A positive photosensitive composition ensuring wide exposure latitude and reduced line edge roughness not only in normal exposure (dry exposure) but also in immersion exposure, a pattern forming method using the positive photosensitive composition, and a novel resin contained in the positive photosensitive composition are provided, which are a positive photosensitive composition comprising (A) a resin having a specific lactone structure in the side chain and being capable of increasing the solubility in an alkali developer by the action of an acid and (B) a compound capable of generating an acid upon irradiation with an actinic ray or radiation, a pattern forming method using the positive photosensitive composition, and a novel resin contained in the positive photosensitive composition.

A chemical amplification resist composition is a pattern forming material of forming a pattern on a substrate by producing an acid in the exposed area upon irradiation with an actinic ray or radiation such as far ultraviolet light and through a reaction using the acid as a catalyst, changing the developer solubility of the area irradiated with an actinic ray or radiation and that of the non-irradiated area.
In the case of using a KrF excimer laser as the exposure light source, a resin having small absorption in the region of 248 nm and having a basic skeleton of poly(hydroxystyrene) is primarily used as the main component and therefore, this is an excellent system capable of forming a good pattern with high sensitivity and high resolution compared with conventional naphthoquinonediazide/novolak resin systems.
On the other hand, in the case of using a light source of emitting light at a shorter wavelength, for example, in using an ArF excimer laser (193 nm) as the exposure light source, a satisfactory pattern cannot be formed even by the above-described chemical amplification system, because the compound having an aromatic group substantially has large absorption in the region of 193 nm.
In order to solve this problem, a resist containing a resin having an alicyclic hydrocarbon structure has been developed for the use with an ArF excimer laser.
Various improvements are being made also to the acid-decomposable resin that is a main constituent component of the chemical amplification resist composition, and a specific acid-decomposable resin is disclosed, for example, in Non-Patent Documents 1 and 2.
Furthermore, various improvements are being made also to the resin having a lactone structure, and a resin having a specific lactone structure is disclosed, for example, in Patent Document 1.
However, at the formation of a fine pattern having a line width of 100 nm or less, it is required to improve not only resolution but also performance in terms of line edge roughness of a line pattern.
The line edge roughness as used herein means that the resist edge at the interface between the line pattern and the substrate irregularly fluctuates in the direction perpendicular to the line direction due to resist characteristics and when the pattern is observed from right above, the edge gives an uneven appearance (approximately from ±several nm to ±several tens of nm). The unevenness is transferred to the substrate through an etching step and when the unevenness is large, this causes deterioration of electrical properties and reduction in the yield.    Non-Patent Document 1: Polymer 43, (2002) 1963-1967    Non-Patent Document 2: The International Society of Optical Engineering, Proceedings of SPIE, 110-119 (2002)    Patent Document 1: JP-A-2001-33971 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application")

Positive photosensitive composition, pattern forming method using the composition and resin for use in the composition


A method of detecting enclosure leakage of an electrodynamic loudspeaker mounted in an enclosure or box may include applying an audio signal to a voice coil of the electrodynamic loudspeaker through an output amplifier and detecting a voice coil current flowing into the voice coil. A voltage across the voice coil may be detected and an impedance or admittance of the loudspeaker across a predetermined audio frequency range may be detected based on the detected voice coil current and voice coil voltage. A fundamental resonance frequency of the loudspeaker may be determined based on the detected impedance or admittance and compared with a nominal fundamental resonance frequency of the loudspeaker representing a sealed state of the enclosure. Acoustic leakage of the enclosure may be detected based on a deviation between the determined the fundamental resonance frequency and the nominal fundamental resonance frequency of the electrodynamic loudspeaker.

The present invention relates to a method of detecting enclosure leakage of an electrodynamic loudspeaker mounted in a box and a corresponding assembly for detecting enclosure leakage of an enclosure or box of an electrodynamic loudspeaker. Detection of acoustic leakage of an intentionally sealed enclosure of an electrodynamic loudspeaker is highly useful in numerous sound reproduction applications and equipment. It is important to rapidly and reliably detect enclosure leakage because of the associated loss of mechanical stiffness or compliance of the trapped air mass inside the sealed enclosure behind the loudspeaker diaphragm. The loss of stiffness leads to markedly increased diaphragm excursion for a given voice coil voltage, i.e. for a given level of the audio signal. The increase of diaphragm excursion is likely to force the diaphragm and voice coil assembly of the loudspeaker beyond its maximum allowable peak excursion leading to various kinds of irreversible mechanical damage to the loudspeaker. The user will typically notice this kind of irreversible mechanical damage of the loudspeaker due to a grossly distorted sound quality of the loudspeaker or a complete absence of audible sound.
This problem is of significant importance in numerous areas of loudspeaker technology, but in particular in miniature loudspeakers for portable communication devices such as mobile phones and smartphones. In the latter type of devices, a miniature electrodynamic loudspeaker is often mounted in a small sealed enclosure or chamber for example having a volume of about 1 cm3. The way users handle mobile phones and smartphones makes it unavoidable that these occasionally are dropped. These accidental drops may, depending on the impact surface and drop height, lead to severe impact blows on the phone housing or casing. Experience shows that these impacts often are sufficiently large to break a small hole of crack in the small sealed enclosure of the miniature loudspeaker leading to the undesired acoustic leakage. While the costs of a replacement miniature electrodynamic loudspeaker itself are quite modest, the costs of handling the entire repair service procedure are high. This is caused by the multitude of operational activities which typically includes various transportation and order tracking activities, disassembling of the communication device, removal of the defective miniature speaker, mounting of a new miniature speaker, testing, re-assembling and returning etc. In addition, the user is left without an often vital communication tool for the duration of the repair procedure. Hence, it is of considerable value to rapidly and reliably detect enclosure leakage and apply proper precautionary measures in the portable communication device to prevent damage to the miniature electrodynamic loudspeaker by limiting the diaphragm excursion to a value below its maximum allowable peak excursion.
Furthermore, it is of significant interest and value to provide a relatively simple method for monitoring and detecting enclosure leakage to avoid excessive expenditure of computational resources of a microprocessor of the portable communication device and/or other hardware resources handling a leakage detection application.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method of detecting enclosure leakage of enclosure mounted loudspeakers


A device for determining, by detection and calculation, nuclide contents of radioactive inert gases. The device includes a measuring chamber (1) which contains the inert gases, a detector (3) which detects gamma radiation emitted from the radioactive inert gases, calculating members (5) which, based on the detected gamma radiation, calculate the content of the different nuclides.

The invention relates to a device for determining nuclide contents of radioactive inert gases. The device comprises a cylinder with an arbitrary cross section which surrounds a measuring chamber, where the measuring chamber contains the inert gases, a detector for detecting gamma radiation emitted from the inert gases, and calculating members for calculating the nuclide contents in the inert gases starting from the detected gamma radiation.
A reactor core in a nuclear reactor comprises a plurality of fuel assemblies arranged vertically in the core in a certain spaced relationship to each other. The reactor core also comprises a plurality of control rods which, by being inserted into and withdrawn from the reactor core, control the output power of the nuclear reactor and start and stop the nuclear reactor. A fuel assembly comprises a plurality of vertical fuel rods, each of which containing a stack of pellets of a nuclear fuel arranged in a cladding tube. During burnup of the nuclear fuel, radioactive inert gases, which are normally retained in the fuel rod, are released. Examples of such inert gases are various nuclides of krypton and xenon.
In the event that a failure arises on a cladding tube during operation such that the inert gases may leak out into the reactor core, the inert gases will accompany the off-gases out of the nuclear reactor out of the nuclear reactor. A minor fuel failure which only causes release of inert gases is no obstacle, per se, to continued reactor operation. In the event that no measures are taken, the fuel failure may grow in magnitude by water and steam penetrating into the fuel rod and cause embrittlement of the cladding tube, whereby other fission products, such as iodine and cesium, may leak out into the reactor water. When the fuel failure is really serious, also uranium and/or plutonium may start leaking out into the reactor core. To prevent a serious fuel failure, it is therefore important to detect each fuel failure as early as possible.
In case of a serious fuel failure, the reactor has to be shut down and the failed nuclear fuel be replaced. This is very costly and should be avoided, if possible. Normally, the reactor is shut down approximately once every year for service and refuelling and then failed nuclear fuel may also be replaced. If a minor fuel failure is detected during operation, it need not be acted upon until the next refuelling. To avoid that the fuel failure in the meantime develops into a great and serious fuel failure, the power may be reduced, by the insertion of control rods, into that part of the reactor core which contains the failed fuel. It is, therefore, important not only to detect the fuel failure during operation, but also to locate where in the reactor core the fuel failure has arisen.
One way of detecting a fuel failure is to measure the total content of radioactive inert gases in the off-gases of the nuclear reactor. One problem with this method is that there are two different sources which emit radioactive inert gases, failed nuclear fuel as well as core contamination, that is, radioactive contaminants deposited on surfaces in the reactor core. The contamination successively increases and becomes an increasingly greater source of error. The inert gases which are emitted from the core contamination, however, differ from those which originate from a fuel failure in that they contain a considerably higher proportion of short-lived nuclides. To be able to determine if the inert gases originate from core contamination or from fuel failure, the distribution of short-lived and long-lived nuclides in the off-gases must be known. It is thus necessary to measure the content of each individual nuclide.
The patent document U.S. Pat. No. 5,537,450 discloses a device for measuring, while the reactor is in operation, the contents of radioactive inert gases in the off-gases from the nuclear reactor for the purpose of detecting a fuel failure as well as a method for locating the fuel failure. During the reactor operation, some of the off-gases from the nuclear reactor are continuously passed to a gamma spectrograph which detects the different inert gases which occur in the off-gases as well as measures the activity level of each one of the inert gases. The activity level for each one of the inert gases is a measure of the content of the inert gas in the off-gases. Based on the detection and the measurement of the different inert gases which occur and what activity levels the inert gases have, an assessment is made whether a fuel failure exists or not. When a fuel failure has been detected, it is determined where the fuel failure is located by moving the control rods, one at a time, in a reciprocating manner such that the power increases and decreases in fuel assemblies located adjacent to the control rod while at the same time the activity levels for the inert gases are measured by the gamma spectrograph. When the power is changed in the failed fuel assembly, also the activity levels of the inert gases are changed. In this way, the failed fuel assembly may be located. There are also natural reasons for increased activity levels for the inert gases which have nothing to do with the fuel failures, for example changes in the flow of the off-gases from the nuclear reactor.
The gamma spectrograph which is used in the above-mentioned patent document comprises a measuring chamber with a detector arranged in the centre of the measuring chamber. During measurement, the measuring chamber is filled with off-gases from the nuclear reactor. The detector detects the photons, so-called gamma radiation, which are released from the inert gases in the measuring chamber during a given measurement period. Each photon gives rise to a pulse, the amplitude of which depends on the energy contents of the photon. A calculating member counts the number of pulses within different given energy intervals and, with knowledge of the length of the measurement period, the number of measured pulses per unit of time in the various energy intervals may be calculated. The content of nuclides of different radioactive inert gases may thus be estimated. From FIG. 2 in the patent document U.S. Pat. No. 5,537,450, it is clear that the detector is a so-called coaxial detector. A typical coaxial detector has the shape of a straight cylinder with a height which may vary between 2 and 7 cm and it measures optimally in an energy range of from 100 keV to about 2000 keV.
Before the location of the fuel failure can be initiated, according to U.S. Pat. No. 5,537,450, the power of the nuclear reactor must be reduced to between 60% and 80% of full power in order not to make the failure worse during the period during which the location of the fuel failure is in progress. Reducing the power of the nuclear reactor is costly and should therefore be done as quickly as possible. A disadvantage of the device described in the above-mentioned document is that it can only make 2-3 measurements per hour.
One of the reasons for a coaxial detector measuring slowly during the detection of the photons which are emitted from the radioactive inert gases is that it gives a high back-ground radiation. The background radiation is caused by interaction in the coaxial detector, for example Compton scattering. The background radiation partially drowns the pulses which are intended to be detected, whereby it becomes necessary to measure for a relatively long time to obtain statistically significant values of the content of nuclides of the different inert gases.
When detecting a fuel failure in a nuclear reactor, Xe-133 is the most important nuclide to measure. Xe-133 is a relatively long-lived nuclide and emits gamma radiation in the energy range around 80 keV. Other nuclides which are of interest to measure, for example Xe-135 and Xe-138, emit gamma radiation with considerably higher energies. Since Xe-133 has a long radioactive half-life in comparison with the other nuclides, it emits much fewer photons per unit of time than these. The coaxial detector which measures optimally in the energy range 100 keV to about 2000 keV provides a large number of pulses from nuclides with high energies. Since there is a limit to the amount of pulses the calculating member is able to handle per unit of time, the computing speed has to be reduced when the number of pulses becomes too high. This means that, in order to be able to measure Xe-133 which emits few photons, the measurement time has to be extended. A large number of pulses from nuclides with high energies thus contribute to the long measurement time.
Since the number of measuring positions is greatxe2x80x94one measurement being carried out at each control rodxe2x80x94the long measurement time implies that the nuclear reactor must be driven at reduced power for a long time. Another disadvantage of a long measurement time is that it may be difficult to see the connection between an increase of the activity level for the radioactive inert gases and a certain change of operation of the nuclear reactor. An additional advantage of a long measurement time is that the increase of the flow of inert gases, because of changed power when the control rod is inserted and withdrawn, may proceed for just a few minutes, which makes it difficult to detect the increase.
The present invention relates to a device for determining, by detection and calculation, nuclide contents of radioactive inert gases. The inert gases may, for example, be contained in off-gases from a nuclear rector. The device according to the invention makes possible measurements while the reactor is in operation and also makes possible a considerably larger number of and considerably more accurate measurements of nuclide contents per unit of time than corresponding prior art devices.
What characterizes a device according to the invention will become clear from the appended claims.
Some of the off-gases from the nuclear reactor, selected in the embodiment, are passed via an inlet pipe into a cylinder with an arbitrary cross section, preferably a substantially circular-cylindrical cross section, which surrounds a measuring chamber. To reduce the measurement time, compared with the measurement time of corresponding prior art devices, the meassuring chamber comprises a detector which has the shape of a thin plate and the thickness of which is within the interval 3-10 mm, preferably between 5 and 10 mm. Such a detector is called a planar detector. A planar detector always has a diameter which is larger than its thickness. A planar detector measures photon energies optimally in an energy range of 5-100 keV. Thereafter, the efficiency of the detector decreases, but it may still detect photons with energies up to about 600 keV. A calculating member, known per se, counts the number of pulses with different energies and establishes a spectrum for the number of pulses at different energies and then analyzes the spectrum and calculates the content of the different nuclides of the radioactive inert gases. When detecting a fuel failure in a nuclear reactor, Xe-133 is the most important nuclide to measure. One advantage of the planar detector is that it is optimally sensitive at the energy of Xe-133 which is difficult to measure while at the same time it is less sensitive to nuclides with higher energies which emit a large number of photons and therefore are easy to detect. An optimum computing speed with respect to Xe-133 may thus be obtained. With a thinner detector, for example a planar detector, compared with the device described under the background art which comprises a coaxial detector, the Compton scattering and hence the background radiation decrease. This implies that the measurement time in the device according to the invention may be considerably reduced while at the same time maintaining the quality of the measurement.
To further reduce the measurement time, the detector is arranged close to one of walls of the measuring chamber. Compared with a detector which is arranged in the centre of the measuring chamber, the background radiation decreases when the detector is arranged close to one of the walls, which is due to a reduced reflection of the radiation in the walls and hence reduced background radiation.
Further, the measurement time is additionally reduced by arranging the measuring chamber such that its volume varies in size in dependence on the activity of the off-gases. When the activity is low, the volume of the measuring chamber is large and when the activity is high, the volume of the measuring chamber is small. The volume varies by arranging a control system, known per se, to move a piston arranged in the measuring chamber in the axial direction of the measuring chamber. The piston is moved in dependence on the activity level of the off-gases. In this way, the computing speed of the calculating member may be optimized whereby the necessary measurement time may be minimized.
A device according to the invention manages up to 30 measurements per hour of the content of nuclides of the radioactive inert gases in the off-gases from the nuclear reactor.

Device for determining nuclide contents of radioactive inert gases


A system and computer implemented method for conducting play of Internet-based lottery games includes providing players with a plurality of different Internet-based lottery games playable on an Internet enabled device in communication with an Internet game site, wherein the games have different game themes and mechanics of play by the player. A selection is accepted from a player for play of a particular one of the Internet-based lottery games. The plurality of different Internet-based games are linked to a common predetermined prize structure associated with a defined set of data files loaded in a secure game outcome generator such that the data files determine the outcome and prize structure of a defined number of game plays regardless of the particular game selected for play by the player from the plurality of different games.

Lottery games have become a time honored method of raising revenue for state and federal governments the world over. Traditional scratch-off and on-line games have evolved over decades, supplying increasing revenue year after year. However, after decades of growth, the sales curves associated with traditional games seem to be flattening out. Consequently, both lotteries and their service providers are presently searching for new forms of gaming.
To date there has been much speculation about enabling various lottery products to become available to the consumer over the Internet. The benefits are obvious: greater accessibility and a richer gaming environment for the player resulting in enhanced sales. However, there are various jurisdictional laws and statutes (e.g., the United States Wire Act) involving interstate gambling that in the past have brought into question the legality of such an enterprise. Though recently, the United States Department of Justice concluded that the Wire Act's " . . . prohibitions relate solely to sport-related gambling activities in interstate and foreign commerce . . . ."
In the past, United States lotteries have used the Internet as a vehicle for disseminating information about their lottery organizations, their games, and their promotions. They have also used the Internet for simulations of classic instant ticket games, games solely for entertainment without a fee, a means to communicate with players, for selling subscriptions to traditional lotto games, and for second chance drawings—drawings for prizes resulting from non-winning experiences based on the sale of a regular lottery ticket through historic channels. However, now that it would appear that Internet lottery games are to become part of the fare offered by US (and other jurisdictions) lotteries, appropriate adherence to lottery security and fair play standards is essential, as is designing a mechanism that meets applicable political and legal constraints.
To ensure that these standards and constraints are maintained through the rollout of Internet gaming, it is logical to, initially at least, provide Internet games of a deterministic nature, wherein the outcome (i.e., prize winning status) is regulated either by a secured validation file or some form of Pseudo Random Number Generator (PRNG). The significant point being that the game outcome is determined by lottery-controlled factors outside of any decisions or controls available to the consumer of the Internet game. This type of deterministic gaming mimics the games currently offered by lotteries (e.g., scratch-off tickets, Pick 3, Pick 4, Powerball, etc.), thereby making it a simpler task to ensure that security and standards are maintained.
However, over the years United States lotteries have come to appreciate the virtues of producing games with more entertainment value that can be sold at a premium price. For instance, ten-dollar scratch ticket games with higher paybacks, and more ways to win now account for over $5 billion a year in United States lottery sales. Making Internet delivered games more challenging and introducing skill levels (e.g., Internet Poker) may help attract a new player base and consequently increase revenue. Additionally, since more challenge gaming formats often require a large player base, an ideal security audit system would also accommodate networking players as well as jurisdictions together while still ensuring fairness and auditability. Thus, while initially lottery controlled Internet gaming sites may be limited to deterministic games, an ideal security and audit system would create a foundation that allows for the gradual expansion of lottery Internet gaming themes to evolve to include player alterable games over a large player base ultimately allowing a player's decision to influence the game's outcome and thereby determine if he or she has won a prize.
Moreover, as gaming technology and systems continue to evolve and become more sophisticated, numerous new types of lottery related games and products become available that require new methods of security and auditing to ensure lottery rules are maintained. Thus, it is highly desirable to develop a lottery Internet gaming platform that provides security and auditing methods for new Internet gaming opportunities. Ideally this lottery Internet security platform should be evolutionary in nature, starting with a familiar format that gradually introduces a consumer to Internet and other new gaming formats.

System and method for implementing internet-based games wherein a plurality of different games share a common prize structure


A method is provided for controlling a work machine during operation in a repeated work cycle including controlling transfer of power to and from an energy storage arrangement in the work machine according to a predetermined control strategy, which is adapted for the characteristics of the work cycle.

The present invention relates to a method and a system for controlling a work machine.
The term "work machine" comprises different types of material handling vehicles like construction machines, such as a wheel loader and a dump truck (such as an articulated hauler). A work machine is provided with a bucket, container or other type of work implement for carrying/transporting a load. Further terms frequently used for work machines are "earth-moving machinery", "off-road work machines" and "construction equipment".
In connection with transportation of heavy loads, e.g. in contracting work, work machines are frequently used. A work machine may be operated with large and heavy loads in areas where there are no roads, for example for transports in connection with road or tunnel building, sand pits, mines and similar environments.
A work machine is often used in a repeated work cycle. The term "work cycle" comprises a route of the work machine (ie the work cycle travel path) and a movement of a work implement, such as a bucket, (lifting/lowering operation). The work cycle is repeated in the same geographical area. During the performance of the work cycle, the work machine often encounters different gradients of the ground (uphill and downhill), and turns (cornering).
According to a first work cycle example, a wheel loader typically drives into a heap of material, lifts the bucket, reverses out of the heap, turns and is forwarded towards a dump truck where it unloads the material onto the container of the dump truck. After unloading, the wheel loader returns to the starting position.
A second work cycle example for a wheel loader is the so called "load & carry cycle" with a small ramp at the end. According to this example, material is collected in the bucket, the wheel loader is reversed, turned and forwarded a longer distance (100-400 meters) to a crusher or conveyor belt, which is located on top of the ramp, and the bucket is emptied. The wheel loader is thereafter driven back again.
According to a third work cycle example, a dump truck is loaded at a first position, driven along a varied route, unloaded at a second position and driven back along the varied route. Normally, an excavator or wheel loader loads the container of the dump truck at the first position.
The invention will be described below for a wheel loader. This should be regarded as a non-limiting example of a work machine. The wheel loader comprises a powertrain for propelling the machine via the wheels. A power source, such as an internal combustion engine, and especially a diesel engine, is adapted to provide the power for propelling the wheel loader. The wheel loader further comprises a hydraulic system for performing certain work functions, such as lifting and tilting a work implement and steering the machine. The power source is also adapted to provide the power for controlling the hydraulic work functions. More specifically, one or more hydraulic pumps are driven by the power source in order to provide hydraulic actuators (such as hydraulic cylinders) with pressurized hydraulic fluid.
The invention is particularly directed to a hybrid electric wheel loader. A hybrid electric wheel loader comprises an energy storage means, such as a battery or a capacitor (preferably a super capacitor). A problem is to control a state of charge (SOC) of the energy storage means during operation in an efficient way in order to optimize energy recovery and reduce fuel consumption.
It is desirable to optimize energy recovery and/or reduce fuel consumption of a work machine during operation.
According to an aspect of the present invention, a method is provided for controlling a work machine during operation in a repeated work cycle comprising the step of controlling transfer of power to and from an energy storage means in the work machine according to a predetermined control strategy, which is adapted for characteristics of the work cycle.
The work cycle characteristics may regard a work machine internal characteristic, such as a work machine behaviour, and/or an external characteristic, such as a work cycle travel path direction. More specifically, the characteristics may comprise a predicted and/or experienced sequence of events that takes place during performance of the work cycle and which is relevant for the control of the work machine.
Knowledge of the work cycle creates conditions for reliably predicting forthcoming events (occurrences) in the work cycle and operating the power transfer to and from the energy storage means in an efficient way. Such work cycle knowledge may be achieved either from a previously performed lap of the specific work cycle and/or from pre-available information of the work cycle, such as topographical maps.
According to a preferred embodiment, the control strategy comprises information indicative of an amount of energy required for a certain portion of the work cycle. The information may regard for example a work machine behaviour, a work cycle travel path direction and/or a work implement operation. More specifically, the information may comprise a predicted and/or experienced sequence of events that takes place during performance of the work cycle and which is relevant for the control of the work machine. Each such event represents an important change in a work machine operational parameter, and each event is preferably associated to a position along the work cycle travel path. Therefore, according to a preferred example, the energy information is based on a change in a work cycle travel path. Preferably, the energy condition is based on a change of direction of a work cycle travel path in a horizontal plane and/or on a change of ground inclination of a work cycle travel path.
According to a further preferred embodiment, the method comprises the step of controlling power transfer to and from at least one power consuming system in the work machine. The power consuming system may comprise a powertrain for propelling the work machine and/or a hydraulic system for moving a work implement of the work machine.
According to a further preferred embodiment, the method comprises the step of determining at least one condition that is indicative of an amount of energy required for a certain portion of the work cycle, and establishing the energy control strategy on the basis of said energy condition.
The energy control strategy (or energy control model) is built up on the basis of the condition variation. More specifically, the condition variation is associated to a variation in the work machine operational characteristics. In other words, the sequence of events is built up in response to the predicted and/or experienced driving pattern along the work cycle route.
According to a further development of the last-mentioned embodiment, the method comprises the step of detecting at least one operational parameter during operation of a work machine in the work cycle in question, and determining the energy condition on the basis of a magnitude of the detected operational parameter.
Preferably, the method comprises the step of repeatedly detecting said at least one operational parameter. Further, a plurality of operational parameters is preferably detected, such as an operational parameter indicative of a change of direction of the work cycle travel path. Said at least one operational parameter is preferably substantially continuously repeatedly detected.
Thus, an event may be established on the basis of the detected operational parameter in a previously performed work cycle and used for controlling a work machine by means of the control strategy in a later performed work cycle. More particularly, an individual work machine may be adapted to learn from past experiences. For example, driving patterns with regard to steering wheel deflection, gas pedal operation, brake pedal operation, work implement operation etc are recognized and stored. Further, a traveling distance for the specific work cycle is detected and the time/position when lifting force is required are recognized and stored. According to one example, the control strategy is solely determined based on driving pattern information achieved from sensors in the work machine.
According to an alternative, or complementary embodiment, the method comprises the step of predicting at least part of the energy condition on the basis of pre-available information of the work cycle in question. Such information may be formed by geographical maps of the area covering the work cycle travel path, knowledge of the specific work cycle travel path (comprising turns and slopes), the material to be transported, ground conditions, weather conditions etc. For example, a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) (such as the GPS) may be used for establishing the work cycle travel path. According to further alternatives, radio, radar, ultrasound, laser scanning, image recognition, or gyroscope-based determination systems may be used.
According to one example, the control strategy is established on the basis of both detected operational parameters while performing the work cycle and available information of the work cycle in question. Thus, the work cycle route may be indicated in a topographical map, wherein turns and slopes are defined. The control strategy is based on such a topographical map and it may be modified based on detected operational conditions.
According to a further preferred embodiment, the control strategy comprises a plurality of control steps, wherein each step is established on the basis of the condition variation. Preferably, the work cycle travel path comprises a plurality of positions, wherein each position is established on the basis of the condition variation.
Each control step indicates that the work machine should be effected for an optimum control. Such a control step may be indicated by the position of a change in altitude, or a change in direction, of the work cycle travel path.
It is also desirable to achieve a system adapted for an optimized energy recovery and/or reduced fuel consumption of a work machine during operation.
According to an aspect of the present invention, a system is provided for controlling a work machine during operation in a repeated work cycle comprising means for controlling transfer of power to and from an energy storage means in the work machine in according to a predetermined control strategy, which is adapted for the characteristics of the work cycle.
Other advantageous embodiments of the invention and its associated advantages are apparent from the following description.

Method and a control system for controlling a work machine


A method is provided for use in a cooperative broadcast multi-hop network that employs broadcast flood routing and multi-hop transmission using a direct-sequence spread-spectrum (DSSS) waveform. DSSS signals are received from other nodes on different channels. ASSW is performed to detect and remove interference signals received on the different channels. MDFT analysis banks each receive a beam in the spectral domain that can be channelized to generate a channelized beam that comprises multiple spectral channels. An adaptive interference mitigation space-frequency whitener module can then be applied to remove interference and generate interference-mitigated spatial-spectral domain channels. MDFT synthesis banks can each perform a MDFT synthesis operation on one of the spatial-spectral domain channels. A multi-user RAKE receiver can then combine the interference mitigated time-domain channelized signals to generate a subset (1 . . . F) of fingers that combine components of transmissions directly received from the other nodes and multipath components of those transmissions.

In recent years, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) has sought to develop RF communications technologies that protect signals from enemy attempts to detect, intercept, or exploit those signals, while still maintaining other desirable attributes and capabilities of the communication systems (e.g., throughput, spectral efficiency, network performance, latency, etc.).
One such example is the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA's) Computational Leverage Against Surveillance Systems (CLASS) program that is designed to help safeguard military ground-to-ground, ground-to-air, and air-to-air RF communications. A goal of the DARPA CLASS program is to create new waveforms and technology to protect military RF communications from enemy signals intelligence. The DARPA CLASS program sought to create communications waveforms that capitalize on advanced in digital signal processing to enable future military communications systems to receive and process transmissions using sophisticated application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) while forcing adversaries to require supercomputer processing to intercept and exploit radio signals.
Resilience in electronic warfare (EW) environments is provided through waveform complexity, spatial diversity techniques and interference exploitation. Waveform complexity refers to removing predictable structures from communication waveforms, adding atypical random structure, new ways to acquire and track signals, and similar techniques. Waveform complexity uses advanced communications waveforms that are difficult to recover without knowledge and understanding of the signals itself. Spread-spectrum communications are signal structuring techniques in which telecommunication signals transmitted in a band is considerably larger than the frequency content of the original information. A receiver correlates receive signals to retrieve the original information signal. There are many types of spread-spectrum communication systems including, but not limited to, direct-sequence, frequency hopping, and hybrid variations that combine these techniques. Regardless of the variation, each of these techniques utilizes pseudorandom number sequences to determine and control a spreading pattern of a signal across an allocated bandwidth. Any of these spread-spectrum communication systems can help prevent adversaries from jamming communications and thus provide anti jamming capability. For example, direct-sequence spread-spectrum (DSSS) is employed for low probability of intercept/low probability of detection (LPI/LPD) signaling. In addition, these types of spread-spectrum communication systems, can also be used to hide the fact that communication was even taking place. This is sometimes referred to as low probability of intercept or LPI.
Spatial diversity transmission refers to manipulating the spatial characteristics of a signal to create controlled, recoverable waveforms at the destination receiver while creating difficult-to-recover signal characteristics at other locations. Spatial diversity uses distributed cooperative communications devices and the communication environment to disguise and dynamically vary the apparent location of the signal. When spatial antennas are co-located together (e.g., in a single unit or box), or when the antennas are stationary and connected to a central distribution point, it can be relatively easy to implement transmit spatial diversity. However, in other applications, implementing transmit spatial diversity becomes significantly more challenging. For example, when the transmitters are non-collocated (e.g., separate terminals), dynamically moving, and lack centrally controlled coordination, the coordination required across the devices becomes more challenging. The disclosed embodiments can allow spatial diversity and coherent combining to be employed with reasonable complexity.
Interference exploitation or spectrum obfuscation makes use of the clutter in the signal environment to make it difficult for an adversary to isolate a particular signal. Interference exploitation techniques seek to use natural and artificial interference against an unintended receiver (e.g., to force adversaries to dedicate processing resources to the source signal to reduce interference).
Cooperative broadcast transmitters and receivers are typically complex. Scalability becomes a challenge with dynamic or growing network users. Some of the challenges faced include processing multi-user detection, estimation of channel state information for each received user-channel for beam combining, or coordination of space time block codes.

Node having an adaptive space-spectrum whitener and multi-user rake receiver for use in a cooperative broadcast multi-hop network that employs broadcast flood routing and multi-hop transmission with cooperative beamforming and adaptive space-spectrum whitening


A control device of a printer can delete unnecessary data left in the printer when processing is interrupted without relying on user intervention. A control device of a printer that prints according to print data has a transmission monitor unit that sends the print data to the printer. Based on the status of a storage unit of the printer, the transmission monitor unit sends a command to delete identical data from the storage unit to the printer before sending the print data to the printer.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a control device of a printer, and relates more particularly to a printer control device, a printing system, and a control method that can clear unnecessary data left in the printer due to interruption of a process, for example, without depending on an operation by the user.
2. Related Art
Printers normally execute printing processes based on print data sent from a host device, and the process may be interrupted for some reason occurring during the printing process. For example, the printing process is interrupted when a problem such as a paper jam occurs in the printer, or when a printer cover is opened.
When the printing process is thus interrupted, print data that has not been processed yet remains stored in the printer, and the printing process is typically repeated from the beginning of the print job after operation resumes. As a result, the print data that is left in memory is unnecessary data, referred to herein as trash data, and if this trash data is not deleted, it will be unnecessarily printed again after operation resumes, resulting in wasted printing.
Various efforts have been made to solve this problem of wasted printing. The printer described in JP-A-2004-130784, for example, executes a process of stopping printing, discarding the received print data to a code indicating a specific break point, and sending a cancel data request to the host, for example, in response to a cancel printing operation performed by pressing a button on the operating panel.
One example of unnecessary data being left in the printer occurs when the printer cannot quickly detect that a print job was cancelled and print data for the print job remains in the print spooler on the host device. This situation is preferably handled by a function on the host side.
The effect of this problem is particularly great when relatively large amounts of image data are used, such as when printing labels, and the image data remains as unnecessary data in memory, and a more reliable solution is required.
Preferably, such unnecessary data can be deleted without requiring the user to perform a specific operation.

Printer control device, printing system, and control method that deletes unnecessary data due to interruption


A rotary oil damper includes a housing incorporating therein a storing chamber open on one side, a cap having a hole and for shutting the opening in the storing chamber of the housing, a rotor including a base part and a shaft part and disposed rotatably inside the storing chamber of the housing, a toothed wheel fixed to the shaft part of the rotor, viscous oil filling said storing chamber of the housing, and a ring-shaped leaf spring member having opposite terminal parts separated from each other and contained in conjunction with the rotor inside the storing chamber. The shaft part of the rotor protrudes outwardly through the hole of the cap. With one of the opposite terminal parts of the spring member fixed to the base part of the rotor, the spring member moves along the inner wall surface of the storing chamber through a membranous layer of the viscous oil formed between the inner wall surface of the storing chamber and the peripheral surface of the spring member synchronously with the normal or reverse rotation of the rotor within the storing chamber.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a rotary oil damper to be used in a push-open type member such as, for example, an ashtray in an automobile or an opening-shutting lid in a household electric appliance which is constantly urged in the opening direction for the purpose of braking the speed at which the push-open type member is opened.
2. Description of the Prior Art
This type of conventional oil damper is generally provided, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Public Disclosure No. 59-88548, with a housing incorporating therein a storing chamber open on one lateral side, a cap for shutting the opening in the storing chamber of the housing, a rotor disposed rotatably in the storing chamber of the housing, and a toothed wheel fixed to the leading end of a shaft of the rotor protruding outwardly through a cap hole. The storing chamber of the housing is filled with viscous oil such as silicone oil in conjunction with the rotor.
The application of this oil damper to the aforementioned push-open type ashtray in an automobile is accomplished by fixing the housing of the oil damper to either of the case of the ashtray and the frame retaining the ashtray case in an emerging-submerging manner, providing the remainder of the two components just mentioned with a rack, and allowing the toothed wheel on the damper side to be meshed with the rack as disclosed in Japanese Patent Public Disclosure No. 63-196258. As a result, the ashtray case tends to move in the opening direction by virtue of the resilient pressure and, in consequence of this motion of the ashtray case, the rotor rotates in spite of the viscous resistance of the oil inside the storing chamber of the housing. Thus, the opening speed of the ashtray case is braked and the ashtray case is enable to move slowly in the opening direction.
Indeed, the conventional oil damper is capable of braking the opening speed of the ashtray case and causing it to open slowly. Conversely, when the ashtray case is pushed into the frame, the braking force similarly derived from the viscous resistance of the oil is suffered to manifest its effect because of the construction of the oil damper. In this case, the viscous resistance of the oil entails the mischief that the ashtray case cannot be smoothly pushed into the frame.
An attempt to vary the torque of rotation of the rotor necessitates auxiliary means such as, for example, a one-way clutch and, as a result, automatically increases the size of the oil damper. In the worst case, this increase of size possibly renders the oil damper unsuitable for the intended use.
Further, the viscous oil such as silicone oil which is used in the storing chamber is susceptible of the influence of the change of temperature under the working conditions of the oil damper. In the construction in which the braking force is derived exclusively from the viscous resistance of oil as in the conventional oil damper, therefore, the torque of rotation varies in accordance with the temperature variation under the working conditions of the oil damper and the oil damper can no longer be expected to operate stably. Moreover, since the amount of the viscous oil to be placed in the storing chamber is necessarily large, the oil damper entails the disadvantage that the contained oil tends to leak from the oil damper in consequence of thermal expansion of the oil.
Another damper resorting to resilient pressure has been proposed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 57-49216.
The prior art damper, though not specifically illustrated herein, differs in idea from the conventional oil damper which makes use of the viscous resistance of oil. Specifically, it has a construction such that a plurality of J-shaped metallic leaf spring members are radially disposed in a rotor set rotatably in place inside a storing chamber of a housing and that the curved leading terminal parts of the J-shaped leaf spring members are kept in direct sliding contact with the inner wall surface defining the storing chamber of the housing. The opening speed of the ashtray case is braked by allowing the leaf spring members to move in company with the rotor thereby adding to the frictional force to be generated between the curved leading terminal parts of the leaf spring members and the inner wall surface of the storing chamber. Conversely, the ashtray case is pressed into the frame by decreasing the frictional force generated between the cured leading terminal parts of the leaf spring members and the inner wall surface of the storing chamber.
The prior art damper, therefore, has absolutely no use for the incorporation of viscous oil and has absolutely no possibility of succumbing to the influence of temperature change or entailing oil leakage. In terms of the convenience of use, the prior art damper is advantageous over the conventional oil damper since it is theoretically capable of varying the torque of rotation by virtue of the direction of rotation of the rotor without requiring use of auxiliary means such as, for example, a one-way clutch.
Since the prior art damper adopts a construction requiring the curved leading terminal parts of the J-shaped leaf spring members to be kept in direct sliding contact with the inner wall surface of the storing chamber, however, it is fated to require the component parts thereof to be highly accurate relative to one another. Only naturally, therefore, the work of assembling the component parts turns out to be very troublesome. In commercial production of the prior art damper, the possibility of the braking force being dispersed among a plurality of products is great. It also has a serious structural disadvantage that the individual leaf spring members, while moving in company with the rotor with the curved leading terminal parts thereof kept in sliding contact with the inner wall surface of the storage chamber, undergo stick slip and, in the worst case, get locked in situ and cease to produce smooth motion.
By this reason, the prior art damper which makes use of this resilient pressure has not been easily reduced to practice from the realistic point of view, though it enjoys the advantage not found in the oil damper.
In the light of the problems encountered by the conventional dampers as described above, the main object of this invention is to provide a rotary oil damper which enables the torque of rotation to be varied in the normal and reverse directions of rotation and defies the influence of temperature change.


An oven-controlled crystal oscillator includes a circuit board, a crystal unit surface-mounted on the circuit board, and a temperature control circuit that maintains operating temperature of the crystal unit constant. The temperature control circuit includes a heating resistor, a power transistor that supplies power to a heating resistor, and a temperature sensitive resistor that detects temperature of the crystal unit. The heating resistor is formed, as a film resistor, on a surface of the circuit board in an area thereof in which the crystal unit is located. The temperature sensitive resistor is provided on the circuit board as a film resistor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an oven-controlled crystal oscillator that uses a surface-mount type quartz crystal unit, and in particular, to an oven-controlled crystal oscillator that is excellent in responsiveness to a change in temperature.
2. Description of the Related Art
A crystal oscillator includes a crystal unit composed of a quartz crystal blank hermetically encapsulated in a container and an oscillation circuit that uses the crystal unit; the crystal unit and the oscillation circuit are integrated together. The crystal oscillator is used in various electronic apparatuses as a reference source for frequency and time. One of such crystal oscillators is an oven-controlled crystal oscillator that maintains operating temperature of the crystal unit constant. Since the operating temperature of the crystal unit is maintained constant regardless of ambient temperature, the oven-controlled crystal oscillator offers particularly high frequency stability, and thus exhibits; for example, a frequency deviation of at most about 0.05 ppm. Such an oven-controlled crystal oscillator is used in, for example, communication facilities such as base stations for optical communication To maintain the crystal unit in the oven-controlled crystal oscillator at a constant temperature, a thermostatic chamber is generally used. The oven-controlled crystal oscillator is also called a crystal oscillator with a thermostatic chamber. In recent years, with increasing miniaturization of the communication facilities, the oven-controlled crystal oscillator has needed to be small. To miniaturize the oven-controlled crystal oscillator, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,345,552 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,382,204 disclose the use of a surface-mount type crystal unit as a crystal unit incorporated into the oven-controlled crystal oscillator. The surface-mount type crystal unit has a configuration suitable for surface-mounting on a circuit board and is characterized by a significantly small size compared to the sizes of conventional crystal units with leads
FIG. 1A is a sectional view showing an example of a configuration of a conventional oven-controlled crystal oscillator that uses a surface-mount type crystal unit. FIG. 1B is a bottom view of a surface-mount type crystal unit used in the crystal oscillator. FIG. 1C is a circuit diagram of a temperature control circuit in the crystal oscillator.
The illustrated oven-controlled crystal oscillator includes surface-mount type crystal unit 1, a plurality of oscillating elements 2 forming an oscillation circuit, and temperature control circuit 3 that maintains the operating temperature of surface-mount type crystal unit 1 constant. Crystal unit 1, oscillating elements 2, and temperature control circuit 3 are arranged on circuit board 4 and hermetically encapsulated in metal container 5 together with circuit board 4. Crystal unit 1 uses flat, substantially parallelepipedic container body 6 made up of ceramics. Crystal unit 1 includes quartz crystal blank 1A accommodated in a recess formed on one principal surface of container body 6 and closed by metal cover 7. Crystal blank 1A is secured to an inner bottom surface of the recess and hermetically encapsulated in container body 6. Mounting terminals used for surface-mounting the crystal unit on a wiring board are formed, as electrode layers with a rectangular planar shape, in four corners of an outer bottom surface of container body 6, that is, a principal surface of container body 6 on which no recess is formed. Of the four mounting terminals, two mounting terminals positioned at opposite ends of one diagonal line of the outer bottom surface of container body 6 are connection terminals 8a electrically connected to a pair of excitation electrodes (not shown) of crystal blank 1A. The remaining two mounting terminals are dummy terminals 8b normally electrically connected to metal cover 7 via via-holes (not shown) formed in container body 6. Dummy terminals 8b can be connected to, for example, a ground potential.
Temperature control circuit 3 maintains the operating temperature of crystal unit 1 constant, and includes at least heating chip resistor 3a, temperature sensitive resistor 3b that detects operation temperature of crystal unit 1, and power transistor 3c. For example, a thermistor with a resistance value decreasing with increasing temperature is used as temperature sensitive resistor 3b. Power transistor 3c supplies heating chip resistor 3a with power controlled by the resistance value of temperature sensitive resistor 3b which varies with temperature.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1C, temperature control circuit 3 includes differential amplifier 12 with its output connected to a base of power transistor 3c, and heating chip resistor 3a is interposed between a collector of transistor 3c and direct-current power supply PC. FIG. 1C shows only one chip resistor 3a. However, for example, two chip resistors 3a are provided in parallel for uniform heat conduction. An emitter of transistor 3c is grounded. Temperature sensitive resistor 3b and resistor Ra are provided in series between power supply DC and the ground point. When a voltage appearing at a connection point between temperature sensitive resistor 3b and resistor Ra is defined as a temperature sensitive voltage, the temperature sensitive voltage is supplied to one input terminal of differential amplifier 12. Furthermore, resistors Rb, Rc are provided in series between power supply DC and the ground point to divide a power supply voltage to generate a reference voltage. The reference voltage is supplied to the other input terminal of differential amplifier 12. In this configuration, the base of power transistor 3c is supplied with a voltage corresponding to a differential voltage between the temperature sensitive voltage, which depends on temperature, and the constant reference voltage. Chip resistor 3a is thus supplied with power from power supply DC. As a result, the power supplied to chip resistor 3a is controlled according to temperature measured by temperature sensitive resistor 3b to maintain the operating temperature of crystal unit 1 constant.
Circuit board 4 is made up of first board 4a and second board 4b held on first board 4a with a plurality of metal pins 9. Metal pins 9 include a function of electrically connecting second board 4b to first board 4a. First board 4a is made up of a glass-epoxy wiring board. Circuit elements 2x are mounted on a lower surface of first board 4a. Here, circuit elements 2x are circuit elements which make up the crystal oscillator but are other the crystal unit 1, adjustable element 2A, heating chip resistor 3a, temperature sensitive resistor 3b, and power transistor 3c.
Second board 4b is made up of a ceramic wiring board and includes crystal unit 1 provided on an upper surface thereof by surface-mounting. Circuit elements which make up temperature control circuit but are other than power transistor 3c are provided on a lower surface of second board 4b. Specifically, heating chip resistor 3a and temperature sensitive resistor 3b are provided on the lower surface of second board 4b.
Second board 4b is positioned above first board 4a. Silicone-based conductive resin 10 is applied to between first board 4a and second board 4b so as to cover heating chip resistor 3a and temperature sensitive resistor 3b. Power transistor 3c is a circuit element with a large height dimension and is thus provided on the upper surface of second board 4b closer to an end thereof.
Metal container 5 is made up of metal base 5a and metal cover 5b. Air-tight terminals 11 are provided which penetrate metal base 5a to hold first board 4a. Cover 5b is joined to metal base 5a by resistance welding. Thus, first and second boards 4a, 4b and the circuit elements mounted on the boards are hermetically encapsulated in the metal container.
To manufacture such an oven-controlled crystal oscillator, first, circuit board 4 with the circuit elements mounted thereon is placed on air-tight terminals 11 so as to be held thereon. Then, frequency-temperature characteristics of crystal unit 1 are individually measured before metal cover 5b is connected to metal base 5a. In general, the frequency-temperature characteristics of crystal unit 1 are expressed by a cubic curve for temperature in which a high temperature-side extremal corresponds to the minimum value, whereas a low temperature-side extremal corresponds to the maximum value. Thus, a measured temperature offering the high temperature-side local minimal value, for example, 80° C. is set to be the operating temperature of the crystal unit. Resistor Ra in temperature control circuit 3 is adjusted so that temperature control circuit 3 can keep the temperature of the crystal unit equal to the operating temperature. A adjusting capacitor (not shown) in the oscillation circuit matches oscillation frequency f with a nominal frequency.
Elements such as resistor Ra and the adjusting capacitor which require replacement and adjustment are provided, for example, in an outer peripheral portion of second board 4b as adjustable elements 2A.
In the above-described oven-controlled crystal oscillator, temperature control circuit 3, including heating chip resistor 3a, and crystal unit 1 are provided on second board 4b, composed of ceramics, which offers a high heat conductivity. This enables an increase in the efficiency of heat transmission between temperature control circuit 3 and crystal unit 1. First board 4a is composed of a glass-epoxy wiring board, offering a low heat conductivity. This enables heat dispersion to be suppressed. In this manner, a thermostatic chamber structure with a high energy utilization efficiency can be provided, and the oven-controlled crystal oscillator can be miniaturized.
In the oven-controlled crystal oscillator, heating chip resistor 3a and temperature sensitive resistor 3b of a temperature control circuit are provided on a principal surface of second board 4b which lies opposite a principal surface thereof on which crystal unit 1 is provided. Heat from chip resistor 3a travels to crystal unit 1 via second board 4b and a gap between the bottom surface of crystal unit 1 and second board 4b. The heat then reaches crystal blank 1A. On the other hand, on the lower surface of second board 4b, temperature sensitive resistor 3b is provided in proximity to heating chip resistor 3a. Thus, heat generated by chip resistor 3a travels earlier to temperature sensitive resistor 3b than to crystal unit 1. From a transient viewpoint, temperature sensitive resistor 3b detects the heating temperature of chip resistor 3a rather than the temperature of crystal unit 1. As a result, at the time of a change in temperature, the temperature of crystal unit 1 changes depending on the heating temperature of heating chip resistor 3a rather than becoming equal to a preset operating temperature. This prevents the temperature control of the crystal unit from properly following a change in temperature.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,382,204 proposes a configuration in which dummy terminal 8b of crystal unit 1 is connected to temperature sensitive resistor 3b in order to allow the temperature of crystal unit 1 to be easily transmitted to temperature sensitive resistor 3b. For example, as shown in FIG. 1C, dummy terminal 8b is electrically connected to the connection point between temperature sensitive resistor 3b and resistor Ra. The temperature of crystal unit 1 is transmitted to temperature sensitive resistor 3b via a conductive path between the connection point and dummy terminal 8b. Temperature sensitive resistor 3b can thus detect the actual temperature of the crystal unit in real time, and the temperature control can properly follow a change in temperature. In this case, dummy terminal 8b is not grounded. However, heat from heating chip resistor 3a travels to crystal unit 1 via second board 4b and the gap. This may delay arrival of the temperature of crystal unit 1 in connection with the temperature set by temperature control circuit 3. Disadvantageously, the temperature control is still prevented from properly following a change in ambient temperature.
Moreover, in the above-described configuration, the surface-mount type crystal unit is mounted on the upper surface of the second board, and the temperature control circuit is located on the lower surface thereof. Thus, reducing the height dimension of the crystal oscillator is difficult.
As a technique relating to the present invention, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application Nos. 2001-127579 and 2001-308640 (JP-2001-127579A and JP-2001-308640A) disclose crystal oscillators in which a thick-film thermistor element is provided on a surface of a wiring board as a temperature sensitive resistor, and a crystal unit is surface-mounted on the wiring board so as to cover the thick-film thermistor element, thus allowing the temperature of the crystal unit to be accurately sensed and enabling a reduction in height dimension. JP-2001-127579A further discloses a use of a thick-film resistor provided on an outer surface of a container for the crystal unit as a heater for heating the crystal unit.


The present invention relates to a transmitter and a receiver for speech coding and decoding by using an additional bit allocation method. The transmitter and the receiver according to the present invention realize a voice communication service of high quality by using additional bits permitted in system requirements while using a conventional speech coder as it is. In addition, the transmitter and the receiver according to the present invention have an advantage in that they enable insertion of additional quantization blocks while not changing the structure of the conventional standard speech coder, since they allocate additional bits by applying a multi-stage quantization procedure not in a speech signal domain but in a parameter domain.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transmitter and a receiver for speech coding and decoding by using an additional bit allocation method. More specifically, the present invention relates to a transmitter and a receiver using an additional bit allocation method while maintaining bit compatibility so as to improve performance of a conventional speech coder. The transmitter and the receiver according to the present invention may be applicable to a VoIP (Voice-Over Internet Protocol) communication system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various coding methods have been proposed to convert a voice signal into a digital signal and process the digitalized voice signals. Most popular coding methods may be classified as a waveform coding method such as a PCM (pulse code modulation) method or a hybrid coding method. The hybrid coding method is a combination of a waveform coding method and a parametric coding method. For example, a CELP (code-exited linear prediction) method that is recommended as a standard of ITU-T (International Telecommunication Union-Telecommunication standardization sector) may use the hybrid coding method. Most of the hybrid coding methods are based on a speech production model for effective compression of a voice signal. According to the hybrid coding methods, the voice signal is classified as an excited signal, and spectrum information represents a vocal tract transfer function. The classified spectrum information and the excited signal are respectively modeled and quantized with a predefined method. The quantized spectrum information and the excited signal are transmitted to a receiver. A representative hybrid coding method may be exemplified as an AMR (Adaptive Multi-Rate) coder. The AMR coder is scheduled to be used in the IMT-2000 communication system.
With reference to the G.723.1 standard, it is a standardized algorithm for compressing a multimedia signal by using a minimum number of bits. The G.723.1 algorithm compresses an input voice signal or restores an original uncompressed signal from the input voice signal at two bit rates, such as 5.3 kbit/s and 6.3 kbit/s. The G.723.1 algorithm also provides toll quality equal to the quality level required in a wired network. Similarly, the G.729 algorithm compresses an input voice signal or restores an original uncompressed signal from the input voice signal at a bit rate of 8 kbit/s, and it also provides toll quality equal to the quality level required in a wired network. The G.729 algorithm is widely used in the VoIP application field together with the G.723.1 algorithm. Moreover, the G.729A algorithm is also widely used because it has reduced complexity and has bit compatibility with the G.729 algorithm that requires much computation ability for effective realization. Furthermore, an AMR coder is proposed for the next generation voice communication. There are AMR-NB (AMR-narrowband) coder for processing a telephone band voice signal and AMR-WB (AMR-wideband) for processing a wideband signal.
The above-described voice coders are presently used or scheduled to be used in a wired and wireless voice communication system. The above voice coders quantize spectrum information of voice signals and excited signal information by using a CELP algorithm on the basis of a speech production model. However, there is a problem in that performance deterioration arises in transition frame or with respect to any signal except a voice signal, such as a music signal, since the coders use restricted bit rates. In particular, the G.729 algorithm has a frame size of 10 ms for analyzing parameters, which is less than that of other coders. Accordingly, the G.729 algorithm is appropriate for modeling of the excited signal, but it has a problem in quantization of spectrum information such as LPC. This is because the number of bits to be allocated as linear prediction coefficients (LPC) for quantization in the G.729 algorithm is relatively small.
However, the G.723.1 algorithm has a frame size of 30 ms, which is relatively large. In the case of the G.723.1 algorithm, a sufficient numbers of bits are used for LPC quantization, thus the distortion of the quantized information is reasonable. However, since the G.723.1 uses a linear interpolation method implemented at each interval of the sub-frames, a problem of distortion of spectrum information becomes larger at each sub-frame. In the search duration of a fixed codebook for representing non-periodic excited signals of the coders using the two algorithms, an algebraic codebook comprised of a few pulses is used. Therefore, a problem arises in that the quality is degraded due to a deficiency of the number of pulses for representing the excited signals in any duration, such as the transition duration, whereby performance of an adaptive codebook is degraded.

Transmitter and receiver for speech coding and decoding by using additional bit allocation method

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


An electronic device includes a bottom plate, an installation board, a circuit board, a battery, and a power supply control module. The power supply control module includes a control member and an activating member, and the activating member is pressed against the control member when the electronic device is assembled. So long as the control member remains pressed by the activating member, a flow of electrical power from the battery to the circuit board is permitted. When the electronic device is disassembled, the disassembly moves the activating member away from the activating member and cuts off the power from the battery to the circuit board, to avoid electrical short circuits or other damage that might otherwise occur if the flow of electrical power was maintained during disassembly.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to electronic devices, and more particularly to an electronic device with a power supply control module.
2. Description of Related Art
Mass-produced items such as electronic devices must be tested for all of the functions to ensure certain qualities. The electronic device needs to be disassembled and assembled repeatedly to test a printed circuit board, such as a main board. During disassembly process, tester always removes the printed circuit board when a battery provides power to the printed circuit board, thus making the printed circuit board short circuit and damaging the printed circuit board.
Therefore, there is room for improvement within the art.

Electronic device with power supply control module

ShenZhen Goldsun Network Intelligence Technology Co., Ltd.


A bit line dummy core-cell comprises at least a first inverter and at least a second inverter which are cross coupled to form a bistable flip-flop. The first inverter comprises a first PMOS transistor and a first NMOS transistor connected in series by means of a first internal storage node between a high reference potential and a low reference potential. The second inverter comprises a second PMOS transistor and a second NMOS transistor connected in series by means of a second internal storage node. The source of the second PMOS transistor and the second internal storage node are connected to the low reference potential so that the first internal storage node always stores a logic high level. A first access transistor is coupled between a dummy bit line providing a self-timing signal and the first internal node storing the logical high level.

The present invention relates to a bit line dummy core-cell and a method for producing a bit line dummy core-cell.
Basic operations of semiconductor memory devices such as static random access memories (SRAMs) are reading and writing of data. In a conventional two-dimensional memory architecture, a word line connects to the gates of memory cell transistors in a row of memory cells, and a bit line connects to the sources or drains of the memory cell transistors in a column of memory cells. The operation of reading data in a typical semiconductor memory device is controlled by a signal, referred to as a read enable signal.
Said read enable signal is generated and provided by a logic SRAM memory compiler. In advanced technologies the realization of logic SRAM memory compilers is strongly dependent on some key design techniques. One of these key implementations is the realization of the so called bit line dummy concept.
The bit line dummy concept involves a dummy bit line, used as a part of the self-timing block in a memory macro providing a self-timing signal. The logic SRAM compiler generates said read enable signal dependent on said self-timing signal. The purpose of the dummy bit line is to represent and emulate the worst case capacitance, resistance and re-catch of an active array bit line during read and write operation.
The dummy bit line core-cell should track and reflect the same properties and dependencies on process and technology as the array bit line. Therefore, it is mandatory, that the core-cell of the dummy bit line is in terms of design and layout as close as possible to the SRAM array core-cell.
FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of a conventional bit line dummy core-cell array comprising m bit line dummy core-cells, wherein m designates the number of rows of the memory cells.
In the following, without loss of any generality, only the first bit line dummy core-cell 1 is explained in detail. The bit line dummy core-cell 1 comprises a first inverter 2 and a second inverter 3. The first inverter 2 and the second inverter 3 are cross-coupled to form a bistable flip-flop. The first inverter 2 comprises a first PMOS transistor 4 and a first NMOS transistor 5 connected in series by means of a first internal storage node 6 between a high reference potential VDD and a low reference potential VSS in particular. The high reference potential VDD is a power supply potential and the low reference potential is a ground potential. The second inverter 3 comprises a second PMOS transistor 7 and a second NMOS transistor 8 connected in series by means of a second internal storage node 9 between the high reference potential VDD and the low reference potential VSS.
Further, a first access transistor 11 is coupled between a dummy bit line 10 and the first internal storage node 6. Furthermore, a second access transistor 12 is coupled between the second internal storage node 9 and a bit line complement 13.
The first internal storage node 6 connects the drain of the first PMOS transistor 4 and the source of the first NMOS transistor 5. The second internal storage node 9 connects the drain of the second PMOS transistor 7 and the source of the second NMOS transistor 8. The gate of the first access transistor 11 is connected to a first word line 14 and the gate of the second access transistor 12 is connected to a second word line 15. In particular, both word lines 14, 15 are biased with the low reference potential VSS. Further, also the dummy bit line complement 13 coupled to the second access transistor 12 is connected to the low reference potential VSS.
During the read operation of the memory macro comprising the plurality of memory cells, the discharge of the dummy bit line 10 triggers the read sensing circuitry as part of the logic SRAM compiler. This means, that the dummy bit line 10 needs to represent the worst case capacitance, resistance and leakage current of any memory core-cell configuration, which could occur along a bit line.
The leakage current criterion is of special importance for the tuning of the self-timing path of the dummy bit line connected to said m bit line dummy core-cells for high performance memories. During the read operation, the development of the differential signal on the bit line and bit line complement results from the read current of the accessed cell in relation to the sum of the leakage currents of the non-selected cells on the same bit line. The leakage of the non-selected cells reduces the differential signal available for sensing the content of the cell during the read operation. A longer time is needed to read sufficient signal amplitude. Because the time for signal development is defined by the self-timing circuitry based on the dummy bit line, which is implemented, a too fast discharge of the dummy bit line due to the leakage and thus, an insufficient signal amplitude of the read signal must be avoided.
To minimize the amount of leakage current flowing through the dummy bit line, all the corresponding bit line dummy core-cells must store a logic high level or a logic one value. Under these conditions, the subthreshold leakage current through the access transistor of the cells is reduced dramatically. For the timing of the memory this corresponds to the worst case situation and as a result, the optimal self timing signal can be provided.

Bit line dummy core-cell and method for producing a bit line dummy core-cell


This invention concerns a device (1) for the determination of air content, the air separation behavior and the surface foam formation of oils, in particular of transmission oils with an air-oil mixer (2) and a differential pressures sensor (3). A conveyor system (4) transports the oil through pipe lines (5) of the air-oil mixer (2). A compressed air port (6) is provided, which transports air into the pipe lines (5), of the air-oil mixer (2). A Venturi pipe (9) is installed in one of the pipe lines (5), and the differential pressure sensor (3) records, through at least two separate drill tubes (7, 8) in the conveyor system of the oil at the Venturi pipe (9), differential pressures in the oil.

Oil and air dispersions in the transmission oil lead to worsened efficiencies of transmissions and can, in extreme cases, lead to oil leakages. The ability of the oil to quickly separate incorporated air is, therefore, an important quality criterion, and measuring systems to determine the air separating behavior (LAV) of oils is thus a result of great importance.
The Castrol company is known to have a device to determine air separation behavior of oils with an air-oil mixer and a differential pressure sensor. The air-oil mixer shows a container that can partially be filled with oil. This container has a glass cover and a propeller that is only lightly dipped in the oil. The propeller can be raised up to 10,000 revs/min and thus swirls the oil. With the aid of two superimposed pressure measuring points, different hydrostatic pressures are then determined from their difference in the air content of the oil. Unfavorable to this state of the art technique is the high cost, which is not suited well in practice, due to the high measuring technology that accurately manufactured pressure connections and very finely triggered differential pressure sensors will need so that small differences of pressure can be distinguished. Rotating oil puts additional pressure on the measuring points for this state of the art technique. Thus, the sample must first be brought to rest after the air entry which leads to delayed measurement recording. Such LAV measuring systems do not, therefore, correlate completely with the situation in the transmission.
The purpose of the invention is to create a device for determination of the air content, the regulation of the air separation behavior and the surface area foam formation of oils, in particular related to transmission oils, with earlier recording of measurement values and a practical procedure for operating a device for regulation of the air content, the air separation behavior and the surface area foam formation of oils, in particular related to transmission oils, with earlier indication of measurement values recorded.
The solution follows with a device for the determination of the air content, the air separation behavior and the surface area foam formation of oils, in particular, related to transmission oil and procedure for operating a device for regulation of the air content, the air separation behavior and the surface area foam formation of oils, in particular, related to transmission oil.

System and method for determining an air content, air release ability and for foam forming on oil surfaces


A support tube for an office chair includes an outer tube, an inner tube fitted in the outer tube, and a shaft fitting movably in the inner tube. The inner tube has a spiral continual oil groove formed in an inner surfacer for a substantial portion, and an upper and a lower annular oil limit groove respectively connected with an upper end and a lower end of the spiral continual oil groove to stop lubricating oil in the spiral oil groove from flowing out of the inner tube so as to always enable the shaft rotate and move up and down smoothly relative to the inner tube.

This invention relates to a support tube for an office chair, particularly to one provided with a comparatively good lubricating effect, with lubricating oil not flowing out of the support tube.
Generally speaking, a support tube for a conventional office chair, as shown in FIG. 1, not only supports a seat A and connected between the seat A and a base frame C, but also enables the seat A rotate for 360 degrees so as to adjust the height of the seat A to suit the body height of a user.
The support tube for a conventional office chair, as shown in FIG. 2, includes an outer tube D, an inner tube E fitted in the outer tube D, and a shaft F fitting movably in the inner tube E and fixed with a lower end of the outer tube D at its lower end. And an upper end of the shaft F is fixed firmly with the bottom of the seat A.
However, rotation of the seat A and adjustment of the seat height is effected by means of lubricating oil filled on an outer surface of the shaft F and an inner surface of the inner tube E. But as the outer surface of the shaft F and the inner surface of the inner tube E closely fit with each other, without any aperture for lubricating oil to stay thereon and to liable to overflow out of the inner tube E. Then the shaft F and the inner tube E may not get good lubricating effect.


A sail wing type windmill includes an output shaft erected vertically, a foundation with a bearing disposed in the center hole provided therein for supporting the output shaft; an axle body with a roller bearing on the top end, while the bottom end thereof being conjoined to the output shaft, and the external surface thereof being formed of several spigots, and provided with an upper and a lower joint flanges; and a rudder assembly turnably conjoined to the top end of the output shaft and consisting of a turn table and a twin vaned tail wing; wherein the turn table is inserted in the center hole of the axle body, the external surface of the turn table is provided with a snaking recessed lead rail terminated into a lead portion. The twin vaned tail ring can automatically and constantly point to the wind direction so as to turn the turn table with the wind force.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a sail wing type windmill utilizing a pressure difference produced between the wind pressure exerted on the front surface of the sail wing and the rear surface thereof together with the flywheel effect to operate the windmill.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The windmill has been utilized to convert the wind power into mechanical power for hundreds of years, and further with the aid of the flywheel effect and speed governor, the mechanical power is stabilized and qualified to drive the generator thereby finally the windpower is converted into electric power.
In a typical windmill power station, a horizontal shaft windmill composed of three or four vaned wings with flywheels is coupled to drive the generator with the windmill. The rotating power of the windmill comes from upwards and downwards wind flow attacking the wing blades of the windmill, whereas the flywheel is for storing the kinetic energy and governing the rotational speed of the windmill. However, the conventional technique used to convert the windpower (mechanical power) into the electric power described above has several shortcomings, namely:
(1) The efficiency of energy conversion is so low as only 20˜30%, as a matter of fact, the wind direction changes from time to time, this might lower the efficiency even down to 70% of its original value. If the generator loss is taken in consideration, the final efficiency might even be more lowered.
(2) Traditionally, the windmill needs a very high tower to support the wings and flywheels which requires a high investment for establishment and routine maintenance.
(3) A windage force produced during cutting wind by wing blades and flywheels might become overturning torque to destroy the structure of the windmill.
(4) Time lag in guiding the direction of wing blades to accept the wind power effectively results in losing the effective area of the wing blades.
For these defects committed by the conventional horizontal type windmill in the past, an improvement is seriously required. The inventor has dedicated great efforts for years to studying and improving these defects and come up with a novel sail wing type windmill as provided in this invention to eliminate the defects inherent to the prior arts.


A mechanism may couple an electrical assembly with circuit boards in a computer system. The mechanism may include injectors on the electrical assembly and a receptacle on each of the circuit boards. The injectors may engage the receptacles to couple header connector parts on the electrical assembly with receptacle connector parts on the receptacles. The electrical assembly may include a latch device that holds the injectors in a closed position after injection of the electrical assembly.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally electronic equipment, such as computers, and, more particularly, to apparatus for coupling electrical assemblies to circuit boards.
2. Background Information
Electronic systems such as computers are typically constructed in a modular fashion from circuit boards, each circuit board generally performing a specific function. Each circuit board requires multiple electrical connections, which are generally provided by two part multi-contact electrical connectors. One part of the connector is mounted to the circuit board, while a mating part of the connector may be attached to another component of the system such as a rack, a chassis, a cable, or another circuit board (e.g., backplane circuit board). Successful mating of connector parts is needed for reliable electrical connections in the system.
A number of mechanisms are known for injecting a circuit board into a chassis or extracting a circuit board from a chassis. Such mechanisms may include lever arms pivotally coupled to the circuit board and arranged to engage projections formed on the chassis. Guide formations may be provided on the chassis to receive the circuit board and to guide the circuit board into position such that electrical connector parts mate with one another. The lever arms may be arranged on the circuit board so that when the lever arms are actuated, the circuit board is provided with a biasing force that serves to move the circuit board toward the rear of the chassis, thereby mating the parts of the electrical connector.
For circuit boards with connectors having a relatively large number of pins, large insertion forces may be required to mate the connector parts. For example, a large board may contain several multi-contact connectors, each connector containing several hundred individual contacts. Each contact requires the application of an insertion force to seat the contact. Thus, the total insertion force required to seat a large board may be 65 pounds or more. Moreover, individual contacts are easily damaged if the mating connector parts are not properly aligned when they come into contact with each other. This problem is especially acute where large forces are required to mate the connector parts.
Electrical connections may be made among various circuit boards in a chassis or between circuit boards in a chassis and components external to the chassis. Such connections may be provided through a backplane circuit board to which the other circuit boards are mutually installed. In some cases, a backplane circuit board does not provide all of the connections needed for a system. In addition, a backplane circuit board may not provide optimal (e.g., minimum length) routing of conductors in a system. Electrical connections can be made using cables between the boards or other components. Installation of cables for a large system, however, may be difficult and laborious. Furthermore, in some cases the use of cables in lieu of circuit boards may result in slower connections between components. In addition, connectors may be susceptible to damage during installation of such cables due to misalignment of connectors.
Circuit boards may encounter a variety of external loads. Some loads relate to environmental conditions while in service, such as shock or vibration. Other loads are encountered during assembly, such as those applied during installation or removal of components on the circuit board or other elements in a system. In either case, the loads may cause separation of or damage to individual contacts, reducing reliability of the system.
It would be beneficial to have an improved mechanism for inserting and ejecting electrical assemblies to and from circuit boards. It would further be beneficial to have an improved electrical assembly that promotes a reliable connection between circuit boards when a system encounters external loads.

Inject/eject mechanism for circuit boards


A medication and application for the remission and/or cure of the disease of Psoriasis. Their are no other anti-fungal Psoriasis creams or medications of this type and style available on the market utilizing this form, format or application method.

Psoriasis takes several forms: scaly, red patches of skin. Plaque Psoriasis have patches, which appear on the trunk and limbs, especially on the elbows, knees and the scalp; Postural Psoriasis has small pustules spread over the body; and Guttate Psoriasis, usually in children, is characterized by tear drop-shaped lesions. This unpredictable disease, which affects men and women equally, strikes people of all ages and can erupt anywhere on the body. Psoriasis lesions form when new skin cells are produced at a rapid rate.
I spent many months in the McDonnell-Douglas (now Boeing-McDonnell) technical research library researching my Plaque Psoriasis problem. I have proven beyond a reasonable doubt that I had a fungal-yeast infection of a microbial nature, deep in my skin. This fungal-yeast infestation of my skin cells (May be referred to as Candida albicans) caused my skin cell reproductive cycle to be disrupted drastically.
Normal skin reproduction rate is approximately every 28 days for a complete reproductive cycle. With Psoriasis, a three too 5-day cell reproduction rate is normal.

Psoriasis medication and application for remission and/or cure of plaque psoriasis