In a communication system, data is selectively transmitted using single-ended or differential signaling. The data is transmitted in relation to a plurality of clock signals having different relative phases. When the data is transmitted using single-ended signaling, data on adjacent signal lines undergo logic transitions at different times in relation to the plurality of clock signals.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention relate generally to circuits, devices, and methods adapted for use in systems performing digital signaling. More particularly, embodiments of the invention relate to circuits, devices, and systems capable of selectively performing single-ended and differential signaling, and methods associated with the circuits, devices, and systems.
2. Description of Related Art
Two commonly used methods for transmitting electrical signals via a communications channel (e.g., one or more electrical signal lines) are known as "single-ended signaling" and "differential signaling". In single-ended signaling, one signal line communicates a variable voltage representing transmitted data and another signal line is connected to a reference voltage, such as ground. In contrast, differential signaling uses two related signal lines to communicate complementary data signals which are combined at a receiver to form the transmitted data (i.e., a difference between the complementary data signal represents the transmitted data).
To detect a signal transmitted by single-ended signaling, a receiving device compares the varying voltage representing the signal with the reference voltage. On the other hand, to detect a signal transmitted by differential signaling, a receiving device compares the respective voltage levels of the complementary signals.
Single-ended signaling and differential signaling are used in a variety of popular communication protocols. For example, single-ended signaling is used in many parallel computer buses, PS/2 mouse and keyboard connectors, the RS-232 communication protocol, etc. Differential signaling is used, for example, in RS-422 and RS-485 communication protocols, PCI-X and USB communication protocols, etc.
Single-ended signaling and differential signaling have certain respective advantages and disadvantages. As a result, some applications prefer the use of single-ended signaling, while other applications prefer the use of differential signaling.
One significant advantage of single-ended signaling over differential signaling is that single-ended signaling generally requires fewer signal connection elements (e.g., signal lines, I/O pads, etc.) than differential signaling. For example, to simultaneously transmit "n" unique data signals, single-ended signaling requires "n" signal lines, plus one additional signal line to transmit the reference voltage. In contrast, to simultaneously transmit "n" unique data signals, differential signaling requires "2n" signal lines arranged in "n" pairs of complementary signal lines. Because single-ended signaling generally requires signal lines, the design and implementation of systems using single-ended signaling tends to be relatively simple and inexpensive, as compared with systems using differential signaling. In addition, because fewer signals are transmitted in single-ended signaling compared with differential signaling, single-ended signaling typically consumes less current than differential signaling.
One significant advantage of differential signaling over single-ended signaling is that differential signaling tends to be more tolerant of noise. The randomly occurring channel noise on constituent signal lines transmitting complementary signals may be cancelled out when the difference between the respective voltage levels of the complementary signals is detected at a receiving device. Additionally, differential signaling typically transmits each pair of complementary signals on a pair of balanced signal lines. As a result, electromagnetic interference tends to induce the same voltage offsets on both complementary signals. Further, receivers in differential signaling systems typically ignore wires' voltages with respect to a fixed reference while single-ended systems rely on the reference voltage. In some cases, the reference voltage of a single-ended system may have different offsets at the respective transmitter and receiver ends of the system due to different impedances between the reference wire and ground at the transmitter and receiver ends.
Some common forms of noise that may impair single-ended signaling systems more than differential signaling systems include crosstalk, simultaneous switching noise (SSN), and inter-symbol interference (ISI).
In general, the term "crosstalk" refers to interference between nearby signal lines due to conductive, inductive, or capacitative coupling. Similarly, the term "simultaneous switching noise" generally refers to undesired electrical effects caused by simultaneous switching of several nearby signal lines. For example, where several nearby signal lines switch from a low voltage level to a high voltage level, the voltage levels of some nearby signal lines may be undesirably raised from low levels to higher levels due to capacitative coupling, or the switching of some signal lines from the high voltage to the low voltage could be delayed due to the capacitative coupling. Alternatively, the simultaneous switching of several signal lines could also affect power and ground systems, temporarily altering their ability to drive the signal lines. Finally, the term "inter symbol interference" generally refers to interference between successive pulses or symbols in a sequentially transmitted signal stream. For example if a transition of a signal is slightly delayed, e.g., due to SSN, a subsequent signal may be detected with an erroneous value.
In view of the foregoing benefits and drawbacks of single-ended and differential signaling, circuit designers and system designers may use single-ended or differential signaling to transmit data in a particular communication channel based on the channel's operating characteristics. For example, to transmit or receive data in a high-speed data channel, differential signaling may be used in order to prevent errors related to noise. On the other hand, to transmit or receive data in a relatively lower speed data channel, or in a device requiring relatively low power consumption, single-ended signaling may be used in order to minimize development and operation costs.

System and method for selectively performing single-ended and differential signaling


The present invention relates to a heat generator including a central shaft, an elastic body formed to be a predetermined thickness at a circumference of the central shaft, a conductor layer formed to be a predetermined thickness at a circumference of the elastic body, and a second elastic body formed to be a predetermined thickness at a circumference of the conductor layer, and an apparatus including a magnetic field generator which provides a magnetic field such that the conductor layer of the heat generator can generate heat, and a pressure member which is provided along the central shaft of the heat generator, and applies pressure that deforms the elastic body layer by a predetermined amount to a predetermined position of the central shaft or the heating generator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heating apparatus using induction heating, and in particular, to a fixing apparatus available for a copying apparatus, a printer apparatus or the like which is an electrophotographic system using a thermal melting image developing agent, the fixing apparatus fixing the image developing agent on a recording object.
2. Description of the Related Art
A fixing apparatus built into a copying apparatus using an electrophotographic process heats and melts toner (image developing agent) formed on a fixing material (recording material), and fixes the toner to the recording material. In recent years, induction heating has been widely used as a heating method in which a heating time, which is a time from the point in time when electric power supply is started until the time when it reaches a fixable temperature, can be reduced. Further, there is a report in which the characteristic of a roller (or belt) as one of the factors by which a heating time can be reduced.
For example, in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2002-295452, a roller having elasticity and adiathermancy, and a heating apparatus using the roller are shown. As the feature of the heating apparatus disclosed in this document, there is shown that the starting of heating is fast (a time from the point in time when electric power supply is started until the time when a fixable temperature is reached).
For example, in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2002-213434, a heating apparatus is shown in which toner fixed on a recording paper is hardly stripped off. As the feature of the heating apparatus disclosed in this document, there is shown that a contact length between a heating roller and a pressure roller in the direction in which the recording paper is conveyed, i.e., a nip width, is made sufficiently large.
However, even when the heating apparatuses shown in the two documents described above are used, heat generated at the conductor layer portion is not necessarily sufficient for fixing toner to a recording material due to a material of a core material of a roller, i.e., a rotator, or a distance between the core material and a conductor layer (fixing surface) of the surface. Further, there is verified that a rise in the temperature of the core material which does not contribute to a rise in the temperature of the fixing surface.

Apparatus for fixing toner on transferred material


An apparatus for piercing a skin surface, and methods for operating and manufacturing such an apparatus. In one embodiment, the apparatus can include a support housing having an engaging surface to engage the skin surface. The support housing can include a first guide extending axially away from the engaging surface and a second guide extending transverse to the first guide. The apparatus can further include a probe coupled to a guide member with the guide member sequentially engaged with the first guide and the second guide to move in a first direction toward and away from the engaging surface without simultaneously moving in a second direction transverse to the first direction. Accordingly, a practitioner can reposition the probe from one location to the other (for example, by orbiting the probe relative to a central axis of the support body, or by translating the probe linearly relative to the support body) without moving the housing relative to the skin surface.

Electrical therapy has long been used in medicine to treat pain and other conditions. For example, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) systems deliver electrical energy through electrode patches placed on the surface of a patient's skin to treat pain in tissue beneath and around the location of the patches. One problem with TENS systems is that they may not provide patients with adequate pain relief.
More recently, a technique in which electrodes are placed through the patient's skin into the target tissue has been proposed. Percutaneous Neuromodulation Therapy ("PNT") (also sometimes called Percutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation or "PENS") using percutaneously placed electrodes achieves significantly better pain relief results than TENS treatments using skin surface electrodes. This therapy is described in Ghoname et al., "Percutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation for Low Back Pain," JAMA 281:818–23 (1999); Ghoname et al., "The Effect of Stimulus Frequency on the Analgesic Response to Percutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation in Patients with Chronic Low Back Pain," Anesth. Analg. 88:841–6 (1999); Ahmed et al,. "Percutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (PENS): A Complementary Therapy for the Management of Pain Secondary to Bony Metastasis," Clinical Journal of Pain 14:320–3 (1998); and Ahmed et al., "Percutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation: An Alternative to Antiviral Drugs for Herpes Zoster," Anesth. Analg. 87:911–4 (1998). The contents of these references are incorporated herein by reference.
One method for applying percutaneous nerve stimulation is to insert acupuncture needles into the patient's skin and attach the needles to waveform generators via cables and alligator clips to deliver a percutaneous electrical current. One drawback with this method is that the electrical connections to the needle may not be sufficiently secure and reliable. Another drawback with this method is that it may be difficult to accurately position the needles. For example, if a needle is placed too close to a nerve within a nerve region it is intended to treat, the needle itself may be painful and/or the amount of electrical current necessary to provide effective therapy may be painful. Accordingly, the practitioner may need to reposition the needle to a new location. However, it may be difficult for the practitioner to accurately reposition the needle. For example, the practitioner may lose track of the needle's original position once the needle is removed. Without having the original position of the needle as a reference, the practitioner may be unable to accurately locate the new position. Furthermore, the practitioner may not be able to accurately control the angle at which the needle re-enters the skin at the new position. If the angle is different than the initial angle at which the needle entered the skin, the tip of the needle can end up at the same point it was before the repositioning process began.

Method and apparatus for repositioning a percutaneous probe


An embodiment buck converter control circuit comprises an error amplifier configured to generate an error signal based on a feedback signal and a reference signal, a pulse generator circuit configured to generate a pulsed signal having switching cycles set to high and low as a function of the error signal, a driver circuit configured to generate a drive signal for an electronic switch of the buck converter as a function of the pulsed signal, a variable load, connected between two output terminals of the buck converter, configured to absorb a current based on a control signal, and a detector circuit configured to monitor a first signal indicative of an output current provided by the buck converter and a second signal indicative of a negative transient of the output current, and verify whether the second signal indicates a negative transient of the output current.

Power-supply circuits, such as AC/DC or DC/DC switched mode power supplies, are well known in the art. There exist many types of electronic converters, which are mainly divided into isolated and non-isolated converters. For instance, non-isolated electronic converters are the converters of the "buck", "boost", "buck-boost", "Ćuk", "SEPIC", and "ZETA" type. Instead, isolated converters are, for instance, converters of the "flyback", "forward", "half-bridge", and "full-bridge" type. Such types of converters are well known to the person skilled in the art.
FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a DC/DC electronic converter 20. In particular, a generic electronic converter 20 comprises two input terminals 200a and 200b for receiving a DC voltage Vin and two output terminals 202a and 202b for supplying a DC voltage Vout For example, the input voltage Vin may be supplied by a DC voltage source 10, such as a battery, or may be obtained from an AC voltage by means of a rectifier circuit, such as a bridge rectifier, and possibly a filtering circuit. Instead, the output voltage Vout may be used to supply a load 30.
Voltage converters of a non-isolated step-down type are widely used, for example, in order to supply microcontrollers. The ease of use, simplicity, and excellent versatility in the various conditions of input and output voltage render the topology of a buck type one of the most widely used for this type of conversion.
FIG. 2 shows the circuit diagram of a typical buck converter 20. In particular, a buck converter 20 comprises two input terminals 200a and 200b for receiving a DC input voltage Vin and two output terminals 202a and 202b for supplying a regulated voltage Vout, where the output voltage is equal to or lower than the input voltage Vin.
In particular, typically, a buck converter 20 comprises two electronic switches Q1 and Q2 (with the current path thereof) connected (e.g. directly) in series between the input terminals 200a and 200b, wherein the intermediate node between the electronic switches Q1 and Q2 represents a switching node Lx. Specifically, the electronic switch Q1 is a high-side switch connected (e.g. directly) between the (positive) terminal 200a and the switching node Lx, and the electronic switch Q2 is a low-side switch connected (e.g. directly) between the switching node Lx and the (negative) terminal 200b, which often represents a ground GND. The (high-side) switch Q1 and the (low-side) switch Q2 hence represent a half-bridge configured to connect the switching node Lx to the terminal 200a (voltage Vin) or the terminal 200b (ground GND).
For example, the switches Q1 and/or Q2 are often transistors, such as Field-Effect Transistors (FETs), such as Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistors (MOSFETs), e.g. n-channel FET, such as NMOS. Frequently, the second electronic switch Q2 is also implemented just with a diode, where the anode is connected to the terminal 200b and the cathode is connected to the switching node Lx.
In the example considered, an inductance L, such as an inductor, is connected (e.g. directly) between the switching node Lx and the (positive) output terminal 202a. Instead, the (negative) output terminal 202b is connected (e.g. directly) to the (negative) input terminal 200b.
In the example considered, to stabilise the output voltage Vout, the converter 20 typically comprises a capacitor Cout connected (e.g., directly) between the output terminals 202a and 202b.
In this context, FIG. 3 shows some waveforms of the signals of such an electronic converter, where:                FIG. 3a shows the signal DRV1 for switching the electronic switch Q1;        FIG. 3b shows the signal DRV2 for switching the second electronic switch Q2;        FIG. 3c shows the current IQ1 that traverses the electronic switch Q1;        FIG. 3d shows the voltage VLx at the switching node Lx (i.e., the voltage at the second switch Q2); and        FIG. 3e shows the current IL that traverses the inductor L.
In particular, when the electronic switch Q1 is closed at an instant U (ON state), the current IL in the inductor L increase (substantially) linearly. The electronic switch Q2 is at the same time opened. Instead, when the electronic switch Q1 is opened after an interval TON1 at an instant t2 (OFF state), the electronic switch Q2 is closed, and the current IL decreases (substantially) linearly. Finally, the switch Q1 is closed again after an interval TOFF1. In the example considered, the switch Q2 (or a similar diode) is hence closed when the switch Q1 is open, and vice versa.
The current IL can thus be used to charge the capacitor Cout, which supplies the voltage Vout at the terminals 202a and 202b.
In general, the electronic converter 20 hence comprises a control circuit 22 configured to drive the switching of the switch Q1, and possibly of the switch Q2, for repeating the intervals TON1 and TOFF1 periodically. For example, typically the buck converter 20 comprises also a feedback circuit 24, such as a voltage divider, configured to generate a feedback signal FB indicative of (and preferably proportional to) the output voltage Vout, and the control circuit 22 is configured to generate the drive signals DRV1 and DRV2 by comparing the feedback signal FB with a reference signal, such as a reference voltage Vref.
A significant number of driving schemes are known for the switch Q1, and possibly for the switch Q2. These solutions have in common the possibility of regulating the output voltage Vout by regulating the duration of the interval TON1 and/or the interval TOFF1. For instance, in many applications, the control circuit 22 generates a driving signal DRV1 for the switch Q1 (and possibly a driving signal DRV2 for the switch Q2), where the driving signal DRV1 is a Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) signal, i.e., the duration of the switching interval TSW1=TON1+TOFF1 is constant, but the duty cycle TON1/TSW1 may be variable. In this case, the control circuit 14 typically implements a regulator circuit having a Proportional (P) and/or Integral (I) component, wherein the regulator circuit is configured to vary the duty cycle of the signal DRV1 in order to obtain a required output voltage Vout. In this case, the various operating modes of the converter (Continuous-Conduction Mode, CCM; Discontinuous-Conduction Mode, DCM; Transition Mode, TM) are well known in the technical field.
One of the most important parameters in a buck converter is the load regulation, which is the capability of the circuit to keep the output voltage Vout stable in response to changing load conditions, which also implies a varying output current iout. When the output current iout changes in the time, overshoots and undershoots can be observed in the output voltage Vout as a function of the ratio ±Δiout/ΔT, wherein Δiout represents the variation of the current iout in a given time interval ΔT. In fact, when the output current iout changes, the current IL supplied by the inductor L may be too high or too low, thereby creating a variation of the voltage Vout at the capacitor Cout.
For example, as mentioned before, such a buck converter may be used to supply a microcontroller, which may also be configured to drive other loads. In this case, significant load transitions may occur, such as negative load transient of 1 A/1 us. However, similar load transitions may occur each time the load 30 is a switchable load, which e.g. may comprise one or more loads selectively connected to the output voltage Vout. For example, assuming a buck converter 20 configured to supply an output voltage Vout in a range between 1V and 1.31 V, which e.g. may be settable by adjusting the reference voltage of the control circuit 22, and a maximum overshoot of 6%, the circuit 20 has to be able to maintain the overshoot in the voltage Vout below 60 mV for the negative load transient of 1 A/1 us.

Driver circuit for a buck converter, related integrated circuit, electronic buck converter and method


A portable terminal is provided where the portable terminal includes a lower body, an upper body connected to the lower body, the upper body being slidably moveable in a first direction with respect to the lower body between a closed position and an open position, and a first moving unit connected between the upper body and the lower body to move the upper body in a second direction different from the first direction. The first moving unit is configured to move the upper body toward the lower body along the second direction when the upper body is moved from the closed position to the open position and to move the upper body away from the lower body along the second direction when the upper body is moved from the open position to the closed position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable terminal having an upper body and a lower body slidably coupled to each other, and more particularly, to a portable terminal having a first moving unit configured to move an upper body of the portable terminal with respect to a lower body of the portable terminal.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, a portable terminal serves as a portable device providing one or more functions such as voice and video calls, information input/output, and data storage. Because portable terminals now provide many additional services besides basic call services, a user can capture photos or moving images, reproduce music or video, play games, receive broadcasting programs, and the like. As such, portable terminals are becoming multimedia players.
In order to implement complicated functions of the multimedia player, various improvements are being provided in the hardware or software implementation of the portable terminal. For instance, a user interface is provided to allow a user to easily and conveniently search or select functions of the portable terminal.
Furthermore, because the portable terminal is currently regarded as expressing a person's personality or taste, various designs such as a bar type, a slide type, a folder type, and a swivel type are being developed.
Recently, various attempts to provide not only the above structure but also a more convenient to operate user are being pursued.


A plug-in auxiliary headlight control unit (AHCU) repairs a damaged LCM and assures headlight performance. The plug-in AHCU contains an alternate lighting control circuitry, vehicle wiring harness connectors, LCM connectors, and a power relay, arranged on a chassis. The AHCU plugs into the failed LCM unit utilizing existing connectors for the vehicle's wiring harness. This arrangement places the AHCU in-line between the vehicle's wiring harness and the LCM.

Many modern vehicles have a Lighting Control Module (LCM) that is responsible for activating or deactivating vehicle lighting in one or more modes. In many instances, the LCM fails due to the occurrence of an over current condition. Frequently, an over current condition will cause a disabling failure in the power relay in the LCM that switches the vehicle's lights off and on. Owing to the nature of the problem, it is a necessary repair. However, the cost to replace a failed LCM can be prohibitive and a cost effective solution is needed.


A cutting tool such as a drill or reamer for machining a bore in a workpiece is provided with at least one chamfered cutting edge on its distal end having an enlarged radial extent. The chamfered edge is defined between a tapered leading end, and an undercut end, and has a radial extent about 2.5% greater than the radial extent of the shaft of the tool. At least 40% of the length of the chamfered edge is substantially parallel to the axis of rotation of the tool shaft. The tapered and radially enlarged geometry of the chamfered cutting edge advantageously allows the drill or reamer to machine a bore in a workpiece formed from materials having significant spring-back characteristics, such as aluminum, titanium, or nickel alloys without sticking or galling during the machining operation, thereby greatly increasing tool life.

This invention generally relates to cutting tools for machining bores in workpieces, and is specifically concerned with drills and reamers for machining bores in metal materials having a relatively high degree of spring-back or memory without the occurrence of sticking or galling between the inner walls of the bore and the outer diameter of the tool.
Cutting tools such as drills or reamers for machining bores in metal workpieces are well known in the prior art. Prior art drills typically include a shaft that terminates in a drill point formed from two or more cutting blades which are radially oriented with respect to the shaft axis of rotation. The cutting blades are separated by helical flutes for removing chips and swarf generated as the cutting blades of the drill point penetrate the material to form a bore in a workpiece. The fluted portion of the drill terminates in a cylindrical or tapered shank that is gripped by a chuck that is turned by a motor. In order to insure that the outer diameter of the fluted portion of the drill does not rub against a bore being created by the drill point, it is known to slightly taper the fluted portion of such drills a few thousandths of an inch so that the diameter of the drill diminishes between the drill point and the drill shank.
Reamers are used to size and finish preexisting bores. To this end, they employ a plurality of straight, longitudinally oriented cutting blades disposed around the circumference of the tool shaft. The cutting blades are separated by straight flutes which receive and remove the metal chips and swarf generated by the reaming operation. Unlike drills, such prior art reamers are not tapered from their leading to their trailing ends, but maintain the same diameter throughout the longitudinal lengths of the cutting blades. The modest material removed during a reaming operation, in combination with the burnishability and small amount of spring-back associated with most metals, normally allows such reamers to perform their sizing and finishing function without undue friction or sticking.
While such prior art boring and reaming tools generally function well when machining workpieces formed from metals having relatively little spring-back (i.e., steel), the applicants have observed that problems arise when such tools are used to machine deep bores in metal alloys having large spring-back properties such as aluminum, titanium, and nickel alloys. Specifically, when a prior art drill is used to machine a deep bore in a workpiece formed from such an alloy, the inner diameter of the bore created by the drill point can actually spring back or radially contract a few thousandths of an inch behind the tip of the drill as it penetrates the workpiece, thereby ultimately bringing the inner walls of the bore into contact with the outer fluted surface of the drill. The heat created by the resulting frictional contact can not only cause the drill to seize up inside of the bore (and in some instances break) due to sticking and galling, but can sometimes, cause the workpiece to ignite when it is formed from a flammable metal such as titanium. Prior art reamers used in high spring-back materials can also generate undesirable amounts of friction during the reaming operation. Normally, the leading tip of the reamer does most of the work, widening the bore so that the tips of the reamer blades have only light contact with the wall of the bore. However, when such reamers are used to machine workpieces formed from high spring-back alloys, the consequent radial contraction of the bore behind the leading tip of the reamer can cause the tool to seize up and break due to the localized melting and subsequent galling that occurs between the outer tips of the reamer blades and the inner surface of the bore.
Clearly, there is a need for cutting tools for machining bores in workpieces formed from alloys having high spring-back characteristics. Ideally, such cutting tools would be capable of either forming or reaming a bore in a workpiece formed from such a material with little or no contact between the sides of the tool and the inner surface of the bore so as to eliminate any possibility of galling, seizing, and breakage. It would be desirable if such a tool had a relatively simple design which could be incorporated into prior art drills and reamers. Finally, such a cutting tool should have a long tool life, and be equally effective in boring or reaming materials formed from alloys having high or low spring-back characteristics.

Cutting tool for machining bores in materials having spring-back


A method for handling product enclosures each containing a product and having a through opening. A five panel fiberboard folder is provided that includes first, second, third, fourth and fifth elongate panels each having opposite longitudinally extending sides, one longitudinally extending side of the fourth panel being joined to one longitudinally extending side of the third panel, and the longitudinally extending side of the fourth panel opposite the third panel being joined to one longitudinally extending side of the fifth panel. The fifth panel has a plurality of through cuts between its major surfaces each defining a hook portion of the fifth panel projecting toward a first end of the fifth panel, and the five panel folder has perforations affording separation of the fourth panel from between the third and fifth panels. The product enclosures containing the products are engaged with the hook portions of the fifth panel by inserting the hook portions through the openings in the product enclosures so that the product enclosures are supported along one major surface of the fifth panel. The folder is folded between the sides of the panels so that the first, second, third, and fourth elongate side panels form a longitudinally extending cavity having a rectangular cross section and the major surface of the fifth panel opposite the product enclosures is positioned along one major surface of the first panel within the cavity. The folded folder containing the product enclosures is moved to a different location. The fourth panel is separated from between the third and fifth panels, and the fifth panel and the product enclosures thereon are removed from within the cavity. The fifth panel can have a through aperture adjacent its first end from which it can be hung to display the products in the product enclosures.

Many different products to be sold (e.g., rolls or strips of adhesive coated tape, hooks, etc.) are either secured to pasteboard cards of various sizes by a polymeric layer extending over the product and affixed to the to card around the product or placed in bags typically of polymeric material. Such product enclosures typically have a through opening (e.g., an opening having a generally triangular shape known in the industry as a "delta hole") which will receive a projection on which the product enclosures can be hung at the location at which the products are sold. Such product enclosures can be hung at that location on a strip of polymeric material that has hook like portions spaced along its length and projecting toward a first end of the strip from which the strip is hung. Those hook-like portions are inserted through the openings in a multiplicity of the product enclosures so that portions of those product enclosures are engaged between the hook-like portions and a portion of the strip from which those portions project. Product enclosures containing products are typically attached to the polymeric strips at the manufactures packaging facilities and are sent on the strips to the place at which the products in the product enclosures are displayed. Each polymeric strip and the product enclosure attached to it are typically sent to that place in a five panel corrugated fiberboard folder of the type illustrated at page 25 in a book entitled "Fibre Box Handbook" bearing a 1992 copyright and available from Fibre Box Association, 2850 Golf Road, Rolling Meadows, Ill. 60008, the content whereof is incorporated herein by reference. The polymeric strip with the product enclosures attached thereto are positioned on the fiberboard folder, the fiberboard folder is folded, and adhesive coated tape and/or staples are then applied to the folder to make it into a finished box around the polymeric strip and the product enclosures, which box is then shipped or otherwise moved from the manufacturer to the place at which the product enclosures are to be displayed for sale. When that box is received, it is opened, the polymeric strip with the product enclosures supported thereon is removed from the folder and hung from a support received in an apertures at the first ends of the strip.

Minnesota Mining and Manfacturing Company


An in-cylinder direct-injection spark-ignition engine using at least a homogeneous combustion mode where early fuel-injection on intake stroke produces a homogeneous air-fuel mixture and a stratified combustion mode where late fuel-injection on compression stroke produces a stratified air-fuel mixture, comprises a variable valve overlap device mounted on at least one of intake and exhaust valves for variably adjusting a valve overlap during which open periods of the intake and exhaust valves are overlapped, and a control unit connected to a fuel injector for switching between the homogeneous combustion mode and the stratified combustion mode, and also connected to the variable valve overlap device for switching between a first valve overlap suitable for the homogeneous combustion mode and a second valve overlap suitable for the stratified combustion mode. The control unit comprises an overlap switch timing control section for optimizing a switch timing of the valve overlap, so that a first timing of switching from the first valve overlap to the second valve overlap is different from a second timing of switching from the second valve overlap to the first valve overlap.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an in-cylinder direct-injection spark-ignition engine with an electronic concentrated engine control system, employing an electronically-controlled fuel-injection system used to switch between a homogeneous combustion mode and a stratified combustion mode, and a variable valve timing and/or lift device used to be changeable a valve overlap during which both exhaust and intake valves are open in the same engine cylinder.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, there have been proposed and developed various in-cylinder direct-injection spark-ignition engines in which fuel is injected directly into the engine cylinder. Generally, on such direct-injection spark-ignition engines, a combustion mode is switchable between a homogeneous combustion mode and a stratified combustion mode, depending on engine operating conditions, such as engine speed and load. In more detail, the direct-injection spark-ignition engine uses two combustion modes, namely an early injection combustion mode (or a homogeneous combustion mode) where fuel-injection early in the intake stroke produces a homogeneous air-fuel mixture, and a late injection combustion mode (or a stratified combustion mode) where late fuel-injection delays the event until near the end of the compression stroke to produce a stratified air-fuel mixture. One such cylinder direct-injection spark-ignition engine (simply a DI engine) has been disclosed in Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 4-183945. The Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 4-183945 teaches selecting a stratified combustion mode from at least two combustion modes as previously discussed, during engine operation at partial loads, and also teaches increasing a valve overlap, during which the open periods of the intake and exhaust valves are overlapped, by means of a variable valve timing control device located on at least one of intake and exhaust valves during the stratified combustion mode. The increased valve overlap in the stratified combustion mode results in an increase in a so-called internal exhaust-gas recirculation, thus suppressing a temperature rise in the exhaust temperature (or the combustion temperature). This contributes to reduction in exhaust-emission levels of nitrogen oxides (NO.sub.x). In this conventional electronic engine control system of the direct-injection spark-ignition engine disclosed in the Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 4-183945, the valve overlap is set at a comparatively large valve overlap during the stratified combustion mode (or during partial loads), whereas the valve overlap is set at a comparatively small valve overlap during the homogeneous combustion mode (or during high loads). The prior art control system suffers from the following drawbacks. There is the response-time delay in increasing the actual valve overlap toward the desired small valve overlap, due to a slight response delay in valve-timing adjustment of the variable valve timing control device, even when the valve overlap is switched to the desired small valve overlap quickly at the time when the combustion mode has been completely switched to the homogeneous combustion mode. In this case, the actual valve overlap remains large for a while, just after the homogeneous combustion mode begins. This deteriorates combustion. To eliminate the response delay of the variable valve timing control device, suppose that the switch timing to the desired valve overlap is advanced evenly irrespective of during two different switch time periods, namely during a first switch time period from stratified to homogeneous combustion, and during a second switch time period from homogeneous to stratified combustion. During the transient switch time period from the homogeneous combustion mode (requiring a small valve overlap) to the stratified combustion mode (requiring a large valve overlap), there is the possibility that the actual valve overlap becomes large before the homogeneous combustion mode terminates. This also deteriorates combustion.

In-cylinder direct-injection spark-ignition engine


A parking rod for a parking lock device of an automatic transmission comprises a straight-shaped parking rod main body portion, and an applied force transmitting portion formed continuously at the base portion side of the parking rod main body portion. The applied force transmitting portion is formed flat and has a linking portion arranged at the base portion side formed to curve so as to engage with the linking portion at the transmission mechanism side for transmitting the applied force from the shift lever.

The present invention relates to a parking rod in a parking lock device of an automatic transmission for transmitting the applied force from a shift lever to a parking gear via a parking pole. The invention also includes a production method thereof.
A known parking lock device comprises a parking gear having a plurality of stopping grooves on the outer periphery which is fixed on a drive shaft supported rotatably in a transmission case. A parking pawl has stopping projecting portions for engagement with the stopping grooves. The parking pawl is rotatably supported in the vicinity of the parking gear.
A shift lever is rotatably supported at the vehicle body side so that the applied force of the shift lever is transmitted to a transmission mechanism comprising a link mechanism. Since the transmission mechanism is also linked with the parking rod, the parking rod rotates in accordance with the rotation of the shift lever. By rotation of the parking rod, a cam member provided at the tip portion of the parking rod rotates the parking pawl so that the parking gear engages with the parking pole for stopping rotation of the drive shaft through the parking gear.
The transmission mechanism and parking rod are linked via an applied force transmitting portion and a link pin embedded therein. Since the parking rod, the applied force transmitting portion and the link pin are individual parts, the applied force transmitting portion needs to be welded to the parking rod. Consequently, there are problems such as increase of weight of the device due to the increase of the number of constituent parts. There is also an increase in production cost due to the production processes in welding and due to the necessity of cutting off welding beads.

Parking rod in parking lock device of automatic transmission


There is provided a system and method for streaming content to a plurality of devices over a network. A first stream comprising a first live feed is received from a first source, a second stream comprising a second live feed received from a second source, the first live feed synchronized with the second live feed, and a third stream comprising the synchronized first and second live feed generated and sent to each device. An interface is also presented on each device and the live feed displayed therewithin, a request signal indicative of a request for interactive content received, a control signal comprising instructions for retrieving the interactive content from the memory sent to each device, and the interface dynamically modified for causing the retrieved interactive content to be displayed concurrently with the live feed.

With the advent of the Internet, various interactive tools are now available to allow the interaction of audience members during the webcast of an event. For instance, with television systems switching from analog to digital and using devices, such as set-top boxes, user interaction has significantly increased. Still, regardless of the interactive tools being used, most existing systems for broadcasting live content have static interfaces that cannot be reconfigured dynamically. In addition, video content is usually provided separately from any other type of content using a different platform and must therefore be managed separately. This also presents challenges with regards to synchronizing the live broadcast content with the other types of content.
There is therefore a need for an improved system and method for broadcasting interactive content.

System and method for broadcasting interactive content


A geothermal desiccant cycle cools and dehumidifies the air in an indoor conditioned space. The return air is split into two streams. One of the streams passes through a desiccant wheel to remove water vapor and then through a cooling coil for sensible cooling from geothermal water. The other stream is heated to increase its capacity to absorb moisture, and then is passed through the desiccant wheel to pick up the moisture transferred from the first stream and regenerate the desiccant. The second air stream, which now has a higher dewpoint temperature, flows through a geothermal cooling coil, for sensible cooling as well as condensation of the moisture. The two air streams are mixed and supplied back to the conditioned space. A regenerative air-air heat exchanger can be used to recover some of the heat used in heating the second air stream.

This invention relates to geothermal heating and cooling, and is more particularly concerned with a closed system in which geothermal water is used for removing sensible heat from indoor air, and a desiccant wheel is employed for removing humidity. The invention is more specifically directed to a geothermal air conditioning system in which the air stream is split into first and second air streams or courses, for removing both heat and humidity.
Abundant cooling resources are available from the earth in the form of geothermal cooling, which does not require significant energy to obtain, and which does not result in discharge of waste heat into the atmosphere. Geothermal cooling can be obtained by circulating water (or another heat exchange medium) through pipes that run to and from one or more geothermal wells. Because the ground temperature is constantly cooler than the temperature required for indoor air, geothermal sensible cooling appears to be an attractive option. However, in most parts of the U.S., the temperature of geothermal water coming from the geothermal well is not cold enough for dehumidification or latent cooling. In New York State, the deep earth temperature ranges between 46° F. in the Adirondacks and St. Lawrence valley, in the north part of the state, and 54° F. in the New York City area, and averaging about 50° F. statewide. Most other northern states have similar ground temperature conditions. Geothermal cooling can be used for "free" cooling of air, but the water being circulated is not cold enough, by itself, for dehumidification. The dewpoint of indoor air at 80° F. dry-bulb temperature and 67° F. wet-bulb temperature is about 60° F. The water circulated to deep earth temperatures of 46° to 54° F. will not return to the surface cold enough to dehumidify air with a dewpoint of 60° F.
Desiccant dehumidification has been employed for many applications, relying on indoor air passing through a dry side of a desiccant wheel to transfer moisture from the air to desiccant material, and then passing heated air through a wet side, where the wheel has rotated, to remove the moisture so it can be discharged somehow. Typically, outdoor air is heated and passed through the desiccant wheel, and the air leaving the desiccant wheel is discharged back into the outside environment. Traditional desiccant-based systems, i.e., "ventilation-cycle" systems, have a fairly low cooling and dehumidification efficiency, which may be between only about 0.6 COP. It is desired to raise this efficiency, and if possible to achieve 1.0 COP or higher.

Split-air stream air conditioning with desiccant dehumidification


To properly determine a state in which driving of the work unit should be prohibited in power equipment, the power equipment (1) includes: a main body (2); a work unit provided on the main body; a work motor (8) that drives the work unit; a tilt angle detector (41) that detects a tilt angle of the main body; and a control unit (10) that drive-controls the work motor, wherein the control unit performs prohibition control to prohibit driving of the work motor when the tilt angle becomes greater than or equal to a predetermined tilt angle determination value and a change rate of the tilt angle becomes greater than or equal to a predetermined change rate determination value.

A lawn mower provided with a switch device that operates based on a tilt state of a main body to prohibit rotation of a blade when the lawn mower topples over is known (for example, see Patent Document 1). The switch device is provided on the main body of the lawn mower, and includes a case containing a ball therein such that the ball is movable, a conical recess formed in the bottom surface of the case, and a press switch provided at the bottom of the recess. When the main body of the lawn mower is in a horizontal position, the ball is held in the recess and the switch is pressed by the ball. On the other hand, when the main body of the lawn mower is tilted, the ball moves out of the recess due to gravity and the switch is released.


A light duty, liquid cleaning composition comprising: a C8-C18 ethoxylated alkyl ether sulfate surfactant, a magnesium salt of a C8-C18 linear alkyl benzene sulfonate, a sodium salt of a C8-C18 linear alkyl benzene sulfonate, an amine oxide, a polyalkylglucoside, a zinc inorganic salt, and water.

The present invention relates to novel antibacterial light duty liquid cleaning compositions with high foaming and good grease cutting properties.
The prior art is replete with light duty liquid detergent compositions containing nonionic surfactants in combination with anionic and/or betaine surfactants wherein the nonionic detergent is not the major active surfactant. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,658,985 an anionic based shampoo contains a minor amount of a fatty acid alkanolamide. U.S. Pat. No. 3,769,398 discloses a betaine-based shampoo containing minor amounts of nonionic surfactants. This patent states that the low foaming properties of nonionic detergents renders its use in shampoo compositions non-preferred. U.S. Pat. No. 4,329,335 also discloses a shampoo containing a betaine surfactant as the major ingredient and minor amounts of a nonionic surfactant and of a fatty acid mono- or di-ethanolamide. U.S. Pat. No. 4,259,204 discloses a shampoo comprising 0.8 to 20% by weight of an anionic phosphoric acid ester and one additional surfactant which may be either anionic, amphoteric, or nonionic. U.S. Pat. No. 4,329,334 discloses an anionic-amphoteric based shampoo containing a major amount of anionic surfactant and lesser amounts of a betaine and nonionic surfactants.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,935,129 discloses a liquid cleaning composition containing an alkali metal silicate, urea, glycerin, triethanolamine, an anionic detergent and a nonionic detergent. The silicate content determines the amount of anionic and/or nonionic detergent in the liquid cleaning composition. However, the foaming properties of these detergent compositions are not discussed therein.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,129,515 discloses a heavy duty liquid detergent for laundering fabrics comprising a mixture of substantially equal amounts of anionic and nonionic surfactants, alkanolamines and magnesium salts, and, optionally, zwitterionic surfactants as suds modifiers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,224,195 discloses an aqueous detergent composition for laundering socks or stockings comprising a specific group of nonionic detergents, namely, an ethylene oxide of a secondary alcohol, a specific group of anionic detergents, namely, a sulfuric ester salt of an ethylene oxide adduct of a secondary alcohol, and an amphoteric surfactant which may be a betaine, wherein either the anionic or nonionic surfactant may be the major ingredient.
The prior art also discloses detergent compositions containing all nonionic surfactants as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,154,706 and 4,329,336 wherein the shampoo compositions contain a plurality of particular nonionic surfactants in order to affect desirable foaming and detersive properties despite the fact that nonionic surfactants are usually deficient in such properties.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,013,787 discloses a piperazine based polymer in conditioning and shampoo compositions which may contain all nonionic surfactant or all anionic surfactant.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,450,091 discloses high viscosity shampoo compositions containing a blend of an amphoteric betaine surfactant, a polyoxybutylenepolyoxyethylene nonionic detergent, an anionic surfactant, a fatty acid alkanolamide and a polyoxyalkylene glycol fatty ester. But, none of the exemplified compositions contain an active ingredient mixture wherein the nonionic detergent is present in major proportion which is probably due to the low foaming properties of the polyoxybutylene polyoxyethylene nonionic detergent.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,595,526 describes a composition comprising a nonionic surfactant, a betaine surfactant, an anionic surfactant and a C12-C14 fatty acid monoethanolamide foam stabilizer.
It has now been found that a high foaming antibacterial liquid cleaning composition with properties good grease cutting properties can be formulated with a sodium salt of a C8-C18 linear alkyl benzene sulfonate, a magnesium salt of a C8-C18 linear alkyl benzene sulfonate, an amine oxide, an alkyl polyglucoside, a C8-C18 ethoxylated alkyl ether sulfate, a zinc inorganic salt, sodium salt of lauryol ethylene diamine triacetate and water.
To achieve the foregoing and other objects and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein the novel, high foaming, light duty liquid detergent of this invention comprises a C8-C18 ethoxylated alkyl ether sulfate, a magnesium salt of a C8-C18 linear alkyl benzene sulfonate, sodium salt of a C8-C18 linear alkyl benzene sulfonate, an alkyl polyglucoside, an amine oxide, a zinc inorganic salt, sodium salt of lauryol ethylene diamine triacetate, and water, wherein the composition does not contain a glycol ether solvent, an ethoxylated and/or propoxylated nonionic surfactant, a zwitterionic surfactant, a polyoxyalkylene glycol fatty acid, a builder, a polymeric thickener, a clay, an alkali metal salt of ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid or hydroxy ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid, a fatty acid alkanol amide, abrasive, silicas, tricloscan, alkaline earth metal carbonates, alkyl glycine surfactant or cyclic imidinium surfactant.
The present invention relates to a light duty liquid detergent which comprises approximately by weight:
(a) 6% to 15% of a magnesium salt of a C8-C18 linear alkyl sulfonate surfactant;
(b) 1% to 5% of a sodium salt of a C8-C18 linear alkyl sulfonate surfactant;
(c) 3% to 12% of an amine oxide surfactant;
(d) 5% to 15% of an alkyl polyglucoside surfactant;
(e) 6% to 15% of a C8-C18 ethoxylated alkyl ether sulfate;
(f) 0.25% to 6% of a zinc inorganic salt such as zinc chloride, zinc bromide or zinc sulfate;
(g) 0.25% to 6% of a sodium salt of lauryol ethylene diamine triacetate; and
(h) the balance being water wherein the composition does not contain a glycol ether solvent, an ethoxylated and/or propoxylated nonionic surfactant, a zwitterionic surfactant, a polyoxyalkylene glycol fatty acid, a builder, a polymeric thickener, an alkali metal salt of ethylene diamine triacetic or a hydroxy ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid, a clay, a fatty acid alkanol amide, abrasive, silicas, triclosan, alkaline earth metal carbonates, alkyl glycine surfactant or cyclic imidinium surfactant.
The C8-C18 ethoxylated alkyl sulfate surfactants which can be used in the instant compositions at a concentration of 6 to about 15 wt. %, more preferably about 8 to 18 wt. % have the structure
Rxe2x80x94(OCHCH2)nOSO3xe2x88x92M+
wherein n is about 1 to about 22 more preferably 1 to 3 and R is an alkyl group having about 8 to about 18 carbon atoms, more preferably 12 to 15 and natural cuts, for example, C12-14; C12-15 and M is an ammonium cation, alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal cation, most preferably magnesium, sodium or ammonium. The ethoxylated alkyl ether sulfate is generally present in the composition at a concentration of about 0 to about 20 wt. %, more preferably about 0.5 wt. % to 15 wt. %.
The ethoxylated alkyl ether sulfate may be made by sulfating the condensation product of ethylene oxide and C8-10 alkanol, and neutralizing the resultant product. The ethoxylated alkyl ether sulfates differ from one another in the number of carbon atoms in the alcohols and in the number of moles of ethylene oxide reacted with one mole of such alcohol. Preferred ethoxylated alkyl ether polyethenoxy sulfates contain 12 to 15 carbon atoms in the alcohols and in the alkyl groups thereof, e.g., sodium myristyl (3 EO) sulfate. Ethoxylated C8-18 alkylphenyl ether sulfates containing from 2 to 6 moles of thylene oxide in the molecule are also suitable for use in the invention compositions. These detergents can be prepared by reacting an alkyl phenol with 2 to 6 moles of ethylene oxide and sulfating and neutralizing the resultant ethoxylated alkylphenol. The concentration of the ethoxylated alkyl ether sulfate surfactant is about 1 to about 8 wt. %.
The alkali metal or salt of the C8-C18 linear alkyl benzene sulfonate surfactant is generally used in the instant compositions at a concentration of about 1 to 5 wt. %, more preferably about 2 wt. % to about 4 wt. %. The alkaline urea metal salt of the C8-C18 linear alkyl benzene sulfonate surfactant is used at a concentration of 6 wt. % to 15 wt. %, more preferably 8 wt. % to 13 wt. %. Examples of suitable sulfonated anionic surfactants are the well known higher alkyl mononuclear aromatic sulfonates such as the higher alkyl benzene sulfonates containing from 8 to 18 carbon atoms, more preferably 10 to 16 carbon atoms in the higher alkyl group in a straight or branched chain, C8-C15 alkyl toluene sulfonates and C8-C15 alkyl phenol sulfonates.
One of preferred sulfonates is linear alkyl benzene sulfonate having a high content of 3- (or higher) phenyl isomers and a correspondingly low content (well below 50%) of 2- (or lower) phenyl isomers, that is, wherein the benzene ring is preferably attached in large part at the 3 or higher (for example, 4, 5, 6 or 7) position of the alkyl group and the content of the isomers in which the benzene ring is attached in the 2 or 1 position is correspondingly low. Particularly preferred materials are set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,320,174.
The instant compositions can contain about 5 to about 15 wt. %, more preferably 7 to 12 wt. % of an alkyl polysaccharide surfactant. The alkyl polysaccharides surfactants, which are used in conjunction with the aforementioned surfactant have a hydrophobic group containing from about 8 to about 20 carbon atoms, preferably from about 10 to about 16 carbon atoms, most preferably from about 12 to about 14 carbon atoms, and polysaccharide hydrophilic group containing from about 1.5 to about 10, preferably from about 1.5 to about 4, most preferably from about 1.6 to about 2.7 saccharide units (e.g., galactoside, glucoside, fructoside, glucosyl, fructosyl; and/or galactosyl units). Mixtures of saccharide moieties may be used in the alkyl polysaccharide surfactants. The number x indicates the number of saccharide units in a particular alkyl polysaccharide surfactant. For a particular alkyl polysaccharide molecule x can only assume integral values. In any physical sample of alkyl polysaccharide surfactants there will be in general molecules having different x values. The physical sample can be characterized by the average value of x and this average value can assume non-integral values. In this specification the values of x are to be understood to be average values. The hydrophobic group (R) can be attached at the 2-, 3-, or 4-positions rather than at the 1-position, (thus giving e.g. a glucosyl or galactosyl as opposed to a glucoside or galactoside). However, attachment through the 1-position, i.e., glucosides, galactoside, fructosides, etc., is preferred. In the preferred product the additional saccharide units are predominately attached to the previous saccharide unit""s 2-position. Attachment through the 3-, 4-, and 6-positions can also occur. Optionally and less desirably there can be a polyalkoxide chain joining the hydrophobic moiety (R) and the polysaccharide chain. The preferred alkoxide moiety is ethoxide.
Typical hydrophobic groups include alkyl groups, either saturated or unsaturated, branched or unbranched containing from about 8 to about 20, preferably from about 10 to about 18 carbon atoms. Preferably, the alkyl group is a straight chain saturated alkyl group. The alkyl group can contain up to 3 hydroxy groups and/or the polyalkoxide chain can contain up to about 30, preferably less than about 10, alkoxide moieties.
Suitable alkyl polysaccharides are decyl, dodecyl, tetradecyl, pentadecyl, hexadecyl, and octadecyl, di-, tri-, tetra-, penta-, and hexaglucosides, galactosides, lactosides, fructosides, fructosyls, lactosyls, glucosyls and/or galactosyls and mixtures thereof.
The alkyl monosaccharides are relatively less soluble in water than the higher alkyl polysaccharides. When used in admixture with alkyl polysaccharides, the alkyl monosaccharides are solubilized to some extent. The use of alkyl monosaccharides in admixture with alkyl polysaccharides is a preferred mode of carrying out the invention. Suitable mixtures include coconut alkyl, di-, tri-, tetra-, and pentaglucosides and tallow alkyl tetra-, penta-, and hexaglucosides.
The preferred alkyl polysaccharides are alkyl polyglucosides having the formula
R2O(CnH2nO)r(Z)x
wherein Z is derived from glucose, R is a hydrophobic group selected from the group consisting of alkyl, alkylphenyl, hydroxyalkylphenyl, and mixtures thereof in which said alkyl groups contain from about 10 to about 18, preferably from about 12 to about 14 carbon atoms; n is 2 or 3 preferably 2, r is from 0 to 10, preferable 0; and x is from 1.5 to 8, preferably from 1.5 to 4, most preferably from 1.6 to 2.7. To prepare these compounds a long chain alcohol (R2OH) can be reacted with glucose, in the presence of an acid catalyst to form the desired glucoside. Alternatively the alkyl polyglucosides can be prepared by a two step procedure in which a short chain alcohol (R1OH) can be reacted with glucose, in the presence of an acid catalyst to form the desired glucoside. Alternatively the alkyl polyglucosides can be prepared by a two step procedure in which a short chain alcohol (C1-6) is reacted with glucose or a polyglucoside (x=2 to 4) to yield a short chain alkyl glucoside (x=1 to 4) which can in turn be reacted with a longer chain alcohol (R2OH) to displace the short chain alcohol and obtain the desired alkyl polyglucoside. If this two step procedure is used, the short chain alkylglucoside content of the final alkyl polyglucoside material should be less than 50%, preferably less than 10%, more preferably less than about 5%, most preferably 0% of the alkyl polyglucoside. The amount of unreacted alcohol (the free fatty alcohol content) in the desired alkyl polysaccharide surfactant is preferably less than about 2%, more preferably less than about 0.5% by weight of the total of the alkyl polysaccharide. For some uses it is desirable to have the alkyl monosaccharide content less than about 10%.
The used herein, xe2x80x9calkyl polysaccharide surfactantxe2x80x9d is intended to represent both the preferred glucose and galactose derived surfactants and the less preferred alkyl polysaccharide surfactants. Throughout this specification, xe2x80x9calkyl polyglucosidexe2x80x9d is used to include alkyl polyglycosides because the stereochemistry of the saccharide moiety is changed during the preparation reaction.
An especially preferred APG glycoside surfactant is APG 625 glycoside manufactured by the Henkel Corporation of Ambler, Pa. APG25 is a nonionic alkyl polyglycoside characterized by the formula:
CnH2n+1O(C6H10O5)xH
wherein n=10 (2%); n=122 (65%); n=14 (21-28%); n=16 (4-8%) and n=18 (0.5%) and x (degree of polymerization)=1.6. APG 625 has: a pH of 6 to 10 (10% of APG 625 in distilled water); a specific gravity at 25xc2x0 C. of 1.1 g/ml; a density at 25xc2x0 C. of 9.1 lbs/gallon; a calculated HLB of 12.1 and a Brookfield viscosity at 35xc2x0 C., 21 spindle, 5-10 RPM of 3,000 to 7,000 cps.
Amine oxide semi-polar nonionic surfactants comprise compounds and mixtures of compounds having the formula
wherein R1 is an alkyl, 2-hydroxyalkyl, 3-hydroxyalkyl, or 3-alkoxy-2-hydroxypropyl radical in which the alkyl and alkoxy, respectively, contain from 8 to 18 carbon atoms, R2 and R3 are each methyl, ethyl, propyl, isopropyl, 2-hydroxyethyl, 2-hydroxypropyl, or 3-hydroxypropyl, and n is from 0 to 10. Particularly preferred are amine oxides of formula:
wherein R1 is a C12-16 alkyl and R2 and R3 are methyl or ethyl. The above ethylene oxide condensates, amides, and amine oxides are more fully described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,316,824 which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. The most preferred amine oxide is a C12-C14 amidopropyl dimethyl amine oxide.
The concentration of the amine oxide in the instant compositions is 3 to 12 wt. %, more preferably 4 to 10 wt. %.
The water is present at a concentration of 40 wt. % to 83 wt. %.
In addition to the previously constituents of the light duty liquid detergent, one may also employ normal and conventional adjuvants, provided they do not adversely affect the properties of the detergent. Thus, there may be used various coloring agents and perfumes; ultraviolet light absorbers such as the Uvinuls, which are products of GAF Corporation; magnesium sulfate heptahydrate; pH modifiers; etc. The proportion of such adjuvant materials, in total will normally not exceed 15% by weight of the detergent composition, and the percentages of most of such individual components will be a maximum of 5% by weight and preferably less than 2% by weight. Sodium formate or formalin can be included in the formula as a preservative at a concentration of 0.1 to 4.0 wt. %. Sodium bisulfite can be used as a color stabilizer at a concentration of 0.01 to 0.2 wt. %.
The present light duty liquid detergents such as dishwashing liquids are readily made by simple mixing methods from readily available components which, on storage, do not adversely affect the entire composition. Solubilizing agent such as ethanol, sodium chloride and/or sodium cumene or sodium xylene sulfonate and mixtures thereof are used at a concentration of 0.5 wt. % to 10 wt. % to assist in solubilizing the surfactants. The viscosity of the light duty liquid composition desirably will be at least 100 centipoises (cps) at room temperature, but may be up to 1,000 centipoises as measured with a Brookfield Viscometer using a number 3 spindle rotating at 12 rpm. The viscosity of the light duty liquid composition may approximate those of commercially acceptable light duty liquid compositions now on the market. The viscosity of the light duty liquid composition and the light duty liquid composition itself remain stable on storage for lengthy periods of time, without color changes or settling out of any insoluble materials. The pH of the composition is substantially neutral to skin, e.g., 4.5 to 8 and preferably 5.0 to 7.0. The pH of the composition can be adjusted by the addition of Na2O (caustic soda) to the composition.
The instant compositions have a minimum foam volume of 400 mls after 40 rotation at 25xc2x0 C. as measured by the foam volume test using 0.033 wt. % of the composition in 150 ppm of water. The foam test is an inverted cylinder test in which 100 ml. of a 0.033 wt. % LDL formula in 150 ppm of H2O is placed in a stoppered graduate cylinder (500 ml) and inverted 40 cycles at a rate of 30 cycles/minute. After 40 inversions, the foam volume which has been generated is measured in mls inside the graduated cylinder. This value includes the 100 ml of LDL solution inside the cylinder. The minimum foam volume with soil is 150 ml.

Antibacterial light duty liquid cleaning composition comprising zinc salt


A switching power source for driving a light emitting element, a pulse-drive switching element connected in parallel to the light emitting element, a photodetector for detecting an intensity of an output light output from the light emitting element, a current detecting element for detecting a current flowing from the switching power source, and an operation processing unit that controls an operation of the switching power source by performing a feedback loop operation based on a detection result from the photodetector and a feedback loop operation based on a detection result from the current detecting element are provided to stabilize an emission waveform even when the light emitting element is subjected to a pulsed emission.

Conventional projection televisions employ various types of lamps (white lamps such as a discharge xenon lamp, a metal halide lamp, or a halogen lamp) as their light sources, and spatial modulation devices such as a liquid crystal and a DMD (Digital Micromirror Device®) as their light bulbs. In recent years, a projection television employing a light emitting diode or a semiconductor laser is being put into production, aiming to obtain a long service life of the light source and an expansion of color reproduction range of an image.
In a projection television employing a light emitting diode or a semiconductor laser as the light source, a color image is obtained by driving light emitting elements each emitting a monochromatic light of red, green, or blue in such a manner that each of the light emitting elements emits a time-division pulsed light at such a high speed (a few hundred Hz to a few kHz) that the flickering is hardly perceived by human eyes. In addition, a projection television employing a DMD as the light bulb often uses a pulse-width modulation method as a gradation representing method, which represents the brightness with a length of a display time of each pixel (Patent Literature 1).
However, when representing the gradation by the pulse-width modulation method, an emission waveform from a light emitting element used as the light source needs to be a stable waveform without having a fluctuation between individual waveforms and a fluctuation due to a temperature change and a temporal change. Generally, it is possible to obtain a stable emission waveform with a constant emission intensity from a light emitting element such as a laser diode or a semiconductor laser by driving it with the rated current.
Furthermore, in a green region or a blue region, it is often the case that a sufficient light intensity can hardly be obtained only with a laser oscillation. Therefore, a technique of oscillating an infrared laser light, for example, and then converting the light into a visible light having a half wavelength is used, where the wavelength conversion is achieved by using a wavelength converting element such as an SHG (Second Harmonic Generation) element.
As a technique of controlling a light emitting element for a wavelength conversion using a wavelength converting element, there has been proposed a technique of measuring an emission intensity of a light from a semiconductor laser with a photodetecting element and controlling the light emitting element based on the measurement result (Patent Literature 2).

Light source driving device, light source driving method, and image display device


In the present invention, several polyphase devices are connected together: an inverter (420), and electrical rotating machine (440), and a resistive load or braking resistor (430). The purpose of the resistive load is to dissipate excess electrical which may be produced when the inverter acts to slow down the rotating machine (440), causing the rotating machine to act as a generator. In common art, this resistive load is a single DC resistor coupled to the DC link of the inverter via a separate resistor control transistor. In the present invention, the resistive load is a mesh connected array of resistors, and is electrically connected to the same inverter output terminals that the rotating machine is connected to. When it is desired that the resistors absorb energy, for example from a braking operation, then the harmonic content of the inverter output is adjusted, thus placing voltage differences across the resistor array (430) and causing current to flow in the resistors.

When the drive motor is used as a brake during operation of an elevator with the induction motor driven by an inverter, the rotating speed of the motor is higher than the frequency of the inverter, and regenerated power is formed in the motor. As this regenerated power flows into the DC circuit of the inverter, a resistor in the DC circuit absorbs the regenerated power. A number of approaches for controlling this have been disclosed; for example Kitaoka and Watanabe (U.S. Pat. No. 4,678,063) disclose an elevator control system connected to a source of three-phase alternating current which is rectified by a converter to direct current which is converted to a variable-voltage variable-frequency A.C. voltage which, in turn, drives the elevator hoist motor. A resistor and a switch are connected across the D.C. terminals of the converter. When the motor is operating in the regenerative mode, the switch is closed to permit the regenerated circuit to flow through the resistor, which dissipates or consumes the regenerated power. When the regenerated power being consumed by the resistor is detected to exceed a predetermined value, the excess regenerated power is returned to the A.C. source through a regenerative inverter. Kanzaki and Yamada (U.S. Pat. No. 5,420,491) disclose the conversion of an analog DC link bus voltage in an induction motor drive to a digital DC link bus voltage so that if the DC link bus voltage exceeds an ON voltage threshold of a switch and this condition exists a holding time later, the switch closes, thereby allowing regenerated power in the DC link to be dissipated in a resistor connected across the DC link. And if the DC link bus voltage falls below an OFF voltage threshold and that condition exists a latching time later, the switch is opened so that no regenerated power may be dissipated through the resistor. Systems disclosed in the prior art use a variety of methods for sensing when regenerated power on the DC supply line, but they all use a switch (a transistor in the case of Kitaoka and Watanabe) to allow the regenerated power to flow through the resistor.

Mesh connected brake array for electrical rotating machines


A system includes a bidirectional signal bus controlled by an M×S master/slave bridge circuit. An application processor having at least one core is communicatively coupled by the bidirectional signal bus to a radio processor having at least one virtual machine. The core hosts a master agent. The virtual machine hosts a slave agent. Each master agent is coupled to a collector server by an authenticated connection circuit to receive and store profiles and build and transmit packages. Each master agent is coupled to at least one slave agent and can transmit a profile to the slave agent and request and receive packages which are generated by the slave agent by executing the profile. Each slave agent receives and executes profiles to collect data from radio circuits and upon command builds and transmits data packages to a master agent.

In a conventional mobile phone, an application processor is coupled by a bus to a radio processor which operates as a slave for quality of service statistical data collection. The slave processor has a slave agent pre-installed from chip-set vendor. The slave agent may be a circuit or a processor executing instructions in firmware or non-transitory storage.
In a conventional system, access to the slave agent on the radio processor is restricted to the embedded distribution only. The master/slave bridge is 1 to 1, not standardized, and only exposed solely to application processor agents that are built on the ROM by the OEM. Some metrics are sourced from client code in the framework to connect to an embedded agent as well. Access to the radio processor is controlled by keeping the interface private and proprietary and developing custom software for the application processor which is hidden, undocumented, and subject to change without notice.
Conventional master-slave configurations provisioned by mobile wireless device original equipment manufacturers support only one master and one slave circuit pair.
What is needed is a way that any arbitrary numbers of partners (the carrier, the manufacturer, and data analysts, etc.) can install an Application Kit and have access to radio side slave agent quality metrics and partner specific collection and reporting.

Concurrent, diverse party multi-processor wireless quality metric collection circuits and method of operation


A method of arranging a frame for power reduction, utilized in a transmitter in a communication system is disclosed. The transmitter communicates with a receiver in the communication system. The method comprises generating a preamble with a first power level in the frame; arranging a header with the first power level after the preamble in the frame, wherein the header comprises information of a second power level; arranging an additional channel estimation (ACE) symbol with the second power level after the header in the frame; and arranging a first payload with the second power level after the ACE symbol in the frame.

The present invention relates to a method used in a communication system and related communication device, and more particularly, to a method of handling power reduction at a transmitter and related communication device.
A modern wireline communication system, such as an asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) system or a power line communication (PLC) system, usually adopts orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) or discrete multi-tone modulation (DMT) for transmitting and receiving signals. That is, a transmitter processes the signals by using the OFDM or the DMT before transmitting the signals to a receiver. Correspondingly, the receiver recovers the transmitted information by demodulating the received OFDM signals or the received DMT signals. In detail, when the OFDM or the DMT operates, the transmitter allocates various numbers of bits to subcarriers according to a tone map (i.e., bit loading), to maximize throughput. In general, the tone map is determined by the receiver by performing channel estimation on the channel between the transmitter and the receiver, and then transmits or indicates the tone map to the transmitter.
On the other hand, power spectral density (PSD) mask specified for the PLC system (e.g. HomePlug AV2 or G.hn) is special in that power levels at a low band (i.e., <30 MHz) and a high band (i.e., 30˜100 MHz) are greatly different. In detail, the power level at the low band is much higher than the power level at the high band. That is, when the signals are allocated to an entire band, part of the signals allocated to the low band can be transmitted with a high power level, while the other part of the signals allocated to the high band can only be transmitted with a low power level. When the receiver receives the signals at the entire band, the receiver needs to reduce the high power level of the part of the signals (i.e., the high power level at the low band), to operation region of an analog front end (AFE) of the receiver, such that the AFE can operate regularly. However, when reducing the high power level of the part of the signals, the power levels at the entire band are reduced at the same time. That is, the low power level of the other part of the signals is also reduced, such that the other part of the signals (i.e., the signals allocated to the high band) becomes weak and can not be easily recovered. Thus, reducing the power levels at the receiver is not an effective way to deal with strong signal which is generally encountered when the distance between the transmitter and receiver is short.
Therefore, the HomePlug AV2 and the G.hn both propose solutions for the power reduction, wherein the power levels are reduced at the transmitter, but not at the receiver. Notice that the power reduction is applied only to the low band portion according to the solutions proposed by the HomePlug AV2 and the G.hn. In detail, in the HomePlug AV2, reduced power levels are first determined by respective receivers, and are then transmitted to the transmitter. After the transmitter collects the reduced power levels transmitted from all the receivers, the transmitter determines a corresponding reduced power level for each receiver under a constraint that no additional hidden node is introduced. Then, the transmitter reduces a power level of a signal to the corresponding reduced power level, before transmitting the signal to the receiver. In other words, when determining the corresponding reduced power level for the receiver, the transmitter not only considers the reduced power level fed back by the receiver, but also considers the reduced power levels fed back by other receivers, to satisfy the constraint that no additional hidden node is introduced. Thus, the corresponding reduced power level is not optimal for the receiver. Besides, a large amount of time and resource required for collecting the reduced power levels from all the receivers makes this solution not efficient. On the other hand, in the G.hn, the transmitter only considers the reduced power level fed back by the receiver, when determining the corresponding reduced power level for the receiver. In this situation, additional hidden node may be introduced, since the transmitter transmits the signal with a weak power level to the receiver according to the corresponding reduced power level.
Therefore, the power reduction can not be solved completely according to the abovementioned solutions. How to solve the power reduction completely is a topic to be discussed.

Method of handling power reduction at transmitter and related communication device


A processor comprises a first register to store an encoded pointer to a memory location. First context information is stored in first bits of the encoded pointer and a slice of a linear address of the memory location is stored in second bits of the encoded pointer. The processor also includes circuitry to execute a memory access instruction to obtain a physical address of the memory location, access encrypted data at the memory location, derive a first tweak based at least in part on the encoded pointer, and generate a keystream based on the first tweak and a key. The circuitry is to further execute the memory access instruction to store state information associated with memory access instruction in a first buffer, and to decrypt the encrypted data based on the keystream. The keystream is to be generated at least partly in parallel with accessing the encrypted data.

Protecting memory in computer systems from software bugs and security vulnerabilities is a significant concern. Examples of computer memory safety violations include overflowing a buffer causing adjacent memory locations to be overwritten, reading past the end of a buffer, and creating a dangling pointer that is not resolved to a valid destination. Current computing techniques have used architecture and metadata to provide data protection. For example, in previous solutions, a processor would use lookup tables to encode policy or data about the data for ownership, memory size, location, type, version, etc. However, this metadata requires additional storage (memory overhead) and negatively impacts performance, particularly for implementations with fine-grain metadata. Thus, different approaches are needed to provide efficient memory safety to computing systems without causing a significant negative impact on performance.

Cryptographic computing engine for memory load and store units of a microarchitecture pipeline


Disclosed are an analog-to-digital converter error shaping circuit and a successive approximation analog-to-digital converter. The analog-to-digital converter error shaping circuit includes a decentralized capacitor array, a data weighted average module, a mismatch error shaping module, a control logic generation circuit, a digital filter and a decimator. The decentralized capacitor array includes two symmetrically arranged capacitor array units, each capacitor array unit includes a first sub-capacitor array of a high segment bit and a second sub-capacitor array of a low segment bit. The data weighted average module is configured to eliminate correlation between the first sub-capacitor array and an input signal, and the mismatch error shaping module is configured to eliminate correlation between the second sub-capacitor array and the input signal.

For ultra-high precision successive approximation analog-to-digital converters (including oversampling analog-to-digital converters and noise-shaping analog-to-digital converters), linearity of the capacitor array is a major limiting factor, because the oversampling technique is only effective for reducing quantization noise, and the nonlinearity of the capacitor array will cause harmonics. These harmonic components are distributed in the signal band, and the oversampling technique cannot eliminate them.
Trace parasitic and unit capacitance mismatch are two factors that affect linearity. Ideally, the nonlinear error introduced by trace parasitic in capacitor array can be solved through perfect circuit and layout design. Unit capacitance mismatch is also a difficult problem to solve, because it is only related to process accuracy parameters and capacitance size. And, the mismatch is inversely proportional to the square root of the capacitance size. 4 times capacitance size can only increase the linearity of 6 dB at most. Take a capacitance array with a suitable circuit and layout design as shown in FIG. 1 as an example, a Most Significant Bits (MSB) capacitor array with 7 bits binary weight is provided together with a Least Significant Bits (LSB) capacitor array with 5 bits binary weight, a bridge capacitor is provided in the middle to attenuate LSB to MSB. 1 C represents unit capacitance, its total size is about 1 pF, which can provide 70 dB Digital-to-analog Converter (DAC) linearity and can meet the requirements of a 12 bits Successive Approximation Register Analog-to-digital Converter (SAR ADC) for DAC capacitor array. While for a 14 bits SAR ADC, the linearity of the capacitor array needs to be increased to 4 times, that is, 12 dB. At this time, the total size of the capacitor array needs to be at least 16 pF, although the power consumption and layout area are greatly increased, it is still within the acceptable range. However, for a 16 bits SAR ADC and for a similar design, the total capacitor size needs to reach 256 pF to meet the linearity requirements of the capacitor array, and such a size is too large for power consumption and area to accept.

Analog-to-digital converter error shaping circuit and successive approximation analog-to-digital converter


A well completion system and method in which reeled tubing is connected in the completion string which includes a safety valve and a sliding sleeve valve. A straddle assembly is provided within the sliding sleeve valve for sealing against axial flow of fluid and isolating a lateral fluid flow path. A stinger assembly is provided which is insertable within the straddle assembly and connectable to the reeled tubing to lock the reeled tubing relative to the straddle assembly and the sleeve valve. The sliding sleeve valve functions to selectively control the lateral flow of production fluid into the production string for upward flow through the safety valve and the reeled tubing to the ground surface.

The present invention relates to a well completion system and method for recovering production fluid, such as oil, from an oil or gas well, and, more particularly, to such a system and method utilizing reeled tubing for controlling the flow of the production fluid from the well.
In the operation of subterranean oil and gas earth wells, various types of equipment have evolved for controlling the flow of production fluid to the ground surface. This equipment is usually connected in, or to, a string of production tubing formed by a plurality of tubing sections.
Reeled tubing i.e. continuous, relatively thin-walled, bendable tubing, is becoming more and more popular in downhole servicing of oil and gas wells since it has many advantages when compared to wireline or connected tubing sections. For example, reeled tubing can be more rapidly inserted into the well and can be more easily passed through downhole equipment. Also, the reeled tubing can traverse highly deviated, or horizontal, wells which could otherwise not be traversed with wireline or threaded tubing in a controlled manner.
Although reeled tubing would be ideally suited for well completion systems since it would enjoy the above advantages and, in addition, eliminate the multiple joints between the production tubing sections, reeled tubing has not enjoyed widespread use in this manner for several reasons. For example, its relatively thin walls preclude threading for attaching the tubing to completion equipment such as pumps, landing nipples, safety values, well hangers, etc. Also, there has been no known effective use of reeled tubing for conveying production fluid from the formation to ground surface due to the need for relatively sophisticated high pressure sealing and blow-out prevention techniques. Further, many connections of the various components making up a well completion system require relative rotation between the various components. For example, when a section of tubing is attached to a well completion tool, matching threads are formed on the tool and the tubing, or to a sub attached to the tubing, so that the connection can be made by advancing and rotating one of the components relative to the other. However, these type of connections have stress limitations that are well below the stress limitations of a continuous section of reeled tubing. Also, these type of connections are inadequate when the reeled tubing is connected to downhole tools having a rotary component such as electrical submersible well pumps which are often used in well completion systems to pump production fluid from a formation, into and through a casing string and a production tubing string, and to a wellhead above surface.
Another reason that reeled tubing has not enjoyed widespread use in well completion systems is that emergency release devices are often used to connect the reeled tubing to certain operating tools for providing a quick and reliable disconnect during emergency conditions, such as, for example, when the operating tool is jammed in the well. (An emergency release device of this type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,986,362 assigned to the assignee of the present invention.) However, if reeled tubing is used in a well completion environment with tools having a rotary component, the emergency release device discussed above does not lock against rotation of the operating tool relative to the reeled tubing. Therefore, if the rotating component of the tool becomes jammed, one component of the emergency release device would rotate, or free-wheel, relative to the other. This makes it difficult to free the jammed rotary tool.
Another potential disadvantage of reeled tubing in this context is that, in well completion systems a safety valve is usually deployed in the well completion string for blocking the flow of production fluid to the ground surface under emergency conditions. However, if reeled tubing is used in the string and the safety valve is activated to shut off, reactive forces are created which would tend to bend the reeled tubing and cause leakage of the production fluid.

Well completion system for oil and gas wells


Disclosed are systems and methods for determining time-outs with respect to a plurality of transactions comprising utilizing a first time-out clock for simultaneously determining time-out states with respect to a first set of transactions of the plurality of transactions, and determining when transactions of the first set of transactions have reached a timed-out state of the time-out states.

It is not uncommon today for a computer system to be quite complex, often including multiple processors configured to provide parallel and/or distributed processing. For example, multi-processor computer systems often include not only multiple main processing units (MPUs), but may also include multiple support processors or agents, such as memory processors and the like. These various processors, as well as other system resources such as memory, input/output devices, disk devices, and the like, may be distributed throughout the computer system with communication provided by various buses. For example, a computer system may comprise a number of sub-modules, referred to herein as cells or cell cards, having a number of system resources, such as main processing units (MPUs), agents, and/or memories, and buses disposed thereon. System resources of a sub-module may make and/or service requests to and/or from other system resources. Such system resources may be associated with the same sub-module and/or other sub-modules of the system.
To service requests from multiple system resources in an orderly and predictable manner, systems may implement various bus protocols and transaction queues. For example, transaction queues may store information with respect to particular transactions "in-process" for a particular system resource. A processor, for example, may issue a large number of transactions, such as a number of memory reads, wherein a header and/or data return, such as a memory return, is expected in normal operation. If the processor issues a transaction and the transaction does not return, then the processor may experience an, perhaps critical, error condition.
If an error in operation of any aspect of the system, such as with respect to any one of the aforementioned system resources, is detected by the system, an error signal may be generated to notify the appropriate system resources. Such errors may be non-critical, such as isolated to the operation of a single system resource and/or associated with a recoverable operation. However, such errors may be critical in nature, such as requiring initialization of an entire bus (referred to herein as a bus initialization or BINIT error) and, therefore, the system resources thereon.
Generally it is desirable to avoid particular error conditions, particularly critical error conditions wherein system resources are "hung" from further processing or which require initialization of a plurality of system resources. Therefore certain predicable events, such as failure of particular transaction returns, may be dealt with in a manner calculated to minimize impact upon system operation, such as to avoid a critical error situation.
There may be a number of reasons for a failure to receive a transaction return, such as where a call has been made to some hardware that has not been installed in the system or which has been removed and the software is attempting to discover the hardware environment. Accordingly, systems have implemented timing operations wherein the system will time-out in a predictable and graceful way, such that the software will realize, for example, that a particular piece of hardware does not exist and processing will continue. In the past, time-out circuits were implemented specifically with respect to a particular apparatus and/or event. For example, some input output (I/O) systems may have protocols that if a particular I/O card is not coupled to the system, a time-out counter associated with that particular I/O card will indicate a time-out period and the system will continue to process after a failed return from that I/O card. However, in a large system, implementing time-out counters with respect to each apparatus and/or event for which time-out processing may be desired can be prohibitively expensive, both in resources and processing overhead.

System and method for determining transaction time-out

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.