According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a dither circuit including a dither generating circuit generating a plurality of complementary signal pairs, and a dither input circuit generating a plurality of dither signals from the plurality of complementary signal pairs to add the generated dither signals to an analog input signal, in which the plurality of complementary signal pairs have different frequencies with each other, the dither input circuit includes capacitors provided for each of the plurality of complementary signal pairs and a plurality of switch pairs including first and second switches having one terminals connected to each one terminal of the capacitors, and the other terminals of the capacitors are connected to an adding point to the analog input signal, the first switch supplies ones of the complementary signal pairs to one terminals of the capacitors when a clock signal is in effective state, and the second switch supplies the others of the complementary signal pairs to one terminals of the capacitors when an inverting clock signal of the clock signal is in effective state.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dither circuit for a quantizer, and more particularly, to a dither circuit correcting quantization error generated in an analog digital converter (ADC).
2. Description of Related Art
In order to describe the background of the present invention, characteristic of an ADC without dither will be described with taking a ΔΣ (delta sigma) type ADC as an example. FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of a first-order ΔΣ (delta sigma) ADC without dither signal. This first-order ΔΣADC functions as follows.
When a sampling clock ck is in active state, switches SWain and SWsam are closed and charges sampling analog input signal Vain are stored in an input capacitor C1. Next, when an inverting sampling clock ckb is in active state, switches SWdac and SWint are closed, and charges are transmitted to an integral capacitor C2 according to a feedback reference signal Vr. Then integration is performed in the C2 to change an integrator output Vout. The integrator output Vout is input to a comparator 3 which functions as a quantizer. A quantization output PDM, which is the output from the comparator 3, is delayed by one clock cycle by a delay device 4 and is input to a 1-bit digital analog converter (DAC) 6. The DAC 6 outputs a feedback reference signal Vr. The level of the feedback reference signal Vr has two values of Vrp and Vrn, and the level is determined to be Vrp or Vrn according to the value obtained by examining the previous integration result made by the comparator 3.
A decimation filter 5 obtains the quantization output PDM and removes high side out-of-band noise that is shaped by a delta sigma modulator 10. Then the decimation filter 5 thins out and changes the data output rate to a desired one to output the digital signal output Dout.
FIG. 7 shows output characteristics of the ΔΣ type ADC when an analog input signal is in the vicinity of zero. As shown in FIG. 7, there is a region where the digital output signal outputs constant value. This is because some loss is caused in the integrator. The loss is caused mainly because gain of an operational amplifier forming the integrator has limit, leak current is generated in the capacitor or the switch, or the integrator is not in an ideal state due to existence of parasitic element and soon. Due to this loss, the feedback reference signal is in a stationary state where the feedback reference signal repeats positive side and negative side when the analog input signal is in the vicinity of zero, and the digital output signal has constant value. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 8, the error is also increased when the analog input signal is in the vicinity of zero.
In order to improve this characteristic degradation, the stationary state where the feedback reference signal repeats positive side and negative side is needed to be avoided when the analog input signal is in the vicinity of zero. The process for adding the dither signals is typically used to achieve this object.
A conventional example of the first-order ΔΣ type ADC having a single square wave dither circuit is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-100992. FIG. 9 shows a configuration of the ΔΣ type ADC disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-100992. With reference to FIG. 9, the ΔΣ type ADC includes a dither circuit 1, a switched capacitor type integrator 2, a quantizer 3 made of a comparator, a delay device 4 made of a flip-flop, a decimation filter 5, and a 1-bit DAC 6. FIG. 10 shows configurations of the dither circuit 1 of the ΔΣ type ADC and the 1-bit DAC shown in FIG. 9, and switched capacitors transmitting charges proportional to signal potentials generated at the dither circuit and the 1-bit DAC to an integral capacitor of the integrator 2.
Referring to FIG. 10, the 1-bit DAC 6 includes a switching device 31 controlled by an output Sd of the delay device 4. The switching device 31 outputs reference voltages V1 and V4 generated at the resistors 39 to 43 that are connected in series as a positive side Vrp=V1 and negative side Vrn=V4 of the feedback reference signal Vr, respectively.
The dither circuit 1 includes a switching device 37 controlled by signal obtained by dividing the frequency of sampling clock fs by n using a frequency divider. The frequency dividing ratio of the frequency divider is set so that the cycle of the dither signals becomes more than ⅛ of the output cycle of the decimation filter 5. The switching device 37 switches reference voltages V2 and V3 generated at the resistors 39 to 43 that are connected in series to output the square wave dither whose amplitude is V2-V3. A switched capacitor circuit includes switches 32 and 34 that function at a first timing, switches 35 and 36 that function at a second timing, and a capacitor 33. When the switches 35 and 36 are closed and the switches 32 and 34 are opened, potentials of both ends of the capacitor 33 are made ground potential. When the switches 35 and 36 are opened and the switches 32 and 34 are closed, the dither Vd is output to the input of the integrator 2 which is an adding point. There is a description in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-100992 that the arbitrary waveform can be used as the dither such as delta wave or sawtooth wave although specific example is not shown in this patent.
In the ADC disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,940,138, two square wave dithers having different frequencies and amplitudes are added to the analog video input signal. FIG. 11 shows a configuration of the ADC of U.S. Pat. No. 5,940,138, and FIG. 12 shows the dither waveform thereof. Referring to FIGS. 11 and 12, the dither is generated from the square wave having frequencies of ½ and ¼ of the sampling clock CLK obtained by dividing frequency of the sampling clock CLK using flip-flops 803B and 803C. The two square waves having frequencies of ½ and ¼ are added to the analog video input signal DATA output from a buffer amplifier 805 as the dither of the amplitude of ½ LSB P-P and ¼ LSB P-P by an adding device which includes weighted resistors R, 512R, and 1024R. Note that exclusive OR operation is performed on the signal obtained by dividing frequency of horizontal synchronizing signal H by 2 and the square wave having frequency of ½ of the sampling clock CLK at EX-OR 804A. Exclusive OR operation is also performed on the signal obtained by dividing frequency of horizontal synchronizing signal H by 2 and the square wave having frequency of ¼ of the sampling clock CLK at EX-OR 804B. After these exclusive OR operations, these signals are added to the adding device. Therefore, the ADC has a configuration where the polarity of the dither is inverted for each one horizontal line.
In the conventional dither using the single square wave as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-100992, there is an area where the digital output signal becomes constant as in the case without the dither when there is not so much difference between amplitude of the square wave and the analog input signal Vain. As shown in FIG. 13, characteristic improvement cannot be fully achieved in the area where there is not so much difference between the amplitude Vd of the square wave dither signals and the analog input signal Vain. Further, a voltage-dividing resistor for generating the potential having an intermediate level to determine the amplitude level of the dither is needed, which increases circuit size. Further, the DAC for generating arbitrary waveform is also needed when the arbitrary waveform (delta wave or sawtooth wave) is used in the dither, which increases circuit size.
In the conventional example disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,940,138, the resistor that is 512 times or 1024 times larger than the resistor for analog signal input is needed to determine the amplitude of the dither, which increases the circuit size. In a small amplitude where the dither amplitude is 1/512 or 1/1024 of the analog signal input range, the phenomena where the digital output signal becomes constant when the analog input signal Vain is in the vicinity of zero cannot be improved.

Dither circuit and analog digital converter having dither circuit


An system and method for online human resource outsourcing is provided via online and through portal access such as obtained when utilizing wireless applications.

In a typical employer-employee relationship, an employer will provide employees with benefits, such as health insurance, retirement plans, 401(k) plans, etc. Many employers will also offer additional benefits to employees, ranging from gym memberships to discounts on products and the like. A fundamental purpose of all such benefits is to strengthen the tie between the employee and his employer. In fact, with the increasingly dynamic job market of today, benefits have become such an important part of the employer-employee relationship that the value of the benefits are estimated to be within 10-40% of a given base salary. As retaining employees and replacing employees who leave becomes increasingly difficult in terms of both the availability of suitable candidates, and in terms of the actual cost of training new employees, employers are trying to maximize the benefits they provide their employees so as to strengthen the employer-employee bond in order to reduce turnover. Nevertheless, given the high administrative and other related costs, minimizing the associated costs has been an elusive goal, particularly considering the lack of economies of scale and efficiencies in the prior art methodologies.
By way of example, inefficiency is inherent in prior art methodologies because in most cases, the employer must arrange or negotiate with a third party for provision of such benefits. Some groups have tried to engineer multi-corporate buying pools. However, these organizations lack information regarding the employee base so that the organizations are not able to offer appropriate benefits at the appropriate time. Given that administration of the corporate human resource function has been traditionally provided in-house, and has been primarily based on paper oriented transactions, it is an increasingly expensive, cumbersome process. To address this problem, more recent prior art solutions over the past decade have tried to replace this type of internal operation with an outsourced, technologically enhanced function which is directed to the administration of benefit plans (e.g., 401(k), pension plans, medical plans, etc.). To this end, strategies have been developed to allow employers to outsource all non-benefit human resource functions themselves (e.g., recruiting, training), however, even the more recent prior art approaches to outsourcing have severe limitations, not the least of which is that they are essentially limited to certain human resource functions, which does not provide for the outsourcing of strategic human resource activities, (e.g., policy, design, development), or business advisory elements which directly add value to employee contribution and organization performance. Moreover, the recent prior art approaches do not maximize the economies of scale, which can be formed in large scale, centralized buying pools.
Furthermore, when employers have generally provided for a systematic administration of traditional benefit plans, they have also provided for non-traditional benefits but have yet to find an efficient approach to administering them. However, the recent popularity of non-traditional benefits (such as discounts from third parties) has added yet further difficulties for integration with the prior art methodologies. This is because all benefits (especially non-traditional benefits) have traditionally been haphazardly administered, with the resulting effect being that many employees do not take advantage of such benefits because they simply do not know about them as employees and are often unaware of certain things such as corporate discounts on goods and services, as well as all other manner of human resource benefits. Moreover, in some cases, they cannot fully appreciate the applicability of the benefits to their personal and professional lives. These shortcomings also stem from the fact that information regarding these benefits is almost never customized to match the needs or interests of each individual employee.

System and method for online human resource outsourcing and portal access


A software trusted platform module (sTPM) operates in a hypervisor, receives trust assurances from specialized hardware, and extends this trust such that the hypervisor performs trust attestation. The hypervisor receives a startup sequence validation from a TPM, or Trusted Platform Module. The TPM performs bus monitoring during a boot sequence of the computer system, records the startup sequence from the bus, and performs a hash on the sequence. The TPM performs an authentication exchange with the hypervisor such that the hypervisor authenticates the attestation of the computer system from the TPM, and the hypervisor, now delegated with trust assurances from the TPM, provides assurances to users via an authentication chain. The ATCB then performs the attestation of the computer system according to the attestation protocol much faster than the TPM. In this manner, the hypervisor operates as a software delegate of the TPM for providing user assurances of trust.

Increased proliferation of the Internet in recent decades has spawned a corresponding increase in potential avenues through which undesirable and malicious software may propagate. Collectively called "malware," such undesirable software entities reside anonymously on host computers to covertly perform their designated task, such as gathering usage patterns, transmitting personal user data, or simply performing malicious corruption of data. Once employed as stand-alone number crunchers for the scientifically and mathematically gifted, modern computers are typically interconnected via the Internet and other networks, facilitating automatic and widespread transmission of data and executable entities (programs) in a manner ripe for exploitation by unscrupulous users.
Many computer users proactively employ security products designed to scan, detect, and prevent malware on their own systems. However, conventional computers each individually employ specific countermeasures, so it can be difficult to assess the existence of malware on an unfamiliar computer absent specific knowledge of the countermeasures in force. One emerging area that highlights concerns over assuring the absence of malware, or so called "trusted" nature of computer systems, is so-called grid computing. In a grid computing environment, computing resources are pooled and allocated to the grid users according to a resource management scheme. Typically, subscribers to such a grid environment receive CPU processing time on a fee-for-services basis. The grid manages available computers as a set of CPU resources, and allocates available computers to meet user requests. Often, such requests are CPU intensive tasks that may require multiple CPUs of the grid environment. Accordingly, a user of such a grid has little control over the trustworthiness of the computer systems to which a particular request is delegated.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A chip-scale sensor package structure includes a sensor chip, a first package body surrounding and connected to an outer lateral side of the sensor chip, a ring-shaped support disposed on a top side of the first package body, a light permeable member disposed on the ring-shaped support, and a redistribution layer (RDL) disposed on a bottom surface of the sensor chip and a bottom side of the first package body. The sensor chip includes a sensing region arranged on the top surface thereof, a plurality of internal contacts, and a plurality of conductive paths respectively connected to the internal contacts and electrically coupled to the sensing region. The sensing region is spaced apart from the ring-shaped support by a distance less than 300 μm. A bottom surface of the RDL has a plurality of external contacts electrically coupled to the internal contacts.

In a conventional chip-scale sensor package structure, a light permeable member (e.g., an optical glass) is fixed onto a sensor chip through only an adhesive which adheres a bottom side of the light permeable member to a top surface of the sensor chip, so that the adhesive may easily contaminate a sensing region arranged on the top surface of the sensor chip, thereby affecting the production yield rate or resulting in product failure of the conventional chip-scale sensor package structure.


Platy pigments with good tactile characteristics are obtained by treating such pigments with a compound of the general formula: ##STR1## where m is an even number from 8 to 18 and n is 3 or 4 under defined conditions. N.epsilon.-lauroyl lysine is preferred. The pigments are especially useful in cosmetic compositions such as eye shadow.

During the past decade, attempts have been made to improve the tactile or "feel" characteristics of powders and of solid compacts intended for cosmetic makeup purposes in the eye region and on the face. The general approach has been to treat the surfaces of the major pigments in these formulations. Treatment also was intended to improve the dispersion or the compatibility of the pigment in the compact formulation.
Compact formulations containing largely platy pigments or extenders such as mica already had reasonably smooth and soft tactile properties, due to the flat or platy shape of the pigment particles. However, it was recognized that these pigments could also be improved by treatment. Talc, a platy extender frequently used in compact formulations, showed several disadvantages. The softness of talc contributed to its ease of breaking up physically so that the platy character would be substantially decreased or lost. The softness of the talc also contributed to its hard compaction when subjected to pressure, so that pay-off of the formulation in use became low.
Mica, as an extender in these compact formulations, was found to overcome some of the disadvantages of the talc. Mica, as a harder material but still platy in shape, resists being broken up physically. It also has some resistance to compaction, so that by adjusting the binder formulation of the compact, a reasonably soft compact is attainable along with good pay-off.
The outer structure of human skin is a mosaic of hydrophilic and hydrophobic areas. The best tactile effects, or the best smoothness and softness, are attained with the coating of pigment surfaces with compounds that have a hydrophile-hydrophobe balance similar to human skin, and with compounds that have some chemical relationship to skin.
Mica, as well as some of the metal oxide coated mica pigments used as pearlescent and color interference type pigments in compact and powder formulations, may have more surface hydrophilic character than is desirable for good tactile qualities on the skin. This means that the surface of the mica or of the platy pigment may have some drag in being applied to the skin. The hydrophile-hydrophobe balance of the pigment surface should be shifted. This is done with appropriate treatment of the pigment surfaces. The treatment consists of coating the surfaces of the pigment with a suitable compound. In many cases, the compounds or agents used have shifted the hydrophile-hydrophobe balance very strongly toward hydrophobic. This is neither desirable nor necessary.
Compounds that have been used for pigment surface treatment include silicones, silanes, siloxanes, fatty acids, chemically modified polyolefins, and fatty acid triglycerides (fats). These generally cause a large shift towards hydrophobic character and therefore, less than desirable tactile qualities.
Others have been used that are substantial improvements over the above group. They include amino acid derivatives, lecithin, safcosine derivatives, and others based on derivatives of natural products. The hydrophile-hydrophobe shift is modest towards hydrophobic and desirable. The tactile qualities are improved. However, in some cases, rancidity may result from the oxidation of some unsaturated fatty acid components. The solubilities of some of these compounds in components of the binder formulation may be substantial, leading to removal of some of the compound from the pigment surface. Mechanical treatment in the course of preparing the formulation for compaction may result in mechanically removing some of the treatment compound from the pigment surface. Finally, the adherence or adsorption of the treatment compound to the pigment surface is questionable, so that migration of the compound away from the pigment surface may take place with time.
European Patent Publication No. 139,481 of May 2, 1985 discloses methods for treating inorganic pigments with N-mono-acylated basic amino acids containing long chain acyl groups, e.g., N.epsilon.-lauroyl-L-lysine. The publication states that any dry or wet procedure may be used. The "dry" procedure involves dry blending of the components. A "wet" procedure involves dissolving the treatment compound in an organic solvent, using calcium chloride as a solubilizing agent, bringing the inorganic pigment into contact with the solution and then washing the mixture with water to remove calcium chloride. An alternative "wet" procedure involves dissolving the treatment compound in an aqueous alkali or an aqueous solvent, bringing the inorganic pigment into contact with the solution, neutralizing the mixture, precipitating and adhering the treatment compound to the pigment surface, washing with water and drying. It is implied that the alternative methods yield equivalent products.
Of the three methods disclosed, the dry blending method is shown in Example X, infra, not to yield a satisfactory product; the only solvent mentioned in connection with a wet method is calcium ethylate, the use of which is expensive and impractical; and the alternative wet method suggested is not disclosed with sufficient particularity to enable it to be successfully practiced.
It is an object of the invention to provide an improved method for producing a treated platy pigment with improved tactile characteristics and with good adherence of the treatment material to the pigment surface. Other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following description.


The non-vented automatic dispensing cap is generally formed of a body and a retainer cap. The body is threadably secured to a squeezable tube or container. The retainer cap is attached to the body. A pressure chamber is formed between the body and retainer cap. A piston may also form a wall of the pressure chamber. A coil spring or resilient flange holds a valve seated within a dispensing hole extending through the cap. When the tube is squeezed, the product is forced into the pressure chamber expanding the pressure chamber and unseating the valve, thereby allowing product to exit the dispensing opening. Upright, inverted, vented and unvented versions are disclosed.

The squeezable tube and the squeezable bottle are common containers for products such as creams, lotions, and soaps. The most common devices for opening and closing these squeezable containers are removable caps that are threaded to the container or flip cap dispensing closures. In either case, a two handed effort is required to open the cap before the products can be dispensed and also to close the cap to seal the container. Quite often the cap is not replaced or flipped down, thereby leaving the container unsealed.
To overcome the necessity of a two handed effort to both open and close the containers, a self opening and closing device or automatic dispensing cap is described below.

Automatic dispensing cap for squeezable bottle


A semiconductor package comprises a substrate; a semiconductor die that comprises a set of one or more interconnects on one side to couple to the substrate; and a shape memory alloy layer provided on another side of the semiconductor die to compensate warpage of the semiconductor die. The shape memory alloy layer deforms with warpage of the semiconductor die and changes from the deformed shape to an original shape to flatten the semiconductor die in response to rise of a temperature during coupling of the die to the substrate.

A semiconductor package may comprise one or more semiconductor dies that are attached to a substrate. A die may be both electrically and mechanically coupled to a substrate using, for example, a flip-chip interconnect technique or by wirebonding in conjunction with a die-attach adhesive. During manufacture (and perhaps use), a semiconductor die may be susceptible to warpage, and such warpage may, for example, lead to inconsistent interconnect formation between a die and a substrate and/or to delamination between the die and substrate. Several factors may impact the extent of any die warpage, including the thickness of the die, processing temperatures (e.g. during solder reflow), differences in coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) between the die and substrate, as well as other factors.


The invention provides a cleaning blade member having a controlled friction coefficient and a method for producing the same. The cleaning blade member, for use in a cleaning part for removing toner deposits, is formed of a polyurethane having a ratio of rebound resilience at 25° C. to Young's modulus (rebound resilience at 25° C./Young's modulus) of 4.5 or less.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cleaning blade member and, more particularly, to a cleaning blade member for removing a toner deposited on a toner image carrier employed in an electrophotographic process-such as a photoconductor or a transfer belt, on which a toner image is formed and which transfers the formed image to an image receptor.
2. Background Art
Generally, in an electrophotographic process, electrophotographic apparatus parts such as an electrophotographic photoreceptor and a transfer belt are used cyclically and repeatedly, and a toner deposited thereon is removed by means of a cleaning blade. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. 2003-302802 discloses that members for use in such a cleaning blade are made of polyurethane. Polyurethane is employed because it has excellent wear resistance, exhibits sufficient mechanical strength without incorporating additives such as a reinforcing agent thereinto, and does not stain objects. When a cleaning blade has excessively high friction coefficient, contact between the cleaning blade and an object such as a photoconductor becomes unfavorable. Thus, a variety of measures have been taken for reducing friction coefficient, such as an approach in which a lubricating component is applied to the cleaning blade tip to come into contact with an object; an approach in which a lubricating component is added to polyurethane; an approach in which a lubricating component is incorporated into polyurethane through copolymerization; and an approach in which a lubricating coating material is applied to a polyurethane blade member.
However, these approaches have drawbacks. For example, the approach of applying a lubricating component cannot provide a long-term lubrication effect. When the approach of adding a lubricating component is employed, difficulty is encountered in bonding a blade member to a substrate member, and problematic bleeding of the additive occurs, resulting in staining objects. When a lubricating component is copolymerized with polyurethane, the formed polymer material comes to have unsatisfactory characteristics, resulting in reduced wear resistance and staining of an object by a low-molecular-weight component. In addition, since factors controlling friction coefficient have not been completely elucidated, designing of suitable cleaning blades is difficult.
The present inventors have carried out extensive studies in order to solve the aforementioned problems, and have found that friction coefficient depends on the ratio of Young's modulus to rebound resilience. The present invention has been accomplished on the basis of this finding. Notably, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. 2003-302802 discloses a blade member whose physical properties, including Young's modulus and rebound resilience, fall within specific ranges. However, this document does not teach the relationship between friction coefficient and these physical properties.

Cleaning blade member and method for producing the same


A key (11) is supported by key supporting portions (32) so that the key (11) can pivot. A reaction force generation member (22) is shaped like a dome to be elastically deformed by a key-depression of the key (11). At the time of the elastic deformation, the reaction force generation member (22) increases a reaction force from the beginning with an increasing amount of elastic deformation. After the reaction force reaches its peak, the reaction force generation member (22) buckles to reduce the reaction force. A normal line of a plane (P1) including a pivot axis (C) of the key (11) and a depression point of a depression portion (11a) is designed to be roughly parallel to an axis line (Y1) of the reaction force generation member (22) at the point in time when the reaction force of the reaction force generation member (22) reaches its peak.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an operating element device having a reaction force generation member for generating a reaction force by elastically deforming in response to a operator's operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there are keyboard musical instruments such as electronic organs and electronic pianos having reaction force generation members for exerting a reaction force against a depression of a key. For example, Japanese Examined Utility Model Application Publication No. 7-49512 discloses a keyboard apparatus having a reaction force generation member (let-off element) on a key frame (shelf board) which supports a key located above the key frame so that the key can pivot. The reaction force generation member is elastically deformed, by being depressed by the key depressed by a player, to generate a reaction force. Particularly, the reaction force generation member generates a reaction force having the property of increasing with increasing angle between which the key pivots by a depression of the key, and abruptly decreasing by buckling distortion after the reaction force has reached its peak. By providing the player a feeling of click brought about by the buckling distortion, the conventional keyboard apparatus provides the player the key-touch similar to the touch of a piano brought about by let-off.


Methods and apparatus for calibrating a transitional loop, such as a phase locked loop, are disclosed. An example method includes performing an open loop calibration of a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO). The open loop calibration includes tuning the output oscillation frequency of the VCO to within a predetermined range of frequencies. The example method further includes determining a voltage offset and a gain error of an analog to digital converter (ADC) coupled with the phase locked loop. The example method also includes determining a gain offset of the open loop calibrated VCO using the voltage offset and the gain error of the ADC. In the example method, a signal provided by a charge pump of the PLL is adjusted based on the determined gain offset.

Communication systems that support wireless and/or wired communications between wireless and/or wire-line communication devices are being rapidly proliferated. Such communication systems range from national and/or international cellular telephone systems, to the Internet, to point-to-point in-home wireless networks. Each type of communication system is typically constructed to operate in accordance with one or more communication standards. For instance, wireless communication systems may operate in accordance with one or more standards including, but not limited to, IEEE 802.11, Bluetooth, advanced mobile phone services (AMPS), digital AMPS, global system for mobile communications (GSM), code division multiple access (CDMA), local multi-point distribution systems (LMDS), and multi-channel-multi-point distribution systems (MMDS), among any number of other standards or combination of standards.
Depending on the type of wireless communication system, a wireless communication device, such as a cellular telephone, two-way radio, personal digital assistant (PDA), personal computer (PC), laptop computer, home entertainment equipment, as some examples, may communicate directly and/or indirectly with other wireless or wired communication devices. For direct communication (e.g., point-to-point communications), the participating wireless communication devices may tune their receivers and transmitters to the same channel or multiple channels (e.g., one or more of the plurality of radio frequency (RF) carriers of the wireless communication system) and communicate over that channel or channels. For indirect wireless communications, each wireless communication device may communicate directly with an associated base station (e.g., for cellular services) and/or an associated access point (e.g., for an in-home or in-building wireless networks) via an assigned channel, or channels. To complete a communication connection between the wireless communication devices, the associated base stations and/or associated access points may communicate with each other directly, via a system controller, via the public switch telephone network, via the internet, and/or via some other wide area network.
For wireless communication devices to participate in wireless communications, the devices may each include a built-in radio transceiver (e.g., receiver and transmitter) or may be coupled to an associated radio transceiver (e.g., a station for in-home and/or in-building wireless communication networks, RF modem, etc.). As is known, the receiver portion of such a transceiver may receive RF signals, demodulate an RF carrier frequency from the RF signals via one or more intermediate frequency stages to produce baseband signals, and demodulate a baseband signal in accordance with a particular wireless communication standard to recapture transmitted data from an intermediate frequency signal. The transmitter portion of such a transceiver may convert data (e.g., digital data) into RF signals by modulating the data in accordance with a particular wireless communication standard to produce baseband signals and mix the baseband signals with an RF carrier using one or more intermediate frequency stages to produce RF signals. In other embodiments, transmitted and received signals may be directly converted between the RF domain and baseband.
Phase locked loops (PLL) are often used in integrated wireless transceivers for RF frequency generation and RF signal modulation due to their high level of integration and ability to operate over a wide range of frequencies. As those working in this area are aware, two basic PLL topologies exist, which are generally referred to as "type 1" and "type 2," respectively. A general structure is common to both types of PLLs, namely each topology includes a phase detector, a low-pass filter (LPF), a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), and a feedback path. The phase detector serves as an "error amplifier" in the feedback loop. Based oh an "error" signal produced by the phase detector, the PLL may reduce any phase difference between the input reference signal and the feedback signal (e.g., "the error"). A PLL is considered "locked" if this phase difference is constant over time.
In "type 1" PLLs, the phase detector generates square voltage pulses whose duration is proportional to the phase error. These voltage pulses are filtered by the LPF to generate a smooth VCO control voltage whose amplitude is proportional to the phase error. The VCO responds to the change in control voltage by increasing or decreasing its oscillation frequency. The feedback action of the PLL then causes the VCO to lock to the desired operating frequency.
"Type 2" PLLs, also known as "charge pump based PLLs," include a phase and frequency detector, a charge pump, a loop filter, a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), and a feedback path. The phase and frequency detector compares the phase and frequency of a reference signal with the phase and frequency of a feedback signal (e.g., the output oscillation produced by the VCO, which is fed back to the phase and frequency detector via the feedback loop). If the phase and/or frequency of the reference signal leads the phase and/or frequency of the feedback signal (which occurs when the output oscillation frequency is less than the desired oscillation frequency), the phase and frequency detector generates an up signal. In response to the up signal, the charge pump increases the positive current it outputs, which, when filtered by the loop filter, increases a control voltage applied to an input of the VCO. With an increase in the control voltage, the VCO increases its frequency of oscillation. If the phase and/or frequency of the reference signal lags the phase and/or frequency of the feedback signal (which occurs when the output oscillation frequency is greater than the desired oscillation frequency), the phase and frequency detector generates a down signal. In response to the down signal, the charge pump increases the negative current it outputs, which, when filtered by the loop filter, decreases the control voltage input to the VCO. With a decrease of the control voltage, the VCO decreases its frequency of oscillation.
In an "ideal" PLL (e.g., in a mathematical model of a PLL), the VCO operates linearly, which can be expressed as: Θout(t)=KVCO∫Vcntrl(t)dt, where KVCO is the gain (specified in MHz/volt, for example) of the VCO, Θout is the output oscillation of the VCO, and Vcntrl is the input control voltage of the VCO provided by the loop filter. Based on this mathematical model of PLL operation, when a PLL settles to a desired output frequency (i.e., the output signal frequency of the VCO), the input control voltage of the VCO assumes a constant value. When the PLL is used as a modulator, the control voltage may vary around this constant value in accordance with a desired modulation pattern, thus providing frequency modulation.
It follows from the above equation that the frequency of a modulated signal produced using a PLL operating in accordance with the mathematical model is proportional to the change in control voltage with a proportionality constant equal to KVCO. In practice, however, the gain of a VCO (i.e., KVCO) is not constant, but varies with integrated circuit fabrication process, PLL frequency band, control voltage amplitude, and temperature, among any number of other parameters. For instance, for a PLL that has a wide frequency range of operation, the gain of the VCO may vary from its nominal design value by as much as +/−50%. Since KVCO is a key parameter governing the dynamic behavior of the PLL, when used as a data signal modulator (e.g., in a translational loop), such large variations in VCO gain may produce prohibitively large modulation errors.
One possible solution to reduce the adverse affects of such variations in VCO gain is to design a baseband processor that is used in conjunction with the PLL to account for VCO gain variations. This approach, however, relies on an assumed VCO gain variation. Therefore, such an approach may not be particularly precise, making this solution of limited benefit.

Method and apparatus for calibrating a phase locked loop in open-loop


A flow controller in a flow control valve for an internal combustion engine. When the flow control valve is operated in a closing direction upon the occurrence of an abnormal state in the flow control valve such as sticking, resonance frequency vibration is applied to the valve so that a sliding resistance force of a screw mechanism can be lowered and the valve can be closed. To prevent problems with the flow control valve such as being out-of-control, a setting time is added to a drive period according to the variation in the motor torque. Because the flow control valve can be reliably closed, and an out-of-control condition of the flow control valve can be prevented, an incorrect operation of the engine can be avoided.

As a control equipment for flow parameters on engine control, there are an ISC control equipment for controlling an auxiliary intake air amount to maintain an idling speed at a constant, an EGR control equipment for controlling an amount of circulation of exhaust gas to improve the fuel consumption or decrease Nox included in the exhaust gas, an evaporation control equipment for inhibiting the emission of the fuel evaporated from a fuel tank to air, and so on.
When the flow control equipment suffers a breakdown or when the flow control valve becomes out of order, an engine trouble occurs due to an abnormal increase in an idling speed, an occurrence of surge from instability of combustion, and abnormality (over-rich or over-lean) of air/fuel(A/F)ratio.
Especially, in order to address the emission regulation or the fuel-consumption regulation, a large amount of EGR and a large amount of evaporation-purge have been performed. Failures of their control units are directly relevant to engine stall, which not only hurts driver's feelings, but also very dangerous.
Accordingly, there are generally provided a control unit for preventing the out-of-control and another control unit for performing an evasion control (a fail-safe control) when a failure occurs. In the well-known technique, the safety can be maintained during running by fully closing a control system (ex. cutoff of an EGR pass) using, for example, an EGR ON-OFF valve (cut valve) when the failure is detected.
Further, in the prior art of the prevention of out-of-control in which a flow control valve driven by a motor is used, the function of fail-safe has not been considered. Therefore, such a failure sometimes occurs, in which an output signal is not provided to the motor. The setting time is provided only when a driving direction of a synchronous motor is switched in such a prior art.
Furthermore, as the setting time, different values are used according to a state of the variation in a motor torque, thereby preventing the deterioration of response.
When the control unit use not a cut valve, but an electromagnetic valve, the prior art equipment for evasion control is provided with two system of drive circuits for a flow control valve (if compared with an EGR valve using a step motor, a bipolar system). Therefore, when the flow control valve becomes not to generate the desired propelling force and it becomes difficult to control the flow control valve by using the drive circuit, such a flow control equipment can fully close the flow control valve by switching to the other system of drive circuit, thereby obtaining the desired propelling force necessary to drive the flow control valve. Such a flow control equipment is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-301170. However, the drive circuit switching system is complicated and expensive.
There is known a method using a spring for returning the control valve, instead of the cut valve. Such a method is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-316581.
The conventional return-spring method must have a strong return-spring which overcomes the friction of a screw and bulb sludge (which has an effect on the stick of the flow control valve), as a fail-safe function when the flow control equipment becomes abnormal. Therefore, there is a fear of out-of-control when the flow control valve is controlled , in addition to complicated mechanism and high manufacturing cost.
Further, while it is possible to prevent the deterioration of response by suppressing the control of the prevention of out-of-control to be the necessary and minimum amount, with maintaining the safety during running by preventing the out-of-control, the conventional return-spring method has no fail-safe function against the failure of the flow control equipment when the output signal is not provided to the motor.

Flow control equipment for an internal combustion engine


Various aspects are described, such as a method for operating a level shifter, in which the level shifter is coupled to a first supply voltage and a second supply voltage different from the first supply voltage. The method may include detecting whether the first supply voltage is present, and decoupling an input of the level shifter from an output of the level shifter responsive to detecting that the first supply voltage is not present.

In conventional output drivers, a core voltage data signal is typically converted to a relatively higher voltage signal. In addition to the data signal, various other control signals output from the core to provide for activation of the driver or to bring the driver to a power down mode or high-impedance tri-state mode. These control signals are often converted from the lower core voltage to the higher voltage using a level shifter. For the conversion in the level shifter to take place correctly, it is assumed that the core voltage is present before, or at least not later than, the higher voltage.
However, if the core voltage is produced from the higher voltage using a voltage regulator, then the core voltage would not be present before the higher voltage during the engaging/switching-on of the supply voltage. In such a case, while the driver is connected to the supply voltage, the control signals would be at an undefined level, because the level shifter has not yet received an input signal and the core has not yet received the supply voltage. When engaging/switching-on the supply voltage in such a case, the output driver may not be safely brought to the power down or tri-state condition. This, in turn, may produce undesirable high cross currents in the output driver.


A computer-implemented method, a computer program product, and a computer system for allowing multiple infrastructural services to access multiple IoT (Internet of Things) devices. A gateway device receives a use request from a first application of a first infrastructural service, wherein the gateway device connects the multiple infrastructural services and the multiple IoT devices. The gateway device assigns an exclusive right to use the IoT device to the first application, in response to determining that the IoT device is not being used by a second application. The gateway device determines a mode for allowing the multiple infrastructural services to access the multiple IoT devices is configured, in response to determining that the IoT device is being used by the second application. The gateway device assigns the first application and the second application respective rights to use the multiple IoT devices, based on mode.

The present invention relates generally to the Internet of Things (IoT), and more particularly to a gateway device allowing multiple infrastructural services to access multiple IoT devices.
Due to constraints such as physical size and battery capacity, many IoT devices employ indirect connection to a server via a nearby gateway apparatus rather than direct connection to the Internet. Multiple IoT devices are connected to the gateway apparatus. The gateway apparatus transmits/receives data and executes control commands on behalf of the IoT devices.
Generally, one gateway and a group of devices controlled by the gateway are managed by one cloud service, where collected data is used exclusively by that cloud service. To implement a second cloud service, another similar gateway and similar IoT devices need to be separately provided. This may cause duplicate installation of the same type of sensors or may cause failure to utilize effectively unused sensors.

Gateway device allowing multiple infrastructural services to access multiple IoT devices

International Business Machines Corporation


A method used on a computer system for determining a most likely cause of a system problem associated with the computer system. By performing the method, the computer system constructs a device tree containing information about all relevant computer devices, determines a score for each of the computer devices represented in the device tree based on predetermined criteria, and aggregates and analyzes the score for each of the computer devices to identify a most likely cause of the system problem. The device tree may be created as having hierarchy levels of tree nodes, each node representing one of all relevant computer devices and each parent node representing a computer device controlling devices represented by child nodes. The score of each of the computer device may be assigned based on whether device is busy, whether the device is idled by the external I/O connection, or whether the device is in a hung or undefined state.

Modern computer systems are complex electronic systems made of many computer hardware devices, such as various processors, memory modules, storage devices, networking devices, etc., and sophisticated computer software programs, such as operating systems, device drivers, and application software programs. Computer system maintenance is therefore essential to keep the computer systems from abnormal conditions or failures. However, with the ever growing complexity of modern computer systems, it is sometimes difficult to determine the root cause of a system problem. Computer operating systems or other computer diagnostic programs often provide debugging methods or diagnostic tools to help identify system problems.
One of these tools is called a crash dump, which saves status information of various computer devices upon an occurrence of a system problem in a predetermined memory or storage location for diagnostic purpose. The status information is often manually reviewed by troubleshooting personnel to determine underlying causes of the system problem. Sometimes, after the troubleshooting personnel reviews the crash dump, the system problem may appear to be caused by failures of numerous input and output (I/O) devices, such as disk drives. Traditionally, the troubleshooting personnel would try to fix the system problem by replacing a first seemingly bad I/O device. If the problem persists, a second seemingly bad device is then replaced. This process would be repeated until either the problem goes away, or all the devices are replaced while the problem is still unresolved. However, this "trial and error" method generally fails to pinpoint and isolate the device problem, thus increases the computer system downtime. Moreover, this method may fail if the system problem is caused by failure of an intermediate or internal device, such as I/O controller, i.e., the seemingly failure of the I/O device is a side-effect of the failure of the internal or intermediate device.


An LED driver for powering an LED fixture includes a power converter for converting an input power such as a rectified mains supply to an output power for powering the LED fixture; a control unit arranged to control an output characteristic of the power converter; optionally, a network terminal connected to the control unit for connecting the control unit to a network, the control unit being arranged to receive a control signal from the network via the network terminal for controlling the output characteristic; an application terminal connected to the control unit for connecting the control unit to a lighting device; the control unit being arranged to: provide a polling signal to the lighting device; receive, in response to the polling signal, a control signal for controlling the output characteristic.

In general, LED based lighting applications are powered from a lighting grid via a so-called LED driver or ballast. Such an LED driver or ballast can e.g. comprise a Buck or Boost power converter or the like.
LED based lighting applications often comprise a plurality of LED fixture (or LED engine) which can be independently controlled or adjusted by a user (via one or more user interfaces). Therefore, LED based lighting applications may, in general, comprise a plurality of LED drivers or ballasts for powering the plurality of LED fixtures. Typically, an LED driver for powering an LED fixture may comprise a power converter (converting an input power such as obtained from a mains supply to an output power suitable for powering the LED fixture) and a control unit for controlling the power converter. As an example, the control unit can e.g. control an output characteristic of the power converter (e.g. a current level of the output power) based on an input signal received from a user interface.
As LED fixtures in general allow for a variety of illumination parameters to be adjusted, a (digital) communication system is often provided between the plurality of LED drivers and user interfaces. Examples of such systems can e.g. comprise communication busses using DALI or 1-10V protocols. As such, an LED based lighting application can in general comprise a plurality of LED fixtures, which can e.g. be powered by a plurality of LED drivers (e.g. connectable to a mains power supply), and one or more user interfaces, the LED drivers and/or LED fixtures and user interfaces being connected by a communication bus such as a DALI communication bus. The communication between the various components connected to the communication bus can e.g. be controlled by a (master) control unit connected to the bus. Such a master control unit, such as a DALI master may also be used to configure the lighting application.
Currently, there is a large variety of both LED drivers and LED fixtures operating at different voltage or current levels. Further, the performance of LED fixtures (e.g. including a plurality of different color LEDs) is continuously increasing with respect to controlling e.g. color and/or intensity output. In order to accommodate for such increased or changed functionality, an adjustment of an LED driver's operation in powering one or more LED fixtures may be desired in order to optimize performance.
At present however, LED drivers that are adapted to operate in a communication network as described are often found to have a predetermined characteristic behavior and are as such, difficult to modify or adjust in order to obtain an optimal match with a particular application such as an LED fixture that is to be powered.

LED driver, lighting device and LED based lighting application


A medical stent comprising a coil formed by winding a wire around an axis, an outer layer formed substantially tubular made from a first resin material, provided on an outer peripheral side of said coil and coaxial to said coil, and an inner layer formed substantially tubular made from a second resin material, provided on an inner peripheral side of said coil and coaxial to said coil.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a medical stent.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, a medical stent (hereinafter also abbreviated as 'stent') is placed to a stricture in a lumen inside a living body such as a blood vessel, a digestive tract, a bile duct, a pancreatic duct, and a urinary duct, in order to expand this stricture and maintain an open state.
A stent used in a bile duct such as that shown in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2006-87712 is substantially tubular. Flaps which open in a natural state and can deform so as to close when a predetermined external force is applied, are provided on the distal-end side and the proximal-end side of this stent. The flaps engage with the entrance to the duodenal papilla and the end of the stricture of the bile duct, thereby preventing the stent from moving to the stricture.
Characteristics demanded of this type of stent include easy of bending in order to follow the curving shape of the bile duct in the body and the motion of the body, i.e. flexibility, and, at the same time, hardness (lumen-maintaining properties) so that it does not collapse when bent and can maintain the size of its own lumen.
One of this stent made from a soft resin (e.g. soft polyethylene, polystyrene elastomer, polyamide elastomer, polyester elastomer, polyurethane elastomer, etc.) formed in a tubular shape. While this can enhance the ease of bending of the stent, the thickness of the stent must be increased to prevent it from collapsing in the radial direction.
Another of the stent made from soft resin contains a blade which metal wire is woven like a mesh. In this case, when the stent is bent, the rigidity of the blade maintains the size of the lumen.
The stent is also required viewable under radioscopy. This is because the position of the stent needs to be confirmed by irradiation of X-rays when placing the stent or after placing it. It is important that both ends of the stent are astride the stricture to enable bile to reliably pass. And it is important that the flaps on the distal-end side of the stent reliably over the stricture to prevent the stent from moving (migrating, escaping) after it is placed. That is, it is necessary to confirm that the flaps are clearly open above the stricture and engaging with the stricture. When the stent has migrating into the bile duct, it must be removed while confirming its position under radioscopy. The proximal end of the stent is held with holding forceps or the like, whereby the stent is removed and collected. Therefore, in removing the stent, it is necessary that the whole stent can be seen under radioscopy, and that the proximal-end part of the stent can be confirmed clearly.
In placing the stent, there are cases where a plurality of stents are placed. In that case, it is important in this procedure to know the position of the first stent that was placed. Preferably, it is possible to see the whole stent, or to see its part other than both ends. This is to confirm whether the first stent is moving during subsequent stents procedures.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2004-147700 proposes a method of using a ring-like member or a plate-like member rounded to a substantially cylindrical shape to partially increase radioscopic visibility.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. H05-192389 proposes a medical stent made from an inner-layer material, a reinforcing layer, and an outer-layer material, with flaps formed only from the outer-layer.


A feedback circuit includes a third variable delay device that controls the amount of phase delay of a first clock; a third logic gate that detects a phase difference between the first clock delayed by the third variable delay device and the first clock, and outputs a third signal of a pulse width corresponding to the phase difference detected; and a LPF that outputs, as a control signal Vcontrol, the integral of the pulse width of the third signal. The control signal Vcontrol, indicative of a delay amount, is fed back the third variable delay device and input to a first variable delay device and a second variable delay device of a phase-difference detection unit.

1. Field
The present invention pertains to a phase detection apparatus and a phase synchronization apparatus applicable to transmission apparatuses using a high-speed clock and clock generators.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional phase synchronization apparatuses that detect and synchronize phases include a phase lock loop frequency synthesizer. Phase synchronization apparatuses are applied to transmission apparatuses for example and generate a given frequency. FIG. 14 is a circuit diagram of a conventional transmission apparatus. A transmission apparatus 1000 depicted in FIG. 14 has a configuration of a transmission circuit of an optical transmission apparatus using optical fibers. A signal from a serializer/deserializer (SERDES) 1001 is transmitted as an optical signal from a light receiving element 1003 such as a laser diode (LD) driven by a driver (DRV) 1002. The SERDES 1001 includes a multiplexer (MUX) 1004 and a flip flop (FF) 1005. The SERDES 1001 is connected to a clock multiplication unit (CMU) 1010 and a 1/n-frequency divider (frequency divider) 1011.
The CMU 1010 is widely used in, for example, transmission circuits and clock generators of transmission apparatuses and outputs a clock signal Ck(f) to the FF 1005 of the SERDES 1001 and the frequency divider 1011. The frequency divider 1011A outputs a clock signal Ck(f/n) to the CMU 1010 as feedback and further outputs the clock signal Ck(f/n) to the MUX 1004 of the SERDES 1001.
The symbol "f" denotes a frequency of a high-speed clock and "n" is an integer. A symbol "fr" denotes a reference clock supplied from an external source (a crystal oscillator or a stable system-clock). The CMU 1010 is used to synchronize the reference clock fr with the output of the transmission apparatus. The symbol Ck(f/n) is a clock signal (Ck(f/n)=fp) whose frequency f is divided by n. A frequency of the clock signal Ck(f) output from the CMU 1010 is a high-frequency clock with a rate n times fr, thereby enabling faster data transmission rates.
FIG. 15 is a circuit diagram of an internal structure of the CMU depicted in FIG. 14. The CMU 1010 includes a phase detector (PD) 1101, a charge pump (CP) 1102, a low pass filter (LPF) 1103, and a voltage control oscillator (VCO) 1104.
The PD 1101 is an important constituent of the CMU 1010 and the characteristics of the PD 1101 influence the accuracy and quality of a clock signal. Accuracy requires phase errors to be minimized while quality requires jitter and noise to be minimized. The operating frequency of a multiplexer (MUX) employing the CMU 1010 has improved, reaching 10 GHz, 20 GHz, 30 GHz, and above.
Output signals up and dn output from the PD 1101 are input to the CP 1102. The CP 1102 outputs a voltage V_CP, and the LPF 1103 outputs a voltage V_LPF. For example, when Ck(f/n) is faster than fr, the PD 1101 generates and outputs the output signal dn (continual pulse signal) to the CP 1102. The voltage V_CP output from the CP 1102 and the voltage V_LPF output from the LPF 1103 gradually change together until V_LPF reaches a constant voltage (value).
It is known that the maximum usable (operating) frequency of an element such as a logic gate used in the PD 1101 is limited. Particularly, when CMOS and BiCMOS are used, higher operating frequencies (for example, a transmission apparatus with 40 Gbps) for faster data transmission have not yet been achieved. Conventionally, the PD 1101 does not operate fast enough, one reason of which is a dead zone of the PD 1101.
FIG. 16 is a circuit diagram depicting an example of a conventional phase detecting unit. The PD 1101 depicted in FIG. 16 uses two delay elements 1, 2 (1201, 1202) that induce a given delay. The dead zone is invoked by an "insensitive" area of logic gates 1 and 2 (1211, 1212) that detect a difference between clocks fr and fp. The clocks fr and fp are input signals that are phase-delayed by and output from the delay elements 1 and 2 (1201, 1202) as signals fr2 and fp2. In this way, the logic gates 1 and 2 (1211, 1212) operate preventing the dead zone.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. H9-223960 discloses that a PD includes multiple delay elements, multiple phase comparators, and an adder to prevent the dead zone.
The dead zone of the PD 1101 is defined as a state in which the PD 1101 cannot distinguish phase differences between the clocks fr and fp. The dead zone does not change the signals up and dn output from the PD 1101 even if there is a change in phase between the clocks fr and Ck(f/n). The CMU 1010 continues to operate with a certain operating frequency even if the clock Ck(f/n) is not equal to the frequency of the clock fr. The VCO 1104 outputs a certain natural frequency (free running frequency) even without any input. In this case, a frequency error (frequency mismatch) occurs in the frequencies of the clocks Ck(f) and Ck(f/n), thereby causing a phase error of clock signals. Such phase errors gradually accumulate until the PD 1101 can detect the phase difference between the clocks fr and Ck(f/n). When the output signal up or dn appears again, ripples (fluctuation) occur in V_LPF.
Even if the dead zone is eliminated using a pair of delay elements, there is still a problem of mismatch of transistors or switches. When a bipolar transistor is used for the CP 1102 of FIG. 16, a mismatch occurs due to the differing properties of a pair of transistors: the p-n-p transistor 1221 and the n-p-n transistor 1222. The p-n-p transistor 1221 and the n-p-n transistor 1222 do not have identical properties. As a constant current source, a pair of transistors 1231 and 1232 is used. When a CMOS is used for the CP 1102, a mismatch occurs due to the differing properties of the paired nMOSFET and PMOSFET.
FIG. 17 is a timing chart depicting operation of a conventional phase-detecting unit. The output signals up and dn depicted in FIG. 16 are output during any of the following states:    (1) a period in which the clock fr is earlier than the clock fp (early);    (2) a period in which the clock fr is slightly earlier than the clock fp (Lock+error);    (3) a period in which the clock fr and the clock fp are in a synchronized (locked) state (Lock).
The relative timing of signals is similar when the clock fr is later than the clock fp; hence, for brevity explanation is omitted herein.
As FIG. 17 depicts, conventionally the PD 1101 continuously outputs, regardless of the period, the output signals up and dn, the output signals up and dn overlapping each other. Consequently, ripples occur in the voltage (V_LPF) output from the LPF 1103 during the period of the locked state (3) due to the mismatch of transistors. It is difficult to remove the ripples completely, limiting a gain bandwidth of the LPF 1103. The ripples eventually appear in the clock Ck(f) output from the VCO 1104 as jitter (see FIG. 15). Jitter lowers communication quality (for example, bit error rate (BER)) of a MUX or a transmission apparatus, or limits the maximum operating frequency of the CMU 1010.
The conventional PD 1102 cannot resolve the problem of propagation delay of the logic gates 1 and 2 (1211, 1212), thereby limiting the frequency of the input clocks fr and fp, and limiting the operating frequency to a relatively low value.

Phase detection apparatus and phase synchronization apparatus


According to one embodiment of the disclosure, a system for accelerating droop response in a combined cycle power plant may include a controller and a processor communicatively coupled to the controller. The processor may be configured to receive frequency variation data associated with a frequency variation of an electrical grid, determine, based at least in part on the frequency variation data, a target operational level of the combined cycle power plant and the droop response associated with the target operational level, calculate a variable compensation value, and apply the variable compensation value to the droop response until the target operational level is reached.

Combined cycle power plants have demonstrated high thermal efficiency, reliability, and cost-effective power generation. A combined cycle power plant may include a combustion turbine, a steam generator, and a steam turbine. The steam turbine of a combined cycle power plant is powered by the steam generated by the hot exhaust of the combustion turbine in the steam generator.
This design results in different response times of the combustion and steam turbines. Whereas an increase in fuel supply to the combustion turbine may result in a nearly instantaneous corresponding power increase in the combustion turbine, the corresponding response of the steam turbine is delayed until the fuel is burned, and the steam is produced. Consequently, a combined cycle power plant may experience overall delays due to the delay of the bottoming cycle (steam turbine). In some situations, an increase in the frequency of a combined cycle power plant needs to satisfy primary frequency response requirements. To comply with the primary frequency response requirements, the combined cycle power plant operators may discount the steam turbine contribution altogether during frequency transitions. This approach may result in inefficient fuel consumption and stress on the overall combined cycle power plant operations.

Systems and methods for accelerating droop response to frequency variation of an electrical grid in a combined cycle power plant


A vehicle seat assembly includes a seating surface, wherein the seating surface defines a plurality of temperature controlled zones. At least one electrically actuated heating/cooling source provides one of heating and cooling to the plurality of zones. A controller individually controls electrical power supplied from the source to each zone and is operative to reduce power consumption in one zone relative to another zone in accordance with a predetermined profile designed to limit the overall power consumption of the assembly.

This invention relates in general to temperature controlled vehicle seating.
Cold and hot environmental conditions can result in similar temperatures on the surfaces of seats resulting in the discomfort of the seat occupant. Accordingly, seat heaters and/or seat coolers have been provided. The seat heaters and coolers are commonly integrated into seat backs and seat cushions. The seat heaters and coolers provide heating and cooling to the seat surfaces. The seat heaters and coolers are manually operated by the seat occupant or alternatively the seat heaters and coolers can operate autonomously following initial pre-set conditions by the seat occupant.
Typical seat heaters include a resistive electrical grid that produces heat when electrical power is applied thereto. The resistive electrical grid produces heat throughout the area in which the seat heater is integrated. Seat coolers typically include circulating conditioned (cooled/heated) or non-conditioned air by fans and specially vented areas for providing a flow of air through perforations in the seating surfaces of the seat. The cooling fans and specially vented areas cool the area in which the seat coolers are integrated. Typically, the seat heaters and coolers operate through the use of electrical power.
While seat heaters and coolers can be effective in heating and cooling areas of a seat, typical seat heaters and coolers can consume large amounts of electrical power. Thus, it would be desirable to provide an improved seat heater and cooler system that more efficiently heat and cool a seat.


A system and method are provided for performing a spread spectrum clock generation, where the system includes self-adjusting delay line configured to spread the spectrum of a fixed circuit using a fixed clock frequency and a delay circuit configured to generate an adjustment signal to the delay line by adding or subtracting an addition delay per cycle, therefore causing a shift in the output clock frequency, wherein the amount of shift is proportional to the rate of addition or subtraction of delay.

Electromagnetic interference (EMI) in electronic products such as a home theater system or DVD players is a real issue that must be dealt with in order to meet the maximum allowed regulated level.
There are many techniques to reduce the radiated power and all of them add to the cost of a given product. The most obvious way to reduce the actual electromagnetic energy radiated from a product is to increase the shielding of the box in which the electronic circuits are placed. With this method, the hardware and assembly add significant cost to the product.
A less obvious method that is known in the art is to modulate the system clock of the computing devices such that the radiated power level in a given bandwidth is lower. It is called spread spectrum clock generation (SSCG). This technique is effective and popular since the system clock is one of the major contributors in EMI and the cost to the system is minimal. The legislation governing EMI in products specifies that the radiated power limits per bandwidth unit and the standard bandwidth for this type of measurement is 120 KHz. It is easy to understand the advantages of modulating the system clock in that context, but care must be taken to guarantee adequate operation. For example, it would detrimental to modulate the frequency up from the reference in a digital system with very little margin in setup and hold time. It would be equally bad for a digital system performing a real time application up to its speed limit and modulating the frequency down from the reference. In order to address these issues, SSCG circuits in general can modulate the reference frequency down, up or center. FIG. 3 shows the three types of modulation, Up, Down and Center spread.
The commonly used technique to produce SSCG is an "all analog" one where modulation is applied or inserted into a phased lock loop (PLL). The frequency can be modulated by imposing a signal on the voltage control node of a VCO in a PLL. This method is the most obvious one in a system with a PLL and is proven to work very well for most applications. There are many other techniques to modulate the system clock. For example, one could uses a "fractional N" technique that changes the divider ratio to produce the modulation. All methods found in the literature use some type of analog circuit. Analog circuit, however, have shortcomings, including a long product integration time, and less predictability in performance.
Therefore, there exists a need for an improved system and method of SSCG. As will be seen, the invention provides such a system and method in an elegant manner.

Spread spectrum clock generator having an adjustable delay line


A fueling data collection unit associated with a fuel transfer apparatus and for use with a system for managing fueling transactions of a fleet operator using fuel transfer apparatuses at one or more locations includes a fueling data interface module and a temperature compensation module. The temperature compensation module compensates for a volume variance of the fuel as a result of temperature variance from the standard temperature data to determine a volume correction factor at the measured fuel temperature, while the temperature compensation module uses the measured fuel temperature to determine a compensated, more accurate volume and/or mass of fuel dispensed through the fuel meter. In this way, the fuel data collection unit can accurately measure the volume and/or mass of fuel being delivered. This allows the provider and the recipient to more accurately sell/buy what was actually delivered and can avoid over-filling a fueling order.

Temperature variations can affect the volume of a given mass of fuel due to the fuel expanding or contracting with varying temperature. Typically, as fuels are dispensed, the dispensed fuel is measured in gallons (by volume), and the weight of the dispensed fuel often is not known accurately. In aviation refueling, this can present a serious safety issue, inasmuch as it is critically important that the pilot have accurate information about the weight of the fuel that has been loaded onto the plane. Moreover, inaccurate fueling information can lead to the provider or the recipient being short-changed.
Accordingly, a need exists for a fueling technology to compensate for variations in fuel temperature.

Fuel data collection unit with temperature compensation and over-fill prevention


The present disclosure relates to a method for detecting impermissible account sharing among user accounts of a streaming media service including the steps of determining a plurality of locations accessed by a given user account of the user accounts; determining a device access count for each of the locations, the device access count indicating how many times the corresponding location was accessed by at least one device associated with the given user account; identifying one of the locations having the highest device access count as a base location; calculating a risk coefficient for each remaining location; generating a sharing score for the given user account by summing the risk coefficients; and determining impermissible account sharing of the given user account has occurred when the sharing score exceeds a threshold.

Streaming service providers allow users to watch a wide variety of television shows, movies, documentaries or listen to a wide variety of music. A significant number of users share their video or audio streaming accounts outside of their households. Consequently, the streaming industry loses huge potential revenue due to account sharing.
Although service providers have strong financial interests to address account sharing, they face multiple challenges when trying to identify shared accounts. For example, it can take an extremely long time to process the huge volume of data produced by millions of users that are typically associated with a leading streaming service provider. Further, this data can be difficult to parse since it is unstructured and noisy (e.g., missing information and includes numerical errors). Moreover, discovering impermissible account sharing (sharing across households) is extremely difficult since sharing is allowed in certain cases (e.g., sharing within a household). Consequently, many service providers make no attempt to determine which accounts are engaged in impermissible sharing.

Automatic identification of impermissable account sharing


A method includes determining vehicle driving parameters associated with a driving behavior of a vehicle while in an autonomous driving mode. A plurality of electronic control units (ECUs) is interconnected to a vehicle bus for communicating instructions from electromechanical contacts to actuators to control the driving behavior. The computing unit may receive a control signal from one of the ECUs. The computing unit lacks knowledge of whether the control signal a valid. The method further includes analyzing vehicle driving parameters associated with the driving behavior to determine whether the vehicle driving parameters satisfy a driving behavior criteria. Subsequent to determining that the vehicle driving parameters fails to satisfy the driving behavior criteria, the method includes generating a signal that causes the electromechanical contacts to disconnect from the vehicle bus and disable communication of instructions between the ECUs and the vehicle bus.

Autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles may allow for the function of a human driver to be supplemented or completely replaced by one or more computer-based driving systems. In some instances, to facilitate communication across the various systems and subsystems that may comprise an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle, the vehicle may include a controller area network (CAN) bus. The CAN bus may include a secure communications bus for interconnecting a number of motion control actuator electronic control units (ECUs) to share information between each other and/or with one or more other components that may be interconnected to the CAN bus. Specifically, the number of motion control actuator ECUs may be utilized to control one or more respective actions or functions of the vehicle in accordance with the automotive safety regulations and the traffic laws of the jurisdiction in which the vehicle is operating. For example, in some instances, prior to being able to perform necessary prototype testing of a vehicle being trained and developed, each of the motion control actuator ECUs may be subject to passing rigorous and stringent functional safety and regulatory certifications. It may be useful to provide techniques to better chaperone and manage motion control actuator ECUs during prototype testing and otherwise.

Fault detection and isolation system for vehicles


A solar cell module (100) includes: one or more cells that are enclosed by a barrier packaging material (13A, 13B) and that include first and second base plates (3, 7) and a functional layer; and first and second lead-out electrodes (11A, 11B) that are respectively connected to electrodes (2, 6) disposed at the sides of the respective base plates (3, 7) via electrical connectors (12A, 12B). The electrical connectors (12A, 12B) are separated from the functional layer in a base plate surface direction. The lead-out electrodes (11A, 11B) are disposed on an outer surface of the barrier packaging material (13A, 13B). Gaps between the barrier packaging material (13A, 13B) and the lead-out electrodes (11A, 11B) are sealed by a lead-out electrode seal (15).

In recent years, solar cells have been attracting interest as photoelectric conversion elements that convert light energy to electrical power. Among solar cells, those in which resin films are used as substrates benefit from having light weight and flexibility. Examples of solar cells in which resin films are used as substrates include dye-sensitized solar cells, organic thin-film solar cells, and perovskite solar cells. These solar cells normally have a cell structure in which a functional layer that contributes to electron or hole transfer is sandwiched between two electrodes. More specifically, in the case of a dye-sensitized solar cell, the solar cell includes an electrolyte layer as a functional layer. Moreover, in the case of an organic thin-film solar cell or a perovskite solar cell, the solar cell includes a donor layer and an acceptor layer as functional layers.
A solar cell is normally used in the form of a solar cell module that includes one or more cells and lead-out electrodes that are respectively connected to two electrodes, or in the form of a solar cell array in which multiple solar cell modules are connected in series or parallel.
In regards to dye-sensitized solar cell modules, which are one type of solar cell module, it has been proposed that electrical connection is made between the inside and the outside of the module while maintaining a high level of tight sealing. In one example, a solar cell module has been proposed that includes a hole in at least one of a photoelectrode base plate including a photoelectrode and a counter electrode base plate including a counter electrode, and that can be connected to outside of the solar cell module (for example, refer to PTL 1). PTL 1 discloses the insertion of an electrical conductor into a hole formed in at least one of a photoelectrode base plate and a counter electrode base plate and sealing of this hole using a conductive material or a non-conductive material.


A car-mounted disc player with an elastically supported drive unit including a turntable and a pickup; a clamper-supporting member rotatably supporting a clamper; a clamp mechanism for activating the clamper-supporting member to move toward or away from the drive unit so as to clamp or unclamp a disc between the turntable and the clamper; a lock mechanism for bringing the drive unit in a locked state or an unlocked state with respect to the chassis; and a change-over mechanism for activating the clamp and lock mechanisms. During change-over operations of the change-over mechanism for activating the clamp and lock mechanisms, the change-over mechanism can be halted at a half-locked position where the drive unit is brought in the locked state while the disc is kept in a clamped state by the turntable and the clamper.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to disc players for writing information in a disc such as a compact disc (CD) or a digital versatile disc (DVD) and/or for reading information written therein. In particular, the preferred embodiments of the present invention relate to a car-mounted disc player with a drive unit that is elastically supported on a chassis through an elastic member interposed therebetween. Further, the preferred embodiments of the present invention relate to the use of anti-vibration measures for switching the drive unit between a locked state and an unlocked state with respect to the chassis.
2. Description of the Related Art
A car-mounted disc player for use with a disc such as a CD or a DVD may be susceptible to problems caused by external vibrations. For example, a disc player may contain a drive unit having an optical pickup, a turntable and so forth mounted that is fixedly supported on a chassis. In this instance, if an external vibration is exerted directly on the optical pickup and the disc during play (during writing or reading information), the problem of sound skipping or the like may result. In order to prevent such a problem, a car-mounted disc player is usually designed such that the drive unit is elastically supported on the chassis through the use of elastic members such as dampers so as to prevent an external vibration or shock from being exerted directly on the drive unit and the disc during play. More particularly, the car-mounted disc player of this type is equipped with a lock mechanism which switches the drive unit between a locked state and an unlock state with respect to the chassis. In this regard, during play for writing or reading information in a state in which the optical pickup is set so as to face the disc placed on the rotating turntable, the lock mechanism holds the drive unit in the unlocked state of being elastically supported on the chassis, and during disc-transfer for inserting or ejecting the disc, the lock mechanism holds the drive unit in the locked state with respect to the chassis by constraining the drive unit. With this arrangement, anti-vibration measures such as dampers prevent a problem of sound skipping and the like even when an external vibration or shock is exerted during play. Further, by defining the positional relationship between the locked drive unit and a disc slot formed on the front surface of the chassis, an operation of inserting or ejecting the disc can be performed without any problems.
This car-mounted disc player has a structure in which a pair of sliders moving back and forth driven by a motor are disposed at both sides of the chassis and the lock mechanism and a clamp mechanism for bringing a damper in or out of contact with the disc are activated in accordance with an advance or retreat position of the two sliders. These two sliders move in synchronization with each other by means of a link mechanism or the like. In a standby state in which the disc is not loaded, the damper is held at an upper position where the damper is brought out of contact with the turntable and the drive unit is brought in the locked state. Also, when the disc is transferred to a playing position of the disc player, the damper moves down so as to press the disc on the turntable and the drive unit is brought into the unlocked state from the locked state.
The car-mounted disc player of this type may be used as a car-mounted navigation apparatus in addition to as an apparatus for playing back a music disc or the like, and the disc player is sometimes shipped in a package set together with a disc (CD-ROM, DVD, or the like) having map information written therein. In this case, although there are provided two systems for shipping the disc player; the one in an ejected state in which the disc is ejected from the disc player during transport and the other in a chucked state in which the disc is loaded in the disc layer during transport, the other system is usually employed in order to reduce the volume of the packed disc player. However, according to the foregoing related art, in the chucked state in which the disc placed at the playing position is clamped by the damper and the turntable, since the drive unit is brought into the unlocked state from the locked state and is elastically supported on the chassis, when a strong external vibration or shock is exerted on the disc player during transport, the disc hits against a stationary component such as the chassis and hence gets damaged.
Also, in the car-mounted disc player of this type, especially in the disc player for a DVD, the tilt of a laser beam emitted from the optical pickup must be adjusted at the final assembling stage of the disc player while the disc is rotating. However, since the drive unit remains in the unlocked state while the disc is played, a adjustment of the tilt of the optical pickup or the turntable is very difficult to the need to press the elastically supported drive unit by using, for example, an adjusting jig inserted in the chassis.


The present invention relates to non-resinous adsorbents and methods of manufacturing them. These agents have been found to neutralize or remove inhibitory and antimicrobial substances found in test samples and culture media.

The present invention relates to a device and method of detecting microorganisms in a rapid manner and increasing the number of microorganisms detected during the culturing of a sample by the addition of resinous and non-resin adsorbents and molecular sieves in the growth media. These agents have been found to neutralize or remove inhibitory and antimicrobial substances found in samples and media. The invention also relates to specific non-resinous adsorbents and the methods of manufacturing them.
It is standard practice to detect the presence of microorganisms in samples by culturing samples in a liquid growth medium. Medical test samples include body fluids such as blood, urine and cerebral spinal fluid and other solid or semi-solid samples such as tissue fluidized in saline or other liquid reagents. Industrial samples include pharmaceuticals, foods or any product that must be tested for the presence or levels of microorganisms.
The detection of these microorganisms can be impaired by the condition of the samples themselves. For example, medical samples may contain levels of antibiotics due to treatment regimens, while it is known that serum, plasma and lysed erythrocytes naturally contain microbial inhibitors. Industrial samples such as pharmaceuticals and foods may also contain antimicrobials or preservatives that inhibit the growth of microorganisms. Additionally, when culture media is prepared, autoclaving of the media at very high temperatures under pressure can result in the formation of by-products toxic to microorganisms. Removal or neutralization of these inhibitory or bactericidal substances is necessary to detect microbial contamination.
The use of synthetic anionic exchange and nonionic adsorbent resins for removal of antimicrobial substances is well known and has been previously described for use in medical diagnostic procedures. In particular, these resins have been shown useful in the removal of antibiotics and other antimicrobials from blood samples. The removal of these inhibitors in medical samples allows for recovery and faster detection of microorganisms so that microbial identification and accurate antibiotic susceptibility testing can be performed.
Melnick et. al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,145,304, describes the use of synthetic anionic exchange and nonionic resins to remove antimicrobials, including antibiotics, from body fluids, thus allowing for recovery of pathogens using standard culture techniques. The resins described are coated with a nonionic detergent in order to selectively remove charged antibiotics while inhibiting adherence of bacteria to the resins. After treatment of the sample with the resin, the eluate is cultured in a growth media. The degree of binding of antibiotics by the resins is indicated to be dependent on the total exchange capacity, pore diameter, and surface area of the resin.
Waters, U.S. Pat. No. 4,632,902, herein incorporated by reference, describes an improvement over Melnick by incorporating ion exchange resins and non-functional adsorbent resins directly into the growth medium. Inhibitors removed include antibiotics administered to patients and naturally occurring inhibitors contained in serum, plasma, and lysed erythrocytes. The resins are not coated with a nonionic detergent or surfactant before use and the pore size of the resin is not critical.
The use of resins as described above indicates that detergent treatment of the resins, in particular, the nonionic polystyrene resin which is extremely hydrophobic, may or may not be necessary. The confusion may be due to the fact that nonionic polystyrene resins are generally pretreated with surfactants by the manufacturer prior to shipment in order to be used in hydrophilic environments. Therefore, treatment with surfactants or detergents is an absolute requirement to wet these resins, thus allowing for hydrophilic interaction, particularly with broth culture medium. If the hydrophobic resin is not treated, the resin will float at the top of a liquid culture medium without any interaction possible to bind antimicrobial components.
However, using adsorbents in culture media can cause nonspecific binding of proteins, carbohydrates and other media components to the adsorbent. If enough of these components are bound and therefore not accessible to the microorganisms, no microorganisms will be detected. This binding is dependent on the ratio of the adsorbent to media volume and concentration.
The removal of toxic by-products as well as growth components from medium influences its color. Depending on the amount of adsorbent material and the composition of the particular medium, it may become colorless, which may indicate an inability to support growth. However, the ability of the medium to support growth is not always indicated by color, as chemically defined or semi-defined media are colorless and can still maintain optimal growth performance.
The culture medium formulation is critical in providing optimized growth for a wide variety of microorganisms. This is particularly important when the production of carbon dioxide is used as the measure of microbial growth, for example, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,945,060. The proper ratio of growth promoting components is essential to provide optimal carbon dioxide production from a variety of microorganisms with diverse metabolic pathways in order to rapidly detect microbial growth. The removal of medium components by any adsorbent material must be carefully controlled to maintain the optimal carbon dioxide production required for detection of microorganisms, especially if no additional growth supplements, such as blood, are added.
The use of synthetic resins in culture medium improves recovery of microorganisms from body fluids, and especially from blood. These fluids are nutritious and therefore compensate for a lack of nutrients in the adsorbent containing culture medium. However, in situations where the test sample can add no nutritional value to the medium containing the resins, the ability to recover and detect microorganisms can be greatly compromised.
When antimicrobials are removed from or neutralized in culture medium, the degree of neutralization is dependent on a number of factors. These factors include the dilution ratio of the sample to the medium, the concentration of the antimicrobial in the sample, and the antimicrobial sensitivity of the particular organism contained in the sample. In the case of blood samples from patients on antibiotics, there is a maximum therapeutic level of a particular antibiotic that can be achieved that differs with each antibiotic. Therefore, in an optimal testing situation, the amount of adsorbent should vary with each sample.
Although synthetic resins are known to remove inhibitory substances in cultures containing body fluids, it is desirable to find other substances that perform a similar function on both body fluids and non-body fluid samples, such as foods and industrial products. The present invention removes, inhibits, or isolates antimicrobials in test samples, while retaining the components of the medium necessary to recover and detect microorganisms in a rapid manner.

Adsorbent compositions and methods of manufacture


Technologies and implementations for testing cloud systems to determine destination cloud system requirements are generally disclosed.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Generally, cloud computing services may be becoming more prevalent. In some instances, a customer planning to switch from one cloud service provider to another may be concerned about the performance of the new cloud service provider with respect to the previous cloud computing service provider.

Determining destination cloud system requirements