An engine control section detects that a sheet in a cassette is exhausted during duplex image formation. If a sheet with its first surface being printed is on standby in a duplexer, an image formation timing signal is output for a first surface of a sheet not fed because of a paper-out. Subsequently, an image formation timing signal is output for a second surface of the sheet that is in the duplexer and has its first surface printed. After completing the image formation of the second surface of the sheet, the operation is halted.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and its control method applicable to an image forming apparatus such as electrophotographic or electrostatic copiers and printers.
2. Description of the Related Art
An outline of an entire configuration of a laser printer as an image forming apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. 1.
As shown in FIG. 1, the laser printer forms electrostatic latent images in an image forming section according to image light produced in response to image signals sent from a control section not shown, and forms visible color images by the development of the electrostatic latent images and by the superimposition transfer of the visible images. The visible color images are transferred onto a sheet (that is, recording medium) 2, and is fused on the sheet 2. The image forming section has photosensitive bodies (5Y, 5M, 5C, 5K) provided for individual stations juxtaposed by the number of development colors (four colors); injection charging means (7Y, 7M, 7C, 7K) as primary charging means; and developing means (8Y, 8M, 8C, 8K). The image forming section further includes toner cartridges (11Y, 11M, 11C, 11K), an intermediate transfer body 12, a paper feed section 1, a transfer section and a fusing section 13. Here Y designates yellow of the development colors, M designates magenta of the development colors, C designates cyan of the development colors, and K designates black of the development colors.
The photosensitive bodies (5Y, 5M, 5C, 5K), injection charging means (7Y, 7M, 7C, 7K) as the primary charging means, and the developing means (8Y, 8M, 8C, 8K) are mounted on process cartridges (22Y, 22M, 22C, 22K) which are detachably installed in the main body of the image forming apparatus.
The photosensitive drums (photosensitive bodies) 5Y, 5M, 5C and 5K, each of which is formed by applying an organic photoconductive layer on the outer surface of an aluminum cylinder, are rotated by a driving force transferred from a driving motor not shown. The driving motor causes the photosensitive drums 5Y, 5M, 5C and 5K to rotate counterclockwise in response to the image forming operation. The exposure light beams to the photosensitive drums 5Y, 5M, 5C and 5K are sent from scanners 10Y, 10M, 10C and 10K, and are selectively exposed on the surfaces of the photosensitive drums 5Y, 5M, 5C and 5K so as to form the electrostatic latent images.
The primary charging means has four injection charging units 7Y, 7M, 7C and 7K for charging the photosensitive bodies of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C) and black (K) for the stations, respectively. The injection charging units include sleeves 7YS, 7MS, 7CS, and 7KS, respectively.
The developing means includes four developing units 8Y, 8M, 8C and 8K for developing the yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C) and black (K) at the individual stations to make the electrostatic latent images visible, respectively. The developing units have sleeves 8YS, 8MS, 8CS and 8CK, and are mounted detachably.
The intermediate transfer body 12, which makes contact with the photosensitive drums 5Y, 5M, 5C and 5K and rotates clockwise when forming the color image, rotates in conjunction with the rotation of the photosensitive drums 5Y, 5M, 5C and 5K, and receives the transfer of the visible images. In addition, the intermediate transfer body 12 makes contact with a transfer roller 9, which will be described later, when forming the image, and pinches and transports the sheet 2, thereby carrying out the superimposition transfer of the visible color images on the intermediate transfer body 12 to the sheet 2.
The transfer roller 9 is placed at the position 9a to make contact with the intermediate transfer body during the superimposition transfer of the visible color images on the intermediate transfer body 12 to the sheet, but is separated therefrom to the position 9b once the printing processing is completed. In other words, the transfer roller 9 moves in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 1 to make contact with or separation from the intermediate transfer body 12.
The fusing section 13, which fuses the transferred visible color images with conveying the sheet 2, includes a fusing roller 14 for heating the sheet 2 and a press roller 15 for pressing the sheet 2 on the fusing roller 14. The fusing roller 14 and press roller 15 are made hollow to include heaters 16 and 17 in the inside, respectively. Thus, the sheet 2 holding the visible color images is conveyed by the fusing roller 14 and press roller 15, and the toners are fused on its surface by imposing heat and pressure. After the visible image fusing, the sheet 2 is output to a paper output section, and the image forming operation is completed.
The printer controls the transportation of the sheet with a lower transport sensor A 23, an upper transport sensor A 24, a lower transport sensor B 25, an upper transport sensor B 26, a registration sensor 19, a pre-fusing sensor 27, a fused paper output sensor 20, and a paper output sensor 28 on the sheet transport path. In addition, at the paper feed slot of a paper feed section (cassette) 1, a sensor (not shown) is provided for detecting the presence and absence of the sheet in the paper feed section 1.
A cleaning means 21 cleans the toners left on the photosensitive drums 5Y, 5M, 5C and 5K and on the intermediate transfer body 12. Through the cleaning, discarded toners after transferring the visible images, which are formed on the photosensitive drums 5Y, 5M, 5C and 5K with the toners, onto the intermediate transfer body 12 are stored in a cleaner container. In addition, through the cleaning, the discarded toners after transferring the visible color images with the four colors, which are formed on the intermediate transfer body 9, onto the sheet 2 are stored in the cleaner container.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of an image forming apparatus. A controller section 201 can communicate with a host computer 200 and an engine control section 203. The controller section 201 receives image information and a print instruction from the host computer 200. The controller section 201 analyzes the image information received and converts it to bit data, and delivers for each sheet a print reservation command, a print start command, and a video signal to the engine control section 203 via a video interface 210.
The engine control section 203 has a CPU 211 for receiving the command and data sent from the controller section 201 via the video interface 210, and for instructing operation processing for forming an image. The engine control section 203 further includes an image processor 212 as a circuit for processing the image data to be printed, and an image control section 213 for carrying out read control of the data processed by the image processor. The engine control section 203 further includes a fusing control section 214 for controlling the fusing temperature of the fusing section 13, and a sheet transport section 215 (corresponding to a plurality of pairs of transport rollers of FIG. 1) for conveying a sheet through the image forming apparatus. The engine control section 203 further includes a drive control section 216 for controlling driving of a motor (not shown) for driving the sheet transport section 215, and a duplex control section 217 for detecting transport conditions of the sheet in a duplexer, and for controlling the transport operation. In addition, the CPU 211 controls the various sections constituting the engine according to control procedures (including the control procedure shown in FIG. 3) in a ROM not shown.
The controller section 201 sends a print reservation command to the engine control section 203 in response to the print instruction from the host computer 200, and delivers a print start command to the engine control section 203 at a print enabled timing. In this case, according to the instructions from the host computer 200, the controller section 201 sends to the paper output option control section 202 an instruction about the usage of the paper output control option, and to a paper feed option control section 204 an instruction about the usage of the paper feed control option.
The engine control section 203 makes preparations for printing in accordance with the sequence of print reservation commands from the controller section 201, and waits for a print start command from the controller section 201. Receiving the print instruction, the engine control section 203 supplies the controller section 201 with a /TOP signal that gives a reference timing of outputting the video signal, and starts the print operation in response to the print reservation command. In addition, the engine control section 203 outputs a /TOPR signal that gives a timing of paper refeeding of the sheet waiting at the registration roller. The controller section 201 issues a paper refeeding instruction to a paper feed option input apparatus via a paper feed option control section 204 at the time when the /TOPR signal becomes "true".
FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a print operation of the engine control section 203. Receiving the print reservation command, the engine control, section 203 waits for receiving the print start command (501), and carries out preprocessing for the print operation (called a "pre-rotation sequence" from now on) (502). After completing the pre-rotation sequence, the engine control section 203 outputs the /TOP signal, and starts the print operation in response to the print reservation command of a first sheet (503). Unless the engine control section 203 receives the next print reservation command by the next print operation start timing (called "normal print start timing") (505), it advances the processing to step 509 to maintain the throughput. At step 509, the engine control section 203 carries out post-processing of the print operation (called a "post-rotation sequence" from now on), and completes the print operation. When the engine control section 203 has received the print reservation command and the print start command for the print reservation command by the next normal print start timing, it starts the print operation of a second sheet following the first sheet (506 and 503). When the engine control section 203 has received the print reservation command but not the print start command by the next normal print start timing, it carries out the post-rotation sequence and enters a print start command waiting state (507 and 508) to wait for receiving the print start command. Receiving the print start command, the engine control section 203 starts the pre-rotation sequence (502).
FIG. 4 illustrates a communication sequence up to starting the duplex printing of a fourth sheet with carrying out alternate paper feed from the paper feed section 1 and the duplexer. The controller section 201 sends to the engine control section 203 a reservation command with a reservation ID=1 for feeding paper from the paper feed section 1 and for outputting paper to the duplexer at 311; and sends a reservation command with a reservation ID=2 for feeding paper from the paper feed section 1 and for outputting paper to the duplexer at 312. At 313, the controller section 201 sends a reservation command with a reservation ID=1 for feeding paper from the duplexer and for outputting paper to a paper output section outside the apparatus. These operation steps are performed repeatedly for the rest of the reservation IDs (314, 315, 316, 317 and 318). Subsequently, the controller section 201 instructs the engine control section 203 to start printing for the reserved ID in response to the reservation command at 319, and the engine starts the print operation. The engine control section 203, after receiving the print start command, supplies the controller section 201 of the image forming sequence with a /TOP signal and /TOPR signal (320 and 321) to form an image. On the other hand, the controller section 201 outputs a video signal in synchronization with the /TOP signal, and outputs the print start command for the next reservation ID. Incidentally, carrying out paper feed from the paper feed section 1 and from the duplexer alternately with placing a single standby sheet at the duplexer as illustrated by the reservation commands from 311 to 318 is referred to as "two-sheet alternate duplex" from now on.
FIG. 5 shows an image forming sequence for forming an image according to the communication sequence of the duplex print in FIG. 4. In the duplex print below, as for a sheet that is fed from the cassette and output to the duplexer, its surface on which printing is made first is called a "first surface", and its opposite surface on which printing is made while the sheet is fed from the duplexer and output to the outside of the image forming apparatus is called a "second surface". Receiving the print start command (print ID=1) associated with the print reservation command of the first surface of the first sheet, the engine control section 203 starts the pre-rotation sequence. After completing the pre-rotation sequence, the engine control section 203 outputs the /TOP signal (100-1-S) to start the print operation of the first sheet, and transports the sheet from the cassette to the duplexer (101-1-S). In synchronization with the /TOP signal, the controller section 201 supplies the video data to the engine control section 203 to start forming the image. The engine control section 203 carries out with the registration sensor 19 the timing adjustment between the sheet fed from the cassette and the image transferred onto the intermediate transfer body by the image forming section. By performing the timing adjustment, the engine control section 203 outputs the /TOPR signal, and refeeds the sheet to transfer the image onto the sheet (102-1-S). The image transferred onto the sheet undergoes heat fusing by the fusing section 13, and passes by the fused paper output sensor 20. Thus, the image formation on the first surface of the first sheet is completed (103-1-S).
Likewise, receiving the print start command (print ID=2) associated with the print reservation command of the first surface of the second sheet, the engine control section 203 outputs the /TOP signal (100-2-S) to start the print operation of the first surface of the second sheet. Thus, the sheet is transported from the cassette to the duplexer (101-2-S), and the /TOPR signal is output (102-2-S). Subsequently, the fusing section 13 carries out the heat fusing of the image completely transferred on the sheet. The sheet passes by the fused paper output sensor 20, and the image formation on first surface of the second sheet is completed (103-2-S).
Next, when receiving the print start command (print ID=1) associated with the print reservation command of the second surface of the first sheet, the engine control section 203 outputs the /TOP signal (100-1-D) to start the print operation of the second surface of the first sheet. Thus, the sheet is transported from the duplexer (101-1-D), and the /TOPR signal is output (102-1-D). Subsequently, the fusing section 13 carries out the heat fusing of the image completely transferred on the sheet. The sheet passes by the fused paper output sensor 20, and the image formation on the second surface of the first sheet is completed (103-1-D). The sheet whose first and second surfaces both undergo the image formation passes by the paper output sensor 28, and is output to the outside of the image forming apparatus. The foregoing operation is repeated for the four sheets, and the post-rotation sequence is carried out again after completing all the image formation, followed by the waiting state of the print start command.
FIG. 6 illustrates an image forming sequence when the sheet in the paper feed section 1 has run out at the fourth sheet while carrying out the image forming sequence described in connection with FIG. 5 according to the communication sequence up to the start of the duplex print of the fourth sheet with performing alternate paper feed from the paper feed section 1 and from the duplexer of FIG. 4. In this case, the printing cannot be continued. Although the engine control section 203 outputs the /TOP signal (100-4-S) of the first surface of the fourth sheet and continues the image formation of the second surface of the first sheet, the fourth sheet has run out. Thus, no sheet can be transported from the cassette to the duplexer (101-4-S). When the sheet in the cassette has run out, the sensor at the paper feed slot of the paper feed section 1 detects the paper-out, and notifies the engine control section 203. Thus, the engine control section 203 sets the sheet presence or absence status at a paper-out. In addition, since the paper-out occurs, the engine control section 203 informs the controller section 201 of an occurrence of a misprint because of the paper-out (110). When the paper-out occurs, the engine control section 203 continues the image forming operation up to the second surface of the second sheet. In other words, the engine control section 203 notifies the controller section 201 through a sheet transport status that the sheet transportation is halted at the time when the second surface of the second sheet has passed by the fused paper output sensor 20, and is output to the outside of the image forming apparatus (103-2-D).
When the misprint has occurred in the engine, and the sheet transport status of the engine becomes not-in-transit, the controller section 201 determines the print ID necessary for the recovery (reprint) as follows. Specifically, the controller section 201 determines the print ID necessary for the recovery (reprint) by receiving from the engine control section 203 the reservation ID registered already, the ID associated with the paper feed from the paper feed section, and the ID with which the print has already started. In the example of FIG. 6, a decision is made that the retransmission of the third and fourth sheets is necessary from the reservation ID, in-paper-feed ID and in-printing ID for the print ID as shown in FIG. 7. The engine control section 203 executes a misprint release sequence in response to a misprint release command from the controller section 201.
As for a configuration for controlling the image forming operation by assigning the IDs, Japanese patent application laid-open No. 2001-088496 describes it.
In the conventional example, the image forming operation is completed at the time when the paper-out is detected, and the controller section 201 is informed of the misprint due to the paper-out, and when the image formation of the first and second surfaces of the print IDs corresponding to the /TOP signals output up to that time has been completed. Then, the engine control section 203 sets the sheet transport status at the not-in-transit, and waits for the misprint release from the controller section 201. In this case, since a residual sheet having its one side printed remain in the duplexer, the processing is necessary for outputting the single-side printed residual sheet within the image forming apparatus after the misprint release. In addition, the print IDs for the single-side printed sheets are to be subjected to the recovery.
This will be described in more detail by way of example of FIG. 6. Since the fourth sheet undergoes the paper-out misprint, when the image formation of the second surface of the second sheet, which has the print ID previous to the single side (first surface) of the fourth sheet, has been completed, the sheet transport status is set at not-in-transit. At that time, since the single-side printed third sheet remains in the duplexer, the third sheet is to be output to the outside of the apparatus in the condition in which only its single side is printed. Accordingly, as for the third sheet which is a sheet previous to the paper-out decision and whose single side has already been printed, the controller section 201 must retransmit the reservation command to carry out paper feed and single side print again for the recovery.
In other words, since the third sheet is output to the outside of the apparatus without passing through the duplex printing, the third sheet with its single side printed goes to waste.

Image forming apparatus and its control method


A microprocessor circuit useful for indexed addressing of byte-addressable memories includes word-length index, base address, and destination registers designated by an instruction. The instruction also specifies one byte packed within the index register, which is to be extracted. A multiplexer has a word-wide input end accessing all of the bytes of the index register, and responsive to byte selection control passes the specified byte to its output. The extracted byte is provided directly at specific bit positions of a zero-extended address offset word. The offset word is added to the base address, the sum being used to address memory contents that are loaded into the destination register.

Operations involving two operands, where one of the operands is a byte value and the other operand is a known constant value are often feasible to compute with a look-up table, since there are only 256 (=28) possible byte values and corresponding outcomes, so the look-up table will be rather small. For computationally intensive operations (e.g., division, exponentiation), accessing look-up tables tend to be much faster than full hardware or software execution of the same operation. If the processor architecture supports memory loads with register-indexed offsets, the lookup can easily be performed in one RISC instruction.
On machines where the word length (e.g., 32 bits) is a multiple of the byte length (8 bits), several (e.g., 4) bytes can be packed into a single word, thus saving potentially valuable memory space in those applications where memory is limited. This byte-packing scheme can be applied both to a processor's own internal registers and to the memory that a processor accesses. However, where packed bytes are to be used for performing a table lookup, extracting the desired byte will normally require that a series of extra instructions be executed, which reduces efficiency.
Encryption and decryption operations are becoming increasingly important in modern microprocessor applications. Encryption and decryption algorithms may be quite computationally intensive. Such algorithms are frequently used in portable or embedded applications where computing power is limited. Among the more popular block-cipher algorithms are Blowfish, Triple-DES and Rijndael.
All of these algorithms use a special array addressing operation, which requires a long instruction sequence to execute on current microprocessors. The operation is as follows:
                                                        result              =                                                          pointer                                                                                0                                                                                [                                                            offset                                                                                0                                        ⪢                    24                                    ]                                                                                ^                                                 pointer                                                                                1                                                                                [                                                                            (                                                                        offset                                                                                1                                                ⪢                        16                                            )                                                                                &                                                                                0                                    xff                                ]                                                                                ^                                                 pointer                                                                                2                                                                                [                                                                            (                                                                        offset                                                                                2                                                ⪢                        8                                            )                                                                                &                                                                                0                                    xff                                ]                                                                                ^                                                       pointer                                                                                3                                                                                [                                                                                offset                                                                                3                                                                                &                                                                                0                                        xff                                    ]                                            ;                                                          (        1        )            Four memory access operations involving packed look-up tables are dominant here. Each of these operations extracts one of the four bytes in a 32-bit word, zero extends the extracted byte and then adds it to a base pointer. The result of this indexing operation generates the memory address to be accessed. A significant speed-up of the encryption and decryption process can be achieved if this array access is performed faster.
It is therefore desirable to make the memory access represented by operation (1) more efficient, such that the encryption and decryption application will thereby run faster and with greater power efficiency compared to present implementations of these algorithms.

Extracted-index addressing of byte-addressable memories


A color image forming apparatus includes a density sensor which detects the light reflecting characteristics of an unfixed toner image formed on an image carrier or a transfer material carrier, and a color sensor which detects the light reflecting characteristics of the fixed toner image formed on a transfer material. A test image is formed on the transfer material in accordance with the detection result of the density sensor, and a density control process of controlling image forming conditions is controlled to be executed in accordance with a detection result of detecting the test image by the color sensor.

Recently, color image forming apparatuses adopting electrophotography, inkjet printing, and the like require higher resolution and higher image quality. In particular, the tonality of a formed color image and the stability of density in a formed image greatly influence the image forming characteristics of the color image forming apparatus. It is known that the density of an image formed by the color image forming apparatus varies upon a change in environment and long-time use. Especially an electrophotographic color image forming apparatus loses the color balance of a formed image upon even small density variations, and efforts must be made to always keep its density characteristics to tonality constant. For this purpose, the electrophotographic color image forming apparatus obtains a stable image by the following density control process. First, a toner image (to be referred to as a patch hereinafter) for detecting density is formed on an intermediate transfer material, photosensitive member, or the like with toner of each color. Then, the density of the unfixed toner patch is detected by a toner density detection sensor (to be referred to as a density sensor hereinafter), the detection result is fed back to process conditions such as the amount of exposure light and the bias voltage for development.
In density control using the density sensor, a patch is formed on an intermediate transfer material, photosensitive drum, or the like, and detected. This density control cannot follow a change in the color balance of an image that is caused by variations in transfer and fixing characteristics onto a transfer material (sheet). To solve this problem, there has been proposed a color image forming apparatus which adopts a sensor (to be referred to as a color sensor hereinafter) for detecting the density or color of a patch transferred onto a transfer material (sheet) (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-287934).
This color sensor can read a color patch on the transfer material and obtain an RGB signal corresponding to the color of the color patch. By performing density control (tonality control) using an output from the color sensor, higher-precision density control can be realized.
However, control using the color sensor consumes transfer materials and toner because a patch must be formed on a transfer material such as a recording paper sheet. Hence, density control using a patch cannot be frequently executed, and effective density control must be performed while minimizing the execution count of density or chromaticity control (to be referred to as color sensor control hereinafter) using the color sensor.
Density variations (also including variations in transfer/fixing characteristics) in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus occur depending on the state of the use environment, the conditions of an image pattern to be printed, and the like. The degree of density variations greatly changes depending on the use conditions of the apparatus, and is hard to predict. The density may or may not vary greatly depending on the difference in use conditions. Since the image forming apparatus must always form an image at a stable density, dolor sensor control must be executed assuming the case where the density varies most greatly (abruptly). That is, if color sensor control is done while the density of a formed image varies little, unnecessary control is executed, wastefully consuming toner or paper.

Color image forming apparatus and control method therefor


Technologies and implementations for training a predictive intelligence associated with electronic discovery (e-discovery) are generally disclosed.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
In general, when litigation has been determined to be reasonably likely, a party may have a duty to preserve material that may be determined to be relevant to the litigation. The material may be in an electronic form (i.e., electronically stored information). The preserved material may need to be reviewed for a variety of potential legal issues before being exchanged (e.g., during electronic discovery).

Intelligent searching of electronically stored information


An automated control device for monitoring the position angle of an absorption type cooling system or refrigerator that circulates a refrigerant, an absorbent, and a diffusion agent within a conduit system includes a housing, a controller with a processor within the housing, a sensor in communication with the controller for measuring the angle of inclination of the refrigerator, and a stress counter connected to the controller for counting increments of stress induced into the cooling system. The tilt monitoring control method prevents system stress, which in turn prevents personal and property damage due to hydrogen gas leaks, fires and explosions.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to tilt control devices and, more particularly, to an operating control for a recreational vehicle (RV) refrigerator based upon monitoring tilt and stress conditions of the cooling system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Gas absorption refrigerators are very sensitive to position angle. This presents a problem for refrigerators in vehicles. Recreational vehicles with refrigerators are required to be leveled to ensure normal refrigerator operation. This is because gas absorption refrigeration relies on gravity to recirculate the refrigerant (ammonia-water solution) downward through the evaporator and absorber sections to the leveling chamber. The angles of inclination in these sections are typically three to five degrees (3°-5°). If a RV refrigerator attempts to operate at an angle greater than five degrees (5°), the flow downward through the absorber is slowed or stopped and refrigerant "pools" in the lower portions of the absorber as a result of the unlevel attitude.
Operation at severe angles of inclination can lead to overheating of the boiler section of the cooling system when adequate levels of the refrigerant are not close enough to the boiler section to draw heat away from the heated section. This system stress is obviously undesirable. In extreme situations, the heated section continues to rise in temperature until the system ruptures releasing refrigerant and hydrogen into the vehicle. Hydrogen, being highly volatile, presents a risk of injury to persons and property as a result.
There is thus a need for an improved operating control for a recreational vehicle refrigerator that monitors tilt conditions of the fridge or at least a portion of its absorption system to safely control its operation and thus prevent system stress and ruptures.

Tilt monitor and stress controller for absorption type refrigerator


A method for determining a lane change by a vehicle includes determining a vehicle heading using for example GPS information, determining a road heading at a location of the vehicle, and when the vehicle is on the multilane road, determining a lane change as a function of a heading difference between the vehicle heading and the road heading. A vehicle with a lane change determination device is also provided.

The present invention relates to a method and device for determining vehicle lane changes using a vehicle heading, for example as determined by global satellite positioning device, and a road heading, for example a road heading from a digital road map.
GPS devices for vehicles can provide position information as well as vehicle direction information. The vehicle direction information, also called vehicle heading information, also can be derived by a processor on the vehicle from the stream of GPS position information.
Digital road maps, also called street maps, provide all types of digital information on roads, such as streets and highways, such as their physical coordinates and whether the roads are one-way or not. The direction, i.e. heading, of a road at any location thus may be known from the digital road map information.
Christopher K. H. Wilson, Seth Rogers, and Shawn Weisenburger, in "The Potential of Precision Maps in Intelligent Vehicles", IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Vehicles, pages 419–422, October 1998, describe a method for adding lane information to digital road maps using a differential GPS device. This article is hereby incorporated by reference herein.
In "Learning to Predict Lane Occupancy Using GPS and Digital Maps" by Seth Rogers, Pat Langley, Christopher Wilson published by the DaimlerChrysler Research and Technology Center, 1510 Page Mill Road, Palo Alto. Calif. 94304-1135, the authors describe recognizing when a vehicle changes lanes based on the position of a GPS receiver with respect to a lane boundary. This article is hereby incorporated by reference herein.
"Mining GPS Data to Augment Road Models" by Seth Rogers, Pat Langley, Christopher Wilson" from 1999, published by the DaimlerChrysler Research and Technology Center, 1510 Page Mill Road, Palo Alto. Calif. 94304-1135, U.S. Pat. No. 6,502,033, European Patent Application No. 0 598 518, and Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 11304512 A, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein, describe other prior art.
To determine a lane change by a vehicle, on-board cameras and image processing have been known to detect lane boundaries and crossing of the boundaries. The use of turn signal indicators to indicate a lane change is also known.

Method and device for determining vehicle lane changes using a vehicle heading and a road heading


Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to parsing for source code porting and provide a novel and non-obvious method, system and computer program product for a user-extensible rule-based source code modification tool. According to an aspect of the present invention, an automated parsing tool for parsing and modifying source code is provided which supports the addition of user-defined rules, and which parses and either modifies source code or suggests modifications to source code based upon the user-defined rules. Users can also associate a user-defined or predefined modification with each rule so that upon detection of a condition satisfying the rule, the user can be presented with the modification as an option. Compound rules built by using one or more rules as preconditions to a rule are also supported.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of lexical analysis of source code and static code review and more particularly to source code parsing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Lexical analysis refers to conversion of a sequence of characters in a body of text into tokens. Once a sequence of characters has been converted into tokens, the tokens can be characterized according to function in order to provide meaning and context to the body of text. The initial stage of the lexical analysis generally involves the application of a finite state machine to an ordered sequence of text in order to emit finite character strings according to the configuration of the finite state machine, often referred to as a scanner. Subsequently, the tokenization stage performed by a tokenizer demarcates and classifies the finite sections of strings into tokens. Finally, an evaluator attaches meaning to tokens through the application of rules to the tokens.
Lexical analysis, known to the skilled artisan as parsing, forms an integral part of software development as a fundamental stage of code building. In this regard, in the context of code building, parsing is the process of analyzing a sequence of tokens in source code to determine its grammatical structure with respect to a given formal grammar of a programming language. Parsing transforms input text in source code into a data structure, usually a tree, which is suitable for later processing during the compilation phase of code building and which captures the implied hierarchy of the input.
Parsing finds particular application to static code review. Static code review refers to the parsing of source code to identify program code constructs for the purpose of optimizing the source code and detecting programmatic and syntactical errors within the source code. In static code review, source code can be parsed and compared to existing rules in order to flag portions of the source code of concern. Advanced forms of static code reviewing tools provide for code modification based upon pre-defined rules included as part of static code reviewing tools.
Source code often must be ported from one platform to another. Historically, the process of porting source code involved the manual review and modification of source code to account for the particular nuances of a target platform. Given the complexity of modern software design, manually porting source code can be tedious at best and more often than not is a virtual impossibility. To address the difficulty in porting source code, static code review tools have been configured to apply a set of predefined rules in order to parse source code and to make required changes according to the rules. Other sophisticated tools merely suggest manual changes where an automatic change is not appropriate.
The development task of porting source code from one platform to the next can vary in difficulty and complexity. Different developers approach the problem differently, in consequence. Yet, static code reviewing tools can be inflexible in that the rules incorporated into static code reviewing tools are hard-coded rules defined without regard to the specific task of porting source code from one particular platform to another. To modify the hard-coded rules of a static reviewing tool requires language-specific coding skills and access to the code base of the static reviewing tool itself.

User-extensible rule-based source code modification

International Business Machines Corporation


A circuit provided with an optoelectronic display unit. For discrete display of the settings of a regulating/control unit, said circuit comprises at least one detection element for detecting the actuation of an object in order to modify the settings of the regulating/control unit, whereby the detection element delivers an output signal corresponding to the desired modification. Several luminous diodes (1a, . . . , 1n), which are essentially arranged next to each other in a row and which emit luminous radiation, are used as display elements. A control device controls at least one of the luminous diodes (1a, . . . , 1n) according to the output signal in order to display the respective setting, in addition to the regulating/control unit for modification of the setting. In order to produce a quality display and operator unit, at least two receiver elements which are sensitive with respective to the luminous radiation of the luminous diodes (1a, . . . , 1n) are provided, acting as detection elements in order to detect the luminous radiation reflected by at least one luminous diode (1c) and by an object (2), and the control device controls at least one of the luminous diodes in addition to the regulating/control unit as a result of the output signal, which is formed according to the movement of the object relative to the luminous diode (1c) emitting luminous radiation, according to the movement of said object.

In the field of operator control elements, displays formed e.g. by a series of LEDs are known, which indicate a set value. This may be a row of LEDs, i.e. light-emitting diodes, which are arranged side by side and of which one element emits light and indicates an actual value. As a rule, the luminescent elements arranged in a row are suitably labelled to enable an association with a quantity such as e.g. a display in "dB" for volume control. Changeover to another value is effected mechanically e.g. by means of momentary-contact switches. Generally, to increase and reduce the value one mechanical momentary-contact switch is used in each case. A change of value effected by pressing the appropriate momentary-contact switch is indicated by the appropriate LED in the row by virtue of a positional variation in the display.
FIG. 1 shows such an LED display known from the prior art, wherein the position of the LED and hence also e.g. the "volume level" may be adjusted by means of the plus and minus keys. The advantage of such an arrangement lies in the clear overview of the set position and in the spontaneous operator controllability. The drawback is, however, the need for mechanical cutouts in the operator control panel and the provision of appropriate keys.
From DE 43 36 669 C1 a touch panel is known, comprising optical sensors, which are associated with different actuating surfaces and react to the shading of a sensor surface corresponding to the size of a finger. The acquisition of the ambient light is therefore the information to be processed. Usually, for this purpose, a means other than the means used to generate a light signal is used. For indicating a value that is to be displayed an additional lighting display unit is required. The opto-receivers and opto-transmitters may be operated exclusively in a pulsed manner, which is disadvantageous for the discrete alteration of a value that is to be set (cf. also DE 40 07 971 A1 in the infrared range).
The acquisition of information, which is needed to vary a value to be set at an operator panel, may also be effected by means of touch-sensitive switching devices according to DE 694 19 735 T2 or DE 36 85 749 T2, which through the acquisition of a capacitance correspond with the optical display unit to be operated; because of its sensitivity to moisture, however, this use is restricted to specific areas.
DE 39 32 508 A1 shows a conventional reflection light barrier without a discrete control facility. Transmitters and receiving elements always have to be provided separately. DE 28 24 399 A1 discloses an optical switch with separate transmitters and receivers. In both cases, the light barriers formed thereby are only the means of setting the display and not the display means itself.
From U.S. Pat. No. 5,327,160 a touch fader as a remote control is known, which may be operated only in the switching mode.
Arrangements of light-emitting diodes, which may be used in turn both as a light-emitting and as a light-receiving element and the optical signal of which directly reproduces the value to be displayed, which may moreover be controlled so as to follow the movement of a finger or of a comparable body in order thereby to reach the value to be set, but which may also be operated in clocked manner and thus spontaneously, are not known from the prior art.

Circuit with an opto-electronic display unit


A cold-formed, raised-center axle for a heavy-duty vehicle includes a central tube having a pair of ends, a pair of spindles attached to the central tube ends, and a wall thickness of from about 0.500 to about 0.625 inches. A hump is formed in the center portion of the tube and includes compressive residual stresses in its bottom portion when the axle is in an in-service position. A method for forming the raised-center axle includes the steps of providing a substantially straight axle, inserting the axle into a press, over-forming a hump in the axle in the direction such that camber is induced in the axle, and forming the axle in a second direction, thereby substantially removing the camber and replacing a detrimental residual stress state in the humped portion of the axle with a beneficial residual stress state.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the art of vehicle axles. More particularly, the invention relates to the art of raised-center axles for heavy-duty vehicles, such as tractor-trailers or semi-trailers and straight trucks, and processes for forming such axles.
2. Background Art
Heavy-duty vehicles, such as tractor-trailers or semi-trailers and straight trucks, typically include multiple axles that are longitudinally spaced along the vehicle to create ride stability. Each axle usually includes a central tube and a pair of spindles. The spindles are mounted on opposing ends of the central tube and extend outboardly therefrom. The wheels of the vehicle are rotatably mounted on the spindles, and a trailing or leading arm suspension system connects each axle to the vehicle frame. The suspension system and axle often are referred to in combination as an axle/suspension system. For the purpose of convenience, reference herein will be made only to axles, with the understanding that such axles are used in a heavy-duty vehicle axle/suspension system.
Certain types of heavy-duty vehicles, such as rear-discharge tanker trailers, often utilize an axle in which the central tube includes a center portion that is bent upwardly. Such axles are known in the art as raised-center axles, and the upwardly bent portion is referred to as a bend or a hump. When the raised-center axle is in an in-service position, the hump is above the rest of the axle or its unbent horizontally disposed portions. This is in contrast to a drop-center axle, in which the center tube of the axle includes a hump that is below the rest of the axle when the axle is in an in-service position. In the prior art, the processes associated with forming the hump for a raised-center axle have necessitated the use of a thick wall for the central tube, such as about 0.750 inches or greater.
For example, cold-forming processes of the prior art used to fabricate a raised-center axle involve a single-hit bending process, where the hit is performed by a hydraulic press. In such a process, an axle having a straight central tube is inserted into the press and a punch driven by the press hits a center portion of the tube, bending the center portion of the tube in one motion to form the hump. This single-hit process, however, produces residual stresses in the cross-section of the axle that are detrimental to the axle when it is loaded in service conditions. That is, since the hump of the raised-center axle is above the rest of the axle in an in-service position, the "overloading" of the central tube caused by the press in forming the hump produces compressive stresses in the bottom portion of the hump. However, after the punch retracts once the central tube has been bent to form the hump, there is a slight amount of spring-back of the central tube. This spring-back produces a state of residual tensile stress in the bottom portion of the hump of the axle, which combines with load forces experienced by the axle when it is in service that tend to flex the hump and to create additional tensile stresses in the bottom portion of the axle hump. This combination of load-induced tensile stresses and residual tensile stresses in the axle at the bottom portion of the hump has the potential to produce a premature failure of the axle.
The effect of the state of residual tensile stress in the bottom portion of the hump of the raised-center axle is in contrast to the effect of the same state of residual stress in a drop-center axle. More particularly, a drop-center axle includes the same state of residual tensile stress in the same location as the raised-center axle, however the inverted orientation of the drop-center axle causes in-service loading conditions to produce compressive stresses that counterbalance the residual tensile stresses. This contrast substantiates the principle that a one-time overload to form an axle tube produces residual stresses that are favorable to subsequent loading in the same direction, while those same residual stresses are detrimental to subsequent loading in the opposite direction.
To compensate for the residual stresses that contribute to the potential premature yielding of raised-center axles that are cold-formed according to prior-art processes, the axles include large wall thicknesses, on the order of about 0.750 inches. Even with such large wall thicknesses, however, these prior-art raised-center axles are still potentially susceptible to premature structural failure. Post forming treatment processes have been tried in an attempt to reduce such undesirable residual stresses in the prior art raised-center axles, such as by shot peening or needle peening of the axle. However, the addition of such post-forming treatment processes undesirably increases the time and expense to produce a raised-center axle. In addition, surface treatments such as those noted above do not significantly improve the static strength of the axle, which is diminished severely by residual stresses from cold-forming.
Other prior-art raised-center axle forming processes include hot forming of the hump. Hot forming reduces residual stresses, but requires a large wall thickness to maintain the ability to bend the axle central tube to form the hump while maintaining structural integrity. Thus, an axle tube wall thickness of about 0.750 inches is again required. Hot forming also is typically more expensive than cold forming, due in part to the additional time, energy and equipment associated with heating the axle for forming. As a result, raised-center axles that are hot formed tend to be more expensive than those that are cold formed, and still require increased wall thicknesses, which introduce unnecessary weight to the axle.
The large wall thicknesses needed for raised-center axles formed according to prior art processes are undesirable, as large wall thicknesses increase the amount and thus the cost of the raw material needed for the axle. In addition, a large wall thickness increases the weight of the axle, which undesirably contributes to decreased payload for the vehicle on which the axle is incorporated.
Thus, a need exists in the art for a raised-center axle that overcomes the problems of the prior art by being economically formed, while reducing undesirable residual stresses and wall thickness, and maintaining or improving physical properties exhibited by prior art raised-center axles. A need also exists in the art for a process to economically form such a raised-center axle. The present invention provides such a raised-center axle and method for forming the same.

Raised-center axle and process for forming


The present invention discloses a novel visor and eyeshield combination. This visor and eyeshield combination allows the wearer to adjust the eyeshield by flipping the eyeshield up to a rest position or down to an in-use position, by adjusting the distance of the eyeshield downward from the visor, by adjusting the distance of the eyeshield from to the wearer's face in order to accommodate eyeglasses and/or facial contours, and, in the preferred embodiment, by allowing the eyeshield to be flipped toward the wearer's face for a wraparound-look.

1. Field of the Invention
Applicant's invention relates to a combination visor and eyeshield. More particularly, Applicant's invention relates to a visor and eyeshield assembly having at least three adjustment points.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Using a visor to protect one's eyes from direct sunlight while simultaneously wearing a pair of sunglasses to protect one's eyes from indirect, reflected sunlight is not a new idea. In fact, many past inventions disclose a combination visor and eyeshield/sunglasses. The most basic of such combinations involve a pair of eyeshields attached to a visor. The eyeshield can be flipped up parallel to the visor into a rest position when not in use. When the user wants to protect his eyes, he simply flips the eyeshield downward so that the eyeshield is perpendicular to the visor. Previous patents using this combination visor and eyeshield mechanism and method include U.S. Pat. No. 1,696,198 to Gross; U.S. Pat. No. 1,833,741 to Diehl; U.S. Pat. No. 2,481,960 to Wall, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 2,500,280 to Feldman; U.S. Pat. No. 5,412,812 to Gatchalian; U.S. Pat. No. 4,541,125 to Phillips; U.S. Pat. No. 5,689,827 to Ryder; and Australian Patent 158,859 to United-Carr Fastener Corporation.
The above disclosed patents do not fit well over the faces of people having especially pronounced facial contours or people who wear prescription eyeglasses. For those who wear eyeglasses, the eyeshield can never be completely flipped to the "down" position because the eyeglasses are in the way. It is well-known that different individuals have different facial contours. Some people have unusually beaky faces while others have unusually flat faces. Again, because a visor and eyeshield combination that can only be adjusted up or down cannot be moved closer to or farther away from one's face, the above inventions usually can only fit a few people comfortably.
In order to solve the above problems, others have made improvements to the combination visor and eyeshield patents disclosed above. In particular, patents such as U.S. Pat. No. 2,648,091 to Jones; U.S. Pat. No. 2,654,089 to Tannenbaum; U.S. Pat. No. 2,549,445 to Friess; U.S. Pat. No. 2,619,641 to Vaca; U.S. Pat. No. 4,819,274 to Day; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,261,124 to Day all disclose visor and eyeshield combinations that can be moved up or down and backwards and forwards.
Because the above inventions allow a user to both adjust the eyeshield towards or away from the wearer's face and flip the eyeshield up parallel against the visor or down perpendicular to the visor, they readily accommodate individuals wearing eyeglasses and individuals having different facial contours. However, the above inventions still use rather large and bulky eyeshields to protect the wearer's eyes.
Most hats/caps manufactured today are of the one-size-fits-all variety. Thus, the eyeshields disclosed in any one of the above patents must be large enough to cover the eyes of people requiring the largest of hat sizes (and so having larger, longer faces) and people requiring the smallest of hat sizes (and so having shorter, more compact faces). In addition, different people have different hat wearing habits-some people like to wear hats low over their forehead while others like to wear hats high over their forehead. Again, in order to accommodate everyone, the eyeshields must be large enough to protect the eyes of the wearer no matter how the wearer positions his hat.
However, today, people wear hats and sunglasses not only for protection from the sun's harmful rays. Many people wear hats and/or sunglasses as a fashion statement. In this fashion conscious environment, few people are willing to use large and bulky--and unfashionable--eyeshields to protect their eyes from sunlight.
Therefore, a new combination visor and eyeshield must be able to protect the eye from direct and indirect sunlight, accommodate eyeglass wearers, fit well for people having different facial contours, be able to accommodate those who wear different hat sizes, be able to accommodate those with different hat wearing habits, and be fashion sensitive.
Others have tried to solve one or some of the above problems with different versions of visor and eyeshield combinations. U.S. Pat. No. 2,538,607 to Vaca disclosed a visor and eyeshield combination that uses a push-button control to activate the eyeshield into its in-use position. This invention only protects the wearer from direct and indirect sunlight. It does not solve any one of the additional problems listed above.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,951,316 to Moody discloses a visor and eyeshield combination that can be adjusted parallel to the visor to fit the different contours of the wearer's face and to fit the eyeglasses possibly worn by the wearer. In addition to the backwards/forwards motion, the eyeshields can be removed from the visor. Therefore, different shaped eyeshields can be clipped onto the visor. This invention is impractical because the removable eyeshields can accidentally fall off the visor. Further, although this invention can be flexible to the fashion requirements of the day and can partially solve the problem with people having different hat sizes and requiring different sized eyeshields, it does not solve the problem with people sometimes wearing their caps high and sometimes wearing their caps low above their forehead. An additional disadvantage of this invention is that the removable eyeglasses cannot be flipped up or down. Therefore, when not in use, the eyeshield must be removed. This increases the chance of the eyeshield being misplaced and lost forever.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,164 to Lisle discloses a visor and eyeshield combination having a cloth flap attached to the visor to store and protect the eyeshield when the eyeshield is not in use. This invention also discloses removable and exchangeable eyeshields. Here, the eyeshield can be stored in a position parallel to the visor when not in use and flipped down to a position perpendicular to the visor when in use. Because the eyeshield is removable, this invention is also sensitive to the dictates of current fashion. However, because the eyeshield cannot be moved backwards and forwards in a direction parallel to the visor to adjust for those wearing eyeglasses and/or having different shaped facial contours, this invention once again does not solve all the problems listed above.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,129,102 to Solo discloses a visor and eyeshield combination having removable eyeshields and having eyeshields that can be flipped upward parallel to the visor for storage or flipped downward perpendicular to the visor for use. Once again, this invention does not solve all the problems listed above. As mentioned before, the removable eyeshield can be sensitive to the dictates of fashion. However, since the eyeshield can only be flipped up or down, it does not adequately accommodate those who wear eyeglasses, who have different facial contours, who wear different hat sizes, and/or who have different hat wearing habits.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,533,207 to Diaz discloses a visor and eyeshield combination in which the eyeshield is attached to an arm pivotally connected to the visor. By tracing the path of an arc of a circle, with the circle having the length of the arm as the radius, the arm can swing the eyeshield to a downward position perpendicular to the visor or swing the eyeshield to an upward position parallel to the visor. Therefore, moving the arm will simultaneously change the eyeshield's position both relative to the visor and relative to the distance from the wearer's face. Thus, this invention can accommodate people wearing eyeglasses, people having different facial contours, and people with different hat wearing habits. However, because the arm is rigid, it is possible that when the eyeshield is positioned in front of the wearer's eyes, the eyeshield is too far away from the wearer's face. Conversely, it is also possible that, when the eyeshield is positioned at a comfortable distance away from the wearer's face, it is no longer at eye level. Thus, the invention still does not solve all the problems associated with visor and eyeshield combinations.


A flow control assembly is provided for a submersible pump drive which has a hydraulic drive motor and a bearing pack for sealing a drive shaft which transfers drive from the drive motor to an oil well pump. The flow control assembly incorporates a production containment device for engaging said bearing pack The production containment device has a collar for supporting the bearing pack, drive shaft and hydraulic drive motor within the submersible pump drive, and a passageway through the collar for channeling fluid therethrough. The flow control assembly further includes a seal protection device for demountably engaging the bearing pack opposite the hydraulic drive motor. The seal protection device has a fluid deflecting cone shaped tip and a hollow cylindrical portion adjacent the tip for receiving a lubricant to impede any fluid entering the seal protection device from migrating through the bearing pack.

The tight confines of oil well casings limit the space in which to run production tubing strings having submersible pump arrangements at their bottom ends for pumping oil and other fluids through great depths to the surface. In a production casing of 5.5 inches (aprox. 139.7 mm) diameter, the available space for a pump arrangement is about 4.85 inches (123.2 mm). Small electric submersible or subsurface pump drives have been used with progressive cavity pumps for these purposes. Subsurface drives are particularly suited for use in deviated and horizontal wells since they do not employ a turning drive shaft which extends from the well's surface; and, progressive cavity pumps are preferred since they can pump liquids containing sand and other particular matter which is often mixed with production fluids. Although the electric submersible pumps fit within the tight confines of a well casing, they suffer from several drawbacks in oil well applications: they are not good for pumping fluids mixed with solids; they require a permanent electrical service; they are expensive to install; and they frequently suffer from pinched power lines since electric cable is attached to the exterior of the production tubing.
It would be preferable to replace the electric submersible pumps with much less expensive hydraulic submersible pump drives or motors which are typically used in other oil field applications, such as current surface drives, mobile tank trucks, service rigs, and hydraulic reciprocating pumping units. Such drive motors are attractive since fewer specialty components are required for installation and operation. However, these motors are fairly bulky and tend to restrict production fluid flow through a pump arrangement. In particular, a problem exists with the mounting assemblies which must be employed about the drive motors for centralizing and supporting the drive motors within the pump assemblies. Unfortunately, the area about the drive motors forms a "bottle neck" for the produced fluids since the flow area is the most constricted in this location. Therefore, the mounting assemblies exacerbate the problem by further restricting the already limited fluid flow area. Even the physically smaller electric drives are mounted below progressive cavity pumps to avoid undue restriction and fluid flow past the electric motor in the production tubing above the pump.
Another problem with current pump drives , both electric and hydraulic ones, is that the production fluid flowing to or past the drive assembly pump directly impacts the upstream bearing pack which houses the pump's drive shaft. Such fluid impact (and the suspended particulate matter) deteriorates the bearing pack seals and causes leaks into the bearings over a relatively short operational time span. For conventional surface drives such seals can be readily serviced to avoid surface oil spills. In subsurface drives, however, the drive pump equipment cannot be serviced until a failure occurs and must be retrieved for servicing and replacement. Therefore protecting and extending the operating life of these seals will prevent frequent and costly servicing.
What is therefore desired is a novel submersible pump arrangement for use with oil well production tubing which overcomes the limitations and disadvantages of the existing arrangements. Preferably, it should allow the use of hydraulic drive motors in such pump arrangements for pumping production fluids. In particular, it should provide a flow control assembly for supporting a hydraulic drive motor within the pump arrangement without restricting the fluid flow area about the drive motor body. The flow control assembly should further reduce the impact of fluid flow on the bearing pack of the drive motor to increase the operational life of its seals and bearings, and thus reduce servicing costs.

Hydraulic submersible pump for oil well production


A slide member (30) is provided so as to freely slide back and forth in a direction where both connector housings (20 and 40) are fitted/detached into/from each other. When the slide member (30) slides forth, a point section (55) of a lever (50) is engaged with one engagement section (24) and the one connector housing (40) is drawn into the other connector housing (20) so that both the connector housings (20 and 40) are fitted into each other. Whereas when the slide member (30) slides back, a point section (56) of the lever (50) is engaged with the other engagement section (26) of the other connector housing (20) so that both the connector housings (20 and 40) are detached from each other. The other engagement section (26) is formed so as to protruded in a direction where a plurality of terminals (29) provided to the other connector housing (20) are protruded. Namely, a protruded length (L) of the other engagement section (26) becomes longer than a protruded length (H) of the terminals (29).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a slide fit connector in which a slide member is slid back and forth in a direction where multiple and female and male connector housings are fitted and detached, and both the connector housings are easily fitted/detached into/from each other by the lever action of a lever which is turned by means of a weak operational power of the slide member.
2. Description of Relevant Art
A lever-type connector is provided with a multiple female connector housing, and a slide groove is formed in a frame supporting section of the female connector housing. A slide axis protruded below one end of a frame-type lever is supported to the slide groove so as to slide freely. Moreover, a pair of male connector housings, which are fitted/detached into/from the female connector housing, are supported into the frame-type lever by means of a supporting axis so as to be turned freely.
When a lever operating section projected above the other end of the lever is operated in an up-and-down direction and the lever is turned about a slide axis, both the connector housings are fitted/detached into/from each other. The similar technique to such a lever-type connector is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 6-79080 and the like.
However, in the case where, for example, the male connector housing is fitted into the female connector housing in narrow fitting space where the female connector housing cannot be seen, the conventional lever-type connector has been required skill to gropingly locate and insert the slide axis to be a fulcrum of the lever into the slide groove of the frame supporting section in the female connector housing, and thus the fitting work of both the connector housings has been complicated. Particularly, since the slide axis of the lever slides in the slide groove of the frame supporting section, when plural male terminals, not shown, protruded in the female connector housing are fitted into plural female terminals, not shown, in the male connector housing, pinch easily occurs, and the male terminals are easily deformed due to the pinch. Moreover, since the slide axis and lever operating section are protruded to both the end sides of the lever supporting the male connector housing, the whole connector becomes large.


A rotary actuator includes a plurality of plate members stacked and coupled together for rotation relative to each other. A biasing member provides a biasing force tending to cause a rotatable end plate member to rotate in a biasing direction relative to a non-rotatable end plate member. Each plate member has a plurality of notches at its periphery. A SMA wire extends through the plurality of notches so that as the SMA wire is heated, the SMA wire rotates each rotatable plate member from a cold position in a direction opposite the biasing direction to a hot position. As the SMA wire cools, the biasing member rotates each rotatable plate member in the biasing direction from the hot position and returns each rotatable plate member to the cold position.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Latches for appliances and automobiles are typically actuated by a motor. Such motors, however, are relatively expensive, heavy, and large. This makes them problematic to mount within the space available for movable covers or doors for appliances and automobiles.
A shape memory alloy (SMA) can be used to actuate a latch. Such latches typically use SMA members having relatively large cross-sections. This makes them slow to cool and return to their original shape. Thus, the cycle rate of such latches is too long for appliances and automobiles.
SMA actuators also typically have voltage and current requirements that are higher than desirable in appliance and automobile applications. Other potential limitations of SMA actuators include limited travel distance, and limited torque; particularly in a small package size.


It is an object to provide a liquid crystal display which reduces unsatisfactory display caused by distorted initial alignment direction in a liquid crystal alignment layer for IPS type displays, realizes stable liquid crystal alignment, is high in mass-productivity, and produces high-quality images of increased contrast ratio. The liquid crystal display contains alignment layers 109 placed between a pair of substrates 101 and 102, at least one of which is transparent, liquid crystal layer 110′ sealed between the alignment layers, common electrode 103 and source electrode 105 for applying an electrical field to the liquid crystal layer, thin-film transistors connected to each of these electrodes, polarizer plate 114 provided on at least one of the substrates, wherein at least one of the alignment layers 109 is composed of a photo-reactive polyimide and/or polyamic acid which can be provided with a liquid crystal alignment capacity by being irradiated with essentially linearly polarized light.

A liquid crystal display generally works by applying an electrical field to liquid crystal molecules in a liquid crystal layer placed between a pair of substrates to change a direction of the molecules to which they are aligned and thereby change optical characteristics of the liquid crystal layer.
A liquid crystal display provided with a switching element, e.g., thin-film transistor, for each pixel, has an electrode at each of a pair of substrates which hold a liquid crystal layer in-between, and is designed to apply an electrical field to the layer in a direction essentially perpendicular to the substrate interface. This type of display, known as the so-called actively driven display, is represented by a twisted nematic (TN) display which works on optical rotation of the liquid crystal molecules constituting the liquid crystal layer. One of the largest disadvantages to be solved for this type of display is narrow viewing angle.
On the other hand, an IPS type display has been developed. It works on birefringence produced in the liquid crystal layer by its liquid crystal molecules rotating essentially in parallel to the substrate, where an electrical field generated by an inter-digital electrode provided on one of a pair of the substrates is designed to have a component running essentially in parallel to the substrate surface. This type of display, disclosed by, e.g., Patent Documents 1 and 2, has been offering promising prospects as a novel display which can replace the conventional TN type, because of its advantages in, e.g., wider viewing angle and lower-load capacity, resulting from in-plane switching of the liquid crystal molecules, and hence rapidly advancing recently.
Patent Document 1 discloses a liquid crystal display which has an aligned film placed between spacer beads and a liquid crystal display, and is made of a material capable of exhibiting a liquid crystal alignment capacity when irradiated with polarized light to secure a contrast of up to 320. Patent Document 2 discloses a liquid crystal display which irradiates a high-molecular-weight film with linear polarized light to secure a contrast of up to 250.
The IPS type liquid crystal display is a promising technique for monitors and TV sets of large display area, because of its excellent viewing angle characteristics (e.g., contrast ratio and tone/hue reversal) and bright images it produces. This type of display is hereinafter referred to as "IPS-TFT-LCD."
A liquid crystal display is provided with a liquid crystal alignment layer having a liquid crystal alignment capacity in the interface between each of a pair of substrates and liquid crystal display placed between these substrates. For an IPS-TFT-LCD to be commercialized for large display areas (20-inch type or larger), however, it is necessary to develop a novel structure and process which allow uniform alignment treatment over the large display area (large-size panel).
Uniform alignment treatment of a liquid crystal alignment layer over a large area is difficult, in particular for an IPS-TFT-LCD, which has a number of stepped structures on a surface facing the liquid crystal layer. This type of display has a significantly narrower margin for alignment treatment of a liquid crystal alignment layer than a conventional TN type, in particular a normally open type displaying bright images at a low voltage and dark images at a high voltage, which is now a prevailing type. The narrower margin comes from the following reasons (1) to (3), described below.
(1) Stepped Structure
An IPS-TFT-LCD should have a number of elongate electrodes several microns wide (sometimes referred to as inter-digital electrode) for its working principle. As a result, it has a number of fine stepped structures.
The step size, determined by thickness of the electrode and shape of a varying film formed on the electrode, is normally 10 nm or more. A high-transmittance pixel structure has a thick inorganic insulation film, and stepped irregularities thinner than the inorganic film are flattened to some extent.
Therefore, the steps on a liquid crystal alignment layer in a high-transmittance pixel structure mainly come from the electrodes on an organic insulation film, where a liquid crystal alignment layer (sometimes referred to as aligned layer) of high-molecular weight compound, e.g., polyimide, serves as the uppermost film.
A conventional mass production technique rubs a liquid crystal alignment layer to impart a liquid crystal alignment capacity (initial alignment) thereto. Rubbing cloth is composed of fine fibers, about 10 to 30 μm thick, tied in bundles. Essentially, each of these fine fibers locally gives a shear force to the aligned layer to realize a liquid crystal alignment capacity.
There are very fine fibers, about several microns thick. These fibers, however, have not been commercially used for rubbing cloth, because the fibers are required to have a rigidity to realize a frictional force to some extent.
An IPS-TFT-LCD has electrodes arranged at intervals of the same order of the fiber thickness, i.e., about 10 to 30 μm, and cannot be sufficiently rubbed in the vicinity or the steps. Therefore, its alignment tends to be distorted. The distorted alignment will deteriorate image quality resulting from increased black level, which in turn results in decreased contrast ratio and uneven brightness.
(2) Alignment Angle
An IPS-TFT-LCD should have an initial alignment direction deviated by a certain angle or more from the direction perpendicular to or in parallel to the electrode extending direction, because of its working principle. The electrode may be an electrode for a signal interconnection, common electrode in a pixel, or pixel electrode.
In order to set an initial alignment direction by rubbing, it is necessary to rub the aligned layer with about 10 to 30 μm thick fibers in a given angle direction, as discussed above. These fibers, however, are dragged from a given angle towards the step in the presence of an interconnection and the step at the end of the interconnection, where the interconnection contains a signal-transmitting electrode, common electrode in a pixel or pixel electrode, extending in a certain direction, to distort the alignment and thereby deteriorate image quality resulting from decreased black level or the like.
(3) Lower Black Level
Efficient lower black level (black display) is one of the characteristics of an IPS-TFT-LCD. As a result, distorted alignment in this type of display is more visible than in others.
A conventional normally open type TN display produces a black level (dark level) at a high voltage. The dark level is determined by the relationship between liquid crystal molecule disposition and polarizer plate position, because most of the molecules are aligned in the electrical field direction, which is perpendicular to the substrate surface, at a high voltage. Therefore, uniformity of the dark level is rather insensitive to the initial alignment condition at a low voltage for its working principle.
The human eye recognizes uneven brightness as relative brightness ratio, which changes essentially on a logarithmic scale. It is therefore sensitive to dark level changes. A conventional normally open type TN display, which forcibly aligns the liquid crystal molecules in one direction at a high voltage, is more advantageous than an IPS-TFT-LCD also in this respect, because it is less sensitive to the initial alignment condition.
On the other hand, an IPS-TFT-LCD produces a dark level at a low or zero voltage, and is more sensitive to the distorted initial alignment condition. In particular, polarized light entering a liquid crystal layer runs with the linear component kept essentially undistorted in the birefringence mode, where liquid crystal molecules are aligned in parallel to each other on the upper and lower substrates (homogeneous alignment), and the light transmission axis in one polarizer plate is set in parallel to the liquid crystal alignment direction and that in the other plate perpendicular to the alignment direction. This design is effective for subduction of the dark level. Transmittance T in the birefringence mode is generally represented by the following formula:T=T0·sin2{2θ(E)}·sin2{(π·deff·Δn)/λ}
Wherein, To is a coefficient mainly determined by transmittance of the polarizer plate for the liquid crystal panel, θ(E) is angle between alignment direction of the liquid crystal molecules (effective optical axis of a liquid crystal layer) and polarized light transmission axis, E is intensity of the electrical field applied, deff is effective thickness of the liquid crystal layer, Δn is anisotropy of refractive index, and λ is light wavelength.
The product of effective liquid crystal layer thickness deff and liquid crystal refractive index anisotropy Δn, i.e., deff·Δn, is defined as retardation. It should be noted that liquid crystal layer thickness deff is not thickness of the whole liquid crystal layer but the liquid crystal layer portion actually changing in alignment direction in an electrical field.
Because, no change in alignment direction occurs in the liquid crystal molecules in the vicinity of the liquid crystal layer interface, even when a voltage is applied thereto, due to the anchoring effect at the interface. Therefore, the relationship deff<dLC invariably holds, wherein dLC is thickness of the whole liquid crystal layer placed between the substrates. The difference between them can be estimated at about 20 to 40 nm, although varying depending on type of the interface in which a liquid crystal panel material and the liquid crystal layer are in contact with each other, e.g., on type of aligned layer material.
Referring to the above formula, sin2{2θ(E)} is the term which depends on electrical field intensity. This means that brightness can be controlled by changing electrical field intensity E in accordance with the angle θ.
A polarizer plate for a normally closed type display is set in such a way to keep the angle θ at 0 when no voltage is applied, which makes the display sensitive to distortion of the initial alignment direction.
As discussed above, uniformity of alignment is an essential parameter for IPS-TFT-LCDs, which has clarified problems involved in the current rubbing method.
The rubbing alignment treatment generally involves various problems, e.g., TFT failure caused by friction-generated static electricity, unsatisfactory display caused by distorted alignment, which results from distorted ends of fibers for rubbing cloth, or dust, and frequently required exchange of rubbing cloth.
The so-called rubbingless alignment, which produces aligned liquid crystal molecules without using rubbing, has been studied to avoid the problems involved in rubbing treatment, and various approaches have been proposed. One of these approaches is photo-alignment, where a high-molecular-weight film is irradiated with polarized ultraviolet ray.
For example, a method disclosed by Non-patent Document 1 is characterized by aligning liquid crystal molecules in one direction with polarized light while dispensing with rubbing treatment adopted in conventional methods.
The photo-alignment has been attracting attention as a novel liquid crystal alignment approach involving no rubbing treatment for its several advantages, e.g., dissolved problems associated with rubbing treatment (e.g., scratches left on the treated film surface, and those caused by static electricity), and simplified process in consideration of commercial production.
High-molecular-weight compounds have been proposed as materials for films with aligned liquid crystal molecules. They have a photo-reactive group introduced into the side chain for necessity of securing photochemical sensitiveness to polarized light.
Polyvinyl cinnamate may be cited as one of the representative high-molecular-weight compounds. It is considered to exhibit anisotropy in the film of the high-molecular-weight compound to align the liquid crystal molecules, when irradiated with light to dimerize the side chain.
Another example proposed so far is a film of high-molecular-weight compound dispersed with a low-molecular-weight dichroic azo dye, where the film is irradiated with polarized light to align the liquid crystal molecules in one direction.
A still another example is a specific polyimide, where the film is irradiated with polarized ultraviolet ray or the like to align the liquid crystal molecules. The liquid crystal alignment is considered to occur, because the main polyimide chains extending in one direction are decomposed when irradiated with light.
Patent Document 1: JP Patent No. 3,303,766
Patent Document 2: JP-A-11-218765
Non-patent Document 1: W. M. Gibbons, et. al., Nature, vol. 351, 49 (1991)

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A Lundell motor apparatus controls a field current passed to a rotor field coil and an armature stator coil current to generate a required torque. When the field current is If, the armature current is Ia, a d-axis inductance is Ld, a q-axis inductance is Lq, a q-axis current as a q-axis component of the armature current is Iq, a d-axis current as a d-axis component of the armature current is Id, a field torque is Tf, a field flux is φf, a reluctance torque is Tr, and a combined torque of the field torque and the reluctance torque is ΣT, the d-axis current Id is passed to the stator coil within a phase angle range where the combined torque ΣT becomes larger than the field torque Tf to generate reluctance torque Tr which is equal to (Ld−Lq)Id·Iq in addition to the field torque Tf.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a motor apparatus including a Lundell motor having a Lundell-type rotor.
2. Description of Related Art
Lundell-type rotors are widely used for vehicle alternators required to be capable of adjusting power generation voltage thereof by controlling a field current. The Lundell-type rotors have a structure including a rotor core constituted by a cylindrical boss section and a plurality of claw-poles which extend from both axial end surfaces of the boss section radially outward at a predetermined circumferential pitch, and then extend in the axial direction such that the claw-poles extending from one of the end surfaces alternate with the opposed claw-poles extending from the other end surface, and also including a field coil wound around the boss section.
There is also known a magnet-equipped Lundell-type rotor in which each claw-pole is provided with permanent magnets at both its circumferential sides in order to strengthen the field flux thereof. For example, Japanese patent Application Laid-open No. 2007-329989 describes a vehicle alternator including such a magnet-equipped Lundell-type rotor invented by the same inventor as named in the present application.
Also, Japanese patent Application Laid-open No. 2005-130656 and Japanese patent Application Laid-open No. 2005-192345 describe a vehicle-mounted motor or a vehicle alternator including such a magnet-equipped Lundell-type rotor.
It is also known to utilize a reluctance torque due to the difference between a d-axis inductance Ld and a q-axis inductance Lq for performing torque adjustment in a conventional IPM motor (Interior Permanent Magnet motor) or a SYRM (Synchronous Reluctance Motor) having a rotor core with the projecting magnetic pole characteristic.
Generally, vehicle-mounted motors are required to be torque adjustable over a wide rotation range. However, the above conventional IPM motor has a problem in that its efficiency is low in a high speed range, because a field-weakening control has to be performed in the high speed range. Also, the SYRM has problems in that its output torque is small for its body size because the SYRM uses only the reluctance torque, and its efficiency is low because of the necessity to generate the d-axis flux.
While on the other hand, the foregoing motor including a Lundell-type rotor can be used as an excellent torque-adjustable motor for a vehicle, because its field torque Tf (=field flux Φf×q-axis current Iq) can be adjusted by controlling its field current If irrespective of the rotational speed thereof.
However, the motor including a Lundell-type rotor has a problem in that its torque cannot be changed rapidly, because of the large inductance of its field coil. In addition, the motor including a Lundell-type rotor has further problems in that the body size per output torque is large compared to the IPM motor, and its efficiency is low because of the necessity to pass a field current to the field coil.

Motor apparatus including Lundell motor having Lundell-type rotor


An electronic control apparatus includes a control circuit and has a power supply holding function whereby when a power switch-off command is received by the apparatus, the supplying of power to the control circuit is continued until it has completed specific processing, during a power supply holding interval. The duration of each such interval is measured and stored in non-volatile memory, and subsequently used for detecting any power supply holding function abnormality, and for ensuring that the specific processing is actually performed, and distinguishing between an abnormality causing premature switch-off and an abnormality causing failure to terminate the supplying of power.

1. Field of Application
The present invention relates to an electronic control apparatus incorporating a control circuit and having a power supply holding function whereby, when an externally produced command designates that the operating power of the control circuit is to be switched off, the supplying of that power is continued during an interval in which the control circuit completes the execution of specific processing.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, types of electronic control apparatus have been proposed which have a power supply holding function as described above and also a power supply shut-off function, for example as described in Japanese patent publication No. 2003-312386 which is concerned with an ECU (electronic control unit) of a motor vehicle. With that ECU, when the vehicle driver turns the ignition switch to the on position, so that an ignition switch signal (which serves as a power supply on/off changeover command signal) goes to a high level (corresponding to a power-on command status of the command signal), a power supply control circuit supplies a fixed supply voltage (derived from the vehicle battery voltage) to a CPU (central processing unit), and operation of the CPU then begins. When the ignition switch is subsequently set to the off position, so that the ignition switch signal goes to a low level (corresponding to a power-off command status of the command signal), the CPU executes shut-off processing whereby system operation information is written into an EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable memory). When that shut-off processing is completed, the CPU 11 outputs a power-down permission signal to the power supply control circuit, i.e., constituting a power supply halt command.
At that point, the power supply control circuit halts the supplying of operating power to the CPU, with the operation of the CPU then being halted.
In order to detect abnormality of the operation of the power supply holding function with that apparatus, after the shut-off processing has been executed to completion and before outputting the power-down permission signal, the CPU sets a specific flag that is held in the EEPROM, i.e., a "normal termination indication flag", to the 1 state. Each time the ignition switch is switched on, the normal termination indication flag is examined and if it is not found to be set in the 1 state (thereby indicating that processing by the CPU was not terminated normally at the preceding occasion when the ignition switch was switched off), then it is judged that an abnormality of the power supply holding function has occurred.
With such an electronic control apparatus, it is possible to detect an abnormality whereby (after the ignition switch is switched off) the power supply voltage does not continue to be supplied to the CPU until completion of the shut-off processing. However it is not possible to detect an abnormality whereby the power supply voltage to the CPU is not cut off even after the shut-off processing has been completed, i.e., a power supply interruption failure type of abnormality occurs. When such an abnormality occurs, then since the predetermined processing (shut-off processing) will be executed to completion by the CPU after the ignition switch has been switched off, the CPU will set the normal termination indication flag to the 1 state.
In the case of a motor vehicle, the vehicle battery is used as the power source for deriving the power supply voltage of the ECU. If a power supply interruption failure abnormality is not detected, then a significant level of current may continue to be supplied to the ECU from the vehicle battery after the ignition switch has been switched off and the ignition key removed. In particular, the aforementioned specific processing may become repetitively executed after the ignition switch has been switched off and the ignition key removed. As a result of this, and due to other control operations that may be performed in such a condition (for controlling actuators etc., normally performed only while the vehicle is being driven) the vehicle battery may become completely discharged.

Electronic control apparatus which responds to shut-down command by executing specific processing prior to ceasing operation