A single-point clamp of four-wheel aligner for vehicles connected to a fixing hub nut on the wheel comprises a sleeve, a single-point variable hexagonal grip, a fastening nut, a connecting board, and a target board with magnets. The single-point variable hexagonal grip and the fastening nut are respectively disposed at two ends of the sleeve. The single-point variable hexagonal grip is firmly lodged in the fixing hub nut. Two ends of the connecting board are respectively connected to the sleeve and the target board. A using method includes: (1) loosening the fastening nut of the single-point clamp; (2) inserting the single-point variable hexagonal grip into the fixing hub nut of the wheel; and (3) rotationally fastening the fastening nut for clamping the fixing hub nut firmly.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a field of vehicle testing technique, particularly to a 3D single-point clamp of four-wheel aligner for vehicles and a method of using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
The trade of domestic automobile maintenance and repair equipment develops rapidly in recent years and gradually becomes a leading enterprise among some trades. Some people with breadth of vision focus on the foreign market and develop the business in overseas markets by cooperating with agents or setting representative offices. Consequently, such tendency in accordance with the position of China in the world economic state is formed and becomes the major growing way of fast development of automobile repair trade in the future. Due to the progressive development of the vehicle market in China, the prospects of after-sales service of vehicle in China are also focused attentively, which benefits the automobile repair market greatly. Because the ratio of household car purchases is increased, and the consciousness of the vehicle owner to the vehicle maintenance and repair is more intensive, more and more demand of vehicle detection, maintenance and repair equipment for domestic vehicles is needed.
However, the present techniques of domestic maintenance and repair equipment fall far behind the nationwide rivals, and the domestic technique mainly imitates the foreign techniques. The four-wheel aligner is one of major products among the automobile maintenance and repair equipment and has a big demand of the market, a product technique with high difficulty, and a high added value. As the nation subjects the traffic security to an increased attention and stipulations of management, the market demand of four-wheel aligners will rapidly expand under the guidance of the national policies.
The common detecting methods of four-wheel aligners in the present market mainly comprises: laser, PSD, CCD, and 3D; the characteristics thereof are as follows:
1. Laser:
Laser is a new light source which is used as a light source for system measurement and is applied to the four-wheel aligner. Laser is exported by vertical straight lines, which causes a narrower measuring range determining the speed of the laser products, has zero compensation, and needs to calculate the thrust line manually. As a result, the accuracy of measurement is low and the detecting speed is slow. Because of the light spots and the scales, the artificial error is existed, and the laser is apt to be interfered by the outer environment. Accordingly, it is not ideal to apply the laser as a light source to the four-wheel aligner.
The laser is known as the affair which has the certain harm to the vision of human, so the security certification, e.g. UL, CE and so on, is not easily granted. The laser has been eliminated in Europe, America, and Japan; however, it is still used in some countries, such as China and part of Southeast Asia nations.
2. PSD:
PSD is also called "Position Sensitive Detectors". As everyone known, PSD is not used in four-wheel aligners in almost all the foreign countries. It is only used greatly in the machinery of Korea. The working principle of PSD is that while a position of a light receiving face of the PSD surface is illuminated, the output current changes correspondingly to obtain an illumination location. PSD is a component of simulation for DC/AC conversion having the circumstance of losing data. Although some special techniques can be used to avoid the drawbacks to a certain extent, the PSD can only measure a single light source in principle. The PSD can only be used in the industrial environment, namely, the temperature of the PSD drifts seriously and the PSD is apt to be affected by the light of the environment. The changes of temperature make the output zero position vary in a range of tens of millivolts, and the influence of light makes the value captured by the system become unstable. With the two drawbacks, the PSD loses the measuring accuracy and the stability of equipment. The inaccuracy and the poor repetition degree are the most serious defects of the PSD.
3. CCD:
CCD, a semiconductor digital device which is also called "charge coupled device", is divided into a linear CCD and an area CCD. The CCD is anew semiconductor-integrated photoelectric device developed in early seventieth of the twentieth century. Thousands of respective photosensitive units are gathered on a silicon surface. While the light illuminates on the photosensitive surface, the photosensitive units illuminated by lights gather the photoelectrons and output the light quantity by shifting to generate the information of the light position and the light intensity. As a result, the COD provides the characteristics of obtaining high measuring accuracy within 0.05 degrees, having no temperature coefficient, and attaining a long duration of the use.
The use of CCD can obtain a preferable adaptability of the environment. Other techniques have a variety of restrictions in use, for instance, they cannot be used in some environments, such as at the place with complicated lights, in a magnetic field with the powerful electricity, and in a room with a great variation of temperature. The above environments belong to typical environments of the ordinary automobile repair workshop. The requirement which forbids the open of doors and windows, has different measurement data between the cool morning and the hot noon, and forbids a big electric machinery to be set nearby is too over for the four-wheel aligners. Consequently, the four-wheel aligners produced by Europe and America adopt the CCD technique, for instance, TANK, BEISSBARTH, and ARES, which are enough to illustrate the advantages of the CCD products.
4. 3D:
The measuring method of 3D is to use the technique of graphic identification which is executed by collecting graphic data on the reflecting board disposed on the wheel by a CCD digital camera to measure the relative accuracy of the wheel and pushing the wheels backwards and forwards manually to allow the head of the CCD to collect the data and find out the coordinate and the angle of the wheel. This is a considerably progressive measuring method and is used commonly in Europe and America. However, such method does not strictly limit the machinery accuracy of elevators and rotating plates. This method obtains an easy use and a high detecting accuracy, so the application of 3D becomes a mainstream in the market.
Likewise, 3D scanning is an innovative technique which combines the light, machinery, electricity, and computer integrally for scanning the spaces, shapes, structures, and colors of the object in order to obtain a space coordinate of the surface of the object. The main purpose of 3D is to convert the three-dimensional data of the object into the digital signals which can be directly processed by the computer, thereby providing a considerably convenient and rapid technique for the digitization of the solid object.
The 3D canning technique carries out the non-contact measurement and provides the fast speed and high accuracy. The measuring results can be directly associated with various software interfaces. Consequently, the 3D scanning technique becomes popular among the application of CAD, CAM, and CIMS. In manufacturing trades of developed countries, the 3D scanner is used as rapid three-dimensional measuring equipment because of its rapid speed of measurement, high accuracy, non-contact feature, and convenient use, so the 3D scanner has more and more applications. The 3D scanner is used to scan the hand boards, samples, and models to obtain the 3D dimension data, and these data can be directly associated with the interfaces of CAD and CAM, whereby the CAD system adjusts and repairs the data and then sends the date to the processing center or fast shaping equipment for manufacturing. Therefore, the cycle of manufacturing products can be greatly shortened.
The worldwide equipment mostly uses the machinery with XY axes as a rule to measure or applies a high-grade automobile producing dynamic laser to measure. The procedures of the aforementioned methods are complicated and have high manufacturing costs, which is not suitable for the development of popularizing automobiles.
Recently, the common clamps associated with the 3D techniques of four-wheel aligner worldwide are used to clamp the target of graphic for measuring are described as follows:
A: multi-point pin-shaped clamp: in the quick clamp of BMW 175-348-1 and is also used in the quick clamp of 175-541-1, a pin which is 120 millimeters long is applied to some special and deep wheel rims and wheel hubs with retracting holes. The clamp is mainly suitable for high-class vehicles, for example, BMW and Mercedes-BENZ. In the field of four-wheel aligner, some special models of vehicles need the assistance of special clamps to finish the measurement of the four-wheel aligner, such as Mercedes-BENZ and BMW in German vehicles brands. The clamp used in these two vehicles needs to cooperate with the originally manufactured wheel rim. The wheel rims of Mercedes-BENZ and BMW are designed to define measuring holes beside the fixing screws for allowing the special clamp to insert into the holes and position and using the grip to fix the clamp on the rim. This method makes the axis of the four-wheel aligning sensor and the axis of wheel hub overlap and accurately measures the front angle and the outward inclined angle by having the horizontal surface and the vertical surface to more close attached to the actual situation of the wheels. By the aforementioned method, the program of eccentricity compensation can be omitted to increase the efficiency. As it should be, the specific measuring procedures and measuring tools are needed at the same time. For example, Mercedes-BENZ needs the measuring tools of ROMESS and the expanding tools of front angle. Haekeye Elite of HUNTER is an object which combines the clamp and the reflecting board of the conventional 3D aligner for being installed on surface of any rim of wheels. It has a width to be set at one third of the conventional 3D aligner and is amended into a surface contact to replace three-point or four-point contact of the conventional aligner; consequently, the efficiency is much higher while clamping, and the effect of "universal clamp" is conducted in the surfaces of wheel hubs with varied shapes.
B: Three-point clamp: The shape of the clamp is similar to a Y shape, and the material of its three points is hard plastic. The quick aligning clamp completes the action by using a positioning pin and a clamping arm. During the installation of the clamp, the wear of the clamp should be decreased possibly. By the change of the size of the circle defined by the three points, the clamp can be adapted to wheels with varied specifications. According to the marked size of the wheels, the user has to adjust two grips which are in the lower positions, lodge them in the border of the rim, move and fasten the grips on the top to the wheel tire edge by a heart-shaped shaft, put an adjustable clamping arm on the wheel, press down the fastening levers at two sides toward the direction of the wheel forcibly, move the clamping arm to the tire tread, and then make sure that the two ends are well adjusted before loosening the clamping arm.
C. Four-point clamp: This clamp is used in the wheels made of steel aluminum alloy of which the size is set from 10″ to 28″. The slide of the clamping arm can be automatically leveled at the middle, and the needed size is obtained by rotating the star nut tightly. The gripping grip and the pressure piece with rubber pad allow the clamp to be installed on all wheels, including alloyed wheels with irregular shapes. While using, the eccentricity compensation of the wheel rim must be executed, whereby it can adapt to all wheels.
The four-point clamp as shown in FIG. 1 is a present technique which is a target clamp 2′ for installing the target board. The circumference of the target clamp 2′ is supported against the interior edge of the wheel tire 1′. The target board is installed on the target clamp 2′. The target clamp 2′ can be slightly adjusted for adjusting the target board at the center of the tire 1′. However, the present target clamp 2 has a complicated installation, a big volume, heavy weight, and high repairing costs, so the procedure for adjusting the target board is complex and difficult.
Accordingly, the inventor of the present invention provides a single-point clamp of 3D vehicle four-wheel aligner (hereinafter referred to as "vehicle four-wheel aligner") and a using method thereof.

Single-point clamp of four-wheel aligner for vehicles and a using method thereof

Shanghai Yicheng Auto Inspection Device Science & Technology Co., Ltd.


A negatively charged toner composition comprised of resin particles, pigment particles, and a hydrotalcite charge enhancing additive.

The invention is generally directed to toner and developer compositions, and more specifically, the present invention is directed to developer and toner compositions containing charge enhancing additives, which impart or assist in imparting a negative charge to the toner resin particles and enable toners with rapid admix characteristics. In one embodiment, there are provided in accordance with the present invention toner compositions comprised of resin particles, pigment particles, and clay or clay-like charge additives. In one embodiment, the present invention is directed to toners with charge additives of synthetic anionic clays or minerals that contain exchangeable anions. These materials encompass, for example, the layered double hydroxides or mixed metal hydroxides of the general formula EQU M.sub.a.sup.2+ M.sub.b.sup.3+ (OH).sub.2a+2b (X.sup.n-).sub.2/n.xH.sub.2 O
where M.sup.2+ may be Mg.sup.2+, Fe.sup.2+, Co.sup.2+, Ni.sup.2+, Zn.sup.2+, and the like; M.sup.3+ may be Al.sup.3+, Cr.sup.3+, Fe.sup.3+, and the like; and X may be any anion such as a halide Cl.sup.-, Br.sup.-, l.sup.-, and the like, a pseudohalide such as NCS-, N.sub.3 - and the like, other inorganic anions such as SO.sub.4.sup.2-, NO.sub.3.sup.2-, CO.sub.3.sup.2-, PO.sub.4.sup.3-, and the like, organic anions such as salicylate, lauryl sulfate, dodecylsulfonate, terephthalate, and the like, polyoxometalate anions such as (Mo.sub.7 O.sub.24).sup.6-, (W.sub.7 O.sub.24).sup.6-, (V.sub.10 O.sub.28).sup.6- and the like, polyoxometalate anions of the Keggin type structure such as .alpha.-(H.sub.2 W.sub.12 O.sub.40).sup.6-, .alpha.-(SiV.sub.3 W.sub.9 O.sub.40).sup.7- and the like; n is the charge on the anion which in embodiments would generally range from 1 to about 4; a and b are subscripts indicating the amount of metal in the divalent and trivalent states; a may, for example, range from 1 to about 6 while b may, for example, range from 1 to about 3; and X may, for example, range from 0 to about 6. These materials also include the hydrotalcites which can be considered mixed metal hydroxides of the formulas Mg.sub.6 Al.sub.2 (OH).sub.16 CO.sub.3.4H.sub.2 O, Mg.sub.4.5 Al.sub.2 (OH).sub.13 (CO.sub.3) and Mg.sub.4.5 Al.sub.2 (OH).sub.11 (CO.sub.3).sub.0.8 O.sub.0.2. Structurally, these materials can be considered as being comprised of positively charged brucite-like layers of [Mg.sub.6 Al.sub.2 (OH).sub.16 ].sup.2+ and negatively charged interlayers of 4H.sub.2 O and [CO.sub.3 ].sup.2-, and wherein the interlayer carbonate ions are exchangeable, for example, with a halide such as chloride. The aforementioned additives in embodiments of the present invention enable, for example, toners with rapid admix of less than about 60 seconds, extended developer life, stable electrical properties, and high image print quality with substantially no background deposits. Also, the aforementioned toner compositions usually contain pigment particles comprised of, for example, carbon black, magnetites, or mixtures thereof, cyan, magenta, yellow, blue, green, red, or brown components, or mixtures thereof, thereby providing for the development and generation of black and/or colored images. The toner and developer compositions of the present invention can be selected for electrophotographic, especially xerographic imaging and printing processes, including color processes.
Developer compositions with charge enhancing additives, which impart a positive charge to the toner resin, are well known. Thus, for example, there is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,893,935 the use of quaternary ammonium salts as charge control agents for electrostatic toner compositions; 4,221,856 which discloses electrophotographic toners containing resin compatible quaternary ammonium compounds in which at least two R radicals are hydrocarbons having from 8 to about 22 carbon atoms, and each other R is a hydrogen or hydrocarbon radical with from 1 to about 8 carbon atoms, and A is an anion, for example sulfate, sulfonate, nitrate, borate, chlorate, and the halogens such as iodide, chloride and bromide, reference the Abstract of the Disclosure and column 3; a similar teaching is presented in U.S. Pat. No. 4,312,933 which is a division of U.S. Pat. No. 4,291,111; and similar teachings are presented in U.S. Pat. No. 4,291,112 wherein A is an anion including, for example, sulfate, sulfonate, nitrate, borate, chlorate, and the halogens. There are also described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,986,521 reversal developer compositions comprised of toner resin particles coated with finely divided colloidal silica. According to the disclosure of this patent, the development of electrostatic latent images on negatively charged surfaces is accomplished by applying a developer composition having a positively charged triboelectric relationship with respect to the colloidal silica.
Also, there is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,338,390, the disclosure of which is totally incorporated herein by reference, developer compositions containing as charge enhancing additives organic sulfate and sulfonates, which additives can impart a positive charge to the toner composition. Further, there is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,298,672, the disclosure of which is totally incorporated herein by reference, positively charged toner compositions with resin particles and pigment particles, and as charge enhancing additives alkyl pyridinium compounds. Additionally, other documents disclosing positively charged toner compositions with charge control additives include U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,944,493; 4,007,293; 4,079,014; 4,394,430 and 4,560,635 which illustrates a toner with a distearyl dimethyl ammonium methyl sulfate charge additive.
Moreover, toner compositions with negative charge enhancing additives are known, reference for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,411,974 and 4,206,064, the disclosures of which are totally incorporated herein by reference. The '974 patent discloses negatively charged toner compositions comprised of resin particles, pigment particles, and as a charge enhancing additive ortho-halo phenyl carboxylic acids. Similarly, there are disclosed in the '064 patent toner compositions with chromium, cobalt, and nickel complexes of salicylic acid as negative charge enhancing additives.
There is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,404,271 a complex system for developing electrostatic images with a toner which contains a metal complex represented by the formula in column 2, for example, and wherein ME can be chromium, cobalt or iron. Additionally, other patents disclosing various metal containing azo dyestuff structures wherein the metal is chromium or cobalt include U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,891,939; 2,871,233; 2,891,938; 2,933,489; 4,053,462 and 4,314,937. Also, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,433,040, the disclosure of which is totally incorporated herein by reference, there are illustrated toner compositions with chromium and cobalt complexes of azo dyes as negative charge enhancing additives.
Disclosed in Hitachi Japanese Abstract JO 3245-153A, published Oct. 31, 1991, are toners with hydrotalcite compounds.
Although many charge enhancing additives are known, there continues to be a need for toners with additives, which toners possess many of the advantages illustrated herein. Additionally, there is a need for negative charge enhancing additives which are useful for incorporation into black, and/or colored toner compositions. Moreover, there is a need for colored toner compositions containing certain charge enhancing additives. There is also a need for toner compositions with certain charge enhancing additives, which toners in embodiments thereof may possess acceptable substantially stable triboelectric charging characteristics, and excellent admixing properties. Further, there is a need for toners with certain charge enhancing additives which can be easily and permanently dispersed into toner resin particles. There also is a need for negatively charged black, and colored toner compositions that are useful for incorporation into various imaging processes, inclusive of color xerography, as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,078,929, the disclosure of which is totally incorporated herein by reference; laser printers; and additionally a need for toner compositions useful in imaging apparatuses having incorporated therein layered photoresponsive imaging members, such as the members illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,265,990, the disclosure of which is totally incorporated herein by reference. Also, there is a need for toner compositions which have the desired triboelectric charge level, for example, from about 10 to about 40 microcoulombs per gram, and preferably from about 10 to about 25 microcoulombs per gram, and admix charging rates of from about 5 to about 60 seconds, and preferably from about 15 to about 30 seconds, as determined by the charge spectrograph, preferably for example at low concentrations, that is for example less than 1 percent, and preferably less than about 0.5 percent of the charge enhancing additive of the present invention. Important advantages associated with the charge additives of the present invention is their white color, thus for example they do not adversely effect the intensity and hue of colored toners with, for example, cyan, magenta, yellow, green, red, blue, brown pigments or mixtures thereof, and that the clay charge additives do not contain toxic heavy metal ions such as chromium.

Toner compositions with anionic clay or clay-like charge enhancing additives


In a non-volatile memory array, scheduling of reclaim operations to occur before a shortage of erased blocks arises avoids extended periods of reclaim that could exceed a time limit. A memory controller uses information regarding the data stored in the memory array to estimate the additional host data that may be programmed and the reclaim operations to be performed and schedules the reclaim operations to be evenly distributed between write operations until the memory is full.

This application relates to the operation of re-programmable non-volatile memory systems such as semiconductor flash memory, and, more specifically, to the management of available space within such memories. All patents, patent applications, articles and other publications, documents and things referenced herein are hereby incorporated herein by this reference in their entirety for all purposes.
In an early generation of commercial flash memory systems, a rectangular array of memory cells was divided into a large number of groups of cells that each stored the amount of data of a standard disk drive sector, namely 512 bytes. An additional amount of data, such as 16 bytes, are also usually included in each group to store an error correction code (ECC) and possibly other overhead data relating to the user data and/or to the memory cell group in which it is stored. The memory cells in each such group are the minimum number of memory cells that are erasable together. That is, in such memory systems, the erase unit is effectively the number of memory cells that store one data sector and any overhead data that is included. Examples of this type of memory system are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,602,987 and 6,426,893. It is a characteristic of flash memory that the memory cells need to be erased prior to re-programming them with data.
Flash memory systems are most commonly provided in the form of a memory card or flash drive that is removably connected with a variety of hosts such as a personal computer, a camera or the like, but may also be embedded within such host systems. When writing data to the memory, the host typically assigns unique logical addresses to sectors, clusters or other units of data within a continuous virtual address space of the memory system. Like a disk operating system (DOS), the host writes data to, and reads data from, addresses within the logical address space of the memory system. A controller within the memory system translates logical addresses received from the host into physical addresses within the memory array, where the data are actually stored, and then keeps track of these address translations. The data storage capacity of the memory system is at least as large as the amount of data that is addressable over the entire logical address space defined for the memory system.
In later generations of flash memory systems, the size of the erase unit was increased to a block of enough memory cells to store multiple sectors of data. Even though host systems with which the memory systems are connected may program and read data in small minimum units such as sectors, a large number of sectors are stored in a single erase unit of the flash memory. It is common for some sectors of data within a block to become obsolete as the host updates or replaces logical sectors of data. Since the entire block must be erased before any data stored in the block can be overwritten, new or updated data are typically stored in another block that has been erased and has remaining capacity for the data. This process leaves the original block with obsolete data that take valuable space within the memory. But that block cannot be erased if there are any valid data remaining in it.
Therefore, in order to better utilize the memory's storage capacity, it is common to consolidate or collect valid partial block amounts of data by copying them into an erased block so that the block(s) from which these data are copied may then be erased and their entire storage capacity reused. In this way, space within a memory that does not contain valid data may be reclaimed so that it can be used for storing data. It is also desirable to copy the data in order to group data sectors within a block in the order of their logical addresses since this increases the speed of reading the data and transferring the read data to the host. If such data copying occurs too frequently, the operating performance of the memory system can be degraded. This particularly affects operation of memory systems where the storage capacity of the memory is little more than the amount of data addressable by the host through the logical address space of the system, a typical case. In this case, data consolidation or collection may be required before a host programming command can be executed. The programming time is then increased.
The sizes of blocks are increasing in successive generations of memory systems in order to increase the number of bits of data that may be stored in a given semiconductor area. Blocks storing 256 data sectors and more are becoming common. Additionally, two, four or more blocks of different arrays or sub-arrays are often logically linked together into metablocks in order to increase the degree of parallelism in data programming and reading. Along with such large capacity operating units come challenges in operating them efficiently.
Therefore, there is a need for improved management of data stored in a non-volatile memory. There is also a need for a system of efficiently reclaiming memory space that does not contain valid data but is not currently available for storage of new valid data. There is also a need for a system of carrying out reclaim operations in a way that has little or no adverse effect on other memory operations such as the programming of host data.

Scheduling of reclaim operations in non-volatile memory


An infrared conversion device includes: a substrate (122); and a metal fine particle layer (123) formed on the substrate (122), wherein the metal fine particle layer (123) is formed with metal fine particles (124) and a dielectric material (125) that fills gaps between the metal fine particles (124) and absorbs incident infrared rays. Alternatively, an infrared conversion device detects infrared rays converted into visible light by detecting a change caused in the permittivity of a light receiving material (125) by infrared absorption as a change in the intensity of scattering light based on local plasmon resonance.

In recent years, there has been a dramatically increasing demand for infrared cameras not only for temperature measurement but also for security purposes. Examples of known infrared cameras include quantum-type infrared cameras and bolometer-type infrared cameras. A quantum-type infrared camera normally requires cooling so as to cope with thermal noise, and therefore, the infrared camera becomes larger in size and more expensive. A bolometer-type infrared camera that detects resistance changes due to heat also requires cooling by a Peltier device in practice, and further requires a large-capacity memory for periodic calibration of each pixel. Moreover, such a bolometer-type infrared camera has a problem that images become discontinuous at the time of calibration. In addition to that, a bolometer-type infrared camera has the problems of being easily affected by background radiation, consuming a large amount of power, being expensive, being large in size, and being heavy.
To solve such problems, JP 2009-042164 A discloses an infrared camera using surface plasmon resonance phenomena, for example. Using a prism, this infrared camera detects a change in the permittivity of a dielectric film due to heat as a change in the metal surface plasmon resonance condition. Also, JP 5-273503 A discloses a spatial light modulator that uses surface plasmon resonance and is capable of high-efficiency light modulation without conversion of optical information to electrical information, or more specifically, a spatial light modulator formed with an optical wave coupler including a composite layer of a material having a refractive index that varies with light irradiation and a metal.

Infrared conversion device, imaging apparatus, and imaging method


The test circuitry according to various aspects of the presently disclosed techniques comprises: low-toggling pseudo-random test pattern generation circuitry, wherein the low-toggling pseudo-random test patterns generated by the low-toggling pseudo-random test pattern generation circuitry causing switching activity during scan shift cycles lower than pseudo-random test patterns generated by a pseudo-random pattern generator; scan chains configurable to shift in a low-toggling pseudo-random test pattern generated by the low-toggling pseudo-random test pattern generation circuitry; background chains configurable to shift in a background test pattern; and weight insertion circuitry configurable to modify a plurality of bits in the low-toggling pseudo-random test pattern based on bits in the background test pattern to form a weighted pseudo-random test pattern.

Built-in self-test (BIST) is a design-for-test methodology that permits a circuit to test itself using embedded test logic. When the circuit-under-test is a logic circuit, the BIST is referred to as logic built-in self-test (LBIST). Comparing with traditional automatic test pattern generation (ATPG), LBIST does not rely on pre-computed test patterns to achieve high test coverage. Test stimuli in LBIST are instead generated by a pseudo-random pattern generator. Examples of pseudo-random pattern generators include linear feedback shift register (LFSR) and cellular automata (CA).
LBIST is a scan-based test. Like other scan-based test technique, circuit testing may cause excessive circuit switching activity compared to normal operation of the circuit. Such excessive switching activity can occur during scan chain shift cycles, capture cycles or both. Higher switching activity leads to higher power dissipation and higher peak supply currents. High power dissipation may in turn lead to hot spots that could damage the circuit. Excessive peak supply currents may cause IR-drop and di/dt problem, which, in turn, causes circuit-under-test to fail during testing due to additional gate delay.
Several techniques have been proposed in the past to reduce switching activity caused by scan shift. For example, logic gates may be inserted to hold scan cell outputs at constant values during scan shift cycles. These extra logic gates may, however, degrade circuit performance. Some other techniques are based on low toggling pseudo-random test patterns. The probability of any bit in conventional pseudo-random test patterns being "0" (or "1") is 50%. By contrast, some adjacent bits in low toggling pseudo-random test patterns are highly correlated, resulting in low switching activity during scan shift cycles. The following papers, which are incorporated herein by reference, include examples of generating low toggling pseudo-random test patterns: S. Wang and S. K. Gupta, "LT-RTPG: A New Test-Per-Scan BIST TPG for Low Heat Dissipation," in Int. Test Conf., 1999, pp. 85-94; M. Nourani, M. Tehranipoor, and N. Ahmed, "Low-Transition Test Pattern Generation for BIST-Based Application," in IEEE Tran. on Comp., Vol. 57, No. 3, March 2008, pp. 303-315; X. Lin, and J. Rajski, "Adaptive Low Shift Power Test Pattern Generator," in Asian Test Symp., 2010, pp. 355-360; and J. Rajski, J. Tyszer, G. Mrugalski, and B. Nadeau-Dostie, "Test Generator with Preselected Toggling for Low Power Build-In Self-Test," in VLSI Test Symp., 2012, pp. 1-6. While reducing power consumption during scan shift cycles, the use of low toggling pseudo-random test patterns tends to affect test coverage because the randomness of bit values in low toggling pseudo-random test patterns are decreased.
Weighted random pattern generation techniques have been employed to improve detection probability of conventional pseudo-random test patterns. In this approach, outputs of a conventional pseudo-random pattern generator are intentionally biased to create test sequence with non-uniform distributed ones and zeros for some selected bits. As noted above, bits in conventional pseudo-random test patterns have equal probability values of being "0" and "1". Bits in weighted random test patterns, by contrast, are selected to be assigned different probability values of being "1" and "0" based on faults to be detected. The probability value of being "0" (or "1") for a bit is referred to as the weight value of the bit. Different faults may require different biases of the test stimulus combination. Thus, multiple weight assignments are often required to detect majority of faults by a small number of random test patterns.
Various techniques may be used to select bits and their weight values to achieve high test coverage. One technique based on analysis of fault detection probabilities is disclosed by H.-J. Wunderlich, "Multiple Distributions for Biased Random Test Patterns," in Int. Test. Conf., 1988, pp. 236-244, which is incorporated herein by reference. Another technique is based on analysis of deterministic test patterns generated for the same circuit. In this technique, ones and zeros of a bit in a set of deterministic test patterns may be counted to derive the weight value for the bit. Three published papers, I. Pomeranz, and S. M. Reddy, "3-Weighted Pseudo-Random Test Generation Based on a Deterministic Test Set," in IEEE Trans. on CAD, July 1993, pp. 1050-1058, S. Wang, "Low Hardware Overhead Scan Based 3-Weight Weighted Random BIST," in Int. Test Conf., 2001, pp. 868-877, and S. Ghosh, E. Macdonald, S. Basu, and N. A. Touba, "Low-Power Weighted Pseudo-Random BIST Using Special Scan Cells," in GLSVLSI, April 2004, are examples of using this technique, which are incorporated herein by reference. In these examples, a NOT, AND and OR network is inserted between outputs of a conventional pseudo-random pattern generator and serial inputs of scan chains to produce bit values with weight values different from 50%. To load these bit values to corresponding scan cells, control logic based on an on-chip ROM storing weight value and assignment information is employed.
Two of the above-mentioned articles (S. Wang, et al. and S. Ghosh, et al.) describe how both high test coverage and low switching activity can be achieved for a LBIST-based application by coupling a weighted random pattern generation technique with a low toggling pseudo-random test pattern technique. It is desirable, however, to develop techniques that can obtain similar or better results without using an on-chip ROM.

Logic built-in self-test with high test coverage and low switching activity


A drive system with harmonic drive designed to meet the high power and torque requirements required to drive an aircraft independently on the ground is provided. The drive system includes an electric motor driven by a harmonic drive assembly that may be configured to be integral with the motor. This drive system with harmonic drive can be effectively installed in an existing aircraft nose wheel or main wheel without changes to other components.

As air travel has increased over the past decades, airport facilities have become more crowded and congested. Minimizing the time between the arrival of an aircraft and its departure to maintain an airline's flight schedule, and also to make a gate or parking location available without delay to an incoming aircraft, has become an airline priority. The safe and efficient ground movement of a large number of aircraft simultaneously into and out of the ramp and gate areas has become increasingly important. As airline fuel costs and safety concerns and regulations have increased, use of the aircraft main engines is no longer the best option for achieving the desired safe and efficient ground movement.
Various alternatives to the use of an aircraft's main engines to move an aircraft on the ground have been tried. The use of a tug or tow vehicle to move an aircraft into and out of a gate or parking location can eliminate the need to use the aircraft main engines. This option, however, is not without its own challenges and costs. More ground vehicles, requiring more fuel and more ground personnel to operate them, add to an already congested environment in the gate area. Restricted use of the aircraft engines on low power during arrival at or departure from a gate is an additional option. This option is also problematic, however. Not only are the engines designed to operate at high speeds at altitude and not to drive the aircraft on the ground at under 30 miles per hour, they consume very large amounts of fuel on the ground. The engines are also noisy, and the associated safety hazards of jet blast and engine ingestion in a congested area are significant concerns that cannot be overlooked.
The use of a motor structure integrally mounted with a wheel to rotate the wheel and drive an aircraft has been proposed. The use of such a structure, ideally, should move an aircraft with no or, at most minimal, use of an aircraft's main engines or the external assistance of tow vehicles. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,430,163, for example, Dever describes a motor that may be incorporated in an aircraft landing gear wheel, but does not suggest integrating any type of gearing or similar drive structures with this wheel motor. U.S. Pat. No. 3,977,631 to Jenny describes a motor assembly selectively coupled to an aircraft wheel that includes a conventional reduction gear assembly, but there is no suggestion that any other kind of motor drive structure could be employed. U.S. Pat. No. 7,445,178 to McCoskey et al and U.S. Pat. No. 7,226,018 to Sullivan describe, respectively, a powered nose aircraft wheel system with a multifunctional wheel motor driven by a planetary gear assembly or a direct drive and an aircraft wheel hub motor/generator with a stack of alternating rotor and stator disks, in which the rotors are coupled to the wheel. None of the aforementioned patents suggests motor drive or gearing systems useful for producing aircraft self-propelled ground movement other than those disclosed, which are the traditional gear arrangements conventionally used to drive motors.
Conventional gearing, such as the planetary and other gear systems described the patents discussed above, is only one possible option for driving an electric motor. Other drive systems include, for example, strain wave gearing, known as harmonic drive. Harmonic drive is a special type of mechanical gear system based on elastic dynamics utilizing the flexibility of metal that produces improvements over traditional gear arrangements, including helical and planetary gearing. A type of harmonic gearing is shown and discussed in UK Patent Application Publication No. GB 2453027, owned by the assignee of the present invention. The application of the harmonic gearing arrangement described therein is not discussed, and there is no suggestion that it could be used to drive motor components in an aircraft drive wheel.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,469,858 to Edelson, owned in common with the present invention, describes a gear system for an aircraft wheel motor that provides the necessary torque with reasonable system mass and a mechanism for automatically decoupling the high gear ratio needed to drive the load from the load if the load overhauls. While the aforementioned gearing system is described to be located in or near a drive wheel, it is not suggested that the gearing could be replaced by harmonic drive or any other type of gearing
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US2009/0294578 to Humphrey describes the use of harmonic drive in an aircraft landing gear steering system, in which a turning member is coupled to a landing gear leg through a harmonic drive mechanism. Humphrey is completely silent, however, with respect to whether the aircraft landing gear wheels are powered or otherwise driven by a drive motor or any other power source and does not mention the application of harmonic drive to drive aircraft wheels.
None of the foregoing art suggests a drive system capable of powering an aircraft drive wheel during ground travel that includes harmonic drive. This art, moreover, does not contemplate a wheel drive system with harmonic drive that can be installed or retrofitted in existing aircraft without the modification of other landing gear structures.
A need exists, therefore, for an aircraft wheel drive system including a drive motor with harmonic drive capable of generating optimum torque for driving any aircraft wheel and, thus, the aircraft during ground travel. A need further exists for a harmonic drive system for any aircraft drive wheel specifically configured to drive a motor mounted on the aircraft drive wheel to move the aircraft on the ground independently of aircraft engines or tow vehicles.

Drive system with harmonic drive for self-propelled aircraft wheel


The present invention provides a network support mechanism, called Sync-VPN, that is transparent to real-time, multi-user distributed applications, such as online multi-player games in which the order of player actions is critical to the outcome. The invention uses a client/server application model, where a server coordinates state updates based on action messages sent by clients. The invention builds on bandwidth-quaranteed VPN service to ensure predictable packet delay and loss characteristics, thereby providing predictable packet service, state update fairness, and player action fairness. A Sync-out mechanism synchronizes delivery of state updates to all players enabling them to react to the same update fairly. A Sync-in mechanism processes action messages from all players in a fair order based on real-time occurrence. Sync-VPN employs a round-trip time estimation algorithm essential to message latency estimation in the Sync-out and Sync-in mechanisms.

IP Networks are becoming more sophisticated in terms of providing more than just best-effort services. This is possible because of a new generation of IP routers and switches that take advantage of the embedded base of ATM switches in a service provider's network. As a result, a service provider can provide value-added IP services to their customers. Examples of such value-added services include Virtual Private Network (VPN) services, managed bandwidth services, managed firewall services, traffic filtering services and so on. So far there are two main categories of VPN: (1) Secure VPNs and (2) VPNs with Quality of Service. Secure VPNs provide secure connectivity to a multi-site customer network while VPNs with Quality of Service provide connectivity with some guarantees in bandwidth. Many people are trying to extend Quality of Service VPNs to provide some assurances in terms of bounded delay and loss.
Real-time multi-user distributed applications, such as online multi-player games or distributed interactive simulations (DIS), are becoming increasingly popular due to the prolificacy (proliferation) of broadband Internet access. Though online multi-player gaming is enjoying its increasing popularity, there is still much room for performance improvement, especially in cases when players in widely distributed geographical locations play a game together. Currently each game application deals with network performance variants at the application level, a practice that yields drastically different and often unsatisfactory gaming experiences. To gaming network service providers, a better network support for more consistent gaming performance could attract more subscribers and/or more network usage per subscriber, thus generate more revenue.
Most online multi-player games today are implemented based on a client/server model. In this model, a game server is set up and all players logon to this game server to play the game against each other. Player actions are forwarded from each player station to the game server in messages. The game server then processes the actions in sequence, and notifies player stations the effects of player actions, also in messages. The only communication in the system is between the game server and the player stations. Player stations themselves do not send messages to one another. Neither do they play any active roll in deciding the ordering of actions in the game.
With a client/server model it is easier to maintain a consistent game state at all player stations. Nevertheless, best-effort support of current internet traffic cannot offer reasonable, expected network delay and packet loss bounds. As a result, players often experience erratic object movement and stalled game progress. In addition, because the game server is in charge of updating global states, players will not see each state change from the game server until after certain network delay. Since this network delay is different for different players, unfairness is created among players in accessing the latest state.
Furthermore, the messages carrying player actions will take different time to reach the game server. Without compensating for execution environment differences, a player further away from the game server will suffer from longer message delay, even if he/she is the fastest player to react to state changes. A need therefore exists to provide improved support of real-time multi-user distributed applications, such as on-line gaming.

Method and apparatus for supporting real-time multi-user distributed applications


A two-layer multi-strand cord (60) has a modulus EC such that 50 GPa≤EC≤160 GPa. The cord comprises: (a) an internal layer (CI) of the cord made up of J>1 internal strands (TI) wound in a helix having a modulus EI, each internal strand (TI) comprising: an internal layer (C1) made up of Q≥1 internal threads (F1), and an external layer (C2) made up of N>1 external threads (F2) wound around the internal layer (C1), and (b) an external layer (CE) of the cord made up of L>1 external strands (TE) wound around the internal layer (CI) of the cord, each external strand (TE) comprising: an internal layer (C1′) made up of Q′≥1 internal threads (F1′), and an external layer (C2′) made up of N′>1 external threads (F2′) wound around the internal layer (C1′).

The invention relates to multi-strand cords that can be used notably for reinforcing tyres, particularly tyres for heavy industrial vehicles, and to tyres using such cords.
A tyre having a radial carcass reinforcement comprises a tread, two inextensible beads, two sidewalls connecting the beads to the tread and a belt, or crown reinforcement, arranged circumferentially between the carcass reinforcement and the tread. This crown reinforcement comprises several reinforcements having different functions.
The crown reinforcement generally comprises a working reinforcement comprising two working plies, or crossed plies, comprising filamentary metal working reinforcing elements arranged substantially parallel to one another within each working ply, but crossed from one ply to the other, that is to say inclined, symmetrically or asymmetrically, with respect to the median circumferential plane, by an angle generally ranging between 15 and 40°. This working reinforcement makes it possible, included amongst other functions, for the transverse loadings applied by the ground to be transmitted at least partially to the tyre when the latter is running, so as to provide the tyre with steering capability, namely to give the tyre the ability to allow the vehicle to which it is fitted to corner.
Such filamentary metal working elements are notably described in WO2008026271. WO2008026271 describes two-layer multi-strand cords comprising an internal layer of the cord made up of J>1 internal strands wound in a helix and an external layer of the cord made up of L>1 external strands wound around the internal layer of the cord. Each internal and external strand has multiple layers and comprises at least an internal layer made up of Q>1 internal threads, possibly an intermediate layer made up of P>1 intermediate threads wound around the internal layer, and an external layer made up of N>1 external threads wound around the internal or intermediate layer.
In WO2008026271, the objective is to provide filamentary working reinforcing elements that have a stiffness and a breaking strength that are as high as possible so as to avoid the damage caused to the crown reinforcement, and notably to the working reinforcement, by the obstacles encountered by the tyre when it is running.
In WO2008026271, this objective is achieved by increasing the number of internal strands and external strands as far as possible with respect to conventional multi-strand cords in which the breaking strength is lower and for which J=1 and L=6, such as notably described in WO2015090920. Thus, in WO2008026271, the objective is to combat the deformation imposed by the obstacles encountered by countering them with cords that are as stiff and mechanically strong as possible.
However, while this solution is effective against obstacles of relatively small or medium size, it proves ineffective with regard to larger-sized obstacles. Specifically, in such cases, the loadings exerted on the cords are higher than the hardness of the steel and the obstacle therefore shears through the cords, and the stiffer these cords are, and the better they oppose the deformation imposed by the obstacle, the more easily they become sheared.
One object of the invention is a cord that makes it possible to avoid the damage caused by obstacles that highly stress the crown reinforcement, notably the working reinforcement of the tyre.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Two-layer multi-strand cables having very low, low and medium modulus

COMPAGNIE GENERALE DES ETABLISSEMENTS MICHELIN


A computer implemented method, system and computer program product for automatically generating SIMD code. The method begins by analyzing data to be accessed by a targeted loop including at least one statement, where each statement has at least one memory reference, to determine if memory accesses are safe. If memory accesses are safe, the targeted loop is simdized. If not safe, it is determined if a scheme can be applied in which safety need not be guaranteed. If such a scheme can be applied, the targeted loop is simdized according to the scheme. If such a scheme cannot be applied, it is determined if padding is appropriate. If padding is appropriate, the data is padded and the targeted loop is simdized. If padding is not appropriate, non-simdized code is generated based on the targeted loop for handling boundary conditions, the targeted loop is simdized and combined with the non-simdized code.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the data processing field and, more particularly, to a computer implemented method, system and computer program product for automatically generating SIMD code, particularly in the presence of multi-threading and other false sharing conditions, and in machines having a segmented/virtual page memory protection system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Modern processors are using Single Issue Multiple Data (SIMD) units with greater frequency in order to increase processing power without having to significantly increase issue bandwidth, since SIMD units allow multiple data units to be processed in one computation. Although SIMD units can be programmed by hand, especially for dedicated libraries and a small number of kernels, the performance impact of SIMD units will likely remain limited until compiler technology permits automatic generation of SIMD code, referred to hereinafter as "simdization", for a wide range of applications.
One salient feature of modern processors that has had a strong impact on SIMD code generation is support for multi-threading and parallelism, referred to herein as "MT". A characteristic of MT that is particularly relevant to simdization is that multiple threads can cooperate to generate results, for example, by working on independent computations stored in distinct memory locations. This aspect of MT becomes problematic if false sharing is introduced when simdizing the code, i.e., when two different threads read/modify/write distinct memory locations that happen to be collocated within the same single unit of SIMD memory access (e.g., 16 bytes for VMX, SSE-2 and others). This issue is a correctness issue since the final outcome of a program depends on the order in which the multiple threads access such "falsely shared" unit of memory.
False sharing may also occur on machines without support for multi-threading as an artifact of the compiler being insufficiently aware, due to lack of information flow and/or imprecise information, of multiple distinct data structures residing within the same unit of SIMD memory access. In such a situation, the compiler might think that accesses to two distinct data structures, for example, the last element of a data array A and the first element of a data array B, where data arrays A and B are collocated in memory, can be interchanged; when in fact, this is not the case because the two references have a false sharing situation (for example, the last element of A and the first element of B reside in the same 16 byte unit of memory). Hereinafter, such compiler scheduling issues are specifically referred to as "CS".
When referring to either the CS or the MT cases, the "FS" label (for False Sharing issue) is used.
Another salient feature of modern processors that has had a strong impact on SIMD code generation is support for segmented/virtual page memory protection systems, referred to herein as "MPS". The characteristic of MPS most relevant with respect to simdization is that memory accesses beyond a memory segment are required to generate a memory violation (e.g. for program integrity). This requirement will cause a problem if the generated SIMD code accesses memory locations that are beyond the range of locations touched by the original, non-simdized code. This is not a program correctness issue, as in the case of a false sharing condition, because the values of the additional memory locations touched by the simdized code are not used to modify permanent program state. The sole issue in this situation is that such memory locations should not be addressed at all as they may be outside of their memory segments.
In general, generating SIMD code without being aware of the possibility of multi-threading and other false sharing conditions can result in code that incorrectly halts or that generates incorrect results. In a similar manner, generating SIMD code without being aware of MPS may result in code that incorrectly halts.

Efficient generation of SIMD code in presence of multi-threading and other false sharing conditions and in machines having memory protection support

International Business Machines Corporation


Provided are artificial muscle patches, which are adapted to be implanted adjacent a patient's heart, and artificial sphincter cuffs, which are adapted to be implanted around a body lumen, such as the urethra, the anal canal, or the lower esophagus. The devices of the present invention comprise: (a) one or more electroactive polymer actuators; and (b) a control unit for electrically controlling the one or more electroactive polymer actuators to expand or contract the devices.

Millions of Americans are incontinent. Incontinence is the second most common reason for institutionalization of the elderly, generating costs of several billion dollars per year. Incontinence commonly arises from malfunction of the urethral sphincter. The urethral sphincter is an external sphincter formed about the urethra in both males and females which, when functioning normally, constricts the urethra and prevents flow of urine from the bladder, except when the bladder is voided during normal urination. Unfortunately, a spectrum of medical conditions can result in improper functioning of the urethral sphincter and lead to incontinence, including surgical injury following transurethral resection or radical prostatectomy, neurologic injury, or direct injury to the sphincter itself.
There are numerous prior art prosthetic sphincters for selectively closing and opening the urethra to prevent incontinence. These devices typically incorporate an inflatable cuff which surrounds the urethra, and which is inflated to restrict urine flow in the urethra. Examples of such prosthetic sphincters are seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,222,377, and 5,562,598. These patents describe devices having an inflatable urethral cuff, a balloon reservoir/pressure source, and a pump. The cuff is typically implanted around the bladder neck in women, and around the bulbous urethra in most men. The implanted cuff functions similarly to a blood pressure cuff.
Fecal incontinence, like urinary incontinence is a debilitating condition affecting tens of thousands of Americans. Fecal incontinence in both men and women is typically caused by neurological or muscular dysfunction of the anal sphincter, and is commonly the result of trauma.
As with urinary incontinence, prosthetic sphincters for selectively closing and opening the anal canal to prevent fecal incontinence have been developed. One such sphincter, which is approved for use by the FDA, is available from American Medical Systems under the name Acticon™ Neosphincter. As with the above artificial sphincters for urinary incontinence, these devices incorporate an inflatable cuff that functions similar to a blood pressure cuff and is inflated to restrict fecal flow. These devices also include a balloon reservoir/pressure source and a pump.
The above artificial urethral and anal sphincters, however, are cumbersome and limited, and complications occur in a high percentage of patents. Moreover, because the system is a pressurized system, it is vulnerable to leakage of the pressurized fluid.
These and other drawbacks of prior art artificial urethral and anal sphincters are addressed by a first aspect of the present invention, in which an artificial sphincter is provided that is based on electroactive polymers under electronic control.
Gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a condition characterized by the reflux of stomach contents, including stomach acid, into the esophagus. Approximately 5 million people in the United States alone experience chronic GERD. Of these, approximately 60–65% suffer from lower esophageal sphincter dysfunction, which is typically characterized by a weakening of the lower esophageal sphincter.
The lower esophageal sphincter is a ring of smooth muscle at the bottom few centimeters of the esophagus. In its resting state, the lower esophageal sphincter creates a region of high pressure at the orifice to the stomach. This pressure is critical to the proper operation of the lower esophageal sphincter.
The lower esophageal sphincter opens in response to the peristaltic motion that is triggered when food or beverage enters the esophagus. After food passes into the stomach, the peristaltic motion ceases, and the lower esophageal sphincter returns to its normal resting state to prevent reflux of the stomach contents, including stomach acid, back into the esophagus.
Current treatment options for GERD include various endoscopic, laproscopic and pharmaceutically-based therapies, such as fundoplication, RF ballooning, and powerful acid suppressing pharmaceuticals such as Zantac® (ranitidine), Tagamet® (cimetidine) and Pepcid® (famotidine). While these options offer a highly focused therapeutic potential, they fail in providing a long-term cure, and are not conducive to patient comfort.
As such, the need for a more dynamic and versatile option for the long-term treatment of GERD is apparent. To that end, in another aspect of the present invention, an artificial lower esophageal sphincter is provided, which is based on electroactive polymers that are under electronic control.
Congestive heart failure is a progressive and debilitating illness. The disease is characterized by a progressive enlargement of the heart. As the heart enlarges, it is required to perform an increasing amount of work in order to pump blood with each heartbeat. In time, the heart becomes so enlarged that it cannot adequately supply blood. An afflicted patient is fatigued, unable to perform even simple exerting tasks, and experiences pain and discomfort.
Millions of Americans suffer from congestive heart failure, with economic costs of the disease having been estimated at tens of billions of dollars annually.
Patients suffering from congestive heart failure are commonly grouped into four classes (i.e., Classes I, II, III and IV). In the early stages (e.g., Classes I and II), drug therapy is the most commonly prescribed treatment. Drug therapy treats the symptoms of the disease and may slow the progression of the disease. Unfortunately, there is presently no cure for congestive heart failure. Even with drug therapy, the disease will progress. Further, the drugs may have adverse side effects.
One treatment for late-stage congestive heart failure is heart transplant.
However, even if the patient qualifies for transplant and a heart is available for transplant, it is noted that heart transplant procedures are very risky, invasive, expensive and only shortly extend a patient's life. For example, prior to transplant, a Class IV patient may have a life expectancy of 6 months to one-year. Heart transplant may improve the expectancy to about five years. Similar risks and difficulties exist for mechanical heart transplants as well.
Another technique for the treatment for late stage congestive heart failure is a cardiomyoplasty procedure. In this procedure, the latissimus dorsi muscle (taken from the patient's shoulder) is wrapped around the heart and electrically paced synchronously with ventricular systole. Pacing of the muscle results in muscle contraction to assist the contraction of the heart during systole. However, even though cardiomyoplasty has demonstrated symptomatic improvement, studies suggest the procedure only minimally improves cardiac performance. Moreover, the procedure is highly invasive, expensive and complex, requiring harvesting a patient's muscle and an open chest approach (i.e., sternotomy) to access the heart.
Recently, a new surgical procedure, referred to as the Batista procedure, has been developed. The procedure includes dissecting and removing portions of the heart in order to reduce heart volume. However, the benefits of this surgery are controversial, the procedure is highly invasive, risky and expensive, and the procedure commonly includes other expensive procedures (such as a concurrent heart valve replacement). Also, if the procedure fails, emergency heart transplant is essentially the only available option.
Others have used external constraints such as jackets, girdles, fabric slings or clamps to constrain and remodel the heart and reduce heart volume. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,293,906 (citing numerous references including U.S. Pat. No. 5,702,343 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,800,528) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,095,968. In accordance with an example from the above '906 patent, a cardiac constraint device can be placed on an enlarged heart and fitted snug during diastole; for example, a knit jacket device can be loosely slipped on the heart, the material of the jacket can be gathered to adjust the device to a desired tension, and the gathered material can be sutured or otherwise fixed to maintain the tensioning.
As an improvement upon the above and in accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, an artificial muscle patch is provided, which is based on electroactive polymers that are under electronic control. The artificial muscle patch provides cardiac constraint and, if desired, can be electrically paced (e.g., synchronously with ventricular systole) to improve cardiac performance.

Electroactive polymer based artificial sphincters and artificial muscle patches


A method and apparatus for improved interference rejection, where the rejection is being accomplished by an IIR filter at the transmitter with complementary characteristics to an FIR filter of the receiver, such as a Tomlinson-Harashima transmit-precoder. The improvement is accomplished by providing the ability to preset the transmit and receive filters to the same state, thereby allowing for subsequent receptions to be deterministic. This method and apparatus is particularly useful for correcting for time-varying interference through the use of repeatable, deterministic, training sequences.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to digital signal transmission and processing, and specifically to a method and apparatus for combatting interference through the use of deterministic sequences, such as training patterns. It is particularly applicable for combatting co-channel and multipath interference for High Definition Television (HDTV) transmission.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In "Method and Apparatus for Combating Co-channel NTSC Interference for Digital TV Transmission", U.S. Pat. No. 5,452,015, a precoding approach is described in an HDTV transmitter to combat the effects of co-channel NTSC interference. A technique for equalization based on precoding at the transmitter and filtering at the receiver is presented in "New Automatic Equalizer Employing Modulo Arithmetic", Electronic Letters, pages 138-139, March 1971, and in "Matched-Transmission Technique for Channels with Intersymbol Interference", IEEE Transactions on Communications, pages 774-780, August 1972, which are incorporated by reference herein. This approach will hereinafter be referred to as the Tomlinson-Harashima approach.
Co-channel interference can be expected to be located at particular frequencies, as compared to "white noise" which is characterized as being spread randomly across the frequency spectrum. To minimize the effect of co-channel interference, the receiver filter described in the '015 patent is designed to attenuate the received signal at select frequencies. In so doing, however, the receiver filter will also attenuate the desired signal at these frequencies, therein introducing signal degradation.
The transmitter-precoding receiver-filtering approach of Tomlinson-Harashima has been developed to allow for the attenuation of the interference which may be added to the desired signal, without attenuating the desired signal. Conceptually, such an effect can be accomplished by having the transmitter accentuate the signal at the frequencies which the receiver filter attenuates, so that the attenuation at the receiver produces the original, unaccentuated, signal. Unfortunately, a direct application of the inverse of the receiver at the transmitter is not practical. In the HDTV co-channel interference case, for example, accentuating the transmit signal at the co-channel frequencies would result in additional interference at that co-channel. Each TV channel would, in effect, increase their interference to other TV channels, which would be counter-productive to a scheme intended to combat such interference.
The Tomlinson-Harashima approach provides for an effective accentuation at the select frequencies without adding significant interference at these frequencies by employing a modulo M, non-linear, precoding of the signals. This non-linear precoding spreads the interference across the bandwidth, which appears to the receiver as random white noise, which has little effect on the overall receive quality at the cochannels.
As described in the '015 patent, the transmit-precoder employing the Tomlinson-Harashima approach comprises a modulo M reducer whose output is fed back through a filter with the inverse characteristics of the receiver filter, as shown in FIG. 1. Characteristically, the transmit-precoder can be described as a non-linear Infinite Impulse Response (IIR) filter whose feedback characteristics are the inverse of the feed forward characteristics of the Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filter at the receiver.
In "VSB Transmission System: Technical Details," Feb. 18, 1994, incorporated by reference herein, it was proposed that a periodic training sequence be utilized in HDTV transmission to enable equalization and minimize the effects of transmission channel distortions such as tilt and ghosts. The operation of the training sequence in conjunction with the precoder-filter approach is described in copending application Ser. No. 8/550,128, which issued on Feb. 11, 1997 as U.S. Pat. No. 5,602,602. The training sequence undergoes the same precoding as the data signals, and undergoes the same filtering at the receiver as the data signals. Since the training sequence is known, any differences between the received training sequence and the true training sequence is an indication of interference which has not been eliminated by the receive filter. Environmental factors, such as multipath reception caused by the reflection of the transmitted signal off a building, produce frequency dependent distortions. The observed difference between the true training sequence and the received training sequence is used to adjust the filter characteristics of the particular receiver to reduce such environment dependent interference. Similar environmental and location dependent interferences would exist with cable or other forms of data transmissions, for which this training sequence approach would also be effective.
Difficulties exist, however, with the combination of training sequences and the precoding-filtering approach. Ideally, the received training sequence should be directly comparable to a predefined true training sequence. This would allow for an unbiased determination of the actual difference between what was transmitted and what was received. Because the precoder at the transmitter is an IIR filter, which is characterized as having infinite memory, the precoded transmitted sequence will be different at each transmission, even though the same training sequence is used each time. The actual transmitted signal is a combination of the signal to be sent at this time plus every signal which was ever sent by the transmitter at prior times. The transmitted signal, and hence the received signal, is said to be non-deterministic, because of this infinite memory. Communication systems routinely determine the original, non-precoded, data without knowing the infinity of prior transmissions. This determination is complicated by the fact that the precoding is non-linear, but the fact that the transmitted information is not exactly the same as the original information is of no consequence for communications because other techniques exist for correcting errors. For receiver training, however, the training methods can only approximate the difference between the received and transmitted training sequence, because the actual transmitted data is unknown at the receiver. This approximation is effective for minimizing distortions which are not too severe and generally time-invariant, but the lack of a deterministic pattern precludes correction for distortions which are characterized by severe distortions or rapidly time varying phenomena. That is, direct comparisons of the differences from one training sequence to the next cannot be made, because the transmitted sequence is caused to be different each time by the IIR filter, and the effects of non-linear filtering cannot be distinguished from the effects of interference.

Method and apparatus for producing a deterministic sequence from an IIR filter

Philips Electronics North America Corporation


An apparatus for cleaning edges and/or bevel areas of substrates is described. In one embodiment, the present invention includes a core having a plurality of flexible leaves spaced along an external surface of the core. A motor is coupled to the core for rotating the core about an axis of rotation. The rotation of the core causes the flexible leaves to rotate such that the leaves extend outward to intermittently strike points along the edge and/or bevel areas of the wafer.

Semiconductor manufacturers use semiconductor wafers as the base for manufacturing integrated circuits. On one step of the manufacturing process, the wafers are put through chemical mechanical polishing (CMP). CMP is becoming the main planarization technology for both dielectric and metal layers. For the CMP of dielectric layers, such as BPSG, BPTEOS, and PECVD Oxides (often referred to as the ILD0, ILD1, ILD2 . . . layers, respectively), a fumed silica-based slurry is normally used. Other slurries, such as dispersed silica, fumed or dispersed allumina, are also being used for CMP of both oxides and metals (such as tungsten (W), copper (Cu), aluminum (Al), and titanium (Ti)). When the CMP process is completed, the wafers' surfaces are covered in particles, referred to as a slurry residue. At later steps in the process flow, some of this slurry residue is redistributed across the front of the wafer, thereby resulting in a loss in die yield and/or device performance. To prevent the slurry redistribution, all surfaces of a wafer must be free of contamination.
Different post CMP cleaning methods have been introduced in the last few years. These include cleaning the wafers in wet stations using conventional wet cleaning methods, such as SC1, HF and megasonic cleaning. Other cleaning methods in use are based on scrubbing wafers with brushes of various kinds and configurations using DIwater or a combination of DIwith chemicals such as Ammonia and Citric acid.
One system used to remove wafer contaminants is a double sided scrubber. On a double sided scrubber, a semiconductor wafer is scrubbed simultaneously on both sides by brushes. Since the wafer is being scrubbed simultaneously on both sides by the brushes, there must be a way of holding the wafer in place and rotating the wafer so the entire surface of the wafer is cleaned. A mechanism used for this purpose is commonly referred to as a roller.
Today, double sided scrubbers are usually automated and comprise a conveyor type mechanism, rollers, and brushes. In general, the wafer lies flat on the conveyor mechanism and the conveyor mechanism moves the wafer into the brushes. While being scrubbed, the wafer is supported (or held horizontally) by the conveyor mechanism, brushes, rollers, or a combination thereof. FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional double sided wafer scrubber. Referring to FIG. 1, a wafer 102 is being scrubbed by brushes, one of which is shown as brush 110 and the other being beneath wafer 102 and directly below brush 110. Rollers 108 and 109 rotate wafer 102 so the entire wafer surface may be cleaned. Each of brushes 110 is rotated about its central axis by a motor 106. The rotary motion of rollers 108 is then transferred to wafer 102 when the edge of each of rollers 109 comes into contact with the outer edge of wafer 102.
Although conventional brush cleaning systems can effectively clean the front and backs of semiconductor substrates, such systems fail to provide a sufficient amount of mechanical energy at the edge/bevel to remove contamination.
The present invention provides an apparatus that cleans the edge of substrates, including the bevel area when present.

Flexible-leaf substrate edge cleaning apparatus


A drum mixer is useful in the continuous production of asphalt paving composition, and has provision for the accurate control of the final temperature of the composition being produced. The drum mixer comprises a fixedly mounted cylindrical sleeve disposed in a generally horizontal orientation, and rotating blades for conveying the heated aggregate longitudinally through the interior of the sleeve. An opening is provided in the side wall portion of the sleeve, and a box-like enclosure covers the opening and mounts a plurality of sensor mounting tubes, so as to permit one or more sensors to be positioned at a location within the enclosure. The enclosure is located where the blades or mixing action in the sleeve will supply a regular flow of the aggregate into the enclosure, and so that the aggregate then slides over the sensors. The sensors are thus subjected to a representative portion of the aggregate, and they are protected from both the radiant heat of the burner and the physical abuse of the mixing action.

The present invention relates to an asphalt drum mixer of the type employed to continuously heat and dry stone aggregate, while mixing the heated and dried aggregate with liquid asphalt to produce asphalt paving composition.
In one conventional drum mixer of the described type, the aggregate drying and mixing steps are carried out in a rotating drum which is inclined from the horizontal. The virgin aggregate is introduced into the upper end of the drum, and an outlet is provided adjacent the lower end of the drum for withdrawing the heated and dried aggregate. Thus as the drum rotates, the aggregate cascades through the interior of the drum and moves toward the outlet at the lower end. A burner is mounted adjacent one end of the drum so as to create a heated gas stream which moves through the drum, either parallel to or counter to the flow of the moving aggregate. Also, liquid asphalt is commonly introduced into the interior of the drum at a location midway along its length, so that the asphalt becomes mixed with the cascading aggregate and produces a paving composition which exits from the outlet.
With the increased need to control the emissions from such drum mixers, new designs have been developed wherein the virgin aggregate is heated and dried, usually in a drum of the counterflow type, and the heated aggregate is then mixed with liquid asphalt, and possibly also with recycled asphalt pavement (RAP) in a zone of the drum, or a separate device, where it is neither exposed to the hot wet gases nor the radiant energy of the flame used to dry and heat the virgin aggregate. A drum mixer of this type is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,867,572 and 5,052,810 to Brock. More particularly, in the drum mixer of the Brock patents, a fixed sleeve surrounds the lower portion of the rotating drum so that the heated and dried aggregate is discharged into the annular chamber which is formed between the drum and sleeve. Also, an inlet is provided in the sleeve by which RAP may be introduced into the annular chamber, and another inlet is provided to introduce liquid asphalt into the annular chamber. The drum mounts mixing blades which move through the annular chamber to mix the materials and cause them to move longitudinally to the discharge outlet of the sleeve.
In drum mixers of the type disclosed in the referenced patents to Brock, the temperature of the virgin aggregate must be carefully controlled to ensure a predetermined final temperature of the asphalt composition after the addition of the liquid asphalt and RAP, if used, and under varying operating conditions. For this purpose, it has been conventional to position an infrared sensor or thermocouple through the shell of the mixer near the point where the virgin aggregate enters the annular chamber. The sensor signals the burner to control the flame intensity and thereby maintain the desired temperature of the aggregate.
In has been recognized that the temperature sensor must be shielded from the radiant heat of the burner in order to accurately measure the temperature of the aggregate. Also, the sensor must be exposed to a flow of representative aggregate, yet not be exposed to the full fury of the mixing zone where it can be quickly destroyed by abrasion and the forces imparted by the mixing blades. Heretofore, these requirements have not been fully met.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a drum mixer of the type which is useful in the continuous production of asphalt paving composition, and which has an inexpensive, reliable temperature sensing device which permits the temperature of the liquid asphalt being produced to be maintained within acceptable limits under varying operating conditions.
It is a further and more particular object of the present invention to provide a drum mixer of the type having an annular mixing chamber wherein stone aggregate is mixed with liquid asphalt, and which includes a reliable temperature measuring device which is protected from the radiant energy of the burner and from physical abuse in the annular mixing chamber, and which is subjected to a representative portion of the aggregate so as to be able to provide an accurate measurement of the temperature of the aggregate in the annular chamber.

Asphalt drum mixer having temperature sensor enclosure


Two spaced apart zones of a carbonate containing formation are simultaneously acid fractured. A lower density fracturing acid is injected into an upper zone of the formation via an annulus of a perforated wellbore communicating with the upper zone thereby causing a fracture to propagate. Simultaneously therewith, a higher density fracturing acid is injected into a lower spaced apart zone via a tube within the wellbore which fluidly communicates with the lower zone thereby causing simultaneously the propagation of a second fracture. Neither fracture contacts the other although complete fracture growth and zonal acidizing is obtained.

In the completion of wells built into the earth, a string of casing is normally run into the well and a cement slurry is flowed into the annulus between the casing string and the wall of the well. The cement casing slurry is allowed to set and form a cement sheath which bounds the string of casing to the wall of the well. Perforations are provided through the casing and a cement sheath adjacent the sub-surface formation. Fluids, such as oil or gas, are produced through these perforations into the well.
It is common practice to acidize subterranean formations in order to increase the permeability thereof. For example, in the petroleum industry it is conventional to inject an acidizing fluid into a well in order to increase the permeability of a surrounding hydrocarbon-bearing formation and thus facilitate the flow of hydrocarbon fluids into the well from the formation or the injection of fluids, such as gas or water, from the well into the formation. Such acidizing techniques may be carried out as "matrix acidizing" procedures or as "acid fracturing" procedures.
In matrix acidizing, the acidizing fluid is passed into the formation from the well at a pressure below the breakdown pressure of the formation. In this case, increase in permeability is effected primarily by the chemical reaction of the acid within the formation with little or no permeability increase being due to mechanical distortions within the formation as in fracturing.
In acid fracturing, the acidizing fluid is disposed within the well opposite the formation to be fractured. Thereafter, sufficient pressure is applied to the acidizing fluid to cause the formation to break down with the resultant production of one or more fractures therein. An increase in permeability thus is effected by the acid etching of the fractures formed as well as by the chemical reaction of the acid within the formation.
In yet another technique involving acidizing, the formation is fractured initially using an inert fluid (inert fluids may be gelled water containing polymers such as hydroxypropyl guar or hydroxyethyl cellulose). Thereafter, an acidizing fluid is injected into the formation at fracturing pressures to extend the created fracture and to "finger through" the fracture filled with the inert fluid. This technique is marketed by Hallibriton Services, Duncan, Okla., as the MY-T-Acid.RTM. process.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,807,703 to A.R. Jennings, Jr., there is described an acid treatment of a subterranean formation to improve productivity of hydrocarbons from a reservoir therein employing an acid fracturing of the formation surrounding a well penetrating the hydrocarbon reservoir. Such acid treatment involves the injection of a gelled and foamed acid into a formation under conditions and pressures sufficient to fracture the formation and create a foam pad in the face of at least one resultant fracture. Thereafter, an ungelled and foamed acid is injected into the fracture which acid "fingers" through the foam pad thereby unevenly etching the fracture and propagating to substantially further distances into the formation. When the acid is spent and the desired amount of etching and fracturing is obtained, the gelled composition is removed from the formation. Hydrocarbon fluids are then produced from the formation.
Wells completed through formations at multiple intervals always present a challenge for effective treatment. Frequently, various methods of zone isolation or diverting will be used in treating more than one well, especially if the zones of interest are separated by a few hundred feet. Wells which are perforated over several hundred feet in a single zone also create a challenge to treat them effectively with well stimulation such as acidizing or hydraulic fracturing.
Therefore, what it is needed is a method for acid fracturing a carbonate formation having multiple intervals or zones which method does not require zone isolation.

Simultaneous acid fracturing using acids with different densities


A microneedle device for delivering therapeutic ingredients to the dermis or epidermis. The device contains biodegradable microneedles, which extend from a backing, and are sandwiched between a cap film and a film which is coextensive with the tips of the microneedles and the spaces on the backing between the microneedles.

There is a large volume of published studies describing the role of the skin as a promising site for systemic delivery of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). (Banga, 2006: Gupta and Sharma, 2009). Successful passive transdermal delivery is restricted to molecules sharing the following key properties of ideal skin permeant:low molecular weight of <500 Da; the demonstration of adequate lipophilicity with log partition coefficient preferably in the range of 1 to 3.5; potent molecules with typical daily dose of <10 mg and reasonable aqueous solubility of >100 μg/ml (Coulman et al., 2006a; Williams, 2003). This stems from the formidable barrier properties of the skin's stratum corneum (SC), also known as the horny layer. This uppermost layer of the skin consisting of corneocytes embedded in lipid-enriched matrix with a thickness of approximately 10-15 μm, is a key factor in regulating drug flux through the tissue (Wiechers, 1998; Williams, 2003).
Most APIs however, are rather hydrophilic, charged or of large molecular size, making them far from ideal skin permeants. Recent developments in transdermal drug delivery therefore have heightened the need for strategies to overcome the stratum corneum barrier function in order to facilitate rapid and effective permeation of a broader range of molecules, including macromolecular therapeutics and genetic materials. Such strategies to overcome the stratum corneum barrier properties namely via optimisation of the drug formulation or manipulation of the SC barrier function, can be achieved by one of two main approaches—either by chemical or physical methods.
Conventional transdermal delivery strategies, well established for small molecules, are focused on optimisation of drug formulation. For macromolecules such as protein/peptide drugs, optimisation of the formulation can be performed by encapsulation of macromolecules within vesicular carrier systems such as liposomes, chemical modification for synthesising more lipophilic analogues, or incorporation of chemical penetration enhancers and proteolytic enzymes inhibitors.
However, as this approach does not significantly disrupt the skin barrier, its application might be limited to only small peptides. Other transdermal enhancement technologies rely on manipulating the stratum corneum barrier properties by means of application of physical energy, or by physical abruption of the stratum corneum and, finally, by controlled removal of the stratum corneum so that permeation of drug molecules could be increased.
Recent and emerging progress in microneedle (MN) technologies are now used to disrupt the barrier properties of the SC, thus enabling enhanced transdermal drug delivery.
Microneedle (MN) Arrays
MN arrays consist of a plurality of micron-sized projections typically assembled on one side of a supporting base or patch. These microprojections generally range from lengths as short as 25 μm to those as long as 2,000 μm. The first concept for the use of MN as a drug delivery device was filed in 1971 in a United States patent in which the inventors, Gerstel and Place, used the term 'puncturing projections' to describe this invention (Gerstel and Place, 1976). However, the first serious discussions and proof-of-concept analyses of MN emerged in the late 1990s, when Henry et al. (1998) demonstrated the use of silicon MN to successfully facilitate the delivery of a model drug, calcein, across human skin.
A large and growing body of literature has investigated various microfabrication methodologies used to manufacture MN arrays from numerous materials. These materials have included silicon; metals such as stainless steel, palladium, nickel and titanium carbohydrates including galactose, maltose and polysaccharide, glass, ceramics and various polymers.
In addition, MN arrays have been produced in various different geometries. These microstructure geometries can be in the form of needle-like (most common MN geometries which can be sharp-, tapered-, conical- or bevel-tipped), microblades, blunt-projections or shaped in an arrow-head.
MNs have been shown to effectively enhance the delivery of many therapeutic molecules across biological membranes including skin, mucosal tissue and sclera. Upon application of MN arrays, transient micropores, orders of magnitude larger than the molecular dimensions of the target molecule are created.
In 2004, it was suggested that MN arrays could be used to permit the transport of, not only small molecular weight APIs but macromolecules and possibly supramolecular complexes and microparticles. MNs could allow for the easy and patient-friendly administration of therapeutics to and across the skin at low cost with potential efficacy as a parenteral route of administration.
Modulation of MN geometry and simple alteration of drug formulations can result in controlled drug deposition within targeted skin layers. MNs have been shown to penetrate the skin and cross the stratum corneum into the viable epidermis, avoiding contact with nerve fibers and blood vessels that reside primarily in the dermal layer. Therefore, the use of MNs would provide a pain-free, minimally invasive means of delivering both small and large molecular weight APIs with the prevention of bleeding at the application site.
Over the last decade, extensive research has been carried out concerning MN design with the use of a wide range of techniques and fabrication methods. Importantly, enhancement of the delivery of drugs and biomolecules of a wide variety of physicochemical properties has been demonstrated in in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo experiments, using a broad variety of device designs.
Microneedles
Biodegradable polymeric microneedles (MN) are micron-scale solid structures that are embedded with active pharmaceutical ingredients as dissolvable MN patches.
MN patches are applied to the skin and penetrate into the dermis of the skin where they deposit active pharmaceutical ingredient.
Dissolvable polymeric MN patches are made of water-soluble biodegradable materials.
To date, dissolvable microneedle (MN) patches are prepared with water-based solutions of active pharmaceutical ingredient, polymers, and fillers in a process that involves simultaneous drying of the vaccine and formation of the MN, which requires optimal conditions for both. This approach is inherently limited in its ability to achieve long-term biopharmaceutical stability because water cannot be removed effectively during the drying process without increasing the drying temperature, which then damages the biological material.