample into the canister, the pressure within the SUMMA canister 70 is reduced to vacuum of approximately twenty-eight inches mercury to remove substantially all the gas in the canister 70. The residual gas is typically uncontaminated air or ballast such as nitrogen or other inert carrier gas. The SUMMA sampling apparatus comprises a special flow regulator that may be calibrated to achieve predetermined sampling time of, for example, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours or up to 24 hrs. The sampling process is typically finished when the pressure in the SUMMA canister has risen to about 2 inches of mercury vacuum; therefore, the canister is still under vacuum even after sampling. To facilitate withdrawal of the sample from the canister for analysis or other use, the SUMMA canister 70 must subsequently be pressurized with an inert carrier gas or filtered calibration grade clean air. The inert carrier gas or filtered calibration grade clean air raises the pressure within the SUMMA canister without contaminating the sample. However, adding gas in the pressurization process and the original gas in the canister after reducing the vacuum to 28 inches results in a dilution of the concentration of the target gases in the sample.
After pressurization, an aliquot volumetric analysis sample of the diluted gas is withdrawn for analysis. Each step including vacuuming, sampling, and pressurizing of the Summa canister is monitored by use of a pressure gauge and the accuracy of monitoring each step depends on the accuracy and reliability of the pressure gauge to calculate volumes of gas in the canister. In many cases, the pressure gauges used with SUMMA canisters do not have accuracy necessary or are not calibrated precisely enough for extremely accurate determination of the dilution ratio between the gas actually sample and the residual gas in the container and the gas added during the pressurization process. Therefore, there is an inherent systematic error in the gas concentration calculations and target gas analytical determination. As such, the accuracy of overall method is compromised from the many steps and is prone to errors.
The disadvantages of using a SUMMA canister sampling apparatus include the initial high costs of the canister, the high cleaning cost of the interior of the canister, high maintenance costs of the canister and peripheral equipment, the high cost of purchasing and maintaining a special cleaning system in specialized labs, the high cost of special gauges and expensive flow controllers, the necessity of a precise flow calibration for each extended sampling period, the necessity of constant observation during a sampling period to end the sampling process so the pressure does not exceed the limit of 2 inches of mercury vacuum, the necessity of accurately pressurizing the SUMMA canister with a carrier gas or filtered calibration grade clean air, the high cost of the inert carrier gas cylinder and cylinder demurrage or the cost of creating the filtered grade clean air, the necessity of performing additional calculations after chemical analysis, and the necessity to know the initial sampling conditions including temperature, barometric pressure, and altitude above sea level.
Due to drawbacks of the sampling apparatuses and processes described above, there is a need for a sampling apparatus which will eliminate at least a portion of the drawbacks of the conventional sampling methods.
There is an additional need for a device which will allow sampling for preset short sampling periods including 15 min., 30 min., 2 hrs. (STEL or Ceiling, r task-durations in some occasions) and/or extended sampling periods including 8 hours to 24 hours (TWA) without use of pumps and/or auxiliary vacuum equipment. There is a further need for a sampling apparatus that uses alternative sources of energy for the sampling process and which is easy to manufacture at low cost and easy to operate.


A supporting device to be secured in a housing of an axle unit includes a main portion in the shape of a ring having a longitudinal axis and forming a circular opening intended to receive an outer ring of a bearing which, in use, is mounted on a differential housing. The supporting device further includes a collector capable of collecting lubricant projected inside the housing by at least one rotating part, in use, the collector including an outlet port for allowing lubricant to flow towards the longitudinal axis.

The invention relates to a supporting device for a bearing mounted on the differential housing of a differential.
The invention also relates to an axle unit comprising such a supporting device, and to a vehicle comprising such an axle unit.
The invention can be applied in heavy-duty and medium-duty vehicles, such as tracks, buses and construction equipment. The invention can also applied on light duty vehicles such as passenger cars.
A vehicle such as a truck is generally equipped with one or several differentials on its driven axles.
A differential needs lubrication in order to prevent damages on its constituents; it is commonly lubricated by splash lubrication. More precisely, a differential comprises several pinions and gears connected via the differential housing to a crown wheel driven in rotation by an input shaft. The differential and the crown wheel are located in an axle housing which contains a lubricant bath. The lower part of the crown wheel is immersed in the lubricant bath so that, when the crown wheel rotates, it splashes the lubricant all over in the axle housing, thereby lubricating various parts of the system.
The amount of lubricant is a significant parameter for an appropriate operation of the system. On one hand, lubricant must be provided in a sufficiently large amount to ensure a satisfactory level of lubrication and heat dissipation. Lubrication and heat dissipation are achieved by means of splashing of the lubricant caused by the crown wheel rotation. On the other hand, the higher the lubricant amount in the housing, the higher the mechanical resistance against the crown wheel rotation (the lower is the efficiency) and the higher is the overall cost.
Besides, while the lubrication of several components located inside the axle housing can be achieved quite easily through the lubricant splashing caused by the crown wheel rotation, the lubrication of the differential itself—i.e. of the various gears and pinions—is more difficult insofar as the differential is surrounded by several constituents, such as the differential housing, and therefore is a difficult area to reach for the lubricant. This can be even more problematic when starting the vehicle.
It is desirable to provide a simple and efficient solution to ensure the lubrication of critical areas of a differential of a driven axle on a vehicle.
To that end, and according to a first aspect, the invention concerns a supporting device designed to be secured in the axle housing of an axle unit. The supporting device comprises a main portion being substantially in the shape of a ring or at least of half a ring and having a longitudinal axis, so as to form at least part of a circular opening intended to receive an outer ring of a bearing which, in use, is mounted on a differential housing of a differential that is arranged in said axle housing. The supporting device further comprises a collector capable of collecting lubricant projected, in use, inside the axle housing by at least one rotating part the collector comprising an outlet port for allowing lubricant to flow towards the longitudinal axis.
Owing to the collector, part of the lubricant which is projected inside the axle housing by a rotating part—in particular a crown wheel—is specifically collected for the lubrication of the differential itself, and subsequently guided towards the differential.
With a collector located on the supporting device itself, the area where the lubricant is collected is particularly appropriate, and the distance between the collecting area and the area to be lubricated is fairly low, ultimately resulting in a more efficient lubrication of the differential, a reduction in pressure losses and in the required amount of lubricant. Moreover, such a disposition results in a simpler structure requiring less constituents. Therefore, the invention provides a simple and efficient solution to ensure the lubrication of critical areas of a differential of a driven axle on a vehicle.
The supporting device can be in the form of a ring: in this case, the supporting device alone forms the circular opening receiving the bearing. Alternatively, the supporting device can be in the form of at least half a ring, but less than a complete ring: the supporting device then forms an arch which forms the circular opening together with a part of another piece having the shape of the remaining portion of the ring. Said other piece can be the housing, for example.
In practice, the supporting device can be secured to an inner face of the axle housing. It can further comprise linking portions designed to allow the supporting device to be secured in the axle housing.
By "in use" is meant the position that an element occupies when all parts are present and assembled to one another in the housing, and when the system is working.
According to an embodiment, the collector and the supporting device are separate parts, the collector being attached to the main portion of the supporting device.
According to another embodiment, the collector and the supporting device are made as a single piece. For example, the collector and the supporting device can be formed integrally by a moulding or casting process. This manufacturing process is advantageous in that it is simple and does not require additional mounting steps.
According to an embodiment and in use, the collector extends in the longitudinal direction from the main portion of the supporting device, towards a crown wheel that is attached to the differential housing. Owing to this feature, collecting lubricant is more effective.
Moreover, the collector can be offset with respect to the longitudinal axis along a first direction and a second direction which are orthogonal to the longitudinal axis and which are orthogonal to each other. In use, the first direction can be substantially transversal, i.e. horizontal and orthogonal to the longitudinal axis, while the second direction can be substantially vertical. This specific location of the collector takes into account the directions of the lubricant when it is projected inside the axle housing by the rotating part—in particular a crown wheel—to ensure a better collection of the projected lubricant at different rotation speeds of the crown wheel and especially at high rotation speeds of the crown wheel. Indeed, at high rotation speed of the crown wheel needs of the differential in term of lubrication are greater.
The supporting device may further comprise a reinforcing wall joining the collector and the main portion. More specifically, in an embodiment, such a reinforcing wall can join a side wall of the collector and a flange extending in a transverse plane from the main portion of the supporting device. Preferably, an outer face of the reinforcing wall is aligned with a bottom wall of the collector.
Thanks to this configuration, the collector contributes to reinforce the structure of the supporting device.
In an embodiment, the collector comprises:
a bottom wall that has a mean plane which is substantially horizontal in use and that includes a through hole, the lower end of which—in use—forms the outlet port;
a peripheral wall projecting from the periphery of the bottom wall;
the collector being open opposite the bottom wall.
The peripheral wall may comprise several side walls, one of said side walls being formed by a portion of a flange extending substantially in a transverse plane with respect to the longitudinal axis and from the main portion of the supporting device. By "transverse plane" is meant a plane which is orthogonal to the longitudinal axis. For instance, the bottom wall of the collector can be substantially planar, and horizontal in use. The bottom wall of the collector can be substantially rectangular. Thanks to that, the design of the collector is simplified.
The collector may be located above the longitudinal axis, in use, and the through hole may extend substantially along a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal axis, preferably along the vertical direction in use, to make a gravity flowing easier. The through hole axis may be offset with respect to the longitudinal axis, i.e. the through hole axis may not intersect the longitudinal axis.
The collector can define a collecting area which is at least 10 times greater than the outlet port section, to ensure efficient lubricant collection.
The collector can define a collecting area which is no greater than 50 times the outlet port section. This ensures the amount of lubricant collected is not higher than required. Besides, too big a collector could generate vibrations in use and could result in a difficult manufacturing and/or assembling process.
According to an embodiment, the supporting device comprises a base through which the supporting device can be secured to the housing, the collector being located on the supporting device near said base. As the base is usually a thicker part, this arrangement makes the integration or attachment of the lubricant collector easier and more robust in this area.
In an embodiment the peripheral wall of the collector comprises several side walls and one of said side walls extends from said base in a direction that is parallel to the longitudinal axis or is at least partially formed by said base. This arrangement further simplifies the integration of the lubricant collector and makes more robust the connection between the lubricant collector and the supporting device when they are made as a single piece.
According to a second aspect, the invention concerns an axle unit comprising an axle housing which contains a lubricant bath in use. The axle unit further comprises, inside the axle housing:
two drive shafts capable of being connected to wheels of a vehicle, outside the axle housing;
a crown wheel having a longitudinal axis, arranged to be driven in rotation around said longitudinal axis by an input shaft, and thus to project lubricant from the bath in which it soaks inside the axle housing;
a differential arranged substantially inside the crown wheel and comprising:
a differential housing to which the crown wheel is attached and in which are partially engaged the drive shafts;
inside the differential housing, differential side pinions connected, for instance, via a joint cross and the differential housing, to the crown wheel and two differential side gears each connected to at least one differential side pinion and to a drive shaft;
a bearing having an inner ring mounted on the differential housing, and an outer ring;
a supporting device as previously described, the supporting device being secured in the axle housing, the outer ring of the bearing being mounted in the circular opening formed at least partially by the supporting device main portion.
The bearing can typically be a conical bearing.
The axle unit may further comprise a nut having an outer thread and a central hole which has a diameter D61 and which is designed to receive one of the drive shafts. The nut is threaded in the circular opening formed at least partially by the supporting device main portion and is capable of pressing axially the outer ring of the bearing.
The nut may comprise at least one radial notch which is in fluid communication with the collector outlet port through an annular channel formed in the supporting device or in the nut.
In an embodiment, the nut comprises at least two, preferably at least four, radial notches which are substantially regularly spaced from each other along the periphery of the nut. Indeed, as the nut is used to provide a preload on the bearing, the angular position of the nut is not predetermined. Having at least two notches ensures that at least one notch is located not too far from the collector outlet port. Besides, having at least four notches further ensures that at least one notch is located in order to provide a path allowing the lubricant to flow towards the longitudinal axis by gravity.
The axle unit may also comprise a washer having a ring shape, the washer including a central hole which has a diameter D71 and which is designed to receive one of the drive shafts. The washer is mounted in the circular opening formed at least partially by the supporting device main portion, substantially adjacent the bearing on a side of the bearing which is opposite the differential, the outer diameter of the washer being greater than the inner diameter of the bearing outer ring so that the washer can cover the annular space existing between inner and outer rings of the bearing.
Thanks to this feature, the lubricant is prevented from flowing axially through the bearing, between the inner ring and the outer ring, which would result in the lubricant not reaching the differential to lubricate it.
According to an embodiment, the diameter D71 of the washer central hole is greater than the diameter D61 of the nut central hole, the washer being mounted between the bearing and the nut. This allows preventing the lubricant to flow axially away from the differential, through the nut central hole due to centrifugal effect resulting from rotation of the drive shaft.
According to an embodiment, an annular duct is formed between one of the drive shafts and the differential housing, said annular duct being in fluid communication with the inside of the differential and with the outlet port of the collector. Therefore, the lubricant collected in the collector can flow from the collector successively by the collector through hole, the collector outlet port, the annular channel formed in the supporting device (or in the nut), one radial notch arranged in the nut, the chamber located between the washer and the nut (i.e. the space inside the nut), the washer central hole, and the annular duct, towards the inside of the differential, that is to say towards the differential side pinions and the differential side gears of the differential.
According to a third aspect, the invention concerns a vehicle comprising at least such an axle unit. For example, said axle unit is at least one rear axle, the vehicle further comprising a front axle.
Further advantages and advantageous features of the invention are disclosed in the following description and in the dependent claims.

Supporting device for a bearing mounted on a differential housing


A decompiler works with a compiler for an industrial controller having a user modifiable instruction table to contain code fragments necessary to compile particular instructions. During compilation, the instructions are replaced with the code fragments. Thus new instructions recognizable by the compiler may be added simply by editing this instruction table. The decompiler identifies a portion of the compiled new instructions by reference to the same instruction table used by the compiler thus maintaining compatibility with the compiler.

Industrial controllers are special purpose computers used for controlling industrial processes or manufacturing equipment. Under the direction of a stored program the industrial controller examines a series of inputs reflecting the status of a controlled process or controlled equipment, and changes outputs affecting control of the process or equipment. In the simplest case, the inputs and outputs are binary, that is "On" or "Off". However, analog inputs and outputs taking on a continuous range of values and multi-digital values are also used.
An industrial controller differs from a conventional computer in that it is typically necessary to write a wholly new control program or to significantly edit an existing control program for each new controlled process or machine. For this reason it is important that programming the industrial controller be easy and efficient.
Programming an industrial controller is normally performed by using a programming language having specialized instructions adapted to the control process. One such language represents instructions as contacts and coils of relays, the type of devices that the industrial controller might replace. Additional instructions, such as those implementing timers or counters, are also provided as well as many conventional arithmetic instructions common to general purpose computers.
Often it is desirable to add a new instruction to those that may be used to program the industrial controller. The new instructions simplify the task of writing a control program for a particular device or process. In the original industrial controllers, each instruction was executed directly by controller hardware to obtain the maximum execution speed. Adding a new instruction, in such a case, would require a complete redesign of the controller.
In present industrial controllers, each instruction written by the programmer (source program instructions) is compiled into one or more object program instructions which are directly executed in hardware. With these controllers, adding a new instruction to those recognized by the industrial controller requires only a change to the compiler program and no change to the controller hardware itself.
Even so, compilers are complex programs and rewriting a compiler to add a new instruction that it will recognize and compile is difficult and requires an intimate understanding of the operation of the compiler. A rewriting of the compiler is beyond the reach of most users of industrial controllers.
Often it is desired to provide a decompiler for use with the compiler of an industrial controller so that the compiled control program, as held in the industrial controller, may be converted back into editable source code. Rewriting a compiler to add new instructions, as proposed above, would, in this case, also require the additional effort of rewriting the decompiler, a no less difficult task.

Industrial controller decompiler accommodating an expandable instruction set


An improved device and process of assuring separation of an anticoagulant type fluid from a saline type fluid each of which is utilized in the process and operation of a plasma-pheresis apparatus or the process of collecting donor blood, is disclosed. The improvement includes a cross-spike prevention receptacle which is dimensioned, and installed positionally in reference to a plasmapheresis or blood donor apparatus, to receive an anticoagulant fluid container to which a proper respective supply communication line will connect, and to exclude and not receive a saline fluid container or container holding a similar type of fluid, whose fluid line will not reach and connect to the installed cross-spike prevention receptacle. As a part of the process and concepts of the invention the supply containers or bags of fluids which are supplied for use with the invention are provided so that the respective anticoagulant bags are smaller in volume capacity and size than the respective saline solution container bags used in the plasmapheresis or blood collection process, and the bags are dimensioned so that the saline container or bag will not fit into the cross-spike prevention receptacle even upon substantial forcing or where such force would cause rupture of the container or-would otherwise result in a container in a condition which could not be reasonably used with respect to the plasmapheresis or blood collection process.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improved device and process for preventing cross-spike or improper substitution or intermixing of critically distinct fluids utilized in connection with a plasmapheresis or blood donor/collection apparatus.
2. Background Information
Typical of the prior art references regarding plasmapheresis and blood donor or collection apparatus or processes are U.S. Pat. Nos. 4.976,851; 4,954,128; 4,043,501; Des. 305,506; 5,173,257; 5,171,432; 5,171,430; 5,153,828; 5,149,501; 5.143,602; 5,046,608; 5,037,549; 5,011,705; 4,994,022; 4,994,021; 4.990,132; 4,975,186; 4,967,763; 4,940,543; 4,790,330; 4,568,345; 4,044,983; Des. 334,536 and Des. 335,450; which were located during the process of a patent search. Copies or Patent Gazette reference copies of all patents cited were enclosed with the files, sections 1.97-1.99.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,043,501; issued to Larrabee et al; discloses a portable liquid package container for use with a blood washing device, in providing a portable liquid package container arrangement in connective bin-type slots for supplying saline solutions and recovery of washed blood and waste liquid, essentially claiming a linearly oriented, vertically partitioned support area for receiving some five or so collapseable containers for apparent separation and use in the blood washing device. As disclosed and claimed, Larrabee is considerably different in structure and function form the present invention, and would appear by virtue thereof to lend itself to problems of intermixing or substituting improper containers in respective slots.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,976,851; issued to Tanokura et al., disclosing a liquid separator for use as a blood component separator functions to separate a blood component such as blood plasma from centrifugally separated component layers in a flexible blood bag.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,954,128; issued to Ford, discloses a plasmapheresis instrument and a harness set to be utilized therewith. During the infusion cycle, or cycle in which fluids are provided to a respective donor, which alternates with the collection cycle of the Ford device, the blood constituent from the reservoir and a replacement fluid are mixed externally of a reservoir and pumped to the donor. An anticoagulent supply container 44 in Ford, and a replacement fluid supply container 46 therein are essentially provided overhead of the device and oriented in position and relation to the Ford device and its tubing components such that a substantial risk exists for intermixing, improper substitution or cross-spiking of anticoagulent and replacement fluid which during the plasmapheresis process could cause severe damage or death to a respective blood or plasma donor.
Additionally some designs for plasma containers, bottles or the like have been patented such as the above referenced '506 Sittig. '536 Long et al. and the '450 Pezzoli et al. design patent references; but each is substantially different in design from the present invention.
None of the references specifically illustrates the present invention. Nor is the present invention obvious in view of any of the prior art references listed herein. In addition, all of the relevant prior art heretofore known suffer from a number of disadvantages.
(a) The prior art devices do not provide substantially adequate means of preventing against the cross-spiking or cross-connecting of one of several critical fluid lines which may be a part of or necessary in an electrophoresis, plasmaphoresis or blood collection process, such as connection lines from saline solution and anticoagulant fluid. PA1 (b) The prior art devices substantially run the risk of the potentially fatal cross-spiking or cross connecting of anticoagulent fluid and saline solution, where these fluids are incorrectly and improperly provided respectively to a plasma or blood collection device, or device for plasmapheresis, and administered to a plasma or blood donor, causing serious problems for the donor, cell damage or loss to blood already circulating in the plasma-pheresis device, or health problems related to the rapid infusion in the donor of anticoagulant fluid. PA1 (c) It is a further disadvantage of the prior art that required fluids which must be kept separated and utilized in the process of collecting plasma or blood at the right time and location are often provided in linear arrangement, one adjoining the other in position, such that improper storing separation and categorization for proper utilization and safety is frequently subject to occur, resulting in the wrong type of fluid communication lines being connected to an otherwise properly installed fluid container; in each event causing cross-spiking or cross connecting and supply of these critical respective fluids. PA1 (d) Additionally, the prior art devices have not advantageously utilized the size of fluid containers, the length of respective fluid supply lines, proper line guiding means and the spatial location and installation of fluid retaining and holding devices to substantially protect against the danger of crossspiking of critical, independent fluids. PA1 (e) A further disadvantage of the prior art has been that some of the prior art devices or systems provide placement of necessary critical fluids in positions separate from or not integrally related to the central plasmapheresis or blood collection device.
These and other disadvantages of the prior art will become apparent in reviewing the remainder of the present specification and the drawings.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a substantially improved means of assuring separation of important or necessary, respective process and replacement fluids utilized in the operation of a plasma or blood donation-collection device.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a cross-spike prevention system which will substantially prevent cross-mixing of potentially dangerous fluids, physical damage to a respective donor and damage or loss of respective blood cells or materials already in a device for collecting plasma or blood.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a device and system for prevention of cross-spiking or cross-mixing of otherwise potentially dangerous, critical required infusion and collection fluids, which takes advantage of spatial installation and location, tube communication line length and orientation, and strategically placed guide means such that a respective fluid can be properly placed and connected in a cross-spike prevention receptacle which is properly dimensioned to receive only a container of this respective fluid, and which can be attached in a user-friendly manner to a number of plasma and blood collection units as an attached or integral part of a given such unit.
And it is a further object of the present invention to provide a device and system which will improve and make more safe the function and process of many different types of already existing plasmapheresis and blood collection and donor assemblies and apparatus, by improving each respective unit's ability to isolate important fluids to be utilized in a given collection process such that each respective fluid can be utilized in the proper sequence or time to allow the respective device to function properly in preserving collected blood materials and in preventing the infusion of dangerous fluids into a given subject donor.