A video and audio reproducing apparatus is provided with a re-synchronization controlling portion (20) for carrying out operation control with respect to re-synchronization of video and audio which are transmitted via an IP network, wherein the delay times of video data and audio data are controlled by the video delay controlling portion (21) and audio delay controlling portion (22), respectively, thereby carrying out re-synchronization. At this time, the re-synchronization controlling portion (20) judges re-synchronization timing on the basis of the audio level of audio data, encoding video type of video data, data transmission status and user operation, etc., and at the same time, judges the priority for which mode of the video priority mode or the audio priority mode the re-synchronization is carried out, on the basis of a fluctuation in the arrival time of audio data, data transmission status, contents of video data and audio data and user operation, etc. And, the delay amount for synchronization is determined by executing a prescribed re-synchronization algorithm at the re-synchronization timing to control the video delay controlling portion (21) and the audio delay controlling portion (22), wherein disturbances in video and audio can be mitigated when carrying out re-synchronization.

Recently, a video and audio reproducing apparatus has been used, which reproduces digitized video and audio that are transmitted via a communications line. For example, a moving image distribution system for transmitting moving image data by means of a local area network (a so-called LAN) and other networks such as the INTERNET, etc., and a moving image reproducing apparatus for reproducing moving image data transmitted via a network have been put into practical use.
In such a video and audio reproducing apparatus, for example, in an IP network that carries out data transmission by means of an IP (Internet Protocol), there may be a case where reproduction timing of video and audio lags due to a lag in data transmission time when transmitting packetized video and audio data. Video and audio are synchronized to correspond to such a case. In order to synchronize video and audio, it is common that at least any one of video and audio is delayed by using means for detecting a lag in the receiving time on the basis of time information added to received video and audio data and means for delaying signals to make reproduction timing of the video coincident with that of the audio, whereby the reproduction timing is adjusted to secure synchronization therebetween.
The following procedures for synchronizing video and audio have been conventionally employed:
(1) A delay amount is determined by obtaining a difference in the receiving time between a video packet and a audio packet by the lag detecting means when starting receiving data packets. (2) The delay amount thus determined is set in the delaying means, and hereafter, synchronization is secured by carrying out reproduction while delaying the received data. (3) The delaying amount is re-checked per packet or once every fixed interval in order to execute re-synchronization.
For example, Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. H8-46884 has disclosed a technology for synchronizing video and audio in response to a difference in PTS using respective timing reference signals (PTS) of a video component and a audio component. Also, Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. H9-214936 has disclosed a technology for carrying out re-synchronization by processing refresh process data while permitting delay up to an established permissible value of a processing delay where a decoding process of moving image data delays in response to conditions of a system and requesting refresh process data by clearing the received unprocessed moving image data where the delay exceeds the permissible value of processing delay.
There may be cases where synchronization lags due to a fluctuation in the receiving timing of a data packet during reproduction even if video and audio are once synchronized. As described in the above-described procedure (3), it is necessary to re-synchronize once every fixed interval. However, in prior art synchronizing methods, no device is considered with respect to the re-synchronization timing, wherein there may be cases where, due to discontinuity in reproduction signals when executing re-synchronization, video and audio are interrupted or are subjected to disturbances, and in such cases, viewers feel unnatural or uncomfortable.


An integrated pilot protection and restraining system having a circular bearing structure configured to surround the neck of the wearer, and a non-conformal helmet which is detachably coupled to and rotatably supported by the bearing structure. An automatic helmet rotation system is provided for controlling rotation of the helmet in response to movements of the wearer's head in order to maintain the helmet in a predetermined position with respect to the wearer's head. The system further includes a restraining anchor disposed on a rear portion of the bearing structure at its non-rotating base proximate to the base of the wearer's neck. The restraining anchor is coupled to a retractable restraining device.

With the recent advent of high performance fighter aircraft capable of sustained high acceleration (9+G.sub.Z) and high altitude (+50,000 feet) flight, air crew protection performance has become a major limitation in aircraft operation. This is due to both current standard equipment design limitations and the lack of integration by design.
The provision of head protection and bodily restraint in conventional helmet configurations presents a major limitation in protection performance. With respect to state of the art helmet configurations, human factors such as comfort, stress and fatigue are performance limiting, principally because the entire head (eyes, ears, neck) is not protected. Additionally, in a high sustained (+G.sub.Z) acceleration environment, the weight of the head born helmet configuration compounds rather than ameliorates air crew G-loading induced difficulties. For example, conventional helmet configurations which include oxygen-communication masks may weigh up to 7 pounds. While the weight of such headborne components are of limited concern during low acceleration flight of an aircraft, they may have drastic effects on the pilot during high acceleration of the aircraft. The high G-forces imposed on the pilot effectively multiply the weight of the helmet and, therefore, increase the head and neck stress of the pilot during attempted head movements. It is therefore highly desirable to provide a helmet which is not burdensome to the pilot's head and neck during G-force acceleration, and which is easily rotatable to maximize visibility.
Conventional pilot restraint devices, such as lap or upper body straps, restrain the pilot's torso both in flight and during an ejection sequence. However, the pilot's neck and head are free to move forward, in a lateral direction, or rotate in order to achieve desired viewing positions. Also, conventional straps have been found to be inadequate in correctly positioning the pilot in the ejection seat during ejection. The correct position involves the pilot's head, neck, and spine being aligned along the axis of propulsion of the ejection seat from the aircraft. Injuries may occur to the pilot by contact with parts of the aircraft or simply as a result of the high acceleration of the ejection seat as it is propelled from the aircraft. It is therefore desirable to provide a restraining system which both allows freedom of movement of the upper body and head within the cockpit during normal flight and enhances alignment and restraint of the upper body and head of the pilot both in flight and during the ejection sequence.

Integrated pilot protective and restraint system


A data processing device associates a test module with a sequence of instructions, the test module producing a test result by performing a test on a sequence of instructions. In the sequence of instructions, a first instruction comprising a target address is replaced with a second instruction having an instruction address in the sequence, the second instruction to transfer control to the test module. The target address is stored within an encrypted table, and the test module locates the target address in the table and transfers control to the target address when the test result indicates the sequence of instructions may proceed.

1. Field
The present invention relates to software test sequences and, more particularly, to post-compilation software test sequences.
2. Background Information
The proliferation of software piracy, viruses, and hacking has created a need for secure mechanisms for testing instruction sequences and preserving their integrity.
One approach employed by existing virus scanning programs is to test the instruction sequence each time the instruction sequence is loaded for execution. The test takes the form of a verification of the sequence to confirm that the sequence has not been altered. An encrypted hash value is appended to the instruction sequence and each time the sequence is loaded for execution, a hash value is computed on the sequence and compared with the encrypted hash value. If the values match, the sequence is verified and permitted to execute. A disadvantage of this approach is that it employs a separate program to test the sequence. This separate program may be installed on each data processing device which executes the sequence, or else the sequence will be untested in some environments. Another disadvantage of this approach is that once the sequence is loaded in memory, a third party may modify the sequence in memory and alter its intended execution. Testing is performed only at load time, so that execution-time modifications are not detected. For example, third parties might load a game program with a registration checker, and then bypass the registration checker by modifying the game instruction sequence in memory after it has been loaded.
Some schemes for protecting instruction sequences involve the entire sequence encrypted with a key. Only special programs with an associated key may decrypt the program for loading in this approach. These schemes suffer from similar drawbacks as the prior art virus checker discussed above—each data processing device on which the sequence runs includes the special loading program, and once the sequence is in memory, it may be subject to alteration.
Other testing schemes cause control of the sequence of instructions to be transferred to a test module during execution of the sequence, the test module to perform a test on the sequence (for example, to test the integrity of the instructions in the sequence for alterations). A disadvantage of this approach is that it may be relatively simple for a third party to modify the instruction sequence in memory to bypass the test module. It would be desirable to implement a scheme in which it would be difficult for a third party to bypass the test module.
Still other testing schemes involve access to the source code of the sequence to be tested, to determine points at which the test module may be invoked. It may not always be possible to access source code, especially when the sequence to test is not created by the same party performing the test.

Method and apparatus to test an instruction sequence


A method of operating an internal combustion engine having a variable cam timing mechanism in cooperation with a plurality of deactivatable cylinders and corresponding intake valves includes the steps of scheduling a transition mode of the engine, determining a desired engine torque during the transition mode, determining a VCT phase angle based on the desired engine torque and operating the variable cam timing mechanism in accordance with the VCT phase angle to provide the desired engine torque during the transition mode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method and system for operating of an internal combustion engine having one or more deactivatable cylinders. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and system for transitioning operation of a variable displacement internal combustion engine so as to reduce undesired engine torque responses occurring during displacement mode transitions of the engine.
2. Background Art
Variable displacement internal combustion engines have been developed to provide maximum engine torque output while operating the engine with a full complement of so-called xe2x80x9cactivatedxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cenabledxe2x80x9d cylinders, and to minimize vehicle fuel consumption and exhaust emissions while operating the engine with a fewer number of activated cylinders. During high speed, high load operating conditions, for example, all cylinders are usually activated as required to provide maximum torque. During low speed, low load conditions, however, individual or banks of cylinders are deactivated in order to minimize fuel consumption and reduce emissions. Variable displacement capabilities can be combined, for example with variable cam timing (VCT), to further improve the fuel economy and emissions performance of the vehicle.
A problem with conventional variable displacement engines (VDE""s), however, occurs when transitioning engine operation between various displacement modes, e.g., full cylinder mode to a reduced cylinder mode and visa-versa. During transitions, during which the number of activated cylinders is increased or decreased, the driver-demanded torque must be maintained for the transition to remain imperceptible to the driver. When transitioning from full cylinder mode to a reduced cylinder mode, for example, a powertrain control problem arises in that the manifold pressure required to maintain a constant driver-demanded torque output is different than that required in full cylinder mode. This is so because the per cylinder load changes with the number of activated and deactivated cylinders. Likewise, when transitioning from a reduced cylinder mode to full cylinder mode, a different manifold pressure is required.
Undesired torque disturbances during transitions can be minimized by properly operating an engine""s electronic throttle. A problem with such a method however is that manifold pressure cannot change instantaneously. Thus, a transition from one cylinder mode to another will cause the torque output of the engine to surge or lag the driver-demanded torque until the manifold pressure can be regulated using the electronic throttle.
A known solution to this problem is to control the electronic throttle to establish a target or adjusted manifold absolute pressure (MAP) just prior to a transition from one cylinder mode to another. After the MAP has been adjusted, designated cylinders are deactivated and the engine is placed in reduced cylinder mode. Thereby, when the engine is transitioned to the reduced cylinder mode, the engine""s intake manifold is filled as required to maintain the driver-demanded engine torque immediately upon cylinder deactivation. Similarly, when transitioning from a reduced to a full cylinder mode, the MAP is lowered to maintain the driver-demanded engine torque immediately upon cylinder activation. In either case however, the adjusted MAP still often yields an engine torque that is either in excess or below the driver-demanded engine torque.
To compensate for the adjusted MAP, spark retard techniques are used to maintain the driver-demanded torque during cylinder mode transitions. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,374,224 and 5,437,253 assigned to the assignee of the present invention. In the case of a transition from full to reduced cylinder mode, for example, spark retard is used to reduce engine torque just prior to cylinder deactivation. However, combustion instability introduced by the spark retard serves to limit the amount of torque reduction achievable with these techniques.
Accordingly, with a variable displacement internal combustion engine having a VCT mechanism, the inventors herein have recognized that the VCT mechanism itself can be used to more accurately control engine torque output during transitions to and from reduced cylinder mode operation of the engine.
The aforedescribed limitations of conventional control methods and systems are substantially overcome by the present invention, in which a method is provided for operating an internal combustion engine having a variable cam timing mechanism in cooperation with a plurality of deactivatable cylinders and corresponding intake valves. The method includes the steps of scheduling a transition mode of the engine, determining a desired engine torque during the transition mode, determining a VCT phase angle based on the desired engine torque, and operating the variable cam timing mechanism in accordance with the VCT phase angle to provide the desired engine torque output during the transition mode. Preferably, the step of determining the desired engine torque includes determining a desired cylinder air charge required to produce the desired engine torque. The desired air charge is then used to select the VCT phase angle required to operate the VCT mechanism to provide the desired engine torque output during the transition mode.
A corresponding system is also provided for operating an internal combustion engine having an intake manifold, an electronic throttle, an ignition system and a variable cam timing mechanism in cooperation with a plurality of deactivatable cylinders and corresponding intake valves. The system includes a manifold absolute pressure (MAP) sensor disposed in the intake manifold and a controller coupled to the MAP sensor for receiving a signal from the MAP sensor. Alternatively, one or more sensors are provided for inferring MAP. The controller includes computer program code and databases for determining an occurrence of a transition mode of the engine, determining a desired engine torque during the transition mode, determining a VCT phase angle based on the desired engine torque, and for operating the VCT mechanism in accordance with the VCT phase angle to provide the desired engine torque during the transition mode.
An advantage of the above-described method and system is that a VCT mechanism can be used to minimize the effects of undesired engine torque perturbations, fluctuations, disturbances and the like occurring during transitions between operating modes of a variable displacement engine (VDE). Specifically, by operating a VCT mechanism in accordance with the present invention, manifold air pressure can be more accurately controlled during transitions of the VDE engine from a full cylinder mode to a reduced cylinder mode and visa-versa. Dual equal variable cam timing (DEVCT) actuators, for example, can be used to control the relationship between cylinder load and manifold vacuum by varying the relative phase angle of the cam with respect to base timing to avoid undesired torque responses by the engine. When transitioning from a full cylinder mode to a reduced cylinder mode, for example, cam retard can be scheduled to reduce engine torque output when the manifold air pressure is higher than what it should be for a desired, driver-commanded torque output.
In addition, the method of the present invention can be combined with conventional spark retard techniques to provide more improved torque response without significantly impacting combustion stability.
Further objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying figures showing illustrative embodiments of the invention.

Method and system for operating variable displacement internal combustion engine


Fine metallic particles-containing fibers with various fine metallic particles therein, which have fiber properties to such degree that they can be processed and worked, and which can exhibit various functions of the fine metallic particles, such as antibacterial deodorizing and electroconductive properties are provided, as well as a method for producing the same.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fine metallic particles-containing fibers and a method for producing the same. The incorporation of fine particles of metals and/or hardly-soluble metallic salts into fibers can make the fibers have various functions intrinsic to such fine metallic particles, such as antibacterial property, antifungal property, odor-repelling property, deodorizing property, flame-retarding property, ultraviolet-preventing property, heat-retaining property, surface-improving property, designed property, refreshing property, electroconductive property, rust-preventing property, lubricative property, magnetic property, light-reflecting property, selectively light-absorbing property, heat-absorbing property, heat-conductive property, and heat-reflecting property. Therefore, the fine metallic particles-containing fibers with such functions can be used in various fields.
2. Prior Art
Fibers with various functions have heretofore been proposed, which contain fine metallic particles having particle sizes of not larger than micron orders or so in fiber matrices. The most popular are fine metallic particles-containing fibers to be obtained by adding and dispersing fine metallic particles themselves in a polymer followed by making the resulting polymer fibrous, such as those disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 1-96244, 2-16940 and 6-293611. Also known are fine metallic particles-containing fibers to be obtained by making fine inorganic particles carry fine metallic particles thereon, adding the resulting fine inorganic particles to a resin, and shaping the resulting resin, such as those disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 7-165519 and 7-173392. However, in such conventional, fine metallic particles-containing fibers to be obtained according to the known methods, it is difficult to uniformly disperse the fine metallic particles or the inorganic particles in the polymer since the specific gravity of the metallic particles or the inorganic particles differs from that of the polymer, since the affinity of the particles for the polymer is poor. In addition, the methods are still problematic in that, of the fine metallic particles to be added in them, finer metallic particles of not larger than sub-micron orders are difficult to prepare, that the cost of such finer particles is high, and that it is difficult to safely handle such finer particles. For these reasons, therefore, the particle sizes of fine metallic particles capable of being actually used in industrial plants are limited. Moreover, there is still another problem with the known methods in that the fibers shall frequently experience a heat history in the shaping and processing steps, in which the metals themselves in the fibers are often deteriorated.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 6-287355 and 6-293611, disclosed are shaped articles such as fibers to be produced by incorporating a metallic salt or the like into a polymer matrix, then reducing the metallic salt through heat-treatment of the polymer to thereby give a resin containing ultra-fine particles as uniformly dispersed therein, and finally shaping the resin. However, this method is problematic in that (1) there is a probability that the metallic complex or metallic salt is not uniformly dispersed in the polymer matrix during the step of mixing them, (2) the cost of the metallic complex or metallic salt to be used is high, (3) the ligand of the metallic complex used or the compound having a counter ion to the metal ion of the metallic salt used becomes unnecessary after the conversion of the metallic complex or the metallic salt into fine metallic particles, and such unnecessary substances, as often dissolving out of the final product, have some negative influences on the basic physical properties and other properties of the final product, (4) since the final product shall contain a large amount of the ligand of the metallic complex used or the compound having a counter ion to the metal ion of the metallic salt used, which becomes unnecessary after the precipitation of fine metallic particles, it is impossible to increase the content of the fine metallic particles in the final product, and (5) since the matrix to be used in the conventional techniques as referred to hereinabove is a thermoplastic resin capable of being shaped and processed under heat, the final product to be obtained could not have high heat resistance.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 56-148965, disclosed are fine silver particles-containing fibers in which metal silver is in the surface layer of each fiber. However, this prior art technique disclosed is also problematic in that (1) since a carboxylic acid is localized in the smallest possible area in the surface layer of each fiber in order to prevent the physical properties of the fibers from being deteriorated, the amount of the polar group capable of carrying the metal is reduced with the result that the amount of the fine metallic particles to be in the fibers is limited, and (2) since fibers that are generally obtainable in ordinary industrial plants have a thickness of about 10.mu. or more and therefore have a small surface area relative to the unit weight, their efficiency of expressing the functions of the fine metallic particles contained therein is low, and in addition, the fine metallic particles existing in the inside of the fibers but not on their surfaces could not be utilized effectively. For these problematic reasons (1) and (2), if the functions of metals are desired to be effectively utilized or, for example, if a large amount of a metal is desired to be incorporated into fibers in order to make the fibers anti-fungal, the amount of the fine metallic particles-containing fibers themselves to be mixed with other fibers must be increased, resulting in the increase in the cost of the mixed fibers. Moreover, since the amount itself of the metal existing in the fibers is not satisfactorily large, the fibers could not often express the intended functions. In addition to these (1) and (2), the prior art technique disclosed is still further problematic in that (3) since the fine metallic particles are localized only in the surface area of each fiber, the fine metallic fibers are dropped off, when the fibers are mechanically abraded, for example, in the post-processing step, thereby resulting in significant reduction in the functions of the fibers, though such is not so much problematic if the post-processing step is conducted under relatively mild conditions, and (4) since the ion-exchanged silver ion is once precipitated in the form of a silver compound and thereafter the compound is reduced, the silver compound precipitated is often removed out of the system, resulting in the reduction in the utilization of the silver ions, and in addition, the two-step reaction is troublesome and expensive.
On the other hand, with the recent diversification in the life style and with the recent increase in the density of the living environment and also the recent increase in the airtight condition in the living environment, odors have become considered problematic in the living environment and the demand for removing odors from the living environment is increasing.
Some conventional deodorizing fibers are known, for example, activated charcoal-containing fibers, and also fibers with a deodorizing substance as adhered to and fixed on their surfaces or kneaded into the fibers by post-treatment, which, however, are all problematic. Precisely, since activated charcoal-containing fibers are black and, in addition, basically have low physical properties, their use is limited. The fibers with a deodorizing substance as adhered to and fixed on their surfaces by post-treatment could not basically have large deodorizing capacity. The fibers with a deodorizing substance as kneaded thereinto by post-treatment are problematic in that, if the particles of the deodorizing substance as kneaded into the fibers have large particle sizes, they greatly worsen the physical properties of the fibers. Therefore, in the deodorizing substance-kneaded fibers, the particles of the deodorizing substance are desired to have small particle sizes. In these, in addition, it is desired that the particles of the deodorizing substance have the smallest possible particle sizes also in view of the deodorizing capacity of the fibers. However, since the particles of the deodorizing substance to be kneaded into fibers are limited in reducing their particle sizes, the deodorizing substance-kneaded fibers are still problematic in that they could not sufficiently express the deodorizing effect of the substance.

Fine metallic particles-containing fibers and method for producing the same

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A method for deploying a reconnaissance sonde, including the steps of: incorporating at least one environmental sensor and an associated communication device into a robust, aerodynamically efficient casing; deploying the sonde by imparting a spin and a directional velocity to the casing, sufficient to carry the sonde into a region of interest; and establishing communication with the communication device, thereby enabling data from the sensor(s) to be transmitted to a remote location. A sonde for remote data collection is also provided, including at least one environmental sensor, an energy source and communication means. The sonde is generally shaped as a discus or saucer, a clay pigeon or skeet, for deployment by applying a spin and directional velocity to the sonde.

In many situations, it is desirable to monitor environmental conditions and/or human or animal activity at a position remote from the observer. This may be because the surveyed region is extensive, so that direct observation of the entire region is impractical. It may be because direct observation would disturb the phenomenon to be observed, for example in the case of observing human or animal behaviour. It may be because the surveyed region is dangerous for direct observation for reasons such as chemical or radiological pollution, seismic or water activity, or the threat of violence from other interested people.
For whatever reason, in these situations, it is required that a sonde may be deployed rapidly and accurately, so that personnel employed in the deployment of the sondes spend as little time as possible in the surveyed location. It is further required that the sonde be autonomous, sensitive to the events of interest and robust enough to require no maintenance after deployment, and have a useful lifetime.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,380,889 describes a reconnaissance sonde carrying sensors and communication equipment. The described sonde is deployed from a rocket, which breaks up to reveal a sonde on a parachute, which descends into the surveyed region. German patent applications DE 4104800 and DE 3313648 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,962,537 all describe surveillance sensors and communication devices, which are launched from a gun, or deployed from a missile.
While such deployment methods may be suitable for the battlefield, they are unsuitable for the purposes of the present invention. The deployment methods described are very long-range. Typically, the sensor will be deployed several kilometers from the launch site. This means that the position of deployment can only approximately be determined before launch. The launch and arrival of the sensor will be very prominent events: the launch being accompanied by the sight and sound of a gun firing or a missile or rocket launching. The arrival of the sensor will be accompanied by the sight of an incoming artillery shell, missile or rocket, breaking up to deploy a parachute carrying the sensor to ground. Such methods are accordingly most unsuitable for situations in which the deployment of sensors is desired to pass relatively unnoticed. Such situations include the monitoring of animal behaviour, or the monitoring of human activity.
The present invention aims to provide a sonde and a method for deploying a sonde, suitable for rapid and accurate short-range ground placement of the sondes. The sonde and the method are suitable for applications such as detection and monitoring of human or animal activity, detection of ground or airborne vehicles, and environmental monitoring. The deployment method and the sonde itself should not be intimidating, to avoid the sonde and the deployment from influencing any activity which is to be monitored. Examples of situations in which human activity may be required to be detected or monitored include crowd control at sports events, political rallies and demonstrations, in disaster relief to detect the presence of survivors, or in monitoring hostile situations.
GB 2386673 describes a target immobilisation device or bolas, which is launched by imparting a spin and a directional velocity to the device or bolas, sufficient to carry it to a target. The device or bolas may carry a radio receiver and loudspeaker. The device or bolas may carry a proximity sensor, imaging sensor or radar device. Images may be formed at a remote location.
FR 2518733 describes a fixed lookout post with vertically ejectable observation platform carrying an infra red detection.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,155,155 discloses a disk shaped anti-mine munition and launcher.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,761,117 discloses a combined reconnaissance sonde and ordinance system in the form of a hand grenade.
GB 1 213 389 discloses a system for launching disk shaped projectiles in a pattern surrounding the launcher.

Autonomous reconnaissance sonde, and method for deployment thereof


Aspects of the subject disclosure can include, for example, a first logical codeword is associated with multiple layers of a MIMO system to obtain a logical codeword mapping. The first logical codeword is associated with a hybrid automatic receive request (HARQ) process identifier and based on a first number of channel-encoded codewords of a first number of transport data blocks. In response to detection of an error in one of the channel-encoded codewords, a modified first logical codeword is generated based on the one channel-encoded codeword and mapped to the number of layers of the MIMO s system for transmission to the receiver for further processing associated with the HARQ identifier. Other embodiments are disclosed.

A class of advanced antenna techniques to improve spectral efficiency and thereby boost overall system capacity is generally referred to as Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO). The MIMO technique uses a commonly known notation (M×N) to represent MIMO configuration in terms of a number (M) of transmit antennas and a number (N) of receive antennas.
It is well known that multiple transmit and receive antennas can significantly increase the data carrying capacity of wireless systems. However, for such MIMO systems, an optimal Maximum-Likelihood or Maximum A posteriori Probability (ML/MAP) detection using exhaustive search is impossible to implement. This is because a MIMO detector's complexity increases exponentially with the number of transmit antennas or/and the number of bits per constellation point.
Several suboptimal detector structures have been proposed in literature for reducing the complexity of the MIMO detector. These can be classified into linear and nonlinear detectors. Linear detectors include zero-forcing and minimum mean-square error detectors, and the nonlinear receivers include decision feedback, nulling-cancelling and variants relying on serial or successive interference cancellation. These suboptimal detectors can be relatively easy to implement but their bit-error-rate performance and/or frame-error-rate performance is significantly inferior to that of an optimum MIMO detector.
In general, most of these sub-optimal detection techniques for cancelling multi antenna interference are proposed with/without channel coding and without utilizing the potential of Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC). In a practical system such as 5G New Radio (NR), 3rd Generation Partnership Protocol (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE)/LTE-Advanced, High-Speed-Downlink-Packet-Access (HSDPA), etc. CRC bits are appended before a channel encoder at the transmitter and an error check is performed after a channel decoder of a receiver to determine whether a packet, e.g., a transport block or portion thereof, is received correctly or not.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Single codeword, multi-layer serial interference cancellation (SIC) for spatial multiplexing


In lane keeping assistance system and method for an automotive vehicle, a control current (Iout) to be outputted to a motor during an automatic steering mode is detected, a filter is provided for the detected control current to pass only signal components of the detected control current whose frequencies are lower than a predetermined cut-off frequency value (fstr, fstr_low, fstr_mid, fstr_hi) to derive a filtered control current (Iout_lpf), a determination of whether a manual steering intervention to the automatic steering occurs is made according to a magnitude of the filtered control current, and the control current outputted to the motor is reduced toward zero when the manual steering intervention is determined to occur according to a result of determination that the magnitude of the filtered control current (Iout_lpf) is in excess of a predetermined threshold current value (Iout_lpf_th).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to lane keeping assistance system (also called, a lane following vehicle control system, but, hereinafter, is referred to the lane keeping assistance system) and method for an automotive vehicle. The present invention relates more particularly to a technical field of the lane keeping assistance system and method in which an automatic steering is carried out in such a way that a traffic lane information is retrieved during a vehicular run and a steering torque is given to a steering force transmission system to follow the vehicle along a traffic lane at a forward direction of the vehicle or a driver""s steering operation is supported to follow the traffic lane at the vehicular forward direction by providing a steering reaction torque is given to a vehicular steering force transmission system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, the lane keeping assistance system has a region in which the vehicle can autonomously run along a white line and in which a development force by an actuator does not give an influence on a steering intervention. Hence, it is necessary to reduce the development force by a control quickly if a driver""s steering intervention occurs.
On the other hand, in a system in which a gear direct drive power steering is used, a torque sensor mounted on a column shift of a steering wheel can directly be used to determine the driver""s steering intervention.
A Japanese Patent Application Publication No. Heisei 9-240502 published on Sep. 16, 1997 exemplifies a previously proposed lane keeping assistance system.
In the above-described Japanese Patent Application Publication, a torque sensor is installed to detect a steering torque from a vehicular driver in order to switch between an automatic steering and a manual steering by an accurate trap of an intention of the vehicular driver. When an output of the torque sensor is below a predetermined threshold value, a control mode is shifted into an automatic steering mode. When an output of the torque sensor is equal to or above the predetermined threshold value, the control mode is shifted into the manual steering mode.
However, an automotive industry has demanded the following requirements for the lane keeping assistance system.
That is to say, (1) Since a system cost becomes high with a correction for a drift of an output value of the torque sensor taken into consideration, the system cost is required to be reduced, and (2) Since it is necessary to make a part of a steering shift to which a steering torque is transmitted smaller in a diameter (torsion bar), a torsional rigidity of a steering system is reduced and a steering feeling thereof becomes worsened. Hence, the vehicular steering system is required to maintain its torsional rigidity and steering feeling thereof.
Therefore, it is, according to the requirements, difficult to mount the torque sensor in the steering system in terms of the steering performance and in terms of the cost. Then, in a case where such a direct driver""s steering intervention detecting device as described above is not present, a steering angle sensor (having a steering angular velocity output value) is used for a steering intervention determination.
However, it is possible for the steering angle sensor to detect the driver""s steering intervention only if a certain steering angular velocity occurs. Since the determination of the steering intervention in which no steering angular velocity is developed cannot be carried out, the determination of the steering intervention cannot be made in a case where a steady-state steering intervention (steering angular velocity ≈0xc2x0/S (zero degree per second)) is carried out.
Since the steering operations by the vehicular driver and by the steering control are interfered against each other, a large driver""s undesired feeling of the steering operation (a dull steering and a sticky feeling) occurs.
It is noted that the steady-state steering intervention (steering intervention without no generation of the steering angular velocity) is one of the following cases.
{circle around (1)} A case wherein the driver is running on or near to a boundary of the traffic lane (such lane markings as left and right white lines). For example, in a case wherein a large-sized truck is running on an adjacent traffic lane, the vehicle tends to run along a line deviated toward another traffic lane opposite to the adjacent traffic lane on which the truck is running. A case wherein the vehicle is running on the traffic lane near to which a cobble is present aside the traffic lane with a deviation thereof toward the traffic lane side opposite to the cobble.
{circle around (2)} A case wherein the vehicle is not running along the white lines but actually is running at a different side-road of the white lines. For example, a case wherein, during a vehicular run on a freeway, a guide-way or taxiway such as a guidance from a traffic lane in the freeway to a service area is brought over. In addition, the steering undesired feeling due to the steering interference is that, in a case of the manual steering intervention, a controlled output is caused to flow in a direction opposite to that caused by the driver""s intervention and undesired feelings of steering wheel""s weight increase and of a sticky feeling can be given to the driver.
It is, hence, an object of the present invention to provide lane keeping assistance system and method which can accurately determine such a steady-state steering intervention without generation of the steering intervention as described above and which can eliminate a large undesired feeling of steering due to a steering interference.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a lane keeping assistance system for an automotive vehicle, comprising: a traffic lane information detector (16) to detect an information related to a traffic lane on which the vehicle is about to run; a steering angle sensor (13) to detect a steering angle (xcex8) of a steering wheel of the vehicle; a steering position changing section (8, 9) by which the steering wheel of the vehicle is enabled to be displaced independently of a manual steering operation through the steering wheel; a controlled steering target value setting section (15, FIG. 12) that sets a controlled steering target value (xcex8*) when a controlled steering to follow the traffic lane is carried out on the basis of at least the traffic lane related information detected by the traffic lane information detector and the steering angle detected by the steering angle sensor; a controlled steering command value setting section (15, FIG. 20) that outputs a control command value (Iout) in accordance with the controlled steering target value; a control command value filtering section (15, 22 of FIG. 2, and 62 through 66 of FIG. 6) to filter the control command value to pass only frequency components of the control command value lower than a predetermined filter threshold value (fstr, fstr_low, fstr_mid, fstr_hi) to derive a filtered control command value (Iout_lpf_th) during an execution of the controlled steering; a manual steering intervention detector (15, 23 of FIG. 2, 67 and 69 of FIG. 6) to detect a steering intervention state to the controlled steering by the manual steering operation when the filtered control command value is in excess of a predetermined threshold control command value (Iout_lpf_th); and a controlled steering target value limiter (15, 24 and 25 of FIG. 2, and 70 and 71 of FIG. 6) to reduce the control command value (Iout) toward zero value to suppress the controlled steering target value toward a lower value direction including zero when the manual steering intervention is detected by the manual steering intervention detector.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method applicable to a lane keeping assistance system for an automotive vehicle in which a control current is outputted to a motor (8) of an automatic steering actuator coupled to a vehicular steering system (3, 7) to provide a steering force thereto to follow the vehicle along a traffic lane on a road located in a vehicular forwarding direction during a vehicular run in an automatic steering mode, the method comprising: detecting (20 of FIG. 2 and 60 of FIG. 9) the control current (Iout) to be outputted to the motor during the automatic steering mode; providing (22 of FIG. 2, 62 through 66 of FIG. 6) a filter for the detected control current to pass only signal components of the detected control current whose frequencies are lower than a predetermined threshold frequency value of the filter to derive a filtered control current; determining (23 of FIG. 2 and 67 and 69 of FIG. 9) whether a manual steering intervention to the automatic steering occurs according to a magnitude of the filtered control current, the manual steering intervention being determined to occur depending on whether the magnitude of the filtered control current is in excess of a predetermined threshold current value of the filter; and reducing (24 and 25 of FIG. 2 and 70 and 71 of FIG. 6) the control current outputted to the motor toward zero value when, at the manual steering intervention determining step, the manual steering intervention is determined to occur according to a result of determination that the magnitude of the filtered control current (Iout_lpf) is in excess of the predetermined threshold current value (Iout_lpf_th).
This summary of the invention does not necessarily describe all necessary features so that the invention may also be a sub-combination of these described features.

Lane keeping assistance system and method for automotive vehicle


A crimping press provides increased accuracy and precision. Both a rotative measuring system, such as an encoder arranged at a motor shaft, and a linear measuring system such as, for example, a measuring head and a glass scale, are provided. The linear measuring system may be coupled between a tool holder and the fixed press stand. The measurement values generated by the rotative measuring system and the measuring values of the linear measuring system are fed to a regulating circuit for regulation of crimping height.

The invention relates to a method and apparatus for controlling a crimping process serving for the connection of a contact with a conductor, wherein a crimping tool of a crimping press is movable from a starting position into a crimping position and subsequently into an end position.
Equipment for producing a crimped connection has become known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,966,806. A motor drives an eccentric shaft which moves a carriage with crimping tools up and down. An encoder driven by means of the motor shaft serves for positional determination of the crimping tool. The crimp contact to be connected with a conductor end lies on a stationary anvil, wherein lugs of the crimp contact are plastically deformed on downward movement of the crimping tool and produce the connection to the conductor. The position of the crimping tool in the crimping region is measured by means of a height sensor, wherein the sensor signal is used independently of the encoder signal. At the same time the crimping force is measured on the basis of the motor current. The measurement values are compared with reference values. The comparison enables a statement about the crimp quality.
Although an encoder and a height sensor are present, only a relatively imprecise statement about the crimp quality can be made, because external influences as well as the degree of elasticity or rigidity of the mechanical driven elements are not taken into consideration.
The present invention avoids the disadvantages of the known equipment and is accordingly directed to a method and apparatus in which the crimp quality of a crimped connection can be improved.
The advantages achieved by the invention are essentially to be seen in that alteration of the crimping press is not necessary for processing different crimp contacts by different tool strokes. The crimping height and the crimping stroke are adjustable. Moreover, the crimping press control recognizes the exact tool position each time the press is activated, whereby a simple evaluation of the crimping force versus crimping stroke can be made and other machines participating in the crimping process can be synchronized.
The crimping press according to the invention operates with two measuring systems, by means of which a regulation of the drive with respect to position or crimping height regulation can be obtained. A rotative measuring system is coupled with a linear measuring system. The rotative measuring system enables a high positioning dynamic, because no dead times, caused by play in gears, levers or slides, are present. The linear measuring system enables precise crimp height regulation. Mechanically-caused tolerances of the crimping press, which may be due to, for example, crimping force or temperature fluctuations, are compensated for by the crimp height regulation. With the crimp height regulation the eccentric of the crimping press moves an angular range between 0xc2x0 and 180xc2x0 as limits. The crimping press stops at the lower dead center and subsequently reverses. Upper and lower dead center positions can be moved to as desired within the 0xc2x0-180xc2x0 angular range according to the respective crimping tool and crimp contact utilized. Intermediate stop positions are also possible. For realization of this feature only a regulated axis is necessary, and the carriage stroke or crimping height can be programmed. Moreover, the course of the crimping force as a function of the crimping stroke can be represented exactly and is usable for quality control purposes.

Method and apparatus for producing a crimped connection


Provided is a flow rate measuring device including a connector portion, a main body portion, an internal flow passage, and a flow rate detection element. The internal flow passage includes a main flow passage and a sub-flow passage. The sub-flow passage includes a flow rate detection element-side flow passage and connection flow passages. The main flow passage includes an introduction portion, a small flow passage sectional area portion, and an exit portion. The connection flow passages include an upstream-side connection flow passage and a downstream-side connection flow passage. The main flow passage and the flow rate detection element-side flow passage are formed so as to be symmetric with respect to a plane having a flow direction of the fluid to be measured flowing through the pipe as a normal. The main flow passage has a portion at the plane of symmetry as the small flow passage sectional area portion.

In a related-art flow rate detecting device, in addition to a main flow passage configured to introduce part of a gas to be measured flowing through a pipe, a flow rate detection element-side flow passage is installed on the same plane. The flow rate detection element-side flow passage is configured to introduce part of the gas to be measured flowing in the main flow passage (see, for example, Patent Literature 1).


An information processing apparatus provides control of power consumption of multiple central processors. The apparatus includes, sections for: measuring temperature of each central processor; calculating halt percentage for each of the central processors from measured temperatures halt percentages and a particular thread executed in each of the central processors; transitioning to a wait state in which a central processor executes another thread during a predetermined wait period or a running state in which an internal halt instruction is executed causing the central processor to halt processing in accordance with the halt percentage; and interrupting each of the central processors and causing a central processor that is halting processing to resume processing.

With the increase in the density and speed of processors, the power consumption in the processors have been significantly increased in recent years, and along with this, various problems due to heat generation by the processors have arisen. Especially in a high-end server in which multiple processors are densely integrated in the same housing, how to allow heat produced to efficiently be escaped is becoming a critical factor that determines the design of the system. For example, a large heat sink is provided or multiple cooling fans are operated in a system to remove heat. However, heat increase that cannot be suppressed is becoming an impediment to improvements in performance. Because a high availability is required of high-end servers, the systems are not allowed to be shut down. Therefore, a heat removing mechanism in which a malfunctioned cooling fan can be replaced while the system keeps operation is provided in some system. In other systems, a mechanism that increases the rotation speed of the other cooling fans to compensate for a loss of the heat removing capacity is employed if some of the cooling fans malfunction. In yet other systems, a mechanism is provided that decreases the operating frequency of all processors by an equal degree to prevent overheating of the entire servers if a certain processor overheats. Redundant heat removing mechanisms as described above are used to improve the availability of systems, notably high-end servers for which heat removing is an important issue. As a result, the costs of the servers have been significantly increased. Further, these redundant heat removing mechanisms have their limits. It is often the case if a number of cooling fans fail at a time, the remaining cooling fans cannot sufficiently remove heat and the temperature of processors increases to a hazardous temperature in a few minutes, resulting in emergency shutdown of the system.
Because of such imperfection, service personnel are stationed in an environment such as a mission-critical system in a company that is not allowed to go down, so that failed parts of the system can be immediately replaced, which leads to a further cost increase. Furthermore, such mechanisms are intended to prevent only hardware damage or system shutdown. Accordingly, they are not designed to maintain a high service throughput in case of hardware overheating.
The following documents are considered:
                [Patent Document 1] Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 9-305268        [Patent Document 2] Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 11-191016        [Patent Document 3] Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 2002-202893        [Patent Document 4] Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 8-6681
Various techniques that control power consumption with higher precision have been proposed. In particular, dedicated hardware circuitry is provided in a processor unit that reduces the operating frequency of the processors to control power so as to keep their temperatures within a predetermined range when the temperature of the unit increases (see Patent Document 1). Another technique has been proposed in which processing by a processor cooled by a cooling fan is stopped if a malfunction of the cooling fan is detected (see Patent Document 2). Yet another proposed technique controls task scheduling for allocating tasks to processors in an asymmetrical multiprocessor system so as to maintain the power consumption in the entire system below a predetermined value (see Patent Document 3). Another proposed technique reduces the operating frequency of a processor if the processor is found to be in an idle state in which it is not performing a task (see Patent Document 4).
The following problems are solved by the present invention. Firstly, according to Patent Document 1, circuitry dedicated to power control must be provided in processors. Therefore, it is difficult to implement the technique in computers such as low-cost servers and personal computers that are made up of off-the-shelf components. According to Patent Document 2, when a malfunction of a cooling fan is detected, the processor cooled by the malfunctioned cooling fan is stopped even if the malfunction is a slight reduction in the rotation speed of the cooling fan. Consequently, the maximum performance of the processor that could be achieved by cooling the processor with the fan cannot be provided at the reduced rotation speed and therefore the performance of the overall computer is excessively reduced. The system described in Patent Document 3 performs task scheduling in order to reduce power consumption. Therefore, the system can degrade the performance, rather than increasing processing speed or reducing waiting time, which are purposes of typical task scheduling. The technique described in Patent Document 4 cannot reduce the operating frequency of an overheated processor unless an idle state of the processor is detected.

International Business Machines Corporation


Integration of gas oil and light olefin catalytic cracking zones with a pyrolytic cracking zone to maximize efficient production of petrochemicals is disclosed. Integration of the units in parallel allows production of an overall product stream with maximum ethylene and/or propylene by routing various feedstreams and recycle streams to the appropriate cracking zone(s), e.g. ethane/propane to the steam pyrolysis zone and C4 C6 olefins to the light olefin cracking zone. This integration enhances the value of the material balances produced by the integrated units.

This disclosure relates to the integration of catalytic and pyrolytic cracking units to produce olefins from a variety of feedstreams.
Olefins have long been desired as products from the petrochemical industry. Olefins such as ethylene, propylene, butenes, and pentenes are useful for preparing a wide variety of end products, including polyethylenes, polypropylenes, polyisobutylene and other polymers, alcohols, vinyl chloride monomer, acrylonitrile, methyl tertiary butyl ether and tertiary amyl methyl ether and other petrochemicals, and a variety of rubbers such as butyl rubber. A large number of processes, described in the literature, are directed to the production of olefins. In recent years, there has been an increasing demand for light olefinic gases while supplies of suitable feedstocks for producing such olefins have declined. Thus, the petrochemical industry is continuously looking for processes capable of providing improved flexibility in producing various olefins from hydrocarbon feedstocks.
This is especially true for the production of propylene. The largest source of petrochemical propylene on a worldwide basis is that produced as the primary byproduct of ethylene manufacture by thermal cracking. Ethylene plants charging liquid feedstocks typically produce about 10 to 20 weight percent propylene and provide about 70 percent of the propylene consumed by the petrochemical industry. Petroleum refining, predominantly from fluidized catalytic cracking ("FCC"), is by far the next largest supplier of worldwide propylene production, supplying about 30 percent of the petrochemical requirement. In the U.S., FCC's supply about one-half of the petrochemical propylene demand.
The demand for propylene is expected to more than double, primarily driven by the rapidly increasing market for polypropylene. Propylene demand by the petrochemical industry is projected to increase more rapidly than the demand for ethylene. Since ethylene plants produce more ethylene than propylene, and since many of the new ethylene plants in construction are based on ethane feed with no propylene co-produced, significant increases in propylene from FCC will be required to meet the increased demand.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,026,936 teaches a process for the preparation of propylene from C4 or higher feeds by a combination of cracking and metathesis wherein the higher hydrocarbon is cracked to form ethylene and propylene and at least a portion of the ethylene is metathesized to propylene. See also U.S. Pat. No. 5,026,935.
Processes for non-catalytically cracking and catalytically cracking hydrocarbon feedstocks are well known. Steam cracking in a furnace and contact with hot non-catalytic particulate solids are two well-known non-catalytic cracking processes. Exemplary processes are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,407,789; 3,820,955; 4,499,055; and 4,814,067. Fluid catalytic cracking and deep catalytic cracking are two well-known catalytic cracking processes. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,828,679; 3,647,682; 3,758,403; 4,814,067; 4,980,053; and 5,326,465 disclose exemplary processes.
There has been little activity to integrate catalytic and pyrolytic cracking processes with each other. U.S. Pat. No. 5,523,502 discloses a process design for olefin production incorporating an integrated deep catalytic cracking unit and a thermal cracking unit. Deep catalytic cracking is a process in which a preheated hydrocarbon feedstock is cracked over a heated solid acidic catalyst in a reactor at temperatures ranging from about 925° F. to about 1350° F. U.S. Pat. No. 6,033,555 discloses a process involving catalytic cracking of a hydrocarbon feedstock followed by thermal cracking.

Integrated catalytic cracking and steam pyrolysis process for olefins


An organic light-emitting diode (OLED) touch display and a manufacturing method thereof are provided. An organic protective layer of a touch functional layer of the OLED touch display of the present disclosure has protuberances corresponding to an illuminated pixel region, which can effectively improve an optical coupling output rate of the OLED device. The touch functional layer adopts a structure in which an inorganic insulating layer and the organic protective layer which are formed layer-by-layer, and the material and structure of which are similar to a thin film encapsulation film layer, so the touch functional layer also functions as a film encapsulation layer. It is beneficial to block the penetration of water and oxygen, reduce a risk of corrosion damage of OLED light-emitting devices, and improve a lifespan of the OLED device.

In flat panel display technology, organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays have many advantages such as being light, being thin, active illumination, fast response times, wide viewing angles, wide color gamut, high brightness, low power consumption, and so on. The OLED displays are gradually becoming a third generation display technology after liquid crystal displays. In comparison with liquid crystal displays (LCDs), OLEDs have advantages of lower power consumption, being thinner, and wider viewing angles, which are incomparable to LCDs. At present, people are increasingly demanding fineness (i.e., resolution) of display, but production of high-quality and high-resolution OLED displays still faces many challenges.
Although OLED displays have many advantages, they also have their own shortcomings. Low photon utilization efficiency is one of the shortcomings. Due to influence of indium tin oxide (ITO) and a glass substrate, and reflection and refraction of various functional layers inside an OLED device, about 70% of photons cannot escape into air, resulting in low photon utilization efficiency. In order to improve light extraction efficiency of the device, researchers have proposed many methods, such as changing a structure of electrodes of the device, inserting a light extraction layer inside the OLED, or etching to form various microstructures on a surface of the substrate. These methods can improve the light extraction efficiency of the OLED to some extent, but processes are complicated, and difficult to be realized in practical applications, and changing an internal structure or etching easily affects performance of the OLED itself. For this reason, how to improve the light extraction and optical coupling output of OLED devices have become an important topic in OLED structure design.
With development of portable electronic display devices, touch panels provide a new human-computer interaction interface, which is more direct and more user-friendly in use. A touch screen is integrated with a flat display device to form a touch display device. The device can make the flat display device have a touch function, and can perform input through a finger, a stylus, etc., and the operation is more intuitive and simple.
At present, commonly used touch technologies include out-cell touch technology and in-cell touch technology. Taking a liquid crystal panel as an example, the out-cell touch technology is to embed a touch screen between a color filter substrate and a polarizer of a display screen. That is, the technology is equipped with a touch sensor on the liquid crystal panel, which is much less difficult than the in-cell touch technology.
In a development of the existing out-cell OLED touch display technology, the touch sensor is generally formed on an OLED layer. The specific process is as follows: first, a TFT layer including a substrate is formed, and then the OLED layer is formed on the TFT layer. An encapsulation layer is formed on the OLED layer, and finally a touch functional layer is formed on the encapsulation layer. The touch functional layer generally includes a first insulating layer, a bridge layer, a second insulating layer, an electrode circuit layer, and an organic protective layer arranged in a sequence from bottom to top. The bridge layer includes a plurality of metal bridges in a pixel area, and the electrode circuit layer includes a touch driving electrode (Tx) and a touch sensing electrode (Rx). The touch driving electrode or the touch sensing electrode passes through contacting holes of the second insulating layer, and is connected to the metal bridges.
At present, a conductive layer of the touch panel is mainly formed by vacuum coating with indium tin oxide compounds, and patterning by an etching process, so as to form it on an insulating substrate, which not only has high requirements on processes and equipment, but also wastes a large amount of indium tin oxide compound materials in etching, and produces a large amount of industrial waste liquid containing heavy metals. Also, indium tin oxide (In) is a rare resource, resulting in higher cost of the touch panel. In order to effectively reduce the cost of the touch panel and meet market trends in thin and light consumer electronics products, a metal mesh touch panel (metal mesh TP) technology has been developed in recent years, in which a conductive layer of a sensing layer is replaced with an indium tin oxide compound by a metal grid to form a touch electrode. Compared to using indium tin oxide (ITO) as touch electrode material of the touch panel, the metal grid has good electrical performance and low square resistance, and can be applied to large-sized touch display products.

Organic light-emitting diode touch display and manufacturing method thereof


An embodiment of the invention is a technique to detect data corruption of critical data structures and to repair the corrupted critical data structures. Information data of critical data structures used by a managing module are captured upon initialization of the managing module. The captured information data are considered valid, and stored in a data vault. Critical data structures used by the managing module are monitored for validity during operation of the managing module. A corruption of a critical data structure corresponding to a stored data of the stored captured information data is detected during operation of the managing module. The corrupted data structure is restored to an operational state by using the corresponding stored data in the data vault without interrupting the operation of the managing module.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention relates generally to methods and systems for detecting and repairing corrupted critical data structures without an operational interruption, and in particular to methods and systems for detecting and repairing corrupted critical data structures of Input/Output queues without operational interruption of an Input/Output module.
2. Description of Related Art
Data corruptions occurring in critical data structures such as input/output queues result in system hangs and outages. In many instances, corrupted internal data structures result in total program failure. In prior systems, redundant hardware components were used to provide additional resiliency to avoid this problem of system failure. However, in some low-end servers, it is cost-prohibitive to have redundant hardware components. Furthermore, in some server configurations, even a main hardware component has been completely eliminated and replaced with a software component that emulates the hardware component. An example of a software component emulating a hardware component is the Input Output Unit (IOU), a component of the IO Module or the Resource Management Module architecture used in certain mainframe servers.
In systems where there are no redundant hardware components, without a technique that would automatically detect data corruption of critical data structures and repair the corrupted critical data structures without interrupting the operation of the module in which the critical data structures are being used, system hangs and outages as a result of data corruption are unavoidable. Thus, it is desirable to have such a technique.

Detection and repair of corrupted critical data structures without operational interruption


A computer-aided method suitable for assisting in the design of an aircraft by providing the values of dimensional variables, dependant of a predefined set of parameters, for the complete aircraft or an aircraft component, comprising the following steps: a) Defining a parametric space grid; b) Obtaining a suitable Reduced Order Model (ROM) model, particularly a Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) model, for calculating said variables for whatever point over the parametric space through an iterative process. Computer Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is used to calculate said variables for an appropriately selected set of points over the parametric space, which are used to approximate, via ROM and ad hoc interpolation, the variables in any other point over the parametric space. The method minimizes the required number of CFD calculations (to minimize the computational cost, which dramatically depends on this number) for a given level of error.

A common situation in practical industrial applications related to product development is the need to perform many surveys inside a space of state parameters. In the specific case of aeronautics, the calculation of the aerodynamic forces experienced by aircraft components is an important feature, in order to optimally design its structural components so that the weight of the structure is the minimum possible, but at the same time being able to withstand the expected aerodynamic forces.
Thanks to the increase of the use of the Computer Fluid Simulation Capability, nowadays, the determination of the aerodynamic forces on an aircraft is commonly done by solving numerically the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes equations (RANS equations from now onwards) that model the movement of the flow around the aircraft, using discrete finite elements or finite volume models. With the demand of accuracy posed in the aeronautical industry, each one of these computations requires important computational resources.
The dimensioning aerodynamic forces are not known a priori, and since the global magnitude of the forces may depend on many different flight parameters, like angle of attack, angle of sideslip, Mach number, control surface deflection angle, it has been necessary to perform many lengthy and costly computations to properly calculate the maximum aerodynamic forces experienced by different aircraft components or the complete aircraft.
In order to reduce the overall number of these lengthy computations, approximate mathematical modelling techniques for obtaining a Reduced Order Model (ROM) have been developed in the past, like Single Value Decomposition (SVD) as a way to perform intelligent interpolation, or the more accurate Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD from now onwards) that takes into account the physics of the problem by using a Galerkin projection of the Navier-Stokes equations.
The idea of these techniques is to define the new analytical solution as a combination of the information obtained before. POD defines several modes that include the solution obtained by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and then uses those modes to reproduce solutions not obtained by CFD. The application of this techniques may require many CFD calculations involving a large computational cost.
The present invention is intended to solve this drawback.

Computer-aided method for a cost-optimized calculation of aerodynamic forces on an aircraft


According to the inventive method, an incoming call that is directed to a subscriber terminal (Tln 1) allocated to a subscriber group (Tln1 to Tln n) is signaled to the subscriber terminal (Tln 1) called and additionally to at least one subscriber terminal (Tln A3 to Tln An) that is located outside the signaling transmission range of the subscriber terminal called.

Subscriber groups in this case are related, for example, with the feature "Centrex" (Central Office and Exchange). The Centrex feature allows subscriber terminals which are connected to a common telephone exchange, or are each connected to different telephone exchanges, in a telecommunications network via subscriber access lines to be combined to form a Centrex group. The subscribers who belong to the Centrex group may then be provided by the telephone exchange which is responsible for them with virtually the same service features which a private branch exchange (PBX) would offer them if their subscriber terminals were connected to it.
Typical service features which are provided to the Centrex subscribers, and some of which correspond to a private branch exchange are, for example:                access to the telecommunications network by means of an access code,        special charge handling for Centrex-internal connections,        exchange authorizations for incoming and outgoing calls,        call transfer,        call pick up,        service features relating to a call center (attendant features),        secretary and team functions,        various audible signals ("ringing" etc.).
In order to make it possible to provide the call pick up service feature which has been mentioned, a so-called call pick up group is formed within a Centrex group. A subscriber who belongs to a Centrex group may in this case be associated with a number of different call pick up groups.
The call pick up service feature and further service features which are related to the Centrex groups are described, by way of example, on pages 42 and 43 of a customer brochure "GeoCentrex: The Best Catch for your Network" from Siemens AG, issued in 1995 by Geschäftsgebiet Telekommunikationsnetze, Hofmannstr. 51, D-81359, Munich, Order No. A 308080-X3093-X100-1-7635. This brochure describes three types of call pick up service feature, namely call pick up within a group, directed call pick up and call pick up in conjunction with a night-time service, with the call pick up within a group service feature in practice being that which is most frequently used. According to this, Centrex subscribers are combined to form a Centrex call pick up group. This allows a subscriber who is associated with a call pick up group also to accept an incoming call which is directed to a subscriber terminal associated with that call pick up group at any other subscriber terminal which is associated with that call pick up group rather than on the called subscriber terminal. To do this, the subscriber dials a so-called call pick up access code on the subscriber terminal on which he wishes to take the call. There may also be a number of different call pick up groups within one Centrex group. In a situation where a number of incoming calls occur at the same time within a call pick up group and one subscriber wishes to take a call on another subscriber terminal in the described manner, the call which has already been waiting for the longest time is passed to this subscriber.
Operation of a call pick up service feature is dependent on each subscriber terminal which is associated with the call pick up group, as well as the subscriber, being located within a physical area which allows a call which is directed to a subscriber terminal which is associated with that call pick up group to be perceived audibly or visually by the subscribers. If the subscribers in a call pick up group are not located in such an area, i.e. within audible or visual range, for example because their workstations are accommodated in physically separate offices, then the subscribers cannot audibly or visually perceive an incoming call which is directed to a subscriber terminal which is located in a different office or room, and can thus not pick up the call in the described manner.
This disadvantage is particularly apparent when a call pick up group is set up throughout the network for subscribers whose subscriber terminals are connected to different exchanges. This is because the subscribers in a call pick up group whose subscriber terminals are connected to different exchanges are generally located in a physically separate area. An unfavorable situation such as this also occurs when mobile subscriber terminals in a mobile radio network are associated with such a call pick up group. The mobile terminals are generally not located within audible range of the other call pick up group members. The handling of Centrex service features with regard to subscribers to a mobile radio network and to a landline network has already been proposed in German Patent Application 198 52 774.8.


An information processing system that can reduce the operating frequency of a CPU, or halt the operation of the CPU, at an adequate timing, even when the system is engaged in exchanging data with another independent apparatus (e.g., another PC) via a communication port (a serial port or a parallel port), or when a communication application is being executed. The system has (a) a CPU that operates in a normal mode, in a power saving mode in which less power is consumed than is required in a normal mode, or in a stop mode in which operation is completely halted; (b) at least one peripheral device; (c) a bus employed for communication between the CPU and the peripheral device; (d) a communication port, physically connected to another independent apparatus, for performing data transfer; (e) a bus cycle detector monitoring a bus cycle on the bus; (f) a state detector determining an operational mode of the CPU in response to a detection by the bus cycle of access of the communication port; (g) a signal generator providing, when the state detector ascertains that the operational mode is to be the power saving mode, a control signal to the CPU to set the CPU to the power saving mode; and (h) a CPU operation halting signal completely halting an operation of the CPU when the state determination means ascertains that the operational mode is to be the stop mode.

The present invention relates to an information processing system, such as a personal computer (PC), and in particular to an information processing system with a power saving function that reduces the operating frequency of a processor (a so-called CPU: Central Processing Unit) that assumes responsibility for data processing in the system, or halts the operation of the processor, for the purpose of reducing power consumption. More specifically, the present invention pertains to an information processing system that satisfies both requests for power saving and for security of the system, and that can reduce the operating frequency of the CPU or can halt the operation of the CPU, even during a period in which communication with another independent apparatus is taking place.
As progress in the current technique continues, various types of personal computers (hereafter referred to as "PCs" or "systems"), such as desktop and notebook computers, are being manufactured and widely sold. The notebook PCs that are being manufactured are compact and light, since for their design, portability and outdoor use are taken into consideration.
One of the features of notebook PCs is that they are "battery operable" and can be driven by an incorporated battery. Such a system can be used at sites where there are no commercially available power sources. A battery that is incorporated in a notebook PC is commonly formed as a "battery pack", which is a package that is comprised of a plurality of rechargeable battery cells, such as Ni-Cd, NiMH, or Li-Ion (also called a "secondary cell"). Although such a battery pack is reusable by recharged, the battery duration is sufficient to supply power for only two to three hours of system operation time. Therefore, various ideas for power saving have been implemented to extend the time between charge periods for a battery. The introduction of the power saving function can constitute another feature of the notebook PC.
At present, from an ecological point of view, the demand for power saving is increasing, even for desktop PCs to which power can be supplied almost endlessly by commercially available power sources. And in June 1993, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) advocated the self-imposed regulations that are collectively called the "Energy Star Computer Program", and required that power consumed in the standby state be lower than a predetermined value (driving power is to be 30 W or less, or 30% or less than it is when the CPU is active). Computer makers have developed and manufactured products that conform to the suggested regulation. For example, desktop PCs that have a power saving function are already sold by IBM Japan, Ltd. (e.g., the PS/55E (for which "Green PC" is a common name), PC 750, and the Aptiva series ("Aptiva" is a trademark of IBM Corp.)).
Power saving with a PC can be accomplished by, for example, reducing power consumption by the individual electric circuits during the operation. Power savings can also be provided by reducing or halting, as needed, the power supply to the individual electric circuits (or devices) in the system in accordance with the reduction of the operational state (activity). The latter power saving function may especially be called a "Power Management" function.
The power management modes of a PC are an "LCD backlight-OFF" mode and an "HDD-OFF" mode, which halts of the power supply to devices, such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) and its backlight, or a rotary motor of an HDD (hard disk drive), that account for the greatest share of the total power consumption by a whole system. The other example power management modes are a "CPU slow clock/stop clock" mode, in which the operating frequency of a CPU (Central Processing Unit) is reduced or the operation of the CPU is halted, and a "Suspend" mode, in which the power supply to all the electric circuits, except for a main memory, is halted after data that are required for resuming the task are saved in the main memory.
As is well known, CPU chips are the units that constitute the nuclei for the computations that are performed by computer systems. Recently, as production techniques for manufacturing semiconductor devices have improved, as is demonstrated by the reduction in the wiring width, the operational frequencies of CPUs have increased even more. For example, there have appeared CPU chips, such as the "Pentium", which is sold by Intel Corp., and the "PowerPC" (a trademark of IBM Corp.), that can be driven at operational frequencies that exceed 100 MHz. The performance of a CPU and its operating frequency are very closely related. As the operational speed of a CPU rises, the speed at which it performs calculations increases accordingly. A fast CPU demonstrates its excellent capabilities especially when running large application programs and when performing graphics procedures.
But as nothing is perfect, the high processing speed of CPUs brings with it several problems. One of the problems concerns the increased power consumption by the CPUs and the consequent heat generation. As the strength of a current that passes across a transistor gate (i.e., a resistor) per unit time increases, the power consumption and the heat generation also increase. Theoretically, the power consumption by a CPU is proportional to the operating frequency. Currently, the ratio of the power consumption by a CPU to the total power consumption by the system can not be ignored.
The power management functions of the CPU, such as the "CPU slow clock/stop clock", are provided to overcome the above described condition. The "slow clock" and the "stop clock" are modes in which, when the system determines that a CPU is in the standby state or is in the idle state because a predetermined time has elapsed since a last key/mouse input, power consumption is reduced by lowering the operating frequency of the CPU (i.e., by reducing the performance of the CPU), or by halting its operation. It should be noted that the performance of the CPU is lowered only up to the point at which neither turn-around time (i.e., the time that is required from the reception of a request until the generation of an affirmative response) nor through-put (the quantity of jobs per unit time) is deteriorated. The "slow clock" and the "stop clock" functions of the CPU will be described below.
The slow clock function of the CPU can be achieved by changing the frequency of a clock signal input by an external oscillator. This function can also be achieved by changing a CPU chip's internal operating frequency while maintaining a constant input clock frequency to the CPU chip. A high speed processing CPU ordinarily receives a relatively low clock signal (for example, 66 MHz) and internally increases the speed of an operation clock (to, for example, double the speed, 133 MHz) by using an incorporated PLL (Phase Lock Loop) circuit. It is difficult for this type of CPU to drastically change an input clock frequency provided to the CPU chip because of the characteristic of a PLL circuit (e.g., the inherent vibration count of an oscillator or a delay time (several msec) required until the phase locking is performed). Therefore, another design method is employed for a CPU chip that incorporates not only a PLL circuit but also a slow clock function (power management function) that can internally change an operating clock. According to this method, the incorporated PLL circuit usually increases an input clock speed while the internal slow clock function autonomously lowers the performance of the CPU in the chip.
FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating the internal arrangement of a CPU that incorporates a power management function. In FIG. 8, a CPU chip 11 comprises a functional unit 11a that actually performs computation, etc.; a PLL circuit 11b that transmits, to the functional unit 11a, an operating clock signal for synchronous driving; and a performance controller 11c that controls the performance of the functional unit 11a. The CPU chip 11 communicates with its peripheral devices (not shown) via a processor bus 12.
The function of a PLL circuit whereby the frequency of an input clock signal is multiplied is well known. The PLL circuit 11b doubles the speed (66 MHz, for example) of a relatively slow clock signal to obtain an operating frequency (133 MHz, for example), and transmits the doubled clock signal to the functional unit 11a.
The functional unit 11a can be divided into a computation unit (a double shaded portion in FIG. 8) and an internal cache/control unit. The computation unit is a section whose performance can, to a degree, be reduced in accordance with the activity of the system (it should be noted that the performance of the computation unit can be lowered only to the degree that the turn around time and the through-put are not deteriorated). The internal cache/control unit is a section that must respond to an external event, such as a cache snoop, an interrupt request (INTR/NMI/SMI), or a hold request (HOLD) of the bus 12, that occurs unperiodically and in a time critical manner, and as a result, its performance can not be easily reduced.
The performance controller 11c controls the performance of the functional unit 11a in response to a control signal STPCLK# received from an external device. More specifically, while the STPCLK# is active (i.e., low), the controller 11c halts the supply of the operating frequency to the computation unit (the double shaded portion in FIG. 8) in the functional unit 11a. That is, the CPU chip 11 is so designed that its performance can be reduced locally. As a modification method, the STPCLK# that is to be inputted to the performance controller 11c is intermittently changed to active (i.e., goes low) to reduce the frequency of the operating clock transmitted from the PLL circuit 11b. For example, if the STPCLK# is set active (i.e., goes low) according to a predetermined cycle and the frequency of the operating clock is reduced by one of n times, the performance and power consumption of the computation unit is reduced to about (n-1)/n. The function that intermittently affects the STPCLK# input operation is generally called "clock throttling" or "frequency emulation".
In the slow clock mode, the input clock from the oscillator 40 and the operation of the PLL circuit 11b are not changed from those in the normal high speed operational mode. Therefore, recovery from the slow clock mode to the normal mode can be performed relatively rapidly. This matter should be well noted to understand the subject of the present invention, which will be described later.
SL enhanced 486s, DX2s and DX4s, and Pentiums, which are chips that have succeeded the "80486" CPU chip from Intel Corp., have the power saving function that is shown in FIG. 8. These chips include the STPCLK# as one of control signals on the processor bus 12.
The "stop clock" function completely prevents the input clocks from the oscillator 40, and halts the entire functional unit 11a. The complete stopping of the operating clock can be accomplished by virtue of a fully static arrangement of the CPU chip 11 in which a storing and saving function is not required. In the "stop clock" mode, the power consumption by the CPU is, at most, several hundreds of mW.
Since the PLL circuit 11b is also halted in the stop clock mode, a delay time of approximately 1 msec is required to stabilize the operation of the PLL circuit 11b (lock the phase) to recover to the normal high speed mode. This matter should be well noted to understand the subject of the present invention, which will be described later.
The power management operation, such as the slow clock/stop clock of the CPU, is commonly accomplished by cooperative functions involving hardware, which is provided outside of the CPU chip, that monitors the state of the system, and software executed by the CPU.
A specific software example for achieving the power management is the "APM" (Advanced Power management) that is jointly proposed by Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp. The APM takes effect in the OS (Operating System) environment that is compatible with to the APM. The APM compatible OS environment is a system that is constituted by 1) hardware for which power saving is required, 2) a BIOS (also called an "APM BIOS") that actually performs the hardware operations required for power management, 3) an OS that can call the APM BIOS as the operational state (activity) of the system becomes lowered, and 4) an application that is compatible with the APM. For 1), the hardware is, for example, a CPU chip that has a slow clock/stop clock function. For 3), the APM compatible OS is, for example, PC DOS J6.1/V or any succeeding version, OS/2 J2.1 or any succeeding version ("OS/2" is a trademark of IBM Corp.), or Windows J3.1 or any succeeding version. The APM compatible OS generally includes an "APM" driver that calls an APM BIOS. For 4), the APM compatible application is an application program that registers itself in the APM driver via an API (Application Program Interface) to receive an inquiry for the start of the power management operation and to provide an affirmative response to the inquiry.
When software, such as the APM, that is resident in the OS is employed, the power management operation of the CPU involves the following procedures:
(1) When there is no effective task to be executed in a queue of a scheduler ("scheduler" is one of the modules in the OS), i.e., the system must wait for a next effective task to occur, it is ascertained that the CPU is in the idle state. PA1 (2) In response to the detection of the idle state of the CPU, the APM driver calls the APM BIOS. The APM driver may exchange, with the APM application, the inquiry and the affirmative response for the start of power management. PA1 (3) The APM BIOS, upon the call, performs hardware operation to shift the system to the power management state. For example, the APM BIOS performs intermittent throttling of the STPCLK# in order to shift the system to the slow clock state, or halts the input of a clock to the CPU chip 11 in order to shift the system to the stop clock state.
Since the OS can employ its own scheduler and can detect information in advance to the effect that "the system will enter the operation standby state", the power management operation can be efficiently carried out by a method using the APM.
The OS, however, can control only its own system. The OS can have no knowledge of the operational state, for example, of another independent apparatus (another PC) with which the system is physically connected and is communicating with via a communication port (a serial port or a parallel port). That is, the OS can manage a task for transmitting data from its own system, but can not detect an event wherein another independent apparatus has begun data transmission. Since data transfer is performed at a relatively high speed, the CPU must be fully active in order not to miss the data transfer. For example, if the CPU is in the slow clock state when another apparatus begins data transmission, some delay is caused in a data reception process performed by the CPU and data will be lost. And if the CPU is in the stop clock state when another apparatus begins data transmission, even though the CPU is to be recovered to the normal mode in response to the data reception, it takes some time before the operation of the CPU is stabilized, as is previously described, and the data transmitted to the CPU during that time will be lost. In short, if only the internal state of its own system is taken into consideration and the power management operation is begun by preference merely because the queue in the OS is empty, data exchanged will be lost, and as a result, the security of the system will be substantially degraded.
Regarding the security of the system as more important than the power saving effect, most of the PCs that are currently being sold on the market are so designed that the lowering of the performance of the CPU is thoroughly inhibited during a period when the system is exchanging data with another independent apparatus (for example, another PC). Or the PCs are so designed that the performance of the CPU is not lowered during the execution of the communication application (the communication application does not provide an affirmative response even upon the receipt of a power management request from the APM driver, and thus, the APM BIOS is not called). Therefore, though the CPU chip has a higher performance for power management (e.g., see FIG. 8), the system can utilize this function only when the CPU falls completely into the standby state (i.e., for a relatively long time). The period during which the CPU is fully in the standby state is very limited and is, at most, 1) when a predetermined time has elapsed since a last key input (e.g., Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 06-95303, the fourth paragraph), or 2) when DMA transfer is performed because at this time the CPU relinquishes the control of its own local bus (e.g., Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 06-266462). If the CPU enters the slow clock state or the stop clock state only during such a limited period, the obtained power management effect is not satisfactory. If possible, more opportunities during which the performance of the CPU can be lowered are desired. Even while data are exchanged with another independent apparatus via a communication port, for example, it is desired that the performance of the CPU be lowered to enhance the power management effect.

Method and system for improved power management in information processing system

International Business Machines Corporation