A capacitive load drive is provided, which can perform faster and more efficient operation than an energy recovery circuit for effectively reducing ineffective energy of pulses applied to a capacitive load. An energy recovery circuit is connected to a first electrode of the capacitive load, to which pulses are applied. The energy recovery circuit comprises a coil and a capacitor connected in series for energy recovery, and a first and a second voltage clamp switches connected to the other terminal of the series circuit of the coil and the capacitor, the first voltage clamp switch being connected to a high voltage side terminal of the DC power supply, the second voltage clamp switch being connected to a low voltage side terminal of the DC power supply.

The present invention relates to drives for display panels, such as plasma display panels and electroluminecsent panels, and more particularly to capacitive load drives capable of recovering charging and discharging power of electrostatic capacitance of a display panel. More specifically, the present invention relates to energy recovering type capacitive load drives for applying pulses to capacitive loads, which is capable of operating faster than prior art systems, with less reactive power and high efficiency.
Among capacitive loads requiring pulses for driving are display panels, such as plasma display panels, electroluminescent panels and liquid crystal panels, which are used as image displays for data terminal units, personal computers and television sets.
As a typical example of the drive, one which can reduce the reactive power of a plasma display panel drive circuit will be described hereinunder.
A plasma display panel is simple in construction and readily capable of increasing its display face area. As another merit, for a substrate of the panel it is possible to use inexpensive soda glass finding extensive applications to window glasses and the like.
The plasma display panel is fabricated by using two transparent insulating substrates of soda glass or the like, forming partitioning walls partitioning electrodes or display unit pixels on the substrates, and bonding together the substrates with these structures formed thereon.
Usually, the partitioning walls have a height of about 0.1 mm, and the transparent insulating substrates have a thickness of about 3 mm. Thus, it is possible to obtain a display which is very thin and light in weight.
With the above merits, plasma display panels are about finding applications particularly to recently extremely advanced personal computers and office work stations and also large size wall televisions which are expected to be advanced.
In dependence on the panel structure, plasma displays are largely classified into a DC type and an AC type. The DC type is so called, because its electrodes are in direct contact with discharge gas, and once discharge is caused, it carries DC current continuously. In the AC type, an insulating layer intervenes between electrodes and discharge gas. In this type of plasma display, a pulse current is caused, in response to voltage application, to flow for a short period of about 1 microsecond before it is converged. In this case, the current flow is restricted by the electrostatic capacitance of the insulating layer. The insulating layer serves as a capacitor, and by AC pulse application recurring pulse light emission is caused for display. This is why the AC type is called as such.
The DC type is simple in construction. However, this type of plasma display has a drawback that electrodes are directly exposed to the discharge and therefore greatly worn out, and it is difficult to ensure long electrode life. The AC type, on the other hand, can ensure long electrode life because the electrodes are covered by the insulating layer, although the formation of the insulating layer requires extra time and expenditure. In addition, a function called memory can be readily realized, which permits high intensity light emission. Thus, development of the AC type is recently in rapid progress.
An AC memory type plasma display panel structure will now be described, and then a method of driving the panel and a prior art drive circuit will be described.
As the AC memory type plasma display panel structure, one which is shown in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 7-295506 will now be described with reference to FIGS. 7A and 7B. The AC memory type plasma display panel structure shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B has an electrode structure of generally called surface discharge type, and is an example of display panel, to which the capacitive load drive according to the present invention is applied as will be described later in detail. FIG. 7A is a plan view, and FIG. 7B is a sectional view taken along line x-x' in FIG. 7A.
Referring to FIGS. 7A and 7B, the illustrated plasma display panel structure comprises a first insulating substrate 11 of soda glass having a thickness of about 3 mm, a second insulating substrate 12 also of soda glass having the same thickness of about 3 mm, sustained discharge electrodes 13a of a transparent NESA film provided on the first insulating substrate 11, scanning electrodes 13b of the same transparent NESA film, metal electrodes 13c of a thick silver film or the like provided on the transparent sustained discharge and scanning electrodes 13a and 13b for supplying sufficient current thereto, column electrodes 14 of a thick silver film or the like provided on the second insulating substrate 12, discharge gas spaces 15 filled with discharge gas composed of He and Ne in a ratio of 7:3 and also 3% of Xe and under a total pressure of 500 Torr, a thick partitioning wall structure 16 of glass provided on an insulating layer 18a such as to secure the discharge gas spaces and defining pixels, a phosphor 17 composed of Zn.sub.2 SiO.sub.4 :Mn laminated on an insulating layer 18b for converting ultraviolet light by discharge of the discharge gas to visible light, the insulating layer 18a formed as a thick film of transparent glaze covering the sustained discharge, scanning and metal electrodes 13a, 13b and 13c, and a protective layer 19 of MgO having a thickness of 1 .mu.m for protecting an insulating layer 18a covering the electrodes 13a, 13b, 13c and also the insulating layer 18a against the discharge.
Referring to FIG. 7A, sections defined by the vertical and horizontal portions of the partitioning wall structure 16 are pixels 20.
Referring to FIG. 8, pixels at the intersections of scanning electrodes SSi (i=1, 2, . . . , m) and column electrodes DDj (j=1, 2, . . . , m) are labeled aij. By providing the phosphor 17 in FIG. 7B as red, green and blue phosphors for the individual pixels, a plasma display is obtainable which permits full color display. Display may be made on either the upper or the lower surface of the plasma display shown in FIG. 7B. In this example, suitably the display is made in the lower surface. This is so because in this case a higher aperture factor is obtained, and light-emitting phosphors can be directly viewed, i.e., a higher light intensity is obtainable.
FIG. 8 is a plan view showing only the electrodes of the plasma display panel shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B. Referring to FIG. 8, designated at 10 is the plasma display panel, at 21 a sealed section obtained by sealing together the first and second insulating substrates 11 and 12 with discharge gas sealed in the inside, at CC1, CC2, . . . , CCm the sustained discharge electrodes 13a, at SS1, SS2, . . . , SSm the scanning electrodes 13b, and at DD1, DD2, . . . , DDn the column electrodes 14.
An actual plasma display panel comprises, for instance, 480 scanning electrodes SS1, SS2, . . . , SSm, 480 sustained discharge electrodes CC1, CC2, . . . , CCm and 1,920 column electrodes DD1, DD2, . . . , DDn. The inter-pixel pitches are 0.35 mm between adjacent column electrodes and 1.05 mm between adjacent scanning electrodes. The distance between each scanning electrode and each column electrode is 0.1 mm.
A method of providing a gradation display on the above plasma display will now be described.
In the plasma display panel, unlike other devices, it is difficult to obtain high intensity gradation display by changing the applied voltage, because the applied voltage and the light intensity are not linearly related to each other. Usually, gradation display is obtained by controlling the number of light emission times. Particularly, a sub-field method to be described in the following is used for the high light intensity gradation display.
FIG. 9 is a view for describing a drive sequence in the sub-field method. In the graph, the ordinate axis is taken for scanning electrodes, and the abscissa axis is taken for time. One image frame is fed in one field. The field time varies with different computers and broadcast systems, but in many cases it is set to be in a range of 1/50 to 1/75 second.
As shown in FIG. 9, in the gradation image display on the plasma display panel, one field is divided into k sub-fields (i.e., 6 sub-fields SF1 to SF6 in the case of FIG. 9). As will be described later in connection with FIG. 10, each sub-field consists of a write time for writing data under control of preliminary discharge pulses, preliminary discharge erase pulses, scanning pulses and data pulses, and a sustained discharge time for display light emission.
The intensity of light emitted from each pixel is controlled by weighting or multiplying the number of times of the sustained discharge light emission from each pixel in each sub-field by 2.sup.n as: ##EQU1##
In formula (1), n is the serial number of the sub-field. That is, 1-st sub-field is the lowest light intensity sub-field, and k-th sub-field is the highest light intensity sub-field. L1 is the light intensity of the lowest light intensity sub-field. a.sub.n is a variable taking a value of either "1" or "0", and is "1" when light is emitted and "0" when not so in the pertinent pixel in n-th sub-field. The light intensity can be controlled by selecting whether light from each sub-field is to be "on" or "off".
FIG. 9 shows the case where k is 6. Where color display is made with a red, a green and a blue pixel as a set, gradation display 2.sup.k =2.sup.6 =64 gradations may be made in each color. The color display can be made in 64.sup.3, i.e., 262,144 different colors (including black color).
Where k is 1, one field consists of one sub-field, and two-gradation display (i.e., "on"-or-"off" display) may be made in each color.
Drive waveforms will now be described. FIG. 10 is a view showing an example of drive voltage waveforms and a light emission waveform in a sub-field in the prior art plasma display panel shown in FIGS. 7 and 8.
Referring to FIG. 10, labeled (A) is the waveform of voltage applied to the sustained discharge electrodes CC1, CC2, . . . , CCm.
Labeled (B) is the waveform of voltage applied to the scanning electrode SS1.
Labeled (C) is the waveform of voltage applied to the scanning electrode SS2.
Labeled (D) is the waveform of voltage applied to the scanning electrode SSm.
Labeled (E) is the waveform of voltage applied to the column electrode DD1.
Labeled (F) is the waveform of voltage applied to the column electrode DD2.
Labeled (G) is the waveform of light emission from pixel all.
The shaded pulses in the waveforms (E) and (F) indicate that their presence or absence is determined by whether data to be written is present or not.
As data voltage waveforms, FIG. 10 shows the case where data is written in pixels all and a22. As for the pixels in the 3-rd and following lines, it is indicated that display is made in dependence on whether data is present or not.
Sustained discharge pulses 31 and preliminary discharge pulses 36 are applied to the sustained discharge electrodes CC1, CC2, . . . , CCm.
Scanning pulses 33 are applied in line sequence to the scanning electrodes SS1, SS2, . . . , SSm in independent timings in addition to common pulses, i.e., the sustained discharge pulses 32, erase pulses 35 and preliminary discharge erase pulses 37. Data pulses 34 are applied in synchronism to the scanning pulses 33 to the column electrodes DDj (j=1, 2, . . . , n) when light emission data is present.
The operation of the prior art plasma display panel shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 will now be described. The discharge of the pixels which have been "on" in the immediately preceding sub-frame are erased by an erase pulse 35. Then, forced discharge of all the pixels is caused once by a preliminary discharge pulse 36. The preliminary discharge is then erased by the preliminary discharge erase pulse 37. Now, write discharge can be readily caused by the scanning pulses which are subsequently applied.
After the preliminary discharge has been erased, write discharge is caused by applying scanning pulses 33 and data pulses 34 at the same timings between the scanning electrodes and the column electrodes. Subsequently, sustained discharge is held between each sustained discharge electrode and the associated scanning electrode by sustained discharge pulses 31 and 32.
When sole scanning pulse 33 or sole data pulse 34 is applied, no write discharge is caused, and also no subsequent sustained discharge is caused. Such a function is called memory function, and the intensity of light emitted in each sub-field is controlled by the number of times of causing the sustained discharge.
Now, the drive circuit of the prior art plasma display panel will be described with reference to FIG. 11. The circuit comprises a plasma display panel pixel group 41, a generator 42 for generating preliminary discharge pulse, a pulse generator 43 for generating the sustained discharge electrode side sustained discharge pulses 31 and including a energy recovery circuit, a pulse generator 44 for generating the scanning side erase pulses 35 and preliminary discharge erase pulses 37, a scanning pulse generator 45, and a pulse generator 46 connected via a mixer 47 to the scanning electrodes, for generating the scanning electrode side sustained discharge pulses 32 and including a energy recovery circuit. The mixer 47 mixes the scanning electrode side sustained discharge pulses and the scanning pulses. Designated at TP1 is an output terminal of the sustained discharge electrode side sustained discharge pulse generator 43 or the scanning electrode side sustained discharge pulse generator 46.
Since the electrostatic capacitance of the plasma display panel is high, a commonly termed energy recovery circuit for recovering the charging and discharging power of the electrostatic capacitance is used to recover the charging and discharging power of the sustained discharge pulses, and a circuit consuming less power is used for the sustained discharge and scanning electrode side sustained discharge pulse generators 43 and 46 (see, for instance, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 61-132997).
The basic circuit and operation of this first prior art will now be described. FIG. 12 is a circuit diagram showing the basic construction of the prior art sustained discharge pulse generating circuit with a power recovering circuit, for generating sustained discharge pulses.
Referring to FIG. 12, the circuit comprises a DC power supply output capacitor C100, external capacitance C101 including floating capacitance in the circuit, C102 equivalent electrostatic capacitance between each scanning electrode and the associated sustained discharge electrode in the plasma display panel, high voltage side switches S100, S101, S102 and S103, diodes D100, D101, D102 and D103 and a energy recovery coil L100. Designated at TP1 is the output terminal of the sustained discharge or scanning electrode side sustained discharge pulse generator 43 or 46, and at TP2 a terminal, which a DC power supply providing sustained discharge pulse voltage (VS) is connected to.
The operation of the circuit shown in FIG. 12 will be briefly described with reference to a timing chart shown in FIG. 13. For providing the sustained discharge pulse voltage, at instant T100 the switch S103 is turned off while the switch S100 is turned on. As a result, the external capacitance C101 and the panel capacitance C102 are charged through the coil L100.
At instant T101, the voltage at the terminal TP1 exceeds the DC power supply voltage (VS) at the terminal TP2, whereupon the diode D102 is turned on to clamp the voltage at the terminal TP1 to the voltage (VS) at the terminal TP2.
If the switch S100 is held "on" at this time, current would be caused through the closed circuit of the coil L100, the diode D102 and the switch S100 by the electromotive force of the coil L100. This power would be wasted in the closed circuit. Accordingly, the switch S100 is turned off in accurate synchronism to the instant T101, at which the voltage at the terminal TP1 exceeds the voltage at the terminal TP2. Consequently, the energy having been stored in the coil L100 is recovered in the capacitor C100 connected to the terminal TP1 through the coil L100, the diode D100, the capacitor C100 and the diode D101.
At subsequent instant T101 when the voltage at the terminal TP1 exceeds the voltage at the terminal TP2, the switch S102 is closed to connect the DC power supply through the terminal TP1 and fix the voltage at the terminal TP1 the sustained voltage pulse voltage (VS).
At subsequent instant T102, the switch S102 is turned on while turning on the switch S101 to remove the sustained discharge pulse voltage. As a result, the voltage at the terminal TP1 is reduced to zero voltage through the coil L100. At subsequent instant TP1 when the voltage at the terminal TP1 becomes lower than zero voltage, the diode D103 is turned on, whereupon the voltage at the terminal TP1 is clamped to zero voltage.
If the switch S101 is held "on" at this time, current would flow through the closed circuit of the coil L100, the switch S101 and the diode D103 due to the electromotive force of the coil L101, and this power would be wasted in the closed circuit. Accordingly, the switch S101 is turned off in exact synchronism to the instant T103 when the voltage at the terminal TP1 becomes lower than zero voltage. By so doing, the energy having been stored in the coil L100 is recovered in the capacitor C100 connected to the terminal TP2 through the coil L100, the diode D100, the capacitor C100 and the diode D102.
While in this prior art positive polarity pulse voltage is generated, in the case of the prior art drive waveforms shown in FIG. 10 negative polarity pulse voltage is used. In this case, the power supply terminal TP2 may be grounded so that the grounded circuit part is connected to the negative side of the DC power supply. In this case, the external capacitance C101 and the electrostatic capacitance C102 of the panel may be equivalently grounded at one end as shown in FIG. 12 as is usual.
As described above, for efficient energy recovery it is necessary to accurately control the timings or instants of turning off the switches S100 and S101. Inaccurate timing control would increase the power loss in the energy recovery circuit and extremely deteriorate the energy recovery efficiency and, in the worst case, would result in burning of the diodes D102 and D103 and the switches S100 and S101.
The above timing control is efficient in the case of the electroluminescent panel described as an embodiment in the above Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 61-132997, in which the operation may be relatively slow. In this electroluminescent panel the rise or fall time of data pulses applied to the column electrodes is several microseconds or above. Such rise and fall time permits the use of power MOS FET elements with operation delay of about 0.1 microsecond to realize as the switches S100 and S101 those which can be held "on" for only several microseconds, a time corresponding to the above rise or fall time.
However, the situation is different with the plasma display panel or the like, which is required to perform very fast operation compared to the electroluminescent panel. In the plasma display panel, the rise or fall time of sustained discharge pulses is about 0.2 to 0.5 microsecond. A high power, high breakdown voltage switch, which can perform sufficiently fast operation (preferably with operation delay time of 0.1 microsecond or below) and can be held "on" accurately only for such short rise or fall time, is not available or expensive, if any.
Therefore, the circuit construction shown in the above Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 61-132997 cannot sufficiently meet the requirements of the plasma display panel.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 63-101897 and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 8-160901 show drives of energy recovery type for supplying pulses to plasma display panels. Such drives will now be described as second prior art.
FIG. 14 is a circuit diagram showing the basic circuit in this second prior art. Referring to FIG. 14, the circuit comprises switches S11 to S14, diodes D11 to D14, a energy recovery coil L1, electrostatic capacitance of the plasma display panel as load, and a energy recovery capacitor C100 having 100 times the electrostatic capacitance C2 or more. Designated at TP1 is an output terminal of the sustained discharge or scanning electrode side sustained discharge pulse generator as shown in FIG. 11. Designated at TP2 is a terminal connected to a power supply for providing the sustained discharge pulse voltage.
This prior art circuit, like the circuit in the first prior art as shown in FIG. 11, will be described as positive polarity pulse generating circuit.
Referring to FIG. 15 which shows the operation of switches and output voltage waveform in this circuit, in the steady state of pulse supply to the plasma display panel, the terminal voltage across the capacitor C10 is approximately one half the voltage (VS) at the terminal TP2.
To cause pulse rise, the switch S14 which has been clamping the voltage at the TP1 to the ground voltage is turned off while turning on the switch S11. As a result, current is caused to flow in a series resonance state from the capacitor C10 through the switch S11, the diode D11 and the coil L1. When the voltage at the terminal TP1 becomes maximum with the resonance of the coil L1 and the electrostatic capacitance C2, the switch S13 is turned on to clamp the voltage at the terminal TP1 to the voltage at the terminal TP2, i.e., the voltage (VS) of the sustained discharge pulse voltage source.
To cause pulse fall, the switches S11 and S13 are turned off while turning on the switch S12. As a result, the voltage at the terminal TP1 is caused to fall. Like the pulse rise case, when the voltage at the terminal TP1 becomes minimum with the resonance of the coil L1 and the electrostatic capacitance C2, the switch S14 is turned on to clamp the voltage at the terminal TP1 to the ground voltage.
While it has been noted that the capacitance of the capacitor C10 is 100 times the electrostatic capacitance C2 of the panel or more, this is by no means limitative; for instance, it is sufficiently comparable with the electrostatic capacitance C2 of the panel (see, for instance, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 8-137432.
In this second prior art, as shown in FIG. 15, the "on" time of the switches S11 and S13 need not be limited to the rise or fall time of the output pulse. More specifically, the "on" time may be extended without any operational problem up to the end of the subsequent clamp time (from instant T12 to instant T13).
It is thus possible to readily realize a plasma display panel by using prior art MOS FETs or the like even with as short rise or fall time as 0.2 to 0.5 microsecond.
In the second prior art as shown above, however, as is seen from the voltage waveform at the terminal TP1 shown in FIG. 15, a jump voltage .DELTA.V is always caused when the clamp circuit is turned on at the rising and falling of pulse (i.e., at instants T12 and T14) due to power loss in the energy recovery circuit, which is constituted by power MOS FETs or the like having finite "on" resistance.
Therefore, at the instants T12 and T14 a rash current is caused through the clamp circuit, resulting in power loss in the switches S13 and S14 and also noise generation.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 8-152865 discloses a drive of energy recovery type which supplies pulses to a plasma display panel. This drive will now be described as third prior art. FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing the basic construction of the third prior art.
Referring to FIG. 16, a sustained discharge electrode side sustained discharge pulse generator 48 is used in lieu of the sustained discharge and scanning electrode side sustained discharge pulse generators 43 and 46 used in the prior art shown in FIG. 11. Designated at TP21 and TP22 are output terminals of the sustained discharge pulse generator 48.
FIG. 17 is a circuit diagram showing the sustained discharge pulse generator 48. Referring to FIG. 17, designated at TP3 is a terminal connected to a power supply for supplying the sustained discharge pulse voltage, at TP21 and TP22 sustained discharge pulse output terminals as shown in FIG. 16, at S21 to S26 switches for clamping the voltages between the output terminals TP21 and TP22 to the ground voltage or the sustained discharge pulse voltage, at S25 and S26 energy recovery switches, at L21 a energy recovery coil, and at D25 and D26 energy recovery diodes.
This third prior art, unlike the preceding first and second prior arts, will be described as a circuit which generates negative polarity sustained discharge pulses.
Referring to FIG. 18, which is a waveform chart illustrating operation of switches and showing output voltage waveform of the circuit, at instant T20 the switches S21 and S24 are "on" while the switch S25 is "off". Also, a negative polarity sustained discharge pulse voltage (-VS) prevails at the terminal TP22.
When the switches S21, S24 and S25 are turned off while the switch 26 is turned on at subsequent instant T21, the electrostatic capacitance C2 of the panel turns to be discharged through the switch S26, the diode D26 and the coil L21, thus causing resonant current through this circuit.
When the resonant current has been ended, the voltage at the terminal TP22 rises at instant T22 as shown as the voltage waveform thereat in FIG. 18. At this instant, the switches S22 and S23 are turned on to clamp the voltage at the terminal TP21 to the sustained discharge pulse voltage (-VS) and the voltage at the terminal TP22 to zero voltage.
In this third prior art, as shown in FIG. 18, the "on" time of the switches S25 and S26 need not be limited to the rise or fall time of the output pulse, and may be extended without any operational problem up to the end of the subsequent clamp time (of 1 to 5 microseconds or more).
It is thus possible to realize a plasma display panel by using prior art power MOS FETs even with as shot rise or fall time of 0.2 to 0.5 microsecond.
In the third prior art, however, as is seen from the voltage waveforms at the terminals TP21 and TP22 as shown in FIG. 18, a jump voltage .DELTA.V is always caused when the clamp circuit is turned on at the rising and falling of pulse (i.e., at instant T22 and T24) due to power loss in the energy recovery circuit, which is constituted by power MOS FETs or the like having finite "on" resistance.
Therefore, at the instants T22 and T24 a rash current is caused through the clamp circuit, resulting in power loss in the switches S21 to S24 and also noise.
As has been described, the above prior arts have the following problems.
In the first prior art, it is difficult to obtain highly efficient energy recovery operation during high rate pulse generation.
In the second and third prior arts, the operation of switches for voltage clamping causes a rash current to result in power loss and noise generation.


A control system for controlling the speed of an internal combustion engine of a motor vehicle wherein the control system provides open loop control of the fueling rate of the engine whereby the engine fuelling rate is controlled as a function of the engine speed when the engine is free of any operator demand thereon and when the motor vehicle is moving above a predetermined vehicle speed.

It is known to use electronic engine management systems for controlling the operation of an engine within a motor vehicle. It is also known to have a control system for performing "closed loop idle control" to control the idle speed of the engine. This is a control strategy whereby, typically, the actual idle speed of the engine is compared to a desired target value idle speed at regular intervals. The engine idle speed is returned or adjusted to that target value when any deviation from that target value occurs.
In conventional homogeneous charge internal combustion engines, the engine speed and the idle speed in particular are typically controlled by a throttle valve controlling air flow to the engine. In such an engine, the control system will normally define idle as being when the throttle is closed. In contrast, in the case of engines such as the Applicant's stratified charge, air assisted, fuel injected engine, the engine speed is increased or decreased at idle by respectively increasing or decreasing the fuelling rate when under closed loop idle control. Accordingly, in such an engine, the control system may preferably define idle as being when the accelerator pedal of the vehicle is fully disengaged. Typically, the fuelling rate is controlled by varying the opening time, commonly known as the "pulse" time, of the fuel injectors and therefore changing the amount of fuel injected into the cylinders of the engine. The fuel based control system of the Applicant's engine therefore uses the fuelling rate as the primary control parameter and the required air flow is determined as a function of the fuelling rate. Although a throttle valve can and typically will be used to control the air flow to the engine, the throttle valve does not regulate the engine speed as in conventional engines.
In either of these engine applications, idle speed control may occur both when the motor vehicle is stationary and when the motor vehicle is in motion. However, if the control system performs closed loop idle control when the motor vehicle is in motion, significant "driveability problems" associated with the phenomenon commonly referred to as "tip-in/tip-out" can result. This phenomenon can manifest physically as rocking of the engine relative to the motor vehicle chassis during acceleration, such as the throttle opening from idle (tip-in), or deceleration, such as throttle closure to idle (tip-out).
Tip-out problems occur due to the engine being driven through the gearbox during vehicle motion whilst there is no operator demand on the engine, for example, such as when the throttle is closed. In the case of fuelling controlled engines, this tends to maintain the engine speed irrespective of any attempt to control it by fuelling reduction. Accordingly, the closed loop idle control system, sensing this maintained engine speed, typically reduces the fuelling to the engine significantly or totally in an attempt to reduce the engine speed to the target idle speed value. This generally causes a severe vehicle deceleration through the motor vehicle drive-line, which may typically be compounded by induced engine rocking. This is a very undesirable condition which makes the motor vehicle very difficult to drive smoothly.
Tip-in problems in fuelling controlled engines occur partly due to the fuelling rate being significantly reduced (due to closed loop idle) during tip-out as described above. As mentioned, this induces significant motor vehicle deceleration and engine rocking in the forward direction (in a transverse engine configuration) due to motoring through the gearbox. With regard to tip-in, the main problem arises in that, when the operator demand is once again applied, for example, such as the throttle being re-opened, the fuelling level has to be increased very rapidly to get from a significantly low level to the desired level for a drive away or acceleration condition, or too much lag will be felt in the engine response. This however causes a very rapid change in engine torque. This typically results in a reaction force causing the engine to rock rearwards (in a transverse engine configuration) with significant force resulting in a shock through the engine mounts and hence the motor vehicle.
Tip-in problems are compounded further on a motor vehicle having an automatic transmission due to the desired low engine idle speed when there is no operator demand, such as when the motor vehicle is stationary, in order to reduce the torque converter load and to avoid wasting fuel. When a tip-in occurs from such a low idle speed and the change in the fuelling rate is very rapid, the engine speed begins to increase. However, from such a low idle speed, the engine speed has to increase significantly before torque is transferred through the torque converter (or the "stall speed" thereof is reached) thus causing a time delay in response to operator or driver demand for acceleration. As the engine speed increases, the rotating components thereof gather momentum and when decelerated by the torque converter, the energy acquired due to this increasing momentum is dissipated as a severe shock through the motor vehicle drive-line. This is very undesirable and makes the motor vehicle difficult to drive smoothly.
The motor vehicle drive-line will typically include those components that transmit the rotating energy of the engine to the driving wheels of the vehicle. In a vehicle with a transverse engine configuration, the drive-line will include the engine gearbox or transmission whilst in conventional vehicles with rear wheel drive, the drive-line will also include for example the drive-shaft and the differential.
It is to be noted that these problems are potentially more pronounced in the Applicant's engine which typically runs in a highly stratified mode (ie: has excess air). The fuelling rate of the engine may be increased very rapidly (ie: can be increased as such in one cycle) in response to rapid changes in engine load demand and hence engine torque can rise very rapidly. Accordingly, there is a need for an alternative means of controlling the engine idle speed during vehicle motion so as to improve the tip-in and tip-out feel of the motor vehicle.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide improved control of the idle speed of an internal combustion engine which at least substantially avoids one or more of the above noted problems.

Speed control for an internal combustion engine of a motor vehicle


The invention encompasses a novel tumor marker TC1 which is present on tumor cells and absent on corresponding normal cells, nucleic acid encoding the tumor marker, and monoclonal antibodies to tumor marker TC1.

Tumor markers for human tumor cells have been largely limited to activated oncogenes and their products, for example, the myc, ras, fos, and erbB2 genes and their encoded oncoproteins. In addition, activated anti-oncogenes, such as RB, p53, and DCC, have been identified in normal cells but do not appear to be present in tumor cells. Oncogene and anti-oncogene products have proven difficult to use as consistent predictors of tumor and normal tissue, respectively, due to the relatively low level of expression of the genes encoding these proteins. Thus, there is a need in the art for a tumor marker which is not only differentially expressed in tumor and normal tissue, but also consistently detectable in human tumor tissue and consistently absent in the corresponding normal tissue.
A common method used to identify genes differentially or uniquely expressed in tumors, in cells responding to growth factors, and in differentiated cell types such as, among others, T cells, adipocytes, neurons, and hepatocytes is the subtractive hybridization technique (S. W. Lee et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 80:4699, 1983). A method of differential display of eukaryotic mRNA by means of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has recently been developed (P. Liang et al., Science 257:967, 1992). This method utilizes oligo dT linked to two additional bases as the primer for reverse transcription driven by reverse transcriptase. cDNA fragments are then amplified by Taq DNA polymerase-based PCR using an oligo dT primer along with one additional primer. The amplified cDNAs are then resolved by DNA sequencing gels. There is a need in the art for a streamlined and simplified process for isolating cDNAs corresponding to differentially expressed mRNAs.

Monoclonal antibodies to tumor marker TC1 and methods for use of same


A body freshener is provided which performs several function. Air may be directed at the body for cooling. The air may be heated for drying or for comfort. The air may carry various fragrances or lotions as desired to be applied to the body of the user.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a combination body dryer, moisturizer, suntan oil and fragrance dispenser for use in the home, office or a place of business. The body freshener is a convenient and efficient system for drying the body after a shower, swim, etc. The body freshener essentially replaces the need for towel drying and the associated maintenance costs. Alternatively, the body freshener may be used for applying sun tan oils, water, or fragrances before exposure to the sun.
2. Description of Related Art
Electric body dryers and fragrance dispensers are known in the art. However, the prior art lacks a device such as the body freshener that combines a body dryer, moisturizer, sun tan oil and fragrance dispenser into a single unit.
The need for body fresheners is demonstrated in the art in as disclosed in various patents.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,449,838 shows a combination wall mounted dryer and heater for using heating air for discharge into a room or hair drying.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,195,416 shows a combination hair/hand/body dryer and vapor dispenser. The unit may be wall mounted in a cabinet with a hair dryer. The suitable vaporizing substance is disposed adjacent to the inlet of the hair dryer and then expelled with the heated air.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,383,377 shows a hot air dryer room deodorizer for use in rooms and restrooms. A vaporizable deodorizer is disposed over the air intake to a hot air dryer, such that the intake air is drawn through the deodorizer and into the hot air dryer itself and then exhausted from the hot air dryer into the room.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,780,595 shows a body drying apparatus having a fan, heating element, air vents, and air nozzle. Two operating switches enable an operator to select one of several flow rates and temperatures.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,804,821 discloses an aroma diffuser assembly having a heating element for effecting the release of an aroma from a contained aroma producing material.
Although electric body dryers are disclosed in the prior art, a means for delivering fragrances by a forced draft blower are not known. The use of an aspirator device to produce a vacuum that enables a suction to draw the liquid substance into the discharge of a blower is not found in the art. As the prior art discloses a fragrance substance located at the air intake of a blower for propulsion through the blower.


A mixture of propoxylated and ethoxylated surfactants is provided, along with a method to displace water flood residual oil from subterranean formations utilizing this mixture. The mixture is considerably less expensive than surfactants containing both propoxy and ethoxy groups, but provides the advantages of a graded lipophilic to hydrophilic structure of such surfactants.

Recovery of oil from subterranean formations utilizing the natural forces present within the reservoir, or primary recovery, result in a significant portion of the oil remaining in the formation. A variety of supplemental techniques have been employed to recover the oil which remains within the formation after the primary recovery. The most widely utilized supplemental technique is water flooding. Water flooding is accomplished by injection of water, or brine, into the reservoir via injection wells to displace residual oils toward recovery wells. Water alone is not particularly effective at displacing oil because of the high interfacial tension between the oil and the water. The water therefore traps a significant portion of the residual oil in the formation by capillary forces.
Surfactants can be added to water flood injection waters to lower the interfacial tension between the oil and the water, significantly improving oil recovery. Unfortunately, the surfactants are generally not effective in the presence of divalent cations such as magnesium and calcium. Divalent cations typically cause these surfactants to precipitate. Further, the formation rock will tend to absorb surfactant, resulting in a large amount of surfactants being required in order to maintain an effective level of surfactants at the oil-water interface.
Surfactants which are effective in spite of the presence of multivalent cations have been developed, and are taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,446,079 and 4,293,428. These patents disclose propoxylated ethoxylated surfactants which can be designed to result in a low interfacial surface tension in the presence of water phase salinity. The design of the surfactant is altered by adjusting the carbon number of the alkyl group, the number of propylene oxide units included, and the number of ethylene oxide units included. Alteration of those parameters varies the hydrophobe/hydrophile ratio to match the ratio which minimizes interfacial tension between water of the salinity required and the reservoir oil. The examples of U.S. Pat. No. 4,446,079 indicate that surface tensions in the mdynes/cm range can be achieved in 8 percent salinity brine with only 0.01 percent by weight of surfactant. However, the propoxylated-ethoxylated surfactants are relatively expensive. Further, tailoring such a surfactant for specific applications assures that volume production of the surfactants, and the resulting economies of scale will never be achieved. It would be desirable to achieve high levels of oil recovery with less expensive surfactant that do not need to be tailored to best recover oil from specific reservoirs.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a surfactant composition and oil recovery method utilizing this composition which, in concentrations of less than 2 weight percent, can recover 50 percent or more of residual oil from clay containing sandpack tube tests. It is another object to provide such a surfactant composition and method which can be utilized in the presence of divalent metal cations. It is another object to provide such a surfactant composition and method which is useful in surfactant flooding of residual oil from subterranean formations.

Blends of propoxy and ethoxy surfactants


A method for servicing requests in a dynamic cluster that includes receiving, by a first replica of the dynamic cluster, a first request that includes a first membership label from a client, wherein the client stores the first membership label and a first cluster list, determining whether the first membership label is obsolete, and sending a second membership label and a second cluster list to the client when the first membership label is obsolete, wherein the client updates the first cluster list with the second cluster list.

A network is an interconnection of computer systems and various connection devices, such as switches, routers, etc. The interconnection allows a user on one of the computer systems to obtain functionality that may not exist on that computer system. For example, when a user wants to learn about a particular part on an automobile, the user may access the Internet through a personal computer system and retrieve the relevant information. In another example, when a particular program requires more processing power than that which is available locally, the program may be distributed across a network to a variety of computer systems which each process a portion of the program.
Since the inception of using interconnected computer systems, various configuration models, such as peer-to-peer systems, client-server, etc., have been designed. For example, each computer system in a peer-to-peer system is given equal status to process requests from other computer systems in the peer-to-peer system. In contrast, in a client-server model, clients transmit a request to one or more specifically designated servers which process the request.
One particular type of client-server model includes a collection of servers referred to as a cluster. The cluster includes multiple replicas. Replicas are computer systems that are able to process the same requests. Specifically, at least one application and/or data are identical across the replicas in the cluster. Thus, a client may send a request to any replica in the cluster and receive the same result regardless of the replica that processes the request.
Occasionally, replicas fail. Specifically, a replica may temporarily or permanently be unable to process requests in a reasonable timeframe. From the client perspective, the client may send a request to a failed replica. Upon not receiving a response within the reasonable timeframe, the client may recognize that the replica has failed and transmit the request to a different replica.

Method and system for servicing requests in a dynamic cluster


Apparatus for fabricating discrete segments of cushioned web material for use as dunnage. The apparatus includes a mobile supply cart having at least one substantially horizontal support arm for receiving the hollow core of rolled web material. The apparatus also includes a separate driven rugation device with feed rollers for directing multiple plies of the web material in overlying, contacting relationship along a single path of travel. The separate cart and rugation device may be removably interconnected for lateral alignment. Driven interdigitized texturing rolls downstream of the feed rollers emboss a raised pattern on the web material, and a plurality of separating rollers downstream from the texturing rolls separate the plies of web material and direct them in divergent paths of travel. Combining rolls recombine the plies of textured web material such that the embossed areas of each ply do not directly overlie each other but are offset, creating void areas between the adjacent plies. A driven cutter downstream of the combining rolls severs the recombined offset embossed plies into discrete segments. The cutter may have a rotating disc blade with a peripheral edge which moves transverse to the longitudinal length of the plies to cut the plies. Last, driven exit rollers convey the cut segments of material from the rugation device.

Protective packaging for various articles of different sizes and shapes is commonly used in the packaging industry. Often, such protective packaging, or dunnage, is needed for cushioning in shipping containers or the like to protect articles.
In the past, various materials have been used as protective wrapping including dunnage made of embossed web material. Such embossed web material is often chosen due to its relative low cost and disposable nature. Embossed dunnage material has been made from multiple plies of web material such as paper or the like which has been embossed with a raised pattern under high heat and pressure. Typically the pressure used is about 1500 psi, using texturing rolls having mating male and female surfaces which force the paper to deform as it passes through the nip of the rolls. The embossing is often done while the webs are not fully dry so that the paper better retains the embossed pattern.
After embossing, several plies of the embossed material are combined such that the plies are in overlying relationship, but the plies are shifted slightly so that the patterns on the adjacent plies do not correspondingly overlie each other. Thus, the raised portions of the plies abut each other so that void areas are created between the plies. The presence of these void areas gives a cushioned effect to the material.
The embossed material is typically rolled up for bulk transport and storage at a site where the dunnage material is needed for use in packaging or the like. When the dunnage material is to be used, the roll of embossed material is moved to a desired site, and the roll is unwound so that desired lengths of the material may be cut off and used as cushioning material.
Several drawbacks accompany the practices described above. The void areas between the plies of embossed material cause the embossed web material to be substantially bulkier than unembossed plies. Thus, a significantly smaller amount of the embossed material may be stored on a single roll than could be stored on a roll if the paper were not embossed. As a result, more space is required to store and transport a desired quantity of the dunnage material. For example, a single roll of unembossed web material may contain ten times the amount of paper as is contained on a roll of equivalent size having cushioned embossed material with void spaces. Additionally, because less material is retained on the rolls, the embossed dunnage material is depleted relatively quickly when the material is unwound from the rolls and used, thereby requiring frequent resupply of fresh rolls of dunnage material. Of course, the expense to purchase the embossed material is generally greater than the cost of unembossed paper, and the added bulk of the embossed paper increases the cost to transport, store and use the material. It is therefore apparent that the need exists for an improved means for providing cushioned dunnage material to a site for use in packaging operations.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for fabricating cushioned dunnage material from multiple plies of continuous web material which avoids the heretofore necessary step of transporting and storing the bulky embossed material prior to use.
Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for embossing web materials without the application of heat or pressure.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for providing the cushioned web material in discrete segments having a desired length.
A still further object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for providing cushioned dunnage material to a site for use in packaging operations.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide a compact dunnage dispensing apparatus which may be conveniently used at a packaging site.
Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus which uses identical rolls to emboss a raised pattern on the web material, thus minimizing the expense associated with the rolls.
Still another object of this invention is to provide a new apparatus for transporting and storing web material on rolls.
A further object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for precisely severing the web material into discrete segments having desired lengths.
Another object of this invention is to provide a dunnage fabricating and dispensing apparatus which is less expensive to use than other known devices.

Apparatus for severing continuous sheet material


The data receiving system comprises a detecting section (13, 23, 33, 44, 54, 64, 75) for detecting an information field such as a flag indicating the identity of a control channel (FACCH) data when there are a plurality of information fields each indicating the identity of a received radio channel, and judging section (14, 25, 35, 46, 56, 66, 77) for determining the received radio channel based on the detection result of the detecting section.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to a data receiving system preferably used for digital mobile communications, and more particularly to a data receiving system capable of accurately detecting a control channel (FACCH) with reduced processing or computation amount.
2. Prior Art
In the mobile communication systems transmission/reception of various radio channels (including so-called control channels CCH as well as speech/data channels TCH) is essential for the "establishment of calling" and realization of "speech communications" and "data communications." One format example for radio channels used in the mobile communications is FIG. 8 which shows a data format applicable to the GSM system, while FIG. 9 shows another data format applicable to the PHS system.
For example, during "speech communications", there is a possibility that a mobile station shifts from the present cell to a neighboring cell. In such a cases a base station performs the processing for causing the speech channel to carry a so-called control channel FACCH thereon (hereinafter, this processing is referred to as "steal") and for transmitting a handover message to the mobile station.
In this manner, the control channel (FACCH) is an important channel in the start-up stage of the processing, for example for preventing the reception quality of the mobile station from being undesirably deteriorated (or preventing disconnecting of the call). Hence, failure in detecting the control channel (FACCH) will possibly result in a fatal failure in the continuation of the communications.
In view of the above, to increase the detection accuracy of control channel (FACCH), the following detecting method (Unexamined Japanese Patent application No. HEI 5-259960) has been already proposed. An operation of this conventional channel detecting method will be explained in greater detail with reference to the flow chart of FIG. 10.
It is supposed that the control channel (FACCH) and speech channel (UCH) are coded with different coding rates (R1 and R2) in a transmitter. When a receiver receives a data block coded in this manners the following processing is performed.
Step 1. A total of j nodes are decoded in accordance with the Viterbi algorithm as though the received data block itself or part of the same were a control channel (FACCH) block;
Step 2. The smallest accumulated metric m1=(mj).sub.min is determined after decoding of the j nodes. A threshold value T1 and a further threshold value T2 are predetermined by simulations, so as to obtain a minimum error probability;
Step 3. The value m1 is then compared with the threshold value T1;
Step 4. If m1<T1 ("No" in the judgement), this implies that the data received can be definitely considered to be the control channel (FACCH) data, and therefore the control channel (FACCH) data block is decoded;
Step 5. The value of m1 is stored when m1>T1 ("Yes" in the judgement) and the received data block is decoded as though it were a speech (UCH) data block. In this cases decoding can be executed with nodes k in accordance with the Viterbi algorithm;
Step 6. A new smallest value m2 of the accumulated metric m.sub.k is obtained, i.e. m2=(m.sub.k).sub.min ;
Step 7. A difference (m1-m2) is compared with the second threshold T2;
Step 8. If (m1-m2)<T2 ("No" in the judgement), the data block is considered to be a control channel (FACCH) block and is decoded as control channel (FACCH) block; and
Step 9. If (m1-m2)>T2 ("Yes" in the judgement), the data block is considered to be a speech channel (UCH) block and is decoded as speech channel (FACCH) block.
In this manner, according to the conventional data receiving system, the decoding processing is performed according to the Viterbi algorithm as through the received data were a control channel (FACCH) data. Then, using the smallest accumulated metric, the control channel (FACCH) is accurately detected and decoded.
However, this conventional data receiving system is disadvantageous in that the processing or computation amount is greatly increased because the decoding processing of the received data needs to be performed as control channel (FACCH) data in accordance with Viterbi algorithm in response to every decoding timing signal.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A system and method for wrapping sheet material to produce finished mailpieces includes an upstream content module, a downstream mailpiece assembly module including a wrapper module adapted to encapsulate content material, and a buffer module interposing the upstream content and downstream assembly modules. The buffer module includes a plurality of buffer gates adapted to convey the content material from an upstream gate to a downstream gate to maintain a threshold pitch distance between successive pieces of content material. A controller is operatively coupled to the modules and controls the conveyance of content material through the buffer gates. More specifically, the controller coordinates the delivery and insertion of content material into the wrapper module to minimize dry-holes, maintain stresses below a threshold level to ensure continued operation, and optimize system throughput.

Mailpiece creation systems such as mailpiece inserters and mailpiece wrappers are typically used by organizations such as banks, insurance companies, and utility companies to periodically produce a large volume of mailpieces, e.g., monthly billing or shareholders income/dividend statements. In many respects, mailpiece inserters are analogous to automated assembly equipment inasmuch as sheets, inserts and envelopes are conveyed along a feed path and assembled in or at various modules of the mailpiece inserter. That is, the various modules work cooperatively to process the sheets until a finished mailpiece is produced.
Mailpiece inserters include a variety of apparatus/modules for conveying and processing a substrate/sheet material along the feed path. Commonly mailpiece inserters include apparatus/modules for (i) feeding and singulating printed content in a "feeder module", (ii) accumulating the content to form a multi-sheet collation in an "accumulator", (iii) folding the content to produce a variety of fold configurations such as a C-fold, Z-fold, bi-fold and gate fold, in a "folder", (iv) feeding mailpiece inserts such as coupons, brochures, and pamphlets, in combination with the content, in a "chassis module" (v) inserting the folded/unfolded and/or nested content into an envelope in an "envelope inserter", (vi) sealing the filled envelope in "sealing module" and (vii) printing recipient/return addresses and/or postage indicia on the face of the mailpiece envelope at a "print station".
In lieu of a module for inserting the content material into an "envelope", some mailpiece creation systems employ a wrapping system operative to encapsulate the mailpiece content in an outer wrapping material. While such wrapping systems offer a low-cost alternative to those which employ conventional pre-fabricated mailpiece envelopes, wrapping systems of the prior art have generally been limited to those using plastic materials, rather than paper-based materials, to wrap the content. Wrapping systems of the type described herein are produced by Sitma Machinery S.p.A. located in Spilamberto, Italy, a world class leader in mailpiece finishing systems.
Attempts to employ paper-based wrapping materials have been limited by an inability to produce "matched mailpieces". That is, wrapping systems of the prior art, have been unable to "match" content intended for a specific recipient with an envelope having the recipient's destination address pre-printed on the exterior of the envelope. Such difficulties have arisen, at least in part, due to the inability to start/stop the web of wrapping material, i.e., a system with a large inertial mass, with the agility necessary to coordinate with a relatively nimble content creation system at the upstream end of the wrapping system. As a consequence, such wrapping systems have typically used "windowed" wrap material to allow a destination address of the content to be viewable through the wrapping material.
It is, therefore, the object of the present invention to provide a mailpiece fabrication system which successfully integrates a downstream mailpiece wrapping system with high-throughput content fabrication equipment.

Inter-machine buffer for mailpiece fabrication system


A very light weight portable garment rack includes a first hanging rod segment and a second hanging rod segment, insertable into the first hanging rod segment, to assemble a garment hanging rod. Both the first and second hanging rod segments have perpendicular stub segments. First and second stanchions have upper insertable segments for insertion into the perpendicular stub segments to support the garment hanging rod, and lower insertable segments. A bottom support frame has two stanchion mounting segments, each fitted to the receive the lower insertable segments of the respective first and second stanchions. The first and second stanchions each have an upper support member having the upper insertable segment and an upper support member lower insertable segment, and a lower support member having the lower insertable segment and fitted to receive the upper support member lower insertable segment to assemble the respective stanchion.

Performers such as dancers and actors carry a set of outfits for use during the performance or competition and are often required to make quick outfit changes prior to going out on stage to perform their dance routines. Dance supply companies exist that supply special dance related items such as "dance bags" that are designed to assist with transporting a dance wardrobe to the performance or competition site and to quickly set up a wardrobe for facilitating the quick outfit changes.
Some dance bags have garment accessories to hang the garments at the performance or competition site to make selection of outfits faster. However, these garment accessories are quite flimsy and do not support much weight, and easily collapse which can be a problem for competitors who are trying to move quickly to remove and replace outfits.

Portable garment hanging system for a portable wardrobe bag


A method for entraining and mixing gas with liquids within a conduit or drop structure, comprising the channeling of one or more liquid flows into spiral flows of predetermined radius (radii), reducing the predetermined radius (radii) to increase the centrifugal forces acting upon the spiral flow(s) as the spiral flow(s) enter the conduit, and allowing gas access to the conduit to mix with and entrain within the spiral flow within the conduit or drop structure. The method can facilitate the mixing of gas with one or more fluid flows and/or reduce the release of gas emissions from the fluid(s) into the surrounding environment.

Throughout past decades, sewers have been utilized to efficiently transport waste water or sewage from locations where it was generated to waste water treatment plants and other destinations. These sewers consist generally of pipelines locate below ground level and oriented with a slight downward grade in the direction of the sewage flow. Gravity acts upon the sewage to cause it to flow within the pipelines toward its ultimate destination. These pipelines are sometimes interconnected by "drop structures" that allow the sewage to flow from one line into the drop structure, drop vertically therewithin, and then to flow out of the drop structure into additional pipes or other structures.
One problem that occurs during the transport of sewage is the release of sulfides from the sewage. Sulfides form as a result of bacterial reduction of sulfates within the sewage in an anaerobic environment. As sewage ages, the level of sulfides increases. Drop structures within a sewer system can provide a beneficial aeration of the sewage flow by introducing additional dissolved oxygen into the flow. The dissolved oxygen reacts with the sulfides, resulting in less chemical volatility in the sewage. This aeration is particularly beneficial where the sewage is fresh and contains a relatively small amount of dissolved sulfides, such as hydrogen sulfide (H2S).
Unfortunately, in most practical applications, sewage contains a significant amount of potentially volatile dissolved molecular hydrogen sulfide gas. Turbulence within the sewage flow can cause this dissolved gas to be released into the surrounding air. Significant sources of turbulence in sewage flow, and hence the emission of hydrogen sulfide gas in a sewer, occur in drop structures such as interceptor drop maintenance holes, joint structures, forcemain discharges and wet well drops in sewer pumping stations. Thus, while drop structures can reintroduce dissolved oxygen into the sewage flow, lowering the level of hydrogen sulfide gas, they can also cause the release of hydrogen sulfide gas. The hydrogen sulfide emissions often cause corrosion with the drop structures and adjacent sewer lines, and cause odor problems even the most elegant, pristine neighborhoods.
One known type of drop structure comprises an influent line, a maintenance hole and an effluent line. The influent line runs almost horizontally at a relatively shallow depth below the ground surface in the form of a pipe. The maintenance hole is located below the street level maintenance hole manhole cover. The maintenance hole is generally cylindrical in shape with a vertical longitudinal axis. The effluent line is another almost horizontal pipe that exits slightly above the bottom of the maintenance hole. Turbulent waste water flow is created when the sewage, which has a substantial amount of potential energy, exits from the influent line near the top of the maintenance hole and tumbles down like a waterfall to the side wall and base of the maintenance hole. Then the sewage pools and eventually flows out the effluent line. This turbulent action releases hydrogen sulfide gas into the air. To reduce the problem of gas release, while still allowing beneficial aeration of the sewage, the potential and kinetic energy in the sewage must be dissipated.
One known method is to create a wall hugging spiral flow down the maintenance hole to dissipate the energy by friction. The spiral flow is generated by the insertion of a vortex form connected to the influent line near the top of the maintenance hole. The vortex form is generally helical in shape and is placed directly below the manhole cover near the top of the maintenance hole. The vortex form channels and diverts the flow from its languid state into a spiral flow descending down the cylindrical wall of the maintenance hole. The vortex form can be made of concrete with applied protective coating, or made of a noncorrosive material, metal or plastic, such as PVC, High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) or other like materials. The vortex form may be manufactured at the factory or on-site.
Two problems remain to be solved when applying this known method of using a vortex form in a drop structure for sewage flows. First, the upstream flow velocities within the influent line are usually not large enough to create a stable spiral flow on the vertical wall of a typical maintenance hole. Thus, the flow, rather than continuing to spiral down the cylindrical wall of the maintenance hole, will generally revert to a turbulent descending flow similar to waterfall, losing the effective energy dissipation of the spiral flow and releasing significant amounts of hydrogen sulfide gas into the air. Second, quite often the maintenance hole is used for additional lateral influent connections at elevations lower than the main influent pipe. Consequently, the lateral influent connections disrupt the spiral flow and create a turbulent waterfall of sewage to the bottom of the maintenance hole, again releasing significant amounts of hydrogen sulfide gas into the air. The additional influent pipe may run in any direction, but at a lower depth than the main influent pipe.


Systems and methods for providing modular bird control deterrent devices with spikes for use with overhead electrical wire are provided. A modular bird control segment base provides locking support for one or more bird control spikes by including locking flanges in a spike support cavity of the segment base that engages and locks a spike by engaging a groove in the bottom portion of the respective spike. The bird control segment base provides attachment support for fasteners that secure the bird control segment base to the electrical wire in use by providing opposing slot openings in a groove on the top of the segment base to engage a fastener. The bird control segment base also has opposing fastening mechanisms for connecting multiple segments together.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The illustrative embodiments described in the present application are useful in systems including those for providing pest control and more particularly are useful in systems including those for providing bird control deterrent features for protecting electrical wire.
2. Description of Related Art
Many electric utilities employ metal conductor overhead electrical wires for the distribution of electricity. Birds, bats and other pests may be drawn to the electrical wires and may be detrimental to the electrical system.
Several bird control products exist, and there is a need, among other needs, for relatively more robust bird control products for electrical wires that include one or more features such as providing devices that are relatively inexpensive, relatively easy to assemble, that are relatively sturdy, relatively durable, modular and relatively easy to install.

Bird control assemblies for protecting wires


The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for performing an assay on chemical, biochemical, or biological fluids. The apparatus includes an assay chamber for fluid reactions and a centrifugal force activated-valve for controlling fluid movement through the assay chamber. An active surface can be positioned in the assay chamber to react with fluids passed through the assay chamber. The active surface may contain biomolecular probes. The biomolecular probes can be DNA, DNA fragments, RNA, RNA fragments, reagents, protein, protein fragments, lipids, and lipid fragments. The apparatus is particularly useful when multiple reactions, dilutions, or washing steps are required to determine a final answer. The centrifugal force activated-valve provides positive control over fluid in the assay chamber and allows for repeated use of the same chamber for multiple reaction steps. The apparatus can be disposed of after an assay to eliminate potential contamination from reuse of the same apparatus. Fluids passed through the assay chamber may be recovered for subsequent analysis, processing, or reactions.

The present invention relates generally to analytical devices for performing assays and more particularly to an analytical device that includes a centrifugal force actuated valve to control fluid and a method of utilizing the analytical device to perform an assay.
There are many analytical methods that require one or more reactions or analytical steps to determine a final answer. Examples are heterogeneous immunochemistry reactions, hybridization of DNA to DNA, and hybridization of DNA to RNA. In order to determine the concentration or presence of an analyte, such analytical methods require multiple, serial reactions either with or without washing steps or a single reaction with a washing step. Other assays, such as clinical chemistry assays, often require precise dilutions prior to mixing with other chemicals.
It would be desirable to reduce the cost of conducting the reactions in an assay by automating the reaction steps rather than using expensive manual labor to perform the steps. Additionally, it would be advantageous to use centrifugal force in the automation process to minimize variations due to surface tension and capillary action and to move and control fluid.
Centrifugally driven analytical devices have employed several methods for controlling fluid movement, such as differential flow, stop junctions, siphons, and complex, two-axis mechanisms.
Differential flow allows fluid to enter a chamber quickly but exit slowly. As the fluid enters and exits the chamber there is a finite residence time in which most of the fluid can be manipulated. However, the disadvantage of differential flow is that the entire volume of fluid is never completely controlled.
Stop junctions employ the pressure created by a capillary to stand off fluid flow until the centrifugal force generated by rotation overcomes capillary back pressure. Stop junctions are sensitive to the exact geometry and surface properties of the junction and to fluid properties of the sample.
Siphons allow fluid movement into a chamber under the action of centrifugal force and prevent the fluid from exiting the chamber until the siphon is primed or the siphon level is high enough. The disadvantage with siphons is that some of the fluid is lost in the entrance of the siphon and that great care must be taken to prevent the siphon from priming prematurely or from losing prime prematurely.
Two-axis mechanisms provide better fluid control, but at substantial instrumentation cost, complexity, and size. Two-axis mechanisms are typically mounted on a large turntable. The turntable has two positions, each position having a local center of rotation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,171,533 to Fine et al. discloses single use centrifugal valves for performing a biological assay. Sealant materials are used to provide a counteracting force to the centrifugal force of rotation. The sealants are designed to yield at predetermined levels of centrifugal force. The valves in the Fine et al. patent require that the fluid move through different chambers.
From the foregoing it will be apparent that there is a need for a simple, easy to automate, and economical means for performing an assay or a reaction. Further, it will be apparent that a disposable analytical device is desirable for preventing contamination resulting from repeated use of the same analytical device.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for controlling reactions


In a PDP driving method, an image of each field displayed on the PDP corresponding to an input video signal is divided into sub-fields with different weights, and a combination of the weights is used for gradation. The method includes: determining an automatic power control (APC) level for driving the PDP; determining a pulse width comprising any one of an address pulse width, a sustain pulse width, and a reset pulse width, or a combination of at least two of the three pulse widths for each sub-field using the APC level, the determined pulse width including as an increment a part of a pause period occurring in driving the PDP at the APC level; and performing addressing on the PDP according to the pulse width.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for driving a display panel. More specifically, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for driving a plasma display panel (PDP), using an adaptive waveform mechanism that efficiently utilizes a pause period, which occurs in realizing automatic power control (APC) operation for controlling power consumption.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
A PDP is a display device that has a plurality of discharge cells in a matrix form. The PDP selectively activates the cells to emit light and reconstitutes input image data.
PDPs have at least one pair of a scan electrode and a sustain electrode. There are electrodes arranged opposing each other in parallel. The PDP has at least one address electrode disposed perpendicular to the scan electrode and the sustain electrodes. An addressing operation is performed by applying a scan pulse voltage to at least one of the scan electrode and the sustain electrode and an address voltage to the address electrode. As a result, a discharge between the scan electrode or the sustain electrode and the address electrode, changes electrical properties at the intersection of those electrodes to be addressed. A sustain operation applies a sustain pulse voltage between the scan electrode and the sustain electrode after the addressing operation, thereby causing a discharge where the electrical properties have changed.
The PDP should be capable of displaying various gray scales, for use as a color display device. It shows such gray scales by dividing a field into a plurality of sub-fields and controlling the sub-fields via time division control.
Among the PDP driving methods currently used, the address display separation (ADS) driving method starts sustain operation after completing the address operation for the entire PDP. Thus, the address operation and the sustain operation is totally separated. The ADS driving method is now adopted by most PDP manufacturers and employed by the present invention.
The PDP has a high power consumption due to its driving mechanism. The APC technique is used to control power consumption according to the load rate (i.e., average signal level or load ratio) of a frame to be displayed. The APC technique is an approach for controlling power consumption by varying the number of sustain pulses according to the load rate of image data.
When using the APC technique for driving the PDP, a pause period occurs in a field during which none of the reset, address, and sustain sequences are activated. The pause period refers to an interval during which no operation is activated in the reset, address, and sustain intervals.
FIG. 1 illustrates pause period distribution of APC levels in the related art. The triangle area (A) represents the pause period in driving the PDP when using the APC technique. According to the related art there is no special processing for the pause interval. The pause interval lasts longer when using a slow APC.
The address delays occurring in the address intervals among the PDP driving sequences may be changed to be longer or shorter according to the charge distribution before discharging the cells of the PDP. One technique is a Slow APC that changes the APC level at intervals of 0.5 seconds, thereby the brightness change of the display cannot be recognized at the APC levels sensed by the human retina and is mostly concentrated in the latter part of the sub-field array. An increased address delay makes the discharge of the discharge cells unstable and increases the possibility of an abnormal addressing operation, thereby making the reset, address, and sustain sequences non-uniform.

Apparatus and method for driving plasma display panel using adaptive waveform mechanism


The present invention provides a durable and self-verifying secure document system and a method for its production, wherein counterfeiting is prevented. The secure document system is potentially useful for a wide variety of documents including, but not limited to, lottery tickets, currency, traveler's checks, passports, stock and bond certificates, bank notes, driver's licenses, wills, coupons, rebates, contracts, food stamps, magnetic stripes, test answer forms, invoices, tickets, inventory forms, tags, labels and original artwork. The instant invention provides a plastic paper substitute having various indicia associated therewith including visible and hidden indicia. Application of the hidden indicia to the plastic paper substitute is implemented in accordance with a computer software program, and the document includes an integral lens area which is particularly designed to verify the document's authenticity by rendering the hidden indicia visible to the viewer. The instant invention is particularly durable when produced on one of the modern plastic paper substitutes.

To prevent unauthorized duplication or alteration of documents, frequently there is special indicia or a background pattern that may be provided for sheet materials such as tickets, checks, currency, and the like. The indicia or background pattern is imposed upon the sheet material usually by some type of printing process such as offset printing, lithography, letterpress or other like mechanical systems, by a variety of photographic methods, by xeroprinting, and a host of other methods. The pattern or indicia may be produced with ordinary inks, from special inks which may be magnetic, fluorescent, or the like, from powders which may be baked on, from light sensitive materials such as silver salts or azo dyes, and the like. Most of these patterns placed on sheet materials depend upon complexity and resolution to avoid ready duplication. Consequently, they add an increment of cost to the sheet material without being fully effective in many instances in providing the desired protection from unauthorized duplication or alteration.
Various methods of counterfeit-deterrent strategies have been suggested including Moire-inducing line structures, variable-sized dot patterns, latent images, see-throughs, bar-codes, and diffraction based holograms. However, none of these methods employs a true scrambled image or the added security benefits deriving therefrom.
The inventor of the technology disclosed in this patent previously invented a system for coding and decoding indicia placed on printed matter by producing a parallax panoramagram image. These principles and embodiments of U.S. Pat. No. 3,937,565, issued Feb. 10, 1976 and are hereby incorporated by reference. The indicia were preferably produced photographically using a lenticular plastic screen (i.e. a lenticular screen) with a known spatial lens density (e.g. 69 lines per inch). A specialized auto-stereoscopic camera might be used to produce the parallax image such as the one described in this inventor's U.S. Pat. No. 3,524,395, issued Aug. 18, 1970, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,769,890, issued Nov. 6, 1973.
Photographic, or analog, production of coded indicia images has the drawback of requiring a specialized camera. Also, the analog images are limited in their versatility in that an area of scrambled indicia is generally noticeable when surrounded by non-scrambled images. Also, it is difficult to combine several latent images, with potentially different scrambling parameters, due to the inability to effectively re-expose film segments in generating the scrambled, photographic image. Furthermore, it is difficult to produce secure documents, such as currency, traveler's checks, stock and bond certificates, bank notes, food stamps and the like which are formed from a durable material resistant to tearing, staining, fraying, and deterioration from day-to-day contact.
Accordingly, a method and apparatus are needed whereby the photographic process and its results are essentially simulated digitally via a computer system and related software. Additionally, a system is needed whereby scrambled latent images can be integrated into a source image, or individual color components thereof, so that the source image is visible to the unaided eye and the latent image is visible only upon decoding. Also needed is the ability to incorporate multiple latent images, representing different "phases", into the source image for added security. Furthermore, what is needed is the ability to apply this technology to a durable substrate, such as a synthetic paper, and to incorporate an appropriate verification lens integral within the document's structure.


A copper precursor composition contains: a first copper complex of an imine or a first cyclic amine coordinated to a first copper precursor compound; and, a second copper complex of a primary amine or a second cyclic amine coordinated to a second copper precursor compound. A copper precursor composition contains a copper complex of an imine coordinated to a copper precursor compound. The copper precursor composition is thermally degradable at a temperature lower than a comparable composition containing only primary amine copper complexes under otherwise the same conditions to produce a metallic copper film having a resistivity of about 200 μΩ-cm or less. Inks containing the copper precursor composition and a solvent may be deposited on a substrate and sintered to produce a metallic copper film. The substrate with the film thereon is useful in electronic devices.

The production of low cost electronics relies on the ability to print conductive circuits using additive printing techniques on inexpensive plastic substrates. Formulating conductive inks that function with low cost printing techniques, such as inkjet, screen, flexo or gravure printing, while providing the required electrical and mechanical performance is still a challenge in printable electronics as smaller dimensions and high density will enable new applications. Although flake-based silver conductive inks meet many of today's requirements and silver nanoparticles inks have promise due to their excellent electrical properties, few options exist for cost effective inks based on copper despite their superiority with regards to electromigration, which plagues silver circuits and will become increasingly important as higher density designs become implemented.
Thermal decomposition of anhydrous copper (II) formate (Cu(OOCH)2) has been shown to occur near 200° C. yielding Cu0, H2 and CO2 in a stepwise cation reduction reaction with copper (I) formate as an intermediate. Copper coordination compounds are compelling ink materials as they are inexpensive, easy to prepare and process, compatible with a range of different printing methods and have excellent electrical performance. For instance, copper (II) formate coordinated to alkylamines, such as hexylamine and octylamine, convert to metallic copper by thermal decomposition under relatively mild conditions providing metallic copper traces with resistivity values as low as 5.0 μΩ·cm. Unfortunately, the sintering conditions typically used all cause polyethylene terephthalate (PET) to deform, especially under tension, thereby limiting their use. In addition, the sintering times on the order of 30 min lessens their appeal in a roll-to-roll process. PET is an inexpensive substrate desirable for the fabrication of low cost electronics using with screen or inkjet printing.
Copper formates coordinated with pyridine derivatives have been used as precursors for metallic copper (U.S. Pat. No. 6,770,122). Copper formates coordinated with piperidine derivatives have been used as precursors for metallic copper (US 2014/0349017). However, these documents do not demonstrate utility to make printable inks that can also be sintered at low temperatures, in less time and at ambient pressure compatible with PET to produce copper films of low resistivity.

Preparation of high conductivity copper films


A clamp for clamping a workpiece comprises a base member a clamping member mounted on the base member for linear movement relative thereto and a drive member mounted on the base member for rotary movement relative thereto. First and second cam elements comprising a face cam are provided on the drive member and the base member, at least one of the cam elements including at least two portions of different pitch. The arrangement is such that rotation of the drive member relative to the base member causes linear movement of the clamping member relative to the base member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a clamp. In particular, but not exclusively, the invention relates to a clamp for exerting a pushing or pulling force on a workpiece.
2. Discussion of the Known Art
An example of a clamp for exerting a pushing or pulling force on a workpiece is that sold by HMC-Brauer Limited under the model numbers CP1005 to CP1008. This clamp has a roller cam comprising a pair of rollers mounted on spur axles that engage helical tracks provided in the inner cylindrical surface of the clamp body. Rotating a handle causes the rollers to move along the helical tracks, which drives a clamping member in the axial direction of the clamp. The helical tracks include portions of steep and shallow pitch, which allow the clamping member to be brought rapidly into engagement with the workpiece before the clamping force is applied. The clamp is very quick and simple to apply, with a single movement of the handle providing both the initial fast travel of the clamping member and also the final clamping force.
The main problem with the clamp described above is that axles of the roller bearings may shear or be distorted if an excessive force is applied. The nominal maximum holding force of the clamp is therefore only 500 daN, which can easily be applied with a hand impact on the handle. In practice in the workshop, the clamps are often mistreated and a mallet may be used to increase the clamping force. This frequently leads to damage to the clamp.
The above mentioned problem is compounded by the fact that travel of the clamping member is limited by the length of the helical tracks. If the rollers reach the ends of the tracks before a sufficient clamping force has been applied, there will be a temptation to apply the clamp harder as there is no clear indication that the point of maximum travel has been reached. This is again likely to cause damage to the clamp.
A further disadvantage of the clamp is that it is relatively complicated and expensive to manufacture.


The present invention allows the resources of multiple multipoint control units (MCUS) in a multipoint multimedia communication system. A plurality of multimedia terminals support different multimedia conferencing protocols, and a multipoint control unit communicates with a multipoint processor unit and with the multimedia terminals for signaling and call control. At least one multipoint processor unit communicates with the plurality of multimedia terminals for media and optionally call signaling and call control. The multipoint processor unit also communicates with the multipoint control unit for interfacing the call signaling and the call control information between said multipoint control unit and the terminals.

As the geographical domain in which companies conduct business continues to expand, the traffic of multimedia teleconferencing overloads multimedia communication central nodes. In the current market, most multipoint multimedia calls are scheduled in advance through companies that own multipoint control units (MCUs). An MCU provides the capability for three or more terminals and gateways to participate in a multipoint conference. If a company owns more than one MCU, it has more flexibility in hosting multimedia conferences. However, each MCU must be operated independently from the other MCUs in setting up and controlling multimedia conferences. Additionally, the capacity of each MCU is limited to multimedia conferences controlled by the corresponding MCU. Because each MCU is a single entity that handles both the call signaling and the media processing of the conference, the resources of the multiple MCUs cannot be combined to promote more efficient scheduling.
As the business of multimedia conferences continues to expand, more and more standards have been written for multimedia conferences, such as H.320, H.321, H.324, and H. 323 SIP. Those standards handle the call signaling and call control differently, yet use the same multimedia data standards such as H.261, H.263, MPEG, G.711, and T.120. The increasing number of multimedia conferences and standards drive the need for an MCU technology that is able to operate efficiently in a site utilizing a plurality of MCUs, which may share resources in order to increase the amount of traffic via the site. Furthermore, there is a need for technology easily adaptable to varying standards and increasing capacity.
The ITU and the IETF have defined a decomposition architecture for a multimedia gateway, which comprises of a multimedia gateway control unit (MGC), a multimedia process unit (MG), and the intermediary communication protocol, Megaco/H.248. The MCU, as defined in the H.323 standard, comprises of a Multipoint Controller (MC) and a Multipoint Processor (MP). The MC is an H.323 entity on the network that provides the control of three or more terminals participating in a multipoint conference. The MC may also connect two terminals in a point-to-point conference, which may later develop into a multipoint conference. The MC provides capability negotiation with all terminals to achieve common levels of communications, and may also control conference resources. However, the MC does not perform mixing or switching of audio, video and data.
The Multipoint Processor (MP) is an H.323 entity on the network providing the centralized processing of audio, video, and/or data streams in a multipoint conference. The MP provides the mixing, switching, or other processing of media streams under the control of the MC. The MP may process a single media stream or multiple media streams depending on the type of conference supported. The ITU has not defined the communication protocol between those two units in H.323, or a Decomposition MCU (DMCU) for other standards then H.323. One difficulty in operating the DMCU with other standards, such as H.320, is that signaling, control and media are multiplexed.
The decomposition architecture offers better utilization of resources, for one MC can control plurality of MPs, and a conference can share resources in a plurality of units etc. Also, an operator can upgrade its site by adding the appropriate units MP or MC according to it's the operator's needs. Those units can be from different vendors. In case of new versions or new standards the operator can update only the relevant unit MP or MC.
The MC functionality can be part of a general Media Gateway Controller (MGC). The MC can be considered as an MGC. Therefore, it is evident that there is a need for a DMCU that can work with plurality of endpoints supporting different standards.


In one aspect, an example method for outputting an alert indicating a functional state of a back-up audio-broadcast system involves: a computing device receiving a first audio-stream that represents first audio-content; the computing device generating a first signature based, at least in part, upon an extent of mute/non-mute transitions included within the first audio-content; the computing device receiving a second audio-stream that represents second audio-content; the computing device generating a second signature based, at least in part, upon an extent of mute/non-mute transitions included within the second audio-content; the computing device making a determination that the generated first-signature and the generated second-signature lack a threshold extent of similarity; and responsive to the determination that the generated first-signature and the generated second-signature lack the threshold extent of similarity, the computing device outputting an alert.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this disclosure and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
An audio-broadcast system may be configured to generate and broadcast an audio stream to a set of receivers (e.g., set-top boxes) for listening by end-users. In some instances, two different audio-broadcast systems (a primary and a back-up) may be configured to generate the same (or substantially the same) audio streams at the same (or substantially the same) time. As such, the primary and back-up systems may generate primary and back-up streams, respectively. With this arrangement, the primary system may broadcast the primary stream to the set of receivers unless and until the primary system becomes inoperative, in which case the back-up system may take over and broadcast the back-up stream to the set of receivers instead.

Using mute/non-mute transitions to output an alert indicating a functional state of a back-up audio-broadcast system