A semiconductor memory includes an instruction decoder, a register for storing operational mode information, a memory core for storing data, and a mode set-up control circuit. The memory operates in a number of modes, such as a read mode, a write mode and a set-up mode. When performing a read or a write command, access information for the command is stored in the register. In order to operate the memory more efficiently, the mode set-up control circuit prestores memory access information. Then, at the end of a read or write command, the prestored access information is loaded into the register. Locally storing the access information prevents the memory from having to wait to receive such information from an external element.

The invention relates to a semiconductor memory, and more particularly, to set-up of a mode of operation of a semiconductor device.
A synchronous graphic RAM (SGRAM) is used to efficiently process of large amounts of data, such as image data. The SGRAM operates in a number of operational modes which allow it to perform rapid data processing. These modes include a burst mode, a block write mode and the like. The burst operation refers to a read/write operation with respect to a memory core in which information is sequentially accessed by specifying a plurality of column addresses. The block write operation performs a data write operation into a plurality of memory cells using a plurality of column select signals.
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional SGRAM 10 formed on a single semiconductor substrate, such as a single crystal silicon substrate using a known semiconductor integrated circuit manufacturing technology is known. The SGRAM 10 is connected to a system 32 which provides the SGRAM 10 with a variety of signals such as a clock signal CLK, a distribution enable signal CKE, instruction code signals which constitute operation commands, an address signal A10-A0 (where A10 represents the most significant bit and A0 the least significant bit), a data signal D7-D0 (where D7 represents the most significant bit and D0 the least significant bit), a data mask signal DQM and the like. The SGRAM 10 is controlled in accordance with the various signals from the system 32 in synchronism with the clock signal CLK, in a similar manner as a synchronous DRAM.
The SGRAM 10 includes a memory core 12, a clock buffer 14, an instruction decoder 16, an address buffer register 18, an input/output (I/O) buffer 20, a control signal latch 22 and a column address counter 24. The SGRAM 10 additionally includes operational mode registers such as a mode register 26, a color register 28 and a mask register 30, where the color register 28 and the mask register 30 represent special mode registers. Access information, which defines individual operational modes of the SGRAM 10, is stored or loaded in the mode register 26, the color register 28 and the mask register 30.
The memory core 12 has a multitude of dynamic memory cells which are disposed in a matrix array. The memory core 12 is provided with a row decoder and a column decoder, which are known in the art, and a memory cell has a select terminal connected to a word line and a data input terminal connected to a data line.
The clock buffer 14 receives the clock signal CLK (shown in FIG. 2) and the distribution enable signal CKE from the system 32. In response to the distribution enable signal CKE of a high level (or logical xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d level), the clock buffer 14 provides the clock signal CLK to the instruction decoder 16, the address buffer register 18 and the I/O buffer 20.
A summary of the operation of the SGRAM 10 will be given. An operational mode such as the burst operation, the block write operation or the like is initially set up, and a read/write operation then follows in accordance with the operational mode specified. The system 32 provides an address signal A10-A0, as access information which specifies the operational mode, to the SGRAM 10. During the read/write operation, the system 32 provide the address signal A10-A0 to the SGRAM 10 to serve as a row address signal which selects a word line for the memory core 12 and as a column address signal which selects a data line for the memory core 12. All bits in the address signal A10-A0 are used to form the row address signal. Part of the address signals A10-A0, for example, eight bits A7-A0 are used as the column address signal. The three most significant bits A10-A8 of the address signal are not used in the selection of a data line.
The address buffer register 18 receives the clock signal CLK from the clock buffer 14 and receives the address signal A10-A0 in synchronism with the clock signal CLK. During the set-up of an operational mode, the address buffer register 18 loads bits A7-A0 of the address signal into the mode register 26 by way of an internal bus as the access information. The access information in the mode register 26 is also provided to the control signal latch 22. In addition, the address buffer register 18 provides the address signal A10-A0 to the instruction decoder 16. The most significant bit A10 of the address signal is used, for example, to designate one of the mode register 26, the color register 28 and the mask register 30. During the read/write operation, the address buffer register 18 provides the row address signal A10-A0 to the row decoder via an internal bus and also provides the column address signal A7-A0 to the column address counter 24.
The column address counter 24 is provided to implement the burst operation. The column address counter 24 includes a burst counter, not shown, which forms a column address signal, and a burst end counter, not shown, which restricts the number of column address signals formed. The column address signal A7-A0 from the address buffer register 18 is loaded into the burst counter as an initial value. The mode register 26 has stored therein a burst length as access information, which is provided to the burst end counter. In this manner, the burst end counter is preset with burst length information, which is then counted down or decremented to produce an underflow signal. The burst counter is incremented from the initial value until the burst end counter underflows, thus sequentially producing column address signals. The column address signal produced in this manner is decoded by the column decoder within the memory core 12 into a select signal for a particular data line. Data write-in or data read-out into or from a selected memory cell then takes place. After having produced a number of column address signals which depends on the burst length information, the column address counter 24 produces an internal trigger signal TR which indicates the end of the column address signals.
The I/O buffer 20 receives the clock signal CLK from the clock buffer 14 and receives the data signal D7-D0 from the system 32 in accordance with the clock signal CLK. In addition, the I/O buffer 20 delivers the data signal D7-D0 which is read from the memory core 12 to the system 12 in accordance with the clock signal CLK. During the set-up of the operational mode, if either the color register 28 or the mask register 30 is selected, the I/O buffer 20 loads the data signal D7-D0 into the color register 28 or the mask register 30 as access information. During the write operation, the I/O buffer 20 feeds the data signal D7-D0 to the memory core 12. The data signal D7-D0 from the I/O buffer 20 is amplified by a write amplifier, not shown, before it is transmitted onto the data line in the memory core 12 and then that the transmitted signal is written into selected memory cells. During the read operation, data signal D7-D0 from the data line in the memory core 12 is amplified in by main amplifier, not shown, and then delivered by the I/O buffer 20 to the system 32. During the burst operation, the I/O buffer 20 receives one column address from the system 32, and sequentially produces a predetermined number of column address signals inclusive of the received one, which consecutively follow the received column address signal for performing a read/write operation.
The mode register 26 includes a plurality of identically constructed registers, not shown, which correspond to the address signal A10-A0. Access information is loaded into the mode register 26 in accordance with control signals fed from the control signal latch 22. The control signal latch 22 produces control signals for the mode register 26 in response to a predetermined status signal from the instruction decoder 16. For example, the access information loaded into the mode register 26 includes a burst length BL and a CAS latency CL. The burst length BL represents the number of times access is made to the memory core 12 in synchronism with the clock signal CLK. CAS latency CL represents a number of cycles of the clock signal CLK from the time when the column address strobe signal /CAS assumes an active level until data delivery is initiated. For example, when CL=2 and BL=4, the data delivery is commenced in response to the second pulse of the clock signal CLK which occurs after the column address strobe signal /CAS has assumed its active level, and is continued until the fifth pulse of the clock signal CLK since the commencement of the data delivery.
The instruction decoder 16 receives an instruction code signal contained in the operation command signal which is fed from the system 32. The instruction code signal includes a read instruction, a write instruction, and a mode set-up instruction code which is used to set up the operational mode of the SGRAM 10. The mode set-up instruction code corresponds to a particular combination of levels of a chip select signal /CS, a row address strobe signal /RAS, a column address strobe signal /CAS, a write enable signal /WE and a block write signal DSF.
The instruction decoder 16 receives the clock signal CLK from the clock buffer 14, and receives the instruction code signal from the system 32 and the address signal A10-A0 from the address buffer register 18 in synchronism with the clock signal CLK. The decoder 16 decodes the most significant bit A10 in the address signal as well as the instruction code signal into an internal instruction code, which is delivered to the control signal latch 22.
The operation command additionally includes a register set command, a read command, a write command and a block write command. The register set command includes a mode register set command and a special mode register set command.
When the chip select signal /CS-low, the row address strobe signal /RAS-high, the column address strobe signal /CAS-high, the write enable signal /WE-high and the block write enable signal DSF-low are fed from the system 32, the instruction decoder 16 selects the mode register set command. When the mode register set command is selected, the address signal A10-A0 is loaded into the mode register 26 as access information (operational mode) for the SGRAM 10.
When the chip select signal /CS-low, the row address strobe signal /RAS-high, the column address strobe signal /CAS-high, the write enable signal /WE-high and the block write enable signal DSF-high are fed from the system 32, the instruction decoder 16 selects the special mode register set command. At this time, if the most significant bit A10 of the address signal A10-A0 is a high, data signal D7-D0 is loaded into the color register 28 as access information (operational mode) for the SGRAM 10. Conversely, if the bit A10 is low, the instruction decoder 16 loads data signal D7-D0 into the mask register 30 as access information (operational code) for the SGRAM 10.
The read command controls a read operation in accordance with the access information in the mode register 26, selects a data line in the memory core 12 and activates the I/O buffer 20. When the read command is selected, the mode register 26 stores information relating to the burst operation. When the chip select signal /CS-low, the column address strobe signal /CAS-low, the row address strobe signal /RAS-high, the write enable signal /WE-high and the block write enable signal DSF-low are fed from the system 32, the instruction decoder 16 selects the read command, which is then decoded into an internal instruction code.
Upon receiving the read command (the internal instruction code) from the instruction decoder 16, the control signal latch 22 instructs the memory core 12 to perform a burst read operation which conforms to the burst length information stored in the mode register 26. The address buffer register 18 then feeds the column address signal A7-A0 to the column address counter 24, which uses it as an initial value to produce a number of column address signals which correspond to the burst length and which consecutively follow the initial value in a sequential manner. Data from the memory cells connected to the data line selected by the column address signal are delivered to the system 32 via the I/O buffer 20. The data delivery takes place according to the CAS latency loaded in the mode register 26.
The write command controls a write operation in accordance with the access information in the mode register 26, selects a data line in the memory core 12 and activates the I/O buffer 20. When the write command is selected, a burst operation is set up in the mode register 26. When the chip select signal /CS-low, the column address strobe signal /CAS-low, the write enable signal /WE-low, the row address strobe signal /RAS-high and the block write enable signal DSF-low are fed from the system 32, the instruction decoder 16 selects the write command, which is decoded into an internal instruction code.
Upon receiving the write command (the internal instruction code), the control signal latch 22 instructs the memory core 12 to perform a burst write operation which conforms to the burst length information stored in the mode register 26. The address buffer register 18 feeds the address signal A7-A0 to the column address counter 24 as a column address signal, which is then used as an initial value to produce a number of column address signals which consecutively follow the initial value and which correspond to the burst length. Data signal D7-D0 is fed via the I/O buffer 20 to be written into memory cells in the memory core 12 which are selected by the column address signals.
The block write command controls a write operation in accordance with the access information in the mode register 26, the color register 28 and the mask register 30, and is used to activate the I/O buffer 20. When the chip select signal /CS-low, the column address strobe signal /CAS-low, the write enable signal /WE-low, the row address strobe signal /RAS-high and the block write signal DSF-high are fed from the system 32, the instruction decoder 16 selects the block write command, which is then decoded into an internal instruction code.
Upon receiving the block write command, the control signal latch 22 instructs a block write operation to the color register 28 and the mask register 30 via the mode register 26. The address buffer register 18 then feeds the address signal A10-A0 to the column address counter 24 as a column address signal, which is used therein as an initial value to produce a number of column address signals which consecutively follow the initial value. In this manner, a plurality of data lines which correspond to the plurality of column address signals are simultaneously selected, and the same data is fed to the data lines in a collective manner to be written into corresponding memory cells.
It can be seen from the above description that in order to load access information into the mode register 26, the color register 28 and the mask register 30, it is necessary that the system 32 feeds a signal corresponding to the register set command to the instruction decoder 16 in a similar manner as for the read or the write command.
Referring now to FIG. 2, an operation which follows a read operation in order to modify access information in the mode register 26 will be described. It is assumed that the access information which is loaded in the mode register 26 contains the CAS latency (CL=3) and the burst length (BL=4). A read command is fed to the instruction decoder 16 in response to a first pulse C0 of the clock signal CLK. At a fourth pulse C3, an internal trigger signal TR indicating the termination of the burst operation is produced by the column address counter 24. After the read command is fed, the instruction decoder 16 maintains an output control signal IOE at its high level (or logical xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d level) for an interval from a third to a seventh pulse C2-C6. Data read RD1-RD4 on an internal bus is delivered to the system 32 via the I/O buffer 20 during the interval the output control signal IOE assumes its high level.
When the system 32 feeds a register set command in following the read operation, it is preferred for correct data transfer that an interval be provided during which a command is not fed subsequent to the termination of the read operation until a predetermined time interval passes or a predetermined number of pulses in the clock signal CLK are counted after the termination of the read operation. It is also possible to eliminate such time interval and to feed the set command immediately following the seventh pulse C6 of the clock signal CLK, thus at eighth pulse C7, as shown in FIG. 2, while feeding access information to the mode register 26. In FIG. 2, a signal SD represents data corresponding to a mode set-up command.
However, even in such an instance, a time interval must be provided , as may be represented by a predetermined number of pulses, between feeding the register set command and feeding subsequent access information. Thus, subsequent access information would be fed at the tenth cycle C9 or later, thus wasting two or more cycles of the clock signal CLK, which degrades the data transfer efficiency. Accordingly, where access information (operational mode) to be loaded into the mode register 26, the color register 28 and the mask register 30 is frequently changed, there is a degradation in the data transfer rate.
To achieve the above objective, the present invention provide a semiconductor memory for operation in a plurality of operational modes including at least a read, a write and a set up mode, the semiconductor memory comprising: an instruction decoder, receiving an instruction code signal for setting up one of the plurality of operational modes and a mode set-up instruction signal for modifying the operational mode set up by the instruction code signal, for decoding the instruction code signal and the mode set-up instruction signal; at least one register connected to the instruction decoder for storing operational mode information corresponding to the decoded instruction code signal; a memory core for storing data, wherein the memory core is accessed in the operational mode which is set up; and a mode set-up control circuit connected to the instruction decoder, wherein the mode set-up control circuit receives the decoded mode set-up instruction signal and loads corresponding operational mode information into the register in response to the termination of the previously set up operational mode.
The present invention further provide a method of loading operational mode information for a semiconductor memory which is adapted to operate in a plurality of operational modes including at least a read, a write and a set-up mode operation, the method comprising the steps of: loading the operational mode information in a register; collectively providing an instruction code signal which sets up one of the plurality of operational modes in accordance with the operational mode information and a mode set-up instruction signal for modifying the previously set up operational mode; executing an operation specified by the operational mode which is set up; and reloading the operational mode information in accordance with the mode set-up instruction signal immediately after the termination of the operation.
Other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example the principles of the invention.

Semiconductor memory for operation in a plurality of operational modes


The present application is directed to a tree stand lift system for elevating a person into a tree or other structure. The tree stand lift system includes, in an embodiment, a hunting platform assembly for supporting a person; a hoist assembly positioned above the platform; a hoist cable secured to the hoist assembly and positioned to lift a person from the ground up to the platform.

Platforms are often installed in trees for hunting, such as hunting deer. These platforms, often called "tree stands" or "deer stands", generally include at least some sort of platform from which a person can observe game from a distance while staying out of typical fields of view of the game being hunted. The height of the platforms within a tree varies based upon numerous factors, including the types of tree, where branches are located on the tree, and surrounding topography and vegetation. Often the platform is located ten to fifteen feet up off the ground, and is reachable by a ladder.
The tree stands can be homemade or purchased premade. The homemade tree stands can be a simple platform made of plywood, all the way up to a relatively elaborate stand with room for two or more people and some sort of enclosed blind. Purchased tree stands are also variable in terms of size and materials, with many purchased tree stands designed for portable use where they can be moved from location to location. For example, the portable tree stand may be a relatively simple platform to which a ladder is attached.
One problem with existing tree stands is that it can be difficult for some people to climb into the tree stand by means of a ladder. People with limited mobility may be unable to use a ladder, such as veterans who have been injured, disabled people with limited mobility, or senior citizens with limited strength. The problem of climbing into a tree stand is compounded by two significant factors: First, hunting typically involves bringing a significant amount of gear up into the stand, including at a minimum a gun or a bow and arrows. Add on ammunition, water, warm clothes, etc. and the total weight that must be carried up to the tree stand is significant. Second, the irregularity of trees, surrounding vegetation, and surrounding terrain can all complicate the positioning and arrangement of the stand and ladder. For example, a limited set of challenges includes having ladders that do not quite reach the full way up to the stand, ladders that reach the stand but won't securely attach for various reasons (the stand it not flat, the ladder can't be optimally angled, etc.), ladders that only contact the ground at one of two sides (thereby wobbly), stands are positioned with close-hanging branches that limit how to get on and off the ladder, etc. In addition, weather can be a challenge—much hunting occurs in the fall and winter when it is cold outside, meaning that hunters are wearing large and/or heavy boots, glove or mittens, and bulky clothing. This apparel can make it more difficult to move and climb up to the tree stand, along with difficulty in moving around on the tree stand.
Therefore, a need exists for an improved tree stand, in particular one that allows a hunter to easily access the tree stand and to stay safe while hunting from the tree stand.


A front suspension structure is provided having an axle support arm for connecting a front wheel axle and a front fork lower end that is light in weight and has high rigidity. An axle support arm has a substantially chevron shape when viewed from the side, with a front end section being formed as a two-legged section for connecting to an arm holder for a lower end of a front fork. The two-legged section is rotatably connected to the arm holder via a bolt. A rear end of the axle support arm includes a bearing section provided with a slot. The axle support arm is rotatably connected to an axle via the bearing section. Indentations that open upwardly are formed in a central part of the axle support arm with bearing sections provided on lower ends of the pushrods being fitted in the indentations and a bolt inserted into the bearing sections from a side direction.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a front suspension structure for a motorcycle or the like, in which a shock absorber and a front fork are separated.
Description of Background Art
As a motorcycle front suspension structure, a shock absorber is not assembled inside a front fork, but is arranged independently, as shown in FIG. 6. With this front suspension structure, a steering stem 101 is attached to a head pipe 100 so as to be capable of rotation, a top bridge 102 is provided on an upper end of the steering stem 101 while a bottom bridge 103 is provided on a lower end, a front fork 104 is supported by the top bridge 102 and the bottom bridge 103, the lower end of the front fork 104 and an axle 105 of the front wheel are linked by an axle support shaft 106, an upper end of a shock absorber 107 is attached to a cushion upper bracket 113 arranged on a lower end of the top bridge 102, a lower end of the shock absorber 107 is attached to a cushion arm 108 having one end pivoted at the bottom bridge 103, the cushion arm 108 and the axle support shaft 105 are linked by a push rod 109, and the vibration of the axle support shaft 105 is conveyed to the shock absorber 108 through the push rod 109 and the cushion arm 108.
It is possible to adjust the length of the push rod 109, making it possible to easily change the setting of the damping characteristics, and a lower end section of the push rod 109 has a two-legged section 110, as shown in FIG. 7, with a bearing section 111 of the axle support arm being fitted inside the two-legged section and joined from the side using a bolt 112.
A related structure is disclosed in Japanese Patent laid-open No. Hei. 6-47396, wherein a shock absorber is arranged between an axle support arm and a front fork without a push rod being provided. Vibrations of the axle support arm are conveyed to the shock absorber directly.
Regardless of the way in which the vibrations of the axle support shaft are conveyed to the shock absorber, the lower end of a shock absorber or push rod connecting to the axle support arm has a two-legged section 110, as described above. Therefore, if the axle support arm vibrates, the relationship between the two-legged section 110 and the axle support arm 105 is as shown in FIGS. 8(a)-(c).
Accordingly, in order to prevent interference between the two-legged section 110 and the axle support arm 105 it is necessary to make both sides 111a, 111a of sections that provide a bearing section 111 of the axle support arm in a hollowed out shape. In order to endow the axle support arm with the necessary rigidity for these conditions, the axle support arm must be made thick, which increases the weight.
In order to solve the above described problems, the present invention provides a front suspension structure for a motorcycle, having an axle support arm linking between a lower end of a front fork and a front wheel axle, with the rotation of the axle support arm being conveyed to a shock absorber either directly or through a push rod, wherein indented sections opening upwards are formed in the axle support arm, a lower end of the push rod or a lower end of the shock absorber is fitted into the indented section, and is rotatably linked to a shaft from a side direction via a bearing.
In this way, by making the shape of the axle support arm like an arc or a chevron, there is no need to consider avoiding interference between the axle support arm and the lower end of the pushrod or the lower end of the shock absorber, and the degree of freedom with regard to the shape is increased, making it possible to achieve the necessary rigidity without any accompanying increase in weight.
Also, by using a bolt as a shaft for rotatably supporting a lower end of the push rod or a lower end of the shock absorber, and positioning a head section of this bolt at a front wheel side, the bolt head section is not externally exposed, improving the external appearance.
Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.

Front suspension structure for motorcycle


The present invention provides methods and systems for defining financial transaction components; defining mapping rules for taking individual financial transactions and breaking them down into their components, such as production services, billing services and settlement services. A data processing system in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, creates a transaction instance corresponding to a financial transaction, creates a production service instance linked to the transaction instance by a first relation instance, and creates a billing service instance linked to the production service instance by a second relation instance. The data processing system, may also create other production service instances linked to the transaction instance using other relation instances, as well as, other billing service instances linked to the production service instances.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to data processing systems and, in particular, to pricing and analysis systems for complex transactions.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Financial services companies (FSCs), such as retail banks, wholesale banks, corporate banks and investment banks, provide a variety of financial services which are bundled together and offered to clients as financial products. Checking accounts, cash management accounts, mortgages, funds transfers and lockboxes are all examples of financial products. A financial transaction takes place when a client uses a financial service and when a FSC provides a financial service.
In a competitive market, FSCs have to balance their need to grow market share by having competitive (i.e. low) fee arrangements, against the need to run their businesses profitably (i.e. with high margins). Managing this balancing act has been a challenge for FSCs because the traditional practices used by FSCs provide insufficient detail about how individual financial transactions affect their profitability. With insufficient details FSCs are not able to provide consistent and reconcilable measures for different views of costs and fees which may be desired. FSCs would desire views such as a client view because the business is conducted by clients, a market segment view because the business is measured by market segments, and a financial product view because the business is organized by financial products.
Costs can vary greatly based on the types of financial transactions being processed and characteristics of each individual financial transaction. For example, in funds transfers, costs can vary based on the participant (corporate, retail, correspondent, broker/dealer); the instruction (free form, semi repetitive, pre programmed); the timing (start of day, end of day, urgent, late); the instrument (cash, checks, payment orders, electronic instruction capture devices); the delivery system (SWIFT); the clearing system; settlement itself; credit/risk (daylight overdraft limits, balances, secured/unsecured debit caps); applicable transaction taxes; investigations; and compensations. Failure by a FSC to understand or accurately measure the cost of processing each individual financial transaction makes it very difficult for the FSC to manage the impact of their pricing arrangements on the profitability of their financial services, financial products and financial transactions.
Fees can also vary greatly based on the types of financial transactions being processed and characteristics of each individual financial transaction. For example, in funds transfers, fee arrangements can be based on time of submission; a specified execution time; the window of time between submission and execution; transaction value; pre-assigned payment slots; or a combination of these factors. Furthermore, fee arrangements may change over time both in value and structure in response to competitive situations.
To manage the profitability outcomes of financial services, financial products and financial transactions, a FSC needs to understand and accurately measure fees earned based on each individual financial transaction processed. Furthermore, FSCs wish to manage fee arrangements and special deals based on the profit margins achievable.
However, understanding and accurately measuring the impact of costs and fee arrangements on the profitability of financial services, financial products and financial transactions is too complex to be handled in an ad hoc manner. Therefore, a systematic method to track all of the components of costs and fees each time a financial transaction is processed is needed. Furthermore, the system should be able to measure profitability in a flexible manner and to measure the impact of any changes from as many views as the FSC's business requires, e.g., by financial product, by financial service, by financial transaction, by client account, by client, by group of clients, by market segment, and by region, by strategic business unit.

Data processing system for complex pricing and transactional analysis

Financial Systems Technology (Intellectual Property) Pty. Ltd.


A disc cartridge for an optical disc having a magnetic member attached to a central portion of one of two major surfaces of a disc substrate, wherein the cartridge includes a cartridge main body rotatably accommodating the optical disc, a recessed, inner surface portion for keeping a clearance between an inner surface of the cartridge main body and a protuberance produced by attaching the magnetic member to the one of the two major surfaces of the disc substrate, a first lug formed at a first position on the inner surface of the cartridge main body facing the magnetic member and a second lug formed at a second position on the inner surface of the cartridge main body facing the one of the major surfaces of the optical disc, wherein the height of the first lug is less than the height of the second lug, such that the first lug is contacted by the magnetic member when the disc substrate is loaded onto a disc table inserted into the disc cartridge.. Recording/reproducing access apertures are formed in opposite positions of an upper cartridge half and a lower cartridge half making up the cartridge main body, and a reinforcement, including abutting projections and ribs, is provided at side edges of the recording/reproducing apertures located at an outer rim of an optical disc housed within the cartridge main body.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a disc cartridge housing therein a disc on which desired information signals are recorded, such as an optical disc or a magneto-optical disc, and, above all, a disc which may be clamped to a disc rotating and driving unit by taking advantage of the force of magnetic attraction.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There has hitherto been proposed a disc for recording desired information signals, such as an optical disc or a magneto-optical disc.
The disc of this type of an extremely small size capable of recording information signals with high density is proposed. For example, in the case of a magneto-optical disc, a disc having a diameter of not more than 64 mm, is proposed.
The magneto-optical disc which is small-sized and capable of high density recording is loaded on the disc rotating and driving unit and rotated at a higher velocity. As the disc is rotated at the higher velocity, a light beam from an optical pickup is irradiated on one or more fine recording tracks formed on a major disc surface, while an external magnetic field is applied by a magnetic head, to record desired information signals on the disc.
For accurately irradiating the light beam on the fine recording track during the high velocity disc rotation, it is necessary for the magneto-optical disc to be positively secured to a disc table of the disc rotating and driving device and to be loaded thereon with the center of rotation of the disc correctly aligned with the axis of the disc table.
For positively loading and securing the small-sized magneto-optical disc on the disc table with high accuracy, there is proposed a disc loading system in which a metallic plate formed of a magnetic metal material is arranged on the magneto-optical disc and attracted by a magnet provided on the disc table for clamping the disc to the disc table.
A magneto-optical disc 1 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is proposed as a magneto-optical disc employed in such disc clamping system which makes use of the magnetic force of attraction. The magneto-optical disc 1, shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, is provided with a disc substrate 2 formed as a transparent polycarbonate resin. A signal recording layer for recording desired information signals is deposited on one major surface 2a of the disc substrate 2. The opposite major surface 2b of the disc is a write/read surface. It is from the side of this write/read surface that the light beam is radiated from an optical head to the signal recording layer for recording or reproducing information signals.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a centering hole 3, engaged by a centering member arranged on the disc table of the disc rotating and driving unit, is formed at the center of the disc substrate 2. A recess 5 for housing a metallic plate 4, which is a magnetic member attracted by a magnet provided on the disc table, is formed at the center of the major surface 2a of the disc substrate 2. The recess 5 has a depth significantly larger than the thickness of the metallic plate 4. The metallic plate 4, housed within the recess 5, is formed with a downturned peripheral part 4a and a resting part 4b which is contiguous to the peripheral part 4a and rests on a resting surface 5a on the bottom of the recess 5. That is, the metallic plate 4 is formed as a cap having a height corresponding to the vertical height on the downturned part 4a and having the flange-shaped resting part 4b continuous to the downturned part 4b.
The above-described metallic plate 4 is housed within the recess 5 with the resting part 4b resting on the resting surface 5a so that a gap is defined between the outer surface of the bent part 4a and the inner surface of the recess 5. The metallic plate 4 is supported in the recess 5 by having the resting part 4b supported by a plurality of, e.g. four supporting projections 5b formed by locally thermally deforming the rim of the recess 5.
Meanwhile, an annular step 6 is formed at the center of the major surface 2b of the disc substrate 2 for surrounding the center hole 3, as shown in FIG. 2. The function of the annular step 6 is to increase the depth relative to the centering hole 3 of a centering member provided on the disc table on which the magneto-optical disc is loaded to assure positive centering of the disc 1 with respect to the disc table.
The metallic plate provided on the magneto-optical disc employed in the disc loading system which makes use of the magnetic force of attraction is attached to the major surface of the magneto-optical disc, such as with an adhesive, for closing the centering hole bored at the center of the magneto-optical disc. When the magneto-optical disc, having the metallic plate attached thereto, is set on the disc table, it is clamped to the disc table, under the force of attraction by the magnet provided thereon for rotation in unison with the disc table.
The magneto-optical disc, capable of high-density recording of information signals, is housed in a cartridge main body, as a disc cartridge, to prevent deterioration of recording/reproducing properties due to deposition of dust and dirt or damage, and is loaded on the recording/reproducing apparatus or laid in store in this state.
FIG. 3 shows an arrangement of the disc cartridge.
Referring to FIG. 3, the disc cartridge includes a rectangular cartridge main body 9 formed by abutting and connecting an upper half 7 and a lower half 8 to each other for housing the magneto-optical disc 1 therein. A disc housing section is provided in the cartridge main body 9 for rotatably housing the magneto-optical disc 1.
The cartridge main body 9 is formed with an inlet opening 10 into which the disc table of the disc rotating and driving unit rotationally driving the cartridge main body 9 is introduced when the disc cartridge is loaded on the recording/reproducing apparatus. Referring to FIG. 5, the inlet opening 10 is a circular opening formed at the mid part of the lower half 7 for exposing the inner peripheral region inclusive of the centering hole 3 of the magneto-optical disc housed within the cartridge main body 9 set on the disc table.
The upper and lower surfaces of the cartridge main body 9, that is the upper and lower halves 7 and 8, are formed with recording/reproducing apertures 11, 12 for exposing at least a part of the signal recording region of the magneto-optical disc 1 accommodated in the cartridge main body 9 to the outside across the inner and the outer peripheries of the disc. Referring to FIG. 3, the recording/reproducing apertures 11 and 12 are formed as rectangular apertures at a transversely mid part of the cartridge main body 9 extending from a position close to the inlet opening 10 towards the front side of the cartridge main body 9.
A shutter member 13 is provided on the cartridge main body 9 for closing the recording/reproducing apertures 11, 12 to prevent dust and dirt from entering by means of the apertures 11, 12 into the inside of the cartridge main body 9 and depositing on the magneto-optical disc 1. The shutter member 13 is formed by punching and bending a thin metallic plate into a rectangular frame having a U-shaped cross-section and is composed of shutter sections 13a, 13b closing the recording/reproducing apertures 11 and 12 and a connecting web 13c interconnecting the distal parts of the shutter sections 13a, 13b. A slide guide 13d is formed at one side of the connecting web 13c for guiding the shutter member 13 parallel to the front side of the cartridge main body 9.
The shutter member 13 is fitted on the front side of the cartridge main body 9 so that the shutter sections 13a, 13b are extended over the recording/reproducing apertures 11, 12. The shutter member 13 is mounted on the cartridge main body 9 for sliding between a position of closing the recording/reproducing apertures 11, 12 as shown by solid line in FIGS. 4 and 5 and a position of opening the recording/reproducing apertures as shown by broken lines in FIG. 4.
Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, a shutter locking member 14 is provided at a corner on the front side of the lower half 7 of the cartridge main body 9 for being engaged with an engaging part 13e formed by partially bending the slide guide 13d for maintaining the shutter member 13 at a closure position for thereby preventing inadvertent movement of the shutter member 13 away from the position of closing the recording/reproducing apertures 11, 12.
The shutter locking member 13 is formed by molding synthetic resin and, as shown in FIG. 3, includes an attachment part 14a at a proximal side thereof for attachment to the lower half 7 and a locking arm 14b extending along a curved path from one end of the attachment part 14a. The distal end of the locking arm 14b is formed with an engaging notch 14c engaged by the engaging part 13e of the shutter member 13. The connection portion of the locking arm 14b to the proximal attachment part 14a is a resilient flexible section of a reduced thickness 14d.
The shutter locking member 14 is mounted on the lower half 7 with a pair of attachment pins 7a, 7b of the lower half 7 engaged in through-holes 14e, 14e formed ion the attachment part 14a and with the engaging notch 14c facing the front side of the cartridge main body 9, as shown in FIG. 3.
When the shutter member 13 mounted on the cartridge main body 4 is slid to a position closing the recording/reproducing apertures 11, 12, as shown in FIG. 4, the mating engaging part 13e is engaged in the engaging notch 14c of the shutter locking member 14, which is thereby locked in the position of closing the recording/reproducing apertures 11, 12.
When the above-described disc cartridge which is provided with the shutter locking member 14 for locking the shutter locking member 13 at the position of closing the recording/reproducing apertures 11 and 12, is introduced into a cartridge loading unit of the recording/reproducing apparatus, with the direction shown by arrow A in FIG. 4 as an inserting direction, a shutter actuating pin 16 provided in the recording/reproducing apparatus is intruded into an inlet groove 15 formed on the front side of the cartridge main body 9. As the disc cartridge is introduced into the disc loading unit, the shutter actuating pin 16 rides on the locking arm 14b of the shutter locking member 14, from the outer lateral side of the proximal end towards the distal end thereof, for resiliently flexing the flexible section 14d and thrusting the locking arm 14b into the inside of the cartridge main body 9, as shown by arrow B in FIG. 6. As a result of the movement of the locking arm 14b into the inside of the cartridge main body 9, the mating engaging part 13e ceases to be engaged in the engaging notch 14c, so that the shutter member 13 is moved by the shutter actuating pin 16 in the direction of opening the recording/reproducing apertures 11 and 12.
As best seen in FIGS. 7 and 8, the cartridge main body 9 of the disc cartridge is formed by an upper half 8 and a lower half 7 abutted and connected to each other and is provided with annular supporting ribs 8a, 7b on the inner sides of the upper half 8 and the lower half 7 for supporting a non-recording region N of the magneto-optical disc 1 about the rim of the center hole 3 of the magneto-optical disc 1. By providing these annular supporting ribs 7b, 8a on the cartridge main body 9, the magneto-optical disc 1 is housed within the cartridge main body 9 so that signal recording region extending from the rim of the outer rim of the non-recording region N to the vicinity of the outer rim of the disc 1 is out of contact with the inner surface of the cartridge main body 1. In this manner, the magneto-optical disc 1 may be rotatably accommodated in the cartridge main body 9 so that the signal recording region S is not injured with e,g, grazing.
Meanwhile, if the supporting projections 5b for the metallic plate 5 are formed by thermally deforming several rim portions of the recess 5 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, there is a risk that a pointed protuberance 2c can be formed on the one major surface 2a of the disc substrate 2, as shown in FIG. 2.
If the disc having such pointed projection on the major surface of the disc substrate is accommodated in the cartridge main body, there is a risk that the protuberance may contact with the inner surface of the cartridge main body to produce debris removed from the protuberance, such debris being then deposited on the write/read surface of the magneto-optical disc to render it impossible to write and/or read information signals.
Above all, the disc cartridge housing a small-sized magneto-optical disc is of small plan size and thickness, so that the disc housing section in the cartridge main body is also of a thickness only slightly larger than the thickness of the magneto-optical disc. If the above-described protuberance is formed on the disc substrate, it is not possible to prevent the protuberance and the inner surface of the cartridge main body from contacting each other, so that the debris is inevitably produced.
Another problem is that since the supporting rib 8a formed on the upper half 8 supporting the magneto-optical disc 1 is formed as a ring and hence supports only the non-recording region N of the magneto-optical disc 1, a space A is generated between the metallic plate 4 disposed on the radially inner side of the supporting rib 8a and the inner surface of the supporting rib 8a when the magneto-optical disc 1 is thrust upwards towards the upper half 8, as shown in FIG. 8. The result is that, if the metallic plate 4 is thrust by means of the centering hole 3 communicating with the inlet opening 10 and is subjected to a pressure lifting it in the direction shown by arrow y in FIG. 8, only the magneto-optical disc 1 is abutted and thrust by the supporting rib 8a so that the metallic plate 4 may be detached from the disc 1.
If the metallic plate 4 becomes detached in this manner, the magneto-optical disc 1 cannot be attracted and clamped by the magnet provided on the disc table, so that the magneto-optical disc 1 cannot be rotated and hence information signals can not be recorded or reproduced.
The disc cartridge shown herein is of a rectangular shape of as small a size as possible, in association with the size of the disc to be housed therein, for ease of handling and for reducing the size of the recording and/or reproducing apparatus.
With such a disc cartridge, the portion of the disc cartridge provided with the recording/reproducing apertures is lowered in rigidity so that it becomes impossible to assure sufficient rigidity of the cartridge main body, and cartridge main body tends to be flexed and deformed under a smaller external force.
Furthermore, because a groove engaged by a retainer for the shutter member attached to the cartridge main body is formed on the lateral side of the cartridge main body provided with the recording/reproducing apertures and extends along the direction of movement of the shutter member, this portion of the cartridge main body is lowered significantly in rigidity, so that sufficient strength can not be assured. Besides, the shutter member attached to the disc cartridge tends to be detached.
On the other hand, with a disc cartridge in which a groove for permitting entrance of a shutter actuating member for opening the shutter member is formed in the front side of the cartridge main body along which the shutter member is slid, the front side of the cartridge main body which is provided with the groove undergoes significant flexure and deformation because the peripheral wall is removed for forming the groove.
Further, since the shutter locking member of he conventional disc cartridge is formed as a resin molded member, it is extremely difficult to mold the shutter locking member with high accuracy because thermal shrinkage produced at the time of molding.
Besides, in the conventional shutter locking member 13 in which the locking arm 14b is extended by means of the resilient flexible section 14d form one end of the attachment section 14a, it is not possible to assure constant height h from the attachment section 14a as a mounting reference to the cartridge main body 9 to the top of the locking arm section 14b in which the engaging notch 14c is formed. The result is that, when the shutter locking member 13 is attached to the cartridge main body 9 with the attachment section 14a as the mounting reference, it is not possible to assure a constant position of the locking arm 14b facing the groove 15 for the shutter actuating member formed in the front side of the cartridge main body 9, so that the shutter locking member 13 is subjected to variable deflection under a thrust exerted by the shutter actuating pin 16. Thus a stable unlocking operation of the shutter member 13 can not be assured.
Besides, there is a risk that the mating engaging part 13e can not be engaged positively in the engaging notch 14c so that the shutter member 13 can not be positively locked at the position of closing the recording/reproducing apertures 11 and 12 so that there is the risk that the apertures can be inadvertently opened to injure the magneto-optical disc 1 housed within the cartridge main body 9.
In view of the above described status of the art, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a disc cartridge comprised of a cartridge main body and a disc housed therein, which disc includes a disc substrate of synthetic resin formed with a centering hole and a magnetic plate mounted on one of the major surfaces of the disc substrate for closing the centering hole, in which a clearance for evading protruding parts occasionally formed as a result of attachment of the magnetic plate to the disc substrate is provided on the inner surface of the cartridge main body.
It is a second object of the present invention to provide a disc cartridge in which the magnetic plate can be prevented from being detached from the magneto-optical disc even if an inadvertent force to applied to the magnetic plate.
It is a third object of the present invention to provide a disc cartridge in which the cartridge main body can be prevented from being lowered in rigidity as a result of providing the recording/reproducing apertures for allowing the signal recording region of the disc to be exposed to the outside across the inner and outer disc peripheries for assuring sufficient strength, and in which the disc cartridge can be prevented from being flexed or deformed under a small external force, thereby assuring positive protection of the disc.
It is a fourth object of the present invention to provide a shutter locking mechanism of a disc cartridge in which, even when the shutter member is formed of synthetic resin, the shutter member can be positively locked at a position of closing the apertures provided in the cartridge main body for assuring positive protection of the disc accommodated in the disc cartridge.


This is one analysis method about probing into relationship of beating signal and heart function. It is used to deal with one beating signal, which is measured from one subject under any activity condition in a period of time with an electric manometer. And this analysis could be the reference target of the heart function of the subject. This method includes: (1) to transform the beating signal into the power spectrum, (2) to normalize the outcome of the power spectrum transformation, and (3) to compute an advance defining heart index from the normalized power spectrum diagram, and supply the reference target of the heart function from the subject with the heart index.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an analysis method, and more particularly, to an analysis method that utilizing the beating signal measured under any activity condition with an electric manometer to be a reference target for determining the relationship of the beating signal and the heart function.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The heart disease is always called "the invisible killer", and when a patient is found having the heart disease, it is generally the last phase and cannot be cured. In fact, for the worldwide medical treatment, the initial and medium phases of the heart disease are hard to be found, and this causes many cases of dying in heart strike.
In comparison with the prophylaxis of the heart disease, the manometer has become popular in every family with its cheap price, and the prophylaxis of the high blood pressure can be easily carried out. The electric manometer is the most popular one for families or individuals with its simple operation. The electric manometer not only can measure the systolic pressure and the diastolic pressure but also can measure the pulse signal, such as the pulse count, for user reference. However, the pulse signal is one auxiliary function of the electric manometer, and is not paid much attention.

Analysis method about relationship of beating signal and heart function


A data printing device comprises a light emitting device that includes a plurality of light emitting elements, and an imaging optical system for forming light points on the film which correspond to the light emitting elements. The imaging optical system includes at least one imaging lens and at least three reflecting surfaces that reflect the light from the light emitting device to bend the optical path along an arc of a cylindrical wall of a film space, such as a spool chamber or a cartridge chamber.

The present invention relates to a data printing device used in a camera to print data such as date and/or time on a frame of a roll of film.
A conventional data printing device includes a light emitting device and an imaging optical system. The light emitting device includes a plurality of LEDs (light emitting diodes) aligned along a line perpendicular to a winding direction of a roll of film and the imaging optical system forms light points corresponding to the LEDs on the film. The LEDs are controlled in synchronism with winding of the roll of film to print data, such as a date, as a dot matrix image.
This type of data printing device is generally located such that the printing on the film occurs between an aperture, through which the film is exposed, and a spool chamber, into which the film is wound. That is, the printing occurs at a position that is downstream of the photographing position along the film winding direction, since the data is printed on the exposed frame after exposure (photographing). Thus, the data printing device, and in particular the imaging optical system, must be arranged between a photographing optical path, leading from a photographing lens through the aperture, and the spool chamber.
There are three types of imaging optical systems used in conventional data printing devices. The first type of imaging optical system uses a straight optical path between the light emitting device and the film. Thus, this imaging optical system has no reflecting surfaces. The second type of imaging optical system includes a single reflecting surface to reflect a light from the light emitting device through a right angle (90 degrees) toward the film. The third type of imaging optical system includes two reflecting surfaces that are parallel to each other such that light from the light emitting device is shifted parallel to the direction of travel in the path to the film.
However, the conventional data printing devices described above require a relatively large clearance between the photographing optical path and the spool chamber.


According to the present invention, a power module that has a base to which a power semiconductor device is bonded and a sealing body for sealing said base and in which the base and the sealing body are bonded with a primer layer interposed therebetween, said primer layer being formed of a cured product of a silicone-modified polyimide resin composition containing, for example, components (A) to (E) below, has high reliability because delamination of an epoxy sealing resin under high temperature conditions is suppressed.                (A) Silicone-modified polyimide resin represented by formula (1)Ee-Ff-Gg  (1)E is represented by formula (2), F is represented by formula (3), G is a divalent group derived from diamine, f+e+g=100 mol %, the molar ratio f/(e+g) is 0.9-1.1, and e is 1-90 when the sum of e and g is 100.

Modern power modules using SiC devices are expected to operate in a higher temperature region than before as a result of increased current flow.
In the prior art, epoxy resin encapsulants are widely used for the protection of semiconductor chips (see Patent Document 1, for example). When a semiconductor device is operated at high temperature, there arises a problem that stresses are applied around the semiconductor device because of different coefficients of linear expansion of a semiconductor chip, base member and epoxy resin encapsulant, with the increased likelihood of the encapsulant peeling off.
Since the epoxy resin is less moisture proof and its cured product has a high hardness, there arises another problem that the epoxy resin sometimes fails to bond in the encapsulation step of semiconductor chips and often peels off in subsequent steps, leading to a loss of reliability as package.

Abstract: RA is a divalent hydrocarbon group, R1 and R2 are alkyl groups, R3 and R4 are monovalent aliphatic hydrocarbon groups, R5 and R6 are aryl groups or the like, m is an integer of 0-20, n is an integer of 1-20, o is an integer of 0-20, and m+n+o is an integer of 1-30.-Im-X-Im-  (3)Im is a cyclic group including a cyclic imide structure, and X is a single bond or the like.                (Bc) Heat-decomposable radical initiator        (C) Solvent        (D) Antioxidant        (E) Fumed silica.


A diverter screen for efficiently handling solid and floatable objects in combined sewer overflows and storm water runoff systems is disclosed. The screen is formed of a mechanical bar screen, one or more regulator or overflow chambers, and a deflector plate for diverting the solids and floatables into the outgoing sewage interceptor channel. The bar screen sits on a shelf in a concrete channel, and is sized to capture solids and floatables that must be prevented from entering the rivers, lakes or oceans The bar screen uses a downward rake motion to push solids and some floatables into the outgoing interceptor, while other floatables are allowed to drain out as the regulator channel drains.

The present invention generally relates to the field of waste water management and more particularly, is directed to a diverter screen for more efficient handling of solids in combined sewer overflows and storm water runoff.
For many years, municipalities designed their sewer system to accommodate the water run off from storms and heavy rains along with the normal waste water and sewage from homes and commercial establishments. Most of the storm water entered the sewer directly from down spouts on homes and other buildings and from street run off.
Combining storm run off with waste water in this manner was at one time though to be a convenient way of providing a place for the water to be disbursed quickly and prevent large collection pools or puddles from forming. Depending on the adjacent terrain, pools or puddles often would not have a convenient outlet to drain and thus were left to slowly evaporate. The slow process of evaporation leads to stagnation and the attendant health hazzards that stagnate water poses.
While combining storm run off with normal sewage solved many of the storm run off problems, additional urbanization and residential development soon began to burden the sewer system infrastructure, including the waste water treatment plants, of many town and cities. In order to relieve some of the burden, many municipalities began to build separate collection systems for storm water run off. Many other towns and cities simply took steps to prevent storm run off from entering the sewer system altogether.
For many other municipalities, the very high capital cost of building and maintaining a duplicate sewer system for storm run off water makes this approach unavailable. In addition, preventing storm run off from entering the sewer system also has it cost. Thus, many municipalities continued to try to cope with the burdens of a combined storm water run off/waste water system by dealing with the problem at the treatment plant end.
One of the functions of the treatment plant is the removal of solid and floating objects from the waste water before it can be treated and rendered safe for further use or disbursed into a local river, lake or ocean. Storm run off which enters the sewer system greatly increases the number of such objects which are introduced into the system. However, the waste water treatment plant is vulnerable to being deluged with run off water during a major storm.
In order to deal with this problem, current Federal and State regulations allow excess waste water to be diverted around the treatment plant and into local rivers, lakes and oceans during a storm. This is accomplished with the use of regulator or overflow devices in the collection system. More recent regulations require, however, that solid and floating objects of a certain size be removed from the water before it can be allowed to run into the rivers, lakes or oceans.
In order to remove the undesirable solid and floating objects, the prior art teaches the use of separation processing stations outside of the treatment plant for performing a pre-filter of the waste water. The solid objects filtered out as a result of this process must be manually collected and loaded on to transfer trucks for disposal at an appropriate site.
Use of the pre-filter process and collection of the filtered objects adds more cost to the treatment of waste water in terms of added labor and maintenance. Accordingly, there is a need for a more efficient process for removing solid and floating (floatables) objects from waste water.

Combined sewer overflow and storm water diverter screen


In the case of the storage or transmission of moving images, it is frequently necessary to reduce the large number of information items by means of suitable compression methods. In order to estimate the movement, the image to be coded is in this case split into blocks, and each of these reference blocks R is compared with blocks of the same size of the preceding image, and a movement information item is derived. Conventional methods for movement estimation in this case use all the pixels in the reference block R and in the search area S. Since this very complicated method requires very fast, and thus expensive, hardware, the so-called quincunx undersampling is applied to the search area S. In the case of the reference block R, one quincunx undersampled pixel is used for even parity of the movement vector and the other quincunx undersampled pixel is used for odd parity, depending on which position is being investigated. For the search area S, it is then necessary to store only half the pixels which are required for movement estimation. The memory requirement and the bandwidth of the memory are thus reduced by half.

In the case of the storage or transmission of moving images, it is frequently necessary to reduce the large number of information items by means of suitable compression methods. Methods for movement estimation, which utilize the correlations between individual images, are used for this purpose.
In order to estimate the movement, the image to be coded is split into blocks and each of these reference blocks are compared with blocks of the same size within a sub area of a preceding or subsequent image, the so-called search window. The sum of the absolute values of the differences between the pixel values of the reference block and the corresponding pixel values of the search window is used, for example, in this case as the comparison criterion (cost function). A movement vector, which indicates the offset of these blocks calculated in pixels, is determined for each reference block for that block in the search window which in each case provides the best correspondence. As a result of this movement estimation, only the reference image is required for the movement compensation of the complete image, and the associated movement vector for each reference block. In general, exact reconstruction does not, of course, take place.
Known methods for movement estimation use all the pixels in the reference block and in the search area (full pel full search) in order to find the optimum movement vector having the smallest cost function. However, this method requires very fast, and thus expensive, hardware.

Method and circuit arrangement for undersampling in the case of movement estimation


In a multi-threaded processor, a long latency data dependent thread is flushed from the execution pipelines. Once the stalled thread is flushed, the non-stalling threads in the pipeline can continue their execution. Several resources are used to reduce this unwanted impact of stalls on the non-stalling threads. Also, these resources ensure that the earlier stalled thread, now flushed, is re-executed when the data dependency is resolved.

The present invention pertains to a method and apparatus for converting pipeline stalls to pipeline flushes in a processor. More particularly, the present invention pertains to flushing and tracking a stalled thread in the pipeline to allow forward progress of all non-stalling threads in a multi-threaded processor.
As is known in the art, a processor includes a variety of sub-modules, each adapted to carry out specific tasks. In one known processor, these sub-modules include the following: an instruction cache; an instruction fetch unit for fetching appropriate instructions from the instruction cache; an instruction buffer that holds the fetched instructions from the instruction cache; a scheduler that schedules the dispersal of individual instructions into separate execution pipes; execution pipes that execute the individual instructions; a pipeline control logic that monitors the activity within the execution pipes; and exception and retirement logic that checks for illegal operations and retires the exception-free instructions in program order.
Programming code to be executed by the processor can sometimes be broken down into smaller components referred to as "threads." A thread is a series of instructions whose execution achieves a given task. For example, in a video phone applications, the processor may be called upon to execute code to handle video image data as well as audio data. There may be separate code sequences whose execution is designed to handle each of these data types. Thus, a first thread may include instructions for video image data processing and a second thread may include instructions for audio data processing.
As is known in the art, simultaneous multi-threaded ("SMT") processors enable multiple threads to be active simultaneously within a single processor core. SMT implementations allow the machine width to be optimally occupied by filling up the execution pipes with instructions from multiple threads. By definition, instructions from different threads exhibit no dependency, which enables parallel execution. During parallel execution, operation and data dependencies are handled by stalling the pipeline given the in-order nature of the processor. These stalls span from a single cycle, to address some execution latencies, to several hundreds of clock cycles in cases involving data fetches from external memories (i.e. data from the off-chip memory). Thus, thread-specific stalls with long latencies of several hundred clock cycles could result in a significant decrease in the performance of a processor.
Another shortcoming to the thread-specific stalls is the under-utilization of the multi-threaded execution pipelines. As instructions from multiple threads are interspersed amongst the execution pipes, stalling one thread results in blocking all pipes. Although the non-stalling threads can make progress, it cannot be issued to the ports of the stalled thread. As a result, the stalls have an added performance drawback for multi-threaded processors since a stalled thread effectively stalls the progress on the other non-stalling threads.
In view of the above, there is a need for an improved method and system to handle pipeline stalls in a multi-threaded processor.

Method for converting pipeline stalls caused by instructions with long latency memory accesses to pipeline flushes in a multithreaded processor


A bus bridge circuit having at least one register to store address ranges to enable or disable prefetch in upstream memory read transactions or upstream write transaction buffering/posting data to specific devices. The use of address ranges allows the present invention to provide selectable control of prefetch for upstream memory read transaction flow. This feature allows the continued use of read prefetch for targets that allow upstream read prefetch while disabling upstream read prefetch for targets that do not allow upstream read prefetch. Additionally, the use of the address range allows upstream memory write transaction flow without utilizing data buffering or posting for specific targets. This feature provides immediate delivery of upstream data to selected targets by selectively disabling buffering/posting of upstream memory write commands as performed by a FIFO buffer. Thus providing immediate delivery of upstream data to selected targets while buffering/posting upstream memory write commands for other targets.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of bus bridge integrated circuits and in particular to a bus bridge circuit design that includes registers to store configuration parameters pertaining to upstream memory operations.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Bridge circuits are known to connect a first electronic bus to a second electronic bus. The bridge circuit serves to adapt the signals of the two busses to enable data exchange between the two bus signal standards. Frequently, bridge circuits are used to convert between different signaling standards defined for the first and second busses. Another common application of bus bridge circuits, as discussed in the related application Ser. No. 08/673,654 incorporated herein by reference, is to connect multiple, often hierarchical busses to common devices or memory subsystems.
In RAID storage subsystem control applications, for example, a Peripheral Computer Interconnect (PCI) bus is used to connect various peripheral I/O devices through a bridge circuit to a centralized PCI bus for the overall control of all I/O devices in the subsystems as well as the cache memory subsystem. The bus connecting the RAID subsystem CPU to the PCI bus bridge is referred to herein as the primary side or primary I/O bus, and attaches to the primary bus port of the bridge. The bus connected to the bus bridge circuit on the opposite side of the bridge relative to the primary side is referred to herein as the secondary side or secondary I/O bus and connects to the secondary bus port of the bridge. Transactions flowing through the bridge circuit from the primary side to the secondary side are referred to herein as downstream transactions or downstream flow. Transactions flowing through the bridge circuit from the secondary side to the primary side are referred to herein as upstream transactions or upstream flow.
The device initiating or originating the transaction request is known as the initiator or busmaster. The device to which the initiator directs its request is the target. When, for example, a CPU originates a transaction request it is the initiator, that is, busmaster. The target, for example, might be cache or other memory module.
If a read transaction has been performed and more data accesses may be required, data that may be requested is prefetched. The PCI bridge is designed to perform read prefetches from the target faster than necessary, and transfer the data to the initiator in response to future read transactions. This technique is known to enhance read transaction performance.
With regard to PCI bus architecture, read prefetch can be implemented with or without a buffer. When read prefetch is implemented with a buffer, data within data addresses following the current area of memory being read, are stored in a buffer and transferred to the initiator in response to possible future read transactions. Read prefetch with a buffer allows the PCI bus bridge to utilize the PCI burst mode without a lockstep handshake. During burst mode, the PCI bus bridge joins the addresses of these sequential read operations, transfers the beginning address once, and performs the data transfer. Successive addresses of these sequential read operations are not transferred while the data is transferred because they are implied. Thus, the amount of data transferred during burst mode is increased because the bus is not required to transfer each address during the data transfer.
When read prefetch is not implemented with a buffer, PCI bust mode is still utilized, but multiple data addresses cannot be prefetched. Instead, only one data address in the current area of memory being read can be prefetched, stored in a single register, and transferred to the initiator during the next data phase of the current burst. Since there is no buffer space to store the large amount of prefetched data, both sides of the PCI bus bridge are required to be in lockstep. A handshake is required between both sides of the bridge because the bus slave, or target must wait for the bus master to request the next read operation.
If immediate delivery of write data from initiator to target in a write transaction is not necessary, the PCI bridge can temporarily write data to a buffer within the PCI bus bridge before the write data is transferred to the storage medium such as the RAID disk, cache, or non-volatile memory. This is known to enhance write transaction performance because buffering and posting do not require both sides of bridge to be in lock step. That is when buffering data, there is no requirement for a handshake between both sides of the bridge during each data cycle that is transferring data between sides of the bridge. Although the busmaster or initiator is notified data delivery has occurred, data delivery has not actually occurred but will soon afterwards because the data that is left in the buffer is transferred at a later time.
In the downstream direction, it is known in the art to selectively enable memory read prefetch support. Prefetching can be implemented with or without a buffer. In the upstream direction, it is known in the art to globally disable memory prefetch support. Additionally in the downstream or upstream direction, it is known in the art to globally disable memory write buffering or posting. For more information, the reader is directed to PCI Special Interest Group, PCI to PCI Bridge Architecture Specification, Revision 1.0, Apr. 5, 1994, Hillsboro, Oreg., and PCI Special Interest Group, PCI Local Bus Specification, Revision 2.1, Jun. 1, 1995, Portland, Oreg.
In prior PCI bus bridges, upstream read transactions directed to memory target devices may often use prefetch. If the prefetch of upstream read transactions is directed to certain I/O targets that cannot utilize prefetch, it is known in the art, to provide a device specific bit in configuration space that globally disables upstream transaction read prefetch for all upstream read transactions. When upstream transaction read prefetch is globally disabled, read prefetch remains globally disabled for upstream transactions on a PCI bridge even though there may be other targets that allow read prefetch. The prefetch ability remains globally disabled because the prior PCI bus bridge cannot selectively disable read prefetch on upstream transactions. This reduces system performance for upstream transaction memory read commands to prefetchable main memory. A need exists to selectively enable and disable destinations for prefetch of upstream transaction memory read commands.
Additionally, in prior PCI bridges, buffering or posting of all upstream transaction memory write commands must be globally disabled to guarantee immediate delivery of upstream transaction data to certain targets. This reduces system throughput because the system does not utilize buffering or posting of data for other targets that do not need immediate delivery of upstream transaction data. It is desirable to improve system performance by allowing the immediate delivery of upstream transaction data, for certain targets, and allow upstream transaction buffering/posting of memory write commands for other targets.

PCI bridge with upstream memory prefetch and buffered memory write disable address ranges


Provided is a method for producing a fluoropolymer in the presence of a specific non-fluorinated compound having surface activity. The method shows a high polymerization rate, and suppresses formation of sticking polymerization materials after production of a polymer product. The method includes aqueous dispersion polymerization of a fluoroolefin in the presence of a compound (1) represented by formula (1):

Fluoropolymers have excellent properties of chemical resistance, solvent resistance, heat resistance, and fouling resistance, and are therefore used as materials of various products effectively utilizing the properties, in a wide range of industrial fields such as the automobile industry, semiconductor industry, chemical industry, and coating materials.
These fluoropolymers are produced by emulsion polymerization, suspension polymerization, or solution polymerization of fluoroolefins. The emulsion polymerization usually utilizes surfactants. An increased amount of surfactant leads to a greater number of polymer particles generated in the initial stage of the emulsion polymerization, which increases the polymerization rate and improves the production efficiency of fluoropolymers. In the case of using a large amount of surfactant, however, the obtained fluoropolymer tends to show deteriorated properties (e.g. water resistance). For this reason, a production method has been desired which enables efficient polymerization in the presence of a small amount of surfactant and which does not adversely affect the properties of the fluoropolymer.
Based on such a state of the art, Patent Literature 1 proposes a method of producing a fluoropolymer in the presence of a linear aliphatic sulfonate surfactant in place of expensive ammonium perfluorooctanoate that is commonly used in emulsion polymerization of a fluoropolymer. This method actually has a problem that the number of particles of the fluoropolymer generated is small.
Patent Literatures 2 and 3 propose a production method utilizing an alkyl phosphoric acid or an ester thereof as a non-fluorinated surfactant. Patent Literature 4 proposes a method utilizing a compound in which phosphoric acid, sulfonic acid, carboxylic acid, or the like acid is bonded to quaternary carbon atoms.

Method for producing fluorine-containing polymer

Abstract: wherein R1 and R2 are the same as or different from each other, and each represent a C4 to C12 non-fluorinated saturated hydrocarbon group; and M is an alkali metal, an ammonium salt, or an amine salt.


A water tube wall or heat transfer surface for use in a circulating fluidized bed combustor or reactor having reduced erosion at a transition between a protective refractory material and the upper wall.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of fluidized bed combustor and reactor wall construction and in particular to a new and improved tube wall configuration for protecting and reducing erosion of tube walls in the lower regions of a fluidized bed combustor or reactor.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a circulating fluidized bed reactor, reacting and non-reacting solids are entrained within the enclosure by the upward flow of gases which carry some solids to the reactor exit at the upper end of the reactor. Other, larger quantities of solids are recycled within the reactor enclosure as heavier solids initially carried upwards fall back against the flow of gases. Since the velocity of the upward flow of gases is often much lower adjacent the circulating fluidized bed enclosure walls and heat transfer surfaces within the circulating fluidized bed, most of the solids fall near the walls or heat transfer surfaces.
The amount of solids falling adjacent to the walls and surfaces increases progressively toward the bottom of the circulating fluidized bed. The density of the bed is higher in the lower regions of the furnace, and as a result, the walls and surfaces in the lower regions are subject to increased erosion from contact with the solids.
Further, the reactions occurring in the circulating fluidized bed create chemical reduction conditions against which the walls and heat transfer surfaces must be protected. A protective material (further called refractory) is often used to coat the walls and exposed surfaces in the lower regions of the circulating fluidized bed. The refractory is expensive, since it must withstand high temperatures (between 1400.degree. and 1800.degree. F.), contact erosion from solids, and chemical reduction and by-products from the reaction. The refractory also reduces the efficiency of heat transfer. For this reason refractory is only applied to the walls and exposed surfaces to as low an elevation in the reactor region as possible considering corrosion and erosion conditions. At the point on the walls and surfaces where the coating terminates, a discontinuity is formed where erosion occurs. The erosion is typically in a band about 1/4" wide adjacent the top edge of the protective material.
One method of reducing the effect of this erosion is to place a weld overlay from adjacent the discontinuity to several inches above the protective material termination. The weld overlay thus protects the tube wall or heat transfer surface from erosion at the point of discontinuity. Unfortunately, the weld overlay also suffers from erosion and must eventually be replaced, usually at great expense.
Another method of reducing the erosion is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,239,945, which discloses a fluidized bed boiler or reactor having water walls which are sloped outwardly from the top, forming a trapezoidal enclosure. Since the furnace walls slope continuously outward, particles falling from the upper regions of the enclosure cannot directly impinge the walls at the line of the tube-refractory interface, and instead fall primarily downward into the bed.
A second wall configuration is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 5,091,156, which has a configuration of water walls in a fluidized bed for protecting the refractory lined portion of the walls from erosion by contact with particles in the bed. The initially straight enclosure walls in the upper region are first bent outward adjacent the refractory portion, and then bent a second time inward toward the fluidized bed and opposing wall. The protective refractory coating lines the water wall beginning at the first outward bend such that a smooth transition between the refractory and upper water wall is created.
This wall configuration does not entirely protect the refractory lining from erosion by contact, since the discontinuity is still exposed to downwardly falling particles which may impact the transition at a slight angle. And, neither of the last two wall configurations can be applied to walls or heat transfer surfaces located entirely within the circulating fluidized bed enclosure, such as internal walls.

Erosion protection at line discontinuity for enclosure and internal walls in fluidized bed combustors and reactors


A textile web, for example, a carpet web, is provided with a patterning agent including a thickening agent and subsequently steamed in a steamer. The agent residues remaining on the textile web are at least partially removed by mechanical means, and cleaned and decolorized in a cleaning unit, leaving a virtually pure thickening agent which can be reused for preparing a new batch of patterning agent in the batching tank.

Within the meaning of the present invention, "patterning" is to be considered primarily as colored patterning, in which context one should think not only of a true illustration or pattern, but of solid-shade dyeing as well. The active manner in which the patterning on the web is accomplished is not important for the present invention. In many cases, it will be a printing process, but patterning processes that also come into consideration are a dropping, pouring or spraying of the pattern on the web, or even where the web is dipped into a patterning liquor.
The present invention concerns patterning processes of this type, where a thickening agent must be present on the web. This is primarily the case with printing processes to prevent the patterning agent from running, thus forming a clean contour, or to prevent the patterning agent from penetrating too quickly into the depth of the textile material. The use of thickening agents in textile printing is described in the book "Fundamentals of Textile Finishing" by M. Peter and H. K. Rouette, 13th edition (1989), pages 620 to 623, and a number of suitable substances are enumerated. Of course, mixtures of several suitable substances must also be regarded as thickening agents.
In the case of printing, the thickening agent is in the applied medium, i.e., the printing paste. This also holds true when a thickening agent must be used in carpet dyeing to prevent the applied patterning agent from sinking too quickly into the pile, which in the case of carpets is quite high, thus assuring that the tips of the fibers receive enough dye, so that a frosting effect does not develop. The thickening agent added to the dyeing liquor in these cases also keeps the liquor on the top areas of the fibers for a sufficient time.
However, there are also cases when thickening agent is not applied together with the patterning agent, but is applied beforehand. An example for this can be gathered from the German Patent No. 27 08 000 A1, in which the thickening agent (gum) is used as a dye retardant and is applied in a coating on a carpet web, upon which a non-repeating pattern is subsequently dropped using dyeing liquors. However, even here, when the patterning is completed and the goods are in the steamer, thickening agents are present.
These thickening agents must be removed again from the web after the steaming process. This is a difficult task and requires considerable expenditure for washing. Many attempts have been made to facilitate the removal of the thickening agent. For example, the thickener has first been moistened, whereupon it has passed through a soaking section in order to let the thickener swell due to the moisture. After that, it is supposed to be easier to wash out.
Until now, the washing expenditure to remove the thickener was always considerably greater than in the normal dyeing process where no thickening agents are necessary.
At the end of the steamer, the thickening agents form a true layer on the web. It has already been undertaken to mechanically remove this layer in the end region of the steamer by doctoring, so that at least a substantial portion of the thickening agent was already removed from the web without a washing process, thus the washing process was relieved accordingly (as shown in German laid open print No. 34 40 948).
However, all these known measures were from the aspect of merely removing the thickening agent, which subsequently had to be disposed of in a costly manner.

Installation and a process for patterning a web of textile material

Eduard Kusters Maschinenfabrik GMBH & Co. KG


A treatment for particulate inorganic solids is provided. This treatment, which uses certain organophosphinic compounds, imparts improved physical and chemical qualities including lacing resistance, improved dispersion and decreased chemical reactivity when these treated particulate inorganic solids are incorporated into polymeric matrices. The addition of the organophosphinic compounds of the present invention may flexibly be incorporated into known processes at varying points, and are preferably added downstream of any filtering steps or to a dry particulate inorganic solid.

The incorporation of particulate inorganic solids into polymer matrices has been performed for many years, and, over the years, particulate inorganic solids have been and continue to be incorporated into polymer matrices for many reasons. For example, they may be used as fillers. They may also be used to impart better physical and chemical attributes to polymer matrices, including decreased chemical activity and improved thermal stability, especially lacing resistance in extruded polymer film applications. In order to obtain different benefits, particulate inorganic solids may be treated in different ways, including by adding surface treatments.
Commonly used particulate inorganic solids for incorporation into polymer matrices include titanium dioxide and kaolin. Known surface treatments that have been applied to these solids include silanes, alkanolamines, polyols, organophosphoric acids, organosulfonic acids, and phosphorylated polyenes. The optimal treatment will in part depend on the attributes that one wants in a treated solid, which will in part depend on the application in which it will be used. Often one wants to provide a hydrophobic particulate solid that is stable, easy to prepare, cost effective, able to be dispersed to a high degree in polymers, and not reactive in the presence of other additives such as lithopone. However, despite the numerous known surface treatments, for various reasons, including cost and desired properties, no known surface treatments are ideal for all applications. Thus, there is always a need to develop new and better treatments for particulate solids.
Surprisingly, it was found that by treating an inorganic particulate solid with an organophosphinic compound, a composition that has good dispersiblity in polymer matrices could be produced. The present invention is directed to these treated inorganic particulate solids, methods for making them, and uses for them.

Particulate inorganic solids treated with organophosphinic compounds