An improved method is provided for performing register allocation in a compiler. This method determines the allocation of a plurality R of registers of a processor for use during the execution of a software program. The register allocation process is treated as a graph-coloring problem, such that an interference graph is constructed for the software program, the graph is simplified, and an R-coloring the interference graph to the extent possible is attempted. Then, spill code is inserted in the software program each for each uncolored node of the graph, a new interference graph is constructed, and the process is repeated. During the simplification process, nodes with degree greater than or equal to R are removed from the graph in an order dictated by a spill cost metric. During the coloring process, these same nodes are reinserted in the graph in an order dictated by reapplying the spill cost metric.

The relationship between run-time performance and effective use of a processor's register set is well understood in the art. The allocation of registers to particular values during program execution can have a significant impact on execution efficiency. If a frequently manipulated value is not stored in a register, the processor must wait for access to a lower-level memory before operating on that value, and execution times will suffer. On the other hand, if an infrequently used value is stored in a register during times when in it not needed, that register cannot be allocated to a currently active value, also causing a decrease in execution efficiency.
Popular techniques for performing register allocation in a compiler are based on a graph coloring paradigm. In general, in using this technique, the register allocation portion of a compiler is applied to intermediate code that references an unlimited number of registers referred to as virtual registers. A single virtual register can have several distinct values that are live in different parts of the program being compiled. A value is deemed be live if it has been computed or defined and the value will be subsequently used in a computation before being recomputed or redefined. The period of time during program execution between when a value becomes live and when it is no longer live is called the live range of that value. The register allocator discovers all of the separate live ranges of the program and attempts to allocate them to physical registers of the target processor.
During the register allocation process, an interference graph is constructed from the code being compiled such that each node in the graph represents a value that may be stored in a register. Two nodes of the graph are connected by an edge if the values of those nodes interfere with each other. Two values interfere with each other if they are different, and one is live at the point where the other is defined. If a node has N edges, that node is said to be of degree N.
Once the interference graph is constructed, an attempt is made to color the graphs with K colors, where K is the number of processor registers available. The coloring of the interference graph is a process of assigning a color to each of the nodes in the graph such that if two nodes are connected by an edge, they are assigned different colors. If a K-coloring is found, each register is assigned a color, and live range nodes of that color are stored in the corresponding register during program execution. If a K-coloring does not exist, code must be added to the program to spill one or more live ranges, that is, provision must be made for certain values to be removed from registers during portions of program execution, and reloaded when such values are referenced again. This has the effect of eliminating the spilled live range and creating a new, small live range around each individual use or definition of that value within the program. The interference graph is transformed into one having additional nodes, but possibly fewer edges, and hopefully fewer interferences. Then the register allocator will attempt to K-color the new interference graph. This iterative process of spilling and attempting to K-color the resulting graph continues until a K-colorable graph is found.
The problem of obtaining a minimal graph coloring is an NP-complete problem. The time required to determine a graph coloring may be exponentially proportional to the size of the graph, which is impractical for the compilation process. Different heuristic approaches have been developed to create graph coloring register allocation schemes that are solvable in time linearly proportional to the size of the graph. Many of these schemes are based on the principle that if a node N has less than K neighbors, then no matter how the neighbors of N (those nodes connected to N by edges) are colored, there is necessarily one of the K colors left for node N. Thus, node N can be removed from the graph. The problem of obtaining a K-coloring of the interference graph is therefore recursively reduced to the problem of obtaining a K-coloring of a graph with one less node and probably several less edges.
One such prior art scheme has three phases. In the first phase, an interference graph is constructed. In the second phase, the graph is simplified by removing, one at a time, each node N with degree less than K, along with all of its edges, and placing the node N in a stack. If the allocator reaches a state where all remaining nodes have degree greater than or equal to K, it selects a node to spill. Using some metric, it chooses a node to spill, removes it from the graph, records that this node will be spilled, and continues with the second phase.
For the node that is to be spilled, the original program must be modified to include spill code that instructs the processor to store the spilled value in memory after definition, and restore the value to a register before it is used. Once the program has modified, the allocation process returns to the first phase, building an interference graph for the modified program and attempting to find a K-coloring for the new graph. When the allocator has modified the program sufficiently to permit a K-coloring, it proceeds to the third phase in which colors are assigned to the nodes in the stack.
In the second phase, the register allocator must decide which nodes to spill based on some metric. One possible metric is to choose the node with the lowest ratio of spill cost to degree. The spill cost is the number of additional cycles required to save and restore the live range. Or, alternatively, the spill cost can be estimated as the number of loads and stores that would be inserted in the program, weighted by the loop nesting depth of each insertion point. The spill cost may be precomputed for each node, so that when the register allocator reaches the point where it must choose a node to spill, it can divide the precomputed spill cost for each candidate node by that node's current degree. The candidate node with the lowest ratio is spilled.
In the third phase, the register allocator removes a node from the top of the stack created in phase 2 and reinserts it in the graph, along with all of its edges. The node is then assigned a color different from each of its neighbors. In theory, this coloring process should succeed given the work done in the second phase.
The above scheme is not guaranteed to find the minimal coloring for a given interference graph. In other words, it may insert spill code where it is not strictly necessary. An improvement to this scheme, often referred to as an optimistic allocator, enhances the likelihood of finding the minimal coloring. In this optimistic register allocation method, again an interference graph is constructed. During the simplification process, nodes are removed from the graphs in order of increasing degree. This simplification process differs from the first scheme in that instead of removing any node that has degree less than or equal to K, at each step the remaining node with the lowest degree is removed. No node is designated to be spilled. Once all of the nodes have been removed, the coloring phase is executed. The allocator rebuilds the graph by reinserting each node and its associated edges in the reverse order of removal. As each node is inserted, it is colored with the first color that does not appear in any of its neighbors. When a node is encountered that has neighbors with each of the possible colors, the allocator spills that node. This is handled by reinserting the node without assigning a color. The allocator continues to reinsert the remainder of the nodes and give them colors where possible. After the graph has been rebuilt, the allocator inserts spill code, builds a new interference graph, and returns to the simplification phase.
This method is further improved by taking into account spill cost when removing nodes from the graph. During the simplification phase, as nodes are selected for removal, nodes with the minimum ratio of spill cost to degree are removed first. In particular, when simplifying the interference graph, the allocator removes the nodes with degree less than K in arbitrary order, but when removing nodes with degree greater than or equal to K, the nodes are removed in order of increasing spill cost. Ordering the nodes this way determines the order in which the nodes will be colored in the area of a possible spill. Thus, this allocation scheme will spill either a subset of the live ranges of the previous allocation scheme or the same live ranges.

Register allocation and code spilling using interference graph coloring


Physical exercising apparatus comprising, a rigid column having first and second ends and adapted to be positioned vertically between the ceiling and floor of a room, a top plate attached to the first end of the column and disposed perpendicularly to the column for contact with the ceiling, a bottom plate disposed at the second end of the column perpendicularly to the column for contact with the floor, a cam lever interconnecting the second end of the column and the bottom plate for moving the column longitudinally with respect to the bottom plate and locking it in a longitudinal position, a horizontally disposed bar, slidable vertically on the column, for supporting an anchored end of at least one resistive exercise band, a projecting handle slidably mounted on the bar for anchoring the end of the elastic band and a rod attached to the outside end of the bar so that the longitudinal axis of the rod is spaced from the longitudinal axis of the bar and perpendicular thereto so that the elastic band may be trained around the rod to change the direction of force applied to the resistive band.

A large variety of physical exercising devices are available to build and maintain body muscle condition, as well as to provide aerobic exercise for the heart and pulmonary functions of the body. Some of these systems are as simple as bar bells. Others incorporate complex hydraulic or pneumatic devices that operate through gears, ropes, cables and pulleys. These machines are costly and occupy significant floor space and are too heavy to move out of the way. Most machines do not work all of the body muscle groups and many exercise only one side of the body at a time.
Accordingly, it is the primary object of the present invention to provide a simple, low cost exercising station that can be easily and quickly erected in a traditional eight foot ceiling room, using the ceiling and the floor of the room as the anchors for stabilizing the device.
A second object of the invention is to provide exercising apparatus that expands the range of use of the elastic band resistive exerciser device to exercise all of the muscle groups more efficiently, including the exercise of both sides of the body at one time.
The most pertinent example of prior art is found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,989,241 to Ourgant. This patent discloses exercise apparatus comprising a vertical column that supports a fixed hanger and a swing-bar that can rotate through 360.degree.. The user moves the swing-bar in rotation in opposition to the forces provided by resilient elements which interconnect the horizontal hanger and the swing-bar.
It is therefore, another object of the present invention to improve on the general type of device disclosed in the Ourgant patent by providing an exercise station that enlarges on the range of exercising routines that are available with an elastic resistive exerciser element and by further simplifying the structure of the exercising apparatus.
Other and further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon a reading of the following detailed description of a preferred form of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


A rocker valve for alternately sealing one of two outlet ports is provided with two cylinders in which there are respectively disposed pistons carrying sealing members for longitudinal reciprocation along the extended axes of valve seats respectively surrounding the port openings. The rocker is rotated to urge one piston toward its respective valve seat while permitting the other piston to be retracted from its respective valve seat. An elastomeric diaphragm is mounted between the sealing members mounted on the pistons and the valve seats whereby the sealing members urge the diaphragm against the valve seats during sealing. The longitudinal motion of the pistons prevents skewing of the sealing members during rotation of the rocker arm for maintaining the sealing members parallel to the valve seats throughout the strokes of the pistons.

This invention relates to a valve having a rocker and an isolation diaphragm for alternately sealing one or the other of two fluid inlet or outlet ports. More specifically, this invention deals with a rocker valve suitable for selectively sealing ports of relatively large diameter.
It is known in the art to employ a rocker in a three-way valve having a single fluid inlet port and two outlet ports. In such valves, the rocker pivots between two extreme positions at which a valve sealing member mounted on the end of a pressure arm of the rocker closes one or the other of the outlet ports, the inlet port being constantly open.
Because of the arcuate motion of the valve rocker as it rotates about its pivot axis, the angle between the plane of the sealing surface of each valve sealing member on one of the rocker pressure arms relative to the plane of the valve seat surrounding the outlet port which is to be sealed varies as each respective valve sealing member approaches its corresponding valve seat. In order to minimize the problem of uneven seating caused by having a rotating rocker engage against a planar valve seat, the diameter of the arc of travel of the rocker must be relatively large in comparison with the diameters of the valve seat openings. Where larger port openings are required, the rocker must be of correspondingly greater size. As the size of the rocker increases, the force necessary to move it also increases due to be enlarged area of the rocker which is exposed to fluid pressure.
Moreover, even in valves with relatively large rockers, after initial engagement of a valve sealing member against its respective valve seat, the resilient nature of the interface between the valve sealing member and valve seat allows for movement of the valve sealing member against the valve seat causing relative skewing between the sealing member and valve seat until the rocker reaches a terminal position. The terminal position of the rocker with respect to the valve seat can vary depending on dimensional tolerances, resiliency of elastomeric sealing elements, and normal wear in use.
A valve of the aforesaid type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,199,462 to Baker for a Valve Having Rocker Valve Sealing Member and Isolation Diaphragm. Although the invention of this patent admirably overcomes certain leakage problems associated with prior art valves, the angular movement of the sealing members on this valve and the other prior art valves upon which it improves causes the valve to suffer from the shortcomings discussed above when used to seal valve seats on ports of relatively large diameter.


A power circuit for a device having a secondary battery receives commercial electric power supplied externally and supplies electric power to a target in the device and to the secondary battery. The power circuit includes a measuring circuit and a current control circuit. The measuring circuit measures power consumption of the target circuit in the device. The current control circuit controls a charging current to the secondary battery so that the power consumption and the charging current have a negative correlation based on a measurement result of the measuring circuit.

The present invention relates to a power circuit for use in a device which can be operated by a secondary battery, such as. a portable device of a notebook type personal computer or the like.
A device which can be operated by a secondary battery, such as a portable device of a notebook type personal computer or the like, is normally provided with a power circuit which receives a commercial electric power via an AC adapter and supplies electric power for charging the secondary battery and driving the device.
FIG. 9 is a block diagram schematically showing the construction of a notebook type personal computer (referred to as a "notebook computer" hereinafter) which is an example of the prior art devices having such a charging function. When externally supplying the commercial electric power to this notebook computer 100, the notebook computer 100 is connected to an AC power line of a commercial power of 100 V via an AC adapter 90. The notebook computer 100 is constructed of a power circuit section having a charging circuit 104, a battery pack 106 and a selecting circuit 108 and a system section 110.
In the above-mentioned construction, a DC voltage outputted from the AC adapter 90 is supplied to the charging circuit 104 and the selecting circuit 108. The charging circuit 104 is a circuit for supplying a charging current to the battery pack 106, and charging is executed with a voltage of 8.4 V (note that the maximum current is not greater than 1.5 A) taking the characteristics of the secondary battery used in the battery pack 106 and so on into consideration. The selecting circuit 108 is connected to the AC adapter 90 and the battery pack 106 and operates to select between the AC adapter 90 and the battery pack 106 for supplying a power to the system section 110. This selecting circuit 108 is constructed of so-called the "matched diodes" D1 and D2 as shown in FIG. 10, and a voltage supplied from the AC adapter 90 is set so as to be greater than the voltage supplied from the battery pack. Therefore, when the AC adapter 90 is connected to the notebook computer 100 in order to supply commercial electric power to it, the commercial electric power is supplied to the system section 110. When the AC adapter 90 is not connected, electric power is supplied from the battery pack 106 to the system section 110. The system section 110 has a main board 114 for putting the original functions of the notebook computer into effect as well as a DC-to-DC (DC/DC) converter 112 for generating a power voltage necessary for the main board 114 from the voltage supplied from the selecting circuit 108.
For the purpose of concurrently supplying an electric power from the AC adapter 90 to the charging circuit 104 and the system section 110 in the above-mentioned construction, it is necessary to make the capacity of the AC adapter 90 greater than the sum of the maximum values of the powers required by the sections of the notebook computer. In the above-mentioned prior art case, since the maximum electric power required by the charging.circuit 104 is 8.4 V.times.1.5 A=12.6 W and the maximum electric power required by the system section 110 is 12 W, there is required a capacity of 12.6 W+12 W=24.6 W, consequently needing a large-size AC adapter. On the other hand, a compact portable device having a charging function has a limited size and capacity of a cooling mechanism provided inside its casing, and therefore, the calorific value is required to be suppressed. However, when executing charging during the operation of the system by concurrently supplying a power to the charging circuit 104 and the system section 110, the calorific value increases, and this requires an increase in size of the cooling mechanism. Therefore, in a device of the current notebook computer or the like having a charging function, there is a normal practice of executing no charging in the operating state of the system, and the operation of the system section 110 is stopped when charging the secondary battery in the battery pack 106.


Methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture are disclosed for dynamic load balancing for multi-core computing environments. An example apparatus includes a first and a plurality of second cores of a processor, and circuitry in a die of the processor separate from the first and the second cores, the circuitry to enqueue identifiers in one or more queues in the circuitry associated with respective ones of data packets of a packet flow, allocate one or more of the second cores to dequeue first ones of the identifiers in response to a throughput parameter of the first core not satisfying a throughput threshold to cause the one or more of the second cores to execute one or more operations on first ones of the data packets, and provide the first ones to one or more data consumers to distribute the first data packets.

Multi-access edge computing (MEC) is a network architecture concept that enables cloud computing capabilities and an infrastructure technology service environment at the edge of a network, such as a cellular network. Using MEC, data center cloud services and applications can be processed closer to an end user or computing device to improve network operation. Such processing can consume a disproportionate amount of bandwidth of processing resources closer to the end user or computing device thereby increasing latency, congestion, and power consumption of the network.

Dynamic load balancing for multi-core computing environments


A connector lock structure includes a lock arm that extends along a fitting direction and is formed on a side wall of a connector housing, and maintains a fitted state by being elastically engaged with a counterpart connector housing; a pair of flexible and deformable plate-shaped support walls that protrude rearward of the side wall to sandwich a rear portion of the lock arm therebetween; a coupling portion that couples each of the plate-shaped support walls to the rear portion of the lock arm in a width direction of the connector housing; and an upward protruding portion that protrudes upward than the coupling portion and is formed on each of the plate-shaped support walls.

A connector lock structure that is able to maintain a fitted state between a connector housing and a counterpart connector housing has been know (see, for example, Patent Literature 1).
As shown in FIG. 8, the connector lock structure disclosed in Patent Literature 1 includes a lock arm 513 provided on a second connector housing (connector housing) 511, and a lock claw locking hole (lock portion) 505 that is provided on a top portion 503 of a first connector housing (counterpart connector housing) 501 and locks a lock claw (lock protrusion) 515 of the lock arm 513.
End portions 513a, 513b of the lock arm 513 are integrally connected to a front end and a rear end of a top portion 517 of the second connector housing 511 respectively, so as to form a double-sided beam shape. Therefore, the lock arm 513 forms a bridge shape on the top portion 517 except for both end portions 513a, 513b via a gap (flexible space) 519. Therefore, the entire lock arm 513 has elasticity. The entire lock arm 513 undergoes bending deformation in a compression direction when receiving an external force, and is restored to the original bridge form by a repulsive force of the lock arm 513 when the external force is removed. The lock arm 513 is provided with a lock claw 515 at a central portion thereof.
When unlocking the first connector housing 501 and the second connector housing 511 configured as described above, a head of the lock claw 515 is pushed down by strong pressing with a finger pulp or using a jig such as a pin. As a result, the lock arm 513 is deformed downward, the lock claw 515 is positioned at a level disengaged from the locking with the lock claw locking hole 505, and further, the second connector housing 511 is separated from the first connector housing 501. As a result, the first connector housing 501 and the second connector housing 511 can be unlocked easily and quickly.


The invention relates to a gas bag (10) for vehicles, having in an inflated state a lower cushion portion (22) and an upper cushion portion (20) adapted for restraining a vehicle occupant (16), and a dividing portion (24) between the cushion portions (20, 22) which is formed by wall portions of the gas bag (10) extending into the interior of the gas bag (10) in a direction away from the cushion portions (20, 22).

The invention relates to a gas bag for vehicles.
Gas bags are well-known for preventing or at least significantly reducing injury of a vehicle occupant in case of an accident. Gas bags typically are, in an inflated state, cushion-shaped and have an inflation opening through which pressurized gas can be introduced into the interior of the gas bag, in order to inflate the gas bag from a compact, folded condition into the inflated condition. FIG. 1 shows an example of such gas bag which here is a passenger gas bag. Reference numeral 10 designates the gas bag which is connected to an inflator 12 arranged in a dashboard 14 of the vehicle. Inflator 12 provides pressurized gas which builds up an internal pressure P in the gas bag, such that the gas bag can provide a restraining action for a vehicle occupant 16.
During the restraining action of the gas bag 10, a moment M is exerted on a neck of the vehicle occupant. This moment M results from an action of the tensioned wall of the gas bag. The interior pressure P present in the gas bag exerts a force F on the wall portion which is situated around the head 18 of the vehicle occupant, resulting in moment M. This is in particular a problem for a smaller vehicle occupant which contacts the gas bag in a lower portion, so that a large portion of the gas bag extends above the head of the vehicle occupant.
From EP 1 439 096 B1 a gas bag forming a single cushion is known which has elongated indentations and local projections in a plane surface facing towards the occupant. With these indentations and local projections a load imbalance between head load and chest load due to membrane forces in the airbag fabric shall be reduced.


A display panel includes a plurality of light-emitting elements. Light emitted from a first light-emitting element has a CIE 1931 chromaticity coordinate x of greater than 0.680 and less than or equal to 0.720 and a CIE 1931 chromaticity coordinate y of greater than or equal to 0.260 and less than or equal to 0.320. Light emitted from a second light-emitting element has a CIE 1931 chromaticity coordinate x of greater than or equal to 0.130 and less than or equal to 0.250 and a CIE 1931 chromaticity coordinate y of greater than 0.710 and less than or equal to 0.810. Light emitted from a third light-emitting element has a CIE 1931 chromaticity coordinate x of greater than or equal to 0.120 and less than or equal to 0.170 and a CIE 1931 chromaticity coordinate y of greater than or equal to 0.020 and less than 0.060.

In recent years, larger display devices have been required. Examples of uses for a large display device include a television device for home use (also referred to as a TV or a television receiver), digital signage, and a public information display (PID). A larger display region of a display device can provide more information at a time. In addition, a larger display region attracts more attention, so that the effectiveness of the advertisement is expected to be increased, for example.
Light-emitting elements utilizing electroluminescence (also referred to as EL elements) have features such as ease of thinning and lightening, high-speed response to an input signal, and driving with a direct-current low voltage source; thus, application of the EL elements to display devices has been proposed. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a flexible light-emitting device including an organic EL element.

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


A silver halide photographic material which comprises a compound represented by the following general formulae (Ia) or (Ib): EQU R.sup.1 --L.sup.1 --R.sup.2 --L.sup.2 --R.sup.3 --NHNH--G.sup.1 --R.sup.4 (Ia) EQU R.sup.6 --L.sup.3 --R.sup.2 --NHNH--G.sup.1 --R.sup.4 (Ib). wherein the terms are as defined in the specification. The photographic material is capable of producing ultrahigh contrast images and is useful in photomechanical processes. An advantage of the material in comparison to prior materials is that can be developed using a developer having a lower pH value.

In the field of graphic arts, in order to optimize the reproduction of continuous tone images or line images from a halftone image, image formation systems which exhibit ultrahigh contrast (particularly gamma of 10 or more) are required.
A known process for the formation of high contrast images comprises the use of a hydrazine derivative as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,224,401, 4,168,977, 4,166,742, 4,311,781, 4,272,606, and 4,211,857. In accordance with this process, ultrahigh contrast and a high sensitivity can be obtained and the addition of high concentration sulfite to the developer is allowed. Thus, the stability of the developer to air oxidation is drastically improved as compared with the lithographic developer.
However, the hydrazine compounds used in this type process have been found to have some disadvantages. That is, in order to eliminate the adverse effects of hydrazine compounds on other photographic light-sensitive materials when flowing into the developer, attempts were made to render the structure of these hydrazine compounds nondiffusive. These nondiffusive hydrazine compounds are disadvantageous in that they must be used in large amounts to provide sensitization and high contrast. When used in such large amounts, they tend to deteriorate the physical strength of the light-sensitive layers thus obtained or they tend to deposit in the coating solution. Furthermore, when a light-sensitive material comprising such a nondiffusible hydrazine compound is processed with a developer fatigued by the processing of a large amount of light-sensitive materials, it cannot provide a sufficiently high contrast.
Further, since ultrahigh contrast systems employing a hydrazine compound have heretofore required a developer having a relatively high pH value, on the order of 11.5 to 11.8, these systems are dangerous to handle and they have a high BOD or COD in waste disposal. Moreover, since large amounts of a pH buffer must be used to keep the pH value of the developer constant, the solids content of the developer is increased, making the developer sticky and difficult to wipe after it is scattered on the photographic material.
Thus, it has been desired to provide a hydrazine compound which can provide a high contrast in the presence of a developer with a lower pH value.
Moreover, light-sensitive materials for contact work commonly used in daylight may be used to make a wide variety of plate-making light-sensitive materials. In this field, a high letter image quality enabling the reproduction of fine Ming type letters has been desired. To this end, it has been desired to develop a nucleating agent having a higher activity. In particular, the nucleating agents currently in use in daylight light-sensitive materials which can be handled in daylight do not provide sufficiently higher contrast and thus a nucleating agent having an even higher activity is desired.


A type I phase locked loop (PLL) includes an oscillator and a feedback path to a phase detector. The PLL is configured to lock a first frequency and first relative phase of a first output signal to a frequency and a phase of a first input signal, and lock a second frequency and second relative phase of a second output signal to a frequency and a phase of a second input signal. A steady state phase lag of the PLL resulting from the difference between the first frequency and the second frequency is estimated, and the estimated steady state phase lag is used to determine a total phase shift (ΔΦLO,steady) between the second input signal and the second output signal. The PLL for the phase shift can be compensated. The determined total phase shift can be used in a distance estimation.

A non-limiting example of a phase-controlled application is phase-based distance estimation. Phase-based distance estimation (PDE) is becoming of increasing interest in a wide range of use cases such as car and home access, security, asset location and tracking, and the like. PDE using narrowband technologies such as Bluetooth low energy (BLE) is, for example, is expected to be included in an upcoming version of Bluetooth specifications under IEEE 802.15.1.
PDE measures the distance between two wireless devices, an initiator device and a reflector device. The simplest form of PDE relies on the reliable measurement of the changes in phase of wireless unmodulated pulses sent by the initiator as it is bounced back from a passive reflector device. If the reflector is an active device, it may actively send response pulses back and perform what is known as a two-way ranging measurement. Alternatively, the reflector device may not send response pulses and just measure the phases of the incoming pulses, this is known as a one-way phase ranging measurement.
In two-way ranging (TW PDE) it is required that the unmodulated phase of transmit (TX) and receive (RX) PLL remain coherent when switching from RX to TX and vice-versa. In some types of transceiver, the TX and RX frequencies are the same, so this becomes relatively straightforward to achieve. Such receivers are called direct conversion receivers or zero-IF receivers. However, use of the same frequency for both transmit and receive introduces its own problems, and so increasingly popular is the use of receivers in which the TX and RX frequencies are offset by a chosen intermediate (IF) frequency that is later compensated through a digital mixer. These receivers may be termed low-IF receivers, and in this instance a phase compensation technique is required to enable bilateral coherent phase measurement. Coherency must be maintained between the transmitter PLL phase and the receiver signal after digital downmixing. Here, "frequency" refers to the frequency of the local oscillator (LO), which corresponds to the PLL operating frequency, divided by the "LO divider" (if any).
In one-way phase-distance estimation ranging, or unilateral measurement, the phase coherence requirement extends to the PLL such that it must maintain its phase coherent irrespective of the frequency.
In all such ranging methods, a phase difference between transmissions over the same distance at two different frequencies is inversely proportional to the difference between the frequencies. Thus at least two frequencies are required, to determine a phase-distance estimation, and in practical applications, typically more than two are used, and the frequencies are switched or hopped randomly, or pseudo-randomly, in order to improve the measurement robustness and provide security against, for instance, malicious jamming.
The problem of phase coherence across frequency has been solved by applying so-called type-II PLLs in the receiver circuit. type II PLLs have a phase-error integration block within the PLL loop. As a result, there is a closed loop for controlling the phase and achieve a null phase offset, even in the event of perturbations to phase or frequency of the incoming input signal.
However, the phase error integration block results in relatively longer lock times, increases the in-band noise, and adds to the power consumption and size of the semiconductor die. It would therefore be desirable to achieve phase coherence, reducing or mitigating at least some of the above disadvantages.
Another known approach is to operate a type I PLL as a "pseudo type-II" PLL. Typically, these are implemented as a fast-locking all-digital ADPLL and appear similar to a type-I PLL having a type-I PLL phase, but they engage a digital integrator to regulate the PLL phase-error around a sampled non-zero phase-error. In such a PLL the samples' phase error value (acquired at the end of type-I phase control) is variable and so the PLL cannot maintain phase coherency across frequency jumps.

Type-I PLLs for phase-controlled applications


A heating arrangement for heating a seat has a temperature responsive element and a control circuit for controlling the supply of electrical current to the heating element which is embedded in the seat. The control circuits formed of components mounted on a flexible printed circuit board.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heating arrangement and more particularly relates to a heating arrangement suitable for use in heating the seat in a motor vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
It has been proposed previously to provide a heater integrated into the seat of a motor vehicle in order to heat the seat. Of course, it is necessary to provide some type of thermostatic control for such a heater.
It has been proposed to utilise an electromechanical relay, to effect such thermostatic control. However, such a relay, because it operates in a mechanical manner, cannot make a very large number of different "makes" and "breaks". Consequently such a relay must be adapted to operate with a relatively large hysteresis loop, for example, making at 15.degree. C. and breaking at 35.degree. C. Whilst such a relay may comprise a switch operated by relay coils in response to signals from a temperature sensing arrangement, another example of this type of arrangement is a bi-metallic thermostat switch, in which both the temperature sensor function and the switching function are embodied in the same device. Such a device does not need a control circuit, and is therefore very cheap. However, the big hysteresis loop that is necessary proves to be a disadvantage.
Other types of temperature sensors have been proposed for use in such an application, for example a thermistor, which is a resistor having a negative temperature dependence, or the base-emitter voltage of a transistor. However, if temperature sensors of this type are utilised a control circuit is needed to actuate the relay. This requires a control box or circuit which is located outside the seat squab, while the sensor is placed in the seat squab.
It would, of course, be possible to utilise a heating wire which has a positive, but very small, temperature dependence as the temperature sensor. In such an arrangement the resistance of the heating wire is monitored to provide the necessary control. However, this requires the provision of a complicated, and thus expensive, control circuit.


An exhaust system for a gas turbine has a main axial duct which feeds a heat exchanger to make use of the residual heat in the exhaust gases. The heat exchanger may in some circumstances be overloaded so a branch duct is taken from the main duct conventionally by means of a T-junction with a flap valve closing off either the main (axial) outlet or the branch outlet. The branch duct is then taken to an exhaust stack. Turbulence at the T-junction causes poor flow upstream of the junction and corresponding poor turbine performance. The invention provides a junction in which the main axial duct (1) passes smoothly through a bypass chamber (15) which surrounds the axial duct (1). Slots (17) in the axial duct within the chamber (15) permit passage of the exhaust gases to the bypass duct (19). Rotating blade valves (13 and 23) in the two duct outlets control the relative flow of exhaust to heat exchanger and exhaust stack.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to exhaust systems for gas turbine engines in which a considerable amount of energy is present in the exhaust gas. This energy, largely heat, may be usefully employed, for example in combined heat and power systems. In such a system the engine is used as a prime mover to generate electricity and the exhaust gas is passed through a heat exchanger to generate steam or to recover otherwise heat energy from the exhaust gas.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is often a requirement in such systems that the production of steam is controllable by the amount of hot exhaust gas allowed through the heat exchanger, surplus gas being diverted through a bypass arrangement to atmosphere by way of a stack.
Conventional bypass arrangements commonly employ a main duct and a bypass duct branching from it at right angles. A valve at the branch either allows the exhaust gas to proceed axially along the main duct or diverts some or all of it to the bypass duct. This diversion of the exhaust gas causes considerable disturbance of the flow and the resultant adverse forces generated can degrade turbine peformance and may even cause premature turbine blade or ducting failure.
Such repercussions of flow disturbance on turbine performance can be alleviated at least partially by increasing the length of the duct sections, particularly between the engine outlet and the bypass section. Such increase in overall dimensions is not always possible and is in any event undesirable.


A high frequency heating device designed to swiftly and accurately detect a to-be-cooked food placed on a turn table within a cooking chamber to thereby set up a cooking time or a driving time of a magnetron in accordance with a weight of the food, so that an appropriate cooking can be performed. A weight sensor on a lower bottom surface of the cooking chamber in order to detect the weight of the to-be-cooked food located on a turntable during a rotation of the turntable.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a high frequency heating device or so-called microwave oven for performing a cooking by heating food in a high frequency.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Typical of such a heating device cooking by means of a high frequency is the one disclosed in Japanese patent application No. Sho 63-3435 as illustrated in FIG. 1.
The high frequency heating device as disclosed in the application is formed with a cooking chamber 11, one end of which being mounted with a magnetron 13 for emitting a high frequency which is induced into the cooking chamber 11 through a conduit 12 to thereby heat food 14 while on a lower end of the cooking chamber 11 there is provided a turntable 15 turning in response to a driving of a driving motor 17. On a lower end of the turntable 15 there is provided a roller 16 which supports the turntable 15 and simultaneously rotates according to a predetermined track. In the high frequency heating device thus constructed when the food 14 is placed on the turntable 15, the turn table is rotated in accordance with an operation of the driving motor 17 and the roller 16 mounted on the lower end of the turntable 15 is rotated supporting the turntable 15. In the high frequency heating device thus constructed however, because a weight of the food 14 placed on the turn table 15 can not be detected and a time for cooking can not be accurately determined, the food 14 can not be adequately cooked, and depending on circumstances, the cooking may not be complete, resulting in the need for re-cooking and increased consumption of electricity.

High frequency cooking device with turntable and weight sensor


A process is provided for the formation of a conductive circuit pattern on a base metal formed on a substrate. On the base metal, a plating resist is first provided in a pattern corresponding to the circuit to be formed and a circuit pattern is then formed by plating. The plating resist is treated with a stripper and then with a stripping residue remover to cut off chemical bonds in the resist by a dehydrating decomposition reaction. The base metal is treated with an etchant for the base metal, whereby any resist residue still remaining after the treatment with the stripping residue remover is removed and the base metal are etched at areas which were covered by the plating resist.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process for the formation of a circuit of a printed circuit board, and especially to a process for the formation of a conductive circuit pattern of a printed circuit board, which is well suited for forming a microcircuit pattern at a high density.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a process for forming a conductive circuit pattern of a printed circuit board, it has heretofore been the common practice to use a copper clad laminate as a starting material, to provide an etching resist at circuit-forming areas and then to remove a copper foil at areas other than the circuit areas by etching.
Etching, however, proceeds not only in the direction of the thickness of the circuit but also in its widthwise direction, so that the cross-sectional profile of the circuit is not rectangular but is trapezoidal with its width broader on a side of a substrate. It has therefore been difficult to obtain a sufficient circuit cross-sectional area when the wiring density becomes high and the width of each conductive strip becomes closer to the thickness of the circuit. Further, the dimensional accuracy of a circuit is determined by the extent of variations in etched quantity, leading to the problem that it is difficult to form a microcircuit pattern at high accuracy.
To form such high density wiring, a pattern plating method is therefore used instead of the usual etching.
According to the pattern plating method, a copper clad laminate is used as a starting material. A plating resist is applied on a copper foil at areas where no circuit is to be formed. The copper foil is plated at areas not covered with the plating resist, namely, at circuit-forming areas, whereby a conductive circuit pattern is formed. Thereafter, the plating resist is removed and the base copper is removed at the areas other than the circuit by etching, whereby an independent circuit is formed.
Since the conductive circuit pattern is formed in exactly the same pattern as the pattern of the plating resist in this method, the accuracy of formation of a circuit width is determined by the accuracy of formation of the plating resist. It is therefore possible to form a microcircuit pattern by using a photo-imagable plating resist and forming a resist pattern by a lithographic process.
For such a pattern plating method, it is essential to have a plating resist sufficiently adhered on a substrate so as to prevent delamination or blistering in a plating step and also to completely peel of the plating resist after completion of the plating. In other words, mutually contradictory characteristics are required, including high adhesion up to the plating step and good peelability in the resist peel-off step. When the formation of a conductive circuit pattern is conducted by electroless copper plating in particular, the resist tends to peel off or blister in the plating step so that improvements are required in the adhesion of the plating resist.
As methods for improving the adhesion of a plating resist to prevent peeling or blistering in a plating step, there are methods disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (Kokai) Nos. SHO 64-13794 and HEI 1-261888.
To strip off a resist, a chlorinated organic solvent such as dichloromethane or an alkaline resist stripper is generally used depending on the properties of the resist. As a result of an improvement in the adhesion of a resist by the method described above, the above stripping treatment cannot completely remove the resist so that residual resist may still remain locally in a state adhered on the base copper foil at areas other than the circuit areas.
The remainder of such resist residue leads to a failure in removing the copper at such non-circuit areas in the subsequent etching step, thereby causing defects such as short circuits and insufficient inter-strip spacing.
To remove any adhered residual resist, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (Kokai) No. SHO 60-206190 therefore discloses a method in which any remaining photoresist is dipped in a strong acid and then brushed off by an acid-resistant brush.
Use of a mechanical method such as brushing for the removal of resist residue as in the above-described conventional technique, however, tends to damage, peel off or cut off the microcircuit pattern.

Process for the formation of a conductive circuit pattern


The present invention is directed to an innate DNA sequence within the complete genome sequence of Actinoplanes sp. SE50/110 which resembles the structure of an actinomycete integrative and conjugative element (AICE). Related AICEs were used for establishing genetic manipulation tools for other bacteria in the past. In this document, we describe the unique features of the specific AICE found in Actinoplanes sp. SE50/110 which are clearly distinct from any other known AICE as a whole, but share minor parts with varying sequence similarity with other characterized AICEs from other species.

The prokaryotic organism Actinoplanes sp. SE50/110 produces the alpha-glucosidase inhibitor acarbose, which is used worldwide in the treatment of diabetes mellitus type-2. Based on the fact, that the incidence of diabetes type-2 is rapidly rising worldwide, an increasing demand for acarbose is expected in the future. In order to meet these expectations, genetic manipulations of the strain and its derivatives have to be carried out, aiming at increasing acarbose yields. However, currently no tools for genetic manipulation exist for this strain, hampering the process of strain improvement.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Actinomycete integrative and conjugative element from


Image forming equipment of the type having a revolver type or rotational developing device. The revolver type developing device is rotatable about a shaft to bring any one of a plurality of developing units to a developing position where the developing unit faces an image carrier for effecting development. A protective member rotatably accommodates the developing device therein and has an opening which faces the image carrier at the developing position when the protective member is mounted on the equipment. Rotation restricting means is provided for selectively inhibiting the developing device from rotating relative to the protective member.

The present invention relates to image forming equipment having a revolver type developing device which accommodates a plurality of developing units therein.
A full color copier belongs to a family of image forming equipment of the type electrostatically forming latent images on a photoconductive element, or image carrier, by exposure to color separated light images, developing each latent image by a toner complementary in color to the associated light image, and transferring the resulting toner images to a single sheet one above the other. Also available in the imaging art is multicolor image forming apparatus which forms latent images to be developed in different colors one by one on an image carrier, develops them by developers of different colors, and transfers the resulting toner images to a single sheet. While these types of image forming equipment need a plurality of developing units, the developing units undesirably scale up the equipment when constructed independently of each other and arranged around the image carrier.
A revolver type or rotary developing device is an implementation elaborated to solve the above problem. This type of developing device has a rotatable hollow cylindrical casing facing an image carrier and accommodating a plurality of developing units at predetermined positions therein. The casing is rotated to sequentially locate the developing units at a developing position. As a result, latent images formed on the latent image are each developed by a toner of particular color.
Generally, black-and-white and other monocolor documents are predominant over the others so long as a copier, for example, is operated in an ordinary situation. Hence, a black toner, among the others, is consumed more than the others. The above-stated revolver type developing device cannot accommodate more than a predetermined amount of toner in each developing due to the particular construction. Since this type of device bodily rotates about its own axis, it is difficult to connect a large capacity toner container to the device. Further, while a toner of particular color is consumed more than the others, supplementing the toner from the outside each time is troublesome. In the light of this, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 71981/1987, for example, discloses a copier loaded with a monocolor, e.g., black developing device during ordinary copying operation or with a revolver type developing device during color copying. While the copier of this Laid-Open Publication stores toners of two different colors, e.g., red and blue to implement a bicolor or so-called multicolor image, this is also true with a greater number of colors or with a full color developing device storing yellow, magenta and cyan toners.
The spread of copiers and other image forming equipment has given rise to a tendency to entrust ordinary users with, for example, the replacement of units and an image forming device accommodating a plurality of units. Then, the easy and safe replacement of the units and device and the easy handling of substitute units and device are have to be promoted.
Regarding the revolver, each unit may be mounted and dismounted independently of the other units at the front or the top of the equipment body, as taught in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication Nos. 208779/1985 and 127850/1987. Handling the units one by one as mentioned is desirable for the replacement or maintenance of a single unit. However, this kind of approach is not adequate when the units have to be replaced to selectively implement a black-and-white image or a color image.
A plurality of units may be constructed into a single developing device which is bodily removable from the equipment body, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 78170/1988 by way of example. This kind of scheme allows a plurality of units to be replaced by a single operation. However, since the units are pulled out at the front of the equipment body, a mechanism for spacing the units apart from the photoconductive element is needed. Moreover, to fully mount or dismount the units, slide rails and guides are indispensable in helping the units slide in the longitudinal direction. Consequently, there are needed a mechanism which promotes smooth mounting and dismounting of the developing device, and a rigid and reliable mechanism which prevents the units from dropping and losing their functions, protects the surroundings and operator from smears due to the toners, and frees the operator from the fear of injury. Such mechanisms are complicated and expensive to increase the cost of the overall equipment.
Further, to pull out the units at the front of the equipment, the front panel of the equipment body has to be formed with an opening greater than the diameter of one unit and is, therefore, mechanically weak. Such a front panel cannot be made thin or has to be provided with a reinforcing member. In addition, the opening has to be provided with a mechanism or a member for positioning the front side of the unit relative to the photoconductive element, further increasing the cost and complicating the mounting and dismounting operation.
The conventional schemes described above have a drawback that the toners are apt to leak from the developing units other than one located at the developing position, contaminating optics, among others, and causing undesirable color mixture to occur. The developer carrier is exposed to the outside via the opening of the casing and, therefore, likely to scratch or otherwise damage the surface of the photoconductive element. Moreover, when the developing device is left at the outside of the equipment or transported, dust, paper dust and other impurities are apt to enter the developing device via the opening to lower image quality and damage the constituent parts.
To eliminate the contamination and color mixture, a cover member or similar screen member having an opening may surround the revolver, as proposed by, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication Nos. 172660/1983 and 162271/1985. However, this kind of approach is not satisfactory since the revolver is rotatably supported by the cover member. Specifically, when the revolver is removed from the equipment body and, therefore, brought out of the developing position, the revolver rotates about its own axis relative to the cover member in a pendulum fashion such that the center of gravity thereof is brought to the lowest position. This kind of motion is particularly conspicuous with the unit being used or having been used since the amount of toner consumption in such a unit sharply changes. Assume that such a motion occurs when the user or the serviceman takes out the revolver from the equipment body for a given purpose. Then, the center of gravity of the entire revolver, including the cover member, is shifted to bring the revolver out of balance. As a result, the revolver is likely to fall or contact adjoining devices. This is also true when the revolver is transported, e.g., packages of such revolvers are apt to collapse in the event of shipment.
The prerequisite with the above-described type of revolver is that it be rotated to and held at a predetermined developing position at the time of image formation. To meet this requirement, the revolver is usually brought to a reference position (home position) and then stopped there prior to image formation. However, when the revolver moves in the above-stated manner relative to the cover member after the removal from the equipment body, the position of the revolver relative to the center of rotation becomes arbitrary. Then, when the revolver is inserted into the equipment again, the revolver has to be rotated to the reference position, wasting much time and cost. In addition, the increase in the time and distance for the revolver to reach the reference position aggravates the probability of erroneous detection of the reference position.

Image forming equipment having a revolver type developing device


A communication protocol for multi-functional mini-memory cards is disclosed. Data is transferred through semi-duplex process and four bitstreams of data being transferred in parallel. A CLK signal is used as a base clock in data transfer. Each clock has four bits of data being transferred in parallel. In each bitstream, data is transferred as data packages. Endpoints are used as the data source and data sink in a transmitting end and a receiving end, respectively. A data package includes start bits, package identification codes, communication endpoints; data length, payloads, package status codes, data formats; and end bits.

Small form factor memory card has a large amount of storage space and has erasable memory as storage medium. The Small form factor memory card is built in with a controller for controlling chipset therein and reading and writing data. In application, the Small form factor memory card is connected to an electronic application device compatible with the Small form factor memory card.
The Small form factor memory card has the advantages of small volume, light weight, high speed, power saving, etc., and thus are widely used in computer periphery device and other electronic applications for data storage and exchange. The current used Small form factor memory card includes CompactFlash cards (CF cards), SmartMedia cards (SM cards), MultiMedia cards (MMC cards), MemoryStick cards (MS cards), Secure Digital cards (SD cards), etc. These cards have different sizes, appearances, mechanical structures, electronic contacts, communication protocols, software instructions, control processes, etc.
The Small form factor memory card are widely used in portable digital devices, such as mobile phones, digital cameras, MP3s, PDAs, etc. Other than being used in memory card, they are used in such as modem cards of CF interface, network cards, digital camera cards with memorystick interface, BlueTooth communication cards, etc. To identify with memory cards, above mentioned cards are called as IO cards.
Above mentioned Small form factor memory cards have some disadvantages which will be described in the followings.
For CompactFlash cards, there are 50 joints are necessary in the interface. The electric interface has 8 bits and 16 bits which are used in parallel. The CompactFlash has an address but 26 signals and a variety of control signal wires for different uses.
The defect of CompactFlash is that too many joints are used so that cost is high and a larger space is necessary; a larger force is needed for insertion and withdrawing the cards; the positioning of the pins are not accurate so that the slot is easily damaged; a parallel design must provide selection signals if a plurality of cards are used and thus it is not suitable to be connected with a plurality of cards; no write protection is provided and thus it can not assure that the contents of the memory is correct.
The SmartMedia cards need 22 joints. Reeds and plane contact terminals are used. Two reeds are necessary for detecting whether a memory card is inserted and write protection piece is adhered.
The detect of the SmartMedia is that too many joints and write protection piece induce a larger space is necessary and thus cost is high; the terminals are arranged as two banks. In insertion or withdrawing, the contacts in the first bank will be connected to the contracts in the second banks, thereby, the insertion is unstable; the power signal VCC and ground pin GND are arranged between the two connecting terminals, it is possible that the terminal is short or unstable; the write protection of the memory card is identified by adhering a tap, and thus special conduction write protection tap must be provided; the physical addressing is used and thus linear logic used in the general system can not be supported directly so that the cost of the electronic application device is increased; the expansion of the storage medium causes that the format must be modified to suit the format of the shipset due to the physical addressing.
For MMC card, the interface has seven joints. Reeds and plane contact terminals are used. A further reed is used to detect the insertion of a memory card.
The defect of MMC card is that the serial communication transfer mode is used, and thus only one bit is used in each clock. Thereby, the transmission rate is low; the write protection must be used with special software.
For SD cards, the interface needs 9 joints, reeds and plane contact terminals are used. Moreover, two reeds are used to detect whether a memory card is inserted and detect the sliding block of writing protection.
The defect of SD interface card is that the sliding block must be detected by an electronic application device.
For MS card, the interface of MS card has ten joints, and reeds and plane contact terminals are used. The connecting interface has card inserting detection signals. The memory card has a write protection switch. The advantage of the memory card is that it can support the write protection function.
The defect of the MS interface card is that the serial communication transfer mode is used, and thus only one bit is used in each clock; the physical addressing is used and thus linear logic used in the general system can not be supported directly so that the cost of the electronic application device is increased; the expansion of the storage medium cause that the format must be modified to suit the format of the shipset due to the physical addressing.
Since above mentioned prior art Small form factor memory cards have defects as described above, and personal computers must expand with USB interface, PCMCIA interface, or IDE interface, etc., for communicating with these interface cards. Thereby, the operation is inconvenient and the cost is high.

Communication protocol for multi-functional mini-memory card suitable for small form memory interface and usb interfaces


A puncture needle assembly including: a puncture device which is provided with a needle tube having a sharp needlepoint at the tip thereof, and also with a protector which is supported relative to the needle tube so as to be movable in the axis direction of the needle tube between a first position at which the protector covers at least the needlepoint of the needle tube and a second position at which the protector exposes the needlepoint and is located further on the base end side than the first position; a cap which is removably mounted to the puncture device; a lock which can, when the protector is at the first position, maintain the position of the protector; and a lock release which, when the protector moves from the first position to the second position, enables the protector to move by releasing the locked state maintained by the lock. The cap has a prevention section which, in a cap-mounted state in which the cap is mounted on the puncture device with the protector located at the first position, prevents the lock from being unlocked.

Prefilled syringes, each preliminarily filled with a medicinal liquid, have been known. Such a prefilled syringe includes an outer cylinder provided with a discharge port at the tip (distal end) thereof, a gasket inserted in the outer cylinder, and a plunger connected to the gasket, with a medicinal liquid contained in a space surrounded by the outer cylinder and the gasket.
Upon injecting a medicinal liquid into, for example, a living body by use of the prefilled syringe, a needle assembly having a hollow needle is mounted onto the discharge port of the outer cylinder, and the prefilled syringe is used in such a mounted state (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Further, in the mounted state, the inside of the outer cylinder and the inside of the hollow needle communicate with each other. The needle assembly described in Patent Document 1 includes a hollow needle, a tubular protector movable along the axial direction of the hollow needle between a first position, at which a hollow needle portion ranging to the needlepoint is covered, and a second position at which the needlepoint is exposed, a tubular support member externally supporting the protector in a movable manner, and a coil spring biasing the protector in a direction away from the second position and toward the first position. In the needle assembly described in Patent Document 1, during use of the needle assembly, when the protector is moved from the first position to the second position and then returned again to the first position, an engaging piece (resilient piece) provided on the support member protrudes toward the interior thereof, and comes into engagement with a base end surface (proximal surface) of the protector. This ensures that even if one attempts to move the protector further toward the second position, movement of the protector is restricted because the protector is in engagement with the engaging piece. Thus, the protector is inhibited from moving toward the side of the second position (see FIG. 4 of Patent Document 1).
However, the needle assembly described in Patent Document 1 has the following problem. For example, before use (in an unused state) thereof, if the needle assembly is dropped by mistake, the impact upon dropping may cause the protector to move from the first position to the second position and then return again to the first position. In this case as well, as mentioned above, movement of the protector is restricted by the engaging piece of the support member. Therefore, even though the needle assembly has not yet been used, the protector located at the first position cannot be moved to the second position, so that the needlepoint cannot protrude from the protector. In other words, the needle assembly cannot be put to use.
Patent Document 1: U.S. Pat. No. 4,894,055

Puncture needle assembly and medicinal liquid injection device


An allocation method and system for allocating a least-interference communications channel between a cellular system and a private radio system within the cellular system. A set of candidate channels are first selected and ordered by the amount of interference present within the cellular system, and a subset thereof is selected. A second set of candidate channels are then selected from the subset and ordered by the amount of interference present in the private radio system environment, and a safe channel subset thereof is selected. That channel exhibiting the least amount of interference is then selected from the safe channel subset as the communications channel.

The past decades have seen a considerable rise in the deployment of mobile telephony. After the slow start of analog standards like AMPS, Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT) and the Total Access Communication System (TACS), mobile telephony has recently become quite popular in the consumer markets with products employing advanced digital standards like GSM and D-AMPS. In addition to other developments in mobile phone features, like smaller size and longer battery life, much progress has been made at the network side as well, particularly, in frequency reuse schemes to avoid co-channel interference between adjacent cells. Increasingly, dense cell reuse plans have been complemented with hierarchical cell structures, where macrocells cover entire districts, microcells cover smaller parts like streets, and picocells cover very small areas the size of a few rooms. Important for the hierarchical cell structure is that all the base stations deployed (ranging from macro to pico base stations) are part of the same public land mobile network (PLMN).
In order to avoid co-channel interference between different radio links, a structured channel allocation scheme is applied. Within a cell, the cellular base station makes sure that connections to different mobile stations are carried over different carrier frequencies and/or different timeslots. In order to suppress co-channel interference from surrounding cells, a frequency reuse scheme is applied in which the cellular operator plans the frequencies such that adjacent cells do not use the same frequency set. For example, in conventional AMPS systems, a 7-site/21-sector reuse methodology (7/21) is applied, which means that in a cluster of 21 sectors, all of the applied frequencies therein are unique. In modern cellular digital systems, however, more dense reuse schemes are applied, like a 4/12 or even a 3/9.
Recently, private networks for residential and business areas have been developed, which although using the same air-interface and the same spectrum as the cellular system, are not integrated with the overlaying public cellular network. In this sense, these private systems cannot be considered as micro or pico networks since there is no direct connection between these private systems and the cellular system. For example, for residential usage, private base stations can be used as described in either U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,428,668 or 5,526,402 which only connect to a Public Switching Telephone Network (PSTN).
If, however, such a private radio communication system is placed into an area covered by the cellular system with which the private system has to share frequencies, a problem arises since the private base stations are not coordinated with the cellular network. Therefore, they are not incorporated into the frequency reuse plan of the cellular network. Moreover, they are not coordinated among themselves. Accordingly, a method is needed which both prevents the private radio system from interfering with the overlaying cellular system, and which also prevents interference among different private radio systems covering the same area. A recent patent application of the assignee, of which the present inventor is a co-inventor, entitled "Methods and Systems for Allocating a Cellular Communications Channel for Communication between a Cellular Terminal and a Telephone Base Station Using Received Signal Strength Measurements," Ser. No. 08,517,710, filed Aug. 21, 1995, describes a method in which downlink measurements on control channels performed within the mobile station are sent to a cellular-operator-controlled server in the fixed network, which subsequently allocates to the private telephone base station a set of traffic channels corresponding to the control channel with the lowest received signal strength. This method, however, requires a correlation between the cellular traffic channels and the cellular control channels, a correlation function which must be present in the database of the server. In addition, replanning a cellular network again requires the interaction of the operator's server.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method and system in which channel allocation occurs in the private base station automatically to avoid interference situations.
It is a further object of the present invention that the method and system be adaptive, in that if the cellular network is replanned, the private network will automatically replan as well in order to avoid interference conditions.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and system which allow a private radio system within a larger cellular network to autonomously determine those frequencies it can use with minimal disturbance to and from the overlaying cellular system.

Method and system for autonomously allocating a cellular communications channel for communication between a cellular terminal and a telephone base station


An oscillation device includes: a piezoelectric vibrator (110) in which electrode layers (112, 113) are formed over top and bottom surfaces of a piezoelectric layer (111); a vibrating member (120) having at least atop surface to which the piezoelectric vibrator (110) is bonded; and a resin member (130) formed continuously in a circumferential direction over at least the outer side surface of the piezoelectric vibrator (110). Therefore, since it is possible to increase the working area of the piezoelectric vibrator, it is possible to realize both an increase in the sound pressure level of the output and miniaturization of the apparatus.

In recent years, demand for portable electronic apparatuses, such as mobile phones or notebook computers, has been growing. In such electronic apparatuses, thin mobile terminals having sound functions of a videophone or video reproduction, a hands-free phone, and the like as commercial values are under development. Among such developments, there is a growing demand for high-quality sound and reduction in the size and thickness of an electro-acoustic transducer (speaker device) that is an audio component.
In the related art, an electro-dynamic electro-acoustic transducer has been used as an electro-acoustic transducer in an electronic apparatus, such as a mobile phone. The electro-dynamic electro-acoustic transducer is configured to include a permanent magnet, a voice coil, and a vibrating film.
However, there is a limitation in making the electro-dynamic electro-acoustic transducer thin due to its operating principle and structure. On the other hand, Patent Documents 1 and 2 disclose using a piezoelectric vibrator as an electro-acoustic transducer.
Moreover, in addition to the speaker device, various oscillation devices or electronic apparatuses, such as a sound wave sensor (refer to Patent Document 3) that detects a distance to an object using sound waves oscillated from a piezoelectric vibrator, are known as other examples of the oscillation device using a piezoelectric vibrator (Patent Documents 4 to 6).

Oscillation device and electronic apparatus


The invention relates to a method for providing controlled braking of a motor vehicle and a brake system for carrying out the method. The brake system includes a central unit and brake actuators for each wheel of the motor vehicle. The brake actuators are connected to the central unit. In the central unit, a relative braking-force distribution key is computed at time intervals and is transmitted to the brake actuators. With a braking operation, the absolute braking force for the braking operation is computed in each brake actuator from the corresponding component of the relative braking-force distribution key.

In recent times, brake systems of the brake-by-wire type have been developed for motor vehicles and especially for passenger cars. Such a brake system is, for example, disclosed in German patent publication 4,022,671. This brake system includes a brake-value transducer which is connected to two central modules which, in turn, are connected via a data bus to two wheel modules. The central modules and the wheel modules assigned thereto can exchange data in serial operation via the data busses.
A braking operation can be carried out with the aid of the brake system disclosed in German patent publication 4,022,671 as described below. The brake value inputted by the driver is conducted via the brake-value transducer to the central modules and is here first converted into individual brake values for the individual wheel modules. Thereafter, the individual brake values are conducted from the central modules to the wheel modules via the data busses and, on the basis of the individual brake values, the braking operation at each wheel of the vehicle is initiated by the wheel modules.
Different loads on the wheels can occur, for example, because of driving through a curve and/or because of load. By generating individual brake values, these different wheel loads or the different temperatures of the brakes can be considered so that an overheated brake can be detected and controlled out and yaw moments of the motor vehicle can be compensated. However, data from the individual wheel modules must be transmitted to the central units via the data bus in order to consider the operating parameters of individual wheel brakes. As a consequence thereof, the data busses are "in use" from time to time and no data can be transmitted from the central modules to the wheel modules for initiating a braking operation. This then leads to an unwanted delay of the braking operation.
Furthermore, it is not always guaranteed that the individual brake values, which are transmitted by the central modules, always arrive at the same time at all four wheel modules so that the staggered arrival of the brake values can cause an unwanted pulling of the motor vehicle to one side or the other. Finally, the brake system disclosed in German patent publication 4,022,671 can be characterized as unsafe in that a complete disabling of the brake system can occur in the event that the central module becomes inoperative because, in this case, the pregiven brake value is no longer registered by the central modules and the individual brake values are no longer transmitted from the central modules to the individual wheel modules.
European patent publication 0,439,559 discloses a system having distributed modules which communicate with each other via a serial data bus. With this system, commands can be executed in individual modules without a time delay. For this purpose, commands are transmitted from a central module to other modules via the data bus at any desired time point and the commands are stored in these other modules. The command for executing the stored command is supplied to the modules via separate data lines and the stored command is executed directly after the command is received.
The system disclosed in European patent publication 0,439,559 is, however, not suitable for use in brake systems of the brake-by-wire type because the command generation takes place automatically in the central module as does the command transmission between the central module and the other modules and the storage of the fixed commands takes place in the modules and cannot be influenced by the driver of the motor vehicle. However, a braking operation is precisely such an operation which is intended to be influenced by the driver via a suitable actuation of the brake pedal and is dependent upon a particular situation.

Method for controlled braking of a motor vehicle


An end fitting closes at least one end of a passageway having an external periphery and an internal periphery to be cast-in-place within a part. A fitting body has at least one elongated, blind-ended aperture formed therein. The aperture is defined at least in part by a first surface having a complimentary shape with respect to the external periphery of the cast-in-place passageway for receiving an end of the passageway disposed extending at least partially therein to close the passageway during casting of the part. The fitting body is composed of material essentially identical to material being used during casting of the part. The fitting body is positionable within a casting mold for forming the part to be cast, such that machining the cast part after casting opens the blind-end of the fitting to allow fluid flow through the passageway cast-in-place within the part. The end fitting may include a shaped aperture, such as a hexagonal shape or oval shape, for receiving a complimentary shaped nut on the conduit or complimentary shaped passageway to provide orientation of the passageway with respect to the fitting when connected thereto.

It is generally known in the manufacture of heat transferable castings, or castings having internal fluid passages for lubrication or the like to cast metal around a tube through which liquid or gas can be passed. The tube may be shaped to suit the form of the casting and situated where the maximum heat transference is required. The tube in this way forms a passage which will not leak irrespective of the soundness of the casting and may provide a conduit of a shape which could not be achieved through normal casting techniques using cores. In the past, various techniques have been employed to manufacture cast articles or parts, such as crankshaft for internal combustion engines or transmission housing components or the like, wherein the part includes a plurality of open-ended, internal passages for supplying fluid to desired locations. One typical approach involves casting the part in a suitable mold and then drilling the passages in the cast part. Passages formed by drilling are limited to linear configurations. Moreover, drilling produces metal chips and other debris that must be removed from the passages. It has also been known to form all passages within a part as a single serpentine tube with portions of the tube removed after casting the part in order to open the individual passageways through the part, or to form a bundle of tubular conduits to be cast in situ where an end portion of each conduit has a salvage portion that is crimped closed to preclude the metal used in the casting operation from intruding within the passageways. In either case, large amounts of scrap conduit are generated using these casting techniques, increasing the cost of production for these parts. In addition, if the parts require surface machining in the vicinity of the cast-in-place passageways, bi-metallic machining complications exist when using these known techniques of casting passageways in place.

Machinable cast-in-place tube enclosure fittings


An output buffer of an integrated circuit arranged to be energised from a supply source providing predetermined potentials to supply conductors of the integrated circuit, comprises a potential divider R.sub.1, R.sub.2, R.sub.3 to define reference levels V.sub.1, V.sub.2 having a reduced swing compared to the supply levels V.sub.DD and 0, which reference levels are transferred to an output node V.sub.out, so that the reference potentials are unaffected by the loading of the output node, which the reduced voltage swing reduces pick-up caused by switching of the output buffer.

This invention relates to output buffers for integrated circuits.
The invention is especially concerned with output controls of the integrated circuit having a large logic swing which operate circuits which only require a small logic swing. For example, in a CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) integrated circuit within a frequency synthesizer, the logic swing is 5 volts, whereas the modulus input of a pre-scaler within a phase locked loop forming the synthesizer only requires a logic swing of between 0.7 and 0.8 volts, since the latter is formed from bipolar semiconductors. A major problem is that other adjacent devices can pick up unwanted signals from these outputs.

Integrated circuit output buffer with reduced voltage output swing


A mobile phone with an expanded telephone directory, wherein any electronic telephone directory of the mobile phone is supplemented by, in each case, one data base located in the nonvolatile memory of the mobile phone, each data base being assigned to precisely one specific telephone directory. The data base assigned to a telephone directory is preferably an expansion telephone directory, and a number of the expansion telephone directories can be assigned to each telephone directory.

The present invention relates to a mobile phone, in particular a mobile phone according to the GSM (GSM=Groupe Speciale Mobile) standard, having at least one electronic telephone directory, one of which is stored on the SIM card and, if applicable, the other electronic telephone directory or directories is/are arranged in the nonvolatile memory of the telephone.
Mobile phones of the prior art according to the GSM standard generally have at least one electronic telephone directory, and it has now become the practice almost always to use two or more telephone directories. One of these telephone directories is stored on the SIM (SIM=Subscriber Identity Module) card, referred to below as SIM, and thus can be transported from one mobile phone to another. In contrast, the other telephone directory or directories is/are in the nonvolatile, internal memory which can be formed, for example, by EEPROMs or flash or battery-buffered RAM modules.
The internal data format of the SIM for storing telephone directory entries requires that a telephone directory entry be composed of a sequence of numbers (telephone number) and an associated sequence of alphanumeric characters (name). The maximum length of the telephone number is at least 20 numbers, and the maximum length of the name can be between 0 and 241 characters.
The same format is usually used for telephone directory entries which are located in the nonvolatile memory, it being possible for the maximum lengths to differ from those on the SIM card. In other words, the number of attributes or features of a telephone directory entry, an attribute being a telephone number or a name in this case, has been prescribed by the GSM standard and SIM card and is two.
Because, to date, the number of attributes for telephone entries of an SIM card has been prescribed, flexible use of the telephone directory of a mobile phone (for example, the grouping of telephone numbers according to certain properties such as work or personal), has not been possible.
The document EP-A-0 860 970 discloses a method for administering an electronic telephone directory or a telephone number database in the form in which it exists, for example, on an SIM card of a mobile phone. The telephone number database is divided into two memory areas; namely, into a first memory area in which telephone numbers which can be addressed via an abbreviated dialing method are arranged, and into a second memory area in which telephone numbers which cannot be addressed via an abbreviated dialing method are arranged. If a telephone number in the second memory area without the abbreviated dialing property is then to be shifted to a storage location in the first memory area with the abbreviated dialing property, the telephone number to be shifted is first shifted into a buffer, the number at the destination of the first memory area is shifted to the exit location of the memory area of the number to be shifted and then the number to be shifted is removed from the buffer and transmitted to the destination in the first buffer.
The document WO 98/30053 shows a mobile radio unit which has a telephone directory which is stored on an SIM card and a telephone directory which is stored in an EEPROM of the mobile radio unit. In order to select telephone directory entries easily, the two telephone directories are combined in an assignment table and abbreviated dialing numbers are assigned to specific telephone directory entries.
The document EP-A-0 915 604 discloses a method for searching through a database for a specific entry; in particular, for searching for an entry in a telephone directory which is stored in a mobile phone. The improved searching for a telephone directory entry is carried out in that, starting with the entry of a specific letter, all the variations of entries which have the entered letter and a different second letter are displayed. If the second letter of the entry is then also determined, all the variations of the first two entered letters appear with a third variable letter which also can be specified in a subsequent step. By repeated inputting of the respective following letters, a specific database entry or telephone directory entry is thus found.
The present invention is, therefore, directed toward acquiring expanded applications via telephone directory entries, in particular of forming groups of telephone directory entries and, in this way, dividing up the telephone numbers according to personal, business or other criteria, for example. The intention of the present invention is to overcome the format of the number of attributes which has been previously prescribed by the GSM standard and is of restricted length.

Mobile phone with expanded telephone directory


An axial flow turbine blade and diaphragm construction comprises an annulus of static turbine blades 20 and inner and outer spacer rings 40, 42 having apertures 41, 43 shaped to accommodate inner and outer platform portions 22, 23 of the blades, whereby the platform portions and the spacer rings together form inner and outer port walls of the turbine diaphragm. A particular feature of the blades is that the inner and outer platform portions 22 and 23 have straight side edges 22B, 22C and 23B, 23C, which are joined to each other by curved leading edges 22D and 23D that in plan view have a shape that follows the edge of the corner fillet 24 in the region of the leading edge 26 of the aerofoil 21.

The present invention is related to two known types of construction called "spacer band" and "platform". In the spacer band type of construction, shown in FIG. 1A, the blade aerofoils 1 are fixed to radially inner and outer structural members 2, 3 by means of inner and outer annular "bands" 4, 5, which are rolled from flat strip. Holes 6 are cut in the bands 4, 5 (e.g., by laser) to match the cross-section of the aerofoil shape, the ends of the aerofoils then being inserted into the holes and fillet welded into place. The bands are in turn welded to the inner and outer members 2, 3 to form the steam passage wall, or so-called "port wall".
An advantage of spacer band construction is that it involves a relatively small amount of machining of the blades compared to some other types of construction used in steam turbines. For example, in the so-called "platform" type of diaphragm construction, see FIG. 1B, the ends of the aerofoils 7 are integral with radially inner and outer "platforms" 8, 9, the aerofoils and platforms being machined from solid. A complete annulus of static blades is built up by assembling successive combined aerofoil/platform components 10 between inner and outer rings and welding the platforms to the rings. To illustrate the assembly process, an adjacent blade shape is shown in dashed lines. When the assembly is finished, the inner and outer platforms 8, 9 form the inner and outer port walls of the diaphragm.
This form of construction has performance advantages compared to the spacer band type, but has much higher manufacturing costs due to the extra material and machining involved in producing combined aerofoil/platform components 10. However, for some types of use—retrofitting of existing turbines, in particular—the performance benefit of the platform type of construction makes it the most economic solution despite its extra cost. This performance benefit arises from the fact that platform construction enables an aerodynamically advantageous fillet radius 11 in the corner between the aerofoil and the port wall, a smoother port wall and better maintenance of circularity in the port wall during operation of the turbine.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a type of diaphragm construction which has the good performance characteristics of the above platform type of construction, while being more economical to manufacture.

Turbine blade and diaphragm construction


The present invention provides for a system for operating a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system. A controller operates compressors in tandem connected to an evaporator. In response to detection of a pre-freezing condition of in the coils of the evaporator, the controller adjusts an operating condition of the HVAC system.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to control systems used in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems and, more particularly, to a system for controlling operation of an HVAC system having a tandem compressor assembly.
Background
In an HVAC system, an evaporator removes heat from an enclosed space that is to be cooled. It is important to keep coils of the evaporator warm enough to prevent freezing of water condensation on the coils due to the low temperature of refrigerant within the coils. In other situations, the coils may become cold due to a low refrigerant charge. In some HVAC systems, a freeze stat is utilized to detect a freezing condition in the evaporator coils. In response to a freezing condition, a control system of the HVAC system shuts down the HVAC system to prevent damage to a compressor and other components of the HVAC system. What is needed are improved systems, devices, and methods for maintaining the evaporator of an HVAC system in an operational condition.

System for operating an HVAC system having tandem compressors


A seaming element for seaming an industrial textile, an industrial textile, and a method of seaming. A first region of the seaming element comprises at least one securing member, and a second region is securable to the textile. Spaced-apart protrusions in the securing members are interdigitatable with corresponding protrusions in an opposing element, or the other seamable edge of the textile. Opposing protrusions are interdigitated to define first and second channels for securing means. Where the seaming element has two or more securing members, the protrusions of the outer securing member are aligned with those of an inner securing member of the opposing element, and the protrusions of an inner securing member are aligned with those of the outer securing member of the opposing element. Where the securing means is a pintle, the free ends can be inserted back into the channel to secure the seam.

Prior art seaming elements (e.g. WO 2010/121360 to Manninen) include nonwoven seaming elements which are formed from an oriented polymer film. One of a pair of such seaming elements can be attached at each end or edge of a textile to be joined, and looped portions at the free edge regions of the two elements can be interdigitated to provide a channel suitable for receiving a securing means such as a pintle. The dimensions for the seaming elements are selected so as to be compatible with the textile to be seamed, in particular as to thickness so as to minimize or avoid any discontinuity at the seaming area.
It has now been found that a seaming element can be constructed so as to provide two or more looped regions, thereby creating at least two channels across the seam, which allows for improved distribution of the tensile load across the element. The element can be constructed from two or more layers of an oriented polymer film, so that the same total element thickness can be obtained using thinner film, which allows for significantly improved biaxial orientation and thus maximization of the physical properties, in particular tensile strength. In addition, thinner films can better accommodate tight (smaller) bending radii and are thus better able to successfully wrap smaller diameter pintle pins without suffering mechanical failures such as cracking or other fatigue related issues. Alternatively the element can be constructed as an extruded body having two or more looped regions and a total body thickness suitable for the intended end use.
The seaming elements of the invention can be secured to the seamable end or edge of the textile by any suitable means, including bonding, either to compressed yarn ends of a woven textile, or to appropriate selected surfaces of a non-woven textile, including a textile comprising one or more layers of film.
It has further been found that the channels can be dimensioned so as to provide sufficient space in which the free ends of pintles can be turned back into the channel to secure the ends.