A method of calibrating a base station that comprises an adaptive antenna array is provided. The method includes selecting one operational mode from a plurality of operational modes for the base station. An operational mode component set corresponding to the selected operational mode is selected from a plurality of operational mode component sets in the base station. The base station is calibrated using the selected operational mode component set.

In a base station of a wireless communication network, the antenna is the port through which radio frequency (RF) energy is coupled from the transmitter to the outside world and to the receiver from the outside world. By using an array of antennas, a number of benefits are expected including improved directionality, higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and better capability of interference rejection for received signals.
Manufacturers of antenna array systems formerly used signal processors that assumed ideal antenna array characteristics. Therefore, antenna arrays used in association with former signal processors had to achieve high quality standards to perform acceptably, making antenna arrays expensive. Additionally, these antenna array systems experienced degraded performance when temperatures changed, humidity levels changed, or other environmental conditions changed because the characteristics of the antenna array diverged from the expected ideal characteristics under these altered environmental conditions.
Calibration systems play an important role in modern wireless communication systems employing adaptive antenna technologies, for example antenna arrays. Depending on the applications and the signal processing algorithms employed by the base station, antenna array calibration includes determining the characteristics of the RF paths of the base station and using the characteristic data to optimize base station radio transmission and radio reception. In some cases the term "calibration" may be used to refer to the determination of system characteristics, while in other cases the term "calibration" may be used to refer to the use of the characteristic data to optimize base station radio transmission and radio reception. The meaning of the use of the term calibration will be understood by the context in which it is used. The characteristic data may be referred to as calibration data. Smart antenna systems particularly may benefit from the enhanced system performance that can be obtained from calibration.
Modern antenna array systems typically store calibration data that is then used to optimize radio transmission and reception. Conventional methods and systems for obtaining the calibration data, however, have many drawbacks. The known calibration systems may include extensive measuring equipment that is both unwieldy and expensive. Some conventional calibration methods are sensitive to drifts in system parameters, and these drifts lead to inaccuracies in the calibration data obtained using these methods. To avoid these difficulties, some antenna arrays are assigned calibration data that is generic for their particular design but that does not represent the characteristics unique to the individual antenna array. Because conventional calibration methods may be sufficiently time-consuming that periodic recalibration is impractical, some antenna arrays are calibrated only in the factory or upon initial installation, and thereafter their characteristics may diverge from the factory calibration data as the antenna array ages or as environmental conditions change. Antenna arrays that have not been individually and recently calibrated in their current environment will have inaccuracies in their array calibration data that will result in performance degradation.
Current approaches to overcome these difficulties with antenna array calibration techniques may provide a calibration system built into the base station. Calibration methods and systems may be designed that minimize the duration of time required to measure antenna array calibration data. Current calibration architectures, however, are typically designed for specific vendors and systems, are manufactured in low volume, and are relatively expensive.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for an improved calibration system architecture for wireless networks. In particular, there is a need for a calibration system architecture capable of calibrating any type of base station, such as single-sector, single-frequency allocation (FA) base stations, multi-sector, multi-FA base stations and any combination thereof.

Calibration system architecture for calibrating multiple types of base stations in a wireless network


A clamp including two mutually opposed substantially L-shaped members pivotably connected to an intermediate holder supporting the side profile sections of the panel frames to be secured, wherein the two L-shaped members are pivotably interconnected via a central shaft extending through the intermediate holder and said L-shaped members are further pivotably connected to said intermediate holder via two further transverse shafts extending through respective mounting apertures in the intermediate holder.

The use of clamps for securing the frames of the panels for shuttering concrete is well known and numerous types having different characteristics have been used in the course of time.
A clamp for securing concrete panels must basically comply with characteristics of mechanical strength, partly because of the efforts which it must perform during its functioning and partly because of the rough treatment to which concrete shuttering members are customarily subjected during building work.
In addition, clamps of this type must have characteristics of easy and rapid application to the frames of the shuttering panels, in order to facilitate handling.

Adjustable clamp for securing shuttering panels


A communication system transmitting messages includes two-way ranging by communicating between a target vehicle and a traffic controller station through a plurality of satellites. A set of the plurality of satellites may be used simultaneously or sequentially to transmit and receive signals from the ground station to a target vehicle, preferably an aircraft in the preferred embodiment. Each aircraft includes a particular ranging code combined with a message signal to selectively process the ranging data supplied to each vehicle. The ranging determination may be used in conjunction with alternative ranging devices, such as a global positioning system, in order to improve the accuracy of the estimations provided by the ranging processing. Nevertheless, the method and apparatus of the present invention provide relatively accurate state vectors without the need for precisely accurate timing synchronization at each of the stations connected by communication links.

Current Automatic Dependent Surveillance (ADS) technology, such as Global Positioning System (GPS), Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) EGNOS, MTSAT or GLONASS, provides positioning information utilizing satellite communication. For example, the GPS, developed and deployed by the U.S. Department of Defense, consists of twenty-four satellites orbiting the earth twice a day at an altitude of 12,000 miles, as well as five ground stations to monitor and manage the satellite constellation. Using atomic clocks and location data, GPS satellites transmit continuous time and position information twenty-four hours a day to a GPS receiver, which listens to three or more satellites at once to determine the user's position on earth. By measuring the time interval between the transmission and the reception of a satellite signal, the GPS receiver calculates the distance between the user and each satellite, and then uses the distance measurements of at least three satellites to arrive at a position.
Such systems, however, utilize one-way ranging in which an accurate, synchronized clock is required at each station. Any synchronization error or error regarding the location of one of the satellites results in an error in the determined position of the target vehicle. An aircraft, or other target vehicle, must still have accurate position and velocity information and requires dedicated, precise equipment throughout the system to provide very accurate position and velocity information with a high degree of integrity and reliability.
In addition, a German system provides a novel non-cooperative near-range radar network for traffic guidance and control on airport surfaces, as stated in IEEE Trans. On Control System Technology, Vol. I, No. 3, September 1993. This ground-based tracking system uses non-cooperative radar for two-way transmission and employs triangulation ranging. Ground-based Loran-C systems require a hyperbolic electronic grid and are accordingly limited to local tracking. Other systems such as Radio Determination Satellite System (RDSS) using geostar and fire control, navigation and tracking systems with either non-cooperative or cooperative architectures are also limited ranging implementations.

Method and system for determining a position of a target vehicle utilizing two-way ranging


The present invention is directed to an automatic generation of a support collateral as well as to an automatic generation of core files. In one embodiment, a support collateral is automatically generated when a core file is generated. The support collateral is information used to support diagnosis of potential problems. A computer appliance further includes a framework of rules organized by a subsystem. A subsystem is a functional component of the computer appliance. Rules are evaluated when an inflection point is encountered. An inflection point is a critical point in processing where processing is interrupted. A core file is generated for the computer appliance when indicated to do so by a rule.

Computer appliances are devices with one or a few specific functions and limited ability to configure. A computer appliance may be an embedded system (a special-purpose system in which the computer is completely encapsulated by the device it controls). A router is an example of a computer appliance which forwards data packets across a network toward their destinations, through a process known as routing. A Network-Attached Storage (NAS) device is an example of a computer appliance which connects to a computer network to provide centralized data access and storage to a diverse range of differing network clients. A Storage Area Network (SAN) device is an example of a computer appliance which allows connection to remote targets such as disks and tape drives on a network for block level I/O. Synchronous core files (a recorded state of working memory at a specific time) may be generated to aid in diagnosing potential problems with a computer appliance.
Synchronous core files may not provide enough information to diagnose potential problems with a computer appliance. Additionally, core files generated through software rather than hardware means may interfere with the running computer appliance, reducing the value of the core file that is generated for diagnosing potential problems with the computer appliance. The value of a core file is directly related to the content contained within the core file and the ease and visibility of that content. A support collateral (additional information related to the computer appliance used to support diagnosis of potential problems), such as performance data and kernel profiling, may be required to supplement the core file in order to diagnose the potential problem. The support collateral may provide information not captured in the core file, yet essential to diagnosing the potential problem with the computer appliance. The support collateral may need to have some relation to the core file to have value in supplementing the core file in diagnosing potential problems with the computer appliance and thus needs to be generated within a certain proximity of time to the generation of the core file. However, often a support collateral is not generated, is not generated correctly, or is not generated within sufficient proximity of time to the generation of the core file such that the support collateral supplements the core file in diagnosing potential problems with the computer appliance. This results in unnecessary downtime for the computer appliance and in the inability to diagnose potential problems with the computer appliance efficiently.
A panic core dump occurs when a computer appliance encounters an unrecoverable error from which it cannot continue its operation. Typically, a core file will then be automatically generated at the point of fault. However, if an error serious enough to cause a panic core dump has not occurred, a potential problem with a computer appliance may need to be discovered before a core file would be generated and utilized to diagnose the potential problem. A computer appliance may have a problem, which is serious enough to impact performance, but is not serious enough to cause a panic core dump. A computer appliance, which has such a problem, will continue to run in an affected manner until the problem either becomes serious enough to cause a panic core dump or until the problem is discovered and a core file is generated to diagnose the problem.
Consequently, it would be desirable to automatically generate a support collateral when generating a core file in order to diagnose potential problems with a computer appliance. It would also be desirable to automatically detect potential problems with a computer appliance and generate a core file to aid in diagnosing the potential problem.

Automatic generation of core files and automatic generation of support information with generation of core files


An image pickup apparatus includes a display that displays photographing information. When the display is turned off in response to an operation performed by a user, the photographing information is prevented from being changed even if a button or a dial for changing a set value, such as a shutter speed or an aperture value, is operated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image pickup apparatuses, and more particularly, to an image pickup apparatus having a display for displaying photographing information.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, digital cameras having liquid crystal displays on the back have become popular. Such a liquid crystal display has a backlight and displays image data and photographing information. On the other hand, in single-lens reflex cameras, in addition to the liquid crystal display for displaying the image data, a conventional optical finder mechanism is required having a mirror mechanism and the like.
In a camera including both a liquid crystal display and an optical finder, an operating member is generally provided for turning the display of the liquid crystal display on and off.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-165705 discusses a structure in which the display of the liquid crystal display is turned off while a user is looking through the optical finder.
Conventionally, a liquid crystal display for displaying photographing information, such as a shutter speed and an aperture value, has generally been provided in addition to the liquid crystal display for displaying the image data. However, recently, in order to reduce the size of the camera main body and costs, the liquid crystal display for displaying the image data has been used to display the photographing information also. Thus, the two liquid crystal displays are combined into one.
However, in the case in which the liquid crystal display for displaying the image data is used also for displaying the photographing information, the following problems occur. That is, when the liquid crystal display is turned off to, for example, reduce power consumption, the photographing information including set values, such as the shutter speed and the aperture value, cannot be displayed anywhere. Therefore, there is a risk that the user will touch a button or a dial for changing the set values, such as the shutter speed and the aperture value, by mistake while the liquid crystal display that displays the photographing information is turned off. In such a case, the set values, such as the shutter speed and the aperture value, will be unintentionally changed while the user is not aware of the change in the set values.


An arrangement is provided for using a stack trace cache when performing root set enumeration in a stack of a thread during garbage collection. During the first root set enumeration in the stack, full stack unwinding may be performed and a stack trace cache may be created to cache stack trace information relating to stack frames. Subsequent sessions of root set enumeration in the stack may access and copy parts or the entire cached stack trace information instead of performing full stack unwinding.

1. Field
The present invention relates generally to garbage collection and, more specifically, to root set enumeration in a garbage collection process.
2. Description
The function of garbage collection, i.e., automatic reclamation of computer storage, is to find data objects that are no longer in use and make their space available for reuse by running programs. Garbage collection is important to avoid unnecessary complications and subtle interactions created by explicit storage allocation, to reduce the complexity of program debugging, and thus to promote fully modular programming and increase software application portability. Because of its importance, garbage collection is becoming an integral part of managed runtime environments.
The basic functioning of a garbage collector may comprise three phases. In the first phase, all direct references to objects from currently running programs for all threads may be identified. These references are called roots, or together a root set, and a process of identifying all of such references may be called root set enumeration. In the second phase, all objects reachable from the root set may be searched since these objects may be used in the future. An object that is reachable from any reference in the root set is considered a live object; otherwise it is considered a garbage object. An object reachable from a live object is also live. The process of finding all live objects reachable from the root set may be referred to as live object tracing (or marking and scanning). In the third phase, storage space of garbage objects may be reclaimed (garbage reclamation). This phase may be conducted either by a garbage collector or a running application (usually called a mutator). In practice, these three phases, especially the last two phases, may be functionally or temporally interleaved and a reclamation technique may be strongly dependent on a live object tracing technique. Depending where root set enumeration occurs, the root set enumeration may be called register root set enumeration (hereinafter register enumeration), heap root set enumeration (hereinafter heap enumeration), or stack root set enumeration (hereinafter stack enumeration). Compared to stack enumeration, overheads incurred by root set enumeration in other storage areas are usually small in a typical application and may be ignored.
When free storage space is running below a limit, garbage collection may be invoked and all threads may be suspended so that root set enumeration for each thread may be started (for concurrent garbage collection, some threads might not be suspended in order to invoke root set enumeration). For stack enumeration for a thread, the stack frame (in the thread's stack) where the thread is suspended becomes a current frame from which stack enumeration may start. All live references in the current frame may be identified and enumerated. After the current frame is enumerated, the next stack frame (i.e., a caller's frame) in a call stack becomes a current frame in which all live references may be identified. This process, which is referred to as stack unwinding, continues until all frames in a call chain are walked through and enumerated.
A stack unwinding mechanism involved in the stack enumeration in a garbage collector unwinds or walks up stack frames of a call stack, one frame at a time, to identify currently active references, i.e., references to form a root set. For some applications, especially those with a large number of threads and a deep call chain per thread, stack unwinding incurs significant runtime overhead for garbage collection. The more threads there are and the deeper the call chain is per thread, the higher the runtime overhead that may be used. Therefore, it is desirable to improve the efficiency of stack enumeration by reducing the overhead incurred by stack unwinding.

Method and apparatus for improving the performance of garbage collection using stack trace cache


A system and method for obtaining weather related information for a portion of the Earth's atmosphere between a predetermined surface portion of the Earth and an airborne object located over the predetermined surface portion, and operating at a known altitude, using position locating signals from a space vehicle. In one exemplary implementation the space vehicle transmits a first position locating signal. The first position locating signal is received by the airborne object directly from the space vehicle. A second position locating signal from the space vehicle is received by the airborne object after being reflected from the predetermined surface portion at a known angle. Phase information from the first and second position locating signals is used to determine a refractivity of the atmosphere between the predetermined surface portion and the airborne object. The refractivity is used to determine weather related information for the atmosphere.

Previous systems used for obtaining atmospheric information used to predict weather patterns have involved using Global Positioning System satellite (GPS) signals to perform GPS occultation. GPS occultation involves measurement of a GPS signal's phase shift due to travel through the atmosphere to calculate the refractivity of a column of the atmosphere. The refractivity can then be used to deduce water vapor content, and more particularly the precipitable water vapor (PWV) in a designated area.
GPS and related constellations like Glonass and Galileo (often identified collectively as "Global Navigation Satellite Systems, or GNNS") use frequencies that are insensitive to atmospheric effects. Therefore, very sensitive occultation receivers are needed to measure the slight changes in refractivity due to natural variation in the atmosphere. These measurements are especially challenging from mobile platforms such as aircraft because small motions of the aircraft can change the phase of arriving GPS signals. Also, attempts to use aircraft have proven less than satisfactory for this purpose because measurements from an aircraft have only been able to provide refractivity data within an approximate 150 m by 150 km corridor. This area is too long to be easily used in computational models that provide PWV data.
Another aspect of the problem is the sparse coverage afforded by GPS occultation. Occultation measurements require that a GPS satellite appear within a few angular degrees of the observer's horizon. If the satellite is too low, it is occluded by the Earth. If it is too high, the signal's path through the atmosphere does not traverse the troposphere on its way to an aircraft flying at a typical cruise altitude (typically 30,000-40,000 ft, or 9100 m-12,133 m). This makes the data nearly useless for weather prediction. The times when a GPS satellite is near the horizon for a given aircraft are infrequent-typically once an hour or so. Given that a jet aircraft typically covers about 1000 kilometers in an hour (when operating at a cruise speed), the distance between occultation measurements is so large that the measurements give relatively little value for weather models.
With GPS, the primary function is to let GPS receivers compute their positions based on relative phase shift among GPS signals transmitted from several GPS satellites. Therefore, current approaches to measuring atmosphere properties rely on measuring the GPS phase shift. For weather estimation, prior art methods measure the excess phase shift induced by GPS signals following a bent (refracted) path through the atmosphere to the receiver. As the GPS satellite rises or sets, the path length through the atmosphere changes. The phase shift changes with the path length and the refractivity. Phase measurements taken along various lines of sight are fed to tomography algorithms that estimate the best-fit refractivity as a function of altitude, which is termed a "refractivity profile." This method can result in poor vertical or horizontal resolution. This is because each phase measurement is the sum of all phase shifts occurring anywhere along the signal's long path through the atmosphere. For example, using receivers aboard the COSMIC constellation of Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites for this measurement can produce poor lateral resolution.
Networks of GPS receivers on land currently exist. There are currently two large scale GPS networks in the United States designed for real-time sensing of atmospheric water vapor: the NSF-UCAR SuomiNet, and the NOAA-FSL GPS-MET network. SuomiNet is designed primarily for university-based research and education while the FSL network is designed primarily for operational demonstration. SuomiNet is an international network, configured and managed to generate near real-time estimates of precipitable water vapor in the atmosphere, total electron content in the ionosphere, and other meteorological and geodetic information.
Many, if not most, conventional methods measure the phase shift directly and require precise knowledge of the receiving antenna's location. Meeting these requirements can be especially difficult on a moving platform like a high speed jet aircraft.
Other methods for gathering water vapor data over the oceans have been explored, however, they all have significant limitations. Radiosondes may be sent out over an ocean, but these can be expensive to gather the frequency of data required. Currently, the National Weather Service (NWS) obtains information on the water vapor distribution from satellite information and from twice daily radiosonde balloon launches at 93 sites around the continental United States. The radiosonde network is expensive to operate. In addition to the expense, the balloons carrying the sonde packages take about an hour to reach the tropopause. Therefore, the PWV data is not available for some time. Because there are not many radiosonde balloons available, the horizontal spatial density is too low and time between launches too high to observe rapid changes of the PWV with time and position. This is especially so over large bodies of the water such as oceans, where the PWV can vary significantly in short periods of time, giving rise to rapidly changing weather patterns.
Instrumentation on marine vessels such as ships does not provide sufficient frequency of PWV data to be useful for weather predicting purposes. In addition, ships are expensive to operate.
Land-based GPS receivers, the land-based receivers are unable to gather data for most of the Earth's surface, e.g., over the oceans. Poor coverage over the oceans leads to unreliable weather forecasts for the western United States, western Europe, Australia, and occasionally Japan. Using airborne platforms would allow meteorologists to have more expansive coverage, but current methods suffer from problems of wide resolution and infrequent coverage that limit the usefulness of information gathered for refractivity determination, and for weather prediction purposes.

Method and system for determining water vapor profile using GPS signals


A method for stabilizing machine processes in which the machines are regulated by a machine regulation matrix selected from a plurality of machine regulation matrixes using a detected machine sensor value, set-point values of the machines being stored in each machine regulation matrix. A process is optimized according to a predefined criterion by also using some of the machine sensor values such that a machine regulation matrix which is optimal according to the process optimization is determined from the plurality of machine regulation matrixes and is subsequently used for regulating the machines.

DE 3 701 880 C1 describes a method for controlling the optimum operating speeds of a processing machine. In the control method described, sensors are used to determine down times of a processing machine and the quantity of goods processed in the machine, and the processing speed of the processing machine is adjusted as a function of the store occupancy of the processing goods on the basis of different control functions, either on the basis of a control function which describes an optimum-output processing speed of the processing machine, on the basis of a control function which describes a cost-optimum processing speed of the machine, or on the basis of a control function which describes a productivity-optimum processing speed of the processing machine.
As an alternative to the control of a single processing machine, preferably a wrapping machine for hard caramels according to DE 3 701 880 C1, the method described in DE 3 701 880 C1 can also be applied to processing machines which are coupled to one another in parallel.
Furthermore, T. Rädler, Modellierung und Simulation von Abfüllinien, Fortschrittsbericht [Modelling and Simulation of filling lines, Progress Report] VDI Series 14, No. 93, VDI-Verlag, ISBN: 3-18-309314-6, page 57 (1999) describes the optimum control of filling machines with different processing speeds on the basis of a so-called speed V diagram, also referred to as a speed V profile.
In addition, the Institut fuer Konstruktionstechnik und Anlagengestaltung (Dresden, Germany) produces a commercially available processing machine simulation program. This simulation program, which is called PacSi, is used to simulate a process line having a plurality of processing machines which are coupled to one another in series. The simulation input parameters are, for example, the mean time between two failures (Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF)) and the mean time between the occurrence of a fault and its rectification (Mean Time To Repair (MTTR)) as well as the respective processing speeds at which the respective machine is operated.
In addition, Dualis GmbH IT Solution (Dresden, Germany) produces a software optimization program, which is likewise commercially available and is called ISSOP. This optimization program provides different optimization methods, for example empirically based, gradient-based and model-based optimization methods, which can be used for process optimization purposes.
The invention is based on the problem of providing improved process optimization for a machine installation having a plurality of machines which are coupled to one another in series.
The problem is solved by a method for computer-aided control of a plurality of machines which are coupled to one another in series, by means of a control device and by means of a machine arrangement.

Method for the computer-assisted regulating of a plurality of serially coupled machines, regulating device and machine arrangement


In a device having flexible, stripline conductors surrounded by a dielectric and ground planes, a conductor laminate (1) comprising a substrate (1) and conductors etched on one of its surfaces and windows cut between the conductors and a ground plane laminate comprising a substrate cut essentially similarly to the substrate of the conductor laminate with somewhat larger dimensions and a copper foil arranged on one of the sides of the substrate are adhesively bonded to each other with the conductors of the conductor laminate engaged with that side of the substrate of the ground plane laminate which is not covered by a foil. A metallization is provided on the side of the device which is opposite to the foil covered surface of the ground plane laminate. This metallization is electrically connected to said foil covered surface such that conductors and substrates are completely enclosed by an electrically conducting layer.

In electronic equipment for high frequencies and data signals having short transient times there is a need of conducting such signals in conductors, for instance from one part of the equipment located at a distance from another part of the equipment, the conductors having a smooth, if possible equal impedance along the lengths thereof, and of providing for the closed individual shielding of the conductors. Over longer distances the signals usually are transmitted on coaxial wire having special shielded connectors. A disadvantage in regard of such wires is that they deviate from the ambition of arranging all conductors in the shape of flat, photo patterned conductors. Loose wires thus is a component, which by its unordered geometrical shape have a costly mounting, particularly when several wires are to be coupled to several different points in the electronic equipment. Further, making several wires into bundles is labour consuming compared to the manufacture of photo etched patterns.

Device with flexible, stripline conductors and a method of manufacturing such a device


Information about the operating system application programming interfaces is stored in a known format in a known location. This information fully describes the APIs exposed by the operating system and is stored in API metadata files. A language compiler or interpreter uses this API information to build a natural and familiar representation of the native system API in the target language. The language compiler or interpreter can read the API information at compile time and/or runtime. The metadata is used to allow an application to refer to named elements in the API. Projections are built that use the metadata to map named elements in the API to named elements in the target language, and to define wrappers that marshal data of those elements between the target representation and the native operating system representation.

An operating system typically has several application programming interfaces that allow applications to access functionality supported by the operating system. Such APIs are typically specified by an operating system using a named file or object in a computer programming language. For example, the C programming language uses header files that may have a name such as "interface.h". Similarly, in C# a mechanism called "P/Invoke" signatures is used to access operating system APIs. A person writing a computer program that will make use of an operating system API typically includes a reference to a named API file or object in the program, or uses another mechanism provided by the programming language. That program, for example, then includes calls to functions defined by that API, in the syntax used by that API.
APIs defined in this manner cannot be directly accessed by languages other than the languages they are written in. To be made accessible to programs written in other languages, APIs are "wrapped." This wrapping typically has to be done manually per API and per language and requires deep understanding of both the target language and the API and operating system. Consequently, many operating system APIs are unavailable.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Projecting native application programming interfaces of an operating system into other programming languages


A representation of a network having vertices connected by arcs is provided, where the network exhibits a pseudoflow. Arcs on which moves are to be performed are iteratively chosen for balancing excesses of vertices across the arcs until a stopping rule is satisfied. After the stopping rule is satisfied, further processing is performed to identify at least one of a minimum cut and/or maximum flow.

A network of nodes and edges that connect the nodes can be used to represent various types of systems, such as communications systems, hydraulic systems, transportation systems, and so forth, which involve flow of some type of quantity from node to node through conduits having specified capacities. A network can also represent the flow of monetary amounts between nodes that represent products or services, where the monetary amounts can represent profit, revenue, or expense. Such networks can be analyzed for the purpose of solving an optimization problem, which involves finding the maximum flow between at least a source and at least a sink that are coupled by the nodes of the network as fast as possible. The analysis involves identifying the "minimum cut" and/or the "maximum flow" through the network.
Conventionally, identifying the minimum cut of and/or the maximum flow through a network is often time-consuming and computationally expensive, particularly when analyzing very large networks. Conventional algorithms for computing the maximum flow and/or minimum cut of a network are often relatively complex.

Identifying a minimum cut and/or a maximum flow using balancing of vertex excesses

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A longitudinal bias magnetic field control layer applies a counter bias magnetic field to a soft magnetic layer that is antiparallel (in opposite direction) to a longitudinal bias magnetic field. A magnitude of the counter bias magnetic field applied to the soft magnetic layer by the longitudinal bias magnetic field control layer is set smaller than that of the longitudinal bias magnetic field at a track center portion of the soft magnetic layer applied by a pair of bias magnetic field applying layers. A substantial longitudinal bias magnetic field is substantially applied to the soft magnetic layer in the same direction as that of the longitudinal bias magnetic field, and a magnitude of the substantial longitudinal bias magnetic field is maximum at both end portions of the soft magnetic layer and is weakened at the center portion of the soft magnetic layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thin film magnetic head comprising a magneto-resistive effect element for reading as a signal a magnetic field strength of a magnetic recording medium or the like, and further relates to a head gimbal assembly and a hard disk drive each including such a thin film magnetic head.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, following improvement in areal recording density of a hard disk drive, improvement in performance of a thin film magnetic head has been required. As the thin film magnetic head, use has been widely made of a composite thin film magnetic head having a structure wherein a reproducing head comprising a read-only magneto-resistive effect element (hereinafter may also be referred to simply as an "MR element"), and a recording head comprising a write-only induction-type electromagnetic transducer element are stacked relative to a substrate.
As the MR element, there can be cited an AMR element using an anisotropic magneto-resistive effect, a GMR element using a giant magneto-resistive effect, a TMR element using a tunnel-type magneto-resistive effect, or the like.
As the GMR element, a spin-valve GMR element has been often used. The spin-valve GMR element comprises a nonmagnetic layer, a soft magnetic layer formed on one surface of the nonmagnetic layer, a ferromagnetic layer formed on the other surface of the nonmagnetic layer, and a pinning layer (generally an antiferromagnetic layer) formed on the ferromagnetic layer on its side apart from the nonmagnetic layer. The soft magnetic layer is a layer that acts to change its magnetization direction depending on a signal magnetic field from the exterior. The ferromagnetic layer is a layer of which a magnetization direction is fixed by a magnetic field from the pinning layer (antiferromagnetic layer).
Large output and small Barkhausen noise are required as characteristics of the reproducing head. Generally, in order to reduce the Barkhausen noise, a bias magnetic field is applied to the MR element in a longitudinal direction (hereinafter, this bias magnetic field will be referred to as a "longitudinal bias magnetic field"). The application of the longitudinal bias magnetic field to the MR element is carried out by, for example, disposing bias magnetic field applying layers each in the form of a permanent magnet, a stacked body of a ferromagnetic layer and an antiferromagnetic layer, or the like on both sides of the MR element.
On the other hand, an increase in recording density in the hard disk drive can be achieved by reduction in track width of the thin film magnetic head, reduction in shield gap length representing a distance between two shield layers disposed on upper and lower sides of the MR element, reduction in thickness of a magnetic recording medium, reduction in size of magnetic particles contained in the magnetic recording medium, and so forth.
Following such an increase in recording density, particularly the reduction in track width, the reproduction track width of a spin-valve magneto-resistive effect film is also narrowed so that the following problem has arisen in terms of a relationship between the soft magnetic layer and the bias magnetic field applying layers.
Specifically, the narrowing of the reproduction track width entails corresponding reduction in length of the soft magnetic layer. Therefore, the bias magnetic field from the bias magnetic field applying layers provided at both ends of the soft magnetic layer becomes too strong so that the soft magnetic layer at a track center portion is inhibited from magnetization rotation, thus causing reduction in reproduction output. On the other hand, if the bias magnetic field is weakened by reducing the thickness of each bias magnetic field applying layer, stability of the magnetic head is lost.
In order to solve such a problem, JP-A-2002-367124 has proposed a magnetic head comprising a spin-valve magneto-resistive effect element having a structure wherein a single-domain forming ferromagnetic layer is formed on a soft magnetic free layer via a nonmagnetic separation layer, and the soft magnetic free layer and the single-domain forming ferromagnetic layer are magnetostatically coupled together at track width ends to form a closed magnetic circuit so that the soft magnetic free layer has magnetization substantially fixed in a direction approximately perpendicular to a magnetic field to be sensed.
However, the proposed magnetic head is insufficient in fixation of the magnetization at both end portions of the soft magnetic free layer and thus can not solve the problem about the stability of the head.
On the other hand, JP-A-2001-297412 has proposed that, in addition to normally performed longitudinal biasing, a stacked bias layer is further formed for ferromagnetic coupling or antiferromagnetic coupling to a soft magnetic layer to stabilize magnetization of the soft magnetic layer. Specifically, in this proposal, since a longitudinal bias magnetic field is weakened at a track center portion of the soft magnetic layer to thereby cause instability of a magnetic head, a bias hard magnetic film is provided on the soft magnetic layer via a nonmagnetic layer to apply a further bias magnetic field to the soft magnetic layer.
Through the ferromagnetic coupling or antiferromagnetic coupling to the soft magnetic layer, the bias hard magnetic film serves to assist the magnetization of the soft magnetic layer caused by the longitudinal bias magnetic field, further in the same direction. Accordingly, the magnetization at both end portions of the soft magnetic layer is sufficiently fixed. However, there arises a problem that the magnetic field at the track center portion of the soft magnetic layer also becomes strong like that at its end portions so that sensitivity at the track center portion decreases to lower the reproduction output.
The present invention has been conceived under these circumstances and has an object to provide a thin film magnetic head that not only ensures stable reproduction performance, but also improves sensitivity of a soft magnetic layer at a track center portion thereof to thereby improve a reproduction output, and has a further object to provide a head gimbal assembly and a hard disk drive each comprising such an improved thin film magnetic head.

Thin film magnetic head, head gimbal assembly, and hard disk drive


A liquid crystal display including a lamp, an U-shaped lamp housing surrounding the lamp, and a plastic housing fixed to the lamp housing. A grounding plate is placed between the plastic housing and the lamp housing, wherein the grounding plate has a first portion, placed between the lamp housing and the plastic housing and in contact with a portion of the lamp housing, and a second portion having an elastic portion that protrudes outward. A supporting frame is in contact with the plastic housing and the second portion of the grounding plate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display (LCD), and more particularly, to a housing assembly of an LCD.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional LCD includes a liquid crystal panel 10, a fluorescent lamp 11, a U-shaped lamp housing 12 enclosing the fluorescent lamp 11, a light diffusing sheet 13, which is attached to one surface of the liquid crystal panel, a first prism 14, a second prism 15, a protecting sheet 18, a light guide 16, a light reflecting sheet 17, a first frame 21 holding the components in place, and the display area 19. The display 19 includes two transparent substrates facing each other and having polarizing plates on their outer surfaces, and liquid crystal injected between the two transparent substrates. The LCD further includes a driving circuit 20 that operates the display area. As shown in FIG. 2, the first frame 21 is enclosed within a second frame 22.
The LCD is driven as described below. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the light guide 16. As shown in FIG. 3, one side of the light guide 16 is thicker than an opposite side of the light guide 16. The fluorescent lamp 11 is fastened to the thicker side of the light guide 16. When the fluorescent lamp 11 is turned on, light 23 is reflected from the lamp housing 12 and is directed towards the light guide 16 and to a portion of the light guide 16 further from the fluorescent lamp 11 that is not in contact with the fluorescent lamp 11. Accordingly, the light 23 spreads throughout the light guide 16 and reaches the display area 19 (FIG. 1) by the light diffusing sheet 13. Thin film transistors formed on the liquid crystal panel control pixels based on signals from the driving circuit 20, as shown in FIG. 1, which results in the selective transmittance of the light 23. A group of pixels transmits the light 23 and forms an image on the display area of the LCD.
Electromagnetic waves and static electricity produced by a current supplied to the fluorescent lamp 11 often cause malfunction of the LCD. To prevent the formation of current and static electricity, a grounding plate is attached to the lamp housing 12. The grounding plate is formed in contact with the first and the second frames 21 and 22. Connection of the grounding plate to the first and second frames 21 and 22 is accomplished through a screw-hole 33 formed in the first frame 21. The grounding plate is screwed to the first frame 21 through the screw-hole 33. As a result, the electromagnetic waves and the electromagnetic field formed by the current supplied to the fluorescent lamp 11 are grounded through the grounding plate attached to the lamp housing 12.
As shown in FIG. 4A illustrating a plan view, the grounding plate of the conventional LCD is placed at a corner of a front surface of a frame 32. In addition, a screw 31 is used to fix the grounding plate 30 as shown in FIG. 4B illustrating a side view. Therefore, the thickness of the conventional LCD is as thick as the length of the screw. Furthermore, the display area of the LCD is reduced because the screw-hole 33 is formed in the front surface of the LCD for fixing the grounding plate.


Hydraulic pressure is controlled, which has such advantages that a generation of peak pressure (shoot pressure) can be lowered, mis-operation due to biting of particles can be reduced, or the cost thereof can be reduced. First, a large amount inflow command current is supplied to a proportional solenoid from a time point t1 to a time point t2. Consequentially, pilot pressure rises in a pilot pressure receiving chamber, so that a pressure control valve allows a large amount of hydraulic fluid to flow in a clutch or brake cylinder. At this time, potential detected by a pressure switch becomes zero level. Next, at the time point t2, a filling command small current is supplied to the proportional solenoid, thereby decreasing the amount of hydraulic fluid, which flows from an input port to an output port. This state is maintained from the time point t2 to a time point t3. At the termination of filling, peak pressure will not be generated, and a speed-changing shock in a clutch will not be generated, so that smooth switching can be accomplished.

The present invention relates to a valve apparatus for controlling hydraulic pressure of a hydraulic pressure operated actuator usable for a clutch or a brake, and a method for controlling hydraulic pressure.
A hydraulic pressure control apparatus applicable for a clutch, disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent publication No. 235732/1988, will be explained as an example of prior arts.
FIG. 9 shows a clutch cylinder 101 and a control valve 102 for controlling the clutch cylinder 101 in the above prior art. The control valve 102 includes a pressure control valve 103 for controlling clutch hydraulic pressure, and a flow rate detection valve 104. The flow rate detection valve 104 is provided with a sensor section 105 for detecting filling and clutch pressure level. The pressure control valve 103, the flow rate detection valve 104 and the sensor section 105 are stored in an integrated housing (107 as shown in FIG. 10). The pressure control valve 103 and the sensor section 105 are electrically connected to a controller 106.
As shown in FIG. 10, the control valve 102 includes an input port 110, an output port 111 and drain ports 113 and 114. To the input port 110 of the control valve 102, a hydraulic fluid supply line delivered from a pump (not shown) is connected. And, to the tip of the output port 111, the clutch cylinder 101 (as shown in FIG. 9) is connected.
The pressure control valve 103 has a spool 115, the right end of which comes in contact with a plunger 117 of a proportional solenoid. In the left end of the spool 115, a piston 119 is installed and a spring 118 comes into contact with the spool 115. In the spool 115, a hydraulic chamber 120 close to the piston 119 and a hydraulic passage 121 communicated with the hydraulic chamber 120 are formed. Hydraulic pressure in the hydraulic passage 122 is applied, as a feedback pressure, to the hydraulic chamber 120 via a hydraulic passage 121.
The flow rate detection valve 104 has a spool 125, which defines hydraulic chambers 126, 127 and 128 in the housing 107. An orifice 130 is formed between the hydraulic chambers 127 and 128. Springs 131 and 132 abut on the left and right ends of the spool 125, respectively. The spool 125 is positioned at the neutral position as shown in FIG. 10 under a resilient force of the springs 131 and 132 when pressure dose not rise in the hydraulic chambers 127 and 128. When the piston 125 is at the neutral position, the hydraulic fluid, which has reached from the input port 110 to the flow rate detection valve 104 via the hydraulic passage 129, remains in the hydraulic chamber 126.
A detection pin 134 made of metal is disposed on the upper right side of the flow rate detection valve 104. The pin 134 detects that the spool 125 is displaced in the rightward direction from the neutral position, as shown in FIG. 10, overcoming a resilient force of the spring 132. The detecting pin 134 is mounted to the housing 107 by a cover 135 via an isolation sheet 136. From the end of the detecting pin 134, a lead wire 137 is extended, which is connected to a point xe2x80x9caxe2x80x9d located between resistances R1 and R2 which are connected to each other in series. Between the resistances R1 and R2, a predetermined magnitude of DC voltage V (for instance, 12 V) is applied. The end of the resistance R2 and the housing 107 are grounded respectively. The sensor section 105 comprises these spring 132, detecting pin 134, and resistances R1 and R2.
Next, operation of the hydraulic pressure control apparatus for a clutch having the above-mentioned structure will be explained referring to FIG. 9 to FIG. 11.
The horizontal axis shows a time t in FIG. 11(A) to FIG. 11(E). The vertical axis of FIG. 11(A) shows current I commanded from the controller 106, the vertical axis of FIG. 11(B) shows a pump pressure P0, the vertical axis of FIG. 11(C) shows hydraulic pressure (clutch pressure) P1 in the hydraulic chamber 127 in the front of the orifice 130, the vertical axis of FIG. 11(D) shows hydraulic pressure (clutch pressure) P2 in the hydraulic chamber 128 in the back of the orifice 130, and the vertical axis of FIG. 11(E) shows a output S (a voltage at a point xe2x80x9caxe2x80x9d) of the sensor section 105.
When a clutch is connected, at a time point t1 in FIG. 11, the controller 106 operates so that trigger command current 1I is supplied to the proportional solenoid 116 of the control valve 102. Thereafter, the controller 106 operates so that the trigger command current I1 is lowered to an initial pressure command current 10 and this condition is maintained until the termination of filling. The initial pressure command current 10 corresponds to an initial pressure Pa (as shown in FIG. 11(D)) of the clutch pressure.
By supplying the trigger command current I1, the spool 115 of the pressure control valve 103 is displaced in the leftward direction so that the input port 110 is communicated with the hydraulic passage 122. Consequentially, the hydraulic fluid delivered from the pump is introduced from the input port 110 into the hydraulic chamber 127 of the flow rate detecting valve 104 via the hydraulic passage 122, and then into the hydraulic chamber 128 via the orifice 130. At this moment, differential pressure (P1-P2) is generated between the hydraulic chambers 127 and 128 due to the existence of the orifice 130. The differential pressure causes the spool 125 to be displaced in the leftward direction, so that the flow rate detecting valve 104 is opened. Therefore, the hydraulic fluid flows from the input port 110 into the hydraulic chamber 127 via the hydraulic passage 129 and the hydraulic chamber 126, and then into the clutch via the orifice 130, the hydraulic chamber 128 and the output port 111. The hydraulic fluid continues to flow until a clutch-back becomes completely filled.
Here, when the spool 125 is positioned at the neutral position in FIG. 10, and, during a period in which the spool 125 is being displaced in the leftward direction from the neutral position, the spool 125 is parted away from the detecting pin 134. Accordingly, the potential at the point xe2x80x9caxe2x80x9d is a voltage Vxe2x80x2, which is obtained by dividing the voltage V by the resistances R1 and R2, as shown in FIG. 11(E).
When the clutch-back is completely filled with the hydraulic fluid, the filling is terminated. At this time, since the hydraulic fluid stops flowing, there is no difference in pressures at the front and back of the orifice 130 (that is, P1=P2). At this moment, the spool 125 is displaced in the rightward direction by the spring 131 and a difference in the pressure receiving areas of the spool 125 result in the detecting pin 134, once conducted to the housing 107, being grounded via the spool 125. The conduction is effected by displacement of the spool 125 due to shoot pressure generated at the termination of filling. And, the spool 125 returns to the neutral position in FIG. 10 when the shoot pressure disappears. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 11(E), the potential at the point xe2x80x9caxe2x80x9d is lowered to zero at a time point t2, and rises to Vxe2x80x2 again. A detecting signal S showing the potential at the point xe2x80x9caxe2x80x9d is inputted to the controller 106, which determines the termination of filling from the potential rising at point xe2x80x9caxe2x80x9d. At the termination of filling, the controller 106 operates so that the command current I for the clutch cylinder 101 is gradually increased from the initial pressure command current 10 (as shown in FIG. 11(A)). Incidentally, the controller 106 operates so that the command current for a pre-stage clutch is lowered to zero at the determination of the termination of filling, as shown FIG. 11(A) with a dashed line.
As the result, the clutch pressure is lowered from the shoot pressure to the initial pressure Pa and then gradually increased as shown in FIG. 11(D). Accordingly, the spool 125 is displaced in the leftward direction from the neutral position. Thereafter, when the clutch pressure is gradually increased further to exceed a set pressure Th of the spring 132 at a certain time point t3, the spool 125 is displaced in the rightward direction again with the result that the right end of the spool 15 comes in contact with the detecting pin 134. Therefore, at the time point t3, the potential at the point xe2x80x9caxe2x80x9d is lowered to zero again, and thereafter maintained at that level.
So, the potential at the point xe2x80x9caxe2x80x9d becomes zero when the pressure in the clutch is higher than the set pressure Th, while the potential becomes a predetermined voltage when the pressure in the clutch is less than the set pressure. Accordingly, by monitoring the potential at the point xe2x80x9caxe2x80x9d, it is possible to know the presence or absence of the clutch pressure (that is, the engagement state of the clutch). And, in this case, since the potential at the point xe2x80x9caxe2x80x9d rises after once being lowered to zero, due to the shoot pressure generated at the termination of filling, it is possible to know the termination of filling by detecting the first rising of the shoot pressure.
However, the above-mentioned hydraulic pressure control apparatus for a clutch has following problems.
(1) Response of the flow rate detecting valve 104 is inferior. So, as shown in FIG. 11(D), at the termination of filling, considerable shoot pressure is generated, which may cause speed changing shock.
(2) The pressure control valve 103 is directly driven by thrust of the plunger 117 of the proportional solenoid 116. Thus, if the capacity of the solenoid 116 is small, the thrust may be small, whereby a mis-operation of the pressure control valve 103 may easily occur due to biting of particles in the pressure fluid. On the other hand, when a strong solenoid is employed, the sufficient thrust can be obtained, but causes an increase in cost.
In view of the above-mentioned problems, the object of the present invention is to provide a valve apparatus and a method for controlling hydraulic pressure of an actuator applicable for a clutch or brake, which has such advantages that a generation of peak pressure (shoot pressure) can be lowered, mis-operation due to biting of particles can be reduced, or the cost thereof can be reduced.
To solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a valve apparatus for controlling hydraulic pressure for a clutch or a brake comprising a pressure control valve (30) has a clutch or brake cylinder inner pressure feedback chamber (31x) at one end thereof and a pilot pressure receiving chamber (31y) at another end thereof. The pressure control valve introduces a clutch or brake engagement pressure hydraulic fluid, which has been brought to flow into a clutch or brake cylinder chamber, into the above-mentioned clutch or brake cylinder inner pressure feedback chamber (31x), and increasing the hydraulic fluid pressure of the clutch or brake engagement pressure hydraulic fluid to balance with a magnitude of pilot pressure that is generated in the pilot pressure receiving chamber (31y), so that the pressure control valve (30) controls the clutch or brake cylinder pressure. The valve apparatus also comprises a pilot fluid passage (19), through which the hydraulic fluid flows from a branched passage (18) having a throttle (26a) to the pilot pressure receiving chamber (31y) of the above-mentioned pressure control valve (30) and drains it into a tank. The valve apparatus further comprises a pressure proportional valve (50) which controls the pressure of the pilot fluid that has flowed into the above-mentioned pilot pressure receiving chamber (31y) by positioning a valve element (55) thereof at either position within a drain interruption position, a throttle drain position or a drain release position; a proportional solenoid (40), which changes the position of the valve element (55) of the above-mentioned pressure proportional valve (50) against the flowing of the pilot fluid, and controls the magnitude of the pilot fluid pressure. The valve apparatus also comprises and a pressure switch (60), which communicates with a output port (13) of the above-mentioned pressure control valve (30) and detects the clutch or brake initial engagement pressure when the clutch or brake cylinder hydraulic chamber will be filled with the hydraulic fluid.
Since the conventional flow rate detecting valve, which is relatively inferior in response, is eliminated, the peak pressure (the shoot pressure) at filling completion will not be generated. In addition, it is possible to reduce costs. In addition, since the control is carried out by the pilot pressure, even if the proportional solenoid has small capability, the opening size of the main passage formed at the main valve is large, whereby a large amount of hydraulic fluid can flow and an operation defect of the main valve due to biting of particles will be prevented.
In one aspect of the valve apparatus for controlling hydraulic pressure for a clutch or a brake according to the present invention, it is preferable that the pressure switch operates when the clutch or brake cylinder hydraulic chamber is filled with the hydraulic fluid, thereby rising the clutch or brake initial engagement hydraulic fluid pressure therein, and the pressure switch does not operate when the pressure in the clutch or brake cylinder hydraulic chamber is less than the initial engagement pressure.
In one aspect of the valve apparatus for controlling hydraulic pressure for a clutch or a brake according to the present invention, it is preferable that a filtering means h is provided upstream of the throttle (26a) mounted at the pilot fluid passage (19). In this aspect, particles can be removed by the filter thereby preventing the throttle passage from being blocked.
In addition, in one aspect of the valve apparatus for controlling hydraulic pressure for a clutch or a brake according to the present invention, it is preferable that a second filtering means (230) is provided outside of a casing upstream of the above-mentioned filtering means. In this aspect, replacement and cleaning of the filter can be easily carried out.
The method for controlling hydraulic pressure of the hydraulic fluid control valve, which employs the valve apparatus for controlling hydraulic fluid discussed above connected to a controller, comprises the following five steps.
The first step is for flowing a large amount of hydraulic fluid into the clutch or brake cylinder hydraulic fluid chamber just before the chamber is filled with it. In the step, a clutch or brake engagement start command is inputted to a controller, which operates to output a large amount inflow command current to the proportional solenoid of the hydraulic fluid pressure control valve for a predetermined period. As the result, the drain of the pilot fluid drained from the pressure proportional valve to a tank is interrupted and the pilot fluid pressure in the pilot pressure receiving chamber is increased to a high level, so that a communicating port between the input port and the output port of the pressure control. valve becomes large.
The second step is for flowing a small amount of hydraulic fluid into the clutch or brake cylinder hydraulic fluid chamber until the chamber is filled with it. In the step, after the predetermined period in which the large amount inflow command has been outputted, the controller operates to output a small amount inflow command current to the proportional solenoid of the hydraulic fluid pressure control valve. As the result, the pilot fluid is drained from the pressure proportional valve to a tank through a throttle and the pilot fluid pressure in the pilot pressure receiving chamber is lowered, so that the communicating port between the input port and the output port of the pressure control valve becomes small.
The third step is for detecting the termination of filling. In the step, when the clutch or brake cylinder hydraulic fluid chamber has been filled with the hydraulic fluid and the clutch or brake initial engagement pressure rises, the pressure sensor provided at the hydraulic fluid pressure control valve detects the rising of the clutch or brake initial engagement pressure and outputs this information to the controller.
The fourth step is for gradually-increasing the clutch or brake cylinder initial engagement hydraulic fluid pressure. In the step, the controller, which has been inputted information regarding the termination of filling, operates to stop outputting the small amount inflow command current to the proportional solenoid of the hydraulic pressure control valve and then supplies a gradually-increasing command current to the solenoid for a predetermined period, so that the clutch or brake initial engagement hydraulic fluid pressure reaches a set pressure for the predetermined period. As the result, the opening size of the throttle, through which the pilot fluid is drained from the pressure proportional valve to the tank, is gradually decreased to allow the pilot fluid pressure in the pilot pressure receiving chamber to be gradually increased, and the pressure in the clutch or brake cylinder inner pressure feedback chamber of the pressure control valve to be increased to balance with the gradually-increased pilot fluid pressure.
The fifth step is for outputting the set pressure command signal to the proportional solenoid of the hydraulic fluid pressure control valve. In the step, after the predetermined period in which the clutch or brake initial engagement hydraulic fluid pressure is being increased, the controller operates to stop the hydraulic fluid pressure gradually-increasing command current, and to keep the clutch or brake engagement set pressure, in which the gradual-increase of the pressure has been finished.

Valve apparatus for controlling hydraulic pressure for a clutch or a brake and method for controlling hydraulic pressure


A method of determining a time slot timing based upon an input sequence r(n) is disclosed. The method comprises using a frequency correction channel detector to determine a first time slot end time based upon the input sequence r(n). Then, the frequency correction channel detector is used to determine a second time slot end time based upon an order reversed input sequence r(n). A time slot midpoint is calculated as the average of the first time slot end time and second time slot end time. The time slot midpoint is then used to estimate the time slot timing.

The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a cellular telecommunications system that is used throughout the world. In one specific implementation, GSM utilizes two bands of 25 MHz, which have been set aside for system use. The 890–915 MHz band is used for subscriber to base station transmissions (reverse link), and the 935–960 MHz band is used for base station to subscriber transmissions (forward link). However, it can be appreciated that other bandwidths and frequency ranges may also be used to implement the GSM protocol. The GSM protocol uses frequency division duplexing and time division multiple access (TDMA) techniques to provide base stations with simultaneous access to multiple users. Transmissions on both the forward and reverse link are made at a channel data rate of approximately 270 Kbps, using binary Gaussian minimum shift key (GMSK) modulation.
In the GSM protocol, there are traffic channels and control channels. The traffic channels carry the digitized voice or user data. The control channels include what is known as the frequency correction channel (FCCH), which is a special data burst which occupies time slot 0 for the very first GSM frame and is repeated every ten frames within a control channel multiframe. The FCCH allows each subscriber unit to synchronize its internal frequency (local oscillator) to the exact frequency of the base station.
Typically, the frequency correction channel is a single tone with a nominal frequency within a given frequency range, and repeats every 50 bursts. However, factors such as strong Gaussian noise, strong co-channel or adjacent channel interference, and severe fading, have made a typical methods quite unreliable and time consuming. The net effect from the user's perspective thus becomes long establishing periods.
Another control channel is the synchronization control channel (SCH), which is typically broadcast in timeslot zero (TS 0) of the frame immediately following the FCCH frame and is used to identify the serving base station while allowing each mobile unit to frame synchronize with the base station. The frame number (FN) is sent with the base station identity code (BSIC) during the SCH burst. The BSIC is uniquely assigned to each base station in a GSM system.
In order to decode the SCH data burst, it is generally required to estimate the time slot timing of the SCH data burst. A rough time slot estimate is required to position the SCH data burst for decoding. More exact frame timing can be achieved after the SCH burst has been decoded by examining the channel peak acquisition. As long as the error of the rough time slot timing is within a certain limit, the handshake process between the base station and the mobile unit can be successful. However, if the error in the rough timing estimate is larger than what the SCH burst decoding process can handle, then the SCH burst decoding will fail.

Bi-directional time slot estimator for wireless communication system


The present application relates sensing reactive components in fluids by monitoring band gap changes to a material having interacted with the reactive components via physisorption and/or chemisorption. In some embodiments, the sensors of the present disclosure include the material as a reactive surface on a substrate. The band gap changes may be detected by measuring conductance changes and/or spectroscopic changes. In some instances, the sensing may occur downhole during one or more wellbore operations like drilling, hydraulic fracturing, and producing hydrocarbons.

The present application relates sensing reactive components in fluids.
Hydrocarbon producing wells may contain many different formation liquids and gases such as methane, ethane, and other higher hydrocarbons, as well as carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, water, and other compounds. In order to evaluate the commercial value of a hydrocarbon producing well, or as an aid in operations and well planning, it is often useful to obtain information by analyzing the component concentrations of the produced fluid from a formation or an individual well.
For example, certain components in downhole fluids are corrosive. In general, there are four types of corrosion: sweet, sour, oxygen, and electrochemical. Sour corrosion is found in oil and gas wells that contain hydrogen sulfide gas. Hydrogen sulfide also presents health risks that need to be addressed and planned for. Wells may also produce other undesirable corrosive components such as carbon dioxide. A good understanding of the downhole fluid and gas concentrations is desirable in an attempt to control corrosion rates and to plan for safe development and production of the hydrocarbons.
Spectroscopy is a known technique for analyzing downhole fluids, including drilling fluids and crude oil. For example, methods are known for analyzing drilling muds that involve reflectance or transmittance infrared (IR) spectroscopy that assays the components of the fluid directly. Spectroscopy is typically employed in wellbore environments in the near infrared-range of from 1000 to 2500 nm. Spectroscopy is typically emitted in this range because near IR emitters and sensors are known to be easier to operate at well temperatures while longer wavelength emitters have shown limited output optical power under similar well conditions.
Typically, spectroscopy monitoring involves obtaining a formation fluid sample downhole and bringing the sample to the surface where measurements and processing of the resultant data takes place. These measurement methods are typically utilized at relatively large time intervals and thus do not provide continuous information about wellbore condition or that of the surrounding formations.

Detection via bandgap of reactive components in fluids


An access portal for a pet carrier allows a pet owner to insert a hand into the pet carrier but prevents the animal contained therein from escaping through the access portal. The access portal may be blocked by an elastic barrier with an aperture that stretches to allow the pet owner to gain access to the interior of the pet carrier. Doors covering the access portal on the inside and/or the outside of the carrier may also be used instead of, or in conjunction with the elastic barrier.

Pet carriers of varying sizes, shapes, and designs are currently available. Some existing carrier designs include, for example, plastic, hard-shell boxes and large tote bags. Examples of pet carriers are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,523,499, 5,931,120, and 3,547,079.
Although pet carriers may be used as kennels for animals, they are typically used to transport animals from point to point in private vehicles or public transportation vehicles, such as planes, buses, and trains.
Animals are sometimes kept in pet carriers for extended periods of time. When transporting an animal in a private vehicle, the pet owner may choose to keep the animal in the pet carrier if the animal has a tendency to wander about the vehicle. An unrestrained animal may lodge itself in hard to reach or unsafe places, or distract the operator of the vehicle. When traveling in a public transportation vehicle, for the safety of the other passengers and for the safety of the animal, the pet owner may be required to keep the animal in the pet carrier for the duration of the trip. In addition, at certain destinations, such as a veterinarian's office, the pet owner may be required to keep the animal in the pet earner even after arriving.
Being confined in a pet carrier, even for a short duration, can be a disquieting experience for many animals. Particularly on long trips, animals can become anxious and unsettled within the pet carrier. Often, however, the reassuring touch of the pet owner's hand can calm the animal. As a result, pet owners often desire to insert a hand into the pet carrier to provide assurance to the animal. In addition to calming the animal, a pet owner may also desire to insert a hand into the pet carrier to feed the animal or arrange other items in the pet carrier, such as an animal toy or blanket.
Prior art pet carriers generally include access doors that provide access to the interior space of the carriers to allow the pet owner to place the animal into, and remove the animal from, the pet carrier. Typical access doors include doors composed of rigid wire crossed bars, or flap-covered openings secured by a zipper. Such access doors allow the pet owner to insert their hand into the pet carrier. When such access doors are opened to allow access to the interior of the carrier, however, they may also permit the animal to escape from the pet carrier. Depending on the animal's surroundings, an escaped pet could pose a hazard to itself other animals, or persons in the immediate vicinity. For example, in a car, an unrestrained animal could distract the driver and cause a collision. In a veterinarian's office, an unrestrained animal could come into contact with, and potentially injure other animals, or be injured by other animals. In an open location, the pet could escape from the area and desert the pet owner.
In addition to an access door, many pet carriers also have small holes in the sides of the carrier. The small holes are generally designed to provide ventilation for the animal and only provide limited access to the interior of the pet carrier. Such holes are generally only large enough to allow a pet owner to insert one or two fingers into the carrier. Accordingly, access to the interior of the pet carrier through the ventilation holes is usually quite limited. Oftentimes, if the animal is positioned away from one side of the carrier, the pet owner will not be able to reach the animal through the ventilation holes on that side.
Providing an open hole in the exterior of a pet carrier which is large enough to allow a pet owner to insert a hand into the pet carrier, but also small enough to prevent an animal from escaping, is not a practical option. Most pet carriers are intended to be used for animals in a wide range of shapes and sizes. Moreover, the size of a given animal will change as it ages from new-born to adult. Therefore, a portal that might be small enough to prevent one animal from escaping might be large enough to allow another animal, or the same animal earlier in its life cycle, to escape from the carrier. In addition, because animals, and particularly cats, can squeeze through small holes, an open hole in a pet carrier intended for pets of various sizes would have to be limited to a very small size, such as the ventilation holes described above. A hole of that size would not be large enough to permit a pet owner to insert a hand into the carrier. A further complicating factor that would need to be taken into account is that different pet owners have different sized hands and therefore a hole that is large enough for some pet owners' hands may be too small for other pet owners.
Some pet carriers that are constructed from flexible materials, such as canvas, have one or more openings that may be closed with a zipper or a draw-string. Closing a portal with a zipper or a draw-string, however, will not prevent the animal from escaping when the portal is opened. Although both a zipper and a draw-string can be used to limit the portal to a size that is only slightly larger than the pet owner's hand, the zipper or draw-string could inadvertently be opened too far, allowing the animal to escape from the pet carrier. In addition, a zipper is particularly dangerous for pets with fur because the animal's fur may catch in the zipper when the zipper is closed.


The present invention provides a liquid crystal horizontal orientation agent, a horizontal orientation type liquid crystal composition, a horizontal orientation type LCD device and a method of fabricating the horizontal orientation type LCD device. In one embodiment, the liquid crystal molecule is horizontally oriented by the liquid crystal horizontal orientation agent without the rubbed orientation layer.

Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display (LCD) device, and more particularly, to a liquid crystal horizontal orientation agent, a horizontal orientation type liquid crystal composition, and a horizontal orientation type LCD device and a method of fabricating the same.
Related Art
Since the LCD device has characteristics of low driving voltage, low power consumption, light weight, and so on, the LCD device is widely used for a display device of watches, mobile phones, computers, televisions, and so on.
The LCD device is driven in a twisted nematic (TN) mode, a vertical alignment (VA) mode and an in-plane switching (IPS) mode. Properties, e.g., a refractive index, a dielectric constant, viscosity or a phase transition temperature, of the liquid crystal material are changed according to the driving mode of the LCD device. To meet the properties, the liquid crystal material includes at least two compounds. Recently, the liquid crystal material including fine particles to improve properties of the liquid crystal material is introduced. See, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No.: 2005-247921, published on May 15, 2009.
The LCD device requires an element controlling the direction of the liquid crystal molecule. Generally, an orientation layer is formed to control the direction of the liquid crystal molecule. For example, in the TN and IPS mode of the LCD device, the direction of the liquid crystal molecule is controlled in a horizontal direction with respect to a substrate by the rubbed orientation layer. On the other hand, in the VA mode of the LCD device, which does not require a rubbing process, the liquid crystal molecule is controlled in a vertical direction with respect to the substrate by the orientation layer. The term of "orientation layer" means a layer controlling an arrangement state of the liquid crystal molecule. Generally, the orientation layer is formed of a resin such as polyimide. The term of "rubbing process" means a process of rubbing the surface of the orientation layer along one direction by rotating a roller, on which clothes, e.g., rayon or cotton, with a pre-determined number of rotation and maintaining a pre-determined distance between the roller and the substrate.
However, there are various problems resulting from the forming process of the orientation layer and the rubbing process in the arrangement control of the liquid crystal molecule using the orientation layer. For example, in the forming process of the orientation layer or the rubbing process, dusts or pin-holes are generated such that the production yield is decreased or the production costs. Such problems in the large glass substrate are increased.
To control the arrangement of the liquid crystal molecule without the orientation layer, the liquid crystal composition including dendrimer as a liquid crystal orientation agent is introduced. See, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No.: 2010-170090, published Aug. 5, 2010. Since the liquid crystal molecule is oriented in a vertical direction with respect to the substrate by the liquid crystal orientation agent introduced in the above Japanese Patent Publication, the liquid crystal orientation agent is used for the VA mode LCD device.

Liquid crystal horizontal orientation agent, horizontal orientation type liquid crystal composition, and horizontal orientation type liquid crystal display device and method of fabricating the same


The disclosure provides a touch panel, including: a substrate, wherein the substrate includes a viewing region and a border region at an edge of the viewing region; a patterned transparent conductive layer formed on the substrate, wherein the patterned transparent conductive layer formed on the viewing region has a touch sensitive function; and a patterned metal layer formed on the patterned transparent conductive layer and on the border region, wherein the patterned metal layer includes a contact region and a trace region connecting to the contact region, and at least a portion of the contact region overlaps with the patterned transparent conductive layer, and a shift range between a formation position of the contact region of the patterned metal layer and a formation position of the patterned transparent conductive layer is smaller than about 150 μm.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a touch panel, and in particular relates to a touch panel and method for fabricating the same and a display device comprising the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Consumer electronic applications are becoming increasingly diverse with the rapid progress of science and technology. Many electronic products are light, thin, short and small. Moreover, in various electronic products, touch panels are widely used, such as in portable electronic products (such as personal digital assistant (PDA) or mobile phone).
There are several types of touch panels including resistive, capacitive, surface acoustic wave, and optics touch panels, etc. The capacitive type touch panel comprises a surface capacitive type and a projective capacitive type. The capacitive type touch panel has the advantage of high light transmission, and considerable research attention has been recently focused on development thereof.
FIG. 1 shows a top-view schematic representation of a typical capacitive touch panel 10 of prior art. The capacitive touch panel 10 comprises a border region 2a and a viewing region 2b, wherein the border region 2a is formed at an edge of the viewing region 2b. The viewing region 2b is essentially formed by a patterned transparent conductive layer 14a, such as indium tin oxide (ITO). The patterning process is a known photolithography and etching process. The border region 2a is essentially formed by a trace 16 which is formed by a silver screen printing process. While the manufacturing trend is towards the touch panel to have narrow borders, an overlapping width d1 between the patterned transparent conductive layer 14a and the trace 16 is needed to meet the requirement of below 0.3 mm, and a pitch d2 between the trace 16 and the viewing region 2b is needed to meet the requirement of below 0.5 mm.
Conventionally, the patterned transparent conductive layer 14a is firstly formed and then the trace 16 is formed by a silver screen printing process. However, these fabrication processes must consider the precision of the photolithography process and the silver screen printing process, and also consider the precision of assembling the cover glass and sensitive device (comprising the patterned transparent conductive layer 14a and the trace 16). Thus, a touch panel meeting the above-mentioned d1 and d2 requirements is not easy to fabricate.
Therefore, there is a need to develop a touch panel and method for fabricating the same to improve the precision of processes and production capacity.

Touch panel and method for fabricating the same and display device comprising the same