A system providing sound to a user, having at least one audio signal source; a transmission unit with a digital transmitter which transmits audio signals via a wireless digital audio link as audio data packets, each packet having a start frame delimiter, audio data and a frame check sequence; at least one receiver unit having at least two digital receivers connected to a common processing unit and an antenna, and including a demodulator and a buffer, and a mechanism for stimulating the hearing of the user. Each receiver receives, verifies and buffers the audio data packets, and the processing unit reads an audio data packet from the buffer of one of the receivers. If the packet is correctly received by the receiver, the buffer of the other receivers is flushed, and if the packet has been incorrectly received, the audio data packet from the buffer of another receiver is read.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a system and a method for providing sound to at least one user, wherein audio signals from an audio signal source, such as a microphone for capturing a speaker's voice, are transmitted via a wireless link to a receiver unit, such as an audio receiver for a hearing aid, from where the audio signals are supplied to means for stimulating the hearing of the user, such as a hearing aid loudspeaker.
2. Description of Related Art
Presently, in such systems, the wireless audio link usually is an FM (frequency modulation) radio link. According to a typical application of such wireless audio systems, the receiver unit is connected to or integrated into a hearing instrument, such as a hearing aid, with the transmitted audio signals being mixed with audio signals captured by the microphone of the hearing instrument prior to being reproduced by the output transducer of the hearing instrument. The benefit of such systems is that the microphone of the hearing instrument can be supplemented or replaced by a remote microphone which produces audio signals which are transmitted wirelessly to the FM receiver, and thus, to the hearing instrument. In particular, FM systems have been standard equipment for children with hearing loss in educational settings for many years. Their merit lies in the fact that a microphone placed a few centimeters from the mouth of a person speaking receives speech at a much higher level than one placed several feet away. This increase in speech level corresponds to an increase in signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) due to the direct wireless connection to the listener's amplification system. The resulting improvements of signal level and SNR in the listener's ear are recognized as the primary benefits of FM radio systems, as hearing-impaired individuals are at a significant disadvantage when processing signals with a poor acoustical SNR.
A typical application of such wireless audio systems is at school, wherein the teacher uses a wireless microphone for transmitting the captured audio signals via the transmission unit to receiver units worn by the students. Since the receiver units and the respective hearing aids are usually owned by the students, the receiver units may be of different types within a class.
Another typical application of wireless audio systems is the case in which the transmission unit is designed as an assistive listening device. In this case, the transmission unit may include a wireless microphone for capturing ambient sound, in particular from a speaker close to the user, and/or a gateway to an external audio device, such as a mobile phone; here the transmission unit usually only serves to supply wireless audio signals to the receiver unit(s) worn by the user.
Examples of analog wireless FM systems particularly suited for school applications are described, for example, in European Patent Application EP 1 863 320 A1 and International Patent Application Publication WO 2008/138365 A1. According to these systems, the wireless link not only serves to transmit audio signals captured by the wireless microphone, but in addition, also serves to transmit control data obtained from analyzing the audio signals in the transmission unit to the receiver unit(s), with such control data being used in the receiver unit to adjust, for example, the gain applied to the received audio signals according to the prevailing ambient noise and the issue of whether the speaker is presently speaking or not.
In applications where the receiver unit is part of or connected to a hearing aid, transmission is usually carried out by using analog FM technology in the 200 MHz frequency band. In recent systems, the analog FM transmission technology is replaced using digital modulation techniques for audio signal transmission. An example of such digital system is available from the company Comfort Audio AB, 30105 Halmstad, Sweden under the COMFORT DIGISYSTEM® trademark.
A specific example of an analog wireless FM system particularly suited for school applications is described in International Patent Application Publication WO 2008/074350 A1, wherein the system consists of a plurality of transmission units comprising a microphone and a plurality of analog FM receiver units and wherein only one of the transmission units has an analog audio signal transmitter, while each of the transmission units is provided with a digital transceiver in order to realize an assistive digital link for enabling communication between the transmission units. The assistive digital link also serves to transmit audio signals captured by a transmission unit not having the analog transmitter to the transmission unit having the analog transmitter from where the audio signals are transmitted via the analog FM link to the receiver units.
A presentation by S. Shellhammer "SCORT—An Alternative to the Bluetooth SCO Link for Voice Operation in an Interference Environment" document IEEE 802.15-01/145r1, March 2001, and of the IEEE P802.15 Working Group for Wireless Personal Area Networks, relate to a proposed alternative for the Bluetooth SCO link for operation in an interference environment, wherein it is proposed to use, in a bi-directional point-to-point link (i.e., full duplex link) for voice transmission, repeated transmission of the same audio packet without involving a receipt acknowledgement by the receiving device.
U.S. Patent Application Publication 2007/0009124 A1 and corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 7,778,432 B2 relate to a wireless network for communication of binaural hearing aids with other devices, such as a mobile phone, using slow frequency hopping, wherein each data packet is transmitted in a separate slot of a TDMA frame, with each slot being associated to a different transmission frequency, wherein the hopping sequence is calculated using the ID of the master device, the slot number and the frame number. A link management package is sent from the master device to the slave devices in the first slot of each frame. The system may be operated in a broadcast mode. Each receiver is turned on only during the transmission during time slots associated to the respective receiver. The system has two acquisition modes for synchronization, with two different handshake protocols. Eight LMP messages are transmitted in every frame during initial acquisition, and one LMP message is transmitted in every frame once a network is established. Handshake, i.e., bi-directional message exchange, is needed both for initial acquisition and acquisition into the established network. During acquisition, only a reduced number of acquisition channels is used, with the frequency hopping scheme being applied to these acquisition channels. The system operates in the 2.4 GHz ISM band. A similar system is known from U.S. Patent Application Publication 2009/0245551 A1 and corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 8,229,146 B2.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,532,610 B2 relates to an adaptive frequency hopping scheme, wherein bad frequencies are empirically excluded from the frequency range used by the frequency hopping algorithm.
International Patent Application Publication WO 2008/135975 A2 relates to a communication network, wherein the receiver wakes up for listening to the preamble of a data packet and goes to sleep again, if no valid preamble is received.
U.S. Patent Application Publication 2006/0067550 A1 relates to a hearing aid system comprising at least three hearing aids between which a wireless communication network is established using the Bluetooth standard, wherein one of the hearing aids is used for receiving signals from another one of the hearing aids, amplifying the signals and forwarding it to the third hearing aid.
U.S. Patent Application Publication 2007/0086601 A1 relates to a system comprising a transmission unit with a microphone for transmitting a speaker's voice to a plurality of hearing aids via a wireless digital link, which may be unidirectional or bi-directional and which may be used for transmitting both audio data and control data to the hearing aids.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,529,565 B2 relates to a hearing aid comprising a transceiver for communication with an external device, wherein a wireless communication protocol including a transmission protocol, link protocol, extended protocol, data protocol and audio protocol is used. The transmission protocol is adapted to control transceiver operations to provide half duplex communications over a single channel, and the link protocol is adapted to implement a packet transmission process to account for frame collisions on the channel.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,606,291 B2 relates to a two-way push-to-talk radio device using frequency hopping.
European Patent Application EP 1 560 383 A2 relates to a Bluetooth system, wherein the slave device, in a park mode or in a sniff mode, periodically wakes up to listen to transmission from the master and to re-synchronize its clock offset.
A problem which may occur in wireless radio links is multi-path fading. Due to reflections of the radio waves on the ground or on other objects, destructive interference may occur and cause a reduction in the received signal amplitude, depending on the position of the transmitter. When a plurality of antennas are used, it is likely that, if the signal is suffering from multi-path fading at the location of one of the antennas, there will be no multipath fading at one of the other antennas. The condition for this is that the distance between the two antennas is large compared to the wavelength of the radio carrier, i.e., at least on the order of magnitude of the wavelength. One known approach to utilize this antenna diversity effect is known as "switched diversity", wherein the signal power at two spaced apart antennas is measured and the input of the radio demodulator is switched to that antenna which presently provides for the higher signal power, i.e., that antenna which presently suffers less from multi-path fading.
Another known technique using spaced apart antennas is known as "combinational diversity", wherein the received signal is simultaneously sampled using multiple antennas and demodulators. These techniques use low level physical algorithms to minimize the bit error rate, see also MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) systems. Combinational diversity has a drawback in that it requires specialized hardware.
Switched diversity (selection diversity) is not optimal for packet communication when packets are small. When the channel conditions are changing rapidly, for example, due to movement of the transmission device, switched diversity can be too slow in reaction. This is particularly important when a packet radio communication system is used, wherein the packets are of short duration, for example, 100 to 200 μs. Moreover, switched diversity requires specialized hardware.
U.S. Patent Application Publication 2002/0183087 A1 and corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 7,103,340 B2 relates to a Bluetooth link for a mobile phone using two parallel antennas/transceivers, wherein each data packet is sent once and wherein for a sequence of packets, usually for the next 8 packets, a certain one of the antennas is selected according to previous channel quality measurements as a function of frequency. For each packet of the sequence one of the antennas is selected depending on the respective frequency at which the packet is to be transmitted, wherein the frequency is determined by a frequency hopping sequence.
U.S. Patent Application Publication 2006/0148433 A1 and corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 7,489,913 B2 relates to a wireless link between a mobile phone and a base station of the mobile network, wherein two receivers are used in parallel for achieving diversity if the coverage is poor.
Canadian Patent CA 2 286 522 C relates to a diversity radio reception method, wherein two data packets received in parallel by two receivers are compared and, if they differ from each other, the more reliable one is selected for further processing.
In "Effect of Antenna Placement and Diversity on Vehicular Network Communications" by S. Kaul, K. Ramachandran, P. Shankar, S. Oh, M. Gruteser, I. Seskar, T. Nadeem, 4th Annual IEEE Communications Society Conference on Sensor, Mesh and Ad Hoc Communications and Networks, 2007, SECON '07, pp. 112-121, a packet level diversity approach is described, wherein in a vehicle-to-vehicle link using roof- and in-vehicle-mounted omni-directional antennas and IEEE 802.11a radios operating in the 5 GHz band a packet level selection diversity scheme using multiple antennas and radios is utilized to improve performance not only in a fading channel but also in line-of-sight conditions.
A similar approach is used in "Packet-Level Diversity—From Theory to Practice: An 802.11-based Experimental Investigation" by E. Vergetis et al., MobiCom '06 (see also http://repository.upenn.edu/ese_papers/194), wherein a packet level diversity scheme is applied to a wireless data link between a laptop computer and an access point.

Wireless sound transmission system and method


A proximity sensor system includes a sensor matrix array having a characteristic capacitance on horizontal and vertical conductors connected to sensor pads. The capacitance changes as a function of the proximity of an object or objects to the sensor matrix. The change in capacitance of each node in both the X and Y directions of the matrix due to the approach of an object is converted to a set of voltages in the X and Y directions. These voltages are processed by circuitry to develop electrical signals representative of the centroid of the profile of the object, i.e, its position in the X and Y dimensions. Noise reduction and background level setting techniques inherently available in the architecture are employed.

1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates to object position and pressure sensing transducers and systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to object position and pressure recognition useful in applications such as cursor movement for computing devices and other applications, and especially for enhancing the scrollbar feature in applications for computing devices.
2. The Prior Art
In the vast number of computer systems available today, the interface between the computer system user and the computer system is a graphical interface on a visual display. In several very widespread computer system operating systems, the operating system presents in the graphical interface a "window" through which applications such as word processing, spreadsheets, database, etc. are viewed. It is common in applications to create electronic documents which are also depicted graphically in the visual display. In order to create documents, applications have a variety of features and controls. One common way of accessing these features and controls is by moving a graphical cursor over the graphical display of the feature by some manner of object position detector. The feature is then often activated by the object position detector itself.
Numerous devices are available or have been proposed for use as object position detectors for use in computer systems and other applications. The most familiar of such devices is the computer "mouse". While extremely popular as a position indicating device, a mouse has mechanical parts and requires a surface upon which to roll its position ball. Furthermore, a mouse usually needs to be moved over long distances for reasonable resolution. Finally, a mouse requires the user to lift a hand from the keyboard to make the cursor movement, thereby upsetting the prime purpose, which is usually typing on the computer.
Trackball devices are similar to mouse devices. A major difference, however is that, unlike a mouse device, a trackball device does not require a surface across which it must be rolled. Trackball devices are still expensive, have moving parts, and require a relatively heavy touch as do the mouse devices. They are also large in size and doe not fit well in a volume-sensitive application like a laptop computer.
There are several available touch-sense technologies which may be employed for use as a position indicator. Resistive-membrane position sensors are known and used in several applications. However, they generally suffer from poor resolution, the sensor surface is exposed to the user and is thus subject to wear. In addition, resistive-membrane touch sensors are relatively expensive. A one-surface approach requires a user to be grounded to the sensor for reliable operation. This cannot be guaranteed in portable computers. An example of a one-surface approach is the UnMouse product by MicroTouch, of Wilmington, Mass. A two-surface approach has poorer resolution and potentially will wear out very quickly in time.
Resistive tablets are taught by U.S. Pat. No. 4,680,430 to Yoshikawa, U.S. Pat. No. 3,497,617 to Ellis and many others. The drawback of all such approaches is the high power consumption and the high cost of the resistive membrane employed.
Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) devices have potential use as position indicators. However, this sensor technology is expensive and is not sensitive to light touch. In addition, SAW devices are sensitive to residue buildup on the touch surfaces and generally have poor resolution.
Strain gauge or pressure plate approaches are an interesting position sensing technology, but suffer from several drawbacks. This approach may employ piezoelectric transducers. One drawback is that the piezo phenomena is an AC phenomena and may be sensitive to the user's rate of movement. In addition, strain gauge or pressure plate approaches are somewhat expensive because special sensors are required.
Optical approaches are also possible but are somewhat limited for several reasons. All would require light generation which will require external components and increase cost and power drain. For example, a "finger-breaking" infra-red matrix position detector consumes high power and suffers from relatively poor resolution.
There have been numerous attempts to provide a device for sensing the position of a thumb or other finger for use as a pointing device to replace a mouse or trackball. Desirable attributes of such a device are low power, low profile, high resolution, low cost, fast response, and ability to operate reliably when the finger carries electrical noise, or when the touch surface is contaminated with dirt or moisture.
Because of the drawbacks of resistive devices, many attempts have been made to provide pointing capability based on capacitively sensing the position of the finger. U.S. Pat. No. 3,921,166 to Volpe teaches a capacitive matrix in which the finger changes the transcapacitance between row and column electrodes. U.S. Pat. No. 4,103,252 to Bobick employs four oscillating signals to interpolate x and y positions between four capacitive electrodes. U.S. Pat. No. 4,455,452 to Schuyler teaches a capacitive tablet wherein the finger attenuates the capacitive coupling between electrodes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,550,221 to Mabusth teaches a capacitive tablet wherein the effective capacitance to "virtual ground" is measured by an oscillating signal. Each row or column is polled sequentially, and a rudimentary form of interpolation is applied to resolve the position between two rows or columns. An attempt is made to address the problem of electrical interference by averaging over many cycles of the oscillating waveform. The problem of contamination is addressed by sensing when no finger was present, and applying a periodic calibration during such no-finger-present periods. U.S. Pat. No. 4,639,720 to Rympalski teaches a tablet for sensing the position of a stylus. The stylus alters the transcapacitance coupling between row and column electrodes, which are scanned sequentially. U.S. Pat. No. 4,736,191 to Matzke teaches a radial electrode arrangement under the space bar of a keyboard, to be activated by touching with a thumb. This patent teaches the use of total touch capacitance, as an indication of the touch pressure, to control the velocity of cursor motion. Pulsed sequential polling is employed to address the effects of electrical interference.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,686,332 and 5,149,919, to Greanias, teaches a stylus and finger detection system meant to be mounted on a CRT. As a finger detection system, its X/Y sensor matrix is used to locate the two matrix wires carrying the maximum signal. With a coding scheme these two wires uniquely determine the location of the finger position to the resolution of the wire stepping. For stylus detection, Greanias first coarsely locates it, then develops a virtual dipole by driving all lines on one side of the object in one direction and all lines on the opposite side in the opposite direction. This is done three times with different dipole phases and signal polarities. Assuming a predetermined matrix response to the object, the three measurements present a set of simultaneous equations that can be solved for position.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,222 to Evans is the first to teach a capacitance touch measurement system that interpolates to a high degree. Evans teaches a three terminal measurement system that uses a drive, sense and electrode signal set (3 signals) in its matrix, and bases the measurement on the attenuation effect of a finger on the electrode node signal (uses a capacitive divider phenomena). Evans sequentially scans through each drive set to measure the capacitance. From the three largest responses an interpolation routine is applied to determine finger position. Evans also teaches a zeroing technique that allows "no-finger" levels to be cancelled out as part of the measurement.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,016,008 to Gruaz describes a touch sensitive pad that also uses interpolation. Gruaz uses a drive and sense signal set (2 signals) in the touch matrix and like Evans relies on the attenuation effect of a finger to modulate the drive signal. The touch matrix is sequentially scanned to read the response of each matrix line. An interpolation program then selects the two largest adjacent signals in both dimensions to determine the finger location, and ratiometrically determines the effective position from those 4 numbers.
Gerpheide, PCT application US90/04584, publication No. WO91/03039, U.S. Pat. No. 5,305,017 applies to a touch pad system a variation of the virtual dipole approach of Greanias. Gerpheide teaches the application of an oscillating potential of a given frequency and phase to all electrodes on one side of the virtual dipole, and an oscillating potential of the same frequency and opposite phase to those on the other side. Electronic circuits develop a "balance signal" which is zero when no finger is present, and which has one polarity if a finger is on one side of the center of the virtual dipole, and the opposite polarity if the finger is on the opposite side. To acquire the position of the finger initially, the virtual dipole is scanned sequentially across the tablet. Once the finger is located, it is "tracked" by moving the virtual dipole toward the finger once the finger has moved more than one row or column.
Because the virtual dipole method operates by generating a balance signal that is zero when the capacitance does not vary with distance, it only senses the perimeter of the finger contact area, rather than the entire contact area. Because the method relies on synchronous detection of the exciting signal, it must average for long periods to reject electrical interference, and hence it is slow. The averaging time required by this method, together with the necessity to search sequentially for a new finger contact once a previous contact is lost, makes this method, like those before it, fall short of the requirements for a fast pointing device that is not affected by electrical interference.
It should also be noted that all previous touch pad inventions that used interpolation placed rigorous design requirements on their sensing pad. Greanias and Evans use a complicated and expensive drive, sense and electrode line scheme to develop their signal. Gruaz and Gerpheide use a two signal drive and sense set. In the present invention the driving and sensing is done on the same line. This allows the row and column sections to be symmetric and equivalent. This in turn allows independent calibration of all signal paths, which makes board layout simpler and less constraining, and allows for more unique sensor topologies.
The shortcomings of the inventions and techniques described in the prior art can also be traced to the use of only one set of driving and sensing electronics, which was multiplexed sequentially over the electrodes in the tablet. This arrangement was cost effective in the days of discrete components, and avoided offset and scale differences among circuits.
The sequential scanning approach of previous systems also made them more susceptible to noise. Noise levels could change between successive measurements, thus changing the measured signal and the assumptions used in interpolation routines.
Finally, all previous approaches assumed a particular signal response for finger position versus matrix position. Because the transfer curve is very sensitive to many parameters and is not a smooth linear curve as Greanias and Gerpheide assume, such approaches are limited in the amount of interpolation they can perform.
In prior co-pending application Ser. No. 08/115,743, filed Aug. 31, 1993, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,374,787, a two-dimensional capacitive sensing system equipped with a separate set of drive/sense electronics for each row and for each column of a capacitive tablet is disclosed. All row electrodes are sensed simultaneously, and all column electrodes are sensed simultaneously. The sensed signals are processed by analog circuitry.
One of the most common controls in applications is a scrolling feature. Those of ordinary skill in the art are readily familiar with the scrolling feature of documents in graphical displays. With this feature, a user can move through a document line by line. Unfortunately, the scrolling takes place at a constant rate. This feature is often accessed with an object position detector which is used to move the cursor over the scroll arrow. The document is then scrolled a constant rate by activating the scroll arrow, often with the object position detector. If the object position detector is a "mouse", the scroll arrow can be activated by depressing and holding the mouse button.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a two-dimensional capacitive sensing system equipped with a separate set of drive/sense electronics for each row and for each column of a capacitive tablet, wherein all row electrodes are sensed simultaneously, and all column electrodes are sensed simultaneously.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an electronic system that is sensitive to the entire area of contact of a finger or other conductive object with a capacitive tablet, and to provide as output the coordinates of some measure of the center of this contact area while remaining insensitive to the characteristic profile of the object being detected.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an electronic system that provides as output some measure of area of contact of a finger or other conductive object with a capacitive tablet.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a two-dimensional capacitive sensing system equipped with a separate set of drive/sense electronics for each row and for each column of a capacitive tablet, wherein all row electrodes are sensed simultaneously, and all column electrodes are sensed simultaneously and wherein the information defining the location of a finger or other conductive object is processed in digital form.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a two-dimensional capacitive sensing system wherein all row electrodes are sensed simultaneously, and all column electrodes are sensed simultaneously and wherein the location of a finger or other conductive object within a peripheral region of a sensing plane can optionally cause cursor "edge motion" on a display screen allowing control of large cursor excursions from a small sensing plane with a single gesture.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a scrolling feature of an application program wherein a document may be scrolled at a variable rate.
It is a further object of the invention vary the rate of the scrolling feature of an applications program as a function of pressure information sensed by an object position detector.


RFID tags of very small size are embedded in products or composed of products in a manufacturing process. The system employs different read and write modes to enable auto-tracking of material, some assembly, assembly and component items through various stages of the manufacturing process. As each item passes special predetermined points in the manufacturing process, the embedded tag is activated and placed in track mode. The tag transmits its ID and a track count representing the number of stations passed. The tag's track count is incremented and the updated track count is stored in non-volatile memory in the tag. The tags can be programmed so that once the count exceeds a predetermined count, a status bit is set in the tag's memory indicating that the item has been completely through the manufacturing process. Thus, the system can determine whether an item or product has been completed. After manufacture the same RFID tag can be used for tracking, inventory and item authentication.

This invention concerns the use of RFID tags. Specifically the invention applies or embeds miniature RFID tags to or into components or products in a manufacturing process, to track the progress of manufacturing, to assure that all operations have been performed on each item and also to provide useful data to the end user of the item.
Traditionally, tracking of items during manufacture typically has been done manually using paper travelers in combination with line-of-sight bar codes. This is inefficient, and bar codes usually have insufficient data and coding capability to identify every part uniquely, and also cannot be written to, in order to determine where the item has been. Often a bar code has only been applied to a bin containing a number of similar components. The bin can become mixed, causing misprocessing, and individual reading and tracking of each item is not possible.
A miniaturized RFID tag is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,480,699, and the use of such a small stand-alone tag device which includes an onboard antenna is envisioned for the present invention described below.

Embedding items with RFID tags for tracking and calibration


A reinforced powder metal component is disclosed, the powder metal component having reinforcing preforms disposed in selected locations to provide a local reinforcement for the powder metal component.

Powder metal components such as crankshaft main bearing caps, for example, have been produced by using a powder metallurgical press and sinter operation. A density of a component produced using the powder metallurgical single press and sinter operation is typically in the range of about 6.4 to 7.0 gm/cc. The higher the density, the higher the mechanical properties observed in the component. However, the density reached in the component is a function of the number of processing steps involved, as well as a press tonnage available.
Generally, the density varies from position to position in the component. Usually the density is higher near surfaces. Therefore, a top flat surface as well as a bottom flat surface of a component will exhibit higher density values when compared to the density values at a mid-section.
Ever increasing higher engine horse power and torque requirements cause higher operational loads to be exerted on a crankshaft bearing cap. For this reason, lower density locations, positions, or regions in the bearing cap may become susceptible to an over-stressed condition, which may result in a reduction of fatigue life of the bearing cap. To avoid crack initiation and eventually its propagation, lower density locations, positions, or regions need to be strengthened. One option is to have a press capable of forming the component at the desired density. However, depending on the manufacturer, the press tonnage available, and the complexity of the component, that may not be always possible.
Since the mid-section of the bearing cap is lower in density and correspondingly higher in porosity, various methods have been investigated. Some of the methods include single needle programmable pattern peening of a bolted face peened area, over-burnishing of the bolt holes, and forming the threads rather than cutting the threads for side bolted end caps.
It would be desirable to produce a powdered metal component, wherein the component can be efficiently and accurately reinforced.

Selectively reinforced powder metal components


A sink disinfecting apparatus consisting of a dual compartment container having a water reservoir in one half and a disinfectant reservoir in the other half. The heated water reservoir is connected to the house cold water supply and discharges to a venturi which aspirates disinfectant from the disinfectant reservoir which then discharges through a valve to a disinfectant tray holding a sponge or other type of cleaning pad. A mixture of water and disinfectant is discharged to the tray by operating a push button valve.

In order to reduce the possibility of food contamination and food poisoning, it is necessary to frequently clean and disinfect kitchen counters, sinks, food utensils and food handling equipment. Cleaning pads and sponges often contribute to the spread of food contaminants. If the cleaning pad or sponge is not carefully rinsed and disinfected, it may spread the offending microorganisms or bacteria from a contaminated surface to a previously noncontaminated surface. Food coming in contact with the contaminated surface then becomes contaminated. It is the purpose of this invention to provide an easily actuated sponge disinfectant dispensing apparatus for flooding a sponge in a tray with a mix of disinfectant and water when a valve is opened.


A method of forming an E-plane probe includes forming a plurality of monolithically integrated circuits (MICs) on a wafer, each MIC including a monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC), and an E-plane probe coupled to the MMIC, mounting the wafer on an ultra-violet (UV) tape, cutting the wafer with a laser at a first power and a first linear cutting speed along vertical streets and then along horizontal streets to form separate substrates, cutting with the laser at a second power and a second linear cutting speed a rectangle or a portion of a rectangle from the separate substrates to form narrow substrate extensions on the substrates, and repeating this step for each rectangle or portion of a rectangle to be cut to form substrate extensions, and curing the UV tape, wherein the E-plane probes are on the narrow substrate extensions.

E-plane probes may be used and operate as an antenna that captures the electromagnetic energy propagating in a waveguide to couple the energy to a microelectronic chip, such as a power amplifier. Typically such E-plane probes are fabricated on separate substrates (alumina and quartz) external to the microelectronic chip.
In power modules according to the prior art, a microelectronic chip, such as a power amplifier, may be connected with a ribbon bond to a microstrip E-plane probe fabricated on a low-loss substrate, which may be alumina or quartz. For such modules, the ribbon bond discontinuity and the microstrip transmission line on the low-loss substrate reduce the performance of the module.
FIG. 1 shows an example of the prior art, showing a W-band GaN power amplifier (PA) WR-10 module, which may have 2 Watts of output power at 94 GHz. As shown in FIG. 1, an E-plane probe 12 extends into a WR-10 waveguide 14. WR-10 may be used for microwave W-band frequencies. The E-plane probe 12 along with an impedance matching circuit 16 is mounted on a low-loss substrate 18. A ribbon bond 22 is used to connect the microstrip transmission line 17 to a W-band GaN power amplifier (PA) 20. The ribbon bond 18 discontinuity and the microstrip transmission line 17 on the low-loss substrate 15 could account for a reduction of over 1 dB in performance.
More recently, and especially for very high frequency operations, such probes have been integrated monolithically on the microelectronic chip.
For example, Donadio, O., Elgaid, K., and Appleby, R. in "Waveguide-to-microstrip transition at G-band using elevated E-plane probe Waveguide-to-microstrip transition at G-band using elevated E-plane probe" Electronics Letters, 47 (2). pp. 115-116. (2011) ISSN 0013-5194 describe a G-band waveguide-to-microstrip transition which is elevated over GaAs substrate; however, the described transition is fabricated with a fabrication process which is not compatible with conventional monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) processes and requires non-standard micro fabrication steps.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,486,748, issued Nov. 26, 2002 to Stones et al., describes a low-loss transition from microstrip to waveguide using a suspended stripline as an intermediate connection; however, the described transition is fabricated using materials and a fabrication process which again is not compatible with conventional MMIC processes and requires non-standard micro fabrication steps.
K. M. Leong, W. Deal et al. in "A 340-380 GHz Integrated CB-CPW-to-Microstrip Transition for Sub mm-Wave MMIC packaging", IEEE Microwave and Wireless Component Letters, vol. 19, no. 6, June 2009, pp. 413-415 describe a monolithically integrated E-plane probe for InP substrates. The design described utilizes the entire width of the substrate for the E-plane probe. The disadvantage of such a structure is that because the entire substrate width is used for the E-plane probe, there is a large leakage of the trans-electric TE10 mode in the waveguide into the circuit, which reduces the circuit performance.
K. M. Leong, K. Henning et al. in "WR1.5 Silicon Micromachined Waveguide Components and Active Circuit integration Methodology", IEEE Trans. on Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 60, no. 4, April 2012, pp. 998-1005 describe a monolithically integrated E-plane probe on a InP substrate. The fabrication uses deep reactive ion etching to form the E-plane probe. The approach works with thin substrates; however, does not work with substrate thicknesses greater than 50 um. As a result, deep reactive ion etching cannot create free-standing high aspect ratio structures.
What is needed is an improved way to fabricate E-plane probes for interconnecting high frequency (>100 GHz) microelectronic chips, such as GaN, InP, Si, SiC, GaAs or other technologies with waveguide components. The embodiments of the present disclosure answer these and other needs.

E-plane probe with stepped surface profile for high-frequency


System, methods, and other embodiments described herein relate to determining an improved electrode design of a battery. In one embodiment, a method includes computing one or more equivalent circuits as porous electrode transmission line models corresponding to one or more electrode designs. Individual circuits of the equivalent circuits define an arrangement of electrode elements having at least two geometric degrees of freedom. The electrode designs are defined according to battery specifications indicating at least a battery volume, and a separator thickness. The method includes determining attributes for the equivalent circuits according to the at least the two geometric degrees of freedom in which the equivalent circuits are defined. The method includes identifying a target design of the electrode designs associated with one of or more of the attributes satisfying a circuit threshold. The target design improves one or more of the attributes in relation to the battery.

In the age of the Internet of Things (IoT), in which things and people are connected via the internet, there is a growing need for improving the power source for such devices. Some of the key properties for the power source are power, energy density, and lifetime (or cyclability), and a promising candidate, the micro lithium-ion battery, is attracting attention in the world. However, in general, the micro-battery has a problem with a small amount of battery capacity and, therefore, low energy density since it is difficult to load enough active materials in a small space. Thus, there is a need to look beyond the overall packaging constraints and focus attention on designing the battery at the micro-scale level for achieving advancements in power, energy density, and cyclability. Yet, many approaches to performing such optimizations are constrained by different techniques that do not permit, for example, analysis in a greater number of dimensions or, more generally, in a more robust manner as may be needed to overcome the noted difficulties.

Systems and methods for optimizing battery designs in multiple dimensions

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.


An optical scanning device is disclosed that is manufactured through a simple mounting process and is provided with a hermetically sealed oscillation space for an oscillation mirror. The optical scanning device includes plural drive electrodes for driving the oscillation mirror and plural external electrodes of the drive electrodes that are formed at the same height.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical scanning device implementing a movable mirror as a deflector for scanning an optical beam and a method of manufacturing such an optical scanning device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a polygon mirror or a galvanometer mirror is used in an optical scanning device as a deflector for scanning an optical beam. In order to achieve a high resolution image and high-speed printing, the rotational speed of the deflector needs to be increased. However, in the prior art, high speed scanning technology is restricted by factors such as the durability of the bearing, heat generation due to windage loss, and noise.
In response to such a problem, in recent years and continuing, technology is being developed for applying silicon micromachining to an optical deflector. For example, Japanese Patent No. 2924200 and Japanese Patent No. 3022244 disclose technology pertaining to integrally forming an oscillation mirror and a torsion beam bearing the oscillation mirror on a silicon substrate.
Also, Japanese Patent No. 2924200 discloses a technique for hermetically sealing an oscillation space of an oscillation mirror. According to such a technique, a structure that is processed in depressurized inert gas is hermetically sealed, as is illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1B.
Also, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 8-334722 discloses a technique for hermetically sealing a space with a glass plate through anodic bonding to provide a vacuum space for an electromagnetic power driven oscillation mirror as is illustrated in FIG. 2.
According to the technique of integrally forming an oscillation mirror and a torsion beam bearing the oscillation mirror on a silicon substrate, resonance is used to induce back-and-forth oscillation so that high speed operation may be realized without increasing the noise level. Also, according to this technique, the required drive power for rotating the oscillation mirror is relatively low so that power consumption may be maintained at a low rate.
When an oscillation mirror as is described above is used in an air medium, the following problems arise.
(1) Operational characteristics are influenced by external environmental factors such as temperature, humidity and dust so that reliability is decreased.
(2) A large scanning angle cannot be obtained due to the viscous resistance of air.
Thereby, it is desired that at least the oscillation space of the oscillation mirror be hermetically sealed.
According to the disclosure of Japanese Patent No. 2924200, a single structure is provided on a stem, and a cap is provided over the top portion of the structure to seal the structure. However, complicated processing needs to be conducted using a relatively large number of components including the stem and the cap to realize the above disclosed device structure, and thereby, the manufacturing process for the device structure is quite complicated.
Also, the device structure disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 8-334722 uses an electromagnetic power driven oscillation mirror, and thereby, its manufacturing procedure requires a relatively large number of processes using a relatively large number of components. Also, it is noted that such a device uses a large number of glass plates so that its manufacturing cost may be increased. Further, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 8-334722 does not mention mounting the oscillation mirror structure on a printed circuit board with a drive circuit.

Optical scanning device and method of manufacturing the same


A shielded electrical connector (100) for receiving a module includes a shielding shell (3) mounted to a printed circuit board, an insulative housing (1) assembled to the shell and equipped with a number of contacts (2). Each contact has a contacting portion (22) for contacting with the module and a soldering portion (23) extending beyond the shell for connection to the printed circuit board. The shell comprises a bottom plate (32) extending in a direction perpendicular to the module insertion direction and a plurality of side plates (310, 311, 312, 313) extending upwardly from the bottom plate and cooperating with the bottom plate to form a receiving space for receiving the module. Every two adjacent side plates are connected to each other.

1. Field of the invention
The present invention generally relates to a shielded electrical connector, particularly to a shielded electrical connector for receiving an electrical element therein.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional shielded electrical connector described in U.S. patent application Publication No. 2003/0218873 comprises a fastening structure for fastening an electrical element 3 having a plurality of projections. The fastening structure comprises a frame 1 with a plurality of flexible strips 11 arranged therearound, and an adapter 2 with a plurality of U-shaped contacts mounted on. However, there are a plurality of slots between adjacent strips, therefore, electromagnetic radiation of certain frequency could penetrate through the slots, the connector could not achieve desirable effect of preventing electromagnet interference. Furthermore, the adapter 2 together with the terminals is placed between the electrical element 3 and a bottom of the frame 1, each U-shaped terminal having a soldering portion formed at a free end thereof and located below the adapter, the soldering portions extend outwardly from the bottom of the frame 1 for soldering onto a print circuit board, in this way, the electrical connector is located on one side of the printed circuit board, therefore the electrical connector together with the printed circuit board would occupy too many spaces in the height direction.
It is thus desired to provide a shielded electrical connector assembly to overcome the shortcomings described above.

Electrical connector with improved shielding means


A limited flicker decorative light-emitting diode (LED) string includes a power plug adapted to connect to an alternating current (AC) power source and supply AC power to the LED string, a first pair of LEDs and a second pair of LEDs, a plurality of LEDs electrically connected in series to form an LED series, and a plurality of rectifying diodes. The plurality of rectifying diodes provides full-wave rectification of the AC power to the LED series and half-wave rectification of the AC power to the first and second pair of LEDs.

Light strings having incandescent lights connected electrically in a series are well known, especially around the holidays when such light strings are used for decorative purposes. More recently, the use of light emitting diodes (LEDs) in place of incandescent lights has become more prevalent. Early versions of LED-based decorative light strings relied upon bulky, external power transformers to convert readily available alternating current (AC) power to direct current (DC) power. The LEDs were typically wired in parallel and with the appropriate DC voltage applied across each LED. Eventually, series connected decorative LED strings that operated directly on AC power became available.
Although these AC-powered LED strings provide desirable characteristics such as high reliability, long life, and low energy consumption, these strings often exhibit a "flickering" effect. This "flicker" results from the LEDs being operated on sinusoidal AC power. As the AC voltage alternates positive and negative, each LED turns on and off with the changing supply voltage. The result is a visible flickering of the LEDs.
FIG. 1 depicts an example of a typical prior art LED string as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,461,019 issued to Allen. Allen discloses an LED string with one or more series of LEDs connected directly to an AC power source P. In operation, LED series A, comprising LED 1A through LED NA is lit for approximately one half of the sinusoidal power cycle, while LED Series B, comprising LED 1B through NB is lit during the other half of the power cycle. As such, the LEDs of Series A and B alternately emit light, causing a generally noticeable flicker effect.
Some light strings that operate on AC power attempted to solve the flicker problem through full-wave rectification applied to all the LEDs. This typically mean using a rectifying bridge located in an external enclosure, or in the power plug. FIG. 2 depicts a prior art LED string that utilizes a full-wave bridge rectifier to provide full-wave rectified AC, considered "DC," power to all of the LEDs in the light string. Although flicker can be reduced significantly through such a circuit design, an LED string implementing such a circuit typically requires the use of an external enclosure to house the bridge rectifier. Adding an external enclosure to the LED string adds additional cost and complexity to the LED set, detracts from the decorative value of the light string, and may eliminate certain size-sensitive applications. Further, if such an LED string is to include an end connector for connecting a second string to the end of the first string, the end connector must be directly wired to the plug, requiring more wire than standard light strings.
Alternatively, the bridge rectifier may be added to the power plug. U.S. Pat. No. 5,777,868 issued to Gibboney, Jr., discloses a power plug that includes a built-in bridge rectifier. Using such a power plug with a decorative light string adds significant cost and complexity to what are typically relatively simple devices. In addition to the additional cost, which is partially due to the use of non-standard components, such a plug may not allow the use of current taps which facilitate the stacking of power plugs so that several light strings may be plugged into the same power source.
Another known alternative is to split the bridge, locating one pair of rectifying diodes in the power plug, and one pair in the end connector. Such an LED string is depicted in FIG. 3, and disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,972,528, issued to Shao.
As depicted in FIG. 3, Shao discloses the anodes of a pair of rectifying diodes connected to multiple series-connected LEDs, which in turn are connected to a filtering circuit and another pair of rectifying LEDs. In this embodiment, full-wave rectified AC power, or essentially DC power, is provided to all LEDs. The pair of rectifying diodes nearest the power plug are packaged in the plug, while the other pair of rectifying diodes are packaged with the end connector, or "rear plug". Alternatively, they may be located in their own larger external housing. Although the flicker may be reduced using such methods, non-standard power plugs and end connectors or external housings need to be designed and manufactured.
The difficulties and drawbacks of these known decorative LED strings are overcome by the LED strings and methods of the present invention.

Limited flicker light emitting diode string


A carabiner includes an elongate extension formed generally into a prolate loop having a curved spine with an upper end and a lower end, an upper finger extending forwardly and downwardly from the upper end of the spine to terminate in a free end, a lower finger extending forwardly and upwardly in the shape of a hook to terminate in a free end, and an elongate pivot finger pivotally attached at a lower end to the free end of the lower finger to pivot between a closed position, in which an upper end of the pivot finger contacts the free end of the upper finger, and an open position, in which the upper end of the pivot finger is pivoted away from the free end of the upper finger toward the spine. The spine includes a fin or rib extending rearwardly therefrom, with the fin having a contact surface against which a person's thumb may rest when gripping the spine from the rear. This allows the person to orient, by feel, the carabiner for subsequent use.

This invention relates to a carabiner designed to facilitate easy grasping and positioning for use.
Carabiners are a basic tool in the equipment of a climber, and are used to clip ropes, protection, and the like together in a variety of configurations. Oftentimes, it is necessary for the climber to retrieve a carabiner from a sling, orient it in his hand, and then clip a climbing rope or ropes into the body of the carabiner, all without being able to look at the carabiner, or rope or ropes.
With conventional carabiners, it is difficult, through feel alone, to be able to properly orient the carabiner for easy clipping of ropes thereinto. Of course, if the climber is required to look at the carabiner while using it, he may be distracted from other critical climbing activities.
Carabiners, as with other climbing equipment, should be lightweight and yet strong enough to safely serve all functions to which they might be put. In addition, the larger the central opening or void in the carabiner, the easier it is to insert fingers into the opening for better positioning.


A method and apparatus is provided of locating a portable remote station transceiving a diffuse infrared communicated signal within an enclosed area containing a plurality of stationary infrared transceivers interconnected with a central controller. The method includes the steps of detecting a particular transmission of the diffuse infrared communicated signal from the portable remote station within the enclosed area by the plurality of stationary transceivers and measuring a parametric value of the particular signal received by each stationary transceiver of the plurality of stationary transceivers. The method further includes the step of locating the portable remote station based upon differences in the parametric value measured at each stationary transceivers.

This invention generally relates to the field of data communication networks. More particularly, this invention pertains to wireless local area networks (LANs) for a data communication network having a number of users exchanging data between individual remote stations and a central station over a single optical infrared channel.
A multipoint digital communication network typically consists of a number of remote stations which communicate with a central station over one or more two-way communication channels. For example, personal computers are typically connected to a wide variety of peripherals or other computers via wire cables, i.e., a hard-wired communication link. Moreover, local area networks (LANs) are often used to integrate remote terminals that are located at the same site. Depending upon the number of users, distance between terminals, number of peripherals, frequency of system reconfiguration, portability of the remote stations, etc., the hard-wired cable system may not be practical for a given application. Hence, various wireless communication technologies have been employed, particularly when a system includes a large number of users and/or portable, hand-held computer devices.
Among the more common wireless technologies are narrow-band radio frequency (RF) systems, spread spectrum RF, ultrasonic, and infrared optical. Radio frequency systems are often significantly degraded by electromagnetic noise and interference, as well as by large signal amplitude variations and multipath interference. Moreover, RF systems are typically subject to governmental licensing and regulation. Alternative wireless systems employing ultrasonic sound waves experience severe problems with the complete loss of signals due to nulls in the transmission path.
Optical-infrared communication, however, is not affected by electromagnetic interference, and is much less susceptible to mutipath interference. Furthermore, optical systems are inherently secure (since the infrared light does not penetrate walls), have no known health or safety effects (at low power levels), and are not subject to F.C.C. regulation. Moreover, infrared transceivers draw relatively low currents, which is particularly important with respect to hand-held battery-powered portable computers. Thus, the use of infrared light as the wireless medium is well suited to such applications.
One practical infrared LAN was taught by Lee in U.S. Pat. No 5,099,346, (Lee) assigned to the assignee of the present invention. Under Lee a number of computers and peripherals (remote stations) were interconnected using an infrared optical communication system. While Lee worked well, the infrared devices of Lee were line-of-sight devices. Line-of-sight devices are not particularly well suited to palmtop computers or other data processing devices requiring great mobility. Because of the importance of mobile communication between data processing devices in enclosed areas and in the utility of palmtop computers in general, a need exists for a means of exchanging data between mobile and stationary data processing devices that is more flexible than line-of-sight devices and yet not susceptible to electromagnetic interference.
Accordingly, a primary object of the present invention is to provide a method for using existing infrared transmitting and receiving apparatus, but in an arrangement to enable the transceiving of infrared signals indirectly as well as line-of-sight.
A further and more particular object of this present invention is to provide a radiation filter for a photodiode detector of the transceivers which blocks radiation outside the infrared region thereby increasing sensitivity of the infrared receivers.
A further and more particular object of this present invention is to provide an infrared detector within an infrared receiver whose speed and performance is not dependent upon changes in signalling light levels.
A further and more particular object of this present invention is to provide a means of locating a portable remote station based upon measured parameters of the portable remote station.

Method and apparatus for locating a transmitter of a diffuse infrared signal within an enclosed area


Resonator holes are formed extending one to the other of a pair of opposing end surfaces of a dielectric block, and inner conductors are formed on inner peripheral surfaces of resonator holes respectively. On an outer surface of dielectric block, a pair of input/output electrodes and one antenna electrode are formed, and expect these regions, an outer conductor is formed. By the coupling of two resonators corresponding to the resonator holes, a transmitting filter is provided, and by two resonators corresponding to resonator holes, a receiving filter is formed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an antenna duplexer. More specifically, the present invention relates to an antenna duplexer used for mobile communication equipment, such as automobile telephones and portable telephones.
2. Description of the Background Art
FIG. 1 is an equivalent circuit diagram of an antenna duplexer serving as an antenna both for a transmitter and for a receiver. Referring to FIG. 1, the antenna duplexer includes three terminals for input and output, which are designated as transmitting terminal TX, receiving terminal RX and antenna terminal ANT. Resonators R1 and R2 are for the transmitter, and resonators R3 and R4 are for the receiver. Each of these resonators is connected to ground. Also, resonator R1 is connected to transmitting terminal TX through an external coupling capacitance Ce1, resonator R2 is connected to antenna terminal ANT through external coupling capacitance Ce2, resonator R3 is connected to antenna terminal ANT through external coupling capacitance Ce3, and resonator R4 is connected to receiving terminal RX through an external coupling capacitance Ce4.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a specific example of the antenna duplexer schematically shown in FIG. 1. Referring to FIG. 2, the antenna duplexer includes two dielectric filters 1a and 1b, and a coupling board 20. Each of the dielectric filters 1a and 1b consists of two stages of resonators. More specifically, dielectric filter 1a includes an approximately rectangular dielectric block 10a which includes two resonator holes 21a and 22a extending from an apertured surface 11a to an opposite surface 12a. Also, inner conductors 31a and 32a are formed on inner peripheral surfaces of resonator holes 21a and 22a, respectively.
A pair of input/output electrodes 51a and 52a are formed at opposite corner portions of dielectric block 1a, and extend from a side surface to the bottom surface of dielectric block 1a. On the outer peripheral surface except the regions on which input/output electrodes 51a and 52a are formed, an outer conductor 4a is provided. The inner conductors 31a and 32a are not provided at end portions of resonator holes 21a and 22a on the side of the apertured surface (hereinafter referred to as "open end surface") 11a. Therefore on open end surface 11a, inner conductors 31a and 32a are isolated from external conductor 4a, i.e., not electrically conducted. On the other surface (hereinafter referred to as "short-circuited surface") 12a opposite to the open end surface 11a, the resonator holes 21a and 22a are electrically conducted to with the external conductor 4a (short-circuited).
The other dielectric filter 1b is formed similarly as the above described dielectric filter 1a. Namely, it includes a dielectric block 10b, resonator holes 21b and 22b, inner conductors 31b and 32b, an outer conductor 4b, input and output electrodes 51b and 52b, an open end surface 11b and a short-circuited end surface 12b.
The coupling board 20 is for coupling two dielectric filters 1a and 1b placed parallel to each other, and it includes input/output electrodes 201 and 202 and an antenna electrode 203 formed on the surface thereof. Input/output electrode 201 corresponds to the input/output electrode 51a of dielectric filter 1a, input/output electrode 202 corresponds to the input/output electrode 52b of the dielectric filter 1b, and antenna electrode 203 corresponds to input/output electrodes 52a and 51b of the dielectric filters 1a and 1b, respectively. On the entire surface of coupling board 20, except the regions where input/output electrodes 201, 202 and antenna electrode 203 are formed, a ground conductor 204 is formed.
The dielectric filters 1a and 1b, as described above, constitute filters each having two stages of resonators, by the coupling of the resonators formed in resonator holes 21a and 22a, and 21b and 22b, respectively. Comparing FIG. 1 to FIG. 2, resonators R1 and R2 shown in FIG. 1 represent resonators formed by resonator holes 21a and 22a, respectively, of dielectric filter 1a, while resonators R3 and R4 represent resonators formed by resonator holes 21b and 22b, respectively, of dielectric filter 1b. The external coupling capacitance Ce1 between resonator R1 and transmitting terminal TX, the external coupling capacitance Ce4 between resonator R4 and receiving terminal RX, and external coupling capacitances Ce2 and Ce3 between resonators R2 and R3 and antenna terminal ANT respectively, are provided by interelectrode capacitances formed between input/output electrodes 51a, 52a, 51b, 52b and corresponding inner conductors 31a, 32a, 31b, and 32b of the dielectric filters 1a and 1b.
However, in the conventional antenna duplexer shown in FIG. 2, two dielectric filters 1a and 1b formed by two dielectric blocks 10a and 10b, as well as a coupling board 20 for connecting, fixing and mounting the filters, are necessary for forming the antenna duplexer. This conventional antenna duplexer therefore requires a large number of parts and numerous assembly steps including the soldering of these components. Thus, the conventional antenna duplexer of FIG. 2 impedes reduction in size, and increases the cost of components, the number of manufacturing steps and the cost of manufacturing.
Other known examples of a conventional antenna duplexer includes a number of dielectric resonators each having one resonator hole formed in one dielectric block, and arranged parallel to each other. In such an example, external components such as capacitor elements are necessary, in a addition to the coupling board, which results in larger number of parts.


This invention provides an agonist antibody to a human thrombopoietin receptor (alias: human c-Mpl). More particularly, this invention provides an agonist antibody to a human thrombopoietin receptor, wherein the agonist antibody comprises: antibody constant regions comprising (1) amino acid sequences in a heavy chain constant region and a light chain constant region of a human antibody, (2) an amino acid sequence of a heavy chain constant region with a domain substituted between human antibody subclasses, and an amino acid sequence of a light chain constant region of a human antibody, or (3) amino acid sequences comprising a deletion(s), substitution(s), addition(s), or insertion(s) of one or several amino acid residues in the amino acid sequences of (1) or (2) above; and antibody variable regions capable of binding to and activating a human thrombopoietin receptor; and wherein the agonist antibody has the properties: (a) that the antibody induces colony formation at a concentration of 10,000 ng/ml or lower as determined by the CFU-MK colony formation assay using human umbilical-cord-blood-derived CD34+ cells; and (b) that the antibody has a maximal activity at least 50% higher than that of PEG-rHuMGDF and an 50% effective concentration (EC50) of 100 nM or less in the cell proliferation assay using UT7/TPO cell. Also provided is a pharmaceutical composition for treating thrombocytopenia comprising said antibody.

<TPO and TPO Receptor>
Thrombopoietin (TPO) is a hematopoietic factor that promotes proliferation of megakaryocytes and platelets in vivo. Human TPO is a glycoprotein comprising 332 amino acid residues in full length, and the N-terminal sequence is known to be important for the activity of human TPO. Human TPO exhibits its functions upon binding to TPO receptor on cell membrane.
c-Mpl is the only TPO receptor that is known at present. Human c-Mpl is a glycoprotein having one transmembrane domain, comprising 635 amino acids if it contains signal peptide or 610 amino acids if it is matured, and it belongs to the type I cytokine receptor family. The messenger RNA and protein sequences of human c-Mpl have been already reported (Genbank: NM_005373, NP_005364). Examples of molecules of the same family include erythropoietin receptor (EpoR), G-CSF receptor (G-CSFR), and interleukin 3 receptor (IL-3R). Human c-Mpl has 2 CRH (cytokine receptor homologue) domains in its extracellular region (referred to as CRH1 and CRH2 from the N-terminus), and such domains comprise WSXWS (SEQ ID NO: 95) motif peculiar to the cytokine receptor family. The intracellular domain contains 2 sequences, Box1 and Box2, which are essential for signal transduction. It is suggested that TPO binds to CRH1 and dimerizes c-Mpl, thereby transducing a signal; however, specific modes of the binding and activation have not yet been elucidated. Upon dimerization of c-Mpl, signaling kinase that has bound to the intracellular domain is activated, and phosphorylation signal is transmitted within the cell. It is known that the TPO-Mpl signal activates Jak-STAT, PI3K-Akt, and Ras-MAPK pathways. In case of a mouse in which TPO or c-Mpl is defective, it is reported that the platelet count decreases to approximately 10%-20% relative to that of a wild-type mouse, indicating that the TPO-Mpl system is a critical system for regulating the platelet counts. c-Mpl expression is observed not only in megakaryocytes but also in undifferentiated hematopoietic progenitor cells or hematopoietic stem cells. c-Mpl-positive cell fractions in the bone marrow are known to have a higher ability to reconstruct bone marrow than c-Mpl-negative fractions. It is also known that a c-Mpl-deficient mouse has a decreased number of hematopoietic stem cells, as well as a decreased number of megakaryocytes and platelets (Hiroshi Miyazaki, "Future Prospects for Thrombopoietin," Japanese Journal of Transfusion Medicine, 46(3) , 311-316, 2000; and Murone, M. et al., Stem Cell 16: 1-6, 1998). These findings suggest the involvement of the TPO-Mpl system with the hematopoietic system at the stem cell level or thereafter.
Since the cloning of TPO, its use as a therapeutic agent for thrombocytopenia has been expected, and clinical trials have been conducted in the past with respect to two types of recombinant TPOs: full-length human TPO (rhTPO) and PEG-rHuMGDF (pegylated recombinant human megakaryocyte proliferation and development factor) comprising a pegylated peptide sequence of the N-terminal 163 amino acids which form the active site of human TPO (Kuter, D J et al., Blood 100 (10): 3457-69, 2002). In the clinical trails, the recombinant TPOs were found to successfully increase platelets of healthy volunteers and patients with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). Also, effects of reducing thrombocytopenia caused by nonmyeloablative chemotherapy have been demonstrated. Although the number of cases is small, effects of recombinant TPOs on patients with aplastic anemia (AA) or myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) have been reported (Yonemura, Y. et al., Int J Hemat (82) 307-309, 2005; and Komatsu, N. et al., Blood 96, 296a, 2000).
<c-Mpl Agonist Antibody>
A variety of TPO mimetics having c-Mpl-mediating signaling properties as in TPO but having completely different molecular properties have been studied (Broudy, V C et al., Cytokine 25(2): 52-60, 2004; and Wang B. et al., Clin Pharmacol Ther., 76(6): 628-38, 2004). Known mimetics are roughly classified into, for example, peptidic lower molecules, nonpeptidic lower moleculest, antibody-derived molecules, agonist antibodies, and the like.
Examples of known anti-c-Mpl agonist human antibodies include 12B5, 12E10, and 12D5 (WO 99/10494). Such antibodies do not have activity against primary human cells in the form of a whole antibody, such as whole IgG. The term "primary human cell" as used herein refers to a cell on which TPO acts in vivo, such as CD34+ cell derived from human umbilical cord blood or bone marrow, but not an especially established cell line which is highly sensitive to TPO or a cell into which TPO receptor gene has been introduced and expressed at a high level. The term refers to cells on which TPO act in vivo, such as CD34+ cells derived from human umbilical cord blood or bone marrow.
Examples of known murine agonist antibodies include BAH-1 (WO 99/03495; and Deng B. et al., Blood 92(6): 1981-1988, 1998) and VB22B (WO 2005/056604). Murine antibodies are known to exhibit antigenicity in the human blood and thus are not appropriate as pharmaceuticals. In general, it is difficult to humanize agonist antibodies in the form of a whole antibody using, for example, CDR grafting while maintaining activity (WO 2005/056604; and Ji Hee Son et al., Journal of Immunological Methods 286: 187-201, 2004). Even if such known agonist antibodies are present accordingly, it is not easy to create agonist human antibodies that act on primary cells.
Antibody-derived lower molecules as described above in relation to the TPO mimetics are also represent a certain type of agonist antibody. Diabody and single chain (Fv)2 (sc(Fv)2) that are prepared by modifying part of an antibody have been reported (WO 99/10494; and WO 2005/056604). The modified antibodies that had been produced by such technique, however, may disadvantageously have antigenecity resulting from drastic modification of molecules. Also, their half-lives in blood would be shorter than that of the whole antibody. Thus, use of such modified antibodies as pharmaceuticals remains problematic.
Thus, the whole antibody has properties useful for pharmaceuticals, such as low antigenecity or half-life duration in blood; however, it is not easy to create agonist human antibodies having sufficient activity in the form of a whole antibody, as described above.
Accordingly, the present inventors have attempted to obtain agonist human human antibodies having sufficient activity without drastically modifying the antibody structure and, as a result, the present inventors have now succeeded in obtaining the antibodies of interest as described below. Moreover, the present inventors have now succeeded in modifying the hinge region of an antibody, thereby improving an agonist activity. Antibodies produced according to the present invention will be suitable as a therapeutic agent of thrombocytopenia.

Agonist antibody to human thrombopoietin receptor


The present invention provides a high reliability fault tolerant computer system capable of constructing a redundant configuration employing PnP software. In duplexing systems, entities of IO bridges (actual IO bridges) which are connected to virtual bus and correspond each other is integrated into the systems as pseudo IO bridges, so that if the systems are physically disconnected each other, by emulating the actual IO bridge in another system, the pseudo-IO bridge can act as if a so-called PnP event in the IO bridge itself does not occur.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer system, a fault tolerant system using the same, an operation control method and a program thereof, and particularly an improvement of the fault tolerant computer system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, performance of general purpose CPUs widely used have been significantly increased, and by installing a general purpose operating system (OS) on a workstation or a server using such general purpose CPU, high-performance and inexpensive system is provided. As a result, even in applications where a very expensive large-scale computer has been conventionally used, a system using a high-performance and inexpensive general purpose CPU is used.
On the other hand, mission-critical applications where a system needs to continuously run 24 hours per day are also increasing. In these applications, it is important to construct the system such that system down is prevented.
However, In such a general purpose CPU and a general purpose OS, due to lack of CPU's own fault detection function, and in the case of hardware failure in a general purpose OS, due to lack of fault notification means and definition of a fault processing for a response upon failure, hardware failure causes system breakdown. Therefore, in order to provide a high reliability system, it is required to add a special peripheral circuit or to develop a dedicated OS, thereby making it difficult to develop high reliability systems while following the speed at which normal general purpose CPU systems are developed. For this reason, cost-performance differences between normal systems and high reliability systems tend to increase.
Therefore, in order to provide a high reliability computer system having commonality with a computer system using general purpose CPU, such as a fault tolerant computer system, for example, as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 09-034809, CPUs performing the same processing synchronously with the same clock, a device for detecting a failure of a CPU and disconnecting the fault CPU and a system for disconnecting a fault IO path by CPU instructions depending on IO failure are proposed. However, in a general purpose OS widely used, due to the fact that a notification method for hardware failure and a fault processing function are not provided, there is a problem that system breakdown occurs.
Therefore, in order to use a general purpose OS, a configuration is required in which hardware failure and OS are completely separated. For example, referring to National Publication of International Patent Application No. 2001-523855, a calculation element (CE) and a IO control part (IOP) are respectively configured by one computer system and each element is connected multiple times, so that redundancy is achieved. Communication is performed between elements, and a CE or IOP is disconnected in which failure is detected.
For example, for the IO control part, hardware is virtualized from OS viewpoint. Although an IO control part in which failure occurs may be paused, this failure does not affect OS directly, and occurrence of a failure can be concealed by detecting the failure and returning a normal response by remaining redundant IO control parts.
However, in this system, a CPU and an IO require one computer respectively, and further, to make redundant configuration, a number of computers required to achieve redundancy is needed. Further, Since each computer performs asynchronously or differently, extra OS licenses needs to be installed and system become expensive.
There is a system that allows to change connection configuration of an IO device or an IO bridge on a bus dynamically by using standard PnP (Plug & Play) software on a general purpose OS, therefore it is conceivable that a high reliability fault tolerant computer system is constructed by adopting redundant configuration system using such PnP software.
However, For an IO bridge PnP processing, complete dynamic configuration change is not supported. For example, in connecting an IO bridge, since the amount of memory space allocation requested by a device connected to the IO bridge, and the number of devices are not determined, memory space is not free to be allocated to connected IO bridges due to limitation on PnP control software or OS (typically defined by a fixed value), thereby the number and the type of devices are limited.
For example, in the case of PnP connection of an IO bridge, because OS can not determine how many resources are required for the IO bridge, certain memory space is allocated and can not be changed thereafter. For this reason, when a further IO bridge or device is connected under the connected IO bridge, an IO bridge or a device can not be connected which requires more memory space than allocated to the first IO bridge.
Also, if a plurality of devices are connected, due to the fact that required memory space may exceed memory space allocated to the IO bridge, some devices may fails to allocate memory resource depending on the number of connected devices. This limitation on memory resource allocation becomes serious problem in a multistage IO bridge configuration system such that a plurality of IO bridges are connected under a PnP connected IO bridge.
Conventionally, due to the above limitation, in order to construct a fault tolerant computer system with a system using PnP software, it is required to modify OS standard PnP control software and OS itself to sufficiently allocate resources to the IO bridge.
It is an object of the invention to provide a high reliability and high availability computer system capable of constructing a redundant configuration without the need to modify existing general purpose OS functions, a fault tolerant system using the same, a operation control method and a program thereof.

Computer system, fault tolerant system using the same and operation control method and program thereof


A printed wiring assembly rework tool and method which eliminates the need to remove a component from the printed wiring assembly in order to isolate a component pin from one or more printed circuits in the printed wiring assembly. The rework tool is able to mill or cut away a plated through hole and/or the area of the printed wiring assembly immediately surrounding the component pin without removing the component. Using the rework tool, the operation continues until the rework tool has either cut to a sufficient depth in the printed wiring assembly to sever a particular electrical connection, or the tool has cut all the way through the printed wiring assembly in order to completely isolate the component pin. The rework tool includes a pilot hole which accommodates the component pin as the tool cuts into the printed wiring assembly.

Most electronic systems today include one or more electronic circuits assembled on printed wiring boards (also referred to as printed circuit boards). The printed wiring boards typically include a number of through holes for receiving leads or pins from various components which are mounted on the printed wiring board. These component pins extend through the holes and engage printed circuitry within the printed wiring boards which provide numerous electrical connections between the pins of the various components. After being physically mounted on the printed wiring boards, the component pins are typically soldered in the corresponding through holes to provide a reliable electrical connection between the pins and the associated printed circuitry. A printed wiring board on which the components are thus mounted is generally referred to as a printed wiring assembly. It is common during the development of electronic systems that design changes, layout errors, etc. may occur with respect to the printed wiring assemblies. As a result, it is oftentimes necessary to rework or modify printed wiring assemblies even after the components have been assembled and the component pins soldered. Such modifications include cuts, jumpers and so on to change the electrical connections among the component pins within the printed wiring assembly. Unfortunately, such modifications can be difficult to perform particularly when the goal is to isolate electrically one of the component pins from the printed wiring assembly and the printed wiring assembly is populated with high pin count parts such as daughter card connectors or pin grid arrays having on the order of 100 to 300 pins. Further complicating matters is the fact that when the printed wiring assembly utilizes a multi-layer wiring board, most of the printed circuitry is buried within the board. Consequently, it becomes even more difficult to isolate selectively one or more component pins from the printed circuitry.
Previously, reworking a printed wiring assembly to isolate one or more component pins involved removing the solder from each of the component pins in a given component in order to be able to remove the component from the printed wiring assembly. Then it was necessary to drill out the holes of any pins which were to be isolated using an oversize drill. Thereafter, the component needed to be remounted on the printed wiring assembly and all the pins had to be resoldered with the exception of those which were isolated. Unfortunately, this previous reworking technique was very labor intensive. The removal of high pin count components was particularly difficult, risky and time consuming. As an example, the removal of components was risky in that the printed wiring assembly and/or the component itself could be damaged. For instance, lifted pads, cracked plated through hole barrels, and broken component pins could result.
In view of the aforementioned shortcomings associated with previous techniques for reworking printed wiring assemblies, there is a strong need in the art for a rework tool and method for isolating a component pin from the printed wiring assembly in a timely and cost effective manner. In particular, there is a strong need for a rework tool and method which does not require that a component be removed initially from the printed wiring assembly, thereby avoiding the risks of lifted pads, cracked plated through hole barrels, etc.


A refuse receptacle lifter is disclosed that is mounted on a transporter secured to the front end of a collection vehicle rearwardly of an associated collection container. The transporter is adapted to move the lifter in a generally side-to-side direction relative to the collection container in order to move the lifter between a retracted position and a position in which it is spaced from the collection container so that it can engage a refuse receptacle. If the collection vehicle does not have a collection container. being carried on the front of the vehicle, the lifter may be moved to stored position generally adjacent to the front end of the vehicle.

Front load refuse collection vehicles are in wide use in large-scale residential refuse collection. Typically, front load refuse collection vehicle have a front crew cab, a large refuse compartment behind the cab, and a pair of hydraulic-powered lift forks extending in front of. the truck which are adapted to be inserted into corresponding slots or sleeves associated with a relatively large refuse collection container. The forks are then able to lift the refuse container over the front of the truck, invert container, and invert the container in order to dump its contents into the refuse compartment behind the cab.
For residential and small-scale refuse receptacle collection, the front load collection vehicle often carries the collection container in front of the vehicle as it moves along the street. This configuration allows the operator to dump smaller residential receptacles directly into the collection container before the containers dumped into the collection compartment of the vehicle. Typically, this has been a manual operation, with the operator parking the refuse collection vehicle near the receptacle, leaving the cab, and manually lifting and emptying the receptacle into the collection container. As can appreciated, this is unduly time consuming, labor intensive, and can lead to operator injury due to the repeated lifting of the often heavy refuse receptacles.
As a consequence, hydraulic receptacle lifters have been mounted directly to the collection container. Such collection containers with attached hydraulic lifters have been available from Perkins Manufacturing Company, assignee of the present application, since at least 1990. Other examples of collection containers with attached hydraulic lifters are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,984, which is incorporated by reference herein.
More recently, hydraulic lifters have been mounted on collection containers in a manner so that the lift can be mechanically moved into engagement with the refuse receptacle, rather than requiring the operator to move the refuse receptacle to the lifter, thus further reducing the labor required by the operator. Such systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,639,201 and 5,607,277, which are also incorporated by reference herein.
While the use of the systems described above has resulted in savings of time and labor, the known systems still have several deficiencies. Because hydraulic connections are typically required between the hydraulic system of the collection vehicle and the carrier-mounted lifter, these connections have been vulnerable to leakage and assorted breakdowns, requiring additional maintenance due, in part to the relatively large range of motion encountered by the container as it has moved over the cab to dump the contents thereof. The repeated lifting places additional stress of the hydraulic system and lines that has also required, in some instances, special designs to prevent the interference between the receptacle lifter and the lift forks for fork lift system of the collection vehicle.
Additionally, some of the container-mounted lifters are compatible only with a specific style of residential refuse receptacle, and are unable to handle containers of different styles. This can result in requiring several collection containers with different lifters for different collection routes, which results in added capital expense for additional equipment.
Accordingly, the primary object of the present invention is to provide an improved refuse collection vehicle and refuse receptacle lifter that results in more efficient methods of refuse collection.
A further object is to provide a refuse collection vehicle having an intermediate collection container with a refuse receptacle lifter that does not require a hydraulic connection between the vehicle and the collection container and the lifter.
Subsidiary objects are to provide a refuse receptacle lifter that can be used for lifting a variety of different style receptacles and to provide a lifter assembly that can be stored in an out-of-the-way position when not in use.

Front mounted lifter for front load vehicle


A measurement system having a first and second seal to create a sealed interface with a fluid and further having a rupturable barrier configured to relieve pressure when the pressure imparted to the first seal is less than the pressure imparted to the second seal, is disclosed. More particularly, the pressure relief element, which may be a rupturable barrier, is configured and positioned so that the second seal pressure limit is less than the first seal pressure limit. The primary elements of the system include the system housing, a sensing element having a first seal, with the sensing element within the housing, a second seal in fluid communication with the first seal, and a barrier that is rupturable when the pressure on the first seal is less than the pressure on the second seal.

FIG. 1 diagrammatically depicts a conventional installation for a measurement system 300. The measurement system 300 includes a probe or sensing element 301. The sensing element 301 is mounted on, and extends into a tank 302 that holds a flammable or combustible fluid such as gasoline. The measurement system 300 can be used to determine the level of material in the tank 302.
The measurement system 300 also includes a housing or junction box 304. The junction box 304 encloses a junction between electrical leads from the sensing element 301 and an electrical cable 308. The cable 308 can carry electrical signals generated by the sensing element 301 to signal processing equipment 310 located in a control room 312 or other location remote from the tank 302. The cable 308 is housed in a protective metal conduit 314 that extends between the junction box 304 and the control room 312.
The control room 312 is designated a "non-hazardous" area, in accordance with local guidelines such as the National Electrical Code (NEC).
The sensing element 301 is normally exposed to the flammable or combustible fluid within the tank 302, and is therefore considered to reside in an area designated "hazardous" in accordance with local guidelines such as the NEC.
The sensing element 301 is equipped with a seal 320 that, under normal operating conditions, prevents the fluid in the tank 302 from leaking past the sensing element 301 and into the junction box 304. Leakage in the seal 320, however, can permit the fluid to migrate into the junction box 304 and the attached conduit 314. The sensing element 301, which is directly exposed to the fluid within the tank 302 during normal operating conditions, is configured to be absent of any sources of energy that can potentially ignite the fluid. This type of configuration is characterized as "Intrinsically safe," in accordance with local guidelines such as the NEC.
The junction box 304, the conduit 314, and the seal fittings 319 (poured seals containing porous material, e.g., CHICO®) are components within the "explosion proof" system, in accordance with local guidelines, such as the NEC. Moreover, the conduit 314 and the junction box 304 are made sufficiently robust to withstand the relatively high internal pressure that may occur during an explosion.
Although the seal fittings 319 can restrict energy from an explosion, the porosity of the seal fittings 319 permits fluid to pass therethrough. Thus, fluid that leaks through the seal 320 of the sensing element 301 can potentially reach the control room 312 by way of the junction box 304 and the conduit 314.
A second, or secondary seal 330 can be mounted on the conduit 314, to prevent the leaked fluid from migrating to the control room 312 by way of the conduit 314. The secondary seal 330 can include a housing through which the cable 308 is routed. The interior of the housing can be potted once the cable 308 has been routed therethrough.
The secondary seal 330 is located in a hazardous area and is a component in a system employing explosion proof as the method of protection. Therefore, the seal 330 must be able to withstand relatively high internal pressure in order to contain an explosion that may occur. The secondary seal 330 is thus larger, more robust, and more expensive than a seal intended for use in an area not designated as using explosion proof as the method of protection. Moreover, the potting of the secondary seal 330 is normally performed in the field as the secondary seal 330 is being installed, thereby making the time and effort needed to install the seal 330 greater than would otherwise be required.
The secondary seal 330 can potentially be exposed to an overpressure condition if substantial leakage occurs through the seal 320, particularly when the tank 302 is pressurized. Excessive pressure can damage the secondary seal 330, which in turn can result in migration of the leaked fluid past the secondary seal 330 and into the control room 312.
Pressure relief for the secondary seal 330 can be provided by configuring the junction box 304 to crack or fracture at a predetermined pressure that is lower than the maximum rated operating pressure of the secondary seal 330. Because the junction box 304 is a component in an explosion proof system, the pressure at which the junction box 304 will crack or fracture needs to be higher than the internal pressure that the junction box 304 must contain during an explosion, thereby increasing the maximum rated pressure of the secondary seal 330 to higher level than would otherwise be required.

Measurement systems having seals with pressure relief


An electronic apparatus system in which an electronic apparatus such as a personal computer and an expansion device are combined so as to be freely joined and separated. A charging circuit, a control circuit, and a chargeable battery are provided for each of the electronic apparatus and the expansion device. In a state in which the electronic apparatus and the expansion device are separated, the control circuit of the electronic apparatus controls the charging circuit of the electronic apparatus, thereby charging the battery of the electronic apparatus. The control circuit of the expansion device controls the charging circuit of the expansion device, thereby charging the battery of the expansion device.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an electronic apparatus system and its charge control method. More particularly, the invention relates to an electronic apparatus system in which an electronic apparatus, an expansion device, and a battery pack are constructed so as to be freely joined and, each have separated (detachable) and a charging function, and to its charge control method.
2. Related Background Art
Hitherto, in order to expand the function of a notebook-sized personal computer or the like, as shown in FIG. 2, a system in which a personal computer (hereinafter, simply referred to as a computer) 1' is combined with an expansion device 2' having therein an FDD, an HDD, or an expansion board or the like by connection of a connector (computer side connector) 3' and a connector (expansion device connector) 4', and two batteries 5' and 6' can be built in the computer 1' permitting operation for a long time has been proposed.
When the batteries 5' and 6' are charged, energy from an AC adapter 7' is supplied to the computer 1' through the connectors 3' and 4', thereby charging the batteries by a charging circuit (not shown).
The conventional personal computer is constructed so that a desk-top type personal computer is separated into a notebook-sized personal computer and an expansion device. The expansion device is designed on the assumption that it is used in a desktop manner as a prerequisite, and its size is large.
However, in the notebook-sized personal computer or the like, it is a present situation that importance is paid to portability and necessary minimum functions are provided for the computer, and thus, a compact size is realized, thereby paying importance to not the portability of only the personal computer itself but also the portability of the computer even when combined with the expansion device. A function to charge with good operability a state of the personal computer, alone the expansion device alone, and the combination of both, is necessary.

Battery charging in units having attachable expansion devices, and in such expansion devices