A method for smooth trapping of a small graphical object, includes receiving from a trap generator the location of a trap pixel in a small object that should be changed in color; determining the width of the small object containing the trap pixel; comparing the width of the thin object with a trap threshold width; if the width of the thin object is less than the trap threshold width, adjusting the hue of the trap pixel according to a predetermined relationship; and applying a trap correction to the trap pixel according to the adjusted trap hue. The predetermined relationship may be a linear relationship that interpolates the trap hue monotonically (from the original trap hue to the original object hue) for object widths less than the trap threshold width. The method may be applied to small objects and small font text objects.

This invention relates generally to methods for correcting for marking engine characteristics, and more particularly, to a method of smooth trapping suppression of small and thin graphical objects using color interpolation.
Electronic processing of graphic and text images produces multi-color prints using multiple color separations. Typically, four process colors, cyan, magenta, yellow and black, are used to print multiple separations, which tend to have minor misregistration problems. The result of abutting or overlapping shapes is a boundary between adjacent regions of color that, under ideal printing conditions should have zero width. That is, one color should stop exactly where the abutting color begins, with no new colors being introduced along the boundary by the printing process itself. In practice, the realization of a zero width boundary between regions of different color is impossible as a result of small but visible misregistration problems from one printed separation to another. The error is manifested as a "light leak" or as a visible boundary region of an undesired color.
Methods for correcting for this misregistration are known. The general approach is to expand one of the abutting regions' separations to fill the gap or misregistration border region with a color determined to minimize the visual effect when printed. Borders or edges expanded from a region of one color to another in this manner are said to be "spread". A border that has been expanded is referred to as a "trap", and the zone within which color is added is called the "trap zone".
Trapping is generally a two-step process. The first step in the trapping process is to determine where there is an edge on which to apply trapping. Trapping is typically used between pixels that are not of identical color, but it can be used in other locations as well. The second step is to generate the overlay of one or more pixels, in any combination of the color separations, which is done by a trap generator or "trap oracle". The two inputs for the trap generator are the colors on both sides of the edge in question. For example, consider magenta and cyan, with a user-specified maximum trap width of two. The generator will compute from these whether trapping is necessary, what color to use, and where it should be applied. In this example, the correction could be zero (no trapping), one, or two pixels in width in any combination of cyan, magenta, yellow and black, and it could be located in either the magenta or cyan area. Edge detection and image manipulation to perform trapping may be done in any of several processes, including for example, the technique described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,345,117 to Victor Klassen, for "Method for Automatic Trap Selection for Correcting for Separation Misregistration in Color Printing".
For the typical trapping operation, it is assumed that objects to be trapped are very large relative to the trapping region, so that the trap colors will be difficult to distinguish. Thus, the color of only a thin boundary of the object will be changed, while the large internal area will have the original, correct color. However, for objects smaller than a few pixels, or for long, thin objects having a width less than a few pixels, trapping results in visible hue changes in the color of the entire object. For example, if a thin line is only two pixels in width, and the trap generator decides to change the color of those two pixels, the entire color of the thin line has been changed. Small objects, such as small font size text characters, may be printed in an entirely different color. If the thin line, or the small object, happens to be located near a larger object of the same initial color, there will be a visible hue shift relative to the larger object, and the result of the trapping operation will be less desirable than no trapping at all. Existing trapping algorithms (for example Scitex) specify an object or font size threshold below which trapping is disabled. This has the effect of eliminating the hue shift, but misregistration errors become visible once again. Also, previous work by McElvain (D/A3049) describes methods for minimizing the hue shift by reducing the trap radius for small objects. Although implementation of this method is straightforward, visible trap radius nonuniformities can still appear, particularly for small fonts with edges of high curvature.
Disclosed in one embodiment herein is a method for smooth trapping of a small graphical object, which includes receiving from a trap generator the location of a trap pixel in a thin object and the required trap; determining the width of the thin object; comparing the width of the thin object with a predetermined trap threshold width; if the width of the thin object is less than the trap threshold width, adjusting the hue of the trap pixel according to a predetermined relationship; and applying a trap correction to the trap pixel according to the adjusted trap hue. The adjusted trap hue may be determined by interpolating between the original trap color specified by the trap generator and the original object color. This process is repeated for each trap pixel selected by the trap generator. In the case of a thin object, the trap generator would continue selecting trap pixels along the long edge of the thin object until all trapping had been completed.
In accordance with another embodiment of the method, the predetermined relationship may be of the form t′α=ƒα(wt, w)·tα+{1−ƒα(wt, w)}·cα, where tαand t′αare the original and adjusted trap colors for a separation α, cαis the original object color, w and wt are the object dimension and threshold, and ƒα(wt, w) is a weight function (dependent on the object width) that dictates the percentage of the original trap color that is to be used. The weight function may be monotonically increasing, wherein ƒα(wt, w)=(w/wt), for w<wt, and ƒα(wt, w)=1 for w>wt.
In accordance with another embodiment, a method for smooth trapping of a small object, includes receiving from a trap generator the location of a trap pixel at an edge of the small object and the required trap color; wherein a small object has a size of the order of a few pixels; determining a dimension of the small object; comparing the dimension of the small object with a trap threshold width; if the dimension of the object is less than the trap threshold width, for each trap pixel along the edge of the small object, adjusting the hue of the trap pixel according to a predetermined relationship; and applying a trap correction uniformly to the small object according to the adjusted trap hue.
The method may be used for smooth trapping of a text object, and may include receiving from a trap generator the location of a trap pixel in the text object that should be changed in color; wherein a text object has a font size; determining the font size of the text object containing the trap pixel; comparing the font size of the object with a trap threshold width; if the font size of the object is less than the trap threshold width adjusting the hue of the trap pixel according to a predetermined relationship; if the dimension of the object is less than the trap threshold width, for each trap pixel along the edge of the small object, adjusting the hue of the trap pixel according to a predetermined relationship; and applying a trap color correction to the trap pixel according to the adjusted trap hue.
In accordance with another embodiment, a method for smooth trapping of a thin object, can also be extended to apply to "centerline" traps, which occur when the trap engine specifies the trap should encroach into both abutting colors: color A (CA) and color B (CB). A centerline trap occurs when the trap pixel is partially in the color A region and partially in the color B region. In this case, the color interpolation would be applied independently to each portion of the trap pixel—one interpolation involving CA and the thickness of the thin object, and another involving CB and the thickness of the first thin object. In this case, trapping will occur on both sides of the boundary with the method being applied to the different original colors on each side of the boundary. A method for smooth trapping of a thin object, includes receiving from a trap generator the location of a trap pixel in a thin object and the required trap color; determining if the trap pixel is located at the interface between a first color and a second abutting color such that a portion of the trap pixel is located in the first color region and another portion of the trap pixel is located in the second color region; determining the width of the thin object; comparing the width of the thin object with a predetermined trap threshold width; if the width of the thin object is less than the predetermined trap threshold width, adjusting the hue of the portion of the trap pixel residing in the first color region according to a first predetermined relationship, and adjusting the hue of the portion of the trap pixel residing in the second color region according to a second predetermined relationship, and applying a trap correction to the portion of the trap pixel residing in the first color region according to the adjusted trap hue for the first color, and; applying a trap correction to the portion of the trap pixel residing in the second color region according to the adjusted trap hue for the second color.
Instead of completely eliminating trapping for dimensions below the threshold, or reducing the trap radius in a monotonic fashion, the proposed methods interpolate between the trap color (specified by the trapping "engine" or generator) and the original object color. The degree of this interpolation is dependent on the local (or global) size of the object relative to the size threshold. For objects with dimensions above the threshold, the trap color would be that specified by the trap engine; for objects with very small dimensions relative to the threshold, the trap color applied would be very close to the original color of the object. Hence any hue and brightness shifts observed for trapped small objects would be significantly reduced, while preserving some of the benefits of trapping.

Method for smooth trapping suppression of small graphical objects using color interpolation


A straddle type vehicle is provided with a body frame of a vehicle, a bar handle provided in a front portion of the vehicle body frame, a steering shaft transmitting a turning operation of the bar handle to a pair of right and left front wheels, and an electric power steering apparatus mounted in an intermediate portion of the steering shaft for assisting a steering motion of the bar handle. The electric power steering apparatus includes, in a state of the vehicle capable of being traveled, an electric power steering main body including an electric motor, a gear unit, an input shaft and an output shaft, an upper steering shaft in which the bar handle is attached to an upper end portion and an upper end of the input shaft is connected to a lower end portion, and a support member supporting the upper steering shaft.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a straddle type vehicle particularly provided with an electric power steering apparatus.
2. Related Art
A straddle type vehicle such as an all terrain vehicle or the like includes an electric power steering apparatus for the purpose of reducing an operating force of a bar handle. The power steering apparatus applies an auxiliary rotating force to a steering shaft by an electric motor. As an arrangement of the electric motor, for example, an electric motor is arranged so as to be directed perpendicularly to an axis of a steering shaft and to cross an upper side of a front suspension support portion extending in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle toward the outside of a vehicle width direction (refer, for example, to Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-231011), or an electric motor is arranged in the vicinity of a bearing portion in a lower portion of a steering shaft (refer, for example, to Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2006-224713).
However, since the power steering apparatus is arranged in the lower portion of the vehicle body in these conventional structures, the electric motor is strongly affected by muddy water and a dust splashed by front wheels of a vehicle. The electric motor tends to be affected by heat from the engine. Further, assembling workability is not good, and maintenance thereof is not easy. A foreign material such as the muddy water, the dust or the like and the heat deteriorates a durability of the power steering apparatus constructed by an electronic device such as the electric motor, a controller and the like.
On the other hand, if the electric motor of the power steering apparatus is arranged so as to cross an upper side of the front suspension support portion toward the outside of the vehicle width direction, a freedom of an actuation of a suspension apparatus will be limited, and the assembling workability is not good with poor maintenance ability.

Straddle type vehicle with electric power steering apparatus


A monitoring application and method for using a monitoring application are disclosed. The monitoring application is configured to manage file system objects in a memory device layer (including copying of the file system objects) and is configured to manage one or more data structures to enable the management of the file system objects to be transparent to the application layer and/or the operating system layer.

FIG. 1 illustrates a host system 100 that includes an application 105, a kernel I/O manager 110, file systems 120, 122, and device drivers 130, 132, and illustrates multiple memory components 138 (shown as drive C: 134 and drive Y: 136). In operation, when the application 105 seeks access to file "Z", the application sends a request to kernel I/O manager 110 for a handle to file "Z". In response, the kernel I/O manager 110, acting as the interface between the application and memory devices, resolves the path to file "Z" in order to obtain the handle, and sends the handle to the application.
The arrows in FIG. 1 illustrate the logical path of communication amongst the different parts of the system, in which the application 105 sends the request to the kernel I/O manager 110, and in which the kernel I/O manager 110 resolves the path by examining the root directory 140, which includes information on the path to file "Z".
As shown in FIG. 1, the system includes multiple memory devices, such as in the form of drive C: 134 and drive Y: 136. Applications, such as application 105, written above the operating system layer are typically unaware of optimized partitions that may be available for their use, and thus write files to predefined locations without regard to the properties of the location to which they are writing. For example, many operating systems define application-specific data directories, and applications will write all of their data to these directories. The use of temporary files is similarly defined in most operating systems, and applications will simply use filenames and locations defined by the operating system interface for this purpose. This may lead to suboptimal use of a multi-partition layout. Complicating this is the use of external storage, which may offer performance and capacity improvements.
However, the kernel file systems and the application stacks can be modified in order to manually select which partition or mount point should be used in each case, thereby enabling improved performance. For example, applications may explicitly address external storage, either by user configuration (i.e., the user selecting a directory to save files to) or through code in the application that detects and uses external storage.

System and method for selectively routing cached objects


A storage capacitor power supply has a plurality of electric double layer capacitors connected in series. Each capacitor has connected in parallel therewith a charge-limiting circuit. Each charge-limiting circuit measures a voltage across its corresponding capacitor and causes a charging current to bypass the capacitor when it is charged to a value corresponding to a reference voltage established by the charge-limiting circuit. When all the capacitors are charged to their corresponding reference voltages, the charging current is terminated whereafter the capacitors are discharged with a discharge current. When the capacitors are charged with a recharging current from a partially discharged state, the capacitors are charged to values corresponding to their respective reference voltages at the same time without bypassing the recharging current around one or more of the capacitors.

Discussions have existed for many years as to whether exhaust gas from automobiles with gasoline engines should be controlled because of problems with the global environment. In practice, the annual production of automobiles is still on the upswing but there is no prospect of reduction in automobile emissions. Under these circumstances, electric vehicles with batteries or solar cells have attracted attention as vehicles producing no exhaust gas. Therefore, there is an urgent need of early realization of practical electric vehicles.
In recent years, electric vehicles have begun to be used as vehicles in business applications, such as urban delivery vehicles and garbage trucks, which are not required to travel a long distance continuously or to run at high speeds. Vehicles running at high speeds faster than 100 km/h and traveling about 200 km continuously have been reported as experimental vehicles. Furthermore, vehicles which have solar cells on the top of the body and run while charging the cells have been proposed. In addition, hybrid vehicles driven by both an internal combustion engine and an electric motor have been proposed.
One promising type of electric vehicle is a vehicle which has no gearing, as used in an automobile with an internal combustion engine, but drives the four wheels independently using wheel motors. The driving mechanism of this vehicle is simplified. Also, the problems with the operating characteristics and the operability can be solved by coordinating and controlling the wheel motors. The greatest technical problem with the electric vehicle is to realize an ideal power source, i.e., a battery having a capacity comparable to an automotive engine. In order to put the electric vehicle into practical use, a battery is needed which is comparable in size and weight to an internal combustion engine and whose capacity can deliver power comparable to the power delivered by a gasoline engine. Furthermore, the battery must be recharged quickly or must be replaced with a fully charged battery as simply as a supply of gasoline.
However, no conventional battery can satisfy the above-described requirements. One especially great problem is that it takes long for the prior art battery to be recharged. In spite of this fact, the prior art battery is larger in size and heavier than the internal combustion engine.
An electric double layer capacitor which is smaller in size but larger in capacitance than the prior art capacitor has been developed. This electric double layer capacitor tends to be used to back up a power supply or for another application. When a large-capacity capacitor, such as this electric double layer capacitor, is employed as a storage capacitor power supply, it has advantages in being lighter and having longer life than a lead-acid battery and other batteries. However, if the voltage applied to the electric double layer capacitor exceeds the rated voltage, then the capacitance of the capacitor is reduced. Also, the leakage current increases. In this way, the capacitor is adversely affected. Another disadvantage is that the internal resistance and the maximum working voltage are not sufficiently controlled. For these reasons, positive use of the electric double layer capacitor for power use is not yet made.
Heretofore, when a secondary battery is recharged, various difficulties have arisen in precisely detecting the completion of the recharging.
Various contrivances have been made to detect the completion of the recharging. One method is to set the end voltage at a given voltage. Another method is to estimate the completion from the amount of electricity flowed into the battery. A further method is to detect the instant at which the voltage slightly drops due to the temperature characteristics of the battery after it is recharged for a given time. In spite of these contrivances, the recharging characteristics vary widely according to the conditions of the battery, i.e., depending on whether the battery is new or old, on the extent to which the battery ages, on the recharging current, and on whether the battery has been used continuously or was recharged.

Storage capacitor power supply and method of operating same


An image processing apparatus includes an acquiring unit, a first calculating unit, a setting unit, a second calculating unit, a first generating unit, and a second generating unit. The acquiring unit acquires image data of an image to be formed by a recording unit using an inkjet system. The first calculating unit calculates a thickness of ejected ink for each pixel based on the image data. The setting unit sets a target thickness of the image. The second calculating unit calculates a difference between the target thickness and the thickness of ink for each pixel. The first generating unit generates complementary data, in which an ejection amount of an additional droplet to realize a thickness corresponding to the difference is defined for each pixel. The second generating unit generates print data containing the image data and the complementary data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, an image processing method, and an image processing system.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is a known recording apparatus of an inkjet system that forms images by ejecting droplets, such as ink, from a nozzle. Further, a technology has been disclosed that realizes three-dimensional shapes by ejecting ink in a layered manner and adjusting the number of the layers by using the inkjet system.
However, an ejection amount of ink needed to realize a color of each pixel of an image to be formed varies depending on the color of each pixel. Therefore, the thickness of a formed image may vary depending on the color of each pixel. In this manner, conventionally, an unintended thickness difference sometimes occurs in a formed image.
The present invention has been conceived in view of the above, and there is a need for an image processing apparatus, an image processing program, an image processing method, and an image processing system capable of preventing occurrence of an unintended thickness difference in a formed image.

Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and image processing system


Disclosed is an apparatus including a memory device. The memory device includes a memory array, a number of non-volatile memory sections configured to store a copy of operational information for the memory array, and a controller coupled to the number of non-volatile memory sections. The controller can responsive to a first wake-up operation, select a first non-volatile memory section as a starting section to retrieve the copy of operational information. The controller can responsive to a second wake-up operation, select a second non-volatile memory section as the starting section to retrieve the copy of operational information without regard to success of a prior attempt to retrieve the copy of operational information.

The following description is provided to assist the understanding of the reader. None of the information provided is admitted to be prior art.
Non-volatile data storage devices, such as embedded memory devices (e.g., embedded MultiMedia Card (eMMC) devices) and removable memory devices (e.g., removable universal serial bus (USB) flash memory devices and other removable storage cards), have allowed for increased portability of data and software applications. Users of non-volatile data storage devices increasingly rely on the non-volatile storage devices to store and provide rapid access to a large amount of data.
To optimize power management of the non-volatile data storage devices, the non-volatile data storage devices typically transition to one or more low-power states when the non-volatile data storage devices are not actively functioning. During such low-power states, one or more components of the non-volatile data storage devices (e.g., memory arrays that store data) are powered off. To optimize performance (e.g., latency, speed, etc.) of the non-volatile data storage devices, the memory arrays are generally required to transition out of the low-power states to be ready to function (e.g., read, write). The process to transition (e.g., wake up) the memory arrays out of the low-power states are sometimes referred to as a "Power-On-Reset" (POR) process.
Existing non-volatile data storage devices generally perform such a POR process by retrieving operational and/or configuration information of the memory array from a number of read-only memory (ROM) blocks. In particular, the existing non-volatile data storage devices appear to always use a particular ROM block as a starting block to retrieve the information, and wait until the particular ROM block fails in finishing the POR process to move on to another ROM block for continuing the POR process. Always using a same starting ROM block to perform the POR process can cause various issues such as, for example, cumulative read disturb (RD) in that particular ROM block, which in turn can deteriorate the performance of the non-volatile data storage devices. Thus, the existing non-volatile data storage devices are not entirely satisfactory.

Systems and methods to wake up memory array


The present invention provides a varactor that has increased tunability and a high quality factor Q as well as a method of fabricating the varactor. The method of the present invention can be integrated into a conventional CMOS processing scheme or into a conventional BiCMOS processing scheme. The method includes providing a structure that includes a semiconductor substrate of a first conductivity type and optionally a subcollector or isolation well (i.e., doped region) of a second conductivity type located below an upper region of the substrate, the first conductivity type is different from said second conductivity type. Next, a plurality of isolation regions are formed in the upper region of the substrate and then a well region is formed in the upper region of the substrate. In some cases, the doped region is formed at this point of the inventive process. The well region includes outer well regions of the second conductivity type and an inner well region of the first conductivity type. Each well of said well region is separated at an upper surface by an isolation region. A field effect transistor having at least a gate conductor of the first conductivity type is then formed above the inner well region.

Varactors are electronic devices that have a capacitance that is controlled by a suitable voltage or current bias. Varactors are typically employed, for example, in so-called voltage controlled oscillators (VCOs) where a frequency of an oscillator is controlled by an applied current or voltage. In such instances, the VCOs are used when a variable frequency is required, or when a signal needs to be synchronized to a reference signal.
In radio communication devices, such as mobile/cellular phones, VCOs are typically employed in phase locked loop circuits to generate suitable signals including: generation of a reference signal that is synchronized with a signal received by a radio receiver, modulation/demodulation operations and frequency synthesis.
Numerous varactors have been developed and are successfully employed in integrated circuit technologies. For example, it is known to employ pn-diodes, Schottky diodes or MOS-diodes as a varactor in bipolar, CMOS and BiCMOS technologies. In the article to R. A. Moline, et al., entitled "Ion-implanted Hyperabrupt Junction Voltage Variable Capacitors" IEEE Trans. Electron. Device, ED-19, pp267f, 1972, varactors comprising pn-diodes are described. U.S. Pat. No. 3,638,300 to Foxhall, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,226,648 to Goodwin, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,827,319 to Pavlidis, et al; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,557,140 to Nguyen, et al. describe other types of variable capacitor (i.e., varactor) diodes that include hyper-abrupt ion-implanted junctions. The term 'hyper-abrupt' denotes that the implant has a doping profile that is in contact with the wall of the adjacent extrinsic base region. U.S. Pat. No. 4,973,922 to Embree, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,965,912 to Stolfa, et al; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,100,770 to Litwin, et al., on the other hand, describe MOS-diodes that are employed as varactors.
The integration of varactors depends on the capability of the integrated circuit technology. An overview of integrated circuit devices for high RF applications in BiCMOS technology is described, for example, in J. N. Burghartz, et al. "Integrated RF and Microwave Components in BiCMOS Technology", IEEE Trans. Electron Devices, Col. 43, pp1559, September 1996. As is stated therein, varactors are not a part of the standard BiCMOS device set. Instead, it is proposed to employ a collector-base junction of a bipolar transistor as a varactor.
In order to use a device as a varactor, the device must satisfy one or more, preferably two or more, of the following criteria: (1) tunability (i.e., ratio of maximum capacitance to minimum capacitance) must be high (on the order of about 3 or greater); (2) Quality factor Q must be high (on the order of about 20 or greater); and (3) the device must exhibit linearity.
Many of the known prior art varactors do not meet the above criteria. For example, traditional base-collector junction varactors rely on the NPN base-collector profile, which is not optimized for varactor tunability. In the case of hyper-abrupt base-collector junction varactors, where the doping profile of the implant is located at the "wall" of the extrinsic base region, the device lacks linearity. With traditional MOS varactors, the tunability is high; however, an even higher tunability is often required.
In view of the above-mentioned drawbacks with prior art varactors, there is a continued need for providing new and improved varactors, which satisfy the above criteria and that can be integrated with CMOS and BiCMOS devices.
Moreover, in conventional MOS varactor designs it is difficult to electrically isolate the MOS varactor from the bulk substrate. The lack of sufficient electrical isolation results in a device that has high parasitics, e.g., noise. As such, there is also a need to provide a varactor design that has sufficient electrical isolation thereby reducing noise in the device.

International Business Machines Corporation


Provided are techniques for utilization based multi-buffer self-calibrated dynamic adjustment management. A sub-buffer is assigned to each entity of multiple entities. Under control of each of the multiple entities, a current utilization rate of the entity and each other entity is summed up; a number of data segments for the entity are determined based on the current utilization rate of the entity relative to the current utilization rate of each of the other entities; and a size of the assigned sub-buffer is adjusted based on the determination.

A circular buffer may be described as any buffer which its one or more users consumes starting from a beginning location, continuing in a fixed order, and going back to the beginning location after reaching the end. For example, a circular buffer may be created with a linked list of data segments (memory segments or segments) or linear buffers that are used to form a ring.
Sometimes different users share a circular buffer. Users may be any type of consumer for the circular buffer, such as threads and processes. When accessing a shared circular buffer (as may be the case for tracing program code), a lock is obtained to prevent users from stepping over each other and rendering the data in the circular buffer incoherent. On the performance path, obtaining a lock may be problematic in an environment in which the number of threads accessing such a lock may be large (e.g., in the hundreds). Even if a small percentage of those threads compete for that lock, there may be a lot of time spent waiting and not accomplishing critical tasks. A thread may be described as the smallest sequence of programmed instructions that may be managed independently by a scheduler, which is typically a part of the operating system.
In some conventional systems, a task performed while the lock is held is optimized to just what is critical (e.g., just claiming an amount of space currently needed and not using that space until after the lock has been relinquished). This may improve performance, but, when a lot of threads are competing for that lock, there is a great likelihood of threads starving and critical tasks being stalled.
In some conventional systems, the circular buffer is split into as many circular sub-buffers as there are threads. Then, each thread uses its own sub-buffer. In this case, no lock is required, but significant skews in the consumption amongst the threads may lead to inefficient utilization of the total circular buffer. For example, some sub-buffers may wrap often, while other sub-buffers remain virtually empty.
In some conventional systems, a midway solution is to put the threads into small groups and divide the total circular buffer into as many sub-buffers as there are groups. The threads in each group use the associated sub-buffer, and each group of threads handles its own private lock, which reduces lock contention. If the threads are properly aggregated to groups, their cumulative production may offer smaller skews between groups, thus a better distribution in buffer utilization. While this technique may decrease the inefficiency in buffer utilization by averaging the group's individual threads' productions, having a "one size fits all" sub-buffer for each group of diversified threads with individually unpredictable production rate may still result in temporally localized inefficiencies. There will still be ebb and flow in utilization at the group level, thus creating skews.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Utilization based multi-buffer self-calibrated dynamic adjustment management

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


A retainerless weather strip attached to a full door type door panel of an automobile by an attaching element except for a retainer, which comprises: a base portion to be fixed to an attaching portion of the door panel by at least one of a clip and an adhesive double coated tape; a hollow seal portion provided on an automobile interior side of the base portion so as to come into elastic contact with an automobile body; a seal lip portion provided on an automobile exterior side of the base portion, the seal lip portion comprising an upper end portion and an intermediate portion, so that the upper end portion of the seal lip portion comes into elastic contact with an automobile body and that the intermediate portion of the seal lip portion comes into elastic contact with a door panel; an end edge portion protruded from a lower end portion of the base portion on the automobile exterior side; and a neck portion formed in a connecting portion of the base portion with the seal lip portion on the automobile exterior side.

The present invention relates to a weather strip to be attached to a door panel of an automobile by an attaching means except for a retainer.
Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, related arts are explained below. A full door type door panel 20 of an automobile usually comprising an outer panel 22 and inner panel 21. On the inner panel 21, there is provided a retainer 53 for attaching a weather strip 50 to the inner panel 21. At a connecting portion of both panels, and also at a connecting portion of the inner panel 21 with the retainer 53, a sealant 54 is coated for prevention of rust as shown in FIG. 1.
However, according to the above-described technique, the following problems may be encountered. Since the rust prevention sealant 54 is coated as described above, the weather strip 50 attached to the door panel 20 interferes with this rust prevention sealant 54. Therefore, it is impossible to obtain a stable sealability between the weather strip 50 and the door panel 20.
In order to ensure a stable sealability of the entire weather strip, it is necessary to strongly fasten the weather strip 50 with the retainer 53 so that the weather strip 50 can be fixed. However, since the weather strip 50 is incorporated into the retainer in a state of simple insertion, the weather strip 50 slips when the door is opened and closed, which possibly deteriorates the sealability. Further, at an end portion of the retainer 53, a step portion, the height of which corresponds to the wall thickness of the retainer 53, is created between the retainer 53 and the inner panel 21. Accordingly, the sealability is damaged at this step portion. For the above reasons, when consideration is given to ensuring the sealability between the weather strip 50 and the door panel 20, it is preferable not to provide the retainer 53.
As shown in FIG. 3, in the case of a weather strip 50 having no retainers 53, it is proposed a means for ensuring the sealability of the door panel 20 by providing a small lip 52 which protrudes from an upper end portion of the base portion 51 and comes into elastic contact with the inner panel 21. However, the thus composed small lip 52 gets on a small arc portion 25 formed on the inner panel 21, so that the stable sealability can not be ensured. The reason why the stable sealability can not be ensured is described as follows. When the small lip 52 gets on the small arc portion 25, the sealability in this portion is lowered, and further the small lip 52 which has gotten on the small arc portion 25 does not sufficiently give a elastically contacting force by which a lower face of the base portion 51 of the weather strip 50 comes into elastic contact with the inner panel 21. For the above reasons, even when a highly expanded sponge member 17 or an adhesive double coated tape is provided on the lower face of the base portion 51, it is difficult to obtain a stable sealability. In this case, specific gravity of the highly expanded sponge member is usually in a range from 0.1 to 0.3.
Furthermore, when an adhesive tape is used, it needs an additional step of peeling off a mold releasing paper of the adhesive tape, taking undesirable time and a labor.
Thus, concerning the weather strip 50 attached to the retainer 53 provided on a conventional full door type door panel 20 of an automobile, it is difficult to stably ensure the sealability between the weather strip and the door panel 20. Further, since the small strip 52 provided at an upper end portion of the base portion 51 gets on the small arc portion 25 on the door panel 20, the sealability between the weather strip and the door panel 20 is deteriorated.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-described problems and to provide a retainerless weather strip capable of providing stable sealability thorough the entire length thereof.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an attaching structure of a door weather strip by which the weight and cost of the weather strip can be reduced and further the time and labor to attach the weather strip can be reduced.
Other objects and effects of the present invention will become apparent from the following description.
The above-described objects of the present invention have been achieved by providing the following weather strips and weather strip assemblies.
(1) A retainerless weather strip attached to a full door type door panel of an automobile by an attaching means except for a retainer, which comprises:
a base portion to be fixed to an attaching portion of the door panel by at least one of a clip and an adhesive double coated tape;
a hollow seal portion provided on an automobile interior side of the base portion so as to come into elastic contact with an automobile body;
a seal lip portion provided on an automobile exterior side of the base portion, the seal lip portion comprising an upper end portion and an intermediate portion, so that the upper end portion of the seal lip portion comes into elastic contact with an automobile body and that the intermediate portion of the seal lip portion comes into elastic contact with a door panel;
an end edge portion protruded from a lower end portion of the base portion on the automobile exterior side; and
a neck portion formed in a connecting portion of the base portion with the seal lip portion on the automobile exterior side.
(2) The retainerless weather strip according to the above item (1), wherein the end edge portion is a small lip which obliquely and upwardly comes into elastic contact with a flat portion of the door panel.
(3) The retainerless weather strip according to the above item (2), further comprising a highly expanded sponge member provided on a lower face of the base portion on the automobile exterior side.
(4) The retainerless weather strip according to the above item (1), wherein the end edge portion comprises a portion made of a highly expanded sponge material.
(5) The retainerless weather strip according to the above item (4), wherein the end edge portion is made of a highly expanded sponge material.
(6) The retainerless weather strip according to the above item (4), wherein an upper half of the end edge portion is made of the same material as that of the main body of the weather strip and has a lip or protrusion provided thereon, and a lower half thereof is made of a highly expanded sponge material.
(7) The retainerless weather strip according to the above item (4), wherein an upper half of the end edge portion is made of a highly expanded sponge material, and a lower half thereof is made of the same material as that of the main body of the weather strip.
(8) A retainerless weather strip assembly comprising:
a retainerless weather strip according to the above item (4); and
an inner panel having an engaging recess for holding the end edge portion of the retainerless weather strip,
wherein the size of the end edge portion of the retainerless weather strip is larger than that of the engaging recess of the inner panel, and the end edge portion is press-fitted into the engaging recess.
(9) The retainerless weather strip assembly according to the above item (8), wherein the inner panel has a small drain groove on a bottom face of the engaging recess.
(10) The retainerless weather strip assembly according to the above item (8), wherein the end edge portion is made of a highly expanded sponge material.
(11) The retainerless weather strip assembly according to the above item (8), wherein an upper half of the end edge portion is made of the same material as that of the main body of the weather strip and has a lip or protrusion provided thereon, and a lower half thereof is made of a highly expanded sponge material.
(12) The retainerless weather strip assembly according to the above item (8), wherein an upper half of the end edge portion is made of a highly expanded sponge material, and a lower half thereof is made of the same material as that of the main body of the weather strip.


The described apparatus and methods may include a controller configured to determine power required for at least one of a plurality of carriers, and generate at least one of a plurality of power control commands for at least one of the plurality of carriers based on the determination.

Field
The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communication systems. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for uplink power control in a multicarrier wireless communication system.
Introduction
Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various communication services such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, etc. These systems may be multiple-access systems capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., bandwidth and transmit power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) systems, 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) systems, and Single-Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) systems.
In communication systems where multiple uplink and downlink carriers are present, certain rules should be defined specifying power control for multiple uplink carriers. While in LTE Release 8 there may be only one uplink paired with one downlink, and the uplink power control is configured for controlling transmit power of the channels on the one uplink carrier, such a solution is inapplicable to multicarrier systems (e.g., LTE-Advanced) having multiple uplink and downlink carrier configurations.
Accordingly, there exists a need in the art for a method and apparatus that provide uplink control for multiple uplinks in multicarrier systems.

Method and apparatus for uplink power control in a multicarrier wireless communication system


A pneumatic tire comprises at least one sidewall portion provided with a serration pattern on its outer surface, the serration pattern comprising a plurality of first groups being repeatedly arranged in the circumferential direction of the tire, each first group comprising a plurality of ridges which are arranged using gradually increasing pitches toward a first circumferential direction of the tire, wherein a region provided with the serration pattern on the outer surface of the sidewall portion has a radius of curvature in a range of not more than 70 mm in a cross section including a tire axis under a standard condition such that the tire is mounted on a standard rim and inflated to a standard pressure, but no tire load is loaded.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pneumatic tire having a serration pattern for improving its sidewall appearance so that observers do not notice molding defects such as a dent or a bulge thereon.
Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a pneumatic tire comprises a pair of sidewall portions each usually with a serration pattern on its outer surface. The serration pattern comprises a plurality of radially extending ridges of similar cross sectional shape. The ridges are arranged a circumferential direction of the tire in substantially parallel each other. The serration pattern helps to improve sidewall appearance directly or indirectly by offering complicated reflected light so that observers do not notice molding defects such as a dent or a bulge on the sidewall portions. Additionally, the serration pattern helps to improve visibility of other branded trademark provided on the serration pattern such as characters, numerical or figures.
Pneumatic tires with various serration patterns mentioned above are disclosed in Japanese patent application laid-open Nos. 2003-252011 and 2003-320818, for example. These documents disclose a serration pattern which comprises an eccentric-serration region having a plurality of ridges each of which extends from an eccentricity center deviated from a tire axis.
Japanese patent application laid-open No. 2004-17829 also discloses a serration pattern which includes two different types of radially inner and outer ridges.
However, conventional serrations patterns of tires mentioned above had plenty of room for improvement in order to improve sidewall appearance of tires that have a thinner sidewall rubber for weight saving.


A human-powered slim charger utilizing an axial flux alternator for converting a pull-out motion into an electrical current for charging and supplying battery-fed electronic devices. The charger comprises mechanical transmission means for converting a periodic linear movement into a unidirectional rotation, an axial flux alternator comprising a stator comprising a planar winding, having a plurality of coils embedded in multiple layers within said stator and circularly distributed around a central axis and two essentially identical rotors arranged to rotate together around said central axis and allocated concentrically with said winding on both sides of said stator facing each other; wherein each said rotor comprises a periodical heteropolar axially magnetized magnetic system having a definite number of poles; Finally, the device comprises a charging control module affixed to the stator, said control module configured effectively convert non-stable alternating current produced by said alternator into a charging direct current.

The portability of many electronic devices is determined eventually by the life span of their independent power sources; usually these power sources are in the form of rechargeable battery cells. As batteries remain the weakest link in consumer electronics, batteries with longer lives, as well as more efficient ways to charge batteries are constantly being developed.


A method is provided for securing a wellbore tool assembly to a wellbore tubular member, which includes a number of method steps. The wellbore tubular member is provided, and defines a surface with a substantially cylindrical shape having a selected tubular diameter. A wellbore tool assembly is likewise provided, and includes a plurality of ring-shaped components, with at least one ring-shaped component defining a cylindrical surface having a selected ring diameter which differs from the tubular diameter of the wellbore tubular member. A plurality of radial groove members and radial land members are formed on at least one of the cylindrical surface of the wellbore tubular member and the cylindrical surface of the at least one ring-shaped component of the wellbore tool assembly. The wellbore tubular member and the at least one ring-shaped component of the wellbore tool assembly are urged to differing thermal conditions to cause the tubular diameter and the ring diameter to become substantially equal. While maintaining the differing thermal conditions, the wellbore tubular member and the at least one ring-shaped component of the wellbore tool assembly are coupled together. Then, the wellbore tubular member and the at least one ring-shaped component of wellbore tool assembly are urged to substantially similar thermal conditions to cause a radial interference coupling therebetween. Preferably, the at least one ring-shaped component operates to retain other wellbore tool assembly components in selected positions relative to the wellbore tubular member.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a method of manufacturing wellbore tools and specifically to liner hangers which are used in subterranean wellbores to couple portions of a casing string together.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the oil and gas industry, a variety of wellbore tools are used which are run into wellbores for temporary or permanent placement in a desired location relative to selected geologic formations, other wellbore tools, or nested wellbore tubulars. The conveyance mechanisms available to run such wellbore tools into wellbores include wirelines, coiled tubing strings, and tubular workstrings. The severe space limitations within wellbores, and wellbore tubular strings such as wellbore casing strings and wellbore production tubing, frequently require that the components of the wellbore tool be carried on the interior or exterior cylindrical surface of a wellbore tubular member. When the tubular workstrings are used as a conveyance mechanism, wellbore tools usually include a tubular body which is threaded at its uppermost and lowermost ends for connection in a workstring at a desired location. The components of the wellbore tool are most frequently carried about the cylindrical exterior surface of the tubular body, and are sized to maintain the wellbore tool out of physical contact with wellbore surfaces and nested wellbore tubular strings during a running mode of operation. Wellbore tools such as bridge plugs, packers, and liner hangers are located at a desired position within the wellbore, and then urged from a radially-reduced running condition to a radially-expanded gripping or sealing condition.
To enhance safety and maximize wellbore tool life, it is frequently required that portions of the wellbore tool be secured to the tubular body as permanently as possible. This is especially true for load bearing tools, such as some packers, and all liner hangers. In the case of liner hangers, large axial loads are transferred from the tubular body to a gripping assembly which is carried circumferentially about the exterior surface of the tubular body, and which includes cone rings and gripping slips. The axial load is transferred from the tubular body, through the gripping assembly, to a nested wellbore tubular.
To enhance safety and ensure wellbore tool integrity and longevity, two general manufacturing options exist: forming all, or portions, of the wellbore tool directly into the tubular body by machining; or welding all, or portions, of the wellbore tool to the exterior or interior surface of the tubular body. Machining requires the use of expensive and complex metal working equipment, thus restricting manufacturing and assembly operations to dedicated manufacturing sites with access to a work force which includes highly skilled machinists. Machining also adds considerably to the expense of manufacturing operations. The use of welding to secure selected wellbore tool components to the exterior or interior surfaces of a tubular body has similar disadvantages. Manufacturing and assembly operations are generally restricted to selected manufacturing facilities which have access to highly skilled welders. Welding components to a tubular body can weaken the structural strength of the tubular body, and jeopardize the performance and longevity of a wellbore tool. Therefore, welding operations ordinarily require careful inspection to ensure that the tool contains no defective welds.
In the oil and gas industry, manufacturing operations are highly centralized, with several cities and locations being the source of a large number of wellbore tools used all around the globe at remote locations. Typically, wellbore tools are manufactured entirely at one location, and are shipped in final and completed form to a well site for immediate use. It is not uncommon for wellbore tools to be ordered for immediate delivery and use; therefore, manufacturers are, as a practical matter, required to have inventory of assembled tools on hand for immediate shipment to remote locations. Of course, having valuable corporate capital tied up in manufactured and assembled equipment runs contrary to the principles of just-in-time manufacturing which dictate that only minimal amounts of corporate capital be tied up in inventory.
The fact that many wellbore tools are manufactured entirely at a selected small number of locations, and shipped to remote locations around the globe, means that, for many wellbore tools, shipping expenses comprise a considerable portion of the total cost to the end user. Therefore, decentralized manufacturing and assembly would probably result in both lower prices for end users, and lower costs for manufacturers, but would require that complicated machining and welding operations be performed at a great number of locations around the globe. For the reasons set forth above, decentralized machining or welding operations are impractical, since they require capital-intensive equipment and highly skilled workers.


This invention discloses a method of calling service among devices in home network, comprising following steps: a service calling party obtains a service handle of the called service by using the characterized information of the service, sends a service calling request information to a called party by using the obtained called service handle; the protocol stack of the called party determines whether or not the called service exists based on the service handle of the called service contained in the request information and whether or not the called service has established a renting relationship with the service calling party after receiving the request information, if not, the flow will be ended; if it is, the called party sends service call response message containing service call result to the service calling party; after receiving the service call response message, the protocol stack of the service calling patty determines whether or not the service exist based on the service handle of the called service included in the response message, and whether or not the calling service has established a renting relationship with the called party, if it is, the service calling party and the called party start the actual interacting processing of the service call; otherwise, the flow is ended. This method allows each of devices in the home network to share resources and ensure the reliability of the service call.

As the improvement of the human life, the use of devices such as information devices, communication devices, entertainment devices, home electronic appliances, automating devices, security monitoring devices and the likes in home is increased. Meanwhile, as the personal computers (PCs) and Internet are widely used in home, and with the development of telecommunication technology and smart devices, home network is paid more and more attention. The need for a simple, flexible, and reliable home network enters into human life. Therefore, a lot of home network concepts such as Smart Home, Electronic Home (e-Home), Digital Family, Network Home, Intelligent Home are proposed. More specifically, home network has four meanings: 1) the devices such as information devices, communication devices, entertainment devices, home electronic appliances, automating devices, security monitoring devices and the likes in home are interconnected, share resources, and combine a home smart network system; 2) the devices in home connect to local community network and internet through gateway so that information can be exchanged with the environment out of home; 3) the devices in home and the network to which the devices connect can satisfy the basic requirements of human for security, convenience, comfort, health and environment protection so as to provide the experience to make human enjoyment; and 4) the home network can be easily used, safety and reliable, easily maintained, reasonable price, and satisfy the home life.
In view of above-mentioned problems, another patent application filed by the applicant of this application proposed a digital home network system. As shown in FIG. 1, the system disclosed in the another patent application comprises a gateway 11, one or more backbone network devices 12 and a plurality of control subnetwork devices 13. The gateway 11 may comprises two sections, a door-gateway 110 and a control gateway 111. The door-gateway 110 connects the control gateway 111 through a wideband interface. According to the configuration of the system, the digital home network comprises two subnetworks, i.e., backbone network and control subnetwork. The network composed of the home gateway 110 and the home devices connected to the home gateway 110 is called as backbone network. The backbone network is used for carrying out the interconnection of the home devices such as information devices, communication devices, entertainment devices and the likes. The network composed of the control gateway 111 and the home devices connected to the control gateway 111 is called as control subnetwork. The control subnetwork is used for carrying out the interconnection of the home devices such as home electronic appliances, automating devices, security monitoring devices and the likes. The digital home network has a function to have the home devices interconnected and to share resource. In the home network system, the home gateway, the control gateway and the server are called as resource management device for managing the network resource.
According to network configuration as described above, the interconnection and the sharing of resource among the network devices are implemented with following manners.
When a device A applies for accessing the home network, first, the device A looks for a resource management device, then sends a registering request to the resource management device. After receiving an authorization from the resource management device, the device A establishes a connection with the resource management device based on the security authorization from the resource management device. The device A registers into the resource management device in the network if the connection is successful. That is, the device A sends its device information to the resource management device and then registers the service which can be provided by the device A itself into the resource management device. The resource management device stores all of device registering information and service registering information so that the information of the devices accessed to the network can be searched easily.
When two devices which have accessed to the home network communicate with each other, the device A which originates the communication first sends a device searching request to the resource management device. The resource management device searches the device registering information into a storing unit in the resource management device to determine whether or not there is an appropriate device to communicate with the device A. If there is an appropriate device B, the information of the device B is sent to the device A. Then, the device A sends a request to device B in response to the reception of the information of device B from the resource management device. The device A calls the service from device B. The device A automatically disconnects with device B after the operation is complete.
The device will perform a logout operation to cancel its relative information, which includes device information and service information, from the resource management device when the device disconnect with the network.
In above operation, the resource management device may exist or not in the network. The devices can perform communication through equity connection formed by self-negotiating among the devices after the mutual searching among the devices is performed. If there is a resource management device in the network, the resource management device would announce the information of itself periodically to other devices. The devices other than the resource management device would also announce their information in various cases.
It can be seen form the operation as described above, various applications based on the home network are implemented by calling services. That is, the service call is a very important step to achieve the interconnection and the sharing of resources in home network.

Method of calling service among devices in home network


A wiper blade. In one aspect, the wiper blade includes a wiper strip which directly wipes a wiping surface; a lever assembly which supports the wiper strip; and a cover which receives the lever assembly, wherein the lever assembly supports six points of the wiper strip by means of a pair of first levers, each of which supports two points of the wiper strip, and a pair of second levers, each of which is hinge-coupled to the first lever, is coupled to the cover and supports one point of the wiper strip.

In general, a wiper blade removes impurities, snow, rain or the like when driving and prevents a driver's front sight from being deteriorated and performs a repetitive reciprocating action in a fan shape as a motor drives a link apparatus connected to a wiper arm.
A conventional wiper blade includes a lever assembly configured by connecting levers of metal materials in a tournament type. In the lever assembly, a plurality of tournament levers curve a wiper strip, so that the wiper strip having a backing plate installed therein traces a curvature of a vehicle glass.
The wiper blade has a problem in that the wiper blade lifts by an air pressure applied to a glass surface when the vehicle is driven at a high speed and chattering occurs.


An optical element and a manufacturing method therefor, an exposure apparatus, and a device manufacturing method that can reduce the effect of intrinsic birefringence under high NA conditions. According to an optical element as one aspect of the present invention, an angle between a [0 0 1] axis of an isometric crystal and an optical axis is less than 10°, and preferably 0°.

This invention relates generally to an optical element, and more particularly to optical elements consisting of an isometric crystal such as calcium fluoride (CaF2), barium fluoride (BaF2), and strontium fluoride (SrF2), which elements are used in the short wavelength range from vacuum ultraviolet radiation to deep ultraviolet radiation, and a manufacturing method therefor.
The demand for finer semiconductor devices mounted in electronic apparatuses increases more and more as the need for smaller and thinner electronic apparatuses grows in recent years, and in order to fulfill the demand, various proposals for higher exposure resolution have been made. Since shortened wavelength of an exposure light source would serve as an effective means for achieving higher resolution, an ArF excimer laser (approximately 193 nm in wavelength) has been replacing a KrF excimer laser (approximately 248 nm in wavelength) for the exposure light source in recent years, and an F2 excimer laser (approximately 157 nm in wavelength) has become commercially practical. The calcium fluoride (CaF2) single crystal is most suitably used as an optical material for optical elements such as lenses and diffraction gratings for use with an exposure optical system in that light transmittance (i.e., internal transmittance) in the above wavelength range is high. In addition, the barium fluoride (BaF2) single crystal and strontium fluoride (SrF2) single crystal are also high in transmittance, thus their application has been under consideration.
The calcium fluoride (CaF2) single crystal has been manufactured up to this time by the crucible descent method (also known as "Bridgman method"). In this method, materials for crystalline substances are filled in a crucible, melted by application of heat using a heater, and cooled by lowering the materials in the crucible, whereby the materials are crystallized. In this process a seed crystal having a desired face orientation to induce growth of a crystal is placed at a bottom of the crucible, so that the face orientation of the crystal to be grown is controlled. The calcium fluoride is generally advantageous in easy handling of cleavage plane of a <1 1 1> face perpendicular to the crystal orientation [1 1 1] axis, and further in less effect of birefringence due to photoelasticity with respect to light beams incident from a direction of the [1 1 1] axis. During the manufacturing process, the calcium fluoride grows to form a desired optical element under control of the face orientation using the seed crystal oriented to the <1 1 1> face, or by slicing the <1 1 1> face of the crystal, and thereby the optical element having a light beam incident surface at the <1 1 1> face is obtained. Consequently, an optical system constituted of the above optical element has an optical axis identical with the [1 1 1] axis, to contribute to improved optical properties of the optical element (or optical system).
However, even if an ideal calcium fluoride crystal without stress strain could grow, the use of a light beam with shorter wavelength would make potential birefringence (intrinsic birefringence) non-negligible, and the intrinsic birefringence would disadvantageously deteriorate the optical properties of the optical element and thus of the image-forming quality of the exposure apparatus. These disadvantages came into focus by Burnett, et al.'s report in the 2nd International Symposium on 157 nm Lithography held in Dana Point, Calif. in May 2001. Referring to their experimental results, the maximum value of the intrinsic birefringence of the calcium fluoride is 6.5 nm/cm with the wavelength of 157 nm, and the directions in which the maximum value is exhibited are twelve directions including an [1 1 0] axis direction. In the conventional exposure apparatuses, or projection optical systems in particular, the above-described optical element using the <1 1 1> face has an optical axis identical with the [1 1 1] axis, which is only 35.26 degrees apart from the [1 1 0] axis exhibiting the maximum birefringence. For example, the numerical aperture (NA) of the calcium fluoride for a beam passing along the [1 1 0] axis is 0.87 with the wavelength of 193 nm, and 0.90 with the wavelength 157 nm. Particularly, exposure apparatuses in recent years have been required to achieve improvement in resolution and thus tend to include a projection optical system with increased NA, and the NA ranging between 0.65 and 0.80 has become the mainstream. Accordingly, in the optical element of the projection optical system near wafer where the maximum angle of a light beam becomes the greatest, the light beam passes through an area near the [1 1 0] axis where the intrinsic birefringence represents a large value. This makes it difficult for the conventional exposure apparatuses to perform exposure of good image-forming quality.

Optical element and manufacturing method therefor


A paper punch comprising a body having upper and lower parts and providing a horizontal gap between the body parts, a rotatable male die having a cross-section of a specific shape and supported within the upper body part for vertical movement, and a spring provided inside the upper body part for biassing the male die upwards. The paper punch includes a rotatable female die having a hole of substantially the same shape and size and provided within the lower body part, and a guiding member provided within the upper body part for guiding the male die in vertical alignment with the female die. A rotatable press-knob is provided on the upper body part for moving the male die downwards, against the action of the spring, to perform one of the two following actions. The first action is cooperating with the female die for making a hole on a sheet of paper inserted into the gap. The second action is engaging with the female die for simultaneous rotation by the press-knob to change the orientation of the hole to be made.

Paper punches for handicrafts are known to exist for making a hole on a sheet of paper or the like. As the hole to be made is usually of a decorative shape, such as a heart, bird or flower, its orientation dictates the side of the paper sheet on which the paper punch may be used for making a hole of the correct, upright orientation.
The invention seeks to mitigate or at least alleviate this problem by providing a paper punch which may be used on every side of a paper sheet to make a hole of the correct orientation.


An ECU executes a program that includes the steps of setting an abnormality flag when a hydraulic pressure switch is on even though a lock-up clutch is in a lock-up OFF state, forcing an SLU off when the lock-up clutch is on and the abnormality flag is on, determining that there is an SLU failure when the lock-up clutch is still in a lock-up ON state after a predetermined period of time has passed, and determining that there is a hydraulic pressure switch failure when the lock-up clutch is not in the lock-up ON state after the predetermined period of time has passed.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a hydraulic pressure control circuit, and more particularly, to a failure determining apparatus and method for a hydraulic pressure control circuit relating to a lock-up clutch.
2. Description of the Related Art
An automatic transmission mounted in a vehicle typically combines a torque converter and a gear type shift mechanism and is structured so as to automatically establish a predetermined shift speed by switching the power transmission path in the gear type shift mechanism by selectively operating a plurality of friction apply elements such as clutches and brakes.
This automatic transmission is provided with a hydraulic pressure control circuit which controls the supply and release of hydraulic fluid to and from actuators of the friction apply elements and a lock-up clutch of the torque converter.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2005-3193 describes a torque converter in which, when controlling a lock-up clutch that enables the input side of the lock-up clutch to be directly connected to the output side of the lock-up clutch, in addition to simply controlling the lock-up clutch to an applied state and a released state, it can also be placed in a slip state by feedback controlling the application force of the lock-up clutch so that the rotation speed difference between a pump rotation speed on the input side (which corresponds to the engine speed) and a turbine rotation speed on the output side (which corresponds to an input shaft rotation speed of the automatic transmission) becomes a predetermined rotation speed difference.
In order to control the lock-up clutch to a slip state in this way (i.e., in order to execute slip control), a solenoid valve is provided in a hydraulic pressure control circuit of the lock-up clutch in order to adjust (regulate) the pressure difference between an apply side fluid chamber and a release side fluid chamber of the lock-up clutch. However, if there is an ON failure in the solenoid valve, the lock-up clutch becomes applied despite the fact that it desirable to have it in a slip state and engine stall ensues. Therefore, it is necessary to be able to determine an ON failure in the solenoid valve.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2004-340273 describes technology for determining an ON failure in a solenoid valve. The technology described therein is an apparatus provided with a hydraulic pressure switch in a hydraulic pressure control circuit, which operates in response to the amount of hydraulic pressure output from the solenoid valve. When the hydraulic pressure switch is on even though no hydraulic pressure should be supplied, the apparatus determines that an ON failure has occurred in the solenoid valve.
However, when using a hydraulic pressure switch to determine an ON failure (i.e., the solenoid valve does not turn off even when an OFF command is issued) in a solenoid valve of a lock-up clutch, it is not possible to identify whether the failure is in the solenoid valve or in the hydraulic pressure switch.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2004-340273 attempts to solve this problem by identifying whether there is an ON failure in the solenoid valve or an ON failure is in the hydraulic pressure switch based on the operating state of the hydraulic pressure switch when the ignition switch is off and no hydraulic pressure is output from the hydraulic pressure pump. With this technology, however, it is not possible to identify where the failure is until the ignition switch has been turned off, which means that there is a time delay until a failsafe routine targeted at the cause of the failure can be executed.

Failure determining apparatus and method for hydraulic pressure control circuit


In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, an operations support system for an engine is provided. A diagnostics unit is configured to receive engine data from the engine and to generate condition indicators based on the engine data using a thermodynamic model, the thermodynamic model being based on component maps associated with the engine. An emissions calculation unit is coupled to the diagnostic unit and configured to calculate emissions information for the engine based on the condition indicators. A graphical user interface is coupled to the emissions calculation unit and configured to display the emissions information.

It is desirable to determine the emissions associated with operation of a gas turbine engine. Such emissions are currently estimated based on information from the engine manufacturer, typically estimated for a nominal engine condition and operation. Alternatively, emissions may be estimated based on sampling from emissions sensors at the exhaust system. Conventional emissions estimations may not be sufficiently accurate. Real-time engine emissions depend on numerous parameters, including fuel, operating speed and other operating characteristics, and individual engine characteristics. Conventional estimations may not capture all of these parameters.
The operation of a gas turbine engine powered aircraft would be significantly enhanced if the pilot could be provided with real-time information concerning the engine emissions. For example, knowing the emissions may enable operating changes to improve emissions, provide health information about the engine, and/or enable improved compliance with environmental regulations.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide improved operations support systems and methods that generate improved emissions information. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.

Operations support systems and methods for calculating and evaluating engine emissions


A cemented optical element is disposed on a test sample and a laser light which is emitted from a laser light source section is incident into a prismatic plane so as to separate the laser light into a reflected light on the separating plane and a transmitted light on the separating plane on a light path separating plane. The reflected light on the separating plane passes through a prismatic plane so as to be condensed on a light receiving plane. The transmitted light on the separating plane is reflected on a reflecting plane having power so as to be condensed. Spots are formed on the light receiving planes which came through the prismatic plane. Sensitiveness for measuring angles can be changed while changing the length of the light path and the power.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an angle measuring device, an optical signal switching system, and an information recording/replaying system.
2. Description of Related Art
It has been known that, in a conventional angle measuring device, a light is emitted onto a reflecting plane for a measurement which is disposed on a part of a test sample from a predetermined position and a position of a reflected light is measured so as to measure an angle of the test sample with reference to a predetermined position.
For example, in pages 2 to 3, FIGS. 1, 2 of Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. Hei 8-227552, an optical measuring device is disclosed which is provided with a measuring section which has four-divided light receiving planes for measuring an inclination between a disk (disk information recording medium) and an optical head to which information is recorded and measuring a thickness of a disk protecting layer. The four-divided measuring section emits a light to a disk from an optical element and receives a reflected light. The four-divided measuring section outputs an electric signal which corresponds to an amount of the received light on the light receiving planes respectively so as to measure a central position of the reflected light which is disposed in a center of a four-divided light receiving plane according to a proportional relation of the electric signals. In addition, the four-divided measuring section measures an inclination of the disk according to a shift amount of the disk in a radial direction and a thickness of the disk protecting layer according to a shift amount of the disk in a tangential direction.
Also, in pages 3 to 4, FIGS. 6 and 9 in a Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. Hei 11-144274, a deviation angle measuring device is disclosed in which an angle measurement light is incident onto a back plane of a galvanic mirror, a reflected light therefrom is separated into two light fluxes by a light flux separating section which is provided with a separating plane of which reflecting ratio changes according to the incident angle. Amount of light fluxes are measured independently by the light measuring devices; thus a deviated angle on the galvanic mirror is measured. Thus, a measuring accuracy can be improved by using a measurement output A which increases in accordance with a decrease of the incident angle onto the separating plane and a measurement output B which decreases in accordance with a decrease of the incident angle so as to calculate a difference "A−B".
Also, for a system on which such an angle measuring device is carried which is used for controlling a deviated angle of an light deviating element, for example, an optical signal switching system, or an information recording/replaying system using a laser which are used for an optical communication are known.

Angle measuring device, optical switching system, and information recording/replaying system


A headlamp adjuster which includes a housing, an expandable member on the housing, and an adjuster member which is extendable and retractable relative to the housing. One end of the adjuster member is engageable with a reflector of a headlamp assembly, and the other end of the adjuster member is receivable in the expandable member. The expandable member is configured to expand to accommodate retraction of the adjuster member. The expandable member may be a bellows which is, for example, molded to the housing. The housing may be molded over the bellows, or vice versa. Alternatively, the bellows may be attached to the housing using, for example, a snap ring, adhesive or some other suitable means.

The present invention relates generally to headlamp adjusters which are used to adjust the position of a reflector of an automobile headlamp assembly, and relates more specifically to a headlamp adjuster which includes an expandable member, such as a bellows, for accommodating an end of an adjuster member when the adjuster member is retracted.
Modern day headlamps for vehicles are engineered and designed to be aerodynamically efficient. In this regard, the headlamps are designed as sealed assemblies wherein the portion of the headlamp approximate the outer surface of the automobile is relatively stationary, and is aerodynamic.
A typical modern day headlamp assembly 12 is illustrated in a plan view seen as FIG. 1, and normally includes: a fixed housing 20, to which an outer headlamp lens 22 is affixed; a movable reflector 24, which is mounted within the fixed housing 20; and a stationary headlamp bulb (not shown), which is positioned within the movable reflector 24. Typically, the movable reflector 24 is mounted to the housing 20 by a universal or ball-type pivot 26 which is stationary, or fixed, on the housing 20.
A first pivot point 28 is disposed generally vertical of the fixed pivot 26, and a second pivot point 30 is disposed generally horizontal of the fixed pivot 26. As such, the movable reflector 24 may be pivoted about the fixed pivot 26 in the vertical and horizontal planes to aim the headlamp beam. Adjustment mechanisms, or headlamp adjusters, 40 and 42 are typically provided at the first and second pivot points, 28 and 30, normally termed the vertical pivot and the horizontal pivot, and the headlamp adjusters 40 and 42 can be operated to effect movement of the reflector 24 in the vertical and horizontal planes.
The headlamp adjusters 40 and 42 are typically mounted to the housing 20 of the headlamp assembly 12 and have adjuster output shafts 44, 46 operatively connected to the movable reflector 24 by ball and socket type pivots, or the like, such that linear movement of the adjuster output shafts 44, 46 produces pivoting of the movable reflector in the vertical and horizontal planes. Specifically, each headlamp adjuster 40, 42 typically includes drive structure 48, 50 for receiving a tool, and typically the drive structure 48, 50 is precision geared to the adjuster output shaft 44, 46. The gearing provides that using the tool to rotate the drive structure 48, 50 causes linear translation of the adjuster output shaft 44, 46 and therefore adjustment of the position of the headlamp reflector 24.
Before an automobile is released to the consumer, the movable reflectors of the headlamp assemblies are adjusted to a desired position so that the headlamp beams are properly aimed in both the vertical and horizontal directions. To this end, headlamp adjusters are normally operated at the automobile assembly plant. Thereafter, if a movable reflector moves from its desired position, due, for example, to vibration, jarring, or the vehicle being in an accident, a mechanic can operate the headlamp adjusters in order to properly re-align the reflectors.
Typically, headlamp adjusters are structured such that over-travel of the adjuster shafts (i.e. 44 in FIG. 1) is not prevented. Over-travel of the adjuster shaft can cause breakage of the headlamp adjuster housing and/or the reflector to which the adjuster shaft is connected. Specifically, over-extension of the adjuster screw from the housing can damage the reflector, and over-retraction of the adjuster screw into the housing can cause the end of the adjuster screw to contact an interior wall of the housing and result in damage to the housing, such as cracking. It should be noted that these headlamp assemblies are sealed against the environment, especially the entry of moisture, which can reduce the effectiveness of the lamp and also result in rust and deterioration over time. Thus, a crack in the housing can permit moisture, dirt, etc. to enter the housing which is undesirable.
As shown in FIG. 2, one way to accommodate the retraction of the adjuster output shaft 60 is to provide that the housing 62 has a receptacle or tower 64 which receives the end 66 of the adjuster output shaft 60 as the adjuster output shaft 60 retracts (represented by arrow 68 in FIG. 3). Being generally non-expandable, the tower 64 must be long enough to accommodate full retraction of the adjuster output shaft 60 (with full retraction being defined by the specific design of the headlamp adjuster). Otherwise, full retraction of the adjuster output shaft 60 may cause the end 66 of the adjuster output shaft 60 to bear against an internal wall 70 of the tower 64, thereby stressing and possibly fracturing a weld joint 72 between the housing 62 and tower 64. Another concern is that the tower material may become brittle and excessive stress may cause cracks to develop in the tower material.
Because the tower must be long enough to accommodate full retraction of the adjuster output shaft, the headlamp adjuster is not provided as being as small as it possibly could be provided. Furthermore, some headlamp adjuster applications require that the adjuster output shaft be able to retract more than others. Therefore, it has been necessary for the manufacture to employ headlamp adjusters with different length towers, depending on the specific application. As an example, FIGS. 3a and 3b illustrate headlamp adjusters 80a, 80b with two different length towers 82a, 82b for receiving an end 84a, 84b of an adjuster output shaft 86a, 86b when the adjuster output shaft 86a, 86b retracts.

Headlamp adjuster with expandable member for accommodating retraction of an adjuster output member


A printed circuit board (e.g., 103) includes capacitor elements (e.g., 121 and 122). The capacitor element (e.g., 121) returns a common mode current included in a signal output from a signal output terminal (e.g., 111) of a semiconductor element (e.g., 102), to a ground terminal (e.g., 113) of the semiconductor element (e.g., 102). The capacitor element (e.g., 122) returns a common mode current included in a signal output from a signal output terminal (e.g., 112) of the semiconductor element (e.g., 102), to the ground terminal (e.g., 113) of the semiconductor element (e.g., 102). The capacitor elements (e.g., 121 and 122) are arranged such that the mutual inductance between a parasitic inductance of the capacitor element (e.g., 121) and a parasitic inductance of the capacitor element (e.g., 122) for the common mode currents is a negative value. Accordingly, the effective inductances of the first and second capacitor elements for the common mode currents are reduced, which suppresses radiation noise.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printed circuit board that is provided in an electronic apparatus and is used for data transmission according to a differential signaling system.
Description of the Related Art
In an electronic apparatus typified by a copier and a digital camera, data transmission rate has been enhanced in the electronic apparatus to achieve printing speed enhancement and high resolution image quality. To support the enhancement, data transmission rate is required to be improved. To achieve the improvement, it is necessary to increase the signal transmission frequency and increase the switching speeds of devices used for signal transmission. As a result, it is difficult for a conventional single-ended signaling to keep radiation noise below or at a limit value. Thus, changeover to a differential signaling system has been made.
The differential signaling system allows currents to flow in a pair of differential signaling lines in opposite phase. Accordingly, magnetic fields cancel each other. The cancellation is advantageous for reduction in radiation noise. Thus, the system has been widespread. However, in actuality, even the differential signaling system cannot eliminate radiation noise.
In general, in the differential signaling system, even if the electric properties of the pair of the differential signaling lines are designed to have the same configuration, radiation noise occurs. It is known that the cause is current components of differential signals with the same phase occurring in the inside of the semiconductor element that transmits the differential signals.
The current components in the same phase (in-phase current), i.e., common mode currents, are caused by a switching time lag between differential signals in a semiconductor element that transmits the differential signals, and a difference in rising and dropping characteristics of signal waveforms. The common mode currents are a main factor of causing radiation noise specific to the differential signaling system.
Current components with opposite phases (opposite phase current), i.e., differential mode currents, cancel each other's magnetic fields occurring therein. The cancellation exerts an advantageous effect of suppressing radiation noise. In contrast, common mode currents intensify each other's magnetic fields occurring therein. Accordingly, the intensification functions to increase radiation noise.
If a route for common mode currents returning to a semiconductor element for transmitting differential signals, which is a generation source thereof, is not secured, the current strays in various conductors residing in the electronic apparatus and returns to the semiconductor element through a stray capacitance of a printed wiring board. The electromagnetic fields caused by the straying common mode currents are measured as large radiation noise.
A conventional filter circuit described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H04-372213 can rapidly return the common mode currents to the semiconductor element, and suppress radiation noise. FIG. 15 schematically illustrates a filter circuit proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H04-372213.
In FIG. 15, a transmission semiconductor element 1 and a reception semiconductor element 21 transmit signals through wirings (differential signal wirings) 5 and 6 that transmit differential signals. On the differential signal wirings 5 and 6, a filter circuit 10 is provided in proximity to the transmission semiconductor element 1. The filter circuit 10 is connected to the reception semiconductor element 21 by cables 18 and 19, which are portions of the differential signal wirings 5 and 6. The filter circuit 10 includes: a capacitor element 7 arranged in electrical connection between a ground and the wiring 5 connected to a first signal output terminal 2 of the semiconductor element 1; and a capacitor element 8 arranged in electrical connection between the ground and the wiring 6 connected to a second signal output terminal 3 of the semiconductor element 1. A ground terminal 4 of the semiconductor element 1 is connected to the ground. The paths of common mode currents indicated by arrows in FIG. 15 pass through the wirings 5 and 6 and the capacitor elements 7 and 8 and return to the ground terminal 4. Such a configuration suppresses radiation noise from the cables 18 and 19, which are differential signaling lines.
In FIG. 15, the filter circuit 10 further includes inductor elements 13 and 14 and a capacitor element 15 to attenuate harmonic components of differential mode currents, thereby maintaining signal quality. A terminating resistor 20 is provided on output sides of the cables 18 and 19. In the filter circuit 10 illustrated in FIG. 15, chip-shaped capacitor elements excellent in high frequency property can be adopted as the capacitor elements 7 and 8.
A typical capacitor element used in the filter-circuit illustrated in FIG. 15 has an inductance due to a parasitic inductance caused by an electrode structure. The inductance due to the parasitic inductance is a significantly small value, which is several nanohenries. Accordingly, the inductance has caused no problem.
However, as the driving frequency for an electronic apparatus has been increased in recent years, a band causing a problem of radiation noise has expanded to a high frequency band. Accordingly, even a slight inductance of a capacitor element causes a problem of degrading the filter characteristics of a filter circuit. Furthermore, a high density packaging of a printed circuit board is also a factor of enhancing degradation in the filter characteristics of the filter circuit.
Thus, the present invention has an object to provide a printed circuit board that reduces the effective inductances of first and second capacitor elements with respect to common mode currents flowing in first and second capacitor elements to suppress radiation noise.