A clutch in a vehicle with DCT having an ISG function is controlled for an engine speed to be decreased rapidly when the engine enters into the ISG so that a ring gear of an engine and a gear of a starter motor are meshed more rapidly when a vehicle restarts, to thereby prevent a response delay when restarting the vehicle.

(a) Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a control method for a vehicle with a DCT (Dual Clutch Transmission), and more particularly, to a control method for a vehicle with a DCT capable of controlling a clutch of the DCT when an ISG (Idle Stop & Go) function is implemented by the vehicle mounted with the DCT.
(b) Background Art
Recently, a DCT with good fuel efficiency has gained popularity and further trials for maximizing the fuel efficiency have actively been made by adding an ISG function as another operation for improving fuel efficiency.
Since the DCT does not use a torque converter used as an accelerator in an AT (Automatic Transmission), the DCT accelerates with a slip control of the clutch and thus a vibration property is not good when a vehicle starts.
Recently, as a transmission to be mounted on environmental-friendly vehicles, a DCT (Dual Clutch Transmission) is spotlighted, and as another item to improve fuel efficiency, many efforts are directed to maximizing fuel efficiency of a vehicle by adding the ISG (Idle Stop & Go) function.
The DCT has a defect in that a vehicle is accelerated by slip control of a clutch and thus vibration characteristics when starting the vehicle are poor, because it does not use a torque converter used as an accelerator in an AT (Automatic Transmission).
In order to overcome the defect, a DMF (Dual Mass Flywheel) is disposed between an engine and a transmission to be able to reduce a change in torque and dampen vibration. Further, in the ISG, in a technology for preventing unnecessary fuel consumption due to idling of an engine by making the engine automatically stop when a vehicle is stopped, it is an important technological subject to improve a shock in a vehicle when an engine stops, and the start speed when the engine is restarted.
In the combination of the DCT and the ISG, there is a need for a control technology which reduces a shock in a vehicle and quickly stops the engine when the engine stops with an entry into the ISG, because there is no torque converter between the engine and the transmission, unlike the AT.
In particular, because the DCT is equipped with a DMF, it has a problem in that the engine does not quickly stop, even though fuel supply is stopped to stop the engine.
That is, as shown in FIG. 1, the engine speed is slowly reduced by an influence of the DMF when an engine stops for the ISG in the DCT, and the slow reduction of the engine speed may be a little advantageous in terms of reducing vibration or a shock in a vehicle; however, a driver has to wait for the engine to completely stop for engagement of a ring gear of the engine and a gear of a starter motor, in order to restart the engine for starting the vehicle. Therefore, there is a problem in that a restart of the vehicle is delayed.
The description provided above as related art of the present disclosure is intended only to help understand the background of the present disclosure and should not be construed as being known by those having ordinary skill in the art.


A natural oriental medicinal composition for the promotion of hair growth is provided. The oriental medicinal composition includes a black bean extract, a tangerine extract, a potato extract, a pine needle extract and a quartzite powder. Since the oriental medicinal composition includes crude drugs extracted from natural substances that can prevent hair loss, it is effective for hair growth and has ensured biostability. Particularly, the oriental medicinal composition allows newborn hair to grow in the form of stiff hair.

Numerous hypotheses have been proposed regarding causes of alopecia and hair loss. These hypotheses include, for example, dysfunction of male hormones secreted from hair roots and organs (e.g., sebaceous glands), reduction in the amount of blood flowing into hair follicles, excessive sebum secretion, formation of peroxides, abnormality of the state of the scalp due to the proliferation of bacteria, hereditary factors, and aging. However, despite the gradual increase in the number of people who suffer from hair loss and the decrease in the age of alopecia patients, the precise mechanism of hair loss still remains unknown.
Normally, humans have more than 1.3 million hairs in the body and more than 100,000 hairs on the head. Each hair undergoes different stages of a growth cycle consisting of anagen, catagen and telogen phases. "Hair loss" refers to the state in which, due to certain causes, the number of hairs is zero or significantly low when compared to the normal state. Hair loss can be categorized into telogen effluvium and anagen effluvium; the former is a general phenomenon wherein hairs fall off in the telogen phase, while the latter is an abnormal hair loss phenomenon generally referred to as alopecia. Alopecia relates to a state in which the telogen phase is relatively long and the anagen phase is relatively short. When the telogen phase is lengthened, the revitalization of hair is difficult.
No effective treatment for alopecia is known. Traditional treatments include the use of proper tools (e.g., brushes) to apply physical stimuli to the head, or therapeutic compounds to remove or attenuate the above-mentioned causes of alopecia. For instance, based on the hypothesis that hormones are associated with the treatment of alopecia, preparations comprising female hormones as active ingredients have been developed. However, these hormone preparations were reported to be ineffective for alopecia and to cause skin inflammation and other side effects due to the administration of hormones. The use of the hormone preparations is currently not allowed.
In recent years, minoxidil, which is commercially available from Upjohn Company, U.S.A. and preparations (Crinos, Co., Italy) comprising trichosaccharide as an active ingredient have been introduced into the market. However, these preparations have shown no distinct effect on hair loss and caused side effects in terms of the stability in the human body.
Most hair restorers developed hitherto use chemical substances and temporarily promote the circulation of blood to expand capillary vessels, thus stimulating hair roots. Accordingly, conventional hair restorers provide temporary relief for hair loss and are only effective for hair loss induced by excessively secreted sebum.
In addition, various methods have been developed to prevent or treat hair loss by revitalizing hair follicles or controlling the mechanism of antioxidants. The revitalization of hair follicles is achieved by activating hair follicles by immune enhancement to supply saccharides as nutrients to the hair follicles. According to these methods, however, newborn hair does not have an original form, but is temporarily formed by cell division and stimuli, resulting in shortened life of the hair.
Considering that over $3.5 billion is spent in the United States alone on treatments of hair loss, research on developing a solution to the aforementioned problems continues. Although many hair restorers have been proposed to prevent and treat hair loss, no hair restorer has yet to succeed in overcoming these problems.
Citation or identification of any document in this application is not an admission that such document is available as prior art to the present invention.

Natural oriental medicinal composition for the promotion of hair growth and method of preparing the same


A photo filmstrip has plural perforations arranged along each of lateral edges and at a regular interval. A trailer is retained to a spool to be wound about the spool in a roll form. A retainer portion is formed at a smaller width by cutting each of the lateral edges along a first line being substantially perpendicular to the lateral edges, and by cutting the trailer along second and third lines being substantially parallel to the lateral edges. The retainer portion is adapted to be retained on the spool. The first line lies on one side of one of the perforations having been arranged before forming the retainer portion along the lateral edges.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photographic film. More particularly, the present invention relates to a photographic film which is wound about a spool and contained in a photo film cassette.
2. Description Related to the Prior Art
Photographic film of the 135 type has two trains of perforations arranged along respective lateral edges and at a regular pitch, and contained in a cassette shell of a photo film cassette having light shielding capacity. A trailer of the photo film is connected to a spool in the cassette shell, and is contained in the cassette shell after winding the photo film in a roll form.
In FIG. 8, a trailer of a photo filmstrip 102 is illustrated. Perforations 4 are arranged at a regular pitch P. A trailer of the photo filmstrip 102 has a retainer portion 103, which is narrower than the remaining portion of the photo filmstrip 102. The retainer portion 103 has a length A and a width W. To define the length A of the retainer portion 103, lateral edges are cut along a first line 120 being perpendicular to the lateral edges. The first line 120 has a position lying between the perforations 4. To define the width W of the retainer portion 103, the trailer is cut along second and third lines 121a and 121b being parallel to the lateral edges.
Two retaining holes 3a are formed in the retainer portion 103. When the retainer portion 103 is inserted in a slot 6 in a spool core 5, retaining claws 7 inside the slot 6 are engaged with the retaining holes 3a. Then the trailer is connected to the spool core 5, which is rotated in orienting the emulsion surface toward the spool core 5. The photo filmstrip 102 is wound on the spool core 5 in a roll form between flanges 5a.
In FIG. 9, continuous photo film 8 for producing the photo filmstrip 102 is illustrated. When the continuous photo film 8 is conveyed in the direction of the arrow at an amount as much as predetermined, the continuous photo film 8 is stopped and a cutter or trimmer is operated for forming a leader of a preceding photo filmstrip 102a and the trailer of the photo filmstrip 102 of FIG. 8, while eliminating a waste of the photo film. A pair of retaining holes 3a are formed by the cutter at the same time.
In the photo filmstrip 102, the first line 120 has a position between the perforations. In FIG. 8, the photo filmstrip 102 meets t2<t, where t is an interval between the perforations 4, and t2 is an interval between the first line 120 and one of the perforations 4 the closest to the end of the trailer. A shape of the cutter for shaping both the trailer of the photo filmstrip 102 and the leader of the photo filmstrip 102a is determined by considering the position of the first line 120.
The photo filmstrip 102 about the spool core 5 is contained in a cassette shell light-tightly (See FIGS. 3 and 4). Initially the leader of the photo filmstrip 102 is protruded from a photo film passage port. To load a camera with the photo filmstrip 102, the leader is manually picked and pulled as much as required. An end of the leader is fitted on a take-up spool of the camera. If a camera having an auto-loading mechanism is used, the leader end is placed near to the take-up spool suitably.
A user may rotate the spool core 5 opposite to a direction of photo film winding, with incidental intention to draw out the leader as much as required. If the leader is drawn out longer than required, the spool core 5 can be rotated in the winding direction for the purpose of winding back a surplus portion of the leader. If the user is unaccustomed to the use of the photo film cassette, he or she is likely to rotate the spool core 5 opposite to the winding direction. As the leader of the photo filmstrip 102 is in frictional contact with light-trapping fabric in the passage port, the roll of the photo filmstrip 102 becomes loosened inside the cassette about the spool core 5 being rotated. A gap L is formed between the spool core 5 and an innermost one of the turns of the photo filmstrip 102 (See FIG. 6).
The spool core 5 is rotated further in the direction opposite to the direction of winding of the photo filmstrip 102. A portion of the photo filmstrip 102 protruded from the slot 6 is pressed by force in a direction of orienting the emulsion surface convexly. A point H lying on the first line 120 is indicated in FIG. 10A. The portion at the point H is pushed by an open edge of the slot 6, so that the photo filmstrip 102 receives strong force in the opposite rotational direction inside the gap L (See FIG. 6).
The photo filmstrip 102 kept in the roll form has the irresistible tendency of maintaining a curl in a longitudinal direction. The photo filmstrip 102 also has a curling tendency in a width direction, like an archway. Upon application of the force in the opposite rotational direction against the curling tendency of the innermost turn of the photo filmstrip 102, the portions at the first line 120 flex or bend as illustrated in FIG. 10B. Stress occurs in directions of the arrows in the drawing at the perforations 4. The photo filmstrip 102 is likely to break from a corner of one of the perforations 4 along the broken line indicated in the drawing, only upon small reverse rotation of the spool core 5 with occurrence of the gap L (See FIG. 6).
The gap L is unfavorable especially when small. As an outer shape of the cassette shell is unchanged, the gap L depends on the length of the photo filmstrip 102. FIG. 11 is a graph of a condition of breakage of the photo filmstrip 102 upon reverse winding of the photo filmstrip 102 having the above-described shape. In the graph, a horizontal axis is determined to take the available frame number of the photo filmstrip 102, or the maximum number of frames photographable to the photo filmstrip 102. A right-hand vertical axis is determined to take bending force BF (in grams) applied to the innermost turn of the photo filmstrip 102 in the opposite rotational direction. A left-hand vertical axis is determined mined to take the gap L (in mm). The photo filmstrip 102 has the interval t2=0.5 mm, and thickness of 142 .mu.m. Specific features of the photo filmstrip 102 are as follows:
Tear strength: 30 g/cm.sup.2 in the longitudinal direction; and 45 g/cm.sup.2 in the width direction; PA1 Modulus of elasticity: 590 kgf/mm.sup.2 in the longitudinal direction; and 420 kgf/mm.sup.2 in the width direction; PA1 Elongation: 36% in the longitudinal direction; and 32% in the width direction.
A linear velocity of rotation for reverse winding of the photo filmstrip 102 is 500 mm/sec.
It was observed in FIG. 11 that the gap L decreased according to an increase of the available frame number, and that the bending force BF increases according to the increase of the available frame number. If the photo filmstrip 102 has the gap L being small due to smallness of the available frame number, it is difficult for the photo filmstrip 102 to bend back upon reverse rotation of the spool core 5, so that the bending force BF applied to the photo filmstrip 102 is great. The greatness of the bending force BF is remarkable when the photo filmstrip 102 has the available frame number as great as 31-33 frames. Approximately 20% or more of the photo filmstrip 102 of this length are broken and become unusable. The bending force BF is much greater if the photo filmstrip 102 has the available frame number as great as 34-36 frames. Approximately 70% or more of the photo filmstrip 102 of this length are broken.
Likeliness of breakage of the photo filmstrip 102 upon reverse bend of the photo filmstrip 102 increases according to the smallness of the gap L and thus a great length of the photo filmstrip 102. This likeliness is more conspicuous under low temperature which heightens rigidity of a support material of the photo filmstrip 102, or if the support material has characteristically high rigidity irrespective of the environment. The photo filmstrip 102 is disconnected from the spool core 5 to make it impossible to use the photo film cassette any longer, because the photo filmstrip 102 cannot be developed in the photo film processor even after incidental success of taking exposures to the photo filmstrip 102 in the camera.

Photographic film with retainer portion cut along perforation edge


A method and apparatus for monitoring the application of a vagus nerve stimulation signal includes a detection circuit having an amplifier, a filter, and a signal prolongation circuit. The signal prolongation circuit rectifies a detected vagus nerve signal and provides the signal to a Schmitt trigger extending the length of the signal. Because of the prolongation of the signal, the signal can be sampled at a relatively low rate, and real time data illustrating the response of various physiological signals to the application of the vagus nerve signal can be monitored, thereby providing clinical data for monitoring and adjusting the applied stimulation.

The vagus nerve is one of the twelve cranial nerves that originate in the brain. The nerve fibers in the vagus carry information to and from the brain to the larynx, the heart, the stomach, lungs and esophagus, and may also be connected to the limbic structures in the brain, which are associated with the regulation of mood. The vagus nerve, therefore, plays a key role in neural control of body functions, e.g. neural, cardiovascular, respiratory and metabolic functions, and therapies which include stimulation of the vagus nerve have been developed to provide therapy for a number of diseases including epilepsy, anxiety disorders, obesity, pain, cognition and memory disorders as well as cardiovascular, sleep, and breathing disorders.
It has been shown, for example, that the introduction of stimulation control signals to the vagus nerve can modify hyperactivity in the brain, and therefore provide therapeutic benefits for the diseases and conditions described above. The superposition of such corrective measures inhibits the normal progress of a seizure and can prevent seizures altogether. It is also possible that control signals of proper magnitudes when applied to associated neural tracts can cause neural activity to return to a normal state. Corrective signals of this type can be generated by appropriate electrical pulses or waves applied to neurons.
To provide the appropriate stimulus of the vagus nerve, implantable vagus nerve stimulators (VNS), such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,702,254, have been developed. These devices include a pulse generator which is implanted subcutaneously in the patient, and is connected to the vagus nerve with an electrode or electrodes, which are also implanted in the patient. One such system, for example, is the commercially-available VNS therapy system produced by Cyberonics® of Houston, Tex., which consists of a pulse generator, electrode leads, and a programming wand for programming the pulses generated. The pulse generator is surgically implanted in subcutaneous tissue in the upper chest region. The lead is placed in a subcutaneous tunnel that runs from the pulse generator to the vagus nerve, and an electrode connects the lead to the vagus nerve. The generator can be telemetrically interrogated and programmed using a programming wand and associated software as described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,222,494 to Baker, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,928,272 to Adkins. The programming wand, therefore, can be used to establish a therapeutic stimulation for the patient. It can also be used, in a special mode, to provide a signal indicating the onset of stimulation. The special mode, however, requires operation of a frequency of 5 Hz or below, whereas stimulation frequencies are typically 20-30 Hz. Furthermore, the data is provided in an asynchronous serial link and cannot, therefore, be monitored in conjunction with other physiological signals.
While these commercially-available systems have therefore been successful in providing therapeutic pulses to the vagus nerve to provide therapy for mitigating the effects of a number of diseases, these devices present certain difficulties as they do not provide any means for monitoring the application of a therapeutic stimulating pulse once the device is implanted. Because it is not possible to monitor the pulse as it is applied, it is difficult for care providers to correlate the stimulation of the vagus nerve with the response of the patient, which can be manifested as a physiological change in the patient (i.e. ECG, EEG, blood pressure, breathing, etc.). Because of these problems, it is difficult for care providers to establish an appropriate dose-response relationship for VNS therapy, and to monitor the success of a treatment. Adjustment of the VNS device settings for an individual patient is therefore a major clinical issue.
Moreover, while devices for non-invasive monitoring of biological signals are available, these devices are typically intended for use in monitoring signals such as, for example, electrocardiogram (ECG) and/or electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. The EEG or ECG signals, however, vary significantly from those produced by a VNS stimulator device, and these devices therefore cannot be used to monitor VNS pulses. EEG and ECG signals, for example, are continuous biological signals as opposed to artificial VNS pulses, have a significantly higher amplitude than VNS signals, and are much lower in frequency than VNS signals. Techniques commonly employed for EEG and ECG monitors therefore are not useful in monitoring VNS signals.

Method and apparatus for detecting vagus nerve stimulation


A planar lightwave circuit type variable optical attenuator with a small polarization dependent loss is provided. By setting the waveguide birefringence (absolute value) in first and second optical coupler sections equal to or greater than 3.5×10−4, the polarization mode coupling is made equal to or less than −25 dB, and the effect of the polarization dependence caused by the polarization mode coupling at the cross port of the first and second optical couplers is suppressed. In addition to or independently of this, the arm waveguide length can be designed to be equal to an integer multiple of the optical beat length obtained by dividing a used optical wavelength by the waveguide birefringence.

Recent requirements for greater communication capacity stimulate the development of optical wavelength division multiplexing communication systems (WDM systems) using a plurality of optical wavelengths. The optical wavelength division multiplexing communication systems are required to equalize the levels of individual wavelength signals from the viewpoint of nonlinearity suppression and crosstalk suppression. At present, to achieve the level equalization, planar lightwave circuit type variable optical attenuators are about to be used widely. Since the planar lightwave circuit type variable optical attenuators can be easily integrated such as by arraying, they have an advantage over bulk type, magnetooptics type, or MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical System) type variable optical attenuators from the perspective of economic or miniaturization.
A planar lightwave circuit type variable optical attenuator will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 8 is a plan view showing a typical conventional planar lightwave circuit type variable optical attenuator. The planar lightwave circuit type variable optical attenuator 100 has input waveguides 101a and 101b, a first optical coupler 102, two arm waveguides 103 and 104, a phase controller 105 placed on the arm waveguides, a second optical coupler 106, output waveguides 107a and 107b, and a thin film heater 108. The reference numeral 110 designates a stress-releasing groove, which will be described later.
FIG. 9 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line IX-IX of FIG. 8 when a conventional example having no stress-releasing grooves 110 is supposed. As shown in FIG. 9, the planar lightwave circuit type variable optical attenuator 100 employs a silicon substrate 109 having excellent thermal conductivity as its substrate, and has a structure in which the thin film heater 108 is placed on the surface of the embedded silica-based waveguides 103 and 104.
The operational principle of the planar lightwave circuit type variable optical attenuator 100 will be described briefly. The light entering the input waveguide 101a is divided into two parts through the first optical coupler 102, and they are fed to the two arm waveguides 103 and 104. The light beams traveling through the arm waveguides 103 and 104 having the phase controller 105 are combined again through the second optical coupler 106. In the course of this, they interfere with each other so that the light is output from the cross port output waveguide 107b when their phases are in phase, from the through port output waveguide 107a when their phases are out of phase by an amount π with each other, and from both of the two output waveguides 107a and 107b in accordance with their phase difference when the phase difference is between zero and π. The phase relationship between the two light beams when they enter the second optical coupler 106 is controlled by the phase controller 105 placed at the arm waveguide 104. As the phase controller 105, a thermooptic phase shifter is often used which is composed of the thin film heater 108 placed on the silica-based waveguides 103 and 104. Since the thermooptic effect is a phenomenon that has no polarization dependence theoretically, it has a characteristic of having a smaller polarization dependence than the electrooptic effect or photo-elastic effect.
As described above, since the conventional planar lightwave circuit type variable optical attenuator utilizing the thermooptic effect can facilitate integration such as arraying, it has an advantage over the variable optical attenuator utilizing other technology such as the electrooptic effect or photo-elastic effect from the standpoint of cost and size reduction.
In practice, however, the conventional planar lightwave circuit type variable optical attenuator utilizing thermooptic effect has a problem of increasing the polarization dependent loss (PDL) when the attenuation of the variable optical attenuator is increased. FIG. 10 illustrates relationships between the optical attenuation and PDL of the variable optical attenuator with the cross-sectional construction in FIG. 9. As illustrated in FIG. 10, a large PDL of nearly 4 dB occurs at the optical attenuation of 15 dB. The large PDL at the optical attenuation offers a serious problem in the operation of a current optical communication system that does not specifies the polarization state in an optical fiber. It has been the greatest factor of preventing the planar lightwave circuit type variable optical attenuators from spreading.
Thus, the conventional planar lightwave circuit type variable optical attenuator has a problem to be solved in that the optical attenuator has a large polarization dependent loss when the optical attenuation of the variable optical attenuator is increased.
Non-patent document 1: Y. Inoue et al., "Polarization sensitivity of a silica waveguide thermo-optic phase shifter for planar lightwave circuits", IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett., vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 36-38, January 1992.
Non-patent document 2: KIM et al., "Limitation of PMD Compensation Due to Polarization-Dependent Loss in High-Speed Optical Transmission Links", IEEE PHOTONICS TECHNOLOGY LETTERS, VOL. 14, NO. 1, January 2002.

Planar lightwave circuit type variable optical attenuator

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation


Structure-borne intensities in a vibrating plate radiator having at least one source of vibration are measured without contacting the radiator by producing a pressure hologram of the pressure radiated from the surface of the radiator, determining the normal velocity of the radiator surface from the pressure hologram, and determining at least one component of the structure-borne intensity from the normal velocity.

There has been increasing interest in the measurement, using an acoustic intensity probe, of sound fields radiated into a medium from various acoustic sources. As a consequence, there has also been increased interest in measuring structure-borne intensities (power flows) within the sources.
Several papers have been published which discuss the measurement of structural intensities in thin plates. See Pavic, Proceedings of the International Conference on Recent Developments in Acoustic Intensity Measurement, ed. by M. Crocker, et al. (CETIM, Senis, France 1981), pp. 209-215; Pinnington, et al., ibid., pp. 229-236; Pavic, "Measurement of structure borne wave intensity, part I: Formulation of the methods," J. Sound Vib., Vol. 49, pp. 221-230 (1976); Noiseux, "Measurement of power flow in uniform beams and plates," J. Acoustic Soc. Am., Vol. 47, pp. 238-247 (1970); and Rasmussen, "Measurement of plate waves," J. Acoustic Soc. Am., Vol. 75 (S1), S1(A) (1984). The Noiseux measurement method uses a biaxial accelerometer for measuring intensity in a plate. The Rasmussen method uses two closely spaced accelerometers.
The use of contact accelerometers to measure structural intensity has a number of disadvantages. First, the accelerometers are sensitive to motions in directions perpendicular to the desired measurement direction. This is especially a problem when the accelerometers are used in a biaxial or triaxial configuration. In addition, the weight and rotational inertia of the accelerometers can interfere with the vibration of the plate, and thus with calculation of the intensity measurements. Further, the amplitude and phase responses of the accelerometers must be very closely matched in order to ensure accurate measurements. In some cases, phase matching of 0.1 degrees is required.
A number of measurement methods have been used which provide diverse information about the radiation of sound waves from a source. These are generally concerned with providing one of the following characteristics of the sound field: farfield directivity, nearfield vector intensity, surface velocity (as for a vibrating plate), and total sound power. To measure the farfield directivity, a microphone in the farfield is passed around a sound source in an anechoic chamber to determine the variation of the sound pressure with respect to the angle between the microphone and the sound source. These measurements are used in underwater source calibrations, in loudspeaker and musical instrument studies, and the like. A disadvantage of farfield directivity measurements is that large or low frequency sources require the microphone to be placed a considerable distance away from the source to get an accurate measurement, which may be beyond the size of any available anechoic chamber. There are other techniques which use measurements in the near field on cylindrical and spherical surfaces to calculate the far field directivity. For these measurements, a small anechoic chamber is sufficient, but an anechoic chamber is still required.
Measurement of the nearfield vector intensity has received a great deal of attention in acoustics. U.S. Pat. No. 3,364,461 to W. J. Trott discloses a large planar array of transducers wherein the sensitivities of the individual elements (transducers) are shaded to produce a constant, planar wave in the nearfield extending over the aperture of the array. The shading is such that the sensitivity of the elements increases from the extremities toward the center of the array according to the coefficients of a summed binomial probability distribution function. While this system provides nearfield measurements over a large aperture, and the simultaneous outputs of the elements are integrated to provide some useful response and directivity characteristics of a sound source, it has the disadvantage of relatively fixed shading values, and lacks the ability to resolve the individual radiating features of a complex source.
In another technique, two closely spaced microphones are moved in an imaginary surface enclosing a sound source to measure both the sound pressure and its gradient. From such measurements, one component of the vector intensity may be calculated. By scanning over a surface, the average radiant sound power can be determined. This technique is limited, though, because coherent measurement can be made only in a small area, and the results do not reveal the complicated nature of the intensity vector field in the vicinity of the source, nor the transition region between the source and the farfield. There is further error due to the finite separation of the microphones. Another common intensity measurement technique is similar to the two microphone technique, but uses an accelerometer mounted to the source in place of the second microphone. The accelerometer determines the component of the pressure gradient normal to the surface, and hence only determines the normal component of the intensity. The single microphone/accelerometer technique suffers from the same disadvantages as the two microphone technique, and is also time consuming for larger, more complicated sources. The surface velocity, or modal pattern, is usually determined by mapping the surface with an accelerometer, but like the two microphone intensity measurement technique, this has a disadvantage of being time consuming. A known non-contact method of determining the surface velocity involves optical holography. This technique, however, requires highly specialized equipment and controlled laboratory conditions, and cannot be used to study large areas.
The present inventor is also the coinventor of a nonwavelength-limited method of holographic reconstruction of sound fields to provide visual representations of acoustical characteristics of sound waves, which method is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,415,996 to Maynard et al. and assigned to the assignee of the present invention.

Method of measuring structural intensities in vibrating plate radiators


A valve position transmitter which is comprised of an indicator assembly having a base with an aperture located thereon, an adjusting ring placed on the base about the aperture, an indicator member capable of identifying the operational position of a remote valve said indicator member being positioned on the adjusting ring, and a transparent cover placed about said indicator and secured to the base of the indicator assembly. Said valve position transmitter also comprising a shaft assembly extending from the point where it may be coupled to a valve through the aperture in the base of the indicator assembly to a point where it engages with the indicator member such that any rotation of the shaft assembly is sensed by said indicator member and some display with respect to such rotation is made. The valve position transmitter may also be comprised of a switch box assembly comprising a housing wherein are located switches for detecting rotation in the shaft member, said switches being electrically connected to a terminal strip and in turn said terminal strip being connected to remote peripheral devices. Said valve position transmitter may also be comprised of a split shaft assembly wherein upper and lower shaft members are provided for such that a peripheral device may be permanently coupled to said upper shaft member and it may be removed along with the upper shaft member to allow for easy field servicing of the remainder of the device.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to valve position transmitters in general and more particularly to a valve position transmitter designed to preclude the misalignment of the transmitter during reassembly in the field--thereby precluding the improper designation of valve position, designed to facilitate the use of peripheral devices with the transmitter, and designed to minimize the damage to the transmitter resulting from the conditions in which it is used.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Valve position transmitters are known and are used to identify the relative operational position of a valve located in a separate valve assembly. Quite often valve position transmitters are utilized in hazardous environments to allow for the identification of a valve's position from a safe and remote distance. Furthermore, valve position transmitters are often used when the valve assembly itself is remotely situated and difficult to reach.
Existing valve position transmitters, however, are susceptible to misuse and damage. For example, it often becomes necessary during the course of regular maintenance to disassemble and reassemble a valve position transmitter in the field. Unless the valve position itself is checked at the time of reassembly and the system recalibrated, the valve position transmitter may be misaligned such that it identifies the wrong valve position. Such an error could have devastating effects. For example, the valve position transmitter disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,494,566 provides for an indicator cover which may be placed upon the device in any of a number of different orientations. Accordingly, if during disassembly and reassembly of this device said cover is rotated ninety degrees without a corresponding change in the valve position, the result is a transmitter identifying a valve position opposite from that which actually exists.
Furthermore, as previously noted, valve position transmitters are often used in environmentally hazardous conditions wherein the corrosive effect on the device is substantial. In addition, repeated disassembly and reassembly of the device itself can result in wear and tear on the various elements of the device. Over the course of time this corrosion and this wear and tear can result in inaccuracies, or a total breakdown, in the device's ability to correctly identify a valve position. Again, this could cause problems in situations where an accurate reading is critical.
On occasion a valve position transmitter may be utilized with a peripheral device that is permanently coupled to the shaft portion of the transmitter. For example, one such device is a positioner. However, the permanent coupling of such a device to the transmitter shaft often times impedes the ability to conduct field work on the transmitter or its various components.
Finally, valve position transmitters often include a switch box assembly containing switches connected to other peripheral devices. Such switches may be used to signal the valve position to these peripheral devices. Again, the conditions under which valve position transmitter are used can cause deterioration of the switch box assembly. Furthermore, the relatively small size of the switch box assemblies may cause difficulties with respect to the field work required to be performed on the switches and their associated connections.


A method of forming a hydrophilic polymer is disclosed. The method can include: reacting a monomer comprising an acid group with a Bronsted base to form an ionic liquid; polymerizing the ionic liquid with at least one other monomer; and converting the ionic liquid back to the acid group after polymerization. Also disclosed are hydrophilic polymers and membrane electrode assemblies formed using the above method.

WO03/023890 describes hydrophilic polymer membranes with excellent electrical and hydration properties. They are suitable for use in electrochemical cells. The membranes described in this publication are formed by homogeneous polymerisation, and the presence of water in the polymerisation mixture is necessary in order for the polymer to be formed. This is necessary for the formation of a homogenous polymer with excellent properties.

Formation of hydrophilic polymer membranes using a bronsted base


A method controls the access times of an optical disc end discs of the same. The method includes the following steps. First, an optical disc drive obtains the addresses of a life flag and a medium key block (MKB) by reading a private flag of an optical disc. The life flag and the MKB are used to control the access times of the optical disc. After confirming the addresses of the life flag and the MKB, the optical disc drive obtains an optical power signal to determine the power that should be used to read the MKB. When the optical disc drive uses the appropriate reading power to access the MKB, the recognizable number of access times in the 4KB data is reduced, and the medium key signal is extracted to be confirmed if it is recognizable to restate the main data.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to an optical disc and its control method for the applications of storing data and controlling its number of access times.
2. Related Art
The well-known read-only optical storage media (or optical discs such as CD and DVD) allow their user to access indefinitely. Therefore, the users only need to purchase or rent only one CD or DVD and share with one another. This makes people less willing to purchase optical discs. Many manufacturers therefore hope to invent a read-only optical disc that can limit or control the total number of play times.
As shown in FIG. 1, the read-only optical discs sold on the market have two areas: one is the title key area 104 and the other is the main data area 105. The main data area is composed of scrambled original data. Both areas are recorded on the surface of the optical disc 100 by embossing. When the optical disc drive 110 accesses the optical disc 100, it first reads the data in the title key area 104 and sends the data to a first descrambler 106 of the optical disc drive 110. Once the data matches the device key 109 of the optical disc drive 110, a key is obtained. The key is then sent to a second descrambler 107 of the optical disc drive 110. At the same time, the optical disc drive 110 sends the main data read from the main data area 105 to the second descrambler 107. The main data are processed by the second descrambler 107 and restored to the original data as music or movie for the user to enjoy.

Optical discs with controllable access times and method of the same

Industrial Technology Research Institute


An enhanced switch/network adapter port incorporating shared memory resources (“SNAPM™”) selectively accessible by a direct execution logic element and one or more dense logic devices in a fully buffered dual in-line memory module (“FB-DIMM”) format for clustered computing systems employing direct execution logic such as multi-adaptive processor elements (“MAP®”, all trademarks of SRC Computers, Inc.). Functionally, the SNAPM modules incorporate and properly allocate memory resources so that the memory appears to the associated dense logic device(s) (e.g. a microprocessor) to be functionally like any other system memory such that no time penalties are incurred when accessing it. Through the use of a programmable access coordination mechanism, the control of this memory can be handed off to the SNAPM memory controller and, once in control, the controller can move data between the shared memory resources and the computer network such that the transfer is performed at the maximum rate that the memory devices themselves can sustain. This provides the highest performance link to the other network devices such as MAP® elements, common memory boards and the like.

The present invention relates, in general, to the field of reconfigurable processor-based computing systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to a switch/network adapter port incorporating shared memory resources selectively accessible by a direct execution logic element (such as a reconfigurable computing element comprising one or more field programmable gate arrays "FPGAs") and one or more dense logic devices comprising commercially available microprocessors, digital signal processors ("DSPs"), application specific integrated circuits ("ASICs") and other typically fixed logic components having relatively high clock rates.
As disclosed in one or more representative embodiments illustrated and described in the aforementioned patents and patent applications, SRC Computers, Inc. proprietary Switch/Network Adapter Port technology (SNAP™, a trademark of SRC Computers, Inc., assignee of the present invention) has previously been enhanced such that the signals from two or more dual in-line memory module ("DIMM") (or Rambus™ in-line memory module "RIMM") slots are routed to a common control chip.
Physically, in a by-two configuration, two DIMM form factor switch/network adapter port boards may be coupled together using rigid flex circuit construction to form a single assembly. One of the DIMM boards may also be populated with a control field programmable gate array ("FPGA") which may have the signals from both DIMM slots routed to it. The control chip then samples the data off of both slots using the independent clocks of the slots. The data from both slots is then used to form a data packet that is then sent to other parts of the system. In a similar manner, the technique may be utilized in conjunction with more than two DIMM slots, for example, four DIMM slots in a four-way interleaved system.
In operation, an interleaved memory system may use two or more memory channels running in lock-step wherein a connection is made to one of the DIMM slots and the signals derived are used in conjunction with the original set of switch/network adapter port board signals. In operation, this effectively doubles (or more) the width of the data bus into and out of the memory. This technique can be implemented in conjunction with the proper selection of a memory and input/output ("I/O") controller ("North Bridge") chip that supports interleaved memory.
Currently described in the literature is a reconfigurable computing development environment called "Pilchard" which plugs into a personal computer DIMM slot. See, for example, "Pilchard—A Reconfigurable Computing Platform with Memory Slot Interface" developed at the Chinese University of Hong Kong under a then existing license and utilizing SRC Computers, Inc. technology. The Pilchard system, and other present day systems rely on relatively long column address strobe ("CAS") latencies to enable the FPGA to process the memory transactions and are essentially slaves to the memory and I/O controller.
With the speed gap ever increasing between the processor speeds and the memory subsystem, processor design has been optimized to keep the cache subsystem filled with data that will be needed by the program currently executing on the processor. Thus, the processor itself is becoming less efficient at performing the large block transfers that may be required in certain systems utilizing currently available switch/network devices.
The need to have a relatively large volume of system dynamic random access memory ("DRAM") has increased in recent years due to the need to handle ever larger databases and with ever increasing problem sizes. At the same time, integrated circuit memory densities continue to double approximately every eighteen to twenty four months. Consequently, more and more memory devices are required in a system to meet an applications needs.
An even greater impact on the performance of a system has been the ever increasing time (in processor clocks) it takes to access the DRAM in the system. This has created pressure for even faster memory sub-systems. For these reason, the double data rate ("DDR") DDR2 and DDR3 memory specifications have been set forth. These specifications include clock rates of from 200 to 400 MHz, but yet they do not incorporate modifications to the basic interconnect structure and still impose a stub terminated bus structure. Because of the clock rate involved with this bus structure, the number devices present on the bus is limited, thus creating a situation where the memory needs of the applications being run are still not being met.
For this reason, a new memory bus structure is being developed which is denominated as the Fully Buffered DIMM (FB-DIMM). The FB-DIMM uses an Advanced Memory Buffer (AMB) to perform serial to parallel conversions necessary to enable the memory controller in the North Bridge to function serially. The Advanced Memory Buffer then converts this to the parallel signaling that is required by the standard DDR2 SRAM. The Advanced Memory Buffer also incorporates a pass-through port to enable the use of multiple FB-DIMM's in a given system. With this bus structure, all of the interconnects are essentially point-to-point differential serial. Further, along with the pass-through port, a vary large memory subsystem can be created.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Switch/network adapter port incorporating shared memory resources selectively accessible by a direct execution logic element and one or more dense logic devices in a fully buffered dual in-line memory module format (FB-DIMM)


A reservoir for storing and supplying a portion of a reservoir gas into a gas-filled tube is presented. The reservoir includes a first vessel having a thermally conductive surface, a meshed vessel having a lid, and placed inside the first vessel to form a cavity between the meshed vessel and the first vessel, at least one tray placed inside the meshed vessel to divide an inner space of the meshed vessel into a plurality of compartments, a sorbent material placed inside the plurality of compartments in the meshed vessel, a temperature control device positioned such that a first portion of the temperature control device is in physical contact with at least a portion of the thermally conductive surface, and a change in the temperature of the temperature control device changes the temperature of the sorbent material, wherein the reservoir gas is retained by the sorbent material at the storage temperature.

A gas-filled tube, also known as a discharge tube, is an arrangement of electrodes within an insulating and temperature-resistant envelope that is gas filled. The electrodes, for example, include at least one negative electrode and at least one positive electrode. Sometimes, the electrodes alternate to act as the negative electrode (hereinafter referred to as 'cathode') and the positive electrode (hereinafter referred to as 'anode'). The gas-filled tube exploits an electric discharge phenomenon in gases, and operates by ionizing the gas with an electric field. The ionized gas is typically referred to as plasma. The ionized gas generally contains charged particles including electrons, positive ions, and/or negative ions. The gas-filled tube, for example, is a plasma switch or a plasma lamp.
Typically, the ionization of the gas is initiated by introducing charged particles into the envelope, for example by irradiating an ionizing radiation in the envelope. The charged particles, for example include free electrons, positive ions, and/or negative ions. The positive ions drift towards the cathode, while the free electrons drift towards the anode. While drifting towards the anode, the free electrons collide with neutral gas molecules of the gas. If the electric field applied to the gas-filled tube is strong enough, the free electrons gain sufficient energy to further liberate electrons during the collision of the free electrons with the neutral gas molecules. The liberated electrons and the free electrons then travel towards the anode and gain sufficient energy from the electric field to cause impact ionization when further collisions of the liberated electrons and free electrons occur with the neutral gas molecules; and the process of ionization continues. The liberated electrons are typically referred to as 'secondary electrons'. Furthermore, the ionized gas is typically referred to as 'plasma'. Generally, the secondary electrons yield is a function of an energy of an electron (secondary electron or free electron) colliding with a neutral gas atom and/or molecule. Furthermore, secondary electrons may also be generated by ions (heavy particles) with the cathode.
Typically, gas-filled tubes are based on hydrogen plasmas. In operation, the gas filled in the gas-filled tubes is typically hydrogen. Generally, the secondary electrons emitted as a function of an energy of an electron (liberated electron or free electron) colliding with a neutral gas molecule for such hydrogen plasmas is less than secondary electrons emitted as a function of energy of an electron colliding with a neutral gas molecule for helium plasmas, for example. Furthermore, in the gas-filled tubes filled with hydrogen (hereinafter referred to as 'hydrogen gas filled tubes'), only about one-third of electric power supplied to the hydrogen gas-filled tubes is used for the process of ionization, and the rest of the electric power is used for other atomic processes associated with hydrogen. Accordingly, the rate of ionization as a function of the electric power supplied to the hydrogen gas-filled tubes is less than the rate of ionization as a function of the electric power in helium gas-filled tubes, for example.
Usage of helium gas in the gas-filled tubes (hereinafter referred to as 'helium gas-filled tubes') leads to better secondary electron yield as a function of energy of an electron (liberated electron or free electron) than usage of the gas hydrogen. Furthermore, usage of helium in the gas-filled tubes leads to a better rate of ionization as a function of the electric power supplied to the hydrogen gas-filled tubes. However, regulation and control of pressure of helium in the helium gas-filled tubes is a challenge. Furthermore, typically large helium vessels are available and used for regulation and control of pressure of helium in the helium gas-filled tube.
Accordingly, helium reservoirs for supplying helium to gas-filled tubes are required. Furthermore, helium reservoirs for regulating and controlling the pressure of helium in the gas-filled tubes are required.

Gas reservoir and a method to supply gas to plasma tubes


An external portion of an auditory prosthesis includes an external magnet that interacts with an implanted magnet to hold the external portion against the skin of a recipient. A magnetic component can be disposed proximate either or both of the external magnet or implanted magnet to channel the magnetic field associated therewith. The magnetic component can be moved relative to its associated magnet so as to adjust the magnetic field, and thus, the retention force between the magnets.

An auditory prosthesis can be placed behind the ear to deliver a stimulus in the form of a vibration to the skull of a recipient. These types of auditory prosthesis are generally referred to as transcutaneous bone conduction devices. The auditory prosthesis receives sound via a microphone located on a head-mounted sound processor, often referred to as a "button sound processor." The head-mounted sound processor is secured to the head with a magnet that interacts with a magnet implantable in the head of the recipient. Processed sound signals are delivered as a vibration stimulus from the external portion to the implanted magnet, which vibrate the skull of the recipient. The magnetic force generated by the external magnet and the implanted magnet can cause discomfort if too strong, or the external portion can become disengaged if the force is too weak.

System for adjusting magnetic retention force in auditory prostheses


A method and system of rendering buildings in three-dimensional space first renders a respective floor, then adds objects and finally walls to bound each of the floors. The result, a three-dimensional rendering of a building, has translucent walls and illustrates the position of objects within the building in addition to presenting the overall shape of the building. The building can be rotated or enlarged to clarify the position of the various objects in space.

Known software and hardware is available for rendering various types of three-dimensional images including building spaces. Known methods and systems at times do not clearly or accurately depict the location of objects in a rendered image of a building. Further, at times the positional relationships of objects to one another, when the objects are located on multiple floors, are not always clearly depicted.
Known systems include the use of graphics hardware to attempt to generate accurate three-dimensional images. Other known methods seek to improve accuracy by rendering the back walls first. The objects in the floors are then drawn. Finally, the front walls are rendered. Such processes can suffer from performance penalties other drawbacks.
Known systems and methods often do not accurately render transparency and depth simultaneously in a three-dimensional structure unless the polygons used to create the images are rendered from back to front. However, in such processes, sorting of polygons can be either inefficient or unfeasible due to time and depth processing requirements. Thus, errors can arise from currently used techniques for transparency which ignore depth or techniques for testing depth which ignore transparency.
There continues to be an ongoing need for systems and methods for rendering multi-dimensional building spaces accurately. Preferably it will be possible to accurately locate objects on the respective floor or floors as well as accurately render transparency and depth simultaneously without having to sort polygons.

Systems and methods for rendering building spaces


Disclosed is a method of forming the isolation film in the semiconductor device which can prevent concentration of an electric field by forming a dual slant angle at the top corner of the trench in the course of forming the trench. After a photoresist pattern containing silicon components or an amorphous silicon film is formed on a pad oxide film instead of a pad nitride film, the surface of the photoresist pattern or the amorphous silicon film is oxidized so that the oxidized portion is fused with the isolation film. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent generation of a moat in the course of removing the photoresist pattern and the pad oxide film after the trench is buried with an insulating material. Therefore, the disclosed method can improve reliability of the process and an electrical characteristic of the resulting device.

1. Technical Field
A method for forming isolation films in semiconductor devices are disclosed, and more particularly, methods for forming isolation films in semiconductor devices are disclosed that are capable of preventing generation of undesirable moats and concentrations of electric fields at and on top corners of the isolation films that are formed by STI (shallow trench isolation) process.
2. Background of the Related Art
In general, the semiconductor substrate is divided into an active region where various semiconductor devices including transistors are formed, and an isolation region where an isolation film is located for electrically isolating the semiconductor devices of the active region.
A process of forming the isolation film includes a LOCOS (local oxidation) process, a PBL (poly buffered LOCOS) process and a STI (shallow trench isolation) process. The LOCOS process is one by which the pad oxide film and the pad nitride film are sequentially formed, the substrate of the isolation region is exposed by an etch process and the exposed region of the substrate is then oxidized by an oxidization process to form the isolation film. The PBL process is one of intervening a polysilicon film serving as a buffer between the pad oxide film of the LOCOS process and the pad nitride film. The STI process is one by which the pad oxide film and the pad nitride film are sequentially formed, the substrate of the isolation region is exposed by the etch process, the exposed region of the substrate is etched to form a trench and the trench is then buried with an insulating material to form the isolation film.
In the above, in the LOCOS process, a high temperature oxidization process is performed for a long period of time and a channel impediment ion implanted into the substrate is laterally diffused resulting in a "bird's beak" phenomena. As a result, the electrical characteristics of the device is degraded. Accordingly, the LOCOS process is not used for devices smaller than the 0.25 μm design rule.
In order to solve this problem of the LOCOS process, an isolation film may be formed using the STI process in the manufacture process of below the 0.25 μm design rule. In case where the isolation film is formed by the STI process, there are advantages that the bird's beak does not occur and the isolation characteristic is good.
However, there are problems in that the electrical characteristic of the device is degraded since an electric field is concentrated on the top corner and the bottom corner of the isolation film. Furthermore, as the design rule becomes small, there is a difficulty in burying the trench with an insulating material. Also, after an insulating material layer is formed on the entire structure in order to bury the trench with the insulating material, a polishing process such as a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process has to be performed in order to leave the insulating material only in the trench. Due to this, there are problems that the "Homp characteristic" is deteriorated and the uniformity of the substrate surface is degraded, since a moat structure is generated at the top corner of the isolation film.

Method of forming isolation films in semiconductor devices


A basketball game apparatus comprising a playing field having first and second tracks embedded in a court floor, a target supported above the court floor and a basketball. A motorized defensive basketball player figurine coupled in the first track for movement therein and a motorized offensive basketball player figurine coupled in the second track for movement therein. First and second hand-held game control devices wherein each control device alternately controls the movement of the defensive basketball player figurine when in a defensive playing mode and the movement of the offensive basketball player figurine when in an offensive playing mode.

Several devices have been patented which are aimed at basketball amusement game apparatuses.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,480,147, by Ethier et al., entitled "BASKETBALL GAME ADJUSTMENT APPARATUS" discloses an arcade basketball game with a pair of inclined playing surfaces joined together in a peak with a transparent vertical barrier on top, allowing the ball to roll to the lowest point where a striker bar impedes its travel. A hand-held striker hits the ball upward at an angle toward the opposite player's hoop in an attempt to score a goal.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,288,071, by Solomon, entitled "GAME APPARATUS" discloses a game apparatus having a substantially rectangular base. A vertical plate is suspended over an end of the base by a support and has a hoop. A catapult is pivotally mounted to the opposite end of the base and has a receptacle for holding a ball which can be projected toward the hoop.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,150,898, by Hochberg et al., entitled "GAME APPARATUS" discloses a game apparatus having a projectile propeller mounted on a forward end portion of a housing. A target is provided which is mounted to translate forwardly and rearwardly with respect to the projectile propeller adjacent a rearward end of the housing. The projectile propeller is operable to propel a game projectile toward the target.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,480,834, by Minami, entitled "TOY HAVING MOMENTUM IMPARTING SURFACE" discloses a toy having a surface wherein a portion thereof is movable with respect to the remainder of the surface. A target is mounted on a pedestal above the surface and a self-propelled object.
Other games in the field are U.S. Pat. No. 4,260,152, by Karlsen, entitled "GAME" and U.S. Pat. No. 3,960,378, by Bahr, entitled "TARGET AND AIR ACTUATED PROJECTORS" are related to basketball game apparatuses but do not meet the needs of the present invention.
While each of the basketball amusement game apparatuses functions as desired, none of them allow two motorized basketball player figurines to move about one end of a basketball court wherein one basketball player figurine serves as a defensive player and the other basketball player figurine serves as an offensive player. Thereby, the two basketball player figurines play one-on-one basketball. The addition of a defensive basketball player figurine serves to enhance the competitiveness of the one-on-one basketball game apparatus.


A method for starting an internal combustion engine of a hybrid drive of a motor vehicle, the internal combustion engine and at least one electric motor being mechanically linkable to an output shaft of the hybrid drive via a gear system. The output shaft of the hybrid drive is placed in rotary motion, and at least one of the electric motors is switched to a generator mode by the gear system and by a control system.

Hybrid drives are known. Hybrid drives have multiple drive sources that may be operated by a range of different energy sources.
For example, methods of combining an internal combustion engine with at least one electric motor are known. In this case, the crankshaft of the internal combustion engine and the drive shaft of the at least one electric motor are connected as input shafts to a gear system (shift mechanism). The internal combustion engine and/or the electric motor are mechanically linkable to an output shaft of the hybrid drive by operating the gear system. The output shaft is used in the known manner to drive a motor vehicle. In particular, hybrid systems that include more than one electric motor are also known.
In this case, in particular, motor vehicles having power branching hybrid drives are known, which, in addition to an internal combustion engine, include two electric motors that may be both motor-driven and generator-driven. Motor vehicles having hybrid drives of this type do not need to include a separate starting system for the internal combustion engine. The internal combustion engine may be started by the at least one electric motor of the hybrid drive by connecting the latter to an energy source, usually the motor vehicle battery. When the at least one electric motor is operating in motor mode, the internal combustion engine is started by shifting the gear system accordingly.
The disadvantage of the known hybrid drives is that the internal combustion engine does not start if the power supply for the at least one electric motor has failed.

Method for starting an internal combustion engine of a hybrid drive of a motor vehicle


In order to increase the number of datastreams provided by a multimedia system, a cluster of clusters of multimedia A/V server subsystems is provided. Each cluster in turn is comprised of a plurality of A/V servers, a shared loop architecture plurality of data storage devices interconnected to the A/V servers whereby any storage device is substantially equally accessible by any of the servers in the cluster; and a highly available control server subsystem interconnected to the A/V servers and the data storage devices for controlling the A/V servers and the data storage devices. Each of the clusters is interconnected to a high speed switch for delivery of datastreams from the cluster to the end user. One of the control server subsystems also serves as a master control server assigning a request for a datastream to one of the clusters.

Along with the phenomenal growth of the multimedia industry has come the emergence of sophisticated computerized audio/video server systems which must deliver large numbers of individualized datastreams to a huge customer set in a cost effective manner. Compounding this problem is the fact that with the relatively insatiable desire for variety of content, not only must large numbers of media streams be handled, but it is highly desirable that they be available on an almost instantaneous basis and readily selectable at the customer's whim from a huge content base of titles and clips, with multiple customers often desiring to view the same title at the same time.
An example of an application of such systems is information kiosks in shopping malls, museums, etc., but perhaps an application more representative of the myriad technical problems which arise in delivery of such a system is in the case of video-on-demand systems. Such systems are called upon to deliver simultaneously to thousands of customers their individualized selection of movie titles to view on an almost instantaneous demand basis, wherein the movie titles may be selected by a customer from a list numbering in the thousands. Multimedia data is notoriously extremely dense. For example, storage of a single full length movie may require 5 gigabytes, and playback of a video stream of the title typically may be at a 20 megabyte per second rate. Moreover, a video-on-demand service might be expected to service thousands of customers, each with the ability to select their own "customized" uninterruptable 20 megabyte per second video stream simultaneously selected from a video database comprising perhaps 10.sup.14 bytes (e.g., 100 gigabytes per title times 1,000 titles). The sheer magnitude of these numbers intuitively raises the serious and troublesome questions now plaguing the industry regarding how such systems may be delivered on an efficient and cost effective basis.
Subtleties which may escape an initial analysis of the incredibly complex problems presented by the demand for such systems only serve to compound the difficulties. As but one example of this, in the case of video-on-demand movie servers, it cannot be assumed that there will be an even distribution of demand for all the titles. On the contrary, at various times a given title may be considered to be extremely popular and requested for viewing by a high percentage of customers, thereby placing a demand on a disk drive controller which simply cannot be met given the bandwidth limitations of the controller.
One solution to this problem which might readily come to mind is simply to replicate the title on additional disk drives and controllers, however this approach is unacceptable for several reasons. First, one of the most significant costs in such an audio/video server system is the storage costs. Thus, it may be prohibitive to simply replicate titles on multiple disks. Moreover, the demand for titles in such systems is not static, but rather dynamically changing over time, e.g., a title which is relatively "hot" at one time may experience diminished demand in a few days, only to be replaced by yet another title. Thus it becomes extremely difficult to efficiently balance the loading of such systems when it is necessary to continually be replicating copies of titles on various disk drives, not to mention the previously described unacceptable cost associated with replication of titles.
The foregoing problems may perhaps be best illustrated with reference to FIG. 1 which is a simplified illustration of one conventional implementation of a video server system. In such a system, a plurality of servers 18, 20, 22 are provided which may take the form of RAID controllers well known in the art such as RAID 4 or 5 controllers which offer data loss protection. Each such controller may control a corresponding dedicated number of disk drives on the order of perhaps 30 or 40 per controller organized in raid arrays. Thus, controllers 18, 20, 22 would control their respective plurality of disk arrays 19, 21, and 23, respectively, each array containing digitized video data such as titles T shown in FIG. 1, typically on 4 disk drivers with an additional drive for parity.
Interconnecting each of the controllers 18-22 is a fiber channel arbitrated loop 10 and a redundant loop 12 (the data loss protection afforded by the raid controllers and the redundant loop are present due to the need in such systems for high availability). Each of the respective controllers 18-22 delivers on respective line 24A, 24B, 24C, streaming video from their respective disk arrays 19, 21, 23, respectively, such as an ATM streaming video in MPEG 2 format well known in the art, such streaming video being delivered to an appropriate ATM switch 14 also well known in the art. Interconnected to the switch 14 is a cable network 13 serving a plurality of video/audio controllers or computers or televisions 16 for example, only one of which is shown for simplicity.
In a simplified operation, if a request is made for title T, the controller 20 will deliver the video stream from one of the corresponding dedicated drives 21 on which the title resides through the controller 20, onto the line 24B, through the ATM switch 14, out cable connection 13 to be viewed by the customer on the monitor 16. In such a simplified case, the system may work very well. However, as aforementioned, the title T may be in great demand and thus saturate the bus, inasmuch as a given raid controller such as controller 20 may only handle a finite number of such streams. In such an eventuality, the fiber channel loop 10-12 comes into play. The title T may be transferred over the loop 10-12, statically by an operator, e.g., not on demand, to a next disk controller 22 and replicated as T' in one of the corresponding disk drives 23 associated with controller 22. In this manner, an additional complement of video streams of the title may be provided by the controller 22 on line 24C, deriving from the replication of title T on controller 22's disk drive as the redundant title T'.
Several significant problems are associated with implementations of such video controller systems of FIG. 1. First, it will be recalled that video titles require huge amounts of storage and thus the cost of disk storage 19-23 is typically a major part of the cost of the entire system. Thus, in order to satisfy demand for video streams in excess of that which can be provided by a given controller 18-22, it is generally unacceptable to simply replicate the title as T' on another disk drive inasmuch as this requires redundant and expensive copies of the data. An inherent weakness of the system of FIG. 1 relates to the fact that each controller 18-22 may only access its own set of respective local disks 19, 21, 23, necessitating transfers of titles across the ring 10-12.
Yet another problem associated with the systems of FIG. 1 is that even if the expense of replication of titles might somehow be acceptable, it can readily be appreciated that given a particular demand for titles, the ring 10-12 may itself become congested in transferring video data from respective disk storages of one controller to that of another, thereby adding unacceptable overhead to the process. Moreover, the various disk drives 19-23 typically may have a larger bandwidth than the number of streams which a given controller associated with the particular disk drive may be able to handle. Thus, in the system of FIG. 1 the bandwidth of the expensive disk drives is essentially constrained by the bandwidth of their respective servers and controllers in a number of streams 24A-24C which each respective controller 18-22 may be able to deliver. The design of the system is inherently and expensively unbalanced in that each of the expensive disks should be "milked" to take advantage of the full capability of its read head bandwidth without constraining it by its respective controller.
In interactive video systems with differing mixes of demands of the various titles, in such a system as that of FIG. 1 it will be apparent that a daunting task arises for someone to be able to predict demand and prebalance clips on the various disk drives 19-23 to meet the varying loads and to reduce congestion on the arbitrated loop 10-12. In one such attempt to do so, systems may add a switch controller 11 seeking to balance in some intelligent fashion the distribution of titles across the disks 19-23. However, such systems are extremely expensive due to switch logic for hundreds of disks and still exhibit the aforementioned problems of unbalanced systems which can arise very quickly. Also there is a single point of failure so two switches must be provided. In short, a significant problem of the system of FIG. 1 is that the expensive disk drives are local or private to their respective controllers and the fast fiber channel loops 10-12 are disposed on the front end of the system interconnecting the controllers 18-22 only to facilitate moving data over the arbitrated loop between processors. This gives rise to the undesirable less-balanced and more expensive characteristics of the system.
In yet another approach to solving the aforementioned thorny problems, the system of FIG. 1 provides a crossbar switch 36 or other type interconnecting switch interposed between a plurality of disk controllers 30, 32, 34, and various disk arrays, 38, 40, 42, 44, which have stored therein the video data. Thus, unlike the system of FIG. 1, the system of FIG. 2 enables any controller 30, 32, 34, to access a title on any of the disk arrays 38, 40, 42, 44, by means of the crossbar switches 36. Thus, while such a system avoids the expensive practice of maintaining redundant copies of titles in that any controller can access any disk, unfortunately in many applications the cost per stream in a system such that of FIG. 2 becomes prohibitive. This is a direct result of the excessive cost of such high interconnect and redundancy crossbar switches 36, considering the fact that given the large number of datastreams, a correspondingly large number of the expensive crossbar switches 36 are required.

System and method for datastreams employing shared loop architecture multimedia subsystem clusters

International Business Machines Corporation


A wellhead structure having a subsea wellhead (10) connected to the lower end of a collet connector (30). A blowout preventer stack (8) is connected to the upper end of the collet connector (30) and a marine riser (13) is connected to the upper end of the blowout preventer stack (8). The wellhead (10) has an outer wellhead housing (12) fixed to the seabed (B) and an inner wellhead housing (14) supported within the outer wellhead housing (12). Upper hub (16) of outer wellhead housing (12) has an outer profile for mating in a releasably locked position with the collet connector (30). External tensile and bending loads are transmitted directly from the marine riser (13) and blowout preventer stack (8) to the outer wellhead housing (12) along load path L2 bypassing inner wellhead housing (14). One embodiment (FIGS. 5 and 6) shows an inner wellhead housing (14B) extending above the outer wellhead housing (12B) and adapted for separate connection to a small connector (30C) shown in FIG. 6 upon removal of the first connector (30B) from the outer wellhead housing (12B).

Heretofore, subsea wellheads have been provided in which an outer tubular wellhead housing is secured to the sea floor and an inner tubular wellhead housing is supported within the outer tubular wellhead housing. The inner wellhead housing has a hub projecting upwardly above the outer wellhead housing. A hydraulic wellhead connector forms a robust and disconnectable structural link from the drilling vessel's riser extending to the subsea wellhead below. A connector which may be connected at its upper end to a blowout preventer stack is latched on the hub of the wellhead inner housing. Thus, any external tension or bending loads are first transferred from the connector to the inner wellhead housing, and then transferred from the inner wellhead housing to the outer wellhead housing.
Such a wellhead structure is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,066,048 dated Nov. 19, 1991 in which the hub of an inner tubular wellhead housing extends upwardly above the outer tubular wellhead housing and has resilient fingers engaging the outer housing to effect preloading between the inner and outer wellhead housings. External tension and bending loads imparted at the connector to the inner wellhead housing interface are transferred to the outer wellhead housing through the inner housing.
The connector which connects to the hub of the inner housing is utilized in subsea drilling operations to connect a marine riser and blowout preventer stack to the wellhead. Subsea wells are being drilled at increased water depths over four thousand feet and some as deep as eight thousand feet. Particularly for "guidelineless" drilling from a drill ship or floating drilling platform, the drill ship or platform may be off location a substantial distance resulting from station keeping failures, tides, wind, water currents and the like. When the drill ship is off location, bending loads are generated through the interconnecting marine riser into the wellhead. Thus, the subsea wellhead and connector must be capable of withstanding the extreme bending loads resulting from the increased water depths at which this drilling is occurring. The connector provides a connection between the blowout preventer stack and the marine wellhead, and also affects a metal-to-metal seal at the wellhead. The connector should be designed to withstand any reasonable bending and separation forces caused by well pressure, riser tension, and bending loads created by motion from the drill ship or platform above.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,693,497 dated Sep. 15, 1987 shows a collet connector for connecting two axially aligned tubular members including latching fingers which engage outer shoulders on axially aligned tubular members for connecting the tubular members. When the collet connector is utilized for connecting a marine riser and blowout preventer stack to a subsea wellhead, the outer tubular member secured to the sea floor may, for example, be thirty six (36) inches or thirty (30) inches, in diameter while the inner tubular housing is about eighteen and three-fourths (183/4) inches in diameter. All external bending and tension loads from the riser and blowout preventer (BOP) stack are transferred through the connector to the inner tubular housing through the interface between the inner tubular wellhead housing and the outer tubular wellhead housing, and eventually into the earth. The inner tubular housing also must be designed to withstand potentially high internal fluid pressure and the attending pressure end load imposed on the connector. The combined internal pressure and very high external loading resulting from deep water wells, which may be in water depths over five thousand (5,000) feet, may be as high as eight (8) million foot pounds.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a subsea wellhead system for deepwater drilling operations in which a subsea wellhead secured to the sea floor is capable of safely reacting large marine riser induced bending and tension loads.
It is a further object of this invention to provide such a wellhead system in which a connector for connecting the marine riser and blowout preventer stack to the wellhead is connected directly to the outer wellhead housing which is secured to the sea floor for transferring external tension and bending loads from the connector directly to the outer wellhead housing thereby bypassing the inner wellhead housing.

Subsea wellhead structure for transferring large external loads


The invention relates to a prodrug compound of levosimendan as shown by the formula below, and solvates, hydrates, N-oxides, stereoisomers, and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof, wherein each of Ra and Rb is selected from hydrogen or C1-C6 alkyl; Rp is selected from a basic group containing N atom or an acidic group containing carboxyl group, phosphate group, sulfate group, and sulfonate group. The prodrug compound overcomes the defects of levosimendan such as poor water solubility, and has an ideal pharmacokinetic profile and excellent prospects for medicament development.

Acute heart failure (HF) refers to the rapid onset or deterioration of symptoms and signs of heart failure, mainly manifested as a clinical syndrome of a series of symptoms like decreased myocardial contractility, decreased cardiac output, increased pulmonary circulation pressure, increased peripheral circulatory resistance, and insufficient perfusions of tissues and organs. The annual mortality of acute heart failure in China is as high as 34% (Analysis of recent prognosis of elderly patients with acute decompensated heart failure and its influencecing factors, China Medical Herald, 2017, 14(14): 52-55).
According to "Guidelines for primary diagnosis and treatment of acute heart failure (2019)", acute heart failure needs to be treated with positive inotropic drugs, diuretics, vasodilators and other drugs. The commonly used inotropes include calcium sensitizers (such as Levosimendan), beta-adrenergic receptor agonists (such as Dobutamine), phosphodiesterase inhibitors (such as Milrinone), etc. (Guidelines for primary diagnosis and treatment of acute heart failure (2019), Chinese Journal of General Practitioners, 2019, 10, 925-930).
Levosimendan is mainly used for treating various acute heart failure conditions in clinic. It was developed by Orion (Finland) and first marketed in Sweden in October 2000. Its chemical name is (R)-[[4-(1,4,5,6-tetrahydro-4-methyl-6-oxo-pyridazin-3-yl)phenyl]-hydrazono]-malononitrile, with a molecular formula of C14H12N6O and a molecular weight of 280.28 (CAS. NO. 131741-08-7), and its chemical structure is shown by the formula below:

As a multi-targeted drug, the main action mechanism of levosimendan in the treatment of acute heart failure can be summarized in two aspects: firstly, as a calcium ion sensitizer, levosimendan can exert a positive inotropic effect on cadiocytes by enhancing the sensitivity of cardiac fibrous troponin C to calcium ions, without increasing the concentration of calcium ions in cadiocytes; and secondly, levosimendan can open ATP-dependent potassium channels (KATP) on cadiocytes and vascular smooth muscle cells, causing hyperpolarization of vascular smooth muscle cells, dilating coronary arteries and peripheral blood vessels, and reducing the circulatory system resistance. In addition, levosimendan has a weak inhibitory effect on phosphodiesterase-III (PDE-III), increasing the concentration of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) in cadiocytes and thereby increasing the concentration of intracellular calcium ions to a certain extent. However, studies have shown that this mechanism does not have a significant effect in a clinically effective therapeutic range.
Traditional therapeutic drugs for heart failure, such as dobutamine and milrinone, all exert positive inotropic effects by improving the concentration of cAMP through different mechanisms and thereby increasing the concentration of intracellular calcium ions. Levosimendan exerts a positive inotropic effect through a calcium ion sensitization mechanism and does not increase myocardial energy consumption, because it does not act through the mechanism of intramolecular calcium ion increase or intermolecular calcium ion migration. Moreover, studies have shown that levosimendan has unique cardioprotective effects, which can bring about long-term beneficial hemodynamic and energy balance effects to patients. These characteristics make levosimendan more advantageous than traditional therapeutic drugs for heart failure (Levosimendan in Cardiac Surgery: Evaluating the Evidence. Journal of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia, 2019, 33, 1146-1158).
Since levosimendan has poor solubility and stability in water, it is of great significance to study how to improve its water solubility. The current clinical dosage form is an injection solution made by the solution of levosimendan in sterile anhydrous ethanol in which the addition of co-solvent is required. The original manufacturer uses povidone K12 as the co-solvent, and the generic drug manufacturers in China use polyethylene glycol PEG400 or hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin as the co-solvent. In addition, there are several patent literatures reporting that the use of co-solvent improves the water-solubility of levosimendan, for example using substituted cyclodextrin as a solubilizer (Levosimendan-containing pharmaceutical formulation for injection and preparation method thereof, Chinese Invention Patent Publication (Announcement) No.: 108261398A; Levosimendan freeze-dried formulation and preparing method, Chinese Invention Patent Publication (Announcement) No.: 1626085A); using polyvinylpyrrolidone as a solubilizer (Parenteral formulations of levosimendan, International patent application WO 2017037737A1); using povidone K12PF as a solubilizer (Levosimendan-containing pharmaceutical formulation for injection and preparation method thereof, Chinese Invention Patent Publication (Announcement) No.: 108261398A), etc.
The use of non-aqueous solvents and co-solvents to solve the problem of poor water solubility of drugs is not an ideal solution. For patients with acute heart failure, the introduction of absolute ethanol into the circulatory system will definitely bring about adverse effects and side effects. The aforementioned co-solvents, such as povidone K12, tend to bring about unwanted side effects.
Thus, it is clinically necessary to develop a compound derived from levosimendan, which can effectively solve the solubility problem, and has a simple manufacturing method, thereby reducing the technical disadvantage of inconveniences caused by insolubility and instability of levosimendan itself in water.

Prodrug compound of levosimendan, preparation method and use thereof

Beijing Chenguang Tongchuang Pharmaceutical Research Institute Co., Ltd.


An engine system control apparatus includes a parameter reception unit that receives parameters necessary for acquiring a pressure ratio of the low-pressure compressor and a pressure ratio of the high-pressure compressor, a pressure ratio acquisition unit that acquires the pressure ratio of the low-pressure compressor and the pressure ratio of the high-pressure compressor based on the parameters, an inter-compressor pressure ratio acquisition unit that acquires an inter-compressor pressure ratio obtainable by dividing the pressure ratio of the high-pressure compressor by the pressure ratio of the low-pressure compressor, and a control unit that controls the exhaust gas flowrate adjustment unit such that the inter-compressor pressure ratio becomes a predetermined pressure ratio for optimizing an operation efficiency of the engine system.

As an engine system mounted on a ship or a vehicle, it is desirable that the engine have high responsiveness at a time of acceleration of the engine and be capable of withstanding a high load at a time of normal operation.
In order to obtain high responsiveness of the engine at the time of the acceleration, for example, it is effective to reduce the opening of the turbine nozzle of the turbocharger in the engine system. On the other hand, at the time of full load operation, it is necessary to suppress a rotational speed of the turbocharger and an air supply pressure and to suppress the load on the turbocharger and the cylinder.
In Patent Document 1, an exhaust bypass device is disclosed which includes a bypass line for venting air in front of the turbine and a valve provided in the bypass line.
In Patent Document 1, a method is disclosed in which it is possible to improve the responsiveness of the engine at the time of acceleration and is capable of withstanding a high load at the time of normal operation by opening and closing the valve.

Engine system control apparatus and engine system


A resistive memory device includes a memory cell array that includes a plurality of memory layers stacked in a vertical direction. Each of the plurality of memory layers includes a plurality of memory cells disposed in regions where a plurality of first lines and a plurality of second lines cross each other. A bad region management unit defines as a bad region a first memory layer including a bad cell from among the plurality of memory cells and at least one second memory layer.

The application relates to a memory device, and more particularly, to a resistive memory device and an operating method of the resistive memory device.
According to the demand for high capacity and low power consumption of a memory device, research in next-generation memory devices that are non-volatile and do not require a refresh operation is being conducted. The next-generation memory devices are required to have a high integrity characteristic of Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), a non-volatile characteristic of flash memory, and a high speed of static RAM (SRAM). As the next-generation memory devices, Phase-change RAM (PRAM), Nano Floating Gate Memory (NFGM), Polymer RAM (PoRAM), Magnetic RAM (MRAM), Ferroelectric RAM (FeRAM), and Resistive RAM (RRAM) are highlighted.

Resistive memory device having memory cell arrays with multiple stack layers and bad-region managing circuit and method for managing short failure


A semiconductor device included in a motor driving apparatus for driving a motor is disclosed. The semiconductor device configured to control rotation of the motor by changing the gain of a control loop of the motor driving apparatus. The semiconductor apparatus includes plural gain maintaining parts, each gain maintaining part maintaining at least one gain, and a gain switching part for switching the gains maintained in the gain maintaining parts according to a rotational frequency of the motor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device for controlling rotation of a motor.
2. Description of the Related Art
A device using a motor (e.g., DC motor) includes a motor driving apparatus as shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a motor driving apparatus 10. The motor driving apparatus 10 includes a motor 11, a sensor for detecting the rotational position and the rotational frequency (number of revolutions) of the motor 11, a semiconductor device 13 serving as a motor control IC for controlling rotational frequency and protection operation of the motor 11, and a driver 14 for supplying driving current for driving the motor 11. The motor driving apparatus 10 operates as a closed loop by repeating the processes of analyzing the rotational frequency and phase data of the motor 11 detected by the sensor 12 by using the semiconductor device 13 and correcting the rotational frequency and the phase of the motor 11 so that the rotational frequency and the phase are controlled to desired values.
By setting the overall gain of the closed loop of the motor driving apparatus 10 to an appropriate value, the motor 11 can be steadily rotated. As shown in FIG. 2, the overall gain of the closed loop of the motor driving apparatus 10 is determined according to the gain of its speed system (speed system gain), the gain of its phase system (phase system gain), the gain of its loop (loop gain), the gain of its drive system (drive system gain), and the characteristics of the motor 11. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram for describing the overall gain of the motor driving apparatus 10.
As shown in FIG. 3, the speed system gain, the phase system gain, and the loop gain are each determined (fixed) according to the constant of a component that is externally mounted on the motor control IC (semiconductor device) 13. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram for describing an external (outside) component of the motor driving apparatus 10. The driving gain is determined by controlling the electric current value of the drive current supplied to the driver 14. Therefore, in order to control the rotation of the motor 11 for the above-described motor driving apparatus 10, the overall gain of the closed loop is changed by adjusting only the drive gain by changing the drive current supplied to the driver 14.
For example, in a case of activating a motor of a motor driving apparatus such as the above-described motor driving apparatus 10, a large drive torque is required for rotating the stopped motor (stopped state of motor). In such a case, the motor driving apparatus 10 is controlled so as to increase follow-up speed and shorten the activation time by increasing drive current and increasing the drive gain.
For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2005-198468 (hereinafter referred to as "Patent Document 1"), discloses a motor control apparatus and an image forming apparatus that reduces the time for starting a printing operation by shortening the time of waiting for a polygon motor to reach steady state rotation. Furthermore, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2005-110368 (hereinafter referred to as "Patent Document 2") discloses a motor driving apparatus, an integrated circuit, and a motor driving method that can switch the gain for outputting control signals.
However, with the above-described motor driving apparatuses, the change of speed of the motor becomes greater as the drive gain increases. This also increases unevenness in the rotation of the motor. Furthermore, the above-described motor driving apparatuses require a large drive current for increasing their drive gains. Therefore, a large drive current is supplied to the circuitry (circuit components) in the motor driving apparatuses. This leads to an increase of heat in the circuitry and deterioration of or damage to the circuitry.
In a case where the maximum value of the drive current is not appropriately set, the jitter (ringing) as shown in FIG. 4 does not settle out even after the rotational frequency of the motor reaches a desired rotational frequency, thereby requiring time for the drive current to stabilize. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram for describing the start-up (activation) time and the rotational frequency of a motor of a related art case. Accordingly, an apparatus (e.g., image forming apparatus) having a motor driving apparatus of a related art case requires a long start-up time.
Furthermore, the above-described motor driving apparatuses control rotation by only changing the drive gain where the speed system gain, the phase system gain, and the loop gain remain fixed (unchanged). This lowers the versatility of the motor driving apparatus.

Semiconductor device for controlling rotation of motor