An array of disk drives organized as a data storage system including n parity drives forming n parity chains where each parity drive maintains the parity bits of a different combination of data drives and each data drive is included in at least two parity chains, and where no two data drives are associated with the same combination of parity chains. The present ECC technique requires only n parity drives for up to 2.sup.n -n-1 data drives for a maximum total of 2.sup.n -1 disk drives. Each data drive is included in two or more parity chains and each parity chain is unique. The n parity drives are taken two at a time, then three at a time, and so on up to n at a time, each combination being unique, until all of the data drives are associated with parity chains. The ECC technique is implemented using a disk controller which is coupled to the array of disk drives and constantly maintains the parity information on the parity drives. The disk controller selects appropriate parity chains to reconstruct the data of any two data drives that fail, and also performs the reconstruction onto replacement disk drives. Data striping or distribution of the data and parity information on the disk drives further increases the performance of a disk array using the present ECC technique.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for improving the reliability of a data storage system using an array of disk drive units.
2. Description of the Related Art
The performance of the microprocessor or central processing unit (CPU) of a computer system has increased dramatically due to the expanding personal computer and small work station computer markets. The internal electronic memory of a computer system, implemented by dynamic and static random access memories (RAMs), has basically kept pace with the advancing CPU technology so that the computer system's internal memory is faster and more reliable. In contrast to the dramatic improvements of the processing portions of a computer system, the mass data storage portion of a computer system has experienced only modest growth in speed and reliability. This trend is undesirable since although data can be processed at unprecedented rates, the overall system may fail to fully capitalize on the increased speed since the entire system is slowed down by the mass data storage devices.
The speed of magnetic disk drives has not improved much in recent years. However, the size of disk drives are becoming smaller while maintaining the same or even greater storage capacity. Large computer systems have traditionally used one or two large and expensive magnetic disk drives due to their higher storage capacity, higher performance and previously lower cost per byte compared to smaller, less expensive disk drives. Due to improvements in small and inexpensive disk drives, however, data storage costs for smaller drives is competitive with larger drives and smaller drives offer better efficiency in terms of volume. The problem with smaller drives, however, is that they do not have the capacity that many systems require, and a plurality of standalone small disk drives significantly decreases the overall reliability of the data storage system.
It has been recognized that an alternative to single large expensive data drives to achieve a high capacity data storage system can be realized by organizing multiple small disk drives into an array of drives. However, large numbers of the smaller disk drives dramatically increases the chance of any disk failure which, in turn, increases the risk of data loss. This problem has been addressed by including redundancy in the disk arrays so that the data lost on any failed disk drive can be reconstructed through the redundant information stored on the surrounding disk drives. Five different levels of redundant arrays of inexpensive disks (RAID) are introduced and analyzed by D. Patterson, G. Gibson, and R. Katz, "A Case for Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks (RAID)", December, 1987 (hereinafter Patterson).
The first level RAID introduced in Patterson is mirrored drives, which will be discussed further below. The second level of RAID introduced an error code correction (ECC) scheme using the Hamming code where additional check disks are provided to detect single errors, identify the failed disk and correct the disk with the error. ECC techniques have been used in memory systems for some time where extra semiconductor chips are included to correct single errors and to detect double errors in a group. The second level RAID applied these ECC methods in an analogous manner to disk arrays. The third level RAID recognizes that disk drives can detect their own errors, thus eliminating many check disks of level two RAID. The fourth level RAID provides for independent reads and writes which allows parallel input-output (I/O) operations, and the fifth level RAID provides striping where data and parity information are distributed throughout the disk drives in the array. The first and fifth level RAIDS are discussed further and contrasted in D. Patterson, P. Chan, G. Gibson and R. Katz, "Introduction to Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks (RAID)" 1989.
The implementation of data redundancy such as in the RAID schemes discussed above, allows for fault tolerant systems wherein if one drive fails in a given system, the system may still operate without data loss. This is contrasted to a disk array of drives in a nonfault tolerant system wherein the entire system is considered to have failed if any one of the drives fail. If one drive fails in a fault tolerant system, the drive is replaced and the data is retrieved from surrounding disks containing the redundant information. The entire replacement process may occur within a statistically calculable amount of time referred to as the mean time to repair (MTTR). A typical MTTR for the average small drive is approximately 48 hours assuming an operator is required to physically replace the drive, although this time may be significantly lowered using stand-by or hot spares which are electrically connected and require no operator assistance.
Several known disk array structures, such as the first through fourth level RAIDS of Patterson, are organized into a plurality of fault-tolerant groups wherein each group provides enough redundancy to reconstruct a single disk drive failure within that group. The entire system will fail only if any one of the groups fails. If the array is organized into groups which allow only one failure per group, two drive failures within a given group brings down the group and the system, although one failure in each group will not cause such a failure of the system. A disk array organized into single-failure tolerant groups can tolerate multiple disk drive failures as long as there is only one drive failure per group. Assuming enough additional replacement disk drives are available, multiple disk drive failures may occur without significantly effecting the MTTR since the drives are all replaced in parallel or at the same time.
For example, the first level RAID which is referred to as mirrored disks, provides a mirrored or duplicate disk for each data disk. A system with three data drives and three mirror drives would have three groups, each group consisting of a data drive and its mirror drive. If either the data drive or its mirror drive fails in one or more groups, data loss will not occur since the data is duplicated on the other drive. Obviously, however, if both data and mirror drive fails in any one group, data loss results. This option is relatively expensive since there is only 50% utilization of the disks in a disk array and the overhead cost is 100%, although it does provide a relatively reliable system.
The third and fourth level RAID simply provide a single check or parity disk for each group in the disk array to provide the redundant information so that detected errors can be corrected. This technique utilizes the fact that practically all disk drives today can detect their own errors since they incorporate ECC schemes on each sector within the disk. Further, a disk controller, which is used to coordinate and control data flow to the data disks, can detect which data drive has failed since it will not get a response from the failed disk. The disk controller calculates and maintains the parity of each group of data drives on a byte by byte basis. Each parity byte is determined by taking the "EXCLUSIVE OR" logic function of all of the corresponding bytes of every data drive in a group and storing it in the parity drive. When a data disk fails, the disk controller first determines which drive failed and then the data is reconstructed onto a replacement data disk. The information of the failed disk is reconstructed by taking the EXCLUSIVE OR of all corresponding bytes of the remaining good disks and the parity disk, the result being equal to the lost data. If the parity disk fails, it is simply replaced and the parity is recalculated and stored onto the replacement disk.
The third and fourth level RAID reduce the check disks to one parity disk per group, which reduces the overhead cost and the group size compared to the second level RAID. In general, the performance per disk increases since there are fewer parity disks, although there are practical limits to the number of data disks to parity disks.
There may only be one drive failure per group without causing data loss or down time in the disk arrays discussed above. Therefore, until the failed drive is replaced the entire system is very vulnerable to data loss. Any second drive failure in any given group during a first drive failure will cause loss of data. Even when hot spares are used, which allows drives to be replaced without operator intervention, thereby reducing the MTTR, there still remains a significant MTTR period because the data must be reconstructed to the replacement drive.
The reliability of data storage systems implemented using disk arrays can be improved even further by allowing a second drive failure to occur without data loss. Several schemes using ECC methods which allow double disk failures in a disk array have been disclosed. See G. Gibson, L. Hellerstein, R. Karp, R. Katz and D. Patterson, "Coding Techniques for Handling Failures in Large Disk Arrays", December, 1988, (hereinafter Gibson). In general, double-failure tolerant systems typically use parity drives and organize the disk array so that each data drive is associated with at least two groups, one parity drive per group. Thus, alternate groups can be selected in the event of a second drive failure within a first group being used to reconstruct the data of a first drive failure. The schemes of interest in Gibson are the 2d-parity, the full-2 code and the full-3 code.
A disk array implemented using the 2d-parity code includes a set of G.sup.2 data drives arranged in a two dimensional array, where G is the number of data drives in each row and each column. For each row and for each column of the array, a parity drive is provided where the parity for that row or column is stored. Thus, each data drive belongs to two groups and if a data drive fails, its data can be reconstructed from either group. This technique is aimed at minimizing the update penalty, or the number of parity drives that need to be updated each time data is written to a data drive. The update penalty is two since each data drive is involved with two groups, otherwise referred to as parity chains. Note also that the number of data drives per parity drives is G.sup.2 /2G=G/2. This technique may be generalized to nd-parity code, but this quickly becomes impractical as n becomes greater than three since the number of parity drives becomes excessive.
A disk array implemented using the full-2 code again includes each data disk in two parity chains, except that the full-2 code uses less parity drives. Each data drive is associated with exactly two parity chains and no two parity chains include the same combination of data drives. The maximum number of data drives that can be used for a given number of parity drives is equal to the number of parity drives taken two parity drives at a time. For example, for six parity drives, a maximum of fifteen data disks may be used to implement the full-2 code technique. The full-2 code has the same update penalty as the 2d-parity code, or an update penalty of two, while the full-2 code uses less parity drives. The full-3 code is similar to the full-2 code, except that each data drive is associated with exactly three parity chains instead of two, and it has an update penalty of three.
The 2d-parity and full-2 codes were attractive since they allowed any two drive failures, and in some cases more than two drive failures, to occur without loss of data. These two methods are aimed at reducing the update penalty so that each time data is written to a data disk, only two parity drives need be updated. These two techniques are limited, however, since the number of data drives that can be used for a given number of parity drives is low, so that drive utilization, or the number of data drives divided by the total number of disk drives, is relatively low. The full-3 code increases drive utilization compared to full-2 code somewhat, but drive utilization is still not maximized. It is desirable to have a disk array which allows at least two drive failures to occur without data loss and to maximize the drive utilization at the same time.

Error correcting code technique for improving reliablility of a disk array


A leader tape comprising a support and a coating layer containing powder and a binder, wherein at least one surface of the leader tape has a center line average surface roughness (Ra) of from 10 to 60 nm, and depression hardness (DH) defined by the following equation (1) of from 60 to 140 kg/mm2 (0.588 to 1.372 GPa):DH=3.7926×10−2[Pmax/(Hmax)2](kg/mm2)   (1)wherein Pmax is a maximum load and Hmax is a maximum displacement amount of an indenter.

As magnetic tape cartridges so far used as recording media for external memory unit of, e.g., computers, a magnetic tape cartridge of the type comprising a cartridge case rotatably housing one or a plurality of reels on which a magnetic tape is wound is known. Since these magnetic tapes are used for the storage of computer data and important data are stored, these magnetic tape cartridges are constituted so that a trouble such as tape jamming does not occur and magnetic tapes are not taken out carelessly.
In a single reel type cartridge, a magnetic tape drive is constituted such that leader components such as a leader pin and a leader block for loading a magnetic tape are fixed at the tip of the magnetic tape, or a leader tape of a relatively hard plastic material having a hole for hitching punched at the tip thereof is joined onto the tip of the magnetic tape, and loading/unloading of the magnetic tape are done by holding and loading the leader components or the tip of the leader tape by the holding component of a recording/reproducing apparatus.
When loading/unloading of a magnetic tape are done by drawing the tip of the magnetic tape to the side of a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus and winding the tip of the tape on a drive reel in the apparatus, it is preferred to reinforce the tape, since the tape is susceptible to damage if the tip of the tape is brought into contact with a tape guide and a magnetic head arranged in the traveling route in the state of not correctly being positioned and pulled.
It is also preferred to do reinforcement for the purpose of preventing the difference in levels of leader block generated on a drive reel from imprinting on a data-recording magnetic tape to thereby increase dropout, and splicing of a leader tape stronger than a magnetic tape on the tip of the magnetic tape is performed to cope with this phenomenon (refer to JP-A-2001-110164 (The term "JP-A" as used herein refers to an "unexamined published Japanese patent application".)).
When a magnetic tape cartridge is mounted on an LTO drive and load/unload are repeated, the surface of the leader tape that is rubbed with the running system of the LTO drive is scratched and the shavings adhere to the running system. The adhered shavings are transferred to the magnetic tape surface to cause the problem of the increase of dropout. In addition, the leader tape is deformed and the deformation is imprinted on the magnetic tape, which causes the deterioration of error rate.
The leader block is to be installed in the concavity of the core of a winding reel and a part of the leader block forms a part of the arc of the core in that state.
Explaining the structure typically, as shown in FIG. 4A, leader block 40 is invaginated in concavity 42 provided along the diameter direction of core 41, and end face 40a of leader block 40 constitutes a part of winding surface of core 41 in this state. End face 40a of leader block 40 forms arc for smoothly winding a magnetic tape MT corresponding to the peripheral surface of core 41 as shown in FIG. 4A.
However, in these conventional tape drives, depending upon the dimensional accuracy of leader block 40 constituting a part of the winding surface, as shown in FIG. 4B, end face 40a protrudes from core 41 and an unallowable difference in levels is formed on the winding surface of core 41 in some cases.
Such a difference in levels causes a crease and deformation on leader tape LT and, as shown in FIG. 4C, these crease (fold) and deformation are also formed on the same parts of magnetic tape MT, which are substantially recording areas, wound in the next layer on (so-called tape imprinting is generated). The tape imprinting is liable to cause such disadvantages that the proper distance between the tape and the recording/reproducing heads cannot be maintained during the process of recording and reproducing of data, which results in recording impossibility and the loss of data.
If a period of time when magnetic tape MT is wound on a winding reel is short, generation of the problem of imprinting is less, but when magnetic tape MT is used after being allowed to stand in the state of being wound on a reel, regular tape imprinting is sometimes formed on the surface of magnetic tape MT in almost equal pitch to the circumferential length of core 41.

Leader tape and magnetic tape cartridge using the same


Various binding systems for sliding boards and skis are presented. In one example, among others, a binding system includes a boot plate assembly affixed to a boot and a mounting plate assembly. The mounting plate assembly can be affixed to a sliding board or a ski. The boot plate assembly includes a socket and a wedge attached to opposite sides of a boot plate. The mounting plate assembly includes a spring mechanism configured to engage the socket and a wedge block configured to receive the wedge. When engaged, pressure from the spring mechanism holds the boot plate assembly to the sliding board or ski. When sufficient force is applied through the boot, the boot plate assembly is released from the mounting plate assembly, which frees the rider from the sliding board or ski.

Snow and water skiing are enjoyed around the world. There is evidence that snow skiing has been employed in Norway and Sweden since the beginning of recorded history. Recreational downhill skiing has been enjoyed since the mid-1800s and significantly grew in popularity in the 1940s and 1950s. Water skiing was invented in 1920s using a pair of boards as skis and a clothesline as a towrope. Over the years, binding systems for snow and water skis have been refined for safety. Snowboarding developed in the United States during the 1960s and wakeboarding arose during the 1980s. Both snowboarding and wakeboarding have grown in popularity throughout the world.


Methods, systems, and devices for enabling public key infrastructure (PKI) in the generic could environment and the network function virtualization (NFV) environment. A host device may receive, from an orchestrator of a computer network environment, an indication of a workload to be executed by a virtual machine (VM) hosted on the host device, where the indication includes an identifier of the workload. The VM may transmit a request for a certificate to a hardware security module associated with the host device including the identifier of the workload. After transmitting the request for the certificate, the VM may receive the requested certificate from the HSM. In some cases, the VM may determine a private key associated with the workload and include the private key within the request for the certificate. Additionally or alternatively, the HSM may determine the private key. Here, the HSM may include the private key within the certificate.

The field of the disclosure relates generally to management of computer networks, and more particularly, to enabling public key infrastructure (PKI) in the generic cloud environment and the network function virtualization (NFV) environment.
The rapidly-growing complexity of NFV requires an infrastructure scaled to the demand for availability. Conventional NFV infrastructures often employ hardware roots of trust that aim to establish a tamper-resistant "black box" that use built-in cryptographic keys to perform cryptographic operations, such as encryption, decryption, and hashing. Examples of such hardware roots of trust include the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) and the Hardware Security Module (HSM). These trust models/schemes are used for remote attestation, with the attestation being typically performed by a third party and/or a Cloud services user. It may be desirable to enable PKI infrastructure in generic cloud environments where the hardware roots may be variable.

Method and apparatus for enabling public key infrastructure in the generic cloud environment and the network function


A gas turbine engine has a spool, a towershaft connected to the spool and an impeller pump. An integrated drive pump is connected to the towershaft and to the impeller pump for driving the impeller pump at a constant speed. The integrated drive pump is positioned on an engine core. The gas turbine engine includes a fan and a bypass duct located between a cowl and the engine core. The gas turbine engine includes an intake manifold for the impeller pump, and the intake manifold receives air from the bypass duct.

The present disclosure relates to the provision of further performance capability on a gas turbine engine by integrating a constant-speed device into a combined environmental control system and thermal management air system.
Gas turbine engines may use air-driven systems to manage engine temperature as part of a thermal management system (TMS) and to provide high pressure air for use in the passenger cabin via an environmental control system (ECS). TMS systems use heat exchangers to reject internal heat to the engine's surroundings. As fan pressure ratio drops as a result of engine designs, heat exchangers may become prohibitively large in size and weight and as a result require considerable valuable packaging volume.
ECS air is provided by bleed ports on the engine, for example, on the high pressure compressor. This use of bleed ports may result in performance loss. ECS air is routed through a series of pipes and valves, then through a pre-cooler near the top of the engine/aircraft interface to cool the air prior to entry into the aircraft wing, and then through the aircraft air cycle machine (ACM) for use in the cabin.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Constant-speed pump system for engine thermal management system AOC reduction and environmental control system loss elimination


An outside Plant Construction Management (OSPCM) system simplifies and mechanizes many aspects of operating a facility, such as a Regional Bell Operating Company (RBOC). The OSPCM system performs a configuration function and this data is input to the awarded contract which entails breaking the job into its constituent tasks, sequencing the tasks, prioritizing the tasks, and scheduling the tasks. The OSPCM system completes the scheduling task by assigning the tasks to supervisors and/or to outside contractors. The OSPCM system automatically manages the materials required for tasks by determining what and when it is needed, ordering what is available from within inventory, and ordering necessary materials from outside providers. When a task is completed, the contractor accesses the OSPCM system and marks the task as completed. The OSPCM system then forwards invoices to the voucher system for those cases where work is completed as designed.

Many of the Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs) inherited a system called Job Management Operation System (JMOS). As the name suggests, JMOS is used to manage jobs and is useful in tracking the status, staffing, and billing on various contracts performed on behalf of the RBOC. JMOS provides functionality in many aspects of job management, including employee time input, scheduling, and billing.
With regard to employee time input, JMOS requires employees to write down their time each day and provide their records to clerks. The clerks input the employees' time into JMOS. If the data is accepted by JMOS then it is fowarded to the payroll system (MTR) Mechanized Time Reporting system. The MTR system provides printouts back to the employees to verify the accuracy of the time reports. The employees provide the clerks with the necessary corrections which the clerks input again into JMOS. Thus, at the earliest, the time for an employee would not be provided to the MTR system until the next night. JMOS does not handle any exceptions to a regular scheduled day i.e. overtime or vacation time. This information had to be entered directly into the MTR system by the clerks.
The completion of tasks is accomplished in a similar manner. A technician, for instance, upon completion of a task would take the task off of a blue print and translate the task into a written report. The technician sends the report to a clerk who, the following day, interprets them and tries to enter them into JMOS. If the report is unintelligible, such as because the report is poorly written or was sent via facsimile, the clerk may incorrectly enter the task. If JMOS does not have a match for that task, then the clerk notifies the technician who then has to provide the correct information for entry into JMOS. The recording of a completed task would therefore take at least one full day, and possibly more, before JMOS is able to recognize the event.
The paying of contractor invoices is challenging with JMOS. When a task or tasks are completed, the contractor generates a written invoice and sends that invoice to the appropriate supervisor for approval. If the supervisor disagrees with the extent of work performed or the amount to be paid, the supervisor would note these concerns on the invoice which would be returned to the contractor. After the contractor and supervisor come to an agreement, the acceptable invoice is sent to the billing department. With the invoice, a clerk has to enter the invoice into JMOS and also some information into a voucher system in order to pay the contractor.
JMOS therefore suffers from a disadvantage in that it does not provide real-time data. As discussed above, the employees' time and the recognition of completed jobs are dated at least one day by the time they are entered into JMOS. The interface with the contractors presents even more delays in the processing of invoices and recognition of completed work. The current system requires the circulation of invoices to various departments within a company.

System and Method for Facilitating Managing a Job


A system for locating an object in a volume of space can include a sensor device having multiple antennae, and a switch coupled to the antennae. The system can also include a controller communicably coupled to the switch, where the controller measures a first angle of a signal received at a first antenna, where the first angle of the signal is associated with a location of the object. The controller also operates the switch from a first position to a second position, where the first position enables the first antenna, and where the second position enables a second antenna. The controller further measures a second angle of the signal received at the second antenna, where the second angle of the signal is associated with the location of the object. The controller also determines, using the first angle and the second angle, a multi-dimensional location of the object.

Different methods are used to locate an object within a volume of space. For example, when signals are involved, the Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) of each signal can be measured to help determine the location of an object within a volume of space. In such cases, only a single antenna is used. Further, methods currently used in the art rely mostly on strength of signal. As a result, embodiments currently using signals in the art locate an object in only a single dimension, and so are not very accurate.

Sensors with multiple antennae used for multi-dimensional location of an object


A yield evaluating apparatus and a method thereof are provided. The yield evaluating apparatus includes a spatial correlation module. The spatial correlation module receives at least one process-related data and a plurality of circuit layouts and obtains a correlation coefficient between unit elements in the circuit layouts according to the process-related data. The spatial correlation module calculates a spatial correlation between elements in each of the circuit layouts according to the correlation coefficient and selects one of the circuit layouts according to the spatial correlations.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a yield evaluating apparatus and a method thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
Along with the advancement of semiconductor techniques, the sizes of electronic devices are getting smaller; however, process variations of these electronic devices and the affections thereof are getting more serious. As a result, product yield may be affected and yield loss may be resulted. Generally speaking, the major factors for causing yield loss are parametric yield and defect-related yield, wherein the parametric yield and the defect-related yield are respectively originated from process variations and defects.
In order to deal with these process variations which are difficult to control, many yield analysis and correction methods, such as the critical area analysis (CAA), the optical proximity correction (OPC), and the chemical mechanical polishing (CMP), etc, are provided by different EDA vendors. However, each of the foregoing analysis and correction methods requires the foundry to provide a process-related data, and corrections can only be carried out at the back-end level after the chip is taped-out. Thus, a chip designer has to revise the circuit layout or even adjust the circuit design in order to allow the product yield to reach a certain target. However, the product may not be brought into the market on time since it is very time-consuming to repeatedly correct the circuit layout or adjust the circuit design.
In order to observe the process variations at the design stage, information of the process variations is usually brought into circuit simulation through Monte-Carlo analysis. Thus, if the process variations can be taken into the consideration on the front-end level of the design flow, the affections thereof to the performance of the circuit can be found out at an early stage and accordingly the product can be brought into the market in a short time. However, it is very time-consuming to simulate the process variations through Monte-Carlo analysis directly in a circuit simulation software (for example, HSPICE), and the method may not be applicable if the circuit is very big.
Generally speaking, the performances of most hybrid or analog circuits are closely related to the element mismatching characteristics of these circuits. For example, the performance of a switched-capacitance circuit, such as an analog-to-digital converter, a digital-to-analog converter, a sampling circuit, or a filter, is directly related to the ratio of the capacitors thereof, wherein the ratio of the capacitors is related to the capacitor mismatching characteristic of the circuit. Thus, element mismatch is usually eliminated through a common centroid method in order to ensure the correctness of the elements.
When the common centroid method is adopted, the element array has to conform to a coincidence rule, a symmetry rule, a dispersion rule, and a compactness rule. The coincidence rule means that each unit element in the element array has to have the same size, the symmetry rule means that the element array has to be symmetric to axis X and axis Y, the dispersion rule means that the dispersion of each unit element in the element array should be uniform, and the compactness rule means that the element array should be very compact. However, the foregoing rules are only used as the layout reference and there is not any discriminant for determining how much an actual layout meets foregoing rules.
Accordingly, some related discriminants are provided for evaluating the common centroid rule. However, these discriminants only analyze the common centroid method according to relative positions between the elements but do not consider the process variations of the elements themselves. Besides, these discriminants are only applicable to rectangular layouts. Thereby, the mismatching results obtained through foregoing methods cannot reflect the actual quality of a circuit and the actual improvement in the product yield.

Yield evaluating apparatus and method thereof

Industrial Technology Research Institute


A performance information monitoring method using computers includes the steps of accepting information on a group relating to a first computer in the first computer; storing the accepted group information in a storage in the first computer; accepting performance information from a second computer in the first computer; comparing performance information of the second computer previously stored in a storage with the performance information received from the second computer in the first computer; judging whether or not the second computer is included in the information of the group when finding a difference between the performance information in the comparison result; and transmitting an instruction to the computer included in the group information to change a performance information collection interval according to the judgment result.

The present invention relates to monitoring and collection of performance information concerning a computer system having resources such as storage devices by using a computer.
One of related arts is to issue an instruction to increase a collection frequency of data to be managed from the next time when an abnormal variation is found in the data to be managed (for example, refer to JP-A-2001-273336, pp. 3–5).
One of methods for collecting data from a controller is to collect data from one of controllers having a high rate of change of important monitoring data at a preferential rate (for example, refer to JP-A-7-282090, pp. 2–4).
In the related arts, no consideration was paid to the influences on other parts caused by a change in data when performance information is provided to a user.

Performance information monitoring system, method and program


A process for upgrading and stabilizing low-rank coal involving the sequential processing of the coal through three fluidized beds; first a dryer, then a pyrolyzer, and finally a cooler. The fluidizing gas for the cooler is the exit gas from the pyrolyzer with the addition of water for cooling. Overhead gas from pyrolyzing is likely burned to furnish the energy for the process. The product coal exits with a tar-like pitch sealant to enhance its safety during storage.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to processing low-rank coals in fluidized beds to upgrade them to stabilized clean-burning fuel with high heating values.
2. Background
The upgrading processing of coal can take a number of forms such as drying, pyrolysis and mild gasification.
Coal is dried for a variety of reasons, such as to save on transportation costs, to increase the heating value, to increase the net dollar value, to prevent handling problems caused by freezing weather, to improve coal quality particularly when used for coking, briquetting, and producing chemicals, to improve operating efficiency and reduce maintenance of boilers, and to increase coke oven capacity. However drying of coal causes increased dust formation as the dry coal is more friable. Further readsorption of moisture of dried coals is considered a potential problem.
Dry coal is generally preferred in many coal operations. In World War II the Germans determined that dry coal improved pyrolysis in Lurgi-Spulgas ovens, while the French found that the capacity of coking ovens was increased by using said coal. Thus increased tonnages of dry coal were being sold in the United States up to the early 1970s when stringent emission standards elevated its cost to an uneconomic level.
Another trend in the coal mining industry was its increased mechanization resulting in an increased percentage of coal fines. Because coal fines have a greater relative surface area, they are very susceptible to water adsorption. In order to market such fines, drying was necessary.
Difficulties in coal drying abound. Besides the stringent emissions standards adding an economic burden, numerous explosions and fires have occurred when low cost air is employed as the drying medium. Coal dust fines are more susceptible to dust explosions than are larger particles, and often dry coal is treated with heavy oil before shipping to prevent dust formation and the readsorption of moisture. Adding heavy oil to dry coal is a common method to prevent moisture readsorption and autogenous heating, but in so doing increases operating costs.
Other fluids sometimes employed to treat dried coal to prevent moisture readsorption and autogenous heating include vinyl acetate, vinyl acetate/acrylic polymers, styrene-butadiene, acrylic latex or resins, natural gums or resins, tall oil, neoprene, rubber and the like; however, it is common to keep the halogen content low or preferably none since halogens are detrimental to subsequent boiler operation.
Many proposed processes for upgrading coal involve fine grinding and separations in liquid media. The resulting cleaned coal is difficult to handle using conventional techniques because of fine particles and high moisture contents. Additional drying is sometimes employed; however, moisture readsorption, dust formation with its fire and explosion hazards, and spontaneous heating often result in unstable products.
The general problem of coal drying represents removing three types of moisture: free, physically bound, and chemically bound. Free moisture is found in the very large pores and interstitial spaces of coal and often is removed by mechanical means as it exhibits the normal vapor pressure expected of water at that temperature.
Physically bound moisture is more difficult to remove as it is held tightly in small coal capillaries and pores. Because of this, its vapor pressure and specific heat are reduced over that expected of free moisture.
Chemically bound moisture is characterized by a bonding between surfaces and water. Monolayer and multilayer bonding are commonly identified.
Sometimes a fourth type of moisture is identified which comes from the decomposition of organic compounds. It is really not moisture held in coal but is produced during coal decomposition.
Coal drying is characterized by typical drying curves that exhibit distinct rate regions. Firstly, a transient region occurs as equilibrium conditions are sought while the material heats. This is followed by a largely constant rate portion of drying where the material temperature is relatively constant during the unbound moisture removal, and the drying rate is generally determined from only the particle size and moisture content, be it coal or some other material.
The final region is a period of decreasing rate as the material temperature increases and the physically and chemically bound moisture is removed. For this drying regime the particle size, temperature, and residence time are important parameters. Often the drying rate becomes diffusion controlled, and since diffusivity increases with temperature, higher temperatures are employed to continue drying the materials.
During the constant rate period, the heat and mass transfer rates are directly proportional to the driving forces of temperature gradient and humidity gradient respectively; the appropriate proportionality constants, however, are usually experimentally determined. Maintaining large values of said gradients become important when efficient drying equipment is designed; however, if drying residence time is increased easily, such gradients become less important.
For many coals with higher moisture content, the most important variable is often the degree of fines produced for higher velocity drying gases pick up more such fines.
A variety of drying techniques to upgrade low rank coals include hot water and steam drying under pressure and hot-gas drying using a rotary kiln, Roto-Louvre dryer or a Perry turbulent entrainment dryer. Many coals when dried directly in hot gases readsorb moisture and return to nearly the original equilibrium moisture level. In contrast both steam and hot-water drying reduce moisture readsorption.
Another drying factor for ultra-fine coal besides fines carryover is explosions. Since indirect heating is inefficient as it requires large heat transfer surfaces with a separate heating medium that escalates capital cost and leads to high maintenance requirements and low throughput, ideally an inert atmosphere is needed with a low gas velocity.
After World War Il fluidized bed dryers were adapted to coal drying; however, critical control of both coal and gas flow was required in order to avoid fires and explosions. McNally Flowdryer, Dorr-Oliver Fluo-Solids Dryer, Link-Belt Fluid Flow Dryer, and Heyl and Patterson fluidized bed dryers are all well known.
Typically fluidized bed dryers have a coal-fired zone, using stokers or pulverized coal pneumatically injected, where fluidizing air is heated and its oxygen content reduced. Another zone acts as the dryer where the pressure drop across the gas distributor is large relative to the pressure drop across the bed in order to assure good dryer gas distribution. In some installations, gas from the coal is recycled to further reduce the oxygen concentration. Coal distribution is controlled by a feeder-spreader device, such as a roll feeder, multiple screw feeders, or grate.
These fluidized bed dryers are potentially hazardous when air or mixtures of air and recycled gas are employed. The oxygen concentration is critical to avoid explosive conditions, and special safety equipment, such as sprinkler systems, blowout doors, and automatic fail-safe shutdown devices, is common. Additionally the moisture content of the dry coal is often held to relatively high value of 5-10%, or 0.5-1.0% surface water, to make the drying operation less hazardous and to avoid excessive formation of dust. After removal of the surface water, the rising bed temperature becomes the control parameter to keep it safely below auto-ignition conditions.
Equipment to control particulate emissions from fluidized beds include combinations of cyclones, electrostatic precipitators, bag filters, and wet scrubbers. Cyclones are ineffective with particle sizes below five microns, so their operation is usually restricted to extraction of large particle dust loading prior to removal of fine dust particles by subsequent equipment. However cyclones employed at the gas stream dew point or with water-spraying, are nearly as effective as wet scrubbers. Electrostatic precipitators must be kept free of condensation, and in addition, are subject to malfunctions and frequent maintenance.
Flash dryers use entrained fluidized beds to dry particles under residence times of one second or less. This short residence time gives a high capacity with a low inventory of coal and makes them less hazardous than conventional fluidized bed dryers. Yet particle fines entrainment due to the required high gas velocity is a problem and requires additional separation equipment.
In many instances when further operations are performed on the dried coal, these safety problems are transferred from the dryer region to the other process, such as pyrolysis, and product storage.
Pyrolysis of coal takes many forms often concentrating on the various products of mild gas, hydrocarbon liquids and solid char. Before 1940 many world-wide coal processing plants operating with low temperature pyrolysis produced one of more of these products for the commercial market.
With the advent of an international distribution system for petroleum after World War II, low temperature devolatilization of coal rapidly declined, and many such plants were shutdown. When the petroleum shortages appeared after 1970, increased interest in such processes reappeared; however, with the utilization of modern fluidized bed technology, which featured high sweep gas rates, small particle sizes and allowed rapid heating of high-volatile coals, improved yields occurred.
In the United States the development of synfuel processes occurred after 1960. The COED process used a series of fluidized beds to stepwise carbonize caking coals at higher and higher temperatures. The Clean Coke method utilized a fluidized bed devolatilizer while an entrained bed reactor for flash devolatilization was employed by Occidental.
After 1960 European mild gasification processes did produce briquettes from various fines; however, coal tars from this process produced by flash devolatilization have been of poor quality consisting of heavy, highly aromatic components with high melting points. Further, the high dust content has been an additional problem.
In the United States most recent development concentrated on high temperature, high pressure processes designed to produce maximum yields of liquid and gaseous products; however, economic concerns have not been favorable for commercial exploitation. Currently mild gasification plants are not competitive with petroleum in the United States.
Whereas previously much pyrolysis was designed to obtain maximum yields of liquid and gaseous products, modern operations now concentrate upon well-controlled partial pyrolysis designed to produce selected outputs that are recycled within the process to make the final processed coal product.
Prior art United States patents covering the above mentioned fluidized bed processing concepts of coal drying and coal pyrolysis include:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. Inventor Year ______________________________________ 4,943,367 Nixon et al 1990 4,828,576 Bixel-1 et al 1989 4,783,200 Bixel-2 et al 1988 4,775,390 Bixel-3 1988 4,668,244 Nakamura et al 1987 4,533,438 Michel et al 1985 4,501,551 Riess et al 1985 4,498,905 Skinner 1985 4,495,710 Ottoson 1985 4,421,520 Matthews 1983 4,402,706 Wunderlich 1983 4,401,436 Bonnecaze 1983 4,396,394 Li et al 1983 4,249,909 Comolli 1981 ______________________________________
Referring to the above list. Nixon et al disclose an inert gas fluidized bed flash pyrolysis of coal utilizing high heating rates to produce a desirable tar fraction that is condensed and then coked.
Bixel-1 et al disclose a dried coal process where a treating agent to prevent spontaneous ignition is selected from the group consisting of foots oils, petroleum filtrate, and hydrocracker recycle oil. Bixel-2 et al disclose a dried coal process where a heavy cycle or light cycle oil or slurry oil is employed as a treating agent to prevent spontaneous ignition. Bixel-3 discloses a dried coal process where a treating agent to prevent spontaneous ignition is light cycle oil, heavy cycle oil, clarified slurry oil, a petroleum or coal derived distillate, a solution of durene in gasoline and mixtures of two or more of the preceding.
Nakamura et al disclose a method employing screw reactors with improved sealing between stages for upgrading low rank coal; he uses a carbonizing step after drying and subsequent below 100.degree. C. tar treatment by recycled material. Michel et al disclose a two stage fluidized bed coal drying and pyrolysis process with several heat recovery aspects. Riess et al disclose a fluidized bed method of coal drying to obtain a coal product resisting spontaneous ignition by using fine particle separation and deactivating fluid.
Skinner discloses a method for controlling the dusting tendencies of dried coal by treating with a heavy deactivating oil and a light dedusting oil. Ottoson discloses a process for fluidized bed coal drying where rapid heating to mobilize tar is followed by cooling using a recycle stream. Matthews discloses drying coal and treating it for spontaneous ignition with a deactivating dispersion fluid of milled latex paint type solids emulsified with water.
Wunderlich discloses drying coal and then processing with a controlled oxidation to lower its spontaneous ignition. Bonnecaze discloses drying coal and then cooling it with a controlled stream of water. Li et al disclose drying coal with a reduced tendency to spontaneously ignite by cooling it to below 100.degree. F. Comolli discloses a hot gas, moving bed wicking-up or volitation and recondensation process where coal hydrocarbons prevent moisture readsorption.
In modern times a concern for the discharge of heavy metals and alkalis from coal processing has occurred. For more information see, Jacobsen et al. "The Role of Coal Preparation in the Precombustion Control of Hazardous Air Pollutants", Proceeding of American Mining Congress: Coal Preparation, page 82-99, Cincinnati, Ohio, May 1992.

Process for clean-burning fuel from low-rank coal


In order to separately evaluate an influence degree of fuel and an influence degree of lubricating oil with respect to particulate matters contained in exhaust gas, an exhaust gas analysis method includes: analyzing particulate matters contained in the exhaust gas exhausted from an engine, thereby making it possible to analyze the particulate matters derived from the lubricating oil by using isooctane as a fuel.

In recent years, there is concern about an influence of particulate matters contained in exhaust gas from an engine on human bodies, and Patent Literature 1 discloses a method for producing a fuel with a reduced exhaust amount of particulate matters. In this method, there is disclosed an index called PM Index which is calculated using a calculation formula (1) as following:
                              PM                                                              Index                =                              ∑                          i              =              1                        n                                                                                DBE                  i                                +                1                                            V                .                                                      P                                                              (                                              443                                                                                K                                            )                                                        i                                                      ×                          Wt              i                                                          (        1        )            In the calculation formula (1), i is a number corresponding to each of n pieces of components contained in the fuel, V.P(443K)i is a vapor pressure at an absolute temperature of 443K of the i-th component, DBEi is a double bond equivalent of the i-th component, and Wti is a weight percent of the i-th component contained in the fuel.
Under such circumstances, in order to further reduce the particulate matters contained in the exhaust gas, it is necessary to analyze generation factors of the particulate matters in detail under various driving conditions. For example, in the case where exhaust gas from an engine of a gasoline car is analyzed, it is considered that the particulate matters derived from the fuel and the particulate matters derived from lubricating oil are contained in the exhaust gas.
However, there has been no method for quantitatively separating an influence degree of fuel on the particulate matters contained in the exhaust gas and an influence degree of the lubricating oil on the particulate matters contained in the exhaust gas. Therefore, it has been difficult to perform measurement of the ratio of the particulate matters derived from the fuel and the particulate matters derived from the lubricating oil, quantification of the respective particulate matters, and the like.

Exhaust gas analysis method and exhaust gas analysis system


Techniques for reducing overall information loss and processing costs due to data translation in a network populated with communicating data sources and sinks of multiple data representations is described. By employing an “optimization” technique for negotiating “least cost” data representations to be communicated between data source(s) and sink(s) where the “least cost” can be relative to, for example, fidelity requirements and processing costs of the system or the user of the system.

In networked systems various devices communicate with each other using a protocol and a data representation that is supported by both devices. Because many systems can communicate with multiple remote devices and many protocols and many data representations exist for a single type of communication, devices typically support multiple protocols and data representations. For example, computer systems can be configured to support Voice over IP (VoIP) using variable length packets as well as Voice over ATM (VoA) using standard length cells. For transmitting audio data, data representations such as, for example, G.711 and G.729 could be used. G.711 is an International Telecommunications Union (ITU) recommendation entitled "Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) of Voice Frequencies," published November, 1988. G.729 is an ITU recommendation entitled "Coding of speech at 8 kbit/s using conjugate-structure algebraic-code-excited linear-prediction (CS-ACELP)," published Mar., 1996.
Currently, the data representation to be used for a particular communication is generally negotiated in a point-to-point basis. Thus, if a computer system is used to send voice communication signals to another computer system, software components on the receiving and on the transmitting systems negotiate the data representation to be used to communicate information. Point-to-point negotiation is often sufficient for communications between a pair of devices.
For example, a protocol that allows end points to negotiate a data representation to be used is H.323, which is a standard approved by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to promote compatibility in videoconference communications using Internet Protocol (IP) networks. Recommendation H.323 is entitled "Visual Telephone Systems and Equipment for Local Area Networks Which Provide a Non Guaranteed Quality of Service" and was published Nov. 1996. Other protocols can also allow end points to negotiate the data representation to be used.
However, as the number of devices and/or data representation involved in communications transaction increases, the complexity of the negotiation processes increases. For example, the process becomes more complex as the following increase: the number of devices, the number of device types (the more device types, the more the possible data representations, the more chance we need transcoding, the more opportunity to lose fidelity), the number of data representations (new compression schemes), new automated media processing technologies that are sensitive to transcoding information loss or costly double-transcoding (e.g., video speech recognition), or new media transmission options that may need automatic translation or recognition (e.g., 3-D rendering of artworks).

Techniques to reduce information loss and translation costs in a system populated with data sources and sinks communicating with multiple data representations


This present invention provides an electronic paper display device. The electronic paper display device includes a thin film transistor array substrate and a display panel disposed on one side of the thin film transistor array substrate. The thin film transistor array substrate comprises a first substrate, a first metal layer, a dielectric layer, a second metal layer, a channel layer, a pixel electrode layer, a protection layer, a first resin layer and a second resin layer. The display panel includes a second substrate, a transparent electrode layer disposed on the second substrate, and an electronic ink material layer between the transparent electrode layer and the thin film transistor array substrate.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic paper device and manufacturing method thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to an electronic paper device that can prevent hitting damage and a manufacturing method to manufacture this device.
2. Description of Related Art
With the improvement of techniques for manufacture and design, many new display apparatus is developed, wherein the electronic paper display device presents many advantages including lower energy consumption, longer lifetime, and smaller size.
The electronic paper display device was developed in the 1970s. One of the major characteristic of the display device is incorporation of electrically charged micro-spheres with half of it being painted with white color and the other half being painted with black color. When an electric field is adjusted, the sphere will rotate top to bottom and hence display a different color. In the second generation of electronic paper display device developed in the 1990s, mini capsules have replaced the micro-spheres. Colored oil and charged white particles fill the mini capsules. The white particles can move to the top or sink to the bottom under a controlled electric field. When the white particles rise to the top (move closer to the reader), a white color is displayed. On the other hand, when the white particles sink to the bottom (away from the reader), the color of the oil is displayed.
However, the display panel substrate is adhered to the thin film transistor (TFT) array substrate. That is, no buffer structure is built between the display panel substrate and the TFT array substrate. Therefore, when the display panel substrate is hit, the force will directly transmit to the TFT array substrate to damage the thin film transistors in the TFT array substrate.
Therefore, a structure that can protect the thin film transistors in the TFT array substrate is needed.

Electronic paper device and manufacturing method thereof


An implant apparatus for use in uniting a pair of bone segments, the apparatus including a first stem configured to be implanted in an intramedullary cavity of a first bone segment; a second stem configured to be implanted in an intramedullary cavity of a second bone segment; and a connector for connecting the first stem to the second stem, the connector including a first connector segment and a second connector segment, wherein the first connector segment and the second connector segment are coupled together at a lap joint connection.

Knee arthrodesis is a procedure where the knee joint is fused between the tibia and the femur. In some case, this operation is advised in the case of severe, in particular infectious, complications following the fitting of articulated prostheses or following major trauma or bone ablations for the treatment of malignant tumors preventing the fitting of prostheses. In performing knee arthrodesis, stems are inserted into the intramedullary canals of the tibia and femur and then connected together to immobilize the joint.
In an intercalary procedure, it is necessary to excise intercalary bone from a long bone, that is, part of the diaphysis or bone shaft between the ends of the long bone, but it is not necessary to excise the ends of the long bone. For example, a portion of the shaft of the humerus may need to be removed to remove a malignancy, while the ends of the humerus defining parts of the shoulder and elbow joint may be healthy. Similarly, it may be necessary to excise part of the shaft of the tibia or femur while the ends of these bones are healthy. In these circumstances, the empty span between the ends of the bone must be replaced with a mid-shaft prosthesis that spans the distance between the native bone ends. For example, the mid-shaft prosthesis can include stems that fit into the intramedullary canals of the native bone ends and a body that extends between these stems to connect the stems.
In both the procedures discussed above, it can be difficult to implant such prostheses.

Arthrodesis/intercallary/short stem limb salvage implant


A pump is assembled, starting from a basic part having an inlet channel and an outlet channel, which terminate in a wall portion, by successively stacking a valve foil provided with an inlet valve and an outlet valve onto the wall portion, stacking an intermediate part having an inlet opening and an outlet opening onto the stack comprising the basic part and the valve foil, stacking an end part of a flexible material onto the stack comprising the basic part, the valve foil and the intermediate part, and securing the end part to the basic part. The pump is particularly suited for use in a personal body care appliance such as an electric shaver, depilating device or body massage device.

Such a pump and such an appliance are known from EP-A-0 463 992. The known appliance is a shaver having a holder with a shaving liquid and a pump for pumping the shaving liquid from the holder to a discharge opening of the shaver. The known pump comprises a central tubular element around which a bellows is arranged, an inlet valve being arranged at one end of the tubular element and an outlet valve being arranged at the other end of this element. A drawback of the known pump is that it comprises a comparatively large number of parts. Another drawback is that the dimensions of the pump are large in relation to the corresponding dimensions of the appliance and the holder.

Pump, pump and holder assembly, personal-care appliance, and method of assembling a pump


An elevator includes an elevator shaft defined by surrounding walls and top and bottom end terminals; an elevator car vertically movable in the elevator shaft; elevator hoisting ropes coupled to the elevator car; an elevator hoisting machine including a traction sheave engaged with the elevator hoisting ropes; a traction monitor configured to determine traction of the hoisting machine; an electromechanical brake; a measuring apparatus adapted to provide speed data and position data of the elevator car; and a safety processor associated with the traction monitor and the measuring apparatus. The safety processor includes an ETLS threshold configured to decrease towards the top and/or bottom end terminal in accordance with the position of the elevator car. The ETSL threshold is adjusted on the basis of the traction of the hoisting machine. The safety processor is configured to determine an elevator car slowdown failure if the speed data meets or exceeds the ETSL threshold.

The present invention relates to elevator speed monitoring. Elevators have electromechanical brakes that apply to a traction sheave or rotating axis of a hoisting machine to stop movement of the hoisting machine and therefore an elevator car driven by the hoisting machine. A hoisting machine normally has two electromechanical brakes. The brakes have to be dimensioned to stop and hold an elevator car with 125% load (25% overload) at standstill in the elevator shaft. The brakes may be used in emergency braking to stop the elevator car if an operational anomaly occurs, such as an overspeed situation of the elevator car.
Elevator may have hoisting ropes to drive and/or suspend elevator car. Traditionally elevator is driven with steel ropes running via the traction sheave of the hoisting machine. When hoisting machine brakes are closed to stop elevator car movement, steel ropes slip on the traction sheave to reduce deceleration of the elevator car.
Recently new kind of coated hoisting ropes have been introduced. These may be traditional round steel ropes with a high-friction coating, or belts with high-friction coating, such as a polyurethane coating. Load-carrying parts of the belts may be steel cords or they can be made of synthetic fibers, such as glass fibers or carbon fibers, for example.
These new kind of coated hoisting ropes cause a higher friction between the ropes and the traction sheave.
Decrease of the friction between the hoisting ropes and traction sheave of the hoisting machine may cause problems in elevator usage. This decrease may be due to several reasons, such as insufficient or wrong king of grease of steel ropes, degradation of the coating of coated hoisting ropes, degradation of coating of a coated traction sheave, etc.


A fuel system for an LPI engine according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may include a reservoir disposed in a fuel tank, a recovery pipe inserted in the reservoir, and a fuel pump disposed in the reservoir and supplying LPI fuel, wherein liquefied fuel mixed with gaseous fuel recovered through the recovery pipe is separated in the reservoir and the liquefied fuel is pumped again by the fuel pump.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel system for a liquefied petroleum injection (LPI) engine, and more particularly to a fuel system for an LPI engine integrally provided with a fuel pump such that the fuel system has less components and manufacturing cost of the fuel system is reduced.
(b) Description of the Related Art
An LPI engine has high power and low emission of pollutants, and alleviates problems of conventional liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) engines such as environmental pollution, low power, and low quality.
An LPI engine injects high pressure liquefied fuel with an injector. That is, a fuel pump is mounted in a fuel tank and supplies fuel to the injector through a fuel line.
Power performance of an LPI engine is substantially the same as a gasoline engine, and fuel consumption and acceleration performance of an LPI engine is good. In addition, startability of an LPI engine is remarkably enhanced.
A supply pipe is mounted between the fuel pump and the injector, and a recovery pipe is mounted between the injector and the fuel tank. Fuel remaining in a combustion process in an engine is recovered to the fuel tank through the recovery pipe. A return valve (check valve) is mounted at the recovery pipe.
According to a conventional fuel system for an LPI engine, noise may occur at the return valve when mixture of liquefied and gaseous fuel is recovered.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Fuel system for liquefied petroleum injection engine


An over-voltage protection circuit (i.e., a limiter), includes: a first switching block having a plurality of semiconductor elements, serially connected to each other and turned on in sequence according to the magnitude of an input voltage; and a plurality of second switching blocks, in which each of the second switching blocks includes a pair of serially connected semiconductor elements having different current properties. The second switching blocks are connected in parallel to the first switching block. By minimizing a leakage current when an input voltage is below a reference voltage and by maximizing a leakage current when the input voltage is above the reference voltage, the limiter prevents excessive current from flowing into the RF tag circuit when the input voltage is below the reference voltage, and ensures that a sufficient amount of current is supplied to a regulator when the input voltage is below the reference voltage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to an over-voltage protection circuit (also called a limiter), and more specifically, to an over-voltage protection circuit having a minimum amount of leakage current when an input voltage is below a reference voltage, and having a highly increased leakage current when the input voltage is above the reference voltage.
2. Description of the Related Art
RFID is the abbreviation for Radio Frequency Identification, which also is called a smart tag. RFID is a non-contact recognition system that uses small chips attached to all kinds of items to transfer and process data on objects and their surroundings via radio frequencies.
The basic elements of an RFID system include an antenna, a tag and a reader. The reader identifies a thin planar tag attached to an object, and processes data. Among these RFID systems, a low-frequency identification system (30 kHz-500 kHz) is used in short-distance (≦1.8 m) data communication, whereas a high-frequency identification system (850 MHz-950 MHz, or 2.4 GHz-2.5 GHz) can transfer data from a long distance (greater than 27 m).
An RF tag is composed of a semiconductor transponder chip and an antenna, and there are two types of RF tags: passive tags and active tags. Passive tags require no internal power source because they receive energy from a reader's radio frequency signal, whereas active tags require a built-in power source (e.g., a battery) for operation.
To obtain data from a passive RF tag, a reader supplies power to the tag through the tag's antenna. Then, the RF tag transmits data as a response to receiving the power. Usually, power is supplied from the antenna based on two methods: one using a magnetic field and the other using a radio wave. Inductive coupling is an example of transferring energy through a magnetic field. That is, an antenna generates a strong high frequency power signal and creates a magnetic field which penetrates the antenna coil of the RF tag. As a result, an electric current is induced, and the RF tag is driven by this current. On the other hand, backscatter coupling is an example of transferring energy by way of a radio wave. Thus, a portion of the power radiated by the antenna is reflected off the RF tag's antenna and is used for operating the RF tag.
In the case of passive RF tags, different levels of RF power are drawn to the RF tags, depending on the distance between an antenna and an RF tag. In other words, the smaller the distance between the antenna and the RF tag, the stronger the RF power drawn to the RF tag. As the RF power becomes greater than the typical RF tag's operational voltage range, 1.5V-5V, circuitry cannot be operated stably. The relation of the distance, rmax, between the antenna and the RF tag and power, PR, by which the RF tag can operate practically can be formulated as shown in Equation 1 below.
                              r          max                =                              λ                          4                            π                                                                                η                                                                                G                  T                                                                  G                  R                                                                  P                  T                                                            P                R                                                                        [                  Equation                                                              1                ]            where η is the efficiency of a rectifier, GT is a gain of the antenna, PR is the power by which the tag can operate, GR is the receiver gain, PT is the transmitted power and λ is the wave length of the power signal. According to Equation 1, the distance, rmax, between the antenna and the RF tag is inversely proportional to the power, PR, by which the RF tag can operate.
In order to avoid excessive voltage from flowing into the circuitry of the RF tag, an over-charge protection circuit, i.e., a limiter, is used.
FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram of an RF tag. As shown in FIG. 1, when RF power is supplied from an antenna to an RF tag, the RF tag converts the RF power into DC power using a diode D1 and a capacitor C1, and supplies the DC power to the limiter 10.
FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram of a limiter used in an RF tag according to a first embodiment of the related art. As depicted in the drawing, a limiter 10 comprises a plurality of serially connected semiconductor switching elements M0, M1, M2, M4, M5, and a semiconductor switching element M3 which is connected in parallel to the other switching elements M0, M1, M2, M4, M5. Here, each of the semiconductor switching elements shown in FIG. 2 is an n-channel MOSFET, and the parallel connected MOSFET M3 receives a gate voltage from one of the serially connected MOSFETs to allow a current to flow between its source and drain.
The limiter 10 makes sure that a maximum amount of current is supplied to a regulator 20 if the input voltage for operating the circuitry of the RF tag is below a reference voltage. On the other hand, the limiter 10 makes sure that that a minimum amount of current is supplied to the regulator 20 if an input voltage for operating the circuitry of the RF tag is above a reference voltage. For instance, suppose that a reference voltage in the circuit diagram of FIG. 2 is 5V, a leakage current is less than 100 nA when an input voltage is below the reference voltage, whereas a leakage current is greater than 100 nA when an input voltage is above the reference voltage. To satisfy these conditions, all current should flow into the regulator if a supply voltage from a rectifying element is less than 5V. In like manner, all current should be grounded rapidly if a supply voltage from a rectifying element is greater than 5V.
In practice, however, 0.45 μA of current has leaked from the reference voltage 5V (please refer to Table 1 below). That is to say, in the related art limiter, it is absolutely impossible for leakage current to increase rapidly even if an input voltage is above the reference voltage.
TABLE 1Input voltage (V)Leakage current2.50.053nA3.00.29nA4.013.15nA5.00.45μA5.52.0μA6.07.30μA
The reason why leakage current in the related art limiter does not rapidly increase when an input voltage is above the reference voltage can be explained by Equation 2 below, which expresses the properties of a current flowing in a MOSFET.
                              I          D                =                              1            2                                          μ            n                                          C            ox                                          W            L                                                        (                                                V                  GS                                -                                  V                  T                                            )                        2                                          (                          1              +                              λ                                                                                V                  DS                                                      )                                              [                  Equation                                                              2                ]            where, VGS is an input voltage between the gate and source of a MOSFET, and VT is a turn-on voltage supplied to the source for turning on the MOSFET. The other variables in equation 2 are well-known to persons of ordinary skill in the art. As can be seen in Equation 2, the properties of the current flowing in the MOSFET, ID, are proportional to a square of the voltage VGS between the gate and source. Given that the turn-on voltage VT of the MOSFET is constant, the greater the voltage VGS between the gate and source, the greater the increment amount of leakage current. However, above the reference voltage, the amount of leakage current is not rapidly increased.
FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram of a limiter used in a RF tag according to a second embodiment of the related art. As shown in FIG. 3, the limiter includes a plurality of serially connected n-channel MOSFETs MN0, MN1, MN2, MN4, MN5, and three pairs of n-channel MOSFETs (MN8, MN3), (MN9, MN6), (MN10, MN7) that are connected in parallel to the serially connected n-channel MOSFETs MN0, MN1, MN2, MN4, MN5. Here, a drain voltage of MN1 is input to the gate of MN10 to turn MN10 on. When MN10 is turned on, it supplies a current from a rectifying element to MN7. When MN9 is turned on, a source voltage is input to the gate of MN7 to turn MN7 on. However, MN1 should be turned on first for MN9 to be turned on. In other words, MN7 cannot be turned on until MN1 is turned on. Similarly, a source voltage of MN8 is input to the gate of MN6 that is serially connected to MN9, and MN6 is turned on. Since a source voltage of MN2 is input to the gate of MN8, MN3 should be turned on first for MN5 to be turned on. Meanwhile, a voltage from the rectifying element is input to the gate of MN3 via MN0, MN1, MN2 and MN4, so MN3, like MN0, is turned on when an input voltage exceeds the turn-on voltage of MN3.
In this limiter circuit, each of the serially connected MOSFETs MN0, MN1, MN2, MN4, MN5 is turned on according to an input voltage from the rectifying element, more specifically, is turned on in sequence until the input voltage reaches a predetermined reference voltage. And, among the three pairs of MOSFETs connected in parallel (MN8, MN3), (MN9, MN6), (MN10, MN7), MN10 is turned on when MN0 is turned on, and MN9 and MN7 are turned on almost simultaneously when MN1 is turned on. Moreover, MN8 and MN6 are turned on almost simultaneously when MN2 is turned on. A current is attenuated as it penetrates these MOSFETs being turned on.
Table 2 below lists leakage currents with respect to different input voltages in the limiter circuit of FIG. 3.
TABLE 2Input voltage (V)Leakage current2.510μA3.0112μA4.0897μA4.51.6mA5.02.4mA5.53.4mA6.04.5mA
As can be seen in Table 2, more than 100 μA of a leakage current is generated when an input voltage is above the reference voltage 5V, creating a current having excellent properties. But still, when an input voltage (3V for example) is below the reference voltage, although the leakage current must be less than 100 nA, the leakage current is 112 μA, which is too much. Consequently, the amount of a current supplied to the regulator 20 is rapidly reduced.
Therefore, there is a need to develop a limiter, in which a minimum amount of current flows into a regulator when an input voltage is below a reference voltage, whereas a maximum amount of current flows into a regulator when an input voltage is above a reference voltage. In this manner, it becomes possible to prevent an excessive voltage from flowing into the RF tag circuit when an input voltage is above the reference voltage, and to supply a sufficient amount of current to the regulator when an input voltage is below the reference voltage.


A processing device asynchronously enters a first mode in response to an application of power at the processing device. The processing device receives a wake signal at the processing device subsequent to entering the first mode. The processing device asynchronously enters a second mode from the first power mode in response to receiving the wake signal. A clock at the processing device is disabled in the first mode and enabled in the second mode.

The application of power to a processing device, such as by actuating a button or switch, typically results in contact bounce whereby the voltage input to the processing device fluctuates and eventually settles to a fixed voltage. This contact bounce typically results in intermittent operation of internal clocks and other components of the processing device until the voltage settles, thereby unnecessarily dissipating power and often resulting in spurious operation of the processing device.
Power dissipation also is a concern in systems utilizing multiple processing devices. In certain instances, the power supply may be unable to provide sufficient power in the event that a large number of the processing devices are in an operational mode simultaneously. Accordingly, an improved technique for processing device operation subsequent to a power application event would be advantageous.
The use of the same reference symbols in different drawings indicates similar or identical items.

Entry into a low power mode upon application of power at a processing device


A microprocessor controlled multi chemistry battery charging system and method for recharging primary and secondary batteries are disclosed. The charger has multiple battery holder bays with different recess levels to accept up to four batteries of different sizes and different chemistry types particularly Primary Alkaline, Primary Titanium, Rechargeable Alkaline Manganese (RAM), NiCd and NiMH batteries. The microprocessor controlled electronic circuit automatically identifies the type of battery to be charged by monitoring and comparing voltage responses over preset time by supplying constant charging current. Depending upon the type of battery, the charger controls suitable charging current or current pulses at different frequencies till battery voltage reaches preset maximum reference voltage or battery voltage remains relatively constant below preset maximum reference voltage over preset time period. The charger has built in safety protections, battery tester function, audio visual arrangements to display status, a variable DC output port and USB ports.

As society is becoming increasingly mobile, we see the rapid adoption of mobile phones, laptop computers, palm devices, personal stereos, remote controllers and as any parent knows, a huge array of electronic toys. Batteries are the power source of necessity for these devices which have become an everyday part of life whether at work, at home and at play.
The prior art illustrates a strong lack of options delivering efficiency and effectiveness and fails to provide a convenient and cost effective solution. Currently, the consumer is expected to merely purchase a new battery every time a battery goes out.
Many people take up rechargeable batteries so that the batteries can be recharged and reused over and over again. The disadvantages of rechargeable batteries are that they cost much more than primary batteries and replacing the whole house with a rechargeable system would be out of the question for most people. Further, rechargeable batteries lose their effectiveness and, in particular, their period of time 'in use' decreases and they are therefore required to be charged more frequently over time.
In addition, rechargeable batteries are rendered unsuitable for many electronic applications as rechargeable batteries have a very fast self discharge rate compared to primary alkaline batteries.
Further, a recharging battery requires a complicated battery charger which adds further cost to the consumer and can be quite difficult or complicated to operate. In addition, when the battery goes flat recharging requires an external power source, such as a power outlet. When the battery is not charged effectively, it is cumbersome and impractical to locate a power source when mobile or in transit.
There is a complex number and variety of battery types available on the market that includes rechargeable nickel cadmium and nickel metal hydride batteries as well as primary carbon zinc, alkaline and rechargeable alkaline batteries. Adding further to the complexity and confusion of rechargeable and non-rechargeable batteries are new alkaline variants called Titanium and long lasting advanced formula batteries and so forth that truly making recharging batteries a mine field for many people.
For one reason or the other, primary alkaline batteries still remain a part of our everyday life. They are readily available everywhere and their toxic wastes continue to threaten landfills and waterways. Many attempts have been made to come up with systems that can recharge primary alkaline as well as rechargeable batteries to help save money and the environment. Up until now, all recharger systems available are at their infancy stage and suffer from a wide range of short comings that made them unreliable and/or unsafe to use. Clearly there is a need to come up with a multi-chemistry battery recharging system that can overcome most if not all of the short-comings known that are reliable and safe for consumer use.
Several prior art disclosures suggest different means for discriminating between primary and secondary batteries. One method disclosed the measurement and use of internal battery resistances to distinguish between primary alkaline and secondary NiCd batteries as outlined in U.S. Pat. No. 5,600,224. However this method is not reliable as consumer batteries are becoming complicated in recent time with more battery types added to the list such as the addition of the new breed of advanced formula alkaline batteries with very low internal resistances and the environmentally, more friendlier, NiMH and rechargeable alkaline batteries which make the distinguishing line not so apparent. Furthermore as batteries age, their internal resistances become higher and the values overlap one another which make this distinguishing task using internal resistances even more unreliable.
The most commonly seen method employed in chargers, charge only batteries having a certain predetermined feature. These however are not entirely satisfactory from the combined standpoints of safety, ease of use and more importantly these do not meet the criteria to be considered as universal recharging system that accepts most chemistry types of batteries.
Also, commonly seen approaches use mechanical or electronic switch selections as a means to distinguish the two battery types and thereafter apply a low charge current to primary alkaline batteries and moderate charge current to rechargeable batteries. These systems rely on the users to make complicated and often confusing selections that could lead to wrong operating settings either through plain human errors or technical ignorance. The consequences of such errors would cause adverse battery leakage, damage to batteries and chargers and, in worst cases, lead to dangerous battery explosions. Another short coming using this approach is that the system cannot charge different mix of batteries simultaneously. This type of chargers usually only can charge single battery type at a time.
Further, in practice there is the use of a common low charge current safely recharging both types of batteries so they can co-exist within a single charging system. This is the closest system that can overcome many problems encountered previously and is safe to use. However there are shortcomings with this technique as well as it taking at least 15 hours or more to charge up primary alkaline and rechargeable batteries. Even with the lengthy charge time, this system still cannot fully charge up many high capacity rechargeable NiMH batteries.
So there is a need to come up with a more efficient and effective method to automatically detect and distinguish primary and secondary dry-cell batteries without any involvement of the error-prone user interaction described above. There is also a further need for a faster and improved charging method that can properly recharge most different battery types within a single system.
The present invention attempts to overcome or at least ameliorate one or more of the problems of the prior art and to achieve or at least progress towards achieving one or more of the following objects of the invention.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a charger that is capable of identifying primary non-rechargeable and secondary rechargeable dry-cell batteries.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a charger that is capable of safely recharging the widest range of different consumer battery types that belong to both groups of primary and secondary dry-cell batteries simultaneously.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a charger that can accommodate several different sizes, namely AAA, AA, C, D, Prismatic or gum-stick, 9V and N-sized batteries. The same charger can also further be expanded to include extra facilities to power a range of otherwise unpowered devices or charge up different battery packs in many self-powered devices.
It is still yet another object of the present invention to provide a charger that is very easy to use and requires little or no battery knowledge from the user.
It is also another object of the present invention to provide a charger that can deliver different rates of fast and slow charging to the batteries with multiple charge termination schemes and multiple safety protection capabilities.
It is also yet another object of the present invention to provide a charger that shows detailed information of the battery conditions and charging status that are easily understood.

Multi-chemistry battery charging system and method of identifying and improved charging technique for primary and secondary dry-cell batteries


The use of rare-earth (RE+O, N, P) based materials to transition between two semiconductor materials is disclosed. Rare earth based oxides, nitrides and phosphides provide a wide range of lattice spacings enabling, compressive, tensile or stress-free lattice matching with Group IV, III-V, and Group II-VI compounds. Disclosed embodiments include tandem solar cells.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to semiconductor based structures for a passive tandem solar cell transitioning from one semiconductor material composition to another by the use of one or more transition layers comprising one or more rare earth compounds.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
It is widely accepted that a single junction, single crystal silicon solar cell has an optimum performance in the wavelength range 500 to 1,100 nm; the solar spectrum extends from 400 nm to in excess of 2,500 nm. A tandem cell enables a device to convert a larger portion of the solar spectrum with minimal increase in size and cost.
Rare earths, the lanthanide series, have long been known for the unique optical properties in which the incomplete, 4f shells exhibit multiple optical transitions many of which lie within the solar spectrum. An example of some of these optical transitions are: Er: 410, 519, 650, 810, 972, 1,529 nm; Yb: 980 nm; Tb: 485 nm. As used herein a rare earth, [RE1, RE2, . . . REn], is chosen from the lanthanide series of rare earths from the periodic table of elements {57La, 58Ce, 59Pr, 60Nd, 61Pm, 62Sm, 63Eu, 64Gd, 65Tb, 66Dy, 67Ho, 68Er, 69Tm, 70Yb and 71Lu} plus yttrium, 39Y, and scandium, 21Sc, are included as well for the invention disclosed.
As used herein a transition metal, [TM1, TM2 . . . TMn], is chosen from the transition metal elements consisting of {22Ti, 23V, 24Cr, 25Mn, 26Fe, 27Co, 28Ni, 29Cu, 30Zn, 40Zr, 41Nb, 42Mo, 43Tc, 44Ru, 45Rh, 46Pd, 47Ag, 48Cd, 71Lu, 72Hf, 73Ta, 74W, 75Re, 76Os, 77Ir, 78Pt, 77Au, 80Hg}. Silicon and germanium refer to elemental silicon and germanium; Group IV, Groups III and V and Groups II and VI elements have the conventional meaning. As used herein all materials and/or layers may be present in a single crystalline, polycrystalline, nanocrystalline, nanodot or quantum dot and amorphous form and/or mixture thereof.
In addition certain of these rare earths, sometimes in combination with one or more rare earths, and one or more transition metals can absorb light at one wavelength (energy) and re-emit at another wavelength (energy). This is the essence of conversion; when the incident, adsorbed, radiation energy per photon is less than the emission, emitted, energy per photon the process is referred to as "up conversion". "Down conversion" is the process in which the incident energy per photon is higher than the emission energy per photon. An example of up conversion is Er absorbing at 1,480 nm and exhibiting photoluminescence at 980 nm.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,613,974 discloses a tandem Si—Ge solar cell with improved efficiency; the disclosed structure is a silicon substrate onto which a Si—Ge epitaxial layer is deposited and then a silicon cap layer is grown over the Si—Ge layer; no mention of rare earths is made. U.S. Pat. No. 7,364,989 discloses a silicon substrate, forming a silicon alloy layer of either Si—Ge or Si—C and the depositing a single crystal rare earth oxide, binary or ternary; the alloy content of the alloy layer is adjusted to select a type of strain desired; the preferred type of strain is "relaxed"; the preferred deposition method for the rare earth oxide is atomic layer deposition at temperatures below 300° C. While the Si—Ge film is "relaxed", its primary function is to impart no strain, tensile strain or compressive strain to the rare earth oxide layer; the goal being to improve colossal magnetoresistive, CMR, properties of the rare earth oxide. A preferred method disclosed requires a manganese film be deposited on a silicon alloy first. Recent work on rare earth films deposited by an ALD process indicate the films are typically polycrystalline or amorphous.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,148,417 discloses a first solar cell comprising silicon and a second GaP solar cell. U.S. Pat. No. 6,613,974 discloses a second solar cell comprising silicon-germanium formed on a silicon substrate. U.S. Pat. No. 6,566,595 discloses a tandem solar cell comprising a compound semiconductor and a quantum well layer of a second compound semiconductor. U.S. Pat. No. 6,372,980 discloses a two terminal tandem solar cell comprising InGaAs and GaAs. U.S. Pat. No. 6,340,788 discloses a Si or SiGe solar cell comprising multiple subcells; optionally, transition layer(s) of GaPAs and GaInP are part of the structure. U.S. Pat. No. 6,166,320 discloses a tandem solar cell comprising A first solar cell stacked upon a second solar cell. The cited prior art does not disclose a tandem solar cell comprising a rare earth transition layer of varying composition.


A transportable screwing tool configured to mount and/or dismount screws into and/or out of a work piece includes an electric motor operable by electrical energy and a switching element configured to activate and/or deactivate the electric motor. The screwing tool further includes a drive train arranged inside a housing of the screwing tool. The drive train is mounted pivotably about an axis of rotation arranged essentially perpendicularly to the drive train. A method for activating and/or deactivating the electric motor includes moving at least one element of the switching element for the purpose of activating the electric motor out of a position of nonuse into a position of use when the drive train is moved in rotation about the axis of rotation.

The present disclosure relates to a transportable screwing tool for mounting and/or demounting screws into and/or out of a work piece and to a method for activating and/or deactivating an electric motor, operable by electrical energy, of the screwing tool by means of the switching element.
However, the present disclosure can also be applied to other tools, such as, for example, grinding tools, polishing tools, drilling tools or the like.
Hand-operated screw drivers or portable hand-operated screwing appliances or tools which are known from the general prior art mostly have a starting switch arranged on the outside of the housing of the screwing tool. This starting switch is in this case arranged either directly in the grip region of the screwing tool, by which the screwing tool is held by the user, or on a further additional handle of the screwing tool, which is used, for example, in order to apply increased pressure force to the screwing tool during its use, or is integrated in these grips.
That is to say, when the screwing tool is being handled, the starting switch has to be actuated actively by the user. When the screwing tool is being used essentially continuously or frequently, as, for example, in an assembly line of a product-producing enterprise, the screwing tool consequently has to be started, before each work step, by the starting switch being actuated and has to be switched off, after each work step, by the starting switch being actuated once again, for example in order to avoid injury to the user caused by the screwing tool between the individual work steps. Such frequent actuation of the starting switch of the screwing tool may quickly lead to fatigue of the user's hand and, in particular, of the user's finger joint regions, and because of this it is no longer ensured that the screwing tool is held and guided safely.
Furthermore, constant actuation of the starting switch of the screwing tool causes the production cycle time to be prolonged, since activation and deactivation of the starting switch of the screwing tool by the user requires time or a period of time in which no screws can be screwed into or out of a work piece.
Arranging a starting switch in the region of the handles of the screwing tool, with the result that it should become easier to activate or deactivate the starting switch since there is no need to change over the hand from activating the screwing tool or the motor of the screwing tool to guiding the screwing tool, also results in an unfavorable ergonomic posture of the user's hand when the screwing tool is being operated, since the user or operator always has to be careful not to touch the starting switch during the screwing operation, in order to avoid an unintentional switch-off of the screwing tool.
The object of the present disclosure is, therefore, to make available a transportable screwing tool for mounting and/or demounting screws and a method for activating or deactivating the screwing tool, which allow rapid, ergonomic and simple starting of a screwing tool and consequently rapid and simple and also ergonomic and low-fatigue operation of the screwing tool.

Transportable screwing tool with integrated switching element