A controller for one or more pieces of industrial equipment accommodates multiple sensed conditions--that is, different conditions each associated with a different response, which may be an alarm or a branch control procedure. The controller includes a database of diagnostic templates specifying conditions, and actions or states associated therewith. For example, a template may provide multiple, specified, discrete time spans each reflecting a different machine condition, and each specifying a different action associated with that condition. The templates may be associated with a model of machine behavior, e.g., one based on probabilities, which utilizes the templates and programmed control instructions to simulate machine behavior over time. More broadly, the behavior model may be used to perform a simulated execution of control instructions based on various specified values for limit parameters, which may be provided by the user or computed in accordance with the behavior model (e.g., using a Monte Carlo method) as simulation proceeds.

Sophisticated industrial processes, such as oil refining, automobile assembly or power generation, require the cooperative execution of numerous interdependent tasks by many different pieces of equipment. The enormous complexity of ensuring proper task sequencing and management, which requires not only appropriate logic but constant monitoring of equipment states to organize and distribute operations and detect malfunction, has resulted in the widespread adoption of programmable controllers. These controllers operate elaborate industrial equipment in accordance with a stored control program. When executed, the program causes the controller to examine the state of the controlled machinery by evaluating signals from one or more sensing devices (e.g., temperature or pressure sensors), and to operate the machinery (e.g., by energizing or de-energizing operative components) based on a logical framework, the sensor signals and, if necessary, more complex processing. The "inputs" to a particular controller can extend beyond the sensed state of the equipment the controller directly operates to include, for example, its environment, the state of related machinery or he state of its controllers.
Because of the frequently intricate, interdependent nature of industrial equipment assemblages, a simple step-by-step procedural framework can be inadequate for controlling processes with reliability; if the control sequence lacks routines for handling, for example, failure of vulnerable components, the process will either come to an abrupt, unexpected halt or continue to the point of possible damage. Accordingly, modern controllers frequently incorporate some form of diagnostic capability that recognizes specific failure conditions and alerts an operator to the source (or, in more sophisticated arrangements, initiates recovery sequences). For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,827,396 describes a sequential controller that evaluates specified conditions at each control step for abnormalities; an input signal is compared with an expected input value at the current control step, and if the controller detects an inconsistency, it issues an alarm.
Such systems exhibit certain drawbacks. Merely checking for binary failure conditions--either the system has failed or is operating properly--does not address the diversity of possible abnormalities exhibited by complex equipment, which may operate over a spectrum of states; for example, between total failure and normal operation, a machine may exhibit reduced load capacity or suboptimal (but acceptable) efficiency, with some intermediate states being predictive of future malfunction or signalling the need for different forms of response procedures.
Binary-failure systems are even less adequate in the context of multiple-machine systems such as advanced assembly lines, where behavior frequently is nonlinear or chaotic in nature (see, e.g., Kempf et al., "Chaotic Behavior in Manufacturing Systems," Proc. of 3d Ann. Chaos in Manufacturing Conf. (1994)). In such cases, small deviations in sensed conditions can have large consequences for machine behavior that evolve over time. The determination of a proper response to deviant conditions, accordingly, cannot be handled reliably merely by looking up conditions in a troubleshooting table associated with a particular machine. Instead, adequate error handling must account for behavior at a system-wide level, with due regard, for example, to the influence exerted by the overall system on a particular piece of equipment.

Programmable controller including diagnostic and simulation facilities


The present invention provides cell fusogenic vectors having replicative ability, whose protease-dependent tropism has been modified. M gene-deficient viral vectors encoding modified F proteins, in which the cleavage site of the F protein of paramyxovirus is modified to be cleaved by different proteases, were produced. In cells transfected with these vectors, the genomic RNA present in the vectors is replicated, and cell fusogenic infection spreads to neighboring cells depending on the presence of other proteases; however, no viral particles are released. The vectors of this invention, encoding the F proteins which are cleaved by proteases whose activity is enhanced in cancer, show cancer growth suppressive effect in vivo.

Development of gene therapy for cancer has been advancing in recent years. Hitherto, the present inventors have developed gene therapy vectors using the Sendai virus (SeV). SeV is a virus of the paramyxovirus family and belongs to a group of viruses comprising nonsegmented negative strand RNA as its genome. Paramyxoviral vectors enable high transfection rate and overexpression of foreign genes, and are expected to serve as gene therapy vectors for cancer. To date, a number of cancer therapies using paramyxovirus have been performed. For example, BHK21 cells infected with Mumps virus were observed to show anti-tumor effects in tumor-bearing nude mice (Minato, N. et al., J. Exp. Med. 149, 1117-1133, 1979). Similarly, antitumor effects have been reported in other paramyxoviruses. Recently, the antitumor effects of fusogenic proteins are attracting attention. Galanis et al. reported that cancer cells infected with an adenoviral vector that carries the F and HN proteins of measles virus form syncytia, resulting in antitumor effects in vivo (Galanis, E. et al., Hum. Gene Ther. 12, 811-821, 2001).
Needless to say, cancer that does not metastasize can be treated by surgically removing that portion, and metastatic cancer and malignant cancer are considered synonymous. Infiltrating metastatic cancers are known to overexpress matrix metalloprotease (MMP) and/or plasminogen activators (uPA, tPA) (Cox, G., and O'Byrne, K. J., Anticancer Res. 21, 4207-4219, 2001; Andreasen, P. A. et al., Cell Mol. Life. Sci. 57, 25-40, 2000). This overexpression is believed to occur due to the fact that infiltration and metastasis become possible only after the surrounding extracellular matrix (ECM), which is an obstacle preventing cell transposition during metastasis and infiltration of cancer cells, is degraded through the expression of enzymes (MMP, uPA, tPA) that degrade the ECM by cancer.
On the other hand, three problems have been raised regarding gene therapies for cancer. Firstly, since the gene transfer efficiency into cancer cells is low and gene transfer to the core of a solid cancer cannot be easily accomplished, genes cannot be transfected to the entire cancer. Accordingly, remaining cancer cells start to proliferate again, which leads to recurrence. Secondly, genes are transfected not only to cancer cells but also to normal cells. Toxic genes injure the normal cells, thereby resulting in increased side-effects. Thirdly, the occurrence of infiltration and metastasis as the cancer becomes malignant is a problem in all kinds of cancer therapy. To date, a vectors that solves these problems has not yet been developed.

Vectors with modified protease-dependent tropism


The present invention sets forth an implement which enables the user to mix paint, clean the can and can lip, and to clean conventional paint rollers utilizing a hand drill. The implement is selectively adjustable to be configured to mix paint in large and small containers and to support a paint roller for cleaning, thereby being capable of providing several functions. The implement is provided with a paddle member that is perforated and of a geometric form to enhance mixing. A paint can remover and a paint can rim cleaning device are also incorporated into the implement. A single implement serves the six functions of opening paint cans, stirring paint in large or small containers, cleaning the groove around the lip of a paint can, cleaning a paint roller, and as a spatula to aid in removing paint from a can.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to painting accessories, and more particularly to a painting implement that assists in diverse operations of hand painting, such as opening the can, mixing and stirring paint solutions, as well as aiding in cleaning the used paint roller, can and can lip.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Painting by hand, particularly building walls and partitions and other large objects, requires different tools such as brushes and rollers for applying paint to surfaces being painted. When a painter interrupts his or her work for any reason, it is a wise precaution to clean brushes and rollers so that paint will not dry and cake thereon. Frequently this is done by wiping brushes and even rollers on a convenient surface, such as the inner flange of a paint can. However, wiping leaves a considerable amount of paint on the brush or roller.
The prior art has taken note of the problem of efficient cleaning paint supplies, and has proposed apparatus to expedite cleaning. The prior art as seen in U.S. Pat. No. 3,925,908 (issued to Kirkley J. Dunn on Dec. 16, 1975); U.S. Pat. No. 6,012,473 (issued to Takehiko Koyama on Jan. 11, 2000); U.S. Pat. No. 3,460,268 (issued to Carl F. Greathouse on Aug. 12, 1969); U.S. Pat. No. 4,545,395 (issued to Kolb on Oct. 8, 1985); U.S. Pat. No. 5,984,518 (issued to King et al. on Nov. 16, 1999); and U.S. Pat. No. 2,931,661, (issued to Joseph N. Harris on Apr. 5, 1960) as cited in the previous parent application Ser. Nos. 09/621,079 and 10/283,131 are all incorporated herein as reference.
The prior art is replete with devices designed to address the problems of adequate paint mixing as shown in the references to Cooke (U.S. Pat. No. 4,054,272), Silverman (U.S. Pat. No. 2,799,485), Gibson (U.S. Pat. No. 1,841,435); and Place (U.S. Pat. No. 2,896,925). These disclosed patents provide novel means of mixing paint solutions however none of these devices may also be used during the painting process serving as a paint solution mixer in addition to a paint roller cleaner.
Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 385,151, issued to George M. Thompson on Jun. 26, 1888, discloses an AGITATOR FOR CASKS OR BARRELS in which a paddle member is rotatably mounted to a shaft for agitating within a barrel after insertion through the bung hole of the barrel. Unlike Thompson, the stop means of the present invention allows the paddle member to travel only through a predetermined arc, preventing the paddle member from becoming fully parallel to the shaft.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.

Geometric and perforated paint mixer and paint roller cleaner


The systems and methods described herein can be used for enhancing the security of computer passwords by electronically receiving a password, the password comprising a plurality of components, each of the components being of a type of component, storing the received password in an electronic data store, converting the stored password to a topological representation of the password by which each of the plurality of components is represented and stored as its type of component, and storing the topological representation of the password in an electronic data store.

Current approaches to password complexity enforcement make passwords predictable, and as a consequence, can reduce security instead of improving it. These approaches do not stand up against the current topology-based password cracking techniques. Topology-based password cracking techniques are optimized to take advantage of predictable patterns in user behavior. Organizations that require complex passwords may be inadvertently making it easier for an attacker to crack a large percentage of captured password hashes because users tend to rely on easy to remember patterns that nominally meet complexity requirements, yet introduce very little entropy, making a cracking attack possible.
Many current approaches to enterprise-wide password complexity enforcement are based on enforcement of static complexity rules based in whole or part on length, use of required character sets (e.g., at least one uppercase letter, number, punctuation, etc.), basic dictionary checking (e.g., no substrings longer than N characters can be a proper noun or found in a dictionary), and historical information (e.g., new passwords must not exactly match one in the past or in the past M changes).
For example, an organization that requires passwords to be 12 characters long, contain at least one upper alpha, at least one lower alpha, numbers, and at least one special character, may find that 20% of their employees are picking passwords such as: "Summer2013!", "Spring2013!!", "Winter.2013", etc. Current behavioral-based password cracking techniques recognize these strength and complexity requirements commonly in use and exploit behavioral characteristics of users to identify weak passwords such as "F1rst.L@st" or "Foo!Bar11". In practice, this means that passwords can be subjected to a modified brute-force cracking attack based on character class password topologies such as:                ulllsulllld        ulllldullls        ulllsullllsdddd        sulllldddd
where 'u' represents an uppercase letter, '1' represents a lowercase letter, 'd' represents a digit, and 's' represents a special character. Techniques such as these make cracking a number of relatively long and/or complex passwords much more feasible. For example, the full key space for a 15-character password chosen from a character set containing 91 symbols is more than 5.3 billion times the size of the key space for a 15-character password, from the same character set, having a character class topology of "ulllsullllsdddd". When combined with dictionary techniques, a password matching this topology can often be cracked easily. Thus, one of the most practical methods for cracking sets of long and/or complex passwords is to prioritize known topologies in descending order based on their relative probabilities with the goal of yielding a disproportionate number of cracked passwords relative to an unprioritized brute force approach.

Password topology monitoring and enforcement


A new and distinct cultivar of Calibrachoa plant named ‘Balcabyelow’, characterized by its single type, medium yellow-colored flowers, medium green-colored foliage, and moderately vigorous, mounded-trailing growth habit.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Calibrachoa plant botanically known as Calibrachoa×hybrida and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name 'Balcabyelow'.
The new cultivar originated in a controlled breeding program in Elburn, Ill. during October 2004. The objective of the breeding program was the development of Calibrachoa cultivars with attractive flower coloration, medium green-colored foliage, and a moderately vigorous, mounded-trailing growth habit.
The new Calibrachoa cultivar is the result of cross-pollination. The female (seed) parent of the new cultivar is the proprietary Calibrachoa×hybrida breeding selection designated 2110-1-2A, not patented, characterized by its single type light cream yellow-colored flowers, medium green-colored foliage, and mounded-trailing growth habit. The male (pollen) parent of the new cultivar is the proprietary Calibrachoa×hybrida breeding selection designated 2139-1-1E, not patented, characterized by its single type dark yellow-colored flowers, medium green-colored foliage, and trailing growth habit. The new cultivar was discovered and selected as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the above stated cross-pollination during August 2005 in a controlled environment at Elburn, Ill.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal stem cuttings since August 2005 at Elburn, Ill. and West Chicago, Ill. has demonstrated that the new cultivar reproduces true to type with all of the characteristics, as herein described, firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of such asexual propagation.


A phase locking apparatus is disclosed which, includes a phase error information detecting device to detect phase error information indicating the phase error. The device has a phase position determining device to determine, based on run length limited information, whether or not phase positions of a first and second value from among sampling values constituting synchronous data are under a reverse phase condition in effect when only one of the first and the second values is in excess of a predetermined threshold, and a phase error information calculating device to calculate the phase error information in each of two cases determined, one with the reverse phase condition found to be in effect and the other without effect.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a phase locking apparatus, a phase locking method, a data reproducing apparatus, a data reproducing method, and programs. More particularly, the invention relates to a phase locking apparatus, a phase locking method, a data reproducing apparatus, a data reproducing method, and programs for stabilizing the performance of the data reproducing apparatus containing the phase locking apparatus regardless of various settings made on the data reproducing apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
Digital PLL (phase locked loop) apparatus, one of the phase locking apparatuses introduced in recent years, is capable of feedback control based on phase error. This type of control is such that synchronous sampling data, converted from asynchronous sampling data corresponding to RLL code, is output with its waves shaped in equalized relation to a predetermined partial response method. Digital PLL setups are discussed illustratively in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2001-358782, Japanese Patent No. 3071142, Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei 10-69727, JP-A-H10-508135, Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2000-76805, Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2002-42428, and "Interpolated Timing Recovery For Hard Disk Drive Read Channels" by Mark Spurbeck and Richard T. Behrens (Cirrus Logic 1997 IEEE, pp. 1618-1624).

Phase locking apparatus, phase locking method, data reproducing apparatus, data reproducing method, and programs


The present invention discloses a networked control system (NCS) time-delay compensation method based on predictive control. The method comprises the following steps: (1) acquiring random time-delay data in an NCS, and preprocessing the data; (2) predicting the current time-delay by using a fuzzy neural network (FNN) optimized by a particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm; (3) compensating the predicted time-delay by using an implicit proportional-integral-based generalized predictive control (PIGPC) algorithm; (4) determining whether a preset work end time is up according to a clock in the NCS; if yes, ending the process; if no, returning to step (2). The method disclosed by the present invention can accurately predict and effectively compensate the NCS time-delay and has excellent development prospect.

A networked control system (NCS) is a closed-loop feedback control system in which actuators, sensors and controllers exchange signals through a network. The insertion of the network in the control loop makes the analysis of an NCS complex, especially induced time-delay in the network can impose severe influence on the system performance. At present, there is no method capable of accurately predicting and effectively compensating time-delay of the NCS.

Networked control system time-delay compensation method based on predictive control


A medical tube has at least one wire running from the proximal end to the vicinity of the distal end thereof, which wire is connected to the tube adjacent the distal end so as to allow the distal tip to be deflected upon movement of the wire. The tube has gaps therein on one side of its longitudinal axis so as to form a predetermined region of weakness, whereby upon tension being applied to the wire the distal end of the tube bends in the direction of the predetermined region of weakness. The medical tube may be a sheath in which is disposed a preformed inner catheter having a complex curve formed into the distal end thereof. The sheath is sufficiently rigid and the inner catheter is sufficiently pliable so that withdrawal of the inner catheter into the sheath substantially straightens out the portion of the complex curve of the distal tip disposed within the sheath. By suitable manipulation of the wire and of the inner catheter with respect to the sheath the shape of the exposed portion of the distal end of the inner catheter may be reformed and transformed to any of a variety of shapes as desired by the user.

This invention relates generally to medical devices, and more particularly to a catheter which can be formed, inside the human body, into a vast number of different shapes.
Selective catheterization of cerebral and visceral branch arteries is often difficult and at times impossible in some patients--particularly older patients with very tortuous and ectatic vasculature. Successful catheterization sometimes requires multiple catheter exchanges for various shaped catheters. It is not uncommon to easily catheterize three of four vessels for a four vessel head study, only to find that the fourth vessel (generally the left or right carotid) requires an entirely different catheter shape and tip orientation. It would be desirable if one could easily and simply reshape the catheter and reorient the tip to direct it into the vessel orifice, instead of depending on several complex catheters that require reformation, fancy torque and advancing maneuvers, body english and, above all, luck.
Tip reorientation, the goal of most prior devices which have addressed the problem, is only half of what is needed to make a truly workable universal catheter. Numerous catheter curve configurations have been conceived not only to reorient the tip properly for selection of branch vessels, but also to provide anchorage of the catheter against the aortic wall. A wide looped long tipped sidewinder III configuration with an exaggerated retrocurve is one such example of a highly specialized complex catheter.
This anchorage or wedge effect against the aortic wall lessens the recoil caused by the "jet effect" during high pressure contrast injection which might otherwise cause the catheter to flip out of the selected branch vessel (particularly in short branch vessels or at levels of a dilated aorta).
These complex configurations, therefore, evolved not only to orient the tip properly, but also to wedge the catheter securely in the branch vessel. Other devices which simply modify the distal catheter curve may aid in tip orientation for vessel selection, but fail to provide the anchorage which is necessary to prevent catheter dislodgement.
In addition, prior designs could be improved in that the radii which the prior devices are able to make (to enter a vessel at a sharp angle, for example) have heretofore been severely limited.
Moreover, the size of prior designs has made them less desirable for many applications.
In certain applications (for example, complex interventional procedures such as angioplasties or intracerebral procedures), current catheters could be improved with respect to their ability to facilitate crossing of tight stenoses or with respect to their trackability out into peripheral branches.
In this respect, the current catheters could be improved in the areas of displacing forces from the application site at the point of catheter introduction (most often in the inguinal area) to points close to the actual catheter tip. This would increase the control that a user, such as an angiographer, has on the catheter, creating a more precise local longitudinal vector force for crossing tight stenoses, and also increase torque force for guiding the catheter tip toward the orifice of a selected vessel.
In would also be desirable to have a catheter construction which provided controllable variability in the distal catheter stiffness. Such a catheter could be stiffened for support close to a first order selected branch through which a more flexible catheter could be tracked peripherally. Conversely, such a catheter could be made less stiff over variable distances to allow better tracking of a more flexible distal end over a guidewire.


Systems and methods are described for processing of requests of a single page application in an application server. The method includes receiving a request from a component of a single page application from a user device, getting a page identifier (ID) from the request, getting a user ID from the request, and searching a cache lookup table for a cache entry associated with the page ID. When no cache entry for the page ID is found in the cache lookup table, a new cache entry is created in the cache lookup table for processing of the request, and the request is processed using the new cache entry to generate a response. When a cache entry for the page ID is found in the cache lookup table, the user ID from the request is compared to a user ID in the cache entry, and when the user IDs match, the request is processed using the found cache entry to generate the response; and the response is sent to the single page application on the user device.

"Cloud computing" services provide shared resources, software, and information to computers and other devices upon request or on demand. Cloud computing typically involves the over-the-Internet provision of dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources. Technological details can be abstracted from end-users, who no longer have need for expertise in, or control over, the technology infrastructure "in the cloud" that supports them. In cloud computing environments, software applications can be accessible over the Internet rather than installed locally on personal or in-house computer systems. Some of the applications or on-demand services provided to end-users can include the ability for a user to create, view, modify, store and share documents and other files.
A single-page application (SPA) is a web application or website that interacts with the user by dynamically rewriting the current web page with new data from a web application server, instead of the default method of the browser loading entire new pages. The goal is faster transitions that make the website feel more like a native application. A SPA typically makes multiple requests to the application server to retrieve data and metadata needed to display the page. This means that SPAs often have higher server-side cost than do traditional web applications.
One technique to address this issue is to make extensive user of caching of data (including static content, metadata, and dynamic data) on the client system. Caching is typically used for content which does not change frequently (e.g., static content such as logos, borders, headers, etc.) or for content where it is acceptable for the user to see stale information. For cases where the caching of stale content is unacceptable, one approach is to improve caching of the content at or near the web application server and add an invalidation solution to make sure the content served to the client system is not stale. However, this invalidation solution usually results in code that is complex, expensive to develop, and error-prone.

Caching for single page web applications


A current feedback-type AMOLED driving circuit. The current feedback-type AMOLED driving circuit includes a plurality of pixel circuits each having a data terminal for receiving a pixel current command, and a sense terminal for transmitting pixel current to a driver Integrated Circuit (IC), and a plurality of data lines provided such that a single data line is provided for a single column formed by a plurality of pixel circuits, thus data terminals of the pixel circuits, forming the column, are connected to the data line. In the AMOLED driving circuit, two columns are paired, sense terminals of pixel circuits, forming a first column of the two columns, are connected to a data line for a second column, and sense terminals of pixel circuits, forming the second column, are connected to the data line for the first column. The AMOLED driving circuit is operated such that, when the first column is driven, the data line for the second column is used as a current feedback line for the first column, and when the second column is driven, the data line for the first column is used as a current feedback line for the second column. Accordingly, the number of pads of the driver IC is limited to one per column, and price competitiveness of the driver IC is improved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to flat panel display devices using an organic light emitting diode and, more particularly, to a current feedback-type active matrix organic light emitting diode driving circuit, which uses a current driving line for an adjacent column as a current feedback line, thus limiting the number of pads of a driving integrated circuit to one per column.
2. Description of the Related Art
An Organic Light Emitting Diode (hereinafter referred to as an 'OLED') is considered to be a greatly promising display device, along with a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) and a Plasma Panel Display (PDP). In particular, an OLED has the advantages of being the thinnest, of being lightweight, and of having excellent color reproducibility.
Such an OLED has characteristics indicating that the brightness thereof is adjusted using current, unlike an LCD for adjusting brightness using voltage.
Recently, to satisfy demand for a flat panel display having a bigger size, reproducing more colors, and having a higher response rate, there is a tendency to change a flat panel display from a conventional passive matrix-type flat panel display to an active matrix-type flat panel display.
The Active Matrix OLED (AMOLED) display is constructed so that a great number of OLEDs is distributed in two dimensions, and respective OLEDs are sequentially accessed using Thin Film Transistors (TFTs) which can be integrated on a glass substrate, thus controlling the current of the OLEDs.
A conventional AMOLED display has adopted a method of converting digital graphic data, which is input for each pixel, into analog voltage through digital-analog conversion, applying the analog voltage as a voltage between the gate and source of a driving TFT connected in series with a corresponding OLED, and maintaining the voltage using a storage capacitor.
This method is problematic in that it is very difficult to maintain the current, and moreover, the brightness, of the OLED uniform, due to the non-uniformity of TFTs manufactured using an amorphous silicone (a-Si) or poly-silicone (p-Si) based process.
In order to solve the problem of such a voltage driving method, a pixel structure using a current source or a current mirror has been proposed.
A pixel in such a current driving method is advantageous in that it not only copes with the basic characteristics of an OLED exhibiting brightness proportional to current, but also uses current as an input, thus the adjustment of uniform brightness is possible in spite of the non-uniformity of driving TFTs.
However, such a driving method is problematic in that a lot of time is required until the current of the OLED becomes stable when a low current is driven. This problem becomes more serious as the size of a panel increases, and as the parasitic resistance and capacitance of lines constituting a pixel increase, thus it is well known that the use of such a current driving scheme is very difficult in a large-sized panel.
FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing an example of a current feedback OLED driving circuit, in which the above-described voltage driving and current driving are appropriately combined with each other (U.S. Pat. No. 6,433,488).
The operation of this driving circuit is described in brief below.
First, in a pixel circuit, a driving TFT T1 is connected in series with the OLED, and switching TFTs T2 to T4 are provided.
If a scan signal Scan becomes high and a specific pixel is selected, the TFTs T2 and T3 are turned on, and OLED current is programmed.
The time for which a single pixel is selected is determined by the size of a panel and the number of frames per second.
If the scan time for a specific pixel is terminated, the scan signal selects a subsequent pixel, the TFTs T2 and T3 are turned off, and the TFT T4 is turned on, so that previously programmed OLED current flows from a power source Vs until a subsequent programming time arrives.
The driving circuit part of FIG. 1 includes a current mirror composed of PMOS transistors P1 and P2 for mirroring reference current Iref, which is determined using a circuit (not shown) for converting digital graphic data into current, a current mirror composed of PMOS transistors P3 and P4 for mirroring current IOLED, which flows through the OLED, a current comparator composed of NMOS transistors N1 and N2 for comparing the two currents with each other, and an amplifier N3 for amplifying the result of current comparison.
If IOLED<Iref when the scan signal is high, that is, in a programming time, the driving circuit is operated so that the output of the current comparator, that is, the voltage at the drain of the transistor N2, decreases, the output of the driving circuit, that is, the voltage at the drain of the transistor N3, increases, and the voltage at the gate of the pixel driving TFT T1 increases, thus the OLED current increases.
In contrast, if IOLED>Iref, the driving circuit is operated so that voltage at the gate of the driving TFT T1 decreases, thus the OLED current decreases. The object of the circuit is to operate such that IOLED=Iref is satisfied through such a negative feedback operation.
However, this circuit includes two lines for connecting the driving circuit to the pixel circuit. That is, the lines are the data line (Data line) and scan line (Sense line) of FIG. 1. For the two lines, the driver IC requires two pads per column (channel).
Recently, there is a tendency for the width of each column driver circuit to become less than that of the pad in order to reduce the cost of a driver IC, thus the width of the pad determines the actual area of the driving circuit.
Therefore, when two pads are used in a single column driver, as shown in the circuit of FIG. 1, the area of the driver IC increases, thus greatly decreasing price competitiveness.

Current feedback-type AMOLED where sense feedback is sent over the adjacent data line

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology


The invention provides a wheel balancer that is able to determine if its measurements are accurate. The invention takes a set of measurements and determines if the measurements are sufficiently consistent. If they are sufficiently close the invention uses the measurements to calculate wheel imbalance. If the measurements are not sufficiently close the invention uses the measurements to calculate wheel imbalance. If the measurements are not sufficiently close the invention rejects at least one data point and collects more measurements until either the invention yields sufficiently close data points or the machine is stopped. A display is provided for diagnostic messages.

Wheel balancers use a display to indicate to an operator the position and amount of counterbalancing weights. These readings are typically displayed on a set of indicators or gauges. Early balancers indicated the readings continuously while the wheel was spinning. A skilled mechanic can read a continuous display of this type and not only determine the unbalance but also diagnose certain types of problems, such as: loose wheel, water inside the tire, bearing or machine fault, etc. The disadvantage of a continuous display is that novice (unskilled) users sometimes find it difficult to read and are confused by normal fluctuations. To avoid these problems, virtually all modern computerized balancers use a "sample-and-hold" technique that stabilizes the display. The drawback is that a stable display precludes problem detection and diagnosis.
It is an object of the invention to provide a balancer which automatically detects any deviation from its own optimum performance and in addition detects dynamic instabilities in the wheel.
Another object of the invention is to provide a wheel balancer which provides an accurate measurement with a minimal number of wheel rotations.


Provided are an improved cell-permeable (iCP)-SOCS3 recombinant protein and uses thereof. Suppressor of cytokine signaling-3 (SOCS3) is an endogenous protein inhibitor of JAK/STAT pathway, and an aberrant expression of SOCS3 protein was observed in human solid tumors including gastric, colorectal and breast cancer, and glioblastoma. Thus, the iCP-SOCS3 recombinant protein may be used as protein-based anti-solid tumor agent by utilizing the platform technology for macromolecule intracellular transduction.

The Janus kinase signal transducers and activators of transcription signaling (JAK/STAT) plays important roles in immune responses, including oncogenesis. So many investigations demonstrated that STAT-3, an important member of STAT proteins, was considered as a proto-oncogene in various types of disorder. STAT-3 is phosphorylated and dimerizes by the Janus kinase (JAK), and its overexpression and constitutive activation can significantly induce cell proliferation, tumor angiogenesis, invasion. Meanwhile, inhibition of JAK-STAT signaling led to suppress the cancer cell growth and induce apoptosis. Suppressor of cytokine signaling-3 (SOCS3), a kind of endogenous protein inhibitor of JAK/STAT pathway, was identified to be inversely associated with the STAT3 expression and phosphorylation in vivo and in vitro and aberrant expression of SOCS3 protein was observed in human solid tumors including gastric, colorectal and breast cancer, and glioblastoma.
Gastric cancer remains the second leading cause of cancer-related death in the world. Advances in early detection and decreased chronic Helicobacter pylori infection rates have led to a substantial reduction in gastric cancer rates worldwide. However, effective treatment regimens for gastric cancers, especially advanced gastric cancer, are still lacking; therefore, the prognosis of patients with this disease remains poor. SOCS3 mRNA levels are higher in adjacent normal mucosal tissues, however, gastric cancer patients with high simultaneous expression of SOCS3 have a better overall survival than those with low simultaneous expression. Based on this, SOCS3 may represent new therapeutic target to treat gastric cancer.
Colorectal cancer is one of the most fatal neoplastic diseases worldwide and a serious global health problem, with over one million new cases and half million mortalities worldwide each year. It has been reported as being relevant to some inflammatory bowel diseases, such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. The pathogenesis of colorectal carcinoma is complex, with the involvement of multiple cellular transduction pathways including IL-6/STAT3 signaling. Reduced or silenced SOCS3 has been found in many human types of cancer including colorectal cancer, and restoring SOCS3 expression in the cancer cells inhibits IL-6-mediated STAT3 activation, induces tumor cell apoptosis and decreases cell proliferation. Therefore, suppression of the IL-6/STAT3 pathway via modulation of SOCS3 has been a promising strategy for anti-colon/colorectal cancer therapy.
Glioblastoma, the most common neoplasm among diffuse infiltrating astrocytomas, is notorious for its ability to evade immune-surveillance as well as for its invasive and angiogenic properties. Gliomas are the most common type of primary brain tumors are highly malignant and are associated with a very poor prognosis. Glioblastoma is a very aggressive subtype of glioma with very short life expectancy and limited treatment options. A hallmark of this lethal disorder is the presence of activated STAT3. Because SOCS3 is a negative regulator of STAT-3 activation, it hypothesized that SOCS3 may function as a tumor suppressor in glioblastoma tissues.
Breast cancer is a disease that arises from the accumulation of alterations in the genome of cells that make up the mammary gland. Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women, with an estimated 1.38 million new cases of cancer diagnosed in 2008 (23% of all cancers), and the second most common type of cancer overall (10.9% of all cancers). Expression of SOCS3 protein is significantly down-regulated in breast cancer specimens and replacing of SOCS3 protein may directly influence the treatment of breast cancer.
Cytokine signaling is strictly regulated by the SOCS family proteins induced by different classes of agonists, including cytokines, hormones and infectious agents. Among them, SOCS1 and SOCS3 are relatively specific to STAT1 and STAT3, respectively. SOCS1 inhibits JAK activation through its N-terminal kinase inhibitory region (KIR) by the direct binding to the activation loop of JAKs, while SOCS3 binds to janus kinases (JAKs)-proximal sites on the receptor through its SH2 domain and inhibits JAK activity that blocks recruitment of STAT3. Both promote anti-inflammatory effects due to the suppression of inflammation-inducing cytokine signaling. Furthermore, the SOCS box, another domain in SOCS proteins, interacts with E3 ubiquitin ligases and/or couples the SH2 domain-binding proteins to the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. Therefore, SOCSs inhibit cytokine signaling by suppressing JAK kinase activity and degrading the activated cytokine receptor complex.
In connection with SOCSs and various solid tumors including gastric, colorectal and breast cancer, and glioblastoma, the SOCS1 gene has been implicated as an anti-oncogene in the tumor development. Previous studies have reported that aberrant methylation in the CpG island of SOCS1 induces its transcriptional silencing in cancer cell lines, and SOCS1 heterozygous mice are hypersensitive to various cancers. In addition, abnormalities of SOCS3 are also associated with the solid tumors. Hypermethylation of CpG islands in the SOCS3 promoter is correlated with its transcriptional silencing in tumors cell lines. SOCS3 overexpression down-regulates active STAT3, induces apoptosis, and suppresses growth in cancer cells. The importance of STAT3 to inflammation-associated carcinogenesis is underlined by the previous study that cancer-specific deletion of SOCS3 in a mouse carcinoma model results in larger and more numerous tumors. This means that SOCS3 plays a major role in the negative regulation of the JAK/STAT pathway in carcinogenesis and contributes to the suppression of tumor development by protecting the tissue cells.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Cell-permeable (ICP)-SOCS3 recombinant protein and uses thereof


Disclosed herein are ionic liquid compositions comprising active pharmaceutical, biological, and nutritional compounds, and methods of use. Further disclosed are compositions of matter including liquid ion pairs alone or in solution and their use; compositions of ionic liquids that are ‘solvated,’ for example, ‘hydrated’ and their uses.

Polymorphism is the ability of a substance to exist in two or more crystalline forms that have a different arrangement and/or conformation of molecules in a crystalline lattice (see e.g., Chawla and Bansal, CRIPS 2004, 5(1):9-12; Bernstein, "Polymorphism in Molecular Crystals," IUCR Monographs on Crystallography 14, Oxford Science Publications, 2002, pp. 1-28, 240-256). It has been estimated that a large number of pharmaceuticals exhibit polymorphism. For example, 70% of barbiturates, 60% of sulfonamides, and 23% of steroids are believed to exist in different polymorphic forms or "polymorphs" (Haleblian et al., J Pharm Sci 1975, 64:1269-1288).
In some cases, when crystals of a compound are forming (e.g., crystallizing from a solution), solvent molecules may become entrapped or bound within the crystal lattice. The presence of the entrapped solvent molecules may affect the three-dimensional crystal lattice that eventually crystallizes. The occurrence of a compound (target molecule) crystallizing in different three-dimensional lattices based upon the presence of solvent molecules has been termed "pseudo-polymorphism." Akin to polymorphs, such "pseudo-polymorphs," also known as "solvates" (or "hydrates" when the solvent is water), are crystalline solids containing either stoichiometric (i.e., whole number ratios of target molecules to solvent molecules) or non-stoichiometric (i.e., non-whole number ratios of target molecules to solvent molecules) amounts of a solvent incorporated within the crystal structure. In general, different crystalline forms of molecules (e.g., pharmaceutical compounds) can exist in the same or different hydrated or solvated states.
The existence of various polymorphs or pseudo-polymorphs can greatly affect a pharmaceutical's performance since each form can have different physical and chemical properties. For example, one particular polymorph pseudo-polymorph may be more bioavailable, more stable (e.g., longer shelf life), or more easily formulated or tableted than another polymorph. Similarly, one polymorph pseudo-polymorph may be more active or less toxic than another. Some specific examples of the dramatic difference that can exist between various pharmaceutical polymorphs are described in, e.g., Brittain et al., J Pharm Sci 2002, 91:1573-1580 and Morissette et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2003, 100:2180-2184.
The effects of polymorphism and pseudo-polymorphism on quality and performance of a drug is widely recognized. The exact solid state polymorph (or pseudo-polymorph) of a compound determines its physical properties such as dissolution rate, solubility, bioavailability, crystal habit, mechanical strength, etc. (Datta et al., Nature Reviews—Drug Discovery, 2004, 3:42-57). The delivery of an exact dosage in manufacture and the manufacturing process itself often depend on which of several possible polymorphs or pseudo-polymorphs are present.
The variation in properties among different polymorphs (or pseudo-polymorphs) usually means that one crystalline form is desired or preferred over other forms. Obtaining a particular form can be difficult, however. Typically, researchers have to experiment with a multitude of variables in crystallization conditions, such as aqueous solvent mixtures, amount of water, amount of target compound, relative humidity, temperature of incubation, incubation time, etc., in a process characterized by trial and error. Further, the search for salts of crystalline forms (usually sought after to control dissolution rate and solubility) can require extensive experimentation. Each salt of a drug or each different solvent used to crystallize the drug or a salt of the drug may lead to polymorphs or pseudo-polymorphs that have to be fully investigated and that have different properties (see e.g., Reutzel-Edens et al., "Anhydrates and hydrates of olanzapine: Crystallization, solid-state characterization, and structural relationships," Crystal Growth & Design, 2003, 3:897-907).
Another common problem that exists with many pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, nutraceuticals etc. is low solubility. Low solubility can make formulating a particular compound difficult, and generally low solubility translates into low bioavailability. Much research is conducted on finding ways to improve a compound's solubility and availability. Typically methods include complex delivery devices and chemical modifications of the drug.
Polymorphism and pseudo-polymorphism is difficult to predict, i.e., there is a relationship between the crystalline state of a compound and its chemical properties (e.g., dissolution rate, solubility), biological properties (e.g., bioavailability, pharmacokinetics), mechanical and physical properties, and manufacturing processes. In some instances polymorphs and pseudo-polymorphs can interconvert. Moreover, there is a need for compositions that can manifest their base property, for example, their pharmacological properties, while having controllable and/or adjustable chemical, biological, and physical properties, that the formulator can "tune" to the desired properties while at the same time avoiding any undesirable polymorphism. In addition, there is a need for compounds having these properties which have modifiable dissolution and solubility properties. As such, there is further needed methods of preparing and using compositions having these controllable properties. Further, there is a need for methods of converting compounds that are difficult to solubilize into a form that allows for increased solubility. Disclosed herein are compositions and methods that provide for the above compounds, compositions, and methods.

Dual functioning ionic liquids and salts thereof

The Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama


An apparatus comprises a power converter circuit and a controller. The power converter circuit includes an inductor, a switching circuit, and a digital control loop circuit having an adjustable transfer function, wherein the transfer function includes a zero variable and a signal gain variable. The controller includes a tuning module configured to set a value for the zero variable, set the signal gain variable to a first gain value, determine a control error for the first gain value setting, wherein the control error is a difference between a reference current and a load current at a circuit load, iteratively update the gain value of the signal gain variable and determine the control error for the updated gain value, and set an operating gain value of the signal gain variable to the gain value corresponding to a minimum control error.

Electronic power systems typically include one or more power converters controlled by integrated circuits. Some power converters receive an alternating input (e.g., alternating current or AC input) and produce a non-alternating output (e.g., a direct current or DC output). The AC-to-DC rectifiers may introduce frequency harmonics into an electronic system that can have adverse effects, such as the neutral current magnitude of a three phase system being too high, excessive current in power-factor-correction capacitors, failure of system protection circuits, and excessive heating and reduced operating life of transformers and induction motors of the system. The present inventor has recognized a need for improved performance of power converter circuits.

Auto-tuning current loop compensation for power factor correction controller


A partial execution unit of a splittable execution unit performs an operation on a portion of one or more arguments of a micro-operation to generate a first partial execution result of the micro-operation. A complementary portion of one of the arguments is passed through a bypass execution unit instead of through the splittable execution unit to generate a second partial execution result of the micro-operation. The first partial execution result and second partial execution result are concatenated into a full execution result.

Processors may include different types of execution units (EU), each dedicated and optimized for performing specific tasks. For example, a processor may include an integer EU for manipulating operands in integer format, a floating point EU for manipulating operands in floating point format and a multimedia EU for performing specific multimedia and communication instructions, such as, for example, Multi Media extensions (MMX™) instructions. Moreover, processors may also have more than one EU of each type.
A processor having more than one execution unit may employ out-of-order (OOO) techniques in order to use the execution units in an efficient manner. An instruction in a system memory, when processed by the processor, is decoded into one or more micro-operations ("u-ops"). Each u-op is to be executed by an OOO subsystem of the processor. The OOO subsystem enables more than one u-op to be executed at the same time, although the u-ops may be executed in a different order than the order in which they were received by the OOO subsystem.
It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements shown in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity.

Apparatus and methods for utilization of splittable execution units of a processor


A technology that is operable to select a radio node on a communications network is disclosed. In one embodiment, a user equipment (UE) is configured with circuitry configured to determine when to offload data traffic of the UE to a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) in a multi-radio access technology (RAT) communications network based on radio access network (RAN) assistance information communicated via the operations, administration and maintenance (OAM) system. A status is identified of one or more WLAN APs in the multi-RAT communications network using the RAN assistance information. A radio node is selected in the cell of the multi-RAT communications network for communication based on selected criteria.

Data usage and demand for a data delivery capacity of communications networks continue to rise with an increasing popularity of mobile devices, such as mobile phones, tablet devices, laptops, and so forth. With the increase in data usage and data delivery capacity demand, communications network operators and providers are experiencing cellular network congestion. To meet the increasing demand for bandwidth in communications networks, communications network operators and providers may use multiple radio access technologies (multi-RATs), such as cellular networks and wireless networks, to transfer data in the communications network.
Wireless networks use an unlicensed portion of the communications spectrum, and wireless network nodes can be widely deployed at relatively low cost. With widespread and cost effective deployments of wireless network technologies (such as Wi-Fi networks) available, communications network operators and providers can offload data traffic to the wireless networks to decrease cellular network congestion. For example, as smartphones are being equipped with both cellular network connecting capabilities and wireless network connecting capabilities, communications network operators and providers may offload cellular network data to the wireless networks. Accordingly, there is a need for a communications scheme for communications networks that can use cellular networks and wireless networks effectively.
Reference will now be made to the exemplary embodiments illustrated, and specific language will be used herein to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended.

Selecting a radio node for data traffic offloading


Luminance irregularities caused by the weight of the optical members in a backlight apparatus are reduced. A lighting apparatus comprises optical members 1 and 2, a casing in which the optical members 1 and 2 and a lamp 4 are disposed, a first member 1a formed in optical members 1 and 2, and a second member 3a formed in the casing for attaching the optical members 1 and 2 to the casing by cooperating with the first member 1a. The first and second members 1a and 3a are provided in positions such that no upward stress is applied to the optical members due to their own weights at the bottom in a vertical direction in the plane of the display screen, both in a basic position and a first stop position of the lighting apparatus, the latter position being reached by rotation of the apparatus from the basic position in the plane of the display screen.

Referring to FIGS. 14 and 15, in some conventional LCD backlight apparatuses, an opening 2a is provided on an upper section of optical sheets 1 and/or a diffusing plate 2 (which will be referred to as optical members) towards either side. Locking portion 3a are provided in a frame 3 at positions corresponding to openings 2a, so that the frame can support the optical members.

Lighting system and liquid crystal backlight device


A semiconductor radiation detector comprises a detector chip having a front side and a back side, and a support plate on the back side of the detector chip, having electric connections with said detector chip. A base plate has a thermoelectric cooler attached to it and contact pins protruding from the base plate towards said detector chip. A bonding plate is on an opposite side of said thermoelectric cooler than said base plate, and first wire bonded connections go between said contact pins and said bonding plate. A joint plate is between said bonding plate and said support plate, and electric connections between said support plate and said bonding plate go through said joint plate.

Effective operation of certain semiconductor radiation detectors, such as PIN diode (p-type—intrinsic—n-type) detectors and SDDs (silicon drift detectors), benefits from sealing the detector crystal and its immediate electric contacts in a gas-tight enclosure known as the detector can. In some applications the semiconductor radiation detector may be located at the end of an elongated pipe, which points towards the sample holder of a micro-analyzer. A radiation window at the front face of the detector can or pipe allows radiation to enter, while the back side of the detector assembly has the attachment means and contact pins that are needed to couple the detector mechanically, electrically, and thermally to the radiation-detecting appliance. A thermoelectric cooler, such as a Peltier element, is typically included in the entity, which in assembled form is frequently referred to as the detector head.
FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art detector head. The detector chip 101 is attached to a substrate 102, which in turn is attached to a thermoelectric cooler 103. A base plate 104 with a protruding attachment bolt 105 supports the arrangement and closes the bottom of the detector can 106, the front face of which has an opening covered by a radiation window 107. The graphical illustration is simplified and omits possible intermediate shielding layers and other features that are not essential for understanding the background of the present invention.
Contact pins 108 go through holes in the base plate 104, and are electrically isolated therefrom by insulator sleeves 109. The entity that consists of the base plate 104, the attachment bolt 105, the contact pins 108, and the insulator sleeves 109 is sometimes called the header. A bonding wire 110 connects the top end of each contact pin 108 to a bonding pad 111 on the top surface of the substrate 102. Further bonding wires (not shown) may constitute the electric connections between areas of the substrate 102 and respective contact pads on the detector chip 101. The choice of just wire bonding as the technology of making the electric connections involves the inherent advantage of low thermal conductivity; for example, it is essential that as little heat as possible flows from the contact pins 108 to the substrate 102 and further to the detector chip 101.
The sensitivity of the detector is in principle better with larger detector chips: the larger surface of the detector chip collects more photons, increasing the pulse frequency. In the arrangement of FIG. 1 the substrate 102, and thus also the detector chip 101, must be smaller in diameter than the circle formed by the contact pins 108, because the bonding wedge must be able to touch the top ends of the contact pins, as well as the bonding pads on the substrate 102 and detector chip 101, from above. Basically it would be possible to make the whole detector head larger in diameter, but that would make it more difficult to place it close to the sample from which originates the radiation to be detected. The diameter of the ring of contact pins must always be significantly smaller than the diameter of the base plate, because hermetically sealing and electrically insulating the contact pin holes in the base plate necessitate the use of an insulator sleeve that completely encircles the contact pin and has a certain minimum wall thickness, and because some base plate metal must remain between the holes for the insulator sleeves and the base plate edge.
FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate known detector heads that aim at avoiding the size-limiting effect of the circle of contact pins. The structure of FIG. 2 is known from the patent publication EP 2286275. The bonding is made from the side, so the bonding wire 210 connects the side surface of the contact pin 208 to a bonding pad 211 located on a vertical surface of the substrate 202. In this arrangement the contact pins are shorter than in the arrangement of FIG. 1, and the upper limit for the diameter of the substrate 202 (and consequently, to almost the same extent, for the diameter of the detector chip 201) is determined by the diameter of the circle of contact pins plus the marginal difference allowed by the bonding. In practice one may say that it is the diameter of the circle of contact pins that defines the maximum diameter of the substrate.
The structure of FIG. 3 is known from the patent publication US 2012/0228498. The detector chip 301 is flip-chip-bonded to a first substrate 302, under which is a second substrate 312, the outer edge of which defines cavities. For connections to and from the contact pins, bonding wires 310 go between the top ends of the contact pins 308 and bonding pads (not separately shown) located in said cavities. Bonding to the top side of the detector chip 301 is typically also needed, although not shown in FIG. 3. The diameter of the second substrate 312 must be smaller than that of the circle of contact pins, but the diameter of the first substrate 302 and the detector chip 301 can be of the same size or even larger than the diameter of the circle of contact pins. Disadvantages of this structure include the relatively complicated three-dimensional form of the second substrate, as well as the small and three-dimensionally limited space available in the cavities for making the wire bonding.
A need exists for detector head structures that would enable the detector chip to have a large area while simultaneously making the structure easy to manufacture and reliable in use.

Semiconductor radiation detector with large active area, and method for its manufacture


A controller for transferring information for managing and controlling machine tools, an automatic warehouse and a CNC device reads material information (e.g., size, shape, material) on an actual material on a pallet in an automatic warehouse before transferring a machining program for nesting. The controller judges whether the material information matches a material on which products are nested, newly nests the products of a machining schedule on the material of the material information when they do not match, and transfers the machining program for the nesting to the CNC device and machine tools.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a nesting method and a punching method for a machine tool control system capable of machining efficiently in a short period of time.
2. Background and Related Arts
When a plurality of parts of different sizes are to be blanked from a single material (standard length material) in sheet metal processing, nesting for allocating these parts to the material in such a manner that the proportion of a portion of the material effectively used as the parts in the whole material becomes large is automatically performed by a computer.
For instance, in a machine tool control system shown in FIG. 1, a tool center 1 reads a machining schedule prestored in a file 3 and carries out nesting processing on a prestored material when the machining schedule indicates sheet metal processing for blanking a plurality of products.
This nesting processing is described in detail. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the nesting processing of the tool center 1. For instance, when it is planned to nest two products A, one product B and one product C having respective shapes shown in FIG. 2 on the same material, a nesting processing unit 15 of the tool center 1 reads a reference shape ai from which these prestored products can be blanked from a material information file 7 and plans to nest the above products on the shape ai.
For instance, two products A, one product B and one product C are to be blanked from the shape ai as shown in FIG. 2 and a machining program m1 for this blanking information S1 is created and stored in a machining program file 9.
In addition to the above products, when a product D is planned to be nested on the same material, the nesting processing unit 15 of the tool center 1 reads a shape bi from which the product D can be blanked from the material information file 7 and plans to nest the product D.
For instance, nine products D are to be blanked from this shape bi as shown in FIG. 2 and a machining program m2 for this blanking information S2 is created and stored in the machining program file 9.
As shown in FIG. 2, nesting schedules Ki based on these machining programs m1 and m2 and blanking information S1 and S2 are created. In FIG. 2, for example, a "10-th" nesting schedule Ki shows that nesting is carried out on a single material using the machining program m1 based on the blanking information S1. A "20-th" nesting schedule Ki shows that nesting is carried out on a single material using the machining program m2 based on the blanking information S2.
The tool center 1 copies the nesting schedules Ki and the machining programs mi into a controller 11.
FIG. 4 shows the configuration of an automatic warehouse 131 included in a peripheral equipment 13. The controller 11 draws the first nesting schedule Ki, compares this nesting schedule Ki with prestored inventory information Ji in the automatic warehouse 131 and judges whether the material ti of the nesting schedule Ki is present in the inventory information Ji.
This inventory information Ji, as shown in FIG. 4, stores numbers of shelves 133 (133a, 133b, 133c, . . . ) of the automatic warehouse 131, names of pallets 135 (135a, 135b, 135c, . . . ), names (including shape, size and material) of materials (material A, material B, . . . ) on the pallets 135 and the number of the materials in a corresponding manner.
When the material ti of the nesting schedule Ki is stored as inventory information Ji, a signal (to be referred to as "shelf switching instruction signal" hereinafter) for switching to a shelf storing the material corresponding to the material ti is supplied to a line control board 23. A machining program mi for the machining schedule Ki is drawn and transferred to a CNC device 25 by, for example, DNC transfer system.
The automatic warehouse 131 draws a pallet 135 on a shelf 133 specified by the shelf switching instruction signal and carries a material pi mounted on this pallet 135 to a machine tool 27, such as a turret punch press. The machine tool 27 blanks the material pi mounted on the pallet 135 based on the machining program mi specified by the nesting schedule Ki. When the machine tool 27 cannot blank the material pi mounted on the pallet 135 based on the machining program mi, it supplies a blanking error signal to the controller 11 through the line control board 23 immediately.
The controller 11 stops operation as soon as it receives the blanking error signal. That is, the conventional machine tool control system makes a blanking plan without confirmation from the tool center I that a material pi large enough to enable the products of the nesting schedule ki to be blanked therefrom is actually present in the automatic warehouse 131.
The machine tool 27 is provided with a terminal 29 for handling an urgent order or special order on the site. When an operator operates this terminal 29, the operator judges whether a material (not blanked) with which the order can be accepted is present in the automatic warehouse 131 and operates the terminal 29 to carry out nesting when the material is present on a pallet of a shelf.
When products blanked by the machine tool 27 are stored on pallets, either a nesting storage system, such as that shown in FIG. 3A, or a position specification storage system, such as that shown in FIG. 3B, is employed.
The nesting storage system shown in FIG. 3A is to arrange blanked products on a pallet 135 by reproducing a blanked image. This system has such advantages that storage efficiency is high without excess or shortage of space on the pallet 135 and products can be stored at a uniform height.
The position specification storage system shown in FIG. 3B is to pile up the same products at the same location of the pallet 135. This system is advantageous when the products are to be taken out because the same products are stored at the same location of the pallet 135.
Punching by the machine tool 27 is carried out using a single turret punch press as a punching machine. That is, a plurality of punches/dies are set on upper and lower turrets of the turret punch press and required punches/dies are searched from the plurality of punches/dies and positioned at the machining location to carry out several different types of punching on a workpiece.
As described above, since the conventional machine tool control system makes a blanking plan without the tool center's confirmation that a material large enough to enable the products of a nesting schedule to be blanked therefrom is actually present in the automatic warehouse, it has such a problem that machining takes time.
Therefore, when there is no material of a size predetermined by the tool center in the automatic warehouse, even if a machining program for blanking is created, machining based on this machining program may not be carried out.
Since the tool center does not carry out nesting for a special order, but a field operator carries out nesting by selecting a material which is not blanked, a large area remains on this material after nesting.
Further, when blanked products are stored on a pallet, either nesting storage or position specification storage system is employed. However, in either system, since the tool center causes products to be stored without taking into consideration the field conditions and schedule, there has been such a problem that a pallet has been occupied by specific products for a long time or machining takes time because a pallet must be taken in and out frequently.
Further, since machining is carried out by a single turret punch press based on a nesting schedule, there has been such a problem that machining takes time as a whole because a machining time required by the turret punch press takes long and other machine tools on a production line have to wait.

Nesting method and punching method for machine tool control system


By adjusting phases of a webbing sensor and a locking mechanism when a spool locking section operates, special precision and rigidity are not required of respective members, and operation is stabilized. In a webbing retractor, at a time when a lock pawl meshes with a ratchet tooth of a ratchet member, if the lock pawl meshes with an Nth ratchet tooth and a sensor pawl meshes with an (N−1)st internal tooth, a release pawl is moved from a restraining position to a restraint cancelled position against urging force of a torsion coil spring and due to torque in a clockwise direction which teeth surfaces generate. When a gear ring rotates to a position at which a phase difference with the ratchet member substantially disappears, the release pawl is returned to the restraining position by the urging force of the torsion coil spring.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a webbing retractor that takes-up and accommodates a webbing belt for restraining the body of a vehicle occupant seated in a seat.
2. Related Art
A locking mechanism, which restricts rotation of a reel shaft (a spool) in a pull-out direction at a time of rapid deceleration of a vehicle, is provided at a webbing retractor which structures a seat belt device of a vehicle, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 5-246303 for example. A lock gear, which structures the locking mechanism disclosed in JP-A No. 5-246303, is able to rotate coaxially with and relative to the reel shaft. When the reel shaft rotates in the pull-out direction relative to the lock gear, interlockingly with this relative rotation, respective teeth of a main pawl and a back-up pawl engage with internal teeth which are formed at both side walls of a frame, and rotation of the reel shaft in the pull-out direction is restricted.
As one structure for causing relative rotation between the reel shaft and the lock gear, there is an inertial body which is provided at the lock gear. The inertial body is connected to the lock gear by a spring. When the lock gear rotates suddenly in the pull-out direction together with the reel shaft, a delay in rotation with respect to the lock gear arises at the inertial body due to inertia and against the urging force of the spring. Accompanying this relative rotation with respect to the lock gear which is due to the delay in rotation, an anchor claw formed integrally with the inertial body moves outwardly in the rotation radius direction of the lock gear. The anchor claw engages with a ratchet tooth which is an internal tooth formed at the inner peripheral surface of a first cover of the lock gear, and rotation of the inertial body, and accordingly of the lock gear, is stopped. Due to the rotation of the lock gear being stopped in this way, the lock gear rotates relative to the reel shaft which rotates in the pull-out direction.
In such a webbing retractor which operates the locking mechanism from a webbing sensor, high precision and rigidity are required of the respective members in order to match the engagement phase of the anchor claw of the inertial body and the ratchet tooth which is an internal tooth of the lock gear, and the engagement phase of the main pawl and an internal tooth of the frame.


A surveillance system comprising an electronic identity card holder 100 and corresponding identity card 170. The card holder 100 comprises a slot 150 for receiving an identity card 170. The slot 150 has a first side 150a and an opposing second side 150b. The first side 150a of the slot 150b comprising a viewing window 140 positioned to allow viewing of the second side 150b of slot 150. The card holder 100 also has a camera housed within the holder 100, and the camera has a camera aperture 196 provided on the second side 150b of the slot 150. The corresponding identity card 170 comprises an optically transparent region 175 that is configured to overlie the camera aperture 196 when the identity card 170 is received in the slot 150 of the holder 100.

In environments such as hospitals, schools, construction sites, etc, the safety of personnel working on those sites is of great importance and it is beneficial to provide personnel with cameras that allow for monitoring of their environment and safety. Construction workers can be equipped with helmets that have cameras attached that get a 'first-person' view of what the construction worker sees. Cameras in such arrangements are generally bulky, expensive, and exposed to damage due to how they protrude from the helmet. Such solutions are also not suitable for hospital workers or school staff because such camera arrangements are too bulky or obtrusive for such workers.
Recent advances in camera technology allow more discreet cameras to be provided, e.g. as part of a lapel or pin-badge. However, these have comparatively poor performance, as they experience reduced battery life, poor resolution, transmission problems, and are easily knocked off a wearer/user due to their size. Such cameras are still not that discreet for use by such personnel.


An array substrate for an in-plane switching liquid crystal display device includes a substrate, a gate line and a data line on the substrate and crossing each other to define a pixel region, a thin film transistor adjacent to a crossing of the gate line and the data line, a common electrode and a pixel electrode in the pixel region and spaced apart from each other, and a conductive pattern between the common and pixel electrodes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display (LCD) device. More particularly, the present invention relates to an in-plane switching liquid crystal display (IPS-LCD) device and a manufacturing method of the same.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Liquid crystal display (LCD) devices use the optical anisotropy and polarization properties of liquid crystal molecules to produce an image. Liquid crystal molecules have an alignment direction as a result of their long thin shapes and can be arranged to have initial pretilt angles. The alignment direction can be controlled or augmented by applying an electric field. More specifically, the intensity of an applied electric field varies the alignment of the liquid crystal molecules. Due to the optical anisotropy of liquid crystal molecules, the refraction of incident light depends on the alignment direction of the liquid crystal molecules. Thus, by controlling the applied electric field, an image that has a desired brightness can be produced. Among the different types of known liquid crystal displays (LCDs), active matrix LCDs (AM-LCDs), which have thin film transistors (TFTs) and pixel electrodes arranged in a matrix form, are the subject of significant research and development because of their high resolution and capability to display moving images.
In general, a liquid crystal display (LCD) device includes two substrates, which are spaced apart and face each other, and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the two substrates. Each of the substrates includes an electrode, and the electrodes of each substrate also face each other. A voltage is applied between the electrodes such that an electric field is induced between the electrodes. The alignment direction of the liquid crystal molecules between the electrodes is changed by varying the intensity of the electric field. Since the electrodes are positioned on the two substrates, respectively, the electric field induced between the electrodes is perpendicular to the lower and upper substrates. Accordingly, the related art LCD devices have a narrow viewing angle because of the longitudinal electric field control of the liquid crystal molecules. To solve the problem of narrow viewing angle, in-plane switching liquid crystal display (IPS-LCD) devices have been developed. An IPS-LCD device includes a pixel electrode and a common electrode on the same substrate.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an in-plane switching liquid crystal display (IPS-LCD) device according to the related art. As shown in FIG. 1, the IPS-LCD device includes an array substrate and a color filter substrate with a liquid crystal layer LC interposed therebetween. A pixel region P is defined on a first substrate 50. A thin film transistor T is formed within the pixel region P on the first substrate 50. The thin film transistor T includes a gate electrode 52, a semiconductor layer 62, a source electrode 64, and a drain electrode 66. Further, a common electrode 58 and a pixel electrode 72 are also formed within the pixel region P. The common electrode 58 and the pixel electrode 72 are spaced apart from each other on the same substrate.
The common electrode 58 is formed of the same material and in the same layer as the gate electrode 52, and the pixel electrode 72 can be formed of the same material and in the same layer as the source and drain electrodes 64 and 66. The pixel electrode 72 can be formed of a transparent conductive material to improve the aperture ratio. Although not shown in FIG. 1, a gate line is formed along a side of the pixel region P and a data line is formed along a direction perpendicular to the gate line. A common line may be formed parallel to the gate line, and the common line provides voltages to the common electrode 58.
A second substrate 30 is spaced apart from the first substrate 50. A black matrix 32 is formed on an inner surface of the second substrate 30, i.e., a surface facing the first substrate 50. The black matrix 32 corresponds to the gate line (not shown), the data line (not shown) and the thin film transistor T. A color filter layer is also formed on the inner surface of the second substrate 30, and the color filter layer includes three color filters of red 34a, green 34b, and blue (not shown). The color filter layer corresponds to the pixel region P.
A liquid crystal layer LC is interposed between the first substrate 50 and the second substrate 30. Liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer LC are oriented in response to a horizontal electric field 95 induced between the common electrode 58 and the pixel electrode 72. Light transmission through the liquid crystal layer LC depends upon the orientation of the liquid crystal molecules.
FIG. 2 is a plan view illustrating one sub-pixel of an array substrate for an IPS-LCD device according to the related art. As shown in FIG. 2, a gate line 54 is formed on a substrate 50 along a first direction. A data line 68 is formed on the substrate 50 along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. The gate line 54 and the data line 68 cross each other to define a pixel region P. A common line 56 is spaced apart from and parallel to the gate line 54. A thin film transistor T is formed adjacent to a crossing of the gate line 54 and the data line 68. The thin film transistor T includes a gate electrode 52, a semiconductor layer 62, a source electrode 64, and a drain electrode 66.
A pixel electrode 72 is formed in the pixel region P and is connected to the drain electrode 66. The pixel electrode 72 includes finger portions parallel to the data line 68. A common electrode 58 is also formed in the pixel region P and is connected to the common line 56. The common electrode 58 includes finger portions parallel to the data line 68 and spaced apart from each other. The portions of the common electrode 58 are interleaved with the portions of the pixel electrode 72. Both the common electrode 58 and the pixel electrode 72 are formed of a transparent conductive material. Even though the common electrode 58 and the pixel electrode 72 are transparent, the light transmittance is not remarkably increased as compared to common and pixel electrodes formed of an opaque conductive material.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view along the line III-III of FIG. 2 together with a transmittance curve F corresponding to the electrodes. As shown in FIG. 3, a gate insulating layer GL is formed on a substrate 50, where a pixel region P is defined, and a data line 68 is formed on the gate insulating layer GL at a side of the pixel region P. A passivation layer PL is formed on the data line 68. A common electrode 58 and a pixel electrode 72 are formed on the passivation layer PL in the pixel region P. The common electrode 58 and the pixel electrode 72 are spaced apart from each other and interleaved with each other. The common electrode 58 and the pixel electrode 72 are formed of a transparent conductive material.
When a voltage is applied to the common electrode 58 and the pixel electrode 72, an electric field 95 is induced between the common electrode 58 and the pixel electrode 72. The electric field 95 only spreads several micrometers into the electrodes from edges of the electrodes. That is, since the electric field 95 does not significantly occur or is not present at central portions of the common electrode 58 and the pixel electrode 72, liquid crystal molecules (not shown) over the central portions of the common electrode 58 and the pixel electrode 72 are not affected by an electric field 95.
As shown in FIG. 3, just small areas K along both sides of each of the common electrode 58 and the pixel electrode 72 are influenced by the electric field 95. The intensity of the electric field 95 in the areas K is much weaker than that in the region between the common electrode 58 and the pixel electrode 72. Accordingly, the light transmittance in the areas K goes down rapidly as compared with the region between the common electrode 58 and the pixel electrode 72. Although the common and pixel electrodes 58 and 72 are transparent, there is little improvement in the brightness of the display because the liquid crystal directly over the common electrode 58 and the pixel electrode 72 is not actuated because of the lack of an electric field.

Array substrate for in-plane switching liquid crystal display device having improved brightness and manufacturing method of the same


In one embodiment, an interface unit comprises an address buffer and a control unit coupled to the address buffer. The address buffer is configured to store addresses of processor core requests generated by a processor core and addresses of snoop requests received from an interconnect. The control unit is configured to maintain a plurality of queues, wherein at least a first queue of the plurality of queues is dedicated to snoop requests and at least a second queue of the plurality of queues is dedicated to processor core requests. Responsive to a first snoop request received by the interface unit from the interconnect, the control unit is configured to allocate a first address buffer entry of the address buffer to store the first snoop request and to store a first pointer to the first address buffer entry in the first queue. Responsive to a first processor core request received by the interface unit from the processor core, the control unit is configured to allocate a second address buffer entry of the address buffer to store the first processor core request and to store a second pointer to the second address buffer entry in the second queue.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related to the field of processors and, more particularly, to interfacing processors with other components in a system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Processors are typically included in systems with other components and are configured to communicate with the other components via an interconnect on which the processor is designed to communicate. The other components may be directly connected to the interconnect, or may be indirectly connected through other components. For example, many systems include an input/output (I/O) bridge connecting I/O components to the interface.
Typically, the processor includes an interface unit designed to communicate on the interconnect on behalf of the processor core. The processor core generates requests to be transmitted on the interconnect, such as read and write requests to satisfy load and store operations and instruction fetch requests. Additionally, most processors implement caches to store recently fetched instructions/data, and implement cache coherency to ensure coherent access by processors and other components even though cached (and possible modified) copies of blocks of memory exist. Such processors receive coherency related requests from the interconnect (e.g. snoop requests to determine the state of a cache block and to cause a change in state of the cache block).
The interface unit generally implements various customized buffers for different requests that may be generated by the processor core and received from the interconnect. For example, incoming snoop buffers, read request buffers for load misses, write buffers for uncacheable writes, and writeback buffers for writes of evicted cache lines are commonly implemented. Each set of buffers is separate and is designed to store customized information for the corresponding request. The customized buffers may consume large amounts of floor plan space. Additionally, since the buffers are dedicated to different request types, the number of each type of buffer is carefully selected to provide the desired level of performance. Furthermore, at times when a particular request type is prevalent, buffers for other request types may go unused while the prevalent request type is stalled waiting on buffers for that request type to free via completion of earlier requests.

Combined buffer for snoop, store merging, load miss, and writeback operations


There is provided a brake system for vehicles, the brake system including: a slave cylinder S/C to generate a hydraulic pressure by an electric motor according to a braking operation by a driver; and a controller to decrease an operation amount of the slave cylinder S/C when an operation amount of the electric motor is maintained, then increase an operation amount of the slave cylinder S/C when a change occurs in an operation amount of the electric motor subsequently. The controller determines whether or not the phase currents Iu, Iv, Iw of the electric motor are in two-phase continuously energized state and the state remains for a certain time or longer. When the determination conditions are satisfied, the controller performs commutation control to generate commutation in the electric motor by reducing a target hydraulic pressure of the slave cylinder S/C.

A by-wire electric brake system calculates a target brake pressure using a driver input such as an amount of pedal stroke and generates a hydraulic pressure by various actuators, thereby achieving a target hydraulic pressure. In the electric brake system, electric motors are used as the actuators for generating a brake pressure.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-143419 describes a brake device for vehicles, the brake device including: a master cylinder that receives an input of a brake operation of an driver, and a slave cylinder as an electric brake device that generates a brake hydraulic pressure based on an electrical signal according to the brake operation. In the slave cylinder of the brake device for vehicles, when an electric motor is driven, a piston moves forward via gear mechanism, and a brake hydraulic pressure is thereby generated in a hydraulic pressure chamber which is formed in front of the piston, and the brake hydraulic pressure is outputted to a hydraulic path via a port. As the electric motor, for example, a three-phase AC brushless motor is used which has three winding wires of three phases: U phase, V phase, and W phase. In the three-phase AC brushless motor, the current value and phase of phase currents Iu, Iv, Iw are controlled, the phase currents being caused to flow through the winding wires by a drive circuit which is not illustrated.
However, in such a conventional electric brake device, while a brake pressure is controlled with an electric motor, the electric motor may be locked and a current may continue to flow through the same two phases consecutively. In this case, when two-phase continuously energized state occurs, in which, for example, the electric motor is not rotating or a current is flowing through two phases, the temperature of only two phases rises and a failure or the like of parts due to heat generation may occur. In addition, when a phenomenon occurs, for example, the pattern of the phase currents Iu, Iv, Iw becomes constant, heat generation may occur in the electric motor, the phase currents being drive currents of the electric motor.


A mid-plane board including a first connector configured to receive a first signal from a first circuit board is provided. The mid-plane board includes a second connector configured to provide the first signal to a second circuit board. The first circuit board forms a first plane and the second circuit board forms a second plane, and the first plane and the second plane are substantially parallel. The mid-plane board also includes a cutout configured to allow a coplanar connector to bridge the mid-plane board and provide a second signal from the first circuit board to the second circuit board. The second signal is a high-end signal and the first signal is a low-end signal, and the mid-plane board is disposed on a plane substantially orthogonal to the first circuit board and the second circuit board.

The emulation of current integrated circuit devices is a critical step during device design prior to fabrication. With the evolution of highly sophisticated circuitry, the need for a higher number of gate counts in circuit emulators becomes more pressing. Accordingly, multiple systems attempt to address this problem by separating emulation tasks in time and place, which generates logistical problems and ends up costing the same processing time as a single, lower throughput emulation process.
The description provided in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely because it is mentioned in or associated with the background section. The background section may include information that describes one or more aspects of the subject technology.

Mid-plane board for coupling multiple circuit frames in a circuit emulator engine


An electromagnetic shielding sheet of the present invention includes a transparent base sheet and a metal layer attached to one surface of the transparent base sheet. The metal layer has a mesh part, a peripheral mesh part surrounding the mesh part, and a grounding frame surrounding the peripheral mesh part. A width of lines forming meshes in the peripheral mesh part gradually increases from the mesh part toward the grounding frame. The lines of the electromagnetic shielding sheet are scarcely bent or broken in all processes including fabricating and assembling processes, and the electromagnetic shielding sheet is excellent in handling ease.

Troubles due to electromagnetic interference (EMI) have increased with functional advancement and prevalent use of electric and electronic devices. Electromagnetic noises are roughly classified into conduction noises and radiation noises.
A conduction-noise eliminating method uses a noise filter or the like. A radiation-noise eliminating method uses a metal case for electromagnetically isolating a space, another radiation-noise eliminating method inserts a metal sheet between wiring boards, and a third radiation-noise eliminating method coats a cable with a metal foil. These methods are effective in electromagnetically shielding circuits and power source blocks. Those shielding members used by the above methods are opaque and hence are not suitable for shielding electromagnetic wave emitted from a front surface of a display, such as a CRT and a plasma display panel (PDP).
The plasma display panel includes, in combination, a glass panel provided with data electrodes and a fluorescent layer, and another glass panel provided with transparent electrodes. When the plasma display panel operates, the plasma display panel generates intense electromagnetic radiation and near-infrared rays and a large amount of heat.
Generally, a front sheet is disposed on a front surface of the plasma display panel to shield the electromagnetic wave. The front sheet must be capable of reducing electromagnetic radiation of frequencies of 30 MHz to 1 GHz by 30 dB or above
Near-infrared rays of wavelengths between 800 and 1,100 nm emitted from the front surface of the display may also cause other devices, such as VTRs, to malfunction. Therefore, radiation of the near-infrared rays must be suppressed as well as the radiation of the electromagnetic wave.
In order to make images displayed by the display clearly visible, lines forming a metal mesh of a front sheet for electromagnetic shielding must be invisible, meshes are arranged regularly and the front sheet must have proper transparency (visible-light transmitting characteristics, visible-light transmittance).
Generally, the plasma display panel is characterized by its large panel size. An electromagnetic shielding sheet for a 37-inch PDP is as large as 621 mm×831 mm, and an electromagnetic shielding sheet for a 42-inch PDP is as large as 983 mm×583 mm. Some electromagnetic shielding sheets have sizes greater than those. The boundary between a mesh part and a grounding frame of such a large electromagnetic shielding sheet are liable to be broken during each of processes for manufacturing the electromagnetic shielding sheet to for incorporating the electromagnetic shielding sheet into a display. Thus, such a large electromagnetic shielding sheet is very difficult to handle.


A powertrain mounting system for a vehicle powertrain includes a first powertrain mount that exhibits a first gradual rate of change of static stiffness when under load. The mounting system also includes a second powertrain mount that exhibits a second gradual rate of change of static stiffness when under load. The first gradual rate of change of static stiffness is related to the second gradual rate of change of static stiffness by a static equilibrium torque balance equation of respective displacements at the first and the second powertrain mounts. The static equilibrium torque balance equation is based in part on a spatial arrangement of the first and the second powertrain mounts relative to the powertrain. A method of designing the powertrain mounting system determines the first and second gradual rates of change of static stiffness under load to achieve efficient energy management.

Vehicle powertrains typically include a motive source, such as an engine, and include a transmission that provides power from the motive source to the wheels. A powertrain mounting system is used to mount the powertrain to vehicle structural members, such as the engine cradle. Mounting elements can include elastic mounts, usually including a rubber portion. In some powertrain arrangements, the mounting system may include a strut that combines hydraulic damping and elastic deformation of a rubber element to react against torque loads of the powertrain.

Vehicle powertrain mounting system and method of designing same