A method, computer program product and system for managing tenant-specific data sets in a multi-tenant system, by receiving a request to convert a data set in a physical data store from a first type of multi-tenant deployment to a second type of multi-tenant deployment, retrieving tenant identification metadata identifying a tenant making the request, modifying the data set in the physical data store based on the second type of multi-tenant deployment, and modifying metadata associated with an abstraction layer to allow the modified data set to be accessed.

The field of the current invention relates to multi-tenant databases. More specifically, the field of the current invention relates to multi-tenant platform as a service (PaaS) and software as a service (SaaS) services (collectively "services" hereinafter).
Services can be offered in public, hybrid, and private cloud environments. Services offered by a service provider may access data stored in a database management system (DBMS) representing computerized information storage and retrieval systems. A DBMS may manage multiple databases, each of which may be owned by different entities. Services may be concurrently subscribed by multiple client organizations (tenants). Thus, the services process data for different tenants. For security and regulatory reasons, tenants demand different degrees of data isolation, which are specified as a "policy element" when the tenant subscribes to the services. It is even more important that the degree of isolation must be seamlessly changeable as security and regulatory requirements change over time. Thus, the service provider needs to implement a multi-tenant architecture for the services allowing data and configuration partitioning so that each tenant receives the appropriate level of data isolation.
There are three current deployment options for managing multi-tenant data. The first deployment option stores tenant data in separate databases, which is the simplest approach to data isolation. Computing resources and application code are generally shared between all tenants on a server, but each tenant has its own set of data that remains logically isolated from data that belongs to all other tenants. Metadata associates each database with the correct tenant, and database security prevents any tenant from accidentally or maliciously accessing other tenants' data. This option, however, tends to lead to higher costs for the service provider for maintaining equipment and backing up tenant data. Hardware costs are also higher than they are under alternative deployment options, as the number of tenants that can be housed on a given database server is limited by the number of databases that the server can support.
The second deployment option involves housing multiple tenants in the same database, with each tenant having its own set of tables and other database artifacts that are grouped into a schema created specifically for the tenant. This approach offers a moderate degree of logical data isolation for security-conscious tenants, though not as much as a completely isolated system would, and can support a larger number of tenants per database server.
A third deployment option involves using the same database and the same set of tables to host multiple tenants' data. A given table can include records from multiple tenants stored in any order, and a tenant identification column associates every record with the appropriate tenant. Of the three options, the shared schema approach has the lowest hardware and backup costs, because it allows one to serve the largest number of tenants per database server.
Converting database deployments from one option to another in a transparent manner is not currently supported, and can only be solved with manual data movement and system downtime. Furthermore, any applications accessing the database currently must be recoded upon such a conversion to reflect the changes to the database.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Managing tenant-specific data sets in a multi-tenant environment

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention relates to bacteria cultures and composition comprising one or more cultures of the invention. The invention also relates to methods of washing or cleaning laundry or fabrics and surfaces as well as degrading waste material using a bacteria culture of the invention.

Compositions for washing laundry often contain surfactants and other active ingredients such as enzymes for removing stubborn stains. Enzymes may not be able to remove all kinds of complex strains.
WO 03/099987 discloses an article and method of cleaning fabric, wherein soiled fabric is soaked in water in the presence of an article containing one or more harmless microorganisms capable of excreting enzymes useful for cleaning.
Even though a huge number of composition and cleaning systems are known in the art there is never the less still a desire for compositions which exhibit strong washing and cleaning capabilities. There is still a continuing need for providing efficient compositions for washing and cleaning of laundry, fabrics and surfaces.

Bacteria cultures and compositions comprising bacteria cultures


There is provided an automated analyzer which can eliminate static charge on receptacles storing analytes or reagents to thereby offer improved accuracy of analysis. The automated analyzer comprises: a receptacle carrier mechanism operative to hold a plurality of receptacles storing liquid and to carry the held receptacles in a given direction; a reader device for reading identification information of the receptacles carried by the receptacle carrier mechanism; a static eliminator for eliminating static charge on the receptacles carried by the receptacle carrier mechanism; and an input/output controller for causing the static eliminator to carry out the elimination of the static charge in synchronism with successive reading by the reader device of the identification information of the receptacles carried by the receptacle carrier mechanism.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for automated analysis.
Description of Related Art
Biochemical analyzers for analyzing biogenic substances contained in analytes such as blood and urine are known as one type of automated analyzer. In such an automated analyzer, an analyte received in an analyte receptacle and a reagent received in a reagent receptacle are pipetted into a reaction receptacle and mixed together in the reaction receptacle to cause them to react together.
One example of such an automated analyzer is proposed in JP-UM-A-6-18968 and has a structure including a static eliminator mounted in a reaction receptacle transfer path at a location ahead of the pipetting position of a pipette mechanism for analyte sample or reagent to electrically neutralize static charge on the surface of the reaction receptacle.

Apparatus and method for automated analysis


To provide an amorphous silica powder suitable for a sealing material for semiconductors having improved HTSL properties and HTOL properties, and a process for its production.

To meet requirements of downsizing and weight saving and high functionality of electronic equipment, downsizing, reduction in thickness and reduction in pitch of semiconductor packages are rapidly in progress. Further, with respect to their mounting method, surface mounting suitable for high density mounting on a printed board or the like is dominant. As the semiconductor packages and their mounting methods are in progress, improvement in reliability of a sealing material for semiconductors in high temperature environment is more highly required.
Particularly for automobiles, mounting of controlling members and electronic equipment which heavily employ semiconductors is in progress. Accordingly, a sealing material for semiconductors is required to have flame retardancy imparted without using a flame retardant with a heavy environmental burden, to be resistant to mechanical external pressure such as vibration and acceleration, and to be guaranteed to operate in severe high temperature environment in the car. Thus, the sealing material is required to have high temperature storage life (hereinafter sometimes referred to as HTSL properties) and high temperature operating life (hereinafter sometimes referred to as HTOL properties) higher than those required for general equipment.
In order to meet such requirements, a means of improving high temperature life has been employed by reducing ionic impurities and electrically conductive impurities in a sealing material for semiconductors as far as possible, by incorporating an amorphous silica powder at a high density to reduce moisture absorptivity, by adding an ion trapping agent, or by employing a resin containing no flame retardant such as halogen, antimony or inorganic phosphorus (Patent Documents 1 and 2). However, by such a means, the effect of improving the high temperature life is still insufficient, and a sealing material for semiconductors which satisfies severe requirements of HTSL properties and HTOL properties has not yet been known.    Patent Document 1: JP-A-2000-230111    Patent Document 1: JP-A-2004-035781

Amorphous silica powder, process for its production, and sealing material for semiconductors

Abstract: An amorphous silica powder containing Al in an amount of from 0.03 to 20 mass % as calculated as Al2O3 measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometry, wherein the average particle size is at most 50 μm, and when the amorphous silica powder is divided according to the average particle size into two powders, a powder having a particle size smaller than the average particle size has a higher content as calculated as Al2O3 than a powder having a particle size larger than the average particle size.


A tridimensional antenna includes a radiating body, a feeding foot, a grounding foot, and a supporting foot. The feeding foot and the grounding foot are connected to the radiating body. The supporting foot includes a supporting portion, at least one groove and a bent portion. The bent portion connects the radiating body and the supporting portion. The groove is defined in the supporting portion and adjacent to the bent portion. The tridimensional antenna is mounted on a substrate by surface mounted technology (SMT). The feeding foot and the grounding foot are soldered on the substrate. The supporting foot is bent to break away the supporting portion at the groove after mounting of the tridimensional antenna.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to tridimensional antennas, and particularly to method for mounting a tridimensional antenna.
2. Description of Related Art
Wireless communication devices, such as mobile phones, wireless cards, and access points, wirelessly radiate signals via electromagnetic waves. Thus, remote wireless communication devices can receive the signals without the need of cables.
In a wireless communication device, the antenna is a key element for radiating and receiving radio frequency signals. Characteristics of the antenna, such as radiation efficiency, orientation, frequency band, and impedance matching, have a significant influence on performance of the wireless communication device. A tridimensional antenna is employed in order to improve radiation efficiency and vertical polarization radiation performance of an antenna. Usually the tridimensional antenna comprises a radiating body for transmitting and receiving radio frequency (RF) signals, a feeding portion for feeding signals, and a grounding portion. The tridimensional antenna is usually mounted on a substrate by surface mount technology (SMT) in order to improve cost-effectiveness. However, the tridimensional antenna cannot be stably supported on the substrate by the feeding portion and the ground portion thereof during mounting of the tridimensional antenna on the substrate by SMT. Thus, a supporting foot is needed to support the tridimensional antenna during mounting of the tridimensional antenna on the substrate by SMT.

Method for mounting a tridimensional antenna


Embodiments of a manufacturing process for recessed gate devices on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate with self-aligned lateral isolation are described. This allows the creation of true in-pitch recessed gate devices without requiring an extra isolation dimension. A lateral isolation trench is formed between pairs of recessed gate devices by etching the silicon-on-insulator area down to a buried oxide layer on which the silicon-on-insulator layer is formed. The position of the trench is self-aligned and defined by the gate width and the dimension of spacers disposed on either side of the gate. The isolation trench is filled with a dielectric material and then etched back to the middle of the SOI body and the remaining volume is filled with a doped conductive material. The doped conductor is subject to a thermal cycle to create source and drain regions of the device through out-diffusion of the doped material.

Computing systems typically move vast amounts of data and have three types or levels of memory: on-chip or embedded memory in the processor itself (e.g., embedded SRAM or embedded DRAM), main memory (e.g., standalone DRAM), and non-volatile memory (e.g., hard disk drives, magnetic tape, etc.). Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) is essentially used as the main memory of the system. Over the years, the electronics industry has developed DRAM memories that feature reduced bit cell sizes, higher densities, and reduced costs. In order to gain further cost and miniaturization advantages, a great deal of emphasis has been placed on reducing bit cell size to maximize the amount of memory available in a given amount of silicon area. One important parameter associated with semiconductor memories, such as DRAM devices is the feature size of the transistor device that comprises the memory cell. In general, the feature size of the transistor is denoted F, where F corresponds to the minimum gate length that can be produced in the manufacturing process for a circuit. Under present manufacturing systems, the bit-cell area for a one-transistor, one-capacitor DRAM device is typically on the order of 2F by 3F to 4F, which corresponds to a total area of 6F2 to 8F2.
DRAM devices have traditionally been made using a simple one-transistor/one-capacitor structure for the basis of each storage cell. Transistor scaling for ever-smaller (higher density) devices presents many challenges. Among others, at small dimensions, various parasitic effects start to appear. Various processing technologies have been developed to overcome these effects, and allow the continuing miniaturization of microelectronic devices. One such technology is Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) technology, in which a layered silicon-insulator substrate is used in place of conventional silicon substrates. In an SOI device, the active circuit layer is isolated from the substrate. SOI transistors generally have an electrically floating body region. Recent technology has been developed to use this floating-body as an alternative to discrete-trench or stacked-capacitor structures to store information and create a memory bit cell. One such technology is represented by Z-RAM® cells, which consist of a single transistor per bit-cell, with zero capacitors, thus eliminating the deep trench or the complex stacked capacitor. Z-RAM® was developed by, and is a trademark of Innovative Silicon, Inc. of Switzerland. Aspects of the Z-RAM technology, devices, and manufacture are described in the following United States Patent Applications, among others: U.S. application Ser. No. 12/053,398, filed Mar. 21, 2008, and entitled "Manufacturing Process for Zero-Capacitor Random Access Memory Circuits," and U.S. application Ser. No. 12/019,320, filed Jan. 24, 2008, and entitled "Semiconductor Device with Electrically Floating Body," each of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
For SOI structures, the floating body effect is usually an undesirable parasitic element. Embodiments of the present invention are directed to using the parasitic floating body effect advantageously as the basis for various new processing technologies. Such embodiments can be applied to SOI processing technology, as well as any other similar isolated body process technology.
As the channel lengths of DRAM devices become smaller, the densities of the devices increase. In the case of a planar transistor, the channel length of the transistor is reduced as the integration density increases. This, in turn, increases the so-called short-channel effect. In a MOSFET device, a short-channel configuration occurs when the channel length is the same order of magnitude as the depletion-layer widths of the source and drain junctions. Short-channel effects can be attributed to the limitation imposed on electron drift characteristics in the channel, and a modification of the device threshold voltage due to shortened channel length. As channel lengths are excessively decreased in planar devices, the likelihood of a device "punchthrough" effect between the source and a drain of the device is increased, resulting in malfunction of the device. Punchthrough can occur when a high voltage is placed across the transistor from the source to the drain. In this case, an undesirable conductive path is formed through the body region when the transistor should be off. One solution to the punchthrough problem is the use of recessed gate manufacturing techniques in which the transistor is made with a three-dimensional shape having a recessed channel to create a recessed channel (or recessed gate) transistor. The recessed gate effectively creates a long gate length of a device without increasing the feature size of the cell due to the vertical orientation of the device in which the current flows in three-dimensions.
In general, the standard method of creating a recessed gate device is not used in an SOI device. FIG. 1 illustrates a partial array of three separate DRAM cells manufactured from SOI technology, under an embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, a barrier layer 104 is formed on a semiconductor substrate 102. The barrier layer 104 may be formed of an oxide layer, such as the buried oxide layer (BOX) in an SOI substrate, although it may also be created by other means. A body layer 106 is formed on the barrier layer 104, and may be formed of single crystalline silicon by an epitaxy method or by the SOI substrate fabrication process. In the SOI device shown in FIG. 1, each device is fully isolated from every other device in the array. As shown in FIG. 1, the devices 101, 103 and 105 are separated by isolation layers 108. The isolation layers 108 are formed within body layer 106 and may be formed of an insulating layer, such as a high density plasma oxide layer and/or a silicon oxide layer by chemical vapor deposition, or similar methods. As shown in FIG. 1A, the isolation layers 108 extend to the surface or near the surface of the barrier layer 104. Isolation regions can be provided in two dimensions, however such isolation regions are typically created using lithography methods. That is, they are pre-etched before the gate is formed as done in a standard STI (shallow trench isolation) process. Consequently, the isolation regions are strictly bound by lithography dimension requirements.
In FIG. 1, the gate 110 is separated from the underlying silicon body 106 by a thin gate oxide (not shown) that is also an insulator or insulative layer. This and other layers that may be grown during processing of the device are not shown, but should be understood to be present by those of ordinary skill in the art.
The basic dimension of each cell is defined by the length of the gate 110 of each device. As stated above, this represents the feature size of the transistor (F). For present manufacturing processes, such as illustrated in FIG. 1, the need for substantial isolation between each cell requires that the dimensions of a cell array be a multiple of the individual feature size, F. This is due to the fact that present lithography-based technologies require a minimum printable feature size. This further adds to increased spacing between cells in an array, as well as extra photolithography processing steps.
What is desired, therefore, is a device manufacturing process that creates cell arrays of a minimal dimension and that is not limited by present lithography node rules.
What is further desired is a process that creates a self-aligned lateral isolation for an SOI recessed gate device.
What is yet further desired is a device manufacturing process that efficiently creates an underlap device to reduce the gate induced drain leakage (GIDL) effect.

Recessed gate silicon-on-insulator floating body device with self-aligned lateral isolation


The invention provides a device for use in partially or fully immobilizing animals such as cattle, sheep and the like. The device includes a probe for insertion in the anal canal of the animal the probe comprising a pair of spaced electrodes connected by way of electrical conductors to a power source. The power source providing a pulsed electrical current having a voltage of between 2 and 10 Volts and a frequency of between 20 and 50 Hz to the electrodes.

Immobilization of animals is necessary in order to perform a variety of operations on them. These include slaughtering, medical procedures, identification procedures and the like.
Various methods are known for achieving immobilisation. Amongst these and relevant to this invention is the application of electrical currents to nerves to interfere with their function. Such application may be via electrodes placed on the skin of the animal.


Technology for in situ remediation of undetonated explosive material. An explosive apparatus contains an explosive material in close proximity with a carrier containing microorganisms and with nutrient for the microorganisms. An explosive mixture capable of self remediation includes an explosive material that is intermixed with or lies proximate to the carrier. The microorganisms are either mobile or temporarily deactivated by freeze drying until rehydrated and remobilized. The microorganisms are capable of metabolizing the explosive material. Examples of such microorganisms include Pseudomonas spp., Escherichia spp., Morganella spp., Rhodococcus spp., Comamonas spp., and denitrifying microorganisms. If the explosive material fails to detonate, the explosive is remediated by the action of the microorganisms. Remediation includes both disabling of the explosive material and detoxification of the resulting chemical compositions.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to systems, apparatus, and methods for remediating explosives. More particularly, the present invention is directed to the remediation of explosives which have not detonated.
2. Background Art
Explosive charges are inherently dangerous in a number of respects. Inadvertent detonation poses risks of severe personal injury or death, as well as of substantial property destruction and consequential losses. Explosive charges are, in addition, comprised of material substances, which, even when not consolidated in a shape capable of performing as a detonatable explosive charge, may be toxic and thus potentially injurious to human health and to complex as well as simple plant and animal life.
Explosive charges that are not securely stored in a supervised manner, or isolated from the environment and from indiscriminate access by human and animal life forms, thus present both safety and environmental hazards.
Such hazards are pointedly apparent where an explosive charge fails to detonate after the explosive charge has been installed for that purpose during activities pertaining to mining, construction, or to seismic surveying. Fortunately, installed explosive charges that do not detonate as planned are usually locatable and often recoverable through the expenditure of reasonable efforts and without safety risks to personnel. On the other hand, there do routinely arise circumstances in which undetonated explosive charges of this type are not recovered or simply cannot be recovered. In such circumstances, there exists a risk that the undetonated explosive charge could at some subsequent time be detonated inadvertently or become a source of potentially harmful contaminants.
As an example, seismic survey data used to ascertain the nature of subsurface ground structures is routinely obtained by recording and analyzing shock waves that are propagated into the ground and produced by detonating explosive charges. The shock waves are then monitored dining transmission through the ground. In this role, such seismic charges are usually utilized in large sets, installed as an array of individual seismic charges at widely dispersed locations. The seismic charges are interconnected with detonation equipment for remote detonation, either simultaneously or in sequence.
Seismic charges for such surveys can be detonated either above or below the surface of the ground. In either case, it is not uncommon that at least one of any set of such seismic charges does not detonate as intended. Such failures may be caused by defects in the explosive charge itself, by damage caused during installation, by faulty detonation equipment, or by the failure of personnel in the field to make effective interconnections between that detonation equipment and each seismic charge in the installed set.
When a seismic charge installed above the ground fails to detonate as intended, it is usually possible to locate and safely recover the undetonated seismic charge. Nonetheless, circumstances do exist where the detonation of a set of seismic charges installed above the ground dislocates one of the undetonated seismic charges in the set, directing that undetonated seismic charge into a terrain in which the charge cannot be located or cannot be recovered easily. Responsible seismic crews naturally are trained to exercise all reasonable efforts to recover undetonated seismic charges that are located on the surface of the ground, but even the most rigorously indoctrinated and enthusiastic seismic personnel cannot guarantee that all undetonated seismic charges installed above the ground are ultimately recovered.
Aside from the human factor involved, the intervention of severe weather conditions, such as sandstorms, blizzards, tornadoes, or hurricanes, can impede efforts to recover undetonated seismic explosives. Some such weather conditions offer the prospect of even altering the terrain, thereby burying the undetonated seismic charge temporarily or for a substantial duration. Floods can cover the seismic survey site, removing or obscuring undetonated seismic charges. In the extreme, geological surface changes, such as mudslides, rockfalls, and fissures caused by earthquakes, by heavy weather, or even by seismic survey activity itself, can preclude the recovery of undetonated seismic charges, and even obscure the understanding that any seismic charge has failed to detonate.
The safety risks and environmental hazards posed by loose, undetonated explosive charges will be present where any undetonated seismic charge remains unrecovered after the detonation of the set of seismic charges of which it was a part.
The likelihood that an undetonated seismic charge will be abandoned is greatest, however, relative to the conduct of seismic survey activity based on the detonation of seismic charges installed below the surface of the ground. In such sub-surface seismic detonation activity, a series of deep boreholes is drilled into the earth or rock at predetermined locations that are intended to maximize the data to be derived from the shock waves promulgated from the detonation of the seismic charges. A seismic charge is placed at the bottom of each borehole and then shut in the borehole in a relatively permanent manner using a concrete or a sealing compound, such as bentonite. The balance of the borehole is then backfilled with loose soil and rock, a process which alone accounts for the majority of failed seismic detonations. Backfill materials have an understandable tendency to break the detonating cord leg wires or non-electric transmission line that interconnects the installed seismic charge at the bottom of the borehole with detonating equipment located above the ground. If a seismic charge installed below the ground fails to detonate, the easy removal of the undetonated seismic charge is seriously impeded by yards of backfill and the cured concrete or sealing compound in which the seismic charge was embedded at the bottom of the original borehole. Removing such an installed seismic charge by reexcavating the original borehole or by digging around the original borehole to avoid the sealing compound is extremely laborious and time consuming, potentially unsafe, and in many circumstances virtually impossible.
Thus, in conducting seismic survey activities, particularly seismic survey activities involving the detonation of seismic charges below the surface of the ground, undetonated seismic charges are regularly abandoned in the field. Frequently, even the precise location of undetonated seismic charges cannot be pinpointed. The risks from undetonated explosive charges installed in the ground endure for a substantial time, usually exceeding the durability of ground surface warning signs, fencing, or the continued possession and control of access to the site by an original owner. Eventually, the pressure of human population growth may render the site attractive for civil or industrial activities that would not be consistent with buried undetonated explosive charges.
The associated dangers include first that of an accidental detonation at some future time. Less dramatic, but certainly of longer duration, are risks presented by the material substance of those undetonated charges. Once released from the confines of the casing of an explosive assembly, the explosive material therein may cease to present any risk of explosion. This type of release of explosive materials can occur through corrosion of the casing through the action of ground water, the fracture of the casing during careless installation, or the shifting of the ground structure at the location at which the undetonated seismic charge was abandoned. In due course, the prolonged effect of these forces in combination with surface erosion or subsurface fluid migration can disperse over a large area the material of a fractured explosive charge. That material may constitute a potentially problematic contaminant. Even if detected, remedial activities may be required to contain and possibly eliminate the contaminant.
Nonetheless, no practical methods exist for reliably remediating the risks posed by undetonated explosive charges, particularly where those undetonated explosive charges are originally installed below the surface of the ground.

Explosive device with accelerated bioremediation capacity


Examples of methods and systems for compensating for the timing delay caused by the winding impedance of the motor coils and/or for non-ideal rotor magnet shapes and positions are disclosed. The example methods and systems may include generating a synthesized commutation signal compensating for non-ideal magnet shapes and positions (e.g., asymmetrical magnet positions) on a rotor and/or compensates for the timing delay caused by the winding impedance of the motor coils.

Torque and motion in direct current (DC) motors are a result of the attraction and repulsion between the permanent magnetic poles on a rotor and electro-magnetic poles of a stator. The torque is a function of the magnetic field strength between the rotor and stator poles, as well as the geometry of the motor, and the relative angular positioning of the rotor and stator. The orientation and polarity of the magnets on the rotor relative to stator coils controls, along with the desired direction of rotation, determines the required polarity of the stator poles. Motor movement is thus controlled by the stator coils, which when energized by current flow in one direction, and then by reversing the direction to the other, creates an alternating magnetic field that propels the rotor. As the rotor turns, the required polarity of the electro-magnets of the stator constantly changes from north to south and back again to allow the rotor to continue spinning in the same direction. In some motor winding configurations where multiple pole pairs are used in the stator, the stator pole polarity may have three settings: North, South, and Off (no stator winding current). The principle of motion based on magnetic attraction and repulsion is the same for all brushless DC motors regardless of the number of permanent magnets and electromagnets used, and regardless of the motor winding configuration. The example in the description herein is for a single-phase motor winding configuration with two permanent magnet pole pairs and two electromagnet pole pairs, but the concept also applies to multiple phase motor winding configurations and any number of stator and rotor pole pairs.
The changing of the electro-magnet polarity is known as commutation. In brushed DC motors this is done mechanically with a split ring commutator. In brushless DC (BLDC) motors, the current and thus the magnetic pole orientation is reversed using electronic switches. In order to avoid shorting out the supplies during commutation, there is a short commutation dead time between when the winding current flowing in one direction is turned off and the time before current is turned on in the other direction. This dead time is accomplished electronically in BLDC motors in contrast to a mechanically created gap in the split ring commutator of brushed motors.
In many DC motor applications it is desirable to reduce torque variation throughout each rotation of the motor, and to increase (e.g., optimize) the torque for any given amount of power delivered to the motor. To this end, many variations on how the stator coil windings are energized between commutation events have been proposed. These include variations on pulse width modulation (PWM) and pulse amplitude modulation speed control techniques.
Effective (e.g., optimal) commutation is also beneficial to the overall performance of the motor. The timing of the commutation event is as beneficial as the method used to energize the stator coils in between commutation events. Effective (e.g., optimal) commutation timing involves accurately sensing the angular position of the rotor magnets relative to the stator coils. In brushless DC motors, the position of the rotor magnets relative to the stator is typically sensed using a magnetic Hall effect sensor that is attached to the stator. Other sensor types may also be used to sense the magnetic field and position of the permanent magnets. In this example, a Hall effect sensor is used, but the methodology described herein is independent of the sensor type used. As the rotor magnets pass by the Hall effect sensor, the output of the Hall effect sensor outputs a signal indicating the polarity (north or south) of the closest rotor magnet. The Hall amplifier is a circuit that converts the Hall effect sensor signal to a logical 1 or 0, depending on polarity of the closest magnet to the sensor. The magnetic polarity information is used in deciding when to reverse the current direction through the stator windings. Other methods used to detect the rotor position include optical sensors, as well as "sensorless" techniques which monitor flux linkage or the back electromotive force (EMF) induced by the rotor's movement onto a stator winding.
All of these various rotor position-sensing techniques may work as long as the rotor is perfectly manufactured with the ideal geometry and there is no timing delay introduced by the winding impedance of the motor coils.
If the rotor and stator are perfectly manufactured to the ideal geometry, the magnetic attraction and repulsion of all the rotor and stator poles can work together to simultaneously promote rotation in the same direction. However, common manufacturing defects and/or tolerances may yield asymmetrical, or misshaped rotor magnets, or non-ideal placement of the rotor magnets. For example magnets with varying sizes and/or magnets mounted at asymmetrical positions on the rotor. As a result of the varying rotor geometry, the position of magnetic boundaries/edges on the rotor may vary as much as 10-15 degrees. This results in misalignment between the rotor magnets and the stator coils during some angular positions of one rotation of the motor. Whereas all combinations of rotor and stator poles are intended to work together to promote motion in one direction, misalignment will result in some pole pairs unintentionally braking (e.g., stopping or trying to reverse the direction of the motor during certain angular positions of the rotation). This leads to torque ripple from the motor with unwanted vibration and noise. The asymmetry of the magnets on the rotor may reduce the overall lifetime of the motor and produce energy losses that are higher than desirable.
If the winding impedance of the stator coil is ideal, then there will be no delay between asserting the required voltages to commutate the winding current to the time when the direction of the current in the motor windings actually reverses. In practice, the electrical impedance of the motor windings in electric motors, including contributions from the winding inductance and resistance, contribute to a time delay before the current in the windings is changed. At the moment that a commutation event is initiated, this time delay will temporarily prevent the motor winding electromagnets from changing polarity. During this delay interval, the angular position of the rotor and its attached permanent magnets will continue to advance with the wrong relative polarity to the stator electromagnets. This will cause temporary unintentional braking of the motor until the winding current actually changes direction.
The inventor herein has recognized the above mentioned disadvantages and has developed a method for improving motor control by accounting for non-ideal magnet size and positioning on the rotor, and/or for the non-ideal winding impedance. In one embodiment of the present description, a method for controlling a BLDC includes generating a synthesized commutation signal electronically correcting/compensating for errors in rotor magnet positions. In one example, the synthesized commutation signal may additionally or alternatively compensate for the electrical impedance of motor windings, and the method may further include adjusting the synthesized commutation signal responsive to a position of the BLDC motor and responsive to desired speed of the BLDC motor.
By compensating for the non-ideal placement of the rotor magnets with varying geometry, magnets on the rotor may be mathematically aligned with the electromagnets on the stator, providing correction factors that may be used in calculations of rotor position. Other correction factors for the winding impedance may be calculated and/or stored in memory. In addition to correcting for winding impedance and magnet size and/or position, a non-uniform PWM pulse train may be applied during a commutation interval such that individual pulses may have varying (e.g., adjustable) pulse widths. In one example, the pulse train may comprise first few pulses of shorter duration, followed by pulses of increased duration as the commutation interval continues. Finally, the pulse duration may be decreased towards the end of the commutation interval. Such a pulse train adjustment may account for the position of the rotor magnets during rotation at least during some conditions, and may allow for efficient commutation with a uniform torque output.
In one example, it may be desirable to control the average speed of the BLDC motor using PWM signals wherein a PWM waveform may be used to control switches connecting the stator coils to a power supply. This is done in such a way that the average voltage across the motor is equal to the PWM duty cycle multiplied by the voltage of the power supply. PWM control signals are pulse trains where the duty cycle of the signal is defined as the average time high divided by the period. The period of the PWM control signal is typically chosen to be much smaller than the rotational period of the motor. Thus, many PWM pulses may occur evenly distributed within one rotation of the motor. Other methods may also be used to control the speed of the motor including pulse amplitude modulation and other techniques that vary the power delivered to the motor. These various speed control techniques are focused on how to strategically (e.g., optimally) apply energy to the motor between commutation events. The invention described herein includes effective (e.g., optimal) timing of the commutation events and is independent and compatible with the various speed control techniques that vary how energy is delivered to the motor between commutation events. The description provided herein may be used with a single-phase motor with four rotor and four stator poles, but the technique described applies to all rotor pole, stator pole, and winding configurations.
The above advantages and other advantages, and features of the present description will be readily apparent from the following detailed description when taken alone or in connection with the accompanying drawings.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.

Position corrected commutation of brushless direct current motors


The present invention is directed to an oil-soluble lubricating oil additive comprising at least one terminally unsaturated ethylene alpha-olefin polymer of 300 to 10,000 number average molecular weight substituted with mono- or dicarboxylic acid producing moieties (preferably dicarboxylic acid or anhydride moieties), wherein the terminal unsaturation comprises terminal ethenylidene unsaturation. The mono- and dicarboxylic acid or anhydride substituted polymers of this invention are useful per se as additives to lubricating oils, and can also be reacted with a nucleophilic reagent, such as amines, alcohols, amino alcohols and reactive metal compounds, to form products which are also useful lubricating oil additives, e.g., as dispersants.

Ashless nitrogen and ester containing lubricating oil dispersants have been widely used by the industry. Typically, these dispersants are prepared from a long chain hydrocarbon polymer by reacting the polymer with maleic anhydride to form the corresponding polymer which is substituted with succinic anhydride groups. Polyisobutylene has been widely used as the polymer of choice, chiefly because it is readily available by cationic polymerization from butene streams (e.g., using AlCl.sub.3 catalysts). Such polyisobutylenes generally contain residual unsaturation in amounts of about one ethylenic double bond per polymer chain, positioned along the chain.
The polyisobutylene polymers (PIB) employed in most conventional dispersants are based on a hydrocarbon chain of a number average molecular weight (M.sub.n) of from about 900 to about 2500. PIB having a M.sub.n of less than about 300 gives rather poor performance results when employed in dispersants because the molecular weight is insufficient to keep the dispersant molecule fully solubilized in lubricating oils. On the other hand, high molecular weight PIB (M.sub.n >3000) becomes so viscous that conventional industrial practices are incapable of handling this product in many operations. This problem becomes much more severe as the PIB molecular weight increases to 5000 or 10,000.
Increased amounts of terminal ethylenic unsaturation in polyisobutylene (so-called "reactive polyisobutylene") has been achieved by BF.sub.3 catalyzed polymerization of isobutylene. Exemplary of references disclosing these polymers is U.S. Pat. No. 4,152,499. However, such reactive polyisobutylene materials can still contain substantial amounts of unsaturation elsewhere along the chain. Further, it is difficult to produce such reactive polyisobutylene polymers at molecular weights of greater than about 2,000, and, even so, the reactive polyisobutylenes themselves still suffer the above-noted viscosity increase disadvantages as molecular weights are increased.
Other polymers, such as ethylene-propylene co-polymers and terpolymers containing non-conjugated dienes, have been disclosed as suitable polymers for the preparation of ashless nitrogen and ester dispersants.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,234,435, for example, discloses dispersants prepared from polyalkenes, M.sub.n of 1,300 about 5,000. The polyalkene can comprise homopolymers or interpolymers of C.sub.2 to C.sub.16 terminal olefins, of which ethylene-propylene copolymers are said to be examples, with specific reference to a copolymer of 80% ethylene and 20% propylene.
However, ethylene-alpha-olefin copolymers of the above molecular weights could be produced using Ziegler-Natta catalysts only in combination with H.sub.2 as molecular weight control in order to terminate the growing copolymer chains within this molecular weight range. Without use of H.sub.2 or other conventional, so-called "chain stoppers", the copolymers produced with Ziegler-Natta catalysts would tend to have molecular weights greatly in excess of the above range. (Such higher copolymers, for example, are widely employed in ungrafted form as viscosity index improvers, and when grafted with nitrogen-containing groups, as described below, are conventionally employed as dispersant-viscosity index improver polymers.) The use of H.sub.2 as a chain stopper has the disadvantage of causing the saturation of the olefinic double bond content of the copolymer. Thus, while lower molecular weight copolymers were theoretically possible to prepare, their low unsaturation content (and the accompanying low graft copolymer yields) would have made their further functionalization by a thermal "ene" reaction, e.g., with dicarboxylic acid moieties in preparing dispersants, highly unattractive.
High molecular weight ethylene-propylene polymers and ethylene-propylene-diene terpolymers, having viscosity average molecular weights of from about 20,000 to 300,000, are generally produced employing Ziegler catalysts, generally VCl.sub.4 or VOCl.sub.3 with a halide source, such as organoaluminum halides and/or hydrogen halides. Such high molecular weight EP and EPDM polymers find use as viscosity index improvers. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,563,964; 3,697,429; 4,306,041; 4,540,753; 4,575,574; and 4,666,619.
The concept of derivatizing V.I. improving high molecular weight ethylene copolymers, with acid moieties such as maleic anhydride, followed by reaction with an amine, to form a V.I.-dispersant oil additive is known in the art as indicated by the following patents.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,316,177 teaches ethylene copolymers of at least 50,000, such as ethylene-propylene, or ethylene-propylene-diene, which are heated to elevated temperatures in the presence of oxygen so as to oxidize the polymer and cause its reaction with maleic anhydride which is present during the oxidation. The resulting polymer can then be reacted with alkylene polyamines.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,326,804 teaches reacting ethylene copolymers with oxygen or ozone, to form a hydroperoxidized polymer, which is grafted with maleic anhydride followed by reaction with polyalkylene polyamines. Preferred are ethylene-propylene copolymers, having M.sub.v from 100,000 to 500,000, prepared by Ziegler type catalysts.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,160,739 teaches an ethylene copolymer (M.sub.v =10,000 to 200,000) which is grafted, using a free radical technique, with alternating maleic anhydride and a second polymerizable monomer such as methacrylic acid, which materials are reacted with an amine having a single primary, or a single secondary, amine group.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,161,452 relates to graft copolymers wherein the backbone polymer is a polymeric hydrocarbon such as EP copolymer of EPDM (M.sub.v =10,000 to 200,000) and the grafted units are the residues of an addition copolymerizable monomer system comprising, e.g., maleic anhydride, and at least one other addition monomer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,171,273 reacts an ethylene copolymer (M.sub.v =10,000 to 100,000) with maleic anhydride in the presence of a free radical initiator and then with mixtures of C.sub.4 to C.sub.12 n-alcohol and amine such as N-aminopropylmorpholine or dimethylamino propyl amine to form a V.I.-dispersant-pour depressant additive.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,517,104 relates to EP and EPDM viscosity index improver-dispersant additives prepared from EP polymer (M.sub.n =5000 to 500,000) by maleic anhydride grafting and reaction with polyamines.
The following references include disclosures of EP/EPDM polymers of M.sub.n of 700/500,000, also prepared by conventional Ziegler catalysts.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,089,794 teaches grafting the ethylene copolymer (M.sub.n =700 to 500,000) with maleic anhydride using peroxide in a lubricating oil solution, wherein the grafting is preferably carried out under nitrogen, followed by reaction with polyamine.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,137,185 teaches reacting C.sub.1 to C.sub.30 monocarboxylic acid anhydrides, and dicarboxylic anhydrides, such as acetic anhydride, succinic anhydride, etc. with an ethylene copolymer (M.sub.n =700 to 500,000) reacted with maleic anhydride and a polyalkylene polyamine to inhibit cross linking and viscosity increase due to further reaction of any primary amine groups which were initially unreacted.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,144,181 is similar to U.S. Pat. No. 4,137,185 in that it teaches using a sulfonic acid to inactivate the remaining primary amine groups when a maleic anhydride grafted ethylene-propylene copolymer (M.sub.n =700 to 500,000) is reacted with a polyamine.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,219,432 teaches maleic anhydride grafted ethylene copolymer (M.sub.n =700 to 500,000) reacted with a mixture of an amine having only one primary group together with a second amine having two or more primary groups.
Related disclosures of maleic anhydride grafted, aminated ethylene-propylene polymer viscosity improver-dispersant additives useful in lubricating oil compositions are contained in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,507,515; 4,557,847; 4,632,769; 4,693,838; and 4,707,285.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,668,834 to Uniroyal Chemical discloses preparation (via certain metallocene and alumoxane catalyst systems) and composition of ethylene-alpha olefin copolymers and terpolymers having vinylidene-type terminal unsaturation, which are disclosed to be useful as intermediates in epoxy-grafted encapsulation compositions.
Japanese Published Patent Application 87-129,303A of Mitsui Petrochemical relates to narrow molecular weight distribution (M.sub.w /M.sub.n <2.5) ethylene alpha-olefin copolymers containing 85-99 mol % ethylene, which are disclosed to be used for dispersing agents, modifiers or materials to produce toners. The copolymers (having crystallinity of from 5-85%) are prepared in the presence of a catalyst system comprising Zr compounds having at least one cycloalkadienyl group and alumoxane.
European Patent 128,046 discloses (co)polyolefin reactor blends of polyethylene and ethylene higher alpha-olefin copolymers prepared by employing described dual-metallocene/alumoxane catalyst systems.
European Patent Publication 129,368 discloses metallocene/alumoxane catalysts useful for the preparation of ethylene homopolymer and ethylene higher alpha-olefin copolymers.
European Patent Application Publication 257,696 A1 relates to a process for dimerizing alpha-olefins using a catalyst comprising certain metallocene/alumoxane systems.
PCT Published Patent Application WO 88/01626 relates to transition metal compound/alumoxane catalysts for polymerizing alpha-olefins.

Ethylene alpha-olefin polymer substituted mono-and dicarboxylic acid lubricant dispersant additives


A reception timing detection circuit of a CDMA receiver comprises an A/D converter 101 for obtaining a digital reception signal S, a correlator 102 for obtaining a cross-correlation between the digital reception signal S and a known signal series periodically within a predetermined lag, an interpolation filter 103 for re-sampling the signal R output from the correlator 102 at a frequency higher than a sampling frequency for the A/D converter 101, a power calculation section 104 for obtaining the re-sampled cross-correlation signal power P, an averaging section 105 for averaging the cross-correlation signal power P over a plurality of cycles, and a peak detection section 106 for obtaining a peak Popt of the averaged cross-correlation signal power P and determining an optimum reception timing .tau. opt.

The present invention relates to a transmitter/receiver of a mobile communication system, especially an automobile phone/handy phone system (cellular system) using a direct spread code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) system and, more particularly, to a reception timing detection circuit of a receiver used in a base station.
Among many mobile communication systems, North America Standard system (TIA IS95) using a code division multiple access (CDMA) method is well known as the digital automobile phone/handy phone system (cellular system). The standard specification TIA/EIA/IS (INTERIM STANDARD) titled "Mobile Station--Base Station Compatibility Standard for Dual-Mode Wideband Spread Spectrum Cellular System PN-3421" was published on May, 1994 by TIA (Telecommunication Industry Association). The above specification describes the required operation of the mobile station in Chapter 6 of 95-A and the required operation of the base station in Chapter 7. This standard specification mainly aims at standardizing radio interface by specifying modulation method, signal format and the like. However the exact reception method is not specified in detail.
On the downlink channel from the base station to the mobile station, common pilot channel (PLCH) not data modulated is transmitted using relatively high power in addition to data modulated traffic channel (TCH) of a plurality of users. The mobile station is able to decide the optimum reception timing using the pilot channel. Therefore determination of the reception timing under a low Eb/No (the ratio of noise power per Hz to signal power per bit) condition is considered as a minor problem. In order to transmit the pilot channel using high power, the number of traffic channels through which data are actually transmitted has to be reduced. This leads to decrease the number of users per base station.
The uplink channel of IS-95-A from the mobile station to the base station employs a modulation method as a combination of modulation and 4 times direct spread using 64-ary orthogonal code and no common pilot channel thereon. Using the 64-ary orthogonal code allows for enhancing power per symbol compared with BPSK, QPSK and the like and prevents deterioration accompanied with coherent detection in spite of using a coherent detection. This results in, however, complicated reception method.
Main items of the IS-95-A are:
chip rate : 1.2288 Mcps; PA1 bit rate : 9.6 kbps; and PA1 spreading ratio of direct spread : 128 times.
The chip rate is relatively low and chip cycle is relatively longer than that of instantaneous variable amplitude of propagation delay. Therefore the reception characteristics are hardly susceptible to the effect of insufficient characteristics of the reception timing detection circuit. However, both bit rate and chip rate have to be accelerated at least 5 to 10 times higher for executing high-rate data communication as well as voice data. This problem has never been posed by the IS-95-A.
The conventional reception timing detection method (chip synchronization) is described in the document titled "Principle of Spread Spectrum Communication" written by Andrew J. Viterbi, published on April, 1995, Chapter 3, pp. 39-66. The signal that has been spread with a spread code as pseudo random code is captured at two phases, initial Searching synchronous and tracking synchronous.
In the initial searching synchronous method, serial search is executed by sliding the reception timing by 1/2 chip interval until the correlation power exceeds a given threshold value as described in Chapter 3, section 4 of the above document.
In the tracking synchronous method, called as "early-late gate" or "delay lock loop" (DLL), the timing is finely adjusted by obtaining the correlation power at the timing ahead the reception delay time by .DELTA.t and the correlation power at the timing behind the reception delay time by .DELTA.t so as to make the difference zero.
A publication of JP-A 34794/1992 discloses the method in which the above-described initial searching synchronous and tracking synchronous methods are improved, the circuit is shared and the function for tracking the multiple propagation path is added. The basic operation of this method is identical to that of the reference as described above, failing to solve the task of the IS-95-A.
The code division multiple access (CDMA) method realizes communication that satisfies quality requirement under a very low Eb/No condition by employing such technologies as path diversity using multiple path propagation (RAKE), macro diversity for connecting a plurality of base stations around the cell boundary (soft hand off), error correction code exhibiting high encoding gain, transmission power control and the like.
The CDMA method requires strict synchronization of chip timing for reception. If the number of diversity branch (the number of path) increases, the correct path timing has to be detected under a very low Eb/No condition per path.
In the conventional method for obtaining a correlation value by sliding a correlation timing and detecting the timing when the correlation power becomes maximum, especially when the noise power is higher than the signal power, failure in peak detection frequently occurs owing to noise. This is the first problem of the conventional art.
The power of the correlation per symbol is obtained by summing the signal power and the noise power. When the correlation value power is averaged over a plurality of symbols, dispersion of the measured correlation values is decreased. However, the original correlation peak is too small to detect the right peak. This is the first reason.
In the conventional method, the reception signal does not always coincide with the one that has been used for calculating the correlation value with different delays. In case the reception level varies to the greatest degree owing to fading, the peak of the sliding correlation value does not always coincide with the peak of the right delay profile. This is the second reason.
In order to obtain the peak of the delay profile accurately, the conventional method requires a large amount of correlation operation. This is the second problem that should be solved.
The conventional method obtains power of the correlation values and further the average value of the obtained power. As the process for obtaining the power contains a square operation (non-linear operation), linearity is no longer retained, allowing for no interpolation of the delay profile. Therefore, the correlation value has to be calculated by changing the delay time with the intended accuracy.
As the third problem, the conventional method requires a large sized hardware.
More specifically, two types of circuits, initial searching synchronization circuit (search circuit) and tracking synchronization circuit (for example, delay lock loop: DLL) are required to cope with the change in the propagation condition resulted from the initial timing capture, secondary synchronization capture after getting off the synchronization, shadowing, or the like, resulting in an enlarged hardware.

Reception timing detection circuit of CDMA receiver and detection method


The present invention relates to data communication systems and protocols utilized in such systems.

Data communication systems are used to exchange information between devices. The information to be exchanged comprises data that is organized as strings of digital bits formatted so as to be recognizable by other devices and to permit the information to be processed and/or recovered.
The exchange of information may occur over a publically accessible network, such as a communication link between two devices, over a dedicated network within an organization, or may be between two devices within the same dedicated component, such as within a computer or point of sale device.
The devices may range from relatively large computer systems through to telecommunication devices, cellular phones, monitoring devices, sensors, electronic wallets and smart cards, and a wide variety of devices that are connected to transfer data between two or more of such devices.
A large number of communication protocols have been developed to allow the exchange of data between different devices. The communication protocols permit the exchange of data in a robust manner, often with error correction and error detection functionality, and for the data to be directed to the intended recipient and recovered for further use.
Because the data may be accessible to other devices, it is vulnerable to interception and observation or manipulation. The sensitive nature of the information requires that steps are taken to secure the information and ensure its integrity.
A number of techniques collectively referred to as encryption protocols and authentication protocols have been developed to provide the required attributes and ensure security and/or integrity in the exchange of information. These techniques utilize a key that is combined with the data.
There are two main types of cryptosystems that implement the protocols, symmetric key cryptosystems and asymmetric or public key cryptosystems. In a symmetric key cryptosystem, the devices exchanging information share a common key that is known only to the devices intended to share the information. Symmetric key systems have the advantage that they are relatively fast and therefore able to process large quantities of data in a relatively short time, even with limited computing power. However, the keys must be distributed in a secure manner to the different devices, which leads to increased overhead and vulnerability if the key is compromised.
Asymmetric or public key cryptosystems utilize a key pair, one of which is public and the other private, associated with each device. The public key and private key are related by a "hard" mathematical problem so that even if the public key and the underlying problem are known, the private key cannot be recovered in a feasible time. One such problem is the factoring of the product of two large primes, as utilized in RSA cryptosystems. Another is the discrete log problem in a finite group. A generator, α, of the underlying group is identified as a system parameter and a random integer, k, generated for use as a private key. To obtain a public key, K, a k-fold group operation is performed so that K=f(α,k).
Different groups may be used in discrete log cryptosystems including the multiplicative group of a finite field, the group of integers in a finite cyclic group of order p, usually denoted Zp* and consisting of the integers 0 to p−1. The group operation is multiplication so that K=f(αk).
Another group that is used for enhanced security is an elliptic curve group. The elliptic curve group consists of pairs of elements, one of which is designated x and the other y, in a field that satisfy the equation of the chosen elliptic curve. For an elliptic curve group of order p, the elliptic curve would generally be defined by the relationship y2 mod p=x3+ax+b mod p. Other curves are used for different groups, as is well known. Each such pair of elements is a point on the curve, and a generator of the group is designated as a point P. The group operation is addition, so a private key k will have a corresponding public key f(kP).
Public key cryptosystems reduce the infrastructure necessary with symmetric key cryptosystems. A device may generate an integer k, and generate the corresponding public key kP. The public key is published so it is available to other devices. The device may then use a suitable signature protocol to sign a message using the private key k and other devices can confirm the integrity of the message using the public key kP.
Similarly, a device may encrypt a message to be sent to another device using the other devices public key. The message can then be recovered by the other device using the private key. However, these protocols are computationally intensive, and therefore relatively slow, compared with symmetric cryptosystem protocols.
Public key cryptosystems may also be used to establish a key that is shared between two devices. In its simplest form, as proposed by Diffie-Hellman, each device sends a public key to the other device. Both devices then combine the received public key with their private key to obtain a shared key.
One device, usually referred to as an entity (or correspondent), Alice, generates a private key ka and sends another device, or entity, Bob, the public key kaP.
Bob generates a private key kb and sends Alice the public key kbP
Alice computes ka·kbP and Bob computes kb·kaP so they share a common key K=kakbp=kbkaP. The shared key may then be used in a symmetric key protocol. Neither Alice nor Bob may recover the private key of the other, and third parties cannot reconstruct the shared key.
In order to ensure integrity of the shared key, and to rebut attacks that have been developed to recover or substitute the shared key and/or the private keys within the shared key, key establishment protocols have been developed.
Key establishment is the process by which two (or more) entities establish a shared secret key. The key is subsequently used to achieve some cryptographic goal such as confidentiality or data integrity.
Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of key establishment protocols: key transport protocols in which a key is created by one entity and securely transmitted to the second entity, and key agreement protocols in which both parties contribute information which jointly establish the shared secret key. The present application is directed to key agreement protocols for the asymmetric (public-key) cryptosystems.
If Alice and Bob are two honest entities, i.e., legitimate entities who execute the steps of a protocol correctly, then informally speaking, a key agreement protocol is said to provide implicit key authentication (of Bob to Alice) if entity Alice is assured that no other entity aside from a specifically identified second entity Bob can possibly learn the value of a particular secret key. The property of implicit key authentication does not necessarily mean that Alice is assured of Bob actually possessing the key, but is assured that no one other than Bob possesses the key. A key agreement protocol which provides implicit key authentication to both participating entities is called an authenticated key agreement (AK)protocol.
Informally speaking, a key agreement protocol is said to provide key confirmation (of Bob to Alice) if entity A is assured that the second entity Bob actually has possession of a particular secret key. If both implicit key authentication and key confirmation (of Bob to Alice) are provided, then the key establishment protocol is said to provide explicit key authentication (of Bob to Alice). A key agreement protocol which provides explicit key authentication to both participating entities is called an authenticated key agreement with key confirmation (AKC) protocol. An extensive survey on key establishment is provided at Chapter 12 of Menezes, van Oorshot and Vanstone's Handbook of Applied Cryptography, the contents of which are incorporated by reference.
Extreme care must be exercised when separating key confirmation from implicit key authentication. If an AK protocol which does not offer key confirmation is used, then, as pointed out in the 1997 paper by S. Blake-Wilson, D. Johnson, and A. Menezes entitled "Key agreement protocols and their security analysis", it is desirable that the agreed key be confirmed prior to cryptographic use. This can be done in a variety of ways. For example, if the key is to be subsequently used to achieve confidentiality, then encryption with the key can begin on some (carefully chosen) known data. Other systems may provide key confirmation during a "real-time" telephone conversation. Separating key confirmation from implicit key authentication is sometimes desirable because it permits flexibility in how a particular implementation chooses to achieve key confirmation, and thus moves the burden of key confirmation from the establishment mechanism to the application.
Numerous Diffie-Hellman-based AK and AKC protocols have been proposed over the years; however, many have subsequently been found to have security flaws. The main problems were that appropriate threat models and the goals of secure AK and AKC protocols lacked a formal definition. Blake-Wilson, Johnson and Menezes, adapting earlier work of Bellare and Rogaway in the symmetric setting, provided a formal model of distributed computing and rigorous definitions of the goals of secure AK and AKC protocols within this model. Concrete AK and AKC protocols were proposed, and proven secure within this framework in the random oracle model.
It is expected that a secure protocol should be able to withstand both passive attacks (where an adversary attempts to prevent a protocol from achieving its goals by merely observing honest entities carrying out the protocol) and active attacks (where an adversary additionally subverts the communications by injecting, deleting, altering or replaying messages).
In addition to implicit key authentication and key confirmation, a number of desirable security attributes of AK and AKC protocols have been identified:                1. known-key security. Each run of a key agreement protocol between A and B should produce a unique secret key; such keys are called session keys. A protocol should still achieve its goal in the face of an adversary who has learned some other session keys.        2. (perfect) forward secrecy. If long-term keys of one or more entities are compromised, the secrecy of previous session keys established by honest entities are not affected.        3. key-compromise impersonation. Suppose A′s long-term key is disclosed. Clearly an adversary that knows this value can now impersonate A, since it is precisely this value that identifies A. However, it may be desirable that this loss does not enable an adversary to impersonate other entities to A.        4. unknown key-share. Entity A cannot be coerced into sharing a key with entity B without A's knowledge, i.e. when A believes the key is shared with some entity C≠B, and B (correctly) believes the key is shared with A.        5. key control. Neither entity should be able to force the session key to a preselected value.
Desirable performance attributes of AK and AKC protocols include a minimal number of passes (the number of messages exchanged in a run of the protocol), low communication overhead (total number of bits transmitted), and low computation overhead. Other attributes that may be desirable in some circumstances include role-symmetry (the messages transmitted between entities have the same structure), non-interactiveness (the messages transmitted between the two entities are independent of each other), and the non-reliance on encryption, hash functions (since these are notoriously hard to design), and timestamping (since it is difficult to implement securely in practice).
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a key agreement protocol in which the above disadvantages are obviated or mitigated and attainment of the desirable attributes is facilitated.


A thermographic material is disclosed which comprises a support and provided thereon, a recording layer containing a photolytic free radical generating agent capable of providing a free radical on absorption of light, a dye decolored by the free radical, and an anti-decolorizing agent, the photolytic free radical generating agent and dye being contained in a microcapsule in the recording layer, and the anti-decolorizing agent being present outside the microcapsule in the recording layer, wherein an image is formed by imagewise heating the thermographic material to mix the anti-decolorizing agent with the photolytic free radical generating agent and the dye to form a latent image, and then exposing the heated material to light which the photolytic free radical generating agent absorbs, so that the dye at the latent image portions is not decolored and the dye at portions other than the latent image portions is decolored.

A thermographic material (hereinafter referred to also as a recording material) for forming an image using a thermal head has advantages such as simplicity of a recording apparatus, no developing process, no noise, maintenance-free and low cost, and is applied in various fields such as printers and facsimile devices.
A conventional thermographic material has the advantages described above, but has problems that undesirable coloring occurs on accidental heating after recording, since only heating causes coloring reaction and that recording is easy to corrupt and low in reliability. Therefore, a thermographic material capable of fixing a formed image has been eagerly sought.
As a typical thermographic material capable of fixing a formed image, a diazo thermographic material is well known, but the diazo thermographic material has the problem that a diazonium compound used is likely to give a background fog due to its high reactivity and results in such a background fog as maximum color density after long-term storage due to poor thermal stability.
Recently, background fog has been reduced by separating the diazonium compound from a coupler using a microcapsule, but the reduction is not still satisfactory, and a more stable thermographic material has been sought.
In Japanese Patent O.P.I. Publication Nos. 1-129247, 1-143252, 3-19252 and 3-1983 is disclosed a thermographic material comprising a microcapsule, in which a photolytic free radical generating agent and a leuco dye are incorporated, with a reducing agent present outside the microcapsule. In this thermographic material, it is possible to mix the reducing agent with the photolytic free radical generating agent and leuco dye by applying heat not to form a dye from the leuco dye, and to entirely expose the heated material to form a dye at portions which have been not heated. However, this type of thermographic material, containing an oxidation developing leuco dye forming a dye on reaction with a photolytic free radical generating agent, has the problems that fog occurs, since the material is subjected to room light or sun light during storage or the photolytic free radical generating agent is gradually decomposed during long term storage. A more stable thermographic material easy to handle has been sought.
The above thermographic material is not colored at heated portions and colored at non-heated portions. This is a thermographic material giving a reversed image different from a conventional thermographic material, and therefore, the usage is limited.
In Japanese Patent Publication No. 43-29407 is disclosed a method of decoloring a dye by imagewise exposure to form an image, but this method has so far not been applied to thermographic materials.
In Japanese Patent O.P.I. Publication Nos. 2-190386, 2-190385 and 2-190383 is disclosed a thermographic material containing an organic boron compound salt of a cationic dye such as a cyanine dye or a xanthene dye, wherein the material is exposed to light which the salt absorbs to decolor the dye and form an image. In this material, a recording image is obtained by mixing, at heated portions, a compound decomposing an organic boron compound with the organic boron compound, whereby the organic boron compound is decomposed to a compound which does not decolor by light exposure, and then by exposing to light to decolor non-heated portions.
However, this thermographic material has various problems, since dyes used or light wavelength used for decoloring the dyes are limited. Such cationic dyes have the problems in that the formed image is poor in stability or light fastness. The cationic dyes are easily decolored by room light, and therefore, there is a problem that a thermographic material using such dyes are difficult to handle under room light. It is necessary to mix a compound decomposing an organic boron compound with the organic boron compound by heating and then decompose the organic boron compound, however, instantaneous heating due to a thermal head is difficult to completely decompose the organic boron compound. Further, such dyes used, which are generally salts, are low in organic solvent solubility and expensive.

Thermographic material and recording method


An electrostatic opening and short fiber separation apparatus for carding machines making use of a high voltage electrostatic field; which produces different forces on filaments, short fibers, and dust; in cooperation with a plurality of suction devices to separate short fiber. The apparatus is to be installed in front of a card cylinder where a doffer and a sliver forming mechanism have been removed. By means of a specially designed stripping roller, fibers are stripped from the cylinder and float across the electric field due to the attraction of suction devices. Cotton fibers in the electric field will be affected by the high voltage and held by upper and lower circular metal screen conveyor belts, to move forward. Short fibers and dust move to and fro between two metal strips due to the existence of the electric field; they will be taken up and removed if the drag force of suction devices is larger than the action force of the electric field. By this way, long staple will be sent to the cage roller in front to form webs and then formed into sliver. Most sizes of short fibers removable in the apparatus are under half an inch and therefore can effectively control the short fiber content, promote fiber parallelization, and assure the fiber quality.

The removal of short fibers is generally done by combers, which influences the quality of cotton yarn very much. Removal amount, usually ranging from 15% to 25%, greatly depends on the desired quality grade of cotton yarn and raw material. Because of the limitation of the design of combers, slivers must be prepared by drawing and lapping. Damage to fibers may result during the removal of short fibers, and so this method is not justified from an economic view point.
Although there exist on the market nowadays short fiber separation apparatuses employing a high voltage electrostatic field, their performance has not reached a high level. The invention makes use of a high voltage electrostatic field accompanying with suction devices to promote the removal rate of short fibers, attaining a very remarkable effect.
The features, advantages, and minute arrangement of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings

Electrostatic opening and short fiber separation apparatus for carding machines


A control chip for updating firmware in an optical disk drive by hardware. The control chip includes a microprocessor for controlling actions of the optical disk drive, a decoder controlled by the microprocessor and connected to an external buffer memory and a host interface, a controller controlled by the microprocessor and connected to the decoder to receive control signals and data of the optical disk drive, an extra memory connected to the microprocessor for storing an update program routine, a DMA unit controlled by the microprocessor to read data from the external buffer memory, and a macro unit controlled by the microprocessor to receive data output from the DMA unit and to write the data into the non-volatile memory. Because the firmware is updated into the flash memory in the hardware architecture, the speed is fast and the microprocessor can execute other works while updating.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a control chip for an optical disk drive and a method for updating firmware in the control chip, and more particularly to a control chip for an optical disk drive, which executes firmware update actions by a macro unit and a DMA (Direct Memory Access) unit, and a method for updating firmware in the control chip.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 shows a control architecture diagram of a typical optical drive, such as a CD-ROM. As shown in FIG. 1, the optical drive 10 utilizes an optical pickup, which is disposed in a sled motor and pickup assembly 102, to retrieve data stored in an optical disk 100 and then output a radio frequency (RF) signal. An RF amplifier and controller 110 is used to receive and amplify the RF signal and to output a amplified signal to a decoder 114. The decoder 114 receives the amplified signal and decodes the amplified signal to generate decoded data. The decoded data are then stored in a buffer memory 116. A microprocessor 112 is used to control operations and functions of the optical drive 10. For instance, the microprocessor 112 is used to control the RF amplifier and controller 110 and the decoder 114, to drive the spindle motor 101, the sled motor and optical head assembly 102, and the like. The microprocessor 112 is further connected to a non-volatile memory 118 to read firmware information, such as update program routines and commands to control and operate the optical drive 10. Users can utilize a host 122 to read the data in the buffer memory 116 via a host interface 120.
Because the computer industry is rapidly developed, hardware peripherals, such as optical drive, are also rapidly developed. In order to continuously update the function and operation of the optical drive, the firmware stored in the non-volatile memory is typically updated. Generally, when the firmware of the optical drive is updated, the update program routine being executed and the data being updated are stored in the non-volatile memory. However, this method reduces the usable space in the non-volatile memory and lengthens the time for updating the firmware.
In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 6,170,043, entitled "Method for controlling an optic disk" disclosed another update method. FIG. 2 shows an architecture diagram of the control chip in this patent. The control chip 200 includes an extra memory 202, a microprocessor 204, a decoder 206, and a controller 208. In the method disclosed in this patent application, when the firmware is to be updated, the update program routine is stored in the extra memory 202 and a flash ROM (non-volatile memory) 210 is regarded as a data storage space. In this method, the usable space in the non-volatile memory 210 is not occupied, and the speed for updating the firmware may be increased. However, this method has the following drawbacks. That is, since the microprocessor executes the operation of either reading the update program routine or writing the data in the non-volatile memory by software, the microprocessor cannot perform other works, such as accessing the data of the host, when the data are written. In addition, it takes longer time for the microprocessor to execute the software to compute the address of the extra memory.

Control chip for optical disk drive and method for updating firmware in the control chip


A method for diagnosis of a vehicle includes monitoring a first plurality of distributed sensor signals input to a first control unit, monitoring a second plurality of distributed sensor signals input to a second control unit, determining a first diagnostic trouble code (first DTC) at a first instant of time, determining a second DTC at a second instant of time, storing a first dataset in a first storage media and storing the second DTC in the first dataset. The second instant of time is within a predetermined time of the first instant of time. The first dataset corresponds to the first instant in time, and the stored first dataset is transferred to a remote fault-diagnostic module at a later instant of time. The first dataset includes the first DTC, a predetermined first group of sensor signals associated with either the first or second control unit, and the second DTC.

In the field of automotive diagnostics, most automotive vehicles currently employ a distribution of electro-mechanical sensors for providing electronic inputs to an Electronic Control Unit (ECU), which typically includes a microprocessor and memory for processing embedded algorithms. For example, the Engine Control Module (ECM) performs such functions relating to proper operation of an engine and drive train of an automotive vehicle. A primary function of the ECM is the reduction of undesirable engine emissions, however ancillary tasks, such as environmental control, comfort controls, safety systems, etc, are also currently performed by additional ECUs.
Each sensor in a sensor suite typically measures a single desired metric that is associated with one of a plurality of various aspects of automotive vehicle operation. Examples of such metrics include, but are not limited to, temperature, airflow, fuel flow, throttle position, vehicle speed, vehicle transmission gearing, and exhaust emission characteristics. Each sensor in turn emits an electronic signal that is proportional to the individual metric being monitored.
While monitoring the plurality of electrical outputs from the plurality of sensors, the microprocessor calculates a plurality of output parameters that are applied to a plurality of servomechanisms. For example, the ECM performs this function for metering desired amounts of fuel and air, and for setting ignition timing. Transmission gearing ratios are controlled by a Transmission Control Module (TCM) in an ECM/TCM configuration or a Powertrain Control Module (PCM) as specified in SAE J1930.
During ordinary operation, the sensors transmit electrical signals that are within predetermined limits. This allows the Electronic Control Unit (ECU) to make necessary corrections to related parameters so as to restore sensor outputs to predetermined levels. When any one of the sensors transmits an electrical signal having a level that is not within predetermined limits, a fault is detected and an error signal generated, which error signal identifies the sensor that generated the fault condition as well as the nature of the fault. Considered collectively, the error signals are known as Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs). Current automotive vehicles provide a standardized data transfer port to allow the microcomputer to export the DTCs to an external monitoring device for display to a servicing mechanic. By tracing a table of these DTCs, the mechanics ability to troubleshoot and correct a problem associated with current operation of the vehicle is enhanced.
In current vehicles, on-going data are provided to the Electronic Control Unit (ECU) and thus to the external monitoring device. In addition, some ECUs will store a Freeze Frame (regulatory requirement) or Failure Record. Thus, while current operating parameters may be readily available to identify current problems, intermittent problems are not readily isolated and repaired if the fault is not present during diagnostic monitoring by the mechanic. More specifically, there is currently no provision for storing relational sensor data both before and after a fault condition occurs nor is there a provision for storing relational sensor data from networked ECUs that are not currently detecting a DTC. Examples of such non-diagnosable faults are significant hesitations that may occur during acceleration from particular vehicle speeds or while the transmissions are at higher gear ratios. There is a need for systems and methods that address such issues with current ECUs.

Vehicles fault diagnostic systems and methods


The present invention integrates data from multiple outside sources for the purpose of managing the closing, funding, and audit of a real property transaction using a secure, computer network, such as an internet-based network, and graphic user interface(s), thereby allowing permitted users to import, update, verify, view, and control transaction information. Permitted users can electronically communicate and view the transaction data during the process of the real property transaction. An Internet-based computer system may execute one or more computer program products for providing secured data input, data input screens, and data import capability, and sequencing an approval of data input by the permitted users.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an interne web based online System and Method used in closing real estate transactions.
2. Description of the Related Art
All charges paid by a buyer, seller, or borrower in connection with a real property transaction must be computed and displayed on the Department of Housing and Urban Development's HUD-1 form or HUD 1A form (hereinafter "HUD-1" or "HUD1/1A") settlement statement. See, e.g., FIG. 12. Every transfer or financing transaction from which a HUD-1 arises, involves the following steps:
(i) Transfer/disbursement of funds pursuant to HUD-1;
(ii) Recordation of executed transfer and/or financing documents resulting from transaction; and
(iii) Disbursement of executed documents after transaction completion.
The HUD-1's primary purpose is to provide a consistent format in which the charges to both buyers and sellers are calculated and disclosed. The HUD-1 has been developed through government regulation as a mandatory form document to be used on consumer real property transactions involving charges to borrowers, buyer or sellers. The only current exception to mandatory use of the HUD-1 for a consumer real property transaction is in connection with a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) financing transaction. However, most Settlement Agents utilize the HUD-1/1A in most transactions since it is most compatible with their internal protocols and familiar to a wide variety of third parties. The regulations relating to the HUD-1 are intended to denominate specific line items for the common fees and charges. These HUD-1 regulations have been frequently misinterpreted, misread or otherwise not followed by preparers. The consequence of failing to follow the regulatory requirements of preparing a HUD-1 can be severe. The consequences may even create or concentrate unintentional liability on the preparer, while relieving liability of the other parties to the transaction.
Additionally, the closing of a financing transaction which violates state or federal high cost (or "predatory lending") regulations may create unintentional liabilities, and may even impact the salability of the consumer real property loan in the secondary market. The salability of any given consumer real property loan in the secondary market is significant in that it impacts the value of the loan as an asset of the Mortgage Originator.
Further complicating this situation is the requirement that multiple parties coordinate at multiple intervals in order to consummate a real property transaction. For example, a Mortgage Originator, Settlement Agent (the preparer of the HUD-1/1A), and funding or lending source may participate in the process. This may create a difficult communication environment as well as complicate the audit requirements relating to any financing involved in the transaction. In the absence of a comprehensive system and method for coordination and consummation, each interval of the process presents an opportunity for error and/or fraud. Any such comprehensive system and method must be capable of satisfying not only the Settlement Agent requirements, but the consumer (buyer and seller), lender, and vendor requirements, as well as the legal requirements.
Current regulations require that all settlements or financial transactions involving consumer real property include the utilization of a HUD-1 promulgated form. Most Settlement Agents currently use some form of computer generated HUD-1 prepared by a system proprietary to their title company, or one that is sold by a system vendor serving the title industry. A typical HUD-1 preparation system uses a template format allowing the Settlement Agent to enter numbers in what they interpret to be the appropriate locations. Some systems permit the Settlement Agent a limited import of data from their existing system(s) into the HUD-1 form, such as property legal descriptions and buyer/seller name. Some systems also permit the Settlement Agent to send data from the HUD-1 entry fields to a check-writing program to facilitate the issuance of closing proceeds and disbursement via paper checks.
The prior art systems do not permit, however, the lending source to have any direct input control of the numbers used in the HUD-1, nor do they require approval of the lending source prior to execution of the HUD-1 by either buyer (borrower) or seller. Essentially, the use of the HUD-1 forms as mandated by existing regulation is dependant upon the interpretation of the Settlement Agents without regard to: (i) audit of its content for legal compliance before execution; or (ii) a lending source being asked to provide funding of the transaction only after the process is closed. This lack of checks and balances can result in multiple iterations of the HUD-1 being executed in connection with a transaction, which in turn gives rise to confusion as to which HUD-1 is the final version. Further, since prior art systems do not have sophisticated front-end controls for the Mortgage Originators or Warehouse Funding Source (warehouse bank), holding Settlement Agents accountable for failure to follow closing instructions is difficult since, in most cases, the loan has already been funded.
Accordingly, a need exists for an interne web-based mechanism by which coordination of the various parties, information, documents and funds involved in a real property transaction can be managed, audited, tracked, and disbursed, and reports can be generated for the various participants to use as permanent records, and to provide loan-level accounting for mandated executive certifications.

Online settlement statement and funding control system and method