A method can include wireless device operations, including receiving a trigger communication that identifies available random access resource units (RA RUs), the RA RUs being portions of transmission channel for a wireless system. In response to a back-off value and a number of available RA RUs, selecting or not selecting one RA RU as a transmission RA RU. In response to not selecting a transmission RA RU, monitoring for wireless responses following the trigger communication to determine unselected RA RUs, designating one unselected RA RUs as an alternate RA RU; and transmitting uplink data on the alternate RA RU. The unselected RA RUs comprise any RA RUs that remain after other wireless devices have selected RA RUs in response to the trigger communication. Corresponding devices and systems are also disclosed.

Conventional WiFi devices can establish communication connections over a number of channels, each occupying a different frequency bandwidth. To increase bandwidth efficiency, wireless standards have been developed that divide an available channel to enable multi-user multiple-input multiple output (MU-MIMO) communications. According to the IEEE 802.11ax and other standards, data for different destinations can be transmitted on different resource units (RUs), which each occupy a different portion of the channel bandwidth. Orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) modulation is used to transmit different data streams on the separate RUs in parallel with one another. For efficient use of available RUs, the IEEE 802.11ax standard includes uplink OFDMA-based random access (UORA), which allows multiple stations (STAs) to randomly access the medium with parallel RU transmissions.
FIG. 15A is a timing diagram showing UORA operations. In the example shown, an operating environment can include four STAs 1501 (STA1-4) and an access point (AP). STA1, STA2 and STA4 are associated with the AP, while STA3 is unassociated. In a UORA operation, an AP can issue a broadcast trigger frame 1503-0 which indicates RUs available for random access, including RUs with AID 0 for associated STAs (RU 1/2/3), and RUs with AID 2045 for unassociated STAs (RU 4/5). In response to the trigger frame 1503-0, STAs can perform a contention process to determine if they will transmit on an available RU.
FIG. 15B shows a UORA contention process for a STA. A trigger frame can be received which indicates the number of random access RUs (given as "x") 1505-0. A STA can generate a random value W, selected from between 0 and Cwin-1 (where Cwin is a contention window). The random value W serves as an OFDMA Back-off (OBO) value 1505-1. The value W can be decremented 1505-2 and compared to the available RUs (W−x) 1505-2. If the number is not greater than zero (No from 1505-3), the STA can transmit on a RU randomly selected from those indicated as available in the trigger frame 1505-5. If the transmission is successful (Yes from 1505-6), the STA can randomly select another OBO value and wait for a next trigger frame 1505-8.
If the transmission is not successful (No from 1505-6), the STA can randomly select another OBO value between 0 and 2× of a previous Cwin. The STA can then wait for a new trigger frame 1505-8, and decrement its OBO value and repeat a comparison to available RUs to see if it has won contention. If an OBO value remains greater than zero (Yes from 1505-3), the STA can also wait for a next trigger frame 1505-8.
Referring back to FIG. 15A, operations in response to a first trigger frame are shown as 1507-0. STA1 an OBO of "3" There are three available RUs, thus STA1 wins contention, randomly selecting RU2 (from RU1, RU2, RU3) for transmission. STA2 has an OBO of "5", and thus does not win contention and will wait for a next trigger frame. Unassociated STA3 has an OBO of "4". As there are two available RUs (RU4, RU5), STA3 also does not win contention, and so will also wait for a next trigger frame. STA4 has been previously assigned RU6, and so transmits on RU6.
After a short interframe spacing (SIFS), STA1 and STA4 can transmit high efficiency trigger-based physical layer protocol data units (HE TB PPDUs) 1509 on their selected RUs. Following another SIFS, AP can issue a multi-station block acknowledgement (ACK) 1511.
FIG. 15A shows a second trigger frame 1503-1 and corresponding operations 1507-1. Such operations are understood from the description herein.
FIG. 15C shows the format of a conventional HE TB PPDU compatible with the IEEE 802.11ax standard. The HE TB PPDU can include pre-HE fields that can be transmitted across a full band (i.e., 20 MHz). A remaining portion can be transmitted in the RU.
UORA can improve communications between multiple STAs and an AP prior to—association by giving the opportunity of unassociated STAs to contact the AP. For post association STAs, UORA can help STAs to communicate buffer status register (BSR) or other information without occupying the entire primary or full bandwidth. This provides for more efficient use of the channel.

Devices, systems and methods for accessing random access resource units of a wireless channel


An therapeutic laser device that incorporates a scanning head to direct low level laser light into a treatment zone that can have any desired shape or energy distribution within a hemisphere forward of the scanning head. The device enables laser light of different pulse widths, different beam shapes and different energy distributions to be applied externally to a patient's body.

Low level laser therapy (LLLT) utilizes low level laser energy in the treatment of a broad range of conditions. LLLT improves wound healing, reduces edema, and relieves pain of various etiologies, including successful application post-operatively to liposuction to reduce inflammation and pain. LLLT is also used during liposuction procedures to facilitate removal of fat by causing intracellular fat to be released into the interstice. It is also used in the treatment and repair of injured muscles and tendons.
The LLLT treatment has an energy dose rate that causes no immediate detectable temperature rise of the treated tissue and no macroscopically visible changes in tissue structure. Consequently, the treated and surrounding tissue is not heated and is not damaged. There are a number of variables in laser therapy including the wavelength of the laser beam, the area impinged by the laser beam, laser energy, pulse width, treatment duration and tissue characteristics. The success of each therapy depends on the relationship and combination of these variables. For example, liposuction may be facilitated with one regimen utilizing a given wavelength and treatment duration, whereas pain may be treated with a regimen utilizing a different wavelength and treatment duration, and inflammation a third regimen. Specific devices are known in the art for each type of therapy.
An earlier patent, U. S. Pat. No. 6,013,096, describes a hand-held wand that houses a red semiconductor laser and optics to deliver the beam from the laser to the skin of a patient. A simple timing circuit is provided for controlling the length of time a laser beam is emitted from the wand. An optical arrangement causes the emitted light to form a line on the patient's skin, the shape of the light as it impinges the patient's skin referred to herein as the beam spot.
Reference may also be had to our co-pending application Ser. No. 09/932,907 which describes a device that delivers two or more laser beams with different characteristics to treat a patient for multiple types of problems during a single treatment. The patent application describes a hand-held wand that houses a plurality of laser energy sources and optics to direct laser beams from the sources to a patient. Control electronics are provided to vary such parameters as the pulse repetition rate. Optics are also provided to select the beam shape of the laser output, which in turn determines the beam spot.
Both of these devices rely on a static optical arrangement to produce a beam spot. Neither of the devices provides a means for varying the shape of the beam spot on demand nor for automatically varying the resultant intensity. It has become clear in LLLT that there is benefit in being able to customize the delivery of the laser light treatment by changing the shape and energy distribution of the delivered beam spot.
Therefore, an object of this invention is to provide a laser therapy device that enables shaping of the delivered laser beam to suit multiple types of treatments. It is a particular object of this invention to provide a hand-held therapeutic laser device to provide low level laser therapy which can be used to treat injured muscles and tendons, facilitate liposuction, and treat post-operative inflammation and pain.


A high exhaust gas-purifying performance is achieved. An exhaust gas-purifying catalyst includes a substrate, a lower layer covering the substrate and including an oxygen storage material and palladium, and an upper layer covering the lower layer and including rhodium and a carrier supporting it. The lower layer is rhodium-free. The upper layer has an oxygen storage capacity lower than that of the lower layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an exhaust gas-purifying catalyst including oxygen storage material.
2. Description of the Related Art
Until today, as an exhaust gas-purifying catalyst that treats exhaust gas of an automobile, etc., a three-way catalyst with precious metal supported by a refractory carrier made of an inorganic oxide such as alumina is widely used. In the three-way catalyst, the precious metal plays the role in promoting the reduction of nitrogen oxides (NOX) and the oxidations of carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbons (HC). Further, the refractory carrier plays the roles in increasing the specific surface area of the precious metal and suppressing the sintering of the precious metal by dissipating heat generated by the reactions.
Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 1-281144, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 9-155192 and Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 9-221304 describe exhaust gas-purifying catalysts using cerium oxide or an oxide containing cerium and another metal element. These oxides are oxygen storage materials having oxygen storage capacity. When an oxygen storage material is used in a three-way catalyst, the above-described reduction and oxidations can be optimized. Even for a three-way catalyst using an oxygen storage material, however, it is difficult to achieve an excellent performance in both the state just after starting an engine and the state the engine is driven continuously as will be described below.
In the state just after starting an engine, the temperature of the catalyst is low. The ability of a precious metal to purify an exhaust gas in low temperature conditions is lower than the ability of the precious metal to purifying the exhaust gas in high temperature conditions. Thus, considering the performance just after starting an engine, decreasing the heat capacity of the exhaust gas-purifying catalyst is advantageous.
On the other hand, in the state where the engine is driven continuously, the temperature of the catalyst is sufficiently high. In this case, since the ability of the precious metal to purify the exhaust gas is high, it is advantageous that the exhaust gas-purifying catalyst to contain much more amount of oxygen storage material in order to respond to fluctuations of the exhaust gas composition.
As above, the performance just after starting an engine and the performance in the state where the engine is driven continuously are in a trade-off relationship. For this reason, achieving an excellent performance in both the state just after starting an engine and the state where the engine is driven continuously is difficult, and therefore consistently achieving a high exhaust gas-purifying efficiency is difficult.


Magnetic energy is stored in trapped form in a wide variety of superconducting masses such as granules, particulates, foil, and thin film to be released as electrical energy by magnetically coupling to a normal coil as the trapped field is caused to decay. This trapped-field energy storage (TES) has many advantages over other superconducting energy storage schemes including elevated temperature operation, lowered refrigeration capital and operating costs, lowered costs of cryogen, lowered thermal conduction losses, lowered cost of thermal insulation, capability of operating in modular form, and transportability of the trapped magnetic energy.

The value of energy storage systems to electric power utilities has increased as the cost of basic energy sources such as oil and gas has continued to escalate. These systems store energy during periods of excess power output in off-peak periods when the demand for electricity is low. They then supply electricity during peak load periods to augment normal turbine-generator power production.
To data SMES has been the only known method for the direct storage of energy as electricity, and as such is the most efficient method. The energy is stored in the magnetic field of a superconducting inductor carrying a dc supercurrent. Other devices convert the excess generated electricity into other forms of energy such as hydro-mechanical, compressed air, thermal, flywheel, chemical (batteries), etc. Such devices must then must reconvert the energy back for use as electricity, thus making such devices relatively inefficient.
Because of its rapid response time, SMES can also enhance electric power stability by damping unwanted power oscillations and by providing voltage regulation. Power oscillations can be caused by various factors such as a large separation of major load and generation centers, inductance-capacitance coupling in the power circuit, and turbine-generator shaft oscillations.
The round-trip ac-dc-ac efficiency of about 90% for SMES is limited primarily by refrigeration which is in turn related to cryogenic losses, such as heat leak and power losses in the superconductor. The dc current circulates with no power loss in the superconducting inductor. There is a power loss in the superconductor during conversion from ac to dc, and from dc to ac. Despite the high efficiency of SMES, it has a major drawback of high capital cost per kWh of stored energy. This requires a very large system to be competitive with other storage systems. Both the capital cost per unit energy stored, as well as the overall capital cost is high compared with other storage systems. SMES capital cost is approximately proportional to system size raised to the two-thirds power, giving an economy of scale. (This is like a surface-to-volume ratio in which the materials and related costs scale like a surface and the stored energy is proportional to a volume.) Thus if the system size is doubled, the cost per unit energy stored will be about 80% of the original cost. There is a limit to increasing the size beyond the ability of a utility to bear a huge financial burden which is over a billion dollars, as well as site limitation problems for a huge SMES facility.
A number of things contribute to the high capital cost of SMES. One is the high cost of making superconducting wire or cable and forming it into a coil. Over half of the costs of SMES are related to the conductor coil material (low temperature superconductor plus the stabilizing normal conductor, Al), its axial support structure, and fabrication cost. Presently only the low temperature metallic superconductors are applicable to SMES, as the high temperature oxide superconductors are greatly limited in both their current carrying capacity (low critical current density) and in their brittleness. In either case (low or high temperature superconductor), eliminating the need for superconducting wire or cable as in the present invention will reduce capital cost.
At present SMES is a very low temperature system limited to operation at liquid helium temperature (4.2K) and preferably superfluid helium temperature at 1.8K to effect a reduction in overall costs. An expensive closed cycle refrigerator maintains the most expensive cryogen, helium, at 1.8K. In order to reduce heat leak to the coil, the low temperature components operate inside a vacuum insulated cryogenic enclosure (dewar) that surrounds the helium vessel. This vessel must be completely tight making it quite expensive, as a single pinhole would cause disastrous loss of the superfluid helium. Superfluid helium not only has the largest known heat transfer capability for cooling the superconducting coil, but it also has no viscosity and would quickly drain out through a pinhole. An expensive vacuum pump-down system is used to evacuate the dewar which must be leakfree to air. Thermal radiation shields are present in the dewar to reduce heat leak from the 300K (ambient temperature) support structure (bedrock or just earth). A support structure is necessary as both the stored energy density and the pressure produced by the magnetic field of flux density B are proportional to B.sup.2. For example for B=5 Tesla (50,000 Gauss), the stored energy density would be 10,000,000 Joules/m.sup.3, and the pressure would be 100 atmospheres. For B=10 Tesla, the stored energy density would be 40,000,000 Joules/m.sup.3, and the pressure would be 400 atmospheres.

Method and apparatus for superconducting trapped-field energy storage and power stabilization


A display device to indicate positive and negative display values by increasing or decreasing a number of lit display elements to provide a display device that allows an expansion of the display range in the limited analog display area of a display section. The display device includes a first display element group that is lit to indicate display values; a second display element group located near the first display element group that is lit to indicate an origin corresponding to the display value; and a control device to control, lighting of a display value by the first display element according to a position of the origin.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device to indicate positive and negative display values by increasing or decreasing a number of display elements which are lit, and, more particularly, the present invention relates to a display device used in a camera or exposure meter having an expanded display range in a limited analog display area.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cameras which have a display section to indicate various states of the camera are known. To meet the diverse needs of the user, the display section may be provided inside of or outside of a viewfinder in a limited display area of the display section. The display section of the camera may include different types of digital display of numerical values, such as the shutter speed and aperture settings, as well as analog display of the exposure value (hereinafter referred to as "EV") during the manual exposure control mode.
The known display sections for displaying an EV include multiple symbol display elements (hereinafter referred to as "display segments") arranged in a single row in the display area of the display section. A specified number of the symbol display segments are interconnected and extend in a positive or a negative direction from the location of an origin, which is the central area of the row of the multiple symbol display segments. The display segments are lit according to a discrepancy between a photometric value and a set value (.+-..DELTA.EV), as well as a positive or negative value.
FIG. 16 shows an example of the configuration of a conventional EV display section. As shown in FIG. 16, the conventional EV display section consists of a fixed display section 35 and variable display sections 31-34 and 36-39. Each of the fixed display section 35 and the variable display sections 31-34 and 36-39 consist of liquid crystal display (LCD) display segments.
The fixed display section 35 consists of a positive ("+") display section 35a, an origin "0" display section 35f, and a negative ("-") display section 35j. Display segment 35e in the origin display section 35f is used to indicate that exposure is correct. Display segment 35b in the "+" display section 35a is at a position indicating an exposure value of +1 [EV] over correct exposure. Display segment 35i in the "-" display section 35j is at a position indicating an exposure value of -1 [EV] under correct exposure. Display segments 35c, 35d, 35g, and 35h are at positions indicating increments in exposure value of 1/3 [EV].
In the fixed display section 35, all of the display segments 35a-35j are driven in a consolidated manner to be lit or extinguished by a common signal. Therefore, all of the display segments 35a-35j are always lit while displaying the exposure value. However, each symbol display segment 31-34 and 36-39 in the variable display section is arranged in a single, horizontal row, and the display segments 31-34 and 36-39 are individually and independently driven to be lit or extinguished. A measured difference between the photometric value and the set value (.+-..DELTA.EV) is displayed by increasing or decreasing the number of display segments 31-34 and 36-39 that are lit.
In the conventional display section shown in FIG. 16, the fixed display section 35 is lit during the manual exposure control mode. While the fixed display section 35 is lit during manual exposure control mode, the step between the .+-.[EV] range and the state that exceeds the range is indicated by the variable display section 31-34 and 36-39, as will be described in detail below, thereby visually displaying .DELTA.EV.
More specifically, when .DELTA.EV is 1/3[EV] over correct exposure, the symbol display segment 34 is lit in addition to the fixed lighting of display segment 35e, which indicates the correct exposure. When .DELTA.EV is 2/3[EV] over correct exposure, symbol display segments 33 and 34 are lit in addition to the fixed lighting of display segment 35e. When .DELTA.EV is +1 [EV], symbol display segments 32-34 are lit in addition to display segment 35e. When .DELTA.EV exceeds correct exposure by +1[EV], all of display segments 31-34 located on the over exposure side with reference to the position of the origin "0" are lit in addition to the fixed lighting of display segment 35e.
Similarly, when .DELTA.EV is 1/3[EV] under correct exposure, symbol segment 36 is lit in addition to the fixed lighting of display segment 35e which indicates the correct exposure. When .DELTA.EV is 2/3[EV] under correct exposure, symbol display segments 36 and 37 are lit in addition to the fixed lighting of display segment 35e. When .DELTA.EV is 1[EV] under correct exposure, symbol display segments 36-38 are lit in addition to the fixed lighting of display segment 35e. When .DELTA.EV exceeds 1[EV] under correct exposure, all of symbol display segments 36-39 located on the under exposure side with reference to the position of the origin "0" are lit in addition to the fixed lighting of display segment 35e.
As described above, a change of .DELTA.EV from the origin "0" to the over (under) exposure side of up to +1 (-1) [EV] is indicated in analog form by increasing or decreasing the displayed exposure value incrementally with 1/3[EV] step changes. When the change of .DELTA.EV on the over (under) exposure side exceeds +1 (-1) [EV], all of symbol display segments 31-34 (36-39) located on the over (under) exposure side with reference to the position of the origin "0" are lit, thereby enabling a user to identify whether .DELTA.EV is within .+-.1[EV].
The type of display method illustrated in FIG. 16 may be applied not only to display a discrepancy during manual exposure, but also to display an instance wherein the deviation from a numerical value used as a reference value can be indicated through steps in an analog form. For example, the display of FIG. 16 can be used to indicate an exposure correction amount, a light adjustment correction amount, or the difference in exposure between central-oriented photometry and multiple photometry.
When the deviation from a numerical value used as the reference value is indicated through steps in analog form, unlike the indication of a numerical value, a designated area is required for positioning the multiple symbol display segments. Furthermore, the indication range is stipulated based on the number of segments that can be positioned in the designated area.
However, as noted above, it is difficult to maintain sufficient area for an analog display in a display section having various display indicators. Thus, the analog display area tends to be smaller and cannot meet the needs of users who require an expanded display range. More specifically, a conventional camera is only capable of indicating the discrepancy amount up to .+-.1 [EV] for users who actually want an indication of up to .+-.2 [EV]. Furthermore, some users want an indication of the discrepancy amount .+-..DELTA.EV of up to .+-.3 [EV].
In order to achieve the requirements of those users wanting an expanded display range, an analog display area in the display section may be expanded. However, expanding the analog display area will eliminate display area used to display information preferred by other users, for example, those who require display of numerical values.

Display device having an expanded display range in a limited analog display area


Certain aspects of the present disclosure support a technique for neural temporal coding, learning and recognition. A method of neural coding of large or long spatial-temporal patterns is also proposed. Further, generalized neural coding and learning with temporal and rate coding is disclosed in the present disclosure.

1. Field
Certain aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to neural system engineering and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus of neural temporal coding, learning and recognition.
2. Background
Neurons in a neural system can communicate information temporally using so-called temporal codes in the form of timed spikes. Because of this, methods of coding and decoding and methods of learning such temporal information are of primary interest.
In particular, it is desired to distinguish temporal patterns and, in contrast to other temporal pattern methods, not merely coincidence of inputs or order of inputs. The present disclosure provides methods that are biologically-inspired/consistent but reduced in complexity and capable of coding, decoding, recognizing, and learning temporal spike signal patterns.

Method and apparatus for neural temporal coding, learning and recognition


An arithmetic processor includes a memory access controller configured to control access of a memory based on a memory access request. The memory access controller includes a shift register configured to shift a resource number and a memory access request from a first stage to a subsequent stage of the first stage at a timing according to the operation mode, the first stage is received a resource number and a memory access request. The memory access controller includes a plurality of memory access transmitting circuits configured to receive the resource number and the memory access request held by the plurality of stage. Each of the plurality of access transmitting circuits provided corresponding to the plurality of resource number, and output, to the memory, an access command corresponding to the memory access request when the received resource number matches a resource number of a memory access transmitting circuit.

For example, an interface circuit that performs data communication between a processor and a memory includes a storage that stores requests sequentially received from the processor, and sequentially outputs the requests stored in the storage to the memory by pipeline processing. As a result, the interface circuit may output a subsequent request to the memory before the processing of the preceding read request is complete, for example (e.g., see Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2005-190320).
Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2005-190320 is disclosed as related art.
For example, in a memory such as a synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), Column to Column Delay Long (tCCDL) is defined as the minimum supply interval of read commands to be supplied to the same bank. The tCCDL (the number of dock cycles) increases as the operating frequency of the memory increases.
In order to achieve high-throughput memory access, the read command is preferably supplied to the memory at intervals at which read data can be continuously output from the memory. Furthermore, in a case where the intervals of the read data output from the memory in response to a plurality of consecutive read commands are spaced apart, a plurality of banks operates in parallel and the read commands are alternately supplied, whereby the read data may be continuously output from the memory.
For example, an access command such as an active command and a read command to be output to the memory is generated based on the timing at which a memory access request arrives at a predetermined stage in a shift register that sequentially shifts the memory access request. In the case of operating a plurality of banks in parallel, shift registers of the number corresponding to the maximum number of parallels in the case of operating the memory at the maximum operating frequency are required. Meanwhile, in a case where the operating frequency is low and the number of parallels is small, there are unnecessary shift registers that do not operate.
In one aspect, the embodiment aims to reduce a circuit scale of an arithmetic processor including a memory access controller capable of changing the number of parallels of access commands to be output to a memory.

Arithmetic processor and arithmetic apparatus


A support assembly capable of being raised and lowered on a mast and configured in a compact, volumetrically efficient conformation lending architectural significance to the appearance of the support assembly when used to mount a plurality of luminaires or other apparatus intended for use in a location above a surface, such as the surface of the earth, the invention permits remote latching and unlatching of the support assembly through use of an improved latching mechanism having dimensions permitting housing of the latching mechanism within an enclosure of a reduced height, thereby lending an esthetically pleasing appearance to a mast-mounted support arrangement relative to prior art assemblies intended to perform similar functions.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to mechanisms employed to raise and lower groupings of luminaires or other apparatus mounted to a support assembly and positionable at or near a distal end of a mast such as a high mast as is useful for illumination of a roadway or the like, the invention particularly relating to a latching mechanism of compact conformation permitting configuration of a relatively low profile support assembly having improved operation and esthetic appeal.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Clusters of luminaires intended for outdoor illumination have long been mounted to a support ring capable of being hoisted to or near the top of a "high mast", typically through use of a winch and associated hoisting cables, the support ring being readily lowered for necessary maintenance, repair or replacement of the luminaires. In certain applications, devices other than luminaires are mountable by a support ring for raising/lowering of the resulting assembly along a high mast, reference herein to luminaires so mounted encompassing such other devices. In accomplishment of the functions so noted, the support ring carrying the luminaires must be mounted for movement along the mast between a lowermost or ground-level position necessary for servicing and the like and an operational uppermost position at or near the top of the mast at which the luminaire-bearing support ring is releasably yet positively latched to a stationary support permanently located at an upper portion of the mast. Latching mechanisms typically employed for accomplishing such functions include a latch pin carried by the support ring, such latch pins engaging latch barrels mounted to the stationary support permanently mounted at the top of the mast. Mating of a number of the latch pins with a corresponding number of the latch barrels on completion of the hoisting operation results in positive engagement between the latch pins and the latch barrels sufficient to latch the support ring to the stationary support until disengagement to allow the luminaire-bearing support ring to be lowered back to the ground as desired. Latch barrels such as are common in the prior art are mounted substantially vertically with openings disposed downwardly to permit receipt of one each of the latch pins into said opening as the latch pins engage the latch barrels, the latch pins being necessarily oriented in a vertical sense in order to provide the desired function. Vertical orientation of the latch pins and latch barrels unavoidably cause the assembly resulting from the mating of the support ring and stationary support to be less than compact in "height", thereby lending a bulky appearance to the resulting assembly. Prior high mast lighting systems, while functional mechanically and useful for accomplishment of intended operation, have not generally exhibited esthetic appeal due at least in part to an unavoidable height dimension relative to other dimensions of known support ring/stationary support assemblies. Further, mechanical sub-assemblies of prior art systems are typically exposed to view and are therefore lacking in esthetic appeal. An architecturally appealing high mast hoisting system could be realized by the ability to reduce the height of such assemblies along with the ability to cleanly mate the support ring with the stationary support so that the assembly appears as an essentially unitary enclosure or housing from which luminaire-mounting arms cleanly and attractively extend for mounting of luminaires or the like. Attainment of an architecturally appealing structure at reduced cost lends increased improvement over the prior art, such cost reduction being realized in part by elimination of costly and bulky latch barrels. Such bulky latch barrels, when exposed to view, are lacking in esthetic appeal. Prior art difficulties associated with jamming of latch pins with camming surfaces disposed within the interior of latch barrels would preferably be avoided by improved latch pin structure having cam-following pins positively engageable with such camming surfaces without the tendency to "cock" or tilt with resultant jamming.
The prior art is replete with systems proposed for use and which are actually used for raising and lowering luminaire assemblies along high mast poles, such prior systems being deficient in esthetic appeal as alluded to hereinabove. Typical prior art systems include that system described by Murray et al in U.S. Pat. No. 4,234,165, in which a circular support ring carrying luminaires is hoisted along a high mast pole to an operational position adjacent a cylindrical housing disposed atop the pole, the housing covering a stationary support. The support ring simply abuts the housing and is not esthetically pleasing in appearance. Luminaires carried by a support ring are raised and lowered according to the teachings of Garchinsky in U.S. Pat. No. 4,228,488, the support ring abutting a housing covering a stationary support mounted atop a high mast pole on completion of the raising function, the result being less than esthetically pleasing. Latimer, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,975,726 discloses a high mast lighting system comprised of a luminaire-bearing annular support ring which fails to visually integrate with a covering housing fixed atop a high mast pole on hoisting of the support ring to an operational position adjacent the housing. Blahut, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,115,845, fails to provide a high mast system with visual appeal. Garchinsky, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,149,230 and 4,429,355 discloses high mast assemblies of conventional appearance. The appearance of the high mast systems disclosed by Richter in U.S. Pat. No. 6,261,122 and Thompson in U.S. Pat. No. 4,139,884 is essentially less than pleasing as are the systems disclosed by Staniec in U.S. Pat. No. 6,074,075; Hunt et al in U.S. Pat. No. 3,633,980; Savoca in U.S. Pat. No. 5,718,602; Richter in U.S. Pat. No. 6,261,122 and Thompson in U.S. Pat. No. 4,348,717 inter alia.
The art has experienced a long-felt need for a high mast hoisting system having architectural esthetics as well as a favorable cost profile. The present high mast system addresses such needs by providing a luminaire-bearing support ring of a shape and dimensions permitted in part by a low profile latching mechanism that further permits economies of cost in the construction of a system used in environments within which the invention is intended.

Architectural mast-mounted support system


A system for die casting including a die having a die cavity. There is also a vacuum chamber and a device for creating a vacuum in the vacuum chamber. The die casting system further includes an injection device for introducing a fluidically based material, such as molten metal, into the die cavity from the vacuum chamber. The injection device is in fluidic communication with the die cavity and is at least partially disposed within the vacuum chamber. The die casting system also includes a device for providing the fluidically based material into the injection device. The providing device is separated from the injection device and is preferably disposed within the vacuum chamber. A method of die casting includes the step of providing, such as by pouring, fluidically based material into an injection device within the vacuum chamber. Then, there is the step of forcing the fluidically based material into the die cavity with the injection device.

It is known in the past to inject a melted material, such as metal, into a die cavity with an injection device having a shot sleeve and a ram. In some instances, a vacuum is pulled from the edge of the die cavity which pulls the melted material into the shot sleeve through a fill tube which is disposed within a crucible of melted material. As an example of this method, the reader should refer to Weingarten (U.S. Pat. No. 4,476,911) and Gibbs die casting literature.
It is also known to dispose a fill tube, which is in fluidic communication with the die cavity, in a crucible of melted material within a pressure vessel (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,517 to Booth et al.). The die cavity is evacuated through the fill tube in the melt inside a pressure vessel. The die cavity is filled with molten material by pressurizing the pressure vessel. These methods suffer because the fill tube must be heated and is constantly disposed within the melted material, it is prone to clogging, reaction, and breakage.
The present invention overcomes the problem of clogging by eliminating the fill tube and instead utilizes a device, isolated from the injection device, for providing the melted material into an injection device within a vacuum chamber.


The disclosure generally relates to determining position of a motorized vehicle using wireless techniques. Methods, apparatus and systems are disclosed. A method can include: receiving absolute positioning data; receiving, from a mobile device, at least one of gyroscope data and odometry data; receiving, from a vehicle, at least one of gyroscope data and odometry data; initializing at least a heading to determine a relative path, wherein the relative path is based at least in part on the received data from the mobile device and the vehicle, wherein the received data comprises gyroscope data and odometry data; and shifting the relative path to an estimated path, wherein the estimated path is based at least in part on the absolute positioning data.

Mobile communications networks are in the process of offering increasingly sophisticated capabilities associated with the motion and/or position location sensing of a mobile device. New software applications, such as, for example, those related to personal productivity, collaborative communications, social networking, and/or data acquisition, may utilize motion and/or position sensors to provide new features and services to consumers. Moreover, some regulatory requirements of various jurisdictions may require a network operator to report the location of a mobile device when the mobile device places a call to an emergency service, such as a 911 call in the United States.
Such motion and/or position determination capabilities have conventionally been provided using digital cellular positioning techniques and/or Satellite Positioning Systems (SPS). Additionally, with the increasing proliferation of miniaturized motion sensors (e.g., simple switches, accelerometers, angle sensors, etc), such on-board devices may be used to provide relative position, velocity, acceleration, and/or orientation information.
In conventional digital cellular networks, position location capability can be provided by various time and/or phase measurement techniques. For example, in CDMA networks, one position determination approach used is Advanced Forward Link Trilateration (AFLT). Using AFLT, a mobile device may compute its position from phase measurements of pilot signals transmitted from a plurality of base stations. Improvements to AFLT have been realized by utilizing hybrid position location techniques, where the mobile station may employ an SPS receiver that can provide position information independent of the information derived from the signals transmitted by the base stations. Moreover, position accuracy can be improved by combining measurements derived from both SPS and AFLT systems using conventional techniques.
In conventional digital cellular networks, position location capability can be provided by various time and/or phase measurement techniques. For example, in CDMA networks, one position determination approach used is Advanced Forward Link Trilateration (AFLT). Using AFLT, a mobile device may compute its position from phase measurements of pilot signals transmitted from a plurality of base stations. Improvements to AFLT have been realized by utilizing hybrid position location techniques, where the mobile station may employ an SPS receiver that can provide position information independent of the information derived from the signals transmitted by the base stations. Moreover, position accuracy can be improved by combining measurements derived from both SPS and AFLT systems using conventional techniques.
Furthermore, navigation devices often support popular and increasingly important SPS wireless technologies which may include, for example, the Global Positioning System (GPS) and/or a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). Navigation devices supporting SPS may obtain navigation signals as wireless transmissions received from one or more transmitter equipped satellites that may be used to estimate geographic position and heading. Some navigation devices may additionally or alternatively obtain navigation signals as wireless transmissions received from terrestrial based transmitters to estimate geographic position and heading and/or include one or more inertial sensors (e.g., accelerometers, gyroscopes, etc.) that reside on-board the navigation device to measure an inertial state of the navigation device. Inertial measurements obtained from these inertial sensors may be used in combination with or independent of navigation signals received from satellite and/or terrestrial based transmitters to provide estimates of geographic position and heading.
Several issues arise when combining a GNSS navigation system with sensor based navigation in a vehicle. One such issue lies with the importance of heading in the navigation filter. With a vehicle model, vehicle heading must be initialized and maintained to receive the full benefit of the sensors. Heading initialization can be difficult in low speed and/or bad GNSS environments.
After a heading is initialized, a gyroscope device that is sensitive in the vertical direction and odometry are the sensors available for dead reckoning on the vehicle. This allows for dead reckoning by assuming the vehicle roll and pitch are both close to zero (i.e., dead reckoning in a two-dimensional sense). Given that GNSS data and reality contain a vertical dimension to estimate, there exists a necessity to account for this in the navigation system.
A second concern during navigation is the lever arm between the odometry in the vehicle and the GNSS receiver present on the mobile device. The effect of an unknown lever arm is seen when the vehicle is executing a turn. Treating the receiver data as if there is no lever arm in this case leads to carrier phase based pseudo-range rates to significantly disagree with velocity based on dead reckoning. This unknown quantity must be accounted for when dead reckoning so as to allow GNSS measurements to agree.

Heading, velocity, and position estimation with vehicle sensors, mobile device, and GNSS inputs


A sealing assembly for sealing a first sealing bank of a first static component and a second sealing bank of a second static component of an axial turbomachine, the static components axially movable relative to each other, the sealing assembly including the two static components and a sealing element segmented in the circumferential direction, a first end of the sealing element being axially coupled in a groove at the first sealing bank facing an opposite second end bearing axially against the second sealing bank, as well as a stator vane assembly including a casing component of an axial turbomachine, which has at least one casing hook, and further including a stator vane component having at least one stator vane disposed on a platform and at least one stator vane hook which projects from the platform and bears against the casing hook, the stator vane hook having formed therein at least one through-hole for supply of cooling air.

The Applicant's EP 2 853 692 A1 describes a stator vane assembly including a casing component having a casing hook, and further including a stator vane component having a stator vane disposed on a platform and a stator vane hook projecting from the platform and contacting the casing hook. This stator vane assembly has a sealing element that is fixed to a web by means of an end hook having a stiffening effect.
The Applicant's DE 10 2013 212 501 A1 also describes a stator vane assembly including a casing component having a casing hook, and further including a stator vane component having a stator vane disposed on a platform and a stator vane hook projecting from the platform and contacting the casing hook. The stator vane hook is formed with cutouts in the form of recesses in the end face thereof.


A storage information update method, an image forming apparatus, a system for managing the image forming apparatus, and a mobile device are provided. The method is performed by an image forming apparatus to which at least one identification number is assigned, a storage configured to store the identification number of the image forming apparatus, and a terminal device communicable with the storage. The method includes acquiring, by the terminal device, the at least one identification number of the image forming apparatus and transmitting, by the terminal device, the received at least one identification number to the storage.

1. Field
Embodiments relate to a storage information update method, an image forming apparatus, a system for managing the image forming apparatus, and a mobile device.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus is an apparatus capable of printing a predetermined image on a printing medium such as printing paper. Such an image forming apparatus, for example, is a printer, a copy machine, a facsimile device, or the like. A multifunctional device implemented by integrating some or all functions of the printer, the copy machine, the facsimile device, etc., may also be an example of the image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus is an inkjet type image forming apparatus which prints a predetermined image on a printing medium by ejecting ink of minute liquid droplets to a desired position on the printing medium, an electro-photographic type image forming apparatus which supplies toner to an electrostatic latent image generated by radiating light to a photosensitive body, or the like and prints a predetermined image by transferring the electrostatic latent image to which the toner is supplied onto the printing medium. The image forming apparatus may receive an image or the like desired to be printed from an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer (PC) or a mobile communication apparatus using a wired or wireless communication network, and print the received image on the printing medium.

Storage information update method, image forming apparatus, system for managing image forming apparatus, and mobile device


An invention is provided for a remote execution system. The remote execution system includes a first application, such as a server application, having a first plurality of virtual service modules, each capable of providing a particular functionality. In addition, a second application, such as a client application, is included that has a second plurality of virtual service modules substantially equivalent to the first plurality of virtual service modules. Each of these virtual service modules is in communication with a substantially equivalent virtual service module of the first plurality of service modules to form a virtual service module set. In this manner, each virtual service module set is capable of interacting with an application as a single software object that is local to the application.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to distributed software execution, and more particularly to a remote execution model that provides launch synchronization and remote application control.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the use of software in performing daily tasks is increasing rapidly, assessing software reliability through software testing has become an imperative stage in software development cycle. As is well known, software testing is used to find and eliminate defects (i.e., bugs) in software, which if undetected, can cause the software to operate improperly. In general, a stand-alone computer or a network of computer resources can perform software testing. When a stand-alone computer system is used to perform the software testing, the computer system is programmed to run a test selected by the software user. Comparatively, if a network of computer resources is used, the user is responsible for manually adding and deleting the computer resources to the network, programming the master computer system and the server, initiating the running of a user-selected test, and running the test on the group of dedicated computer systems coupled to the server. However, distributed testing of this sort presents launch and control problems, as described next with reference to FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a prior art distributed test configuration 100. The distributed test configuration 100 includes a plurality of test systems 102a–102c, each executing a test application 104a–104c. During launch and subsequent execution, the distributed test configuration 100 cannot provide any control related to the launch and execution. That is, the user cannot control the launch order and execution of the test applications 104a–104c using the prior art distributed test configuration 100. As a result, errors can occur when the test applications depend on each other for proper execution.
For example, during a particular test, test application B 104b may depend on test application A 104a. In particular, test application A 104a may need to connect to test application B 104b to perform a particular test. However, the prior art distributed test configuration 100 generally launches all the application simultaneously, or close to simultaneously. If test system A 102a processes test application A 104a faster than test system B 102b processes test application B 104b, test application A 104a may attempt to establish communication before test application B 104b is ready to establish communication. In such a situation, the communication attempt will fail, and as a result, the test will fail.
Failure can also occur when an application depends on the output of another application. For example, test application C 104c may depend on the output of test application A 104a for proper execution. If test application C 104c attempts to use the output of test application A 104a before test application A 104a has generated the requested output, test application C 104c can fail.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for a remote execution model for distributed application launch and control. The model should provide a mechanism for remote applications to communicate control and launch information, allowing enhanced operation of the distributed system. In addition, the remote execution model should be extendable to provide increased flexibility in deployment and operation.

Remote execution model for distributed application launch and control


An arm is pivotally mounted to a limb of a bow and has a pulley that engages the aft side of the bowstring when the bowstring is drawn. The arm is pivotally connected at a pivot axis to the upper limb of the bow at a position spaced from the upper end of the limb and is rotatable to extend aft of the limb. A pulley axle rotatably mounts the pulley to the arm at a position spaced from the pivot axis by a distance that permits the pulley to be positioned aft of the bowstring and the outer peripheral surface of the pulley to engage the bowstring when the bowstring is drawn. The purpose of the trolley arm is to loft an arrow shot from the bow so that its actual trajectory is above the line of sight of the archer to a target when the bowstring is drawn.

This invention relates generally to archery and more particularly relates to a "trolley" arm that is mounted to a limb of a bow for causing an arrow shot from the bow to be lofted into a trajectory above an aiming line of sight that extends along an arrow that is resting on an arrow shelf to a target.
Also described but not claimed is an adjustment apparatus that is attached to a compound bow and varies the draw weight of the bowstring in order to increase the potential energy stored in the bow limbs and thereby increase the power, speed, trajectory and penetration of the arrow. A particular advantage of the draw weight adjuster is that it allows the bow draw weight to be increased while the bowstring is pulled back. There are several desirable results from that capability which are subsequently described.
Archery is a historically traditional as well as a modern sport that is enjoyed for both competition and for hunting. Traditionally, an archer sights the target along an arrow, or equivalently uses sights, to view the target along a line of sight. However, with prior art bows the archer ordinarily estimates the distance to the target and then aims along the line of sight to a point above the desired point of impact of the arrow into the target. The distance above the desired point of impact at which the archer aims the line of sight depends upon (is a function of) the distance from the archer to the target as is well known in the art.
However, an archer may prefer to sight directly at the desired point of impact on the target because that is the most simple and most intuitive way to aim a projectile. But if an archer aims directly at a target with a prior art bow, the arrow will impact below the desired point of impact because it falls during travel as a result of the influence of gravity. The purpose to the "trolley" arm of the present invention is to allow the archer to aim directly at the desired point of impact but have a bow, which has an attached "trolley" arm in accordance with the invention, loft the arrow above that line of sight so that, under the influence of gravity, the arrow falls from its lofted trajectory to strike the target at the desired point of impact at which the archer directly aimed.
Regarding the draw weight adjuster that is described but not claimed, over the last half century, the compound bow has become a popular option for archers because of its advantageous characteristics. As with all bows, the limbs of the bow are cantilever springs that are fixed at their inner ends to a central frame called a riser and attached at their outer ends to a bowstring. The limbs store potential energy as they are bent back, within their elastic limit, by the force of an archer's arm drawing back on the bowstring. The most important characteristic of the compound bow is that the energy stored in its limbs, at a selected or standard draw length, is greater than the energy stored in a conventional bow and the draw force required to hold the bowstring at full draw is not only less than the maximum draw force (draw weight) required to draw the bowstring to full draw but also is considerably less than the draw weight of a conventional bow (which is maximum at full draw).
As the bowstring of a compound bow is drawn back, the draw force initially increases but, as the bowstring approaches full draw, the draw force is reduced. As a result, the archer is able to retain the bowstring at full draw while exerting a considerably smaller force on the bowstring than the maximum draw force of the compound bow and at an even smaller draw force than a conventional bow.
The "let off" is the draw force reduction for a compound bow and can be as much as 70% to 80%. Additionally, at full draw the energy stored in the limbs is considerably greater than the energy stored in a conventional bow even though the draw force at full draw is considerably less. The ultimate result is that the archer is able to hold the bowstring at full draw with less draw force while simultaneously having more potential energy stored in the limbs for powering the arrow along its trajectory.
Another valuable characteristic of more sophisticated compound bows is that the tension force applied by the limbs to the bowstring, and therefore the potential energy stored in the limbs, is adjustable. This is possible because the butt end of each limb is pivotable within a limb pocket. There is a limb pocket mounted at each end of the bow's riser, one pocket for each limb. A loading end segment of each limb, which is the segment between a limb pivot and the butt end of the limb, has a limb bolt extending through a hole in the loading end segment and into anchoring attachment in the riser. Rotation of the limb bolt, or a nut on the limb bolt, in one direction forces the loading end segment of the limb closer to the floor of the limb pocket to increase the bend of the limb and thereby increase the potential energy stored in the limb. Alternatively, rotation of the limb bolt or its nut in the opposite direction allows the loading end segment of the limb to move away from the floor of the limb pocket to decrease the stored energy. However, these adjustments in the prior art bows can be made only when the bow is not in use for shooting an arrow.
Unfortunately, as the limb tension force is adjusted in a prior art compound bow, the required draw force is also changed. Increasing the potential energy stored in the limbs in the above-described manner increases the required draw force at all draw positions of the bowstring. However, a natural characteristic of humanity is that some archers have greater hand, arm and shoulder strength than others. Consequently, when the limbs are adjusted to increase the stored potential energy, the archer is required to apply a greater force to the bowstring. As the bowstring is drawn back, the initial draw force required by a compound bow is greater than the initial draw force required by a conventional bow. As the bowstring continues being drawn back, the required draw force increases even further beyond the draw force required by a conventional bow until the draw force reaches a maximum draw force. Only after reaching the maximum draw force does continued draw back result in the required draw force falling considerably below the maximum and considerably below the draw force for a conventional bow.
This operational characteristic means that, if a prior art bow is adjusted to increase the potential energy stored in its limbs, an archer with less strength must apply an increased initial and maximum draw force in order to reach full draw. Although the characteristics of the compound bow and the possibility of increasing the stored potential energy are of value to most archers, the requirement for increased initial and maximum draw force may require a draw force that is beyond the archer's practical strength. Consequently, such an archer may not be able to increase the stored potential energy with a prior art bow.
It is therefore an object and purpose of the draw weight adjuster to permit an archer to increase the potential energy stored in the limbs without any increase in the required initial or maximum draw force.

“Trolley” arm bow attachment for lofting an arrow above its line of sight to a target


A seat management system includes a moving apparatus capable of wirelessly communicating directly with each of a plurality of terminal devices while autonomously moving, and an information management apparatus. The information management apparatus includes a first storage section storing therein a seat layout chart, a receiving section operable to receive identification information of a user of each of the terminal devices and current position of the moving apparatus, acquired and transmitted by the moving apparatus, a seat specifying section operable, based on layout positions of a plurality of seats indicated in the seat layout chart, and the received current position, to specify one of the seats on which a specific one of the terminal devices as a replier of the identification information is used, and a seat layout chart update section operable to add the identification information to the specified seat in the seat layout chart.

Heretofore, there has been known a seat management system configured to prepare a seat layout chart defining an association between respective ones of layout positions of a plurality of seats within a floor of an office, a lecture room or the like and a plurality of terminal devices equipped in the respective seats, and manage a position of a seat of a user based on information acquired from each of the terminal devices and the seat layout chart.
For example, there has been known a seated-status display system configured to visibly display a floor map for figuring out a position of a seat in which a staff is currently seated. In this seated-status display system, a seated-status display server stores therein a floor map defining an association between respective ones of a plurality of ports of a network switch used for each floor and a plurality of seats provided with the respective ports.
The seated-status display server is operable to acquire, from each of the terminal devices equipped in the respective seats, information about its port via the network switch, and acquire information about a staff corresponding to the acquired port information, from a directory server. Then, the seated-status display server is operable to store therein the acquired staff information in association with the seat associated with the port in the floor map. The stored floor map is displayed on a display of each of the terminal devices. This makes it possible to figure out a position of a seat in which a user is currently seated.
It has also been known a technique of preliminarily providing an authentication card reader in each seat, and identify whether or not a user is seated in the seat, depending on whether or not reading of an authentication card is successfully performed by the authentication card reader.


This invention provides a cylinder type nonaqueous secondary battery which comprises a positive electrode active material comprising a lithium-containing transition metal oxide, a composite oxide or composite chalcogen negative electrode material capable of intercalating and deintercalating lithium and a nonaqueous electrolyte containing a lithium metal salt, wherein high discharging capacity and excellent charge and discharge cycle characteristics are obtained by mounting a metal foil mainly comprising lithium in advance in a coiled group in which a current collector sheet coated with the positive electrode active material (positive electrode sheet), another current collector sheet coated with the negative electrode material (negative electrode sheet) and a separator are coiled in a spiral form.

Lithium metals and lithium alloys are used as typical negative electrode materials in nonaqueous secondary batteries, but, when they are used, the lithium metal grows into a dendritic form during charging and discharging to generate a so-called dendrite which becomes a cause of internal short, or the high activity of the dendrite itself poses a possible danger of causing firing and the like.
On the other hand, calcined carbonaceous materials capable of reversely intercalating and deintercalating lithium have been put into practical use. Such carbonaceous material has a relatively small density which poses a disadvantage of having low capacity per volume. Because of this, use of the carbon material by pressing or laminating lithium foil thereto is described in JP-A-5-151995 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application"), but it cannot resolve the aforementioned problems.
Also, methods in which oxides of Sn, V, Si, B, Zr and the like or composite oxides thereof are used in negative electrode materials have been proposed (JP-A-5-174818, JP-A-6-60867, JP-A-6-275267, JP-A-6-325765, JP-A-6-338324, EP-615296). It is said that negative electrodes of these oxides or composite oxides provide nonaqueous secondary batteries having a large charging capacity of 3 to 3.6 V class when combined with a positive electrode of a certain type of lithium-containing transition metal compound and have markedly high safety, because they hardly generate dendrite within the practical range. However, batteries in which these materials are used have a serious problem in that their charge and discharge characteristics are not sufficient, and their charge and discharge efficiency in initial cycles is particularly low. That is, it is assumed that a portion of lithium molecules intercalated in the negative electrode during the charging step cause a plurality of irreversible side reactions during several initial stage cycles, so that lithium does not move into the positive electrode side during the discharging step, thereby causing capacity loss due to unnecessarily consumed lithium in the positive electrode. In order to compensate for such a capacity loss, it may be possible to intercalate lithium into the negative electrode material in advance in an amount corresponding to the capacity loss, but sufficient effect has not been obtained yet by such means.
The object of the present invention is to obtain a nonaqueous secondary battery which has 1) high charge and discharge capacities and excellent charge and discharge cycle characteristics and 2) a high energy density.

Nonaqueous secondary battery having multiple-layered negative electrode


A control apparatus by which a duty ratio in consideration of how energy stored in storage cells is consumed is set to ensure a steady traveling feeling, a regeneration brake which can produce stable braking forces regardless of how storage cells are consumed, and a protective device by which a plurality of operation stop levels are set to be able to cancel the stop operation effected for the first time and to ensure reliable alarming, are provided. In the first and second embodiments, a chopper duty ratio is compensated depending on how storage cells are consumed, to provide a steady agreeable traveling feeling. In the third embodiment, regenerated electric power is consumed by a motor driving circuit to stabilize operation of a regeneration brake regardless of how storage cells are consumed, and improve performance thereof. In the fourth embodiment, in a protective device for determing an operating condition of equipment, issuing an alarm in the event of abnormality, and stopping operation of the equipment, the stop operation is effected in two steps and a cancel switch for canceling the stop operation in the first step is provided to, depending on the situation, cancel the stop operation effected by the protective device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to devices for assisting a traveling control apparatus used in electric vehicles. More particularly, the present invention relates to devices for achieving an improvement in overall traveling performance.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, attention has been focused on electric vehicles, such as automobiles, powered by electric motors for traveling as next-generation vehicles as substitutes for conventional gasoline vehicles using internal combustion engines. It is expected that electric vehicles powered by clean electric energy can basically solve environmental problems such as detrimental exhaust gas and noise of automobiles. The exhaust gas is said to be responsible for about 70% of air pollution. Moreover, one of the other benefits of electric vehicles is that the life of petroleum resources can be prolonged by at least twice as much.
The electric vehicle typically has road wheels suspended from a vehicle body through shock absorbers. This construction is similar to a conventional automobile. The electric vehicle includes an electric power system comprising a battery power supply made up by a plurality of storage cells, an electric motor for providing rotational energy, a motor driving circuit for controlling rotation of the motor, and a control circuit for instructing control commands to the motor driving circuit. The driving forces generated by the motor is transmitted through a power transmitting apparatus to rotatively drive a road wheel for powering a vehicle in a similar manner as conventional.
The battery power supply for supplying electric power to the electric motor is made up by a plurality of storage cells connected in series so as to provide a required voltage. The storage cells each have a characteristic as follows. With the elapse of time during which the storage cell is discharged in use, the terminal voltage of the battery cell is gradually lowered as shown in a discharge curve in FIG. 11, and then reaches the final voltage at the curve end. When reaching the final voltage, no current must be flown from the storage cell for protection of the storage cell. It is also known that, as shown in FIG. 12, the discharge curve depends on currents supplied in use and changes in the supplied current vary the time during which the storage cell can be discharged continuously. Therefore, an electric vehicle includes a capacity meter for accurately displaying, based on any of various methods, the amount of electric energy remaining in the storage cell while the electric vehicle is in operation.
The electric power from the power supply is supplied through the motor driving circuit which performs chopper control to increase or decrease an effective voltage supplied to the motor for controlling a rotational speed of the motor. A chopper duty ratio for control of the effective voltage is commanded from the control circuit which is electrically connected to an accelerator grip or the like of a manipulation device. In other words, depending on the opening degree of the accelerator set by a driver operating the manipulation device, the control circuit sets a duty ratio for the chopper control and outputs it to the motor driving circuit. Thus, in accordance with an increase or decrease in the opening degree of the accelerator set by the driver, the control circuit sets a duty ratio for the chopper control and, based on this duty ratio, the motor driving circuit increases or decreases the effective voltage supplied to the motor, thereby providing the rotational speed of the motor corresponding to the opening degree of the accelerator.
Further, in place of an engine brake conventionally effected by an internal combustion engine, an electric vehicle generally employs a regeneration brake which is effected by using the electric motor for traveling as a dynamo. The regeneration brake serves as an auxiliary brake such that kinetic energy to be reduced when the electric vehicle decelerates or travels down over a slope, is converted into electric energy by temporarily using the electric motor as a dynamo. Then, it is also customary to charge storage cells with the regenerated electric power for recovery of energy.
Moreover, an electric vehicle is generally loaded with various protective devices for protecting equipment. Specifically, the protective device comprises a sensor provided on each relevant equipment for measuring a temperature, a voltage and so on, and determination means for comparing a sensor value with an evaluation reference level, i.e., an alarm/stop level, and determining the operating condition of the equipment. When the first alarm level is detected, this is determined that the equipment has come close to the limit for use, and an alarm is indicated on a display panel or the like to inform the driver of the determination. When the second stop level is detected, this is judged that the equipment has reached the limit for use, and the operation of the equipment is then stopped.
With motor control practiced in conventional electric automobiles, however, because the chopper duty ratio is set in proportion to the opening degree of the accelerator, there has been a drawback that an accelerating ability of the electric vehicle is different depending on the charge conditions of the storage cells and an acceleration feeling in traveling is unsteady. This is attributable to that although the terminal voltage is lowered with consumption of storage cells, the duty ratio is always set depending on the opening degree of the accelerator regardless of how the storage cells are consumed and, therefore, the effective voltage supplied to the motor is lowered, resulting in differences in the accelerating ability and so on.
Also, with the regeneration brake used in conventional electric automobiles, because the amount of chargeable electric power is varied depending on how storage cells are consumed, there has been a problem that the regenerated electric power can not often recovered to the storage cells, regenerative braking forces are reduced, and safety during traveling of electric automobiles can be impaired. To solve the problem, it has been proposed to introduce any surplus electric power, that cannot be recovered to the storage cells, to a large-sized resistor disposed outside the automobile compartment for generating heat from the resistor so that the generated heat is dissipated to open air for consumption of the surplus electric power. Another alternative is to rotatively drive a flywheel by an electric motor using the regenerated electric power for storing the surplus electric power in the flywheel as mechanical energy. But none of these methods is preferred since the total weight of the vehicle is increased, extra mounting space is required, and the structure is complicated.
Additionally, with the conventional protective device, because the operation of the equipment can still be continued after an alarm has been issued from the protective device, there has been a fear that the driver may continue operating the equipment and the equipment may abruptly be stopped in unwanted situations. This means that when the protective device monitors a temperature condition of the motor, by way of example, the vehicle may stall in a place where it should not be stopped, such as an intersection or a railroad crossing. Further, for a protective device arranged such that the motor operation ability is lowered in the alarm stage, there accompanies a serious risk because the traveling speed is reduced and it takes a time to move away from the improper place.
Moreover, because an alarm issued from the protective device is conventionally indicated on a display panel to inform the driver of the situation, there has been a fear that the driver cannot visually confirm the alarm and cannot recognize it depending on traffic situations in the surroundings and/or running conditions. In electric motorcycles such as scooters, particularly, that tendency is increased from the relationship between the position of the display panel and the range of view of the driver.

Traveling control apparatus for electric vehicles


An exposure system for adjusting the critical dimension difference between vertical patterns and horizontal patterns includes a light source for generating a light beam having a predetermined wavelength, a lens for transforming the shape of the light beam generated from the light source into an elliptical shape extended vertically or horizontally, and a lens system for projecting the elliptical light beam passed through the lens onto a wafer through a recticle.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an exposure system for manufacturing semiconductor devices and photolithographic method using the same, and more particularly, to an exposure system for controlling vertical and horizontal critical dimension (CD) difference and a photolithographic method using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, each semiconductor devices such as dynamic random access memories (DRAM) includes plural micro-patterns. Such micro-patterns are formed by a photolithography. In order to form the micro-patterns using the photolithography, firstly, a resist layer is coated on an objected layer to be patterned. Next, by performing the photolithographic process, the solubility in regions of the resist layer is changed. Further, the development process is carried out to remove regions whose solubility is changed or not such that resist layer patterns for exposing a part of the objective layer are formed. After this, the exposed part of the objective layer is removed by the photolithography in which the resist layer patterns serves to as etching mask and the resist layer patterns are stripped so that the objective layer patterns are formed.
FIG. 1 is a view illustrating an example of conventional exposure systems.
As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional exposure system 100 includes a light source 110, a reflecting mirror 120, and a condense lens 130. The light source 110 emits a light beam of a predetermined wavelength and includes an illuminating system (not shown) although not depicted in the drawings. The reflecting mirror 120 reflects the light beam emitted from the light source 110 and changes the light path toward the condense lens 130. The condense lens 130 concentrates the light beam reflected by the reflecting mirror 120 and sends the concentrated light beam to a recticle 200 such that the concentrated light beam passes through the recticle 200 and is projected onto a wafer 300.
However, during the photolithography, generally, the critical dimension difference (CD) between the vertical patterns and horizontal patterns may be generated due to various factors. Such factors causing the above-described phenomena are the mask manufacturing process, the photolithography equipment itself, and so on. The phenomena are more baldy generated in an asymmetric illumination system that has been frequently used as of late. Generally, there is an isotropic illumination system such as an annular illumination system, a quad illumination system, a crosspole illumination system, and the like having isotropic properties, and an anitotropic illumination system such as a dipole illumination system having anisotropic properties.
In the conventional exposure system, in order to solve the problem caused by the critical dimension between the vertical patterns and the horizontal patterns, simulations or actual test exposures are carried out several times, and using the result of the simulations or the actual test exposures, the mask is manufactured. However, according to the conventional method, manufacturing the mask again increases manufacturing costs, and it takes much time for testing and certifying the mask whenever the mask is manufactured anew, thereby, becoming a major factor for increasing price of the products.

Photolithographic method using exposure system for controlling vertical CD difference


The invention comprises a set of pseudolites deployed throughout an area of interest in which the GPS constellation visibility may be limited, such as in and around some high-rise buildings in an urban setting, and a database of these installed pseudolite locations with their PRN numbers indexed by cell-site. When the cellular telephone is in communication with a particular tower or transceiver, the PRN numbers of all local pseudolites are transmitted to the cellular telephone. If the cellular telephone has a position solution which has been transmitted to the cell tower, prepositioning information for a code search can be transmitted to the phone as well. The phone can then augment the phone's normal acquisition list with the pseudolites in the area and track the pseudolites to augment navigation capabilities in a harsh environment.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to Satellite Positioning System (SATPS) receivers, and in particular to a network assisted pseudolite acquisition for enhanced SATPS navigation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cellular telephony, including Personal Communication System (PCS) devices, has become commonplace. The use of such devices to provide voice, data, and other services, such as internet access, has provided many conveniences to cellular system users.
A current thrust in the cellular and PCS arena is the integration of Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, which is a subset of SATPS technology, into cellular telephone devices and other wireless transceivers. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,874,914, issued to Krasner, which is incorporated by reference herein, describes a method wherein the basestation (also known as the Mobile Telephone Switching Office (MTSO)) transmits GPS satellite information, including Doppler information, to a remote unit using a cellular data link, and computing pseudoranges to the in-view satellites without receiving or using satellite ephemeris information.
This current interest in integrating GPS with cellular telephony stems from a new Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requirement that cellular telephones be locatable within 20 feet once an emergency call, such as a "911" call (also referred to as Enhanced 911 or "E911") is placed by a given cellular telephone. Such position data assists police, paramedics, and other law enforcement and public service personnel, as well as other agencies that may need or have legal rights to determine the cellular telephone's position. Further, GPS and/or SATPS data can be used by the cellular user for directions, location of other locations that the cellular user is trying to locate, determination of relative location of the cellular user to other landmarks, directions for the cellular user via internet maps or other GPS/SATPS mapping techniques, etc. Such data can be of use for other than E911 calls, and would be very useful for cellular and PCS subscribers.
However, since cellular telephones can travel into areas where SATPS signals cannot be reliably received, augmentations to the SATPS system are being researched to support the E911 and other SATPS/cellular applications. SATPS is increasingly being pressed into service in the cellular telephone/PDA/mobile computer application where a solution is required in areas with substantial blockage, such as inside buildings, in subway stations, and other areas where the system RF link budget is unable to sustain communications with mobile units that travel into hostile signal reception environments such a buildings. Pseudolites are well-known commercially available ground-based transmitters which augment the orbiting SATPS constellation with one or more additional transmitters to improve the availability and quality of a SATPS solution. Current pseudolite applications include local-area augmentation system (LAAS) transmitters for precision approach.
It can be seen, then, that there is a need in the art for a method and apparatus for assisting the cellular network in locating cellular telephones. It can also be seen that there is a need in the art for a method and apparatus for assisting the network in locating cellular telephones in hostile signal environments such as buildings. It can also be seen, then that there is a need in the art for methods and apparatuses for assisting a mobile user in a harsh signal environment using extra-network devices such as pseudolites.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Network assisted pseudolite acquisition for enhanced GPS navigation


Systems and method for detecting and measuring light emitted from a sample and having a large dynamic range, e.g., a range of luminous intensity covering six or more orders of magnitude, that may be difficult to fully detect using a single detector with a limited detection range. Simultaneous measurement of the emitted light in two intensity ranges is performed using two detectors, e.g., one including a photomultiplier tube (PMT) and the other including a solid state detector such as a photodiode. A beam splitting element directs light emitted from a sample under investigation to both detectors simultaneously such that a portion of the light impinges on the first detector and a second portion of the light impinges on the second detector. A processor receives output signals from the two detectors and provides an output representing the luminous intensity of the sample over a detection range greater than the detection range of each individual detector, thereby providing a detection system having an enhanced dynamic range.

The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for detecting light, and more particularly to systems and methods for large dynamic range light detection.
It is often desirable to detect (and possibly quantify) light emitted from light emitting samples or substances. Such detection capability is useful in various assays, such as, for example, DNA sequencing assays where different fluorescent substances may be attached to different amino acids. For certain assays it is also desirable to quantify the light emitted by a sample. However, light emitted by a light emitting sample, such as a sample containing a fluorescent substance, may be in a 6 decade (106) range of intensity for a given stimulation intensity. Samples may be distributed over an area that is stimulated by a stationary or scanned point light source of a single color, with the emitted light directed to a point optical detector, and the detector's electrical output quantized to a digital value representing the optical power detected in a given time interval. The set of values may be organized into a 2-dimensional array representing fluorescent emission over the sample area, where a given sample detection time corresponds to a given point in the sample area. Alternatively, the data may be collected serially, in time, and arranged in any way that correlates a particular sample with a particular reading.
In certain applications requiring an optical detection power range of roughly 0.3 pW to 300 nW, for example, and the requirement of a signal-to-noise ratio of about 10 at 50 pW in a time interval of 5 us, a PMT (photomultiplier tube) detector must be used. The PMT's practical dynamic range for this time interval is between 3 and 4 decades, limited at the low end by signal-to-noise and at the high end by PMT anode current rating. The PMT gain may be adjusted for 300 nW at maximum anode current but 0.3 pW will not be detected, or for usable signal-to-noise at 0.3 pW but 300 nW will be above the PMT anode current rating. In prior art implementations, multiple scans with different stimulation intensities or PMT responsivities were required to be carried out for 6 decade detection, consuming extra time and possibly degrading the sample due to increased light exposure.
Therefore it is desirable to provide systems and methods that overcome the above and other problems.

Extended dynamic range system design using a photomultiplier tube and solid state detector


A user of a game system can replace background music from a game with the user's selected background music, while still hearing any other audio streams (e.g. sound effects related to gameplay). A music engine and system audio mixer allow the playback of the user's requested replacement music. The game tags background music streams with an identifier indicating that they are background music, and such streams are muted at the music engine and system audio mixer (if the game is using the provided music engine in order to play the game's audio streams) or by the game if the game is using a game music engine and has received information indicating that a mute request has been issued.

When a user is playing a video game on a video game system, generally the video game controls the sounds which are being played by the video game system, either directly through speakers on the video game system or through a connection to a monitor or television incorporating speakers, another device incorporating speakers, or separate speakers. Game music can be repetitive and therefore annoying to the game player.
One solution that some users employ is to mute the sound from the video game, via a control provided by the video game (e.g. a volume or mute function). In some cases the control allows the user to have only video game sound effects, and not the music, play.
Another solution that some users employ is lowering the volume or muting completely the device through which the video game system is playing sounds. However, this is not selective, and dialogue and/or sound effects provided by the video game are muted as well as music provided by the video game.
In order to provide a user with flexibility in choosing background music for a video game, some video games provide a number of choices for background music. These choices of background music, however, are limited and may also grow repetitive for a user.
A few video game consoles, e.g. Microsoft's Xbox video game console, allow a user of a video game to request that the video game play user-selected music. For example, using such systems, a user could download a music file, and request that the video game play that music file as background music for the video game. However, this was only possible when implemented by the video game being played, and a video game developer had the entire complex task of implementing the functionality which allowed a user to provide and select music.
Thus, there is a need for a way to provide a user of a video game with the capability to replace certain audio elements (e.g. background music) of a video game used with a video game system without requiring extensive effort by the video game developer.


An arm insertion type sphygmomanometer having enhanced operability and visibility at the time of measurement. A remote control unit can be detached from the sphygmomanometer body portion and operated wirelessly. The arm insertion type sphygmomanometer comprises a sphygmomanometer body portion (10) provided with an arm band (2) through which an upper arm is inserted, and a remote control unit (40) capable of controlling the sphygmomanometer body portion (10) remotely. The remote control unit (40) can be fixed removably to a holding portion (5) of the sphygmomanometer body portion (10) and has an operating portion for operating the sphygmomanometer body portion (10), and a display portion for displaying the result of measurement. In a state where the remote control unit (40) is placed in the holding portion (5), the remote control unit (40) operates the sphygmomanometer body (10) by performing wired or wireless communication therewith. In a state where the remote control unit (40) is not placed in the holding portion (5), the remote control unit (40) operates the sphygmomanometer body (10) by performing wireless communication therewith.

Conventionally, an arm insertion type sphygmomanometer installed in a hospital or the like is designed such that one of the upper arms (e.g., one that is not the dominant arm) of a person to be measured is inserted into an opening portion surrounded by an arm band, and a blood pressure is measured by operating an operating portion such as a measurement start switch with the other hand. If, however, the other arm is disabled, it is very difficult to perform such operation.
In some sphygmomanometer of a type designed to wind an arm band, the arm band is separated from a sphygmomanometer body portion (see, for example, patent references 1 and 2):
Patent document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-56938
Patent document 2: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-137697


Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for synchronous mode replication to multiple clusters receiving a write to a volume from a host. A received write is cached in a memory. A determination is made of a replication rule indicating one of a plurality of replication modes for a first cluster and a second cluster used for replication for the write, wherein one of the replication modes comprises a synchronous mode. A determination is made that the replication rule indicates a synchronous mode for the first and the second clusters. The write is transmitted from the memory to the first cluster to store in a first non-volatile storage of the first cluster and to the second cluster to store in a second non-volatile storage in response to determining that the replication rule indicates the synchronous mode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer program product, system, and method for synchronous mode replication to multiple clusters.
2. Description of the Related Art
A replication manager replicates data to multiple different clusters so that copies of the data are maintained at multiple sites and updated to provide consistent and synchronized copies of the data at the different cluster sites. In a virtual tape library (VTL) environment, the clusters to which host data is replicated may comprise virtual tape libraries that store tape formatted data on a non-tape storage, such as disk, that emulates tape with a faster access profile. VTLs may also be used with physical tape providing backup storage of the VTLs. Policy settings indicate how the data is to be replicated to the clusters. Two common replication settings for replicating host data to VTL clusters include immediate copy and deferred copy.
With the deferred copy mode, after the host job/application finishes with a volume, a copy of the data (logical volume) is queued for later execution, such as after the issuance of the rewind/unload (RUN) command during demount processing, which may occur minutes to hours after being queued. With the immediate copy mode, after the host job/application finishes with a volume, a copy of the volume to a remote location is made while the library holds device-end on the rewind/unload (RUN) command. In this case, device-end is held until the copy completes to a remote location, which could be several minutes.
The above deferred and immediate copy modes are performed at a cluster transparent to the host operations. Another technique for replicating host writes to multiple clusters and ensure a Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of zero, which means no risk of losing data, is for the host to perform a host process of tape duplexing, where the host write does not complete until the data is confirmed copied to the two clusters. Host tape duplexing provides data protection at synchronize command granularity (as the data was being written) with two tapes in the same or different library being simultaneously written to (the primary and the alternate). Host tape duplexing may require manual intervention if the alternate copy is needed and may introduce overhead in the host application because the host must perform the duplexing and tracking of the two duplexed copies.
Host tape duplexing is implemented in the International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) z/OS DFSMShsm product. (z/OS and IBM are trademarks of International Business Machines Corp. in the United States and other countries).
There is a need in the art for improved techniques for replicating host writes to cluster sites.

Synchronous mode replication to multiple clusters