The invention is a single device comprised of both an eye enhancer cover and a shade collector the two being connected to each other by two or more elastic band fasteners so it can be removably mounted on a sighting telescopic sight and can be easily stored when not in use. The object of the device is to optimize sighting of a target area under adverse lighting conditions with a single device.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a removable attachment for a telescopic sight, such as one mounted on a gun, for the purpose of enhancing the target during adverse lighting conditions.
2. Description of Prior Art
Numerous attachments have been previously suggested for employment with telescopic sights on guns. For example U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,696,672; 3,496,642; and 5,566,490 teach elastic bands or springs going the length of the rifle scope holding two protective covers together, which covers protect the exposed optical ends when the gun is not in use.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,968,099 discloses the use of flexible resilient sight protectors at both ends of the scope to protect the scope from the elements, while maintaining the sights always ready for action. The protectors include a drip ring for protection against rain.
U.S. Pat. Nos. D 234,539; 4,264,123; 5,506,727 and 6,000,667 disclose eyepieces attached to the rear, often called the ocular end or sighting end of the sight (i.e., the end closest to the eye when sighting). D 234,539 is directed to a particular design for a telescopic sight eye protector.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,264,123 discloses a removable fixed gun telescope extender, made of a soft rubber-like material, which fits on the ocular end, which extender may have a bellows type structure allowing for even compression and sideways tilt. The extender is purported to shut out all light interference without danger of impacting the eye. The telescopic extender is held in place by frictional means.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,506,727 discloses a device attached to the sighting end of a telescopic sight. The device is said to prevent light from entering into the space between the sighting end and the eye of the user. The eyepiece end of the device is angled forwardly toward the eye of the user. The device includes a flexible body with a recoil absorbing means and the device is held in place by frictional means.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,000,667 discloses an eyepiece as part of a particular mounting assembly for a telescopic sight oh a gun.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,089,117 discloses a removable sunshade which can be removably mounted on the variable end (i.e., the end opposite the eyepiece) of a telescope sight. The sunshade has a scope grasping collar at one end projecting forward to an arcuate forward edge and elongated side and the short side resulting in an elongated viewing slot in one side of the sunshade body.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,926,560 discloses a glare shade for a rifle scope that may be manually removably mounted and is comprised of extension section containing light admitting apertures. The shade is held in place by frictional means, similar to a hose clamp.
The invention comprises a single device which comprises both an eye enhancer cover and a shade collector the two being connected to each other by two or more elastic band fasteners so it can be removably mounted on a sighting telescopic sight and can be easily stored when not in use. The object of the device is to optimize sighting of a target area under adverse lighting conditions with a single device.


In an aspect, the invention is directed to a ripping mechanism for a vehicle. The ripping mechanism includes a support frame, a ripping member and an impact mechanism which is configured to reciprocate the ripping member forwardly and rearwardly. The impact mechanism is preferably a vibrator mechanism. In a particular embodiment, the ripping mechanism has a longitudinal axis, is mountable to the vehicle and is movable between a raised position and a lowered position. The ripping member has an engagement head that is configured for plowing a groove in the ground and that is pivotally supported on the support frame about a ripping member pivot axis that is positioned such that pivoting of the ripping member displaces the engagement head longitudinally. The impact mechanism is preferably a vibrator mechanism. The vibrator mechanism is connected to the ripping member wherein activation of the vibrator mechanism causes reciprocating pivoting movement of the ripping member.

Plowing, trenching and ripping machines are well known machines used for digging trenches or various depths and through various types of material. In certain situations, such as when trying to form a trench through rock, concrete or the like, such machines can encounter some difficulty. It has been proposed in the past to use vibration to assist with such machinery. However, it was ultimately not sufficiently successful.
It would be advantageous to provide a plowing, trenching or ripping machine that at least partially overcame the aforementioned problem.


A charger is provided. The charger includes a discharge electrode, a cleaner, and a holder. The discharge electrode is composed of a wire, and the wire has a surface plated with palladium. The cleaner removes foreign substances adhered to the discharge electrode. The cleaner includes a first cleaner composed of a glass-containing resin and a second cleaner. The first cleaner scrapes off the foreign substances by press-contacting the wire while moving, and the second cleaner wipes off the foreign substances by press-contacting the wire while moving. The holder movably holds the cleaner in a direction parallel to the discharge electrode.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a charger and an electrophotographic image forming apparatus such as copier, facsimile machine, and scanner, in particular, using the charger.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a useful charger for charging a surface of photoreceptor in image forming apparatus, corona charger employing corona discharge is known. In corona charger, a wire is serving as a discharge electrode. As the wire is contaminated with powder dust such as toner or corona discharge products, the discharge electrode gets less able to uniformly discharge. The resulting image may be accompanied by black or white strip-like or band-like abnormal image and/or image density unevenness. The life-span of the charger is constrained by the degree of wire contamination, and therefore an effective method for removing foreign substances from the wire is demanded. In attempting to solve this problem, the use of a wire cleaner which is composed of felt pad, brush, abrasive-containing non-woven fabric, glass-containing resin, etc., has been proposed. As another approach, a gold-plated wire has been proposed for the purpose of facilitating the removal of foreign substances from the wire.
Glass-containing resin is said to have the best cleaning ability among various materials used for wire cleaners. However, glass-containing resin will scrape off not only foreign substances but also gold plating. A portion of the wire where the gold plating has been scraped off will deteriorate in discharging function and will cause black strip-like or band-like abnormal image. Accordingly, glass-containing resin can be improved in cleaning ability to the extent that gold plating will not be scraped off, which may be insufficient in terms of cleaning ability.


A notebook computer includes a heat-generating component, a keyboard frame made of a heat conductive material and a heat pipe having an evaporator and a condenser. The evaporator of the heat pipe is in thermal communication with the heat-generating component and the condenser is attached to the keyboard frame and away from the heat-generating component.

1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to a notebook computer, and more particularly to a notebook computer having a heat pipe coupled to a keyboard frame of the notebook computer for dissipating thermal energy within the notebook computer.
2. Description of Related Art
Successive new models of mobile computers, such as notebook computers, are continuing to shrink in size and become lighter, smaller and thinner. In addition, with the improvement of the functionality of the notebook computers, electrical power consumed by many of these notebook computers continues to increase. Thus, heat generated from microprocessors, disk drives, power supplies and other components of the notebook computers is often increased.
However, the notebook computers generally do not have heat dissipation devices having relative small size and high efficiency of heat dissipation. When the notebook computers operate for a relative long period of time, the notebook computers become very hot and tend to fail more often than cooler notebook computers.
Furthermore, since the notebook computers are continuing to shrink in size and become thinner, a distance between a heat-generating component within a notebook computer and a shell of the notebook computer becomes smaller and smaller, heat generated from the heat-generating component tends to heat up the shell, particularly a bottom wall of the shell around the heat-generating component, to a temperature beyond a safe threshold level. When the notebook computer becomes too hot, not only is it uncomfortable for the user, but concerns are expressed about possible safety and fire hazards.


An attachment arrangement for attaching a component to a base item, with at least one fixing device for fixing one section of the component on a section of the base item. At least one connecting device with a connecting element and at least one receiving element are provided. One of the elements is arranged on a component section and the other of the elements is arranged on a base item section. The two elements detachably engage with one another in a form fit. Loads can be transferred at least in the direction of a first axis, and a relative movement is possible between the elements in the direction of a second axis, different from the first axis. A connecting device is disclosed for such an attachment arrangement. A method is disclosed for purposes of attaching a component to a base item by means of such an attachment arrangement.

The invention concerns an attachment arrangement for purposes of attaching a component to a base item, a connecting device for such an attachment arrangement, and also a method for purposes of attaching a component to a base item.
Components in aircraft, such as cabin components, power, signal, or data cables, structural elements, and similar, are regularly fixed in location in the x, y, and z directions to a base item, e.g., to an aircraft structure. The type of fixing is thereby matched to the type of component. Thus, for example, cables, or cable harnesses, are often directly attached to their respective structural sections by means of cable binders. As shown in DE 10 2006 053 966 A1 and also in DE 10 2009 022 175 A1, the cable harnesses can however also be attached to the structural sections in combination with so-called "snap and click" connectors. Components such as transverse beams are regularly riveted to frames, as shown in DE 10 2009 015 858 A1. To increase flexibility with regard to cable runs and in particular to increase flexibility with regard to the attachment of cabin elements such as overhead lockers, DE 10 2007 032 233 A1 proposes a secondary structure in the form of a framework, which is composed of longitudinal and transverse rails, and is attached to the primary structure. The attachment arrangements as described are however technically complex to install, in particular if the attachment must be made to structural sections that are difficult to access. Moreover the attachment arrangements do not enable any compensation for distortions, as a consequence of varying in-flight loads, for example, so that constraint forces are regularly introduced into the components, and moreover the attachments are severely loaded.

Attachment arrangement, a connecting device, and also a method


A power transmission device for a press machine comprises a connection link connected to a crankshaft of the press machine and reciprocated in accordance with the rotation of the crankshaft, a first slider provided in a frame of the press machine so as to be reciprocated in a first direction, and pivotally connected to the connection link, a first link mechanism provided with a pair of first links pivotally connected to each other, wherein one of the first links is pivotally connected to either the connection link or the first slider so as to be folded and extended while following up the reciprocating movement of the connection link, a second slider provided in the frame displaceably in the first direction and pivotally connected to the other first link, and a mechanism for adjusting the position of the second slider in the first direction, whereby the bottom dead center position and the stroke length of a slide can be adjusted by a common mechanism.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a power transmission device for a press machine for converting the rotary motion of a crankshaft supported by a frame into a reciprocating motion and transmitting the reciprocating motion to a slide.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a press machine for converting the rotary motion of a crankshaft into a reciprocating motion and transmitting the reciprocating motion to a slide such as a knuckle press, it is important to keep a bottom dead center position of the slide constant during a working operation. For this reason, in this kind of press machine, it is proposed as a subject to detect the amount of variation of the bottom dead center position and to adjust the bottom dead center position in accordance with the detected amount of variation.
For solving the subject described above, there has been proposed a bottom dead center correcting device for the press machine, in which a movable side supporting point of a knuckle is connected to a slide and a fixed side supporting point thereof is varied by following up the variation of a bottom dead center position (Japanese Patent Public Disclosure (KOKAI) No. 2-165900). In the bottom dead center correcting device, a fixed side supporting point shaft is moved in the vertical direction by supporting a worm wheel eccentrically on the fixed side supporting point shaft of the knuckle and rotating the worm wheel by means of a worm screw meshing with the worm wheel.
In any known bottom dead center adjusting devices, however, the movable side supporting point is connected to a slide. Therefore, when the worm wheel is rotated, the bending and extending range of the knuckle is moved parallel in the vertical direction. Accordingly, the bottom dead center position of the slide can be adjusted, but the stroke length of the slide cannot be adjusted.

Power transmission device for press machine


Provided are transgenic plants with resistance to viral infection polynucleotides and methods for conferring such resistance, and methods for producing the transgenic plants. Plants transformed with a nucleotide sequence encoding a P1 protein of potato virus Y result in plants having increased resistance to infection by potato virus Y.

Plant pathogens, including plant viruses, have a profound impact on agricultural production. Accordingly, the control and eradication of certain plant viruses is of economic importance.
One plant pathogen of economic interest is the potato virus Y. Potato virus Y infects and damages several plant species, including members of the Solanaceae family. In one member of that family, comprising species of potato, infection by potato virus Y may result in as high as an 80% reduction in crop yield. However, despite its name, potato virus Y is pathogenic in a variety of plant species, including non-potato species.
Potato virus Y is a member of the Potyviridae family of viruses, the largest known group (family) of plant viruses. This family, in turn, is comprised of a number of genera, including genius Potyvirus (named after its type member, potato virus Y), genus Baymovirus (type member: barley yellow mosaic virus), and genus Ryemovirus (type member: ryegrass mosaic virus). See generally, Barnett, O. W., Archives of Virology, 118:139-141 (1991); and Reichmnann et al., J. General Virology, 73:1-16 (1992). Significant research has been conducted relating to the genomic structure, organization, and expression of potyviruses. See, e.g., Reichmann et al. (1992). Genomic sequence information is now available for several members of the Potyviridae family. See, e.g., sequences reported in GenBank Accession Nos. M95491, A08776, D00441, X12456 and X97895 (potato virus Y); M38480 and X55802 (potato virus X); X53062 (potato virus M); Z21670 (potato virus A); U19287 (bean common mosaic virus); D83749 and U47033 (bean yellow mosaic virus); X81083, M92280, X56759, D13751 and D00424 (plum pox virus); M96425 (pepper motile virus); X89997, D10930 and D01152 (pea seed-borne mosaic virus); D10927 (turnip mosaic virus); L29569, L31350, and L35588-L35590 (zucchini yellow mosaic virus); X82625 (barley mild mosaic virus); X69757 (barley mosaic virus); Z48506 (brome streak mosaic rymovirus); U05771 and U34972 (peanut stripe virus) U42596 (yam mosaic virus); L38714 (tobacco etch virus); and U38621 (tobacco vein mottling virus), all incorporated by reference herein.
Of interest to the present invention is the P1 gene of viruses of the Potyviridae family, in particular the P1 gene of viruses of the potyvirus genus, especially of potato virus Y. The P1 gene sequence has been reported for a number of different virus species and strains, including those indicated in the preceding paragraph. The Pi gene encodes one of eight functional proteins produced by processing of a primary polyprotein encoded by the 9.7 Kb genome of potato virus Y. See Reichmann et al. (1992). Protein P1 is encoded near the 5' end of the viral genome and is a 35 kDa protein having C-terminal proteolytic activity. Id. The P1 protein also has been reported to bind RNA. Brantley, et al., J. Gen. Virol., 74: 1157-1162 (1993).
Genetically-engineered pathogen-derived resistance to viral pathogens has been achieved in several plant species. For example, resistance to viral infection has been reported in plants transformed with viral coat protein-encoding genes. Hull, et al., Crit. Rev. Plant Sci., 11: 17-33 (1992). Recently, there have been several reports that resistance to a plant virus may be achieved by transforming a susceptible plant with non-structural genes of the virus. However, such attempts have produced relatively strain-specific resistance. For example, strain-specific viral resistance has been reported by transformation of a strain of tobacco with replicase genes of tobacco mosaic virus. Longstaff, et al., EMBO J., 12: 379-386 (1993). Similar strain-specific results in tobacco have been reported by transformation with potato virus Y. Audy, et al., 12 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Virology, University of California at Davis, Calif. 7 (1993). Finally, strain-specific resistance to potato virus Y infection has been reported in tobacco having been transformed with the NIa proteinase of potato virus Y.
To date, methods for introduction of viral resistance in plants, and especially methods for achieving resistance to potato virus Y and other economically-important viruses, have been relatively strain-specific. Moreover, there are no reports of the use of P1 gene sequences to generate resistance to any virus in potatoes or any other plant species. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a method for conferring resistance to viral pathogens across a range of species. In addition, due to the economic importance of controlling plant pathogens, and especially plant pathogens infecting food crops, there is a need in the art for additional transgenic virus-resistant plant species and methods for making such transgenic plant species.

Virus-resistant transgenic plants comprising cells transformed with a polynucleotide encoding a potyviridae P1 protein or P1 protein fragment


A PWM controlling circuit includes a signal generator and two PWM controllers. The signal generator comprises an oscillator, a plurality of inverters, and two RC delay networks. The oscillator and the inverters are composed of elementary elements, respectively, such as diodes, resistors, inverters and capacitors. The PWM controlling circuit in accordance with the present invention can be implemented with low cost, and the duty cycles thereof are not limited to 50%.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pulse width modulation (PWM) controlling circuit, more particularly, to a PWM controlling circuit for a switching power supply.
2. Description of Related Art
Various switching power supplies are available currently, which will be simply described in the following descriptions in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
Referring to FIG. 1, which shows a conventional switching power supply, the switching power supply comprises a PWM controller 50, a switching transistor 51, a transformer with four secondary windings and four rectifying and filtering circuits respectively connected with the secondary windings. The switching power supply of FIG. 1 has four output voltages V01-V04. Only the first output voltage V01 is fed back to the PWM controller 50 as a feed-back signal. Accordingly, only the first output voltage V01 is regulated, and the regulation of each of the other output voltages V02, V03 and V04 is poor.
Focusing on the above problem, an improved design is provided, as shown in FIG. 2. The structure of FIG. 2 is similar to that of FIG. 1 except that a post regulator 60 is provided to each of the outputs V02, V03 and V04. Although the provision of the post regulators 60 can promote the regulation of the output voltages V02, V03 and V04, the conversion efficiency of each post regulator 60 is low resulting in a need for heat sink or the like, which occupy a lot of space.
FIG. 3 shows a conventional switching power supply, which is similar to that of FIG. 1 except that it utilizes two PWM controllers 50, 50'. As in the switching power supply of FIG. 1, the output voltage V01 is fed back to the first PWM controller 50, while the output voltage V04 is fed back to the second PWM controller 50'. Accordingly, the output voltages V01 and V04 appear to be regulated, but the regulation of the output voltages V02 and V03 is still poor. In addition, ideally, the two PWM controllers 50 and 50' should be exactly the same. However, this is impossible for the actual elements. Accordingly, oscillating frequencies of respective clock signals Clk1 and Clk2 of the respective two PWM controllers 50 and 50' are always slightly different, thereby causing a phenomenon of beat frequency.
Referring to FIG. 4, another conventional switching power supply provided for improving the phenomenon of beat frequency mentioned above is shown. In the structure of FIG. 4, the two PWM controllers 50 and 50' are connected with each other via a synchronization signal line 52, so that the two PWM controllers 50 and 50' can be synchronous with each other. However, such a design results in serious electromagnetic interference. Since the two PWM controllers are in on and off statuses synchronously, causing considerable instantaneous current (di) is generated to flow in the circuit, as shown in FIG. 5. Accordingly, noises and electromagnetic interference are serious problems for such a design.
Referring to FIG. 6, a further conventional switching power supply is shown. In this structure, a clock generator 53 is used to generate two signals, which are synchronous but different in phase, as clock signals for the respective two PWM controllers 50 and 50'. The two PWM controllers 50 and 50' accordingly operate alternately, thus the instantaneous current (di) is low, as shown in FIG. 7.
In application, the two PWM controllers 50, 50' and the clock generator 53 are integrated on a single IC, such as a dual current mode PWM controlling circuit 70 of a series UCC1810-3810 produced by UNITRODE, as shown in FIG. 8. The IC of the dual current mode PWM controlling circuit 70 comprises two output terminals OUT1, OUT2, an oscillator 71, a frequency divider 72, an inverter 73, two RS flip-flops 74, 75, two buffers 76, 77, and two leading edge blanking devices 78. Outputs from the output terminals OUT1 and OUT2 are synchronous but different in phase.
However, the cost of such an IC is very high. In addition, the two outputs from the output terminals OUT1 and OUT2 are inverse in phase, and the duty cycles of the respective output cannot exceed 50%.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed toward overcoming the above problem of the conventional dual current mode PWM controlling circuit.

Chun-Shan Institute of Science and Technology


An image forming apparatus according to the invention includes a photosensitive belt for carrying an electrostatic latent image, a developing roller to be brought into contact with the photosensitive belt for supplying a non-magnetic mono-component developer to the electrostatic latent image carried by the photosensitive belt, thereby forming a developer image, a thickness-limiting blade kept in contact with the developing roller for limiting, to a predetermined value, the thickness of the developer provided on the developing roller, and a transfer unit for transferring the developer image, carried by the photosensitive belt, onto a sheet of paper, wherein the photosensitive belt, the developing roller and the thickness-limiting blade are each made of a metal.

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, such as a copy machine or a printer, which uses electrophotography.
As an image forming apparatus of this type, there is an apparatus for forming an electrostatic latent image on a photosensitive drum, and supplying the latent image with a non-magnetic mono-component developer to develop it, using a developing roller. The developing roller abuts against a layer-thickness-limiting member. This member enables the formation, on the developing roller, of a layer of the non-magnetic mono-component developer having a predetermined thickness. The photosensitive drum comprises, for example, an aluminum tube and a photosensitive layer provided on the outer periphery of the tube.
In order to develop an electrostatic latent image in a good condition, it is necessary to secure a sufficient nipping force at a contact portion between the photosensitive drum and the developing roller.
To this end, in the prior art, the base material of the photosensitive drum is formed of an aluminum tube, the developing roller is formed of an elastic rubber member, and the layer-thickness-limiting member is formed of a layer-thickness-limiting metal blade having elasticity.
However, in providing a sufficient nipping force at the nipping portion between the developing roller and the layer-thickness-limiting blade where the developing roller is formed of an elastic rubber member, frictional heat created at the nipping portion inevitably accumulates in the elastic developing roller. As a result, the developer may adhere to the layer-thickness-limiting blade and/or the developing roller, thereby disrupting development.
On the other hand, there is a conventional image forming apparatus using electrophotography, which employs a metal developing roller and a photosensitive belt formed of a high polymer film such as polyester (PET), as a base material. Further, the layer-thickness-limiting blade is formed of a plate spring or a plate spring coated with, for example, urethane resin chips. The developing roller employed in this conventional case is made of a metal and therefore has a high thermal conductivity and dissipation quality.
In this case, however, the base material of the photosensitive belt is polyester (PET), and therefore the photosensitive belt has a low thermal conductivity and dissipation quality. This being so, frictional heat created at the contact portion between the layer-thickness-limiting blade and the developing roller accumulates in the developing roller, with the result that the developer may adhere to the layer-thickness-limiting blade and/or the developing roller, thereby disrupting development.
The present invention has been developed in light of the above-described circumstances. In the image forming apparatus of the invention, a developing roller, a thickness-limiting blade and a base material of a photosensitive belt are each made of a metal, and thus the frictional heat generated at the contact portion between the developing roller and the thickness-limiting blade is effectively transmitted to the photosensitive belt to be dissipated.
Accordingly, an increase in the temperature of each developing unit can be prevented, thereby preventing the adhesion of toner to the developing roller and/or the thickness-limiting blade, and hence enabling good development.
Further, when using a thickness-limiting metal roller as the thickness-limiting member, a higher temperature increase suppressing effect can be obtained, since the heat dissipation area of the roller is larger than that of a blade-type thickness-limiting member.
Also, since the developing roller of each developing unit is brought into contact with the photosensitive belt after the image forming process, the effect of dissipating the heat of each developing unit can be enhanced.
In addition, since a cooling fan cools the photosensitive belt, an increase in the temperature of each developing unit can be more reliably suppressed.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.

Image forming apparatus with increased heat dissipation structure


A vehicle-vehicle communication system includes an in-vehicle wire LAN established in a vehicle. The in-vehicle wire LAN includes a plurality of devices connected by optical fiber links. A terminal for radio vehicle-vehicle communication is connected to the in-vehicle wire LAN by the optical fiber link. The terminal receives an optical digital signal in a predetermined format from the in-vehicle wire LAN. The terminal includes a light controlled oscillator and applies the received optical signal to the light controlled oscillator. The light controlled oscillator outputs a transmission signal of a frequency shifted from a predetermined frequency according to the intensity of the applied optical signal. Thus the terminal generates the transmission signal using FSK-modulation technique without converting the format of the optical signal into another format. The transmission signal is transmitted to a device in another vehicle via radio waves.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication system in which a wire communication network is linked with another wire communication network or radio devices via radio waves.
2. Related Art
It is proposed that a vehicle controls itself for safety based on information gathered from various sensors disposed therein and/or radars disposed thereon for detecting obstacles around the vehicle. However, the radar for detecting obstacles in front can detect only the preceding vehicle, that is, it cannot detect vehicles running before the preceding vehicle. Therefore a driver should see the vehicles in front with his/her own eyes for preventing his/her vehicle from being involved in a road traffic accident such as a pileup. That is, the control based on the information from the radar does not effectively prevent the vehicle from being involved in the traffic accident.
It is further proposed that a driver in a moving vehicle obtains information on a traffic jam or the like utilizing vehicle-road communication which is performed between on-board equipment (OBE) installed on the vehicle and road-side units (RSUs) provided in the vicinity of roads. However, the vehicle sometimes runs out of the communication area or within an area in which communication with the RSU is temporarily impossible. Such an area is formed by, for example, other vehicles that shadow the vehicle. When the vehicle is stuck in traffic, it may stay out of the communication area for a relatively long time. Accordingly, the vehicle is not always able to communicate with the RSU, and therefore the driver is not necessarily able to obtain the information timely.
Then it is proposed that vehicle-vehicle communication, which is performed between the vehicles, is utilized in order to overcome the above problems. If the vehicle-vehicle communication is possible, the vehicle can obtain the information from other vehicles. Then the vehicle can control itself based on the obtained information so as to prevent itself from being involved in a traffic accident. Further a vehicle, which has obtained the information from the RSU by the vehicle-road communication, may relay the obtained information to another vehicle. Thus the vehicle, which cannot communicate with the RSU, can indirectly obtain the information provided by the RSU.
Further, it is proposed that devices, which are installed in or brought into the vehicle, are interconnected so that an in-vehicle LAN is established. The devices belonging to the in-vehicle LAN include vehicle-road communication equipment, vehicle-vehicle communication equipment, vehicle navigation equipment, a portable information device, ECUs and the like. If the in-vehicle LAN is thus established, the devices belonging to the in-vehicle LAN can share various information and consequently the vehicle can control itself with more sophistication.
Further, the devices belonging to the in-vehicle LAN can exchange the various information with devices belonging to another in-vehicle LAN established in another vehicle by the vehicle-vehicle communication via the vehicle-vehicle communication equipment. As a result, the driver or an occupant can obtain highly developed information.
However, the frame format or signal format of a signal transmitted via wires are usually different from that of a signal transmitted via radio waves. Therefore the vehicle-vehicle communication equipment connected to the in-vehicle LAN should translate the format of a received signal into the format employed by the in-vehicle LAN, and the format of a signal to be transmitted into the format for radio communication. The communication equipment capable of such translation is complex and expensive.

Communication system including a wire network linked with another network via radio waves

National Institute of Information and Communications Technology


The binding features a riser 9 as shown in FIGS. 3, 4A and 4B. A thickness of riser 9 is of a measurement which will elevate base plate 2 above snowboard 4 sufficient to permit snowboard 4 to flex beneath and about base plate 2 without snowboard 4 top surface 6 contacting base plate 2 while a rider is maneuvering snowboard 4. Accordingly, the riser 9 of the binding minimizes, if not eliminates, the flattened apex of the flex arc of a snowboard which occurs with standard bindings, and, therefore, permits a rider to achieve a smoother ride and the more precise carves and turns which occur when the snowboard flexes along its complete and natural flex arc.. Bail 53 of the binding as shown in FIG. 7 is a rod which is "U" shaped. The "U" bends 41 at about a forty-five degree angle at a midpoint of each of a stem of the "U", as more clearly shown in side view in FIG. 7. The stems of bail 53 are, preferably, threaded to threadingly engage with threads of threaded hole 66 of lug 51. With such a bail 53 and lug 51 configuration, the stresses incurred during use of a snowboard are absorbed, dampened and withstood by a strong stress point of a lug 51 and bail 53 assembly of the binding.

Snowboards are used for sports recreation, as well as competitive sport racing on snow covered downhill slopes. There are currently two versions of the sport of snowboarding, hard boot snowboarding and soft boot snowboarding. The invention relates to hard boot snowboarding.
Hard boot snowboarding uses a boot that has a standardized sole, similar to an alpine ski boot. The hard boot interacts with a snowboard by means of a plate binding. Standard plate bindings for snowboards consist of a base plate which has a surface area equal to or greater than the surface area of the hard boot sole. The binding is attached to the snowboard with its entire surface area flush with the top surface of the snowboard.
As a result of this large surface area contact of the binding with the snowboard, the ability of the snowboard to flex in the binding contact area is completely inhibited. Consequently, when the snowboard flexes, such as when a rider executes a carve turn, the arc of flex of the snowboard is not a true arc. Instead, the snowboard flexes in a partial arc wherein the apex of the arc is flattened in the area of the binding and snowboard contact. The inability of the snowboard to flex in a complete arc impacts the rider's ability to properly execute a carve turn, makes for a rough ride and reduces the rider's control over the snowboard. This flattened arc syndrome has been a problem for years, not only in the snowboard industry, but also in the alpine ski industry.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,172,924 by Barci for "Hard Shell Boot Snowboard Bindings and System", issued Dec. 22, 1992; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,236,216 by Ratzek for a "Binding for Snowboards", issued Aug. 17, 1993, both generally disclose a hard boot binding for a snowboard. Both of these bindings are flush mounted to a top surface of a snowboard by means of a base plate which has a surface area equal to or greater than a sole of a hard boot. The base plate is mounted upon a top surface of a snowboard and serves as a platform for attachment of various other binding parts. Such a flush mounting of a binding is not desirable, because, as previously mentioned, the snowboard is prohibited from flexing into a true arc. Rather, the apex of the flex arc of the snowboard is flattened in the area of the binding mounts. Therefore, the snowboard is unable to achieve its complete and natural flex arc during snowboarding maneuvers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,386 by Schweizer for a "Binding Mounting Apparatus", issued Feb. 23, 1993, generally discloses an apparatus for a standard plate binding for attaching the binding to and adjusting the binding upon a snowboard. The binding provides a means by which to adjust the rotational angle and the cant angle of the binding relative to the top or mounting surface of the snowboard. Schweizer does describe a riser ring of rubber for adjusting the rotational and cant angles of the binding. However, as is evident from FIG. 1 of the Schweizer patent, the surface area of riser ring 25 is encompassed and exceeded by the surface area of the binding plate 22 (See also FIG. 12), as well as the adapter plate 45 (See FIGS. 10 and 11). Accordingly, a flattening of the flex arc of a snowboard on which the Schweizer binding was mounted would occur due to the large surface area coverage of the binding plate 22 and the adapter plate 45. Furthermore, in order for the Schweizer binding to perform in conjunction with the latest snowboards, the adapter plate 45 would have to be mounted beneath riser ring 50 (See FIG. 1), an embodiment preferred by Schweizer. Such a binding mount scheme would affect the flex arc of a snowboard, flattening the arc even more.
Another standard part which all standard plate bindings use are bails. The bails secure a snowboard hard boot within the binding. A typical plate binding has a front bail for securing the toe portion of a hard boot and a rear bail for securing the heel portion of a hard boot. Typically, a bail is "U" shaped with an inward facing, right angle projection at the end of each stem (hereinafter "stem ends") of the "U" for attaching the bail to a base plate of a snowboard binding. The bail is attached to the base plate by means of tension by stretching the bail and allowing the stem ends to snap into place in recesses within each side of the base plate. The bail stem ends are then typically secured within the base plate by means of an "e" clip or other suitable equivalent.
A considerable disadvantage of a standard bail is that it eventually breaks at the high stress point of the right angle of the stem end where the bail attaches to the binding. Each pair of bindings consists of four bails for a total of eight stem end right angles which will break. Because hard boot snowboarding is usually performed at a high rate of speed, considerable stress is placed upon the bails. Additionally, the probability is extremely high that a bail will break or fail while a snowboard is being ridden. When a bail breaks, the rider's boot is ejected from the binding and the rider will fall, creating a high likelihood of physical injury. Obviously, this inherent weakness of standard bails is very undesirable, disadvantageous and dangerous for riders who engage in hard boot snowboarding.
Other disadvantages of standard bails are that the length of the bail relative to the plate binding is not adjustable and the attachment of the stem end of the bail to the binding plate is not stable and secure and, consequently, the bail has much play in it. The inability of the standard bail to be adjusted and its insecure binding attachment prevents a rider from fine tuning the fit of the rider's hard boot within the binding. Therefore, the hard boot is not seated as securely within the binding as it could be, resulting in a loss of performance interaction between the boot, binding and snowboard, as well as an increase in the possibility of of the rider from the bindings with an attendant likelihood of physical injury. The inability to adjust the bails is further unfavorable considering all the different sizes and shapes of hard boots currently available. Every rider's performance and safety is compromised, because the rider is unable to achieve an optimum boot and binding fit.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,654 by Meyer for a "Plate Release Binding Winter Sports Device", issued Sep. 3, 1991; U.S. Pat. No. 4,955,632 by Prestipino Giarritta et al. for a "Safety Fastenings for `Surf` Snowboards", issued Sep. 11, 1990; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,145,202 by Miller for a "Snowboard Release Binding", issued Sep. 8, 1992; all generally disclose a standard bail. As shown in FIGS. 10, 4 and 13, respectively, the bail is attached to the binding with a right angle bend at the point of insertion of the bail into the binding. Such an arrangement of the bail and binding is undesirable for all of the reasons previously stated, notably the high stress forces which occur at the right angle bail bend during use. This simplistic bending of the bail at a right angle and then inserting the bail into the binding is time and cost effective for a manufacturer, but extremely compromising of the performance and safety of a snowboard rider.
Obviously, there is a need in the hard binding snowboard industry for a binding with bails which can withstand the stresses placed upon the bails by a rider while snowboarding. Additionally, there is a need for a hard binding which will allow the snowboard to achieve its natural flex arc during maneuvers while being ridden by a rider.


In a fingerprint apparatus, fingerprint sensing members disposed on a silicon substrate detect skin textures of a finger placed thereon to generate electric signals. A set of integrated circuits formed on the substrate processes the electric signals. First bonding pads are disposed on the substrate and electrically connected to the set of integrated circuits. A first insulating layer is disposed below the first bonding pads. Metal plugs penetrating through the substrate are respectively electrically connected to the first bonding pads. A second insulating layer is formed on the substrate and between the metal plugs and the substrate. Second bonding pads are formed on a rear side of the second insulating layer, and are respectively electrically connected to the first bonding pads through the metal plugs. The protection layer is disposed on the substrate and covers the sensing members to form a flat touch surface to be touched by the finger.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a fingerprint apparatus, and more particularly to a semiconductor fingerprint apparatus with a flat touch surface.
2. Related Art
There are many known techniques of identifying an individual through the identification of the individual's fingerprint. The use of an ink pad and the direct transfer of ink by the thumb or finger from the ink pad to a recording card is the standard way of making this identification. Then, an optical scanner scans the recording card to get an image, which is then compared to fingerprint images in the computer database. However, the worst drawback of the above-mentioned method is that the fingerprint identification cannot be processed in real-time, and thus cannot satisfy the requirement of real-time authentication, such as network authentication, e-business, portable electronics products, personal ID card, security system, and the like.
The method for reading a fingerprint in real-time has become the important technology in the biometrics market. Conventionally, an optical fingerprint sensor may be used to read a fingerprint in real-time, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,053,228 and 4,340,300. However, the optical fingerprint sensor has drawbacks because it is large in size and tends to be cheated by the fake image.
Consequently, silicon fingerprint sensors, which overcome the drawbacks of the optical sensor and are formed by silicon semiconductor technology, are developed. Based on the consideration of the manufacturing processes of the silicon integrated circuit, the capacitive or other electric field fingerprint sensor chip has become the most direct and simplest way.
FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration showing a conventional fingerprint apparatus 100. Referring to FIG. 1, the silicon semiconductor fingerprint apparatus 100 includes a package substrate 110, a fingerprint sensor 120, a plurality of interconnection wires 130 and an encapsulation layer 140. The fingerprint sensor 120 is disposed on the package substrate 110. The interconnection wires 130 electrically connect bonding pads 122 of the fingerprint sensor 120 to bonding pads 112 of the package substrate 110.
For application, the fingerprint apparatus has an exposed surface to be touched by the finger to sense the image of the finger textures. To achieve that, during the packaging process, a special mold and a flexible, soft material layer have to be adopted to protect the sensing surface of the fingerprint sensing chip, and two sides or the periphery of the packaged product are always higher than the middle sensing surface, as shown in FIG. 1.
According to the above-mentioned reasons, the conventional fingerprint apparatus has the high package cost and needs the special machine. In addition, because the external surface of the fingerprint sensing chip has to be exposed, the abilities of withstanding the electrostatic discharge and the force impact are deteriorated. Thus, the inconvenience of using the product is caused, and the lifetime of the product is shortened.
FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration showing the application of the fingerprint apparatus 100 of FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the fingerprint apparatus 100 is mounted on a notebook computer to serve as an apparatus for sensing the fingerprint and controlling the cursor to move on a screen by sensing the motion of the finger. Because the upper surface of the fingerprint sensor of FIG. 1 does not have an entirely flat touch surface, a special slide way 200 has to be formed on the notebook computer. Nevertheless, the swiping motions of the finger, especially the swiping motions along the left and right directions of FIG. 1, are still restricted by the projections on two sides. Thus, the user cannot control the mouse cursor at his or her will smoothly.
Therefore, it is an important subject to provide a semiconductor fingerprint apparatus with a flat touch surface but without the needs of the special mold and the conventional package.

Semiconductor fingerprint apparatus with flat touch surface


Apparatus and method for sensing the position, size, shape and location orientation of one or more objects in two dimensions. The position sensor uses arrays of light sensors mounted on a substrate. When an object passes in proximity to the light sensors light energy from a plurality of light sources is either reflected from the object to the light sensors, or is emitted directly to the light sensors. The light energy is then converted to individual signals and transmitted through circuit traces in a printed circuit board to a local controller. The information may then be processed to determine the size, position, shape and location orientation of an object.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a two-dimensional object position sensor usable to detect the position, orientation, size and/or location of an object.
2. Description of Related Art
The use of object position sensors is well known in the art. Typically, these sensors may include a light emitting diode placed in a fixed location that emits light energy in the direction of a photocell. When an object moves into the path of the light energy, the photocell ceases to send an electronic signal, thus indicating the presence of the object. Alternatively, the light emitting diode may be positioned to reflect light off of the object towards the photocell. In this arrangement, the presence of the would cause the photocell to generate an electronic signal.
In addition to these types of sensing devices, other sensing devices have been adapted for use in particular applications, such as photocopiers and printers. Typically, a sheet of paper is tracked as the sheet travels through the photocopier or printer using one-dimensional sensors or "fax bars" that detect the presence of the edge of a sheet of paper at a particular location within the photocopier or printer. These fax bars may use linear sensors arrays, which are only capable of sensing the object in one direction.
Small area imaging system such as CCD arrays and X-ray imaging systems have detector sizes on the order of 10 microns and 100 microns respectively. Due to the small pixel size and the technology that underlies the small area imaging arrays using such imaging arrays to sense the position of an object over a large area is impractical, especially when the object is in the near field of these small area imaging arrays.


A method and system for handling transport overhead on a ring network. The system includes a ring network having a plurality of network elements communicating a signal along the network. In one embodiment, a method is provided for restoring transport overhead along the ring network. This method includes designating a first of the plurality of network elements as a master network element and inserting a first transport overhead break on the ring network by the master network element. The method further includes detecting a failure of the signal by a second network element and inserting a second transport overhead break on the ring network by the second network element in response to the detection of a failure. Finally, the method includes removing the second transport overhead break under the direction of said master network element. Another method of restoring transport overhead is disclosed which also includes the steps of designating a first of the plurality of network elements as a master network element and detecting a failure of the signal by a second network element. In addition, the method includes the step of transmitting a count to the master network element by the second network element in response to the step of detecting a failure. In addition, the count is incremented each time it passes through a network element other than the first and second network elements. Finally, the count is received by the master network element.

Advances in the telecommunications industry have caused improvements in virtually every aspect of telecommunication links. For example, fiber optic technology has enjoyed rapid advancement and implementation, and appears to provide benefits which will be realized into the next century. Digitization of communications permits increased performance at lower costs using integrated circuits. Less noise, lower signal to noise ratio requirements, and lower error rates are additional advantages. Another example, and one which often uses fiber optic technology, is the implementation of digital telecommunication rings. In these rings, communication occurs between various network elements along the ring. These rings are beneficial because rings of virtually any length are practical. Moreover, rings add reliability to the communication between the various network elements along the ring.
With the advancement of communication rings, various regulatory agencies and specifications are developing. For example, as is known in the telecommunications art, the synchronous optical network (SONET) is the new ANSI standard for advanced fiber optic transmission. SONET has for the first time defined a standard optical interface which allows so-called "mid-span" meets, that is, interfaces between equipment produced by different manufacturers. This standard has particular application to the present invention in that it describes common generic criteria for optical ring networks.
As is known in the art, network elements (NEs) communicate around a ring by passage of information frames. Under SONET, entire communication streams do not have to be torn apart and reassembled every time a signal is added or dropped in a SONET network. Instead, they are collected and routed within a level 1 synchronous transport signal (STS-1) frame. FIG. 1 illustrates an STS-1 frame. The STS-1 frame consists of 90 columns and 9 rows of 8-bit bytes (shown as "B"), for a total of 810 bytes (6480 bits). Typically, the STS-1 frame has a length of 125 microseconds (i.e., 8,000 frames per second). The bytes of the STS-1 frame are transmitted in a row-by-row fashion from right to left. Further, for each byte, the most significant bit is transmitted first. Note also that multiple STS-1s may be synchronously multiplexed into higher rate STS-N signals. STS-N signals are converted to optical OC-N signals for transport through fiber optic media.
The first three columns of the STS-1 frame are designated the transport overhead. The transport overhead contains overhead bytes of both section overhead and line overhead. Under current standards, twenty-seven bytes are assigned for transport overhead, with nine bytes of section overhead and eighteen bytes of line overhead. The section overhead deals with the transportation of an STS-N frame across the physical layer or physical media of the ring. Functions of this section overhead include framing, scrambling, section error monitoring, and communicating section level overhead. The line layer provides synchronization and multiplexing functions for the path layer (the path layer deals with the transport of network services between SONET terminal multiplexing equipment). The line overhead associated with these functions includes overhead for maintenance and protection purposes.
As also known in the art, SONET functionally specifies particular bytes in the section and line transport overhead. These bytes are also referred to in the art as defining "channels". FIG. 2 generally illustrates these bytes with the letter designations given by SONET. While the position of each byte is specified by SONET, the functionality of various bits or even complete bytes for particular designations remain unspecified for certain applications. For example, and as set forth in greater detail below, the K1 line overhead byte has no current specification for unidirectional rings. As another example, bits 3-5 (with bit 1 being the most significant bit) of the K2 line overhead byte are likewise unspecified by SONET for unidirectional rings. For other definitions and descriptions of the transport overhead bytes, the reader is referred to Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) Transport Systems: Common Generic Criteria, Technical Reference TR-NWT-000253, Issue 2, December 1991, published by Bellcore, and incorporated herein by reference.
Returning to FIG. 1, the remaining 87 columns of the STS-1 frame are the STS-1 envelope capacity. Within the STS-1 envelope capacity is placed a synchronous payload envelope (SPE). One column of the SPE contains nine bytes, designated as STS path overhead. This column may be located at any column within the STS-1 envelope capacity. The remaining 774 bytes are available for payload. The STS-1 SPE may begin anywhere in the STS envelope capacity. Typically, it begins in one frame and ends in the next. The STS-1 SPE may, however, be wholly contained in one frame. STS path overhead is associated with each payload and is used to communicate functions from the point where service is mapped into the STS SPE to where it is delivered.
FIG. 3 illustrates a simplified block diagram to delineate various definitions of the transmission network that interconnect various SONET NEs. Specifically, the SONET line, section and path are shown. FIG. 3 further illustrates path terminating equipment 10 and 12, line terminating equipment 14 and 16, and section "terminating" equipment 18 and 20. As known in the art, an NE is said to be terminating if it is specified that during normal operations, the device may alter the corresponding information associated with it. For example, path terminating equipment 10 and 12 are defined to be equipment which are permitted to alter the path portion of the SONET frame (see FIG. 1). Line terminating equipment 14 and 16 are specified so that they are permitted to alter the line information of the SONET frame. Finally, section terminating equipment 18 and 20 are specified so that they may alter the section information of the SONET frame.
An example of STS-1 SPE path terminating equipment is an add/drop multiplexer. An add/drop multiplexer is also line terminating. Finally, an example of section terminating equipment is a repeater. Note that a device specified as capable of terminating one category of information necessarily can terminate subset categories. Thus, path terminating equipment 10 and 12 may also terminate line and section information. Further, line terminating equipment 14 and 16 may also terminate section information. Note also that the termination specifications apply only during normal operations. For example, while a repeater is section terminating, during a failure it may alter other information such as the K1 and K2 line overhead bytes.
Given the terms and standards set forth above, note that currently no specification exists for restoring the transport overhead information (outside of the DCC) in a SONET ring network. Given the broad base possibility for incompatibilities at a mid-span interface, it is important to develop a standard method for control of the frame transport overhead. Specifically, it is highly beneficial to develop a system whereby transport overhead is accounted for during a failure along the ring network. By maintaining part or all of the transport overhead operational during a system failure, it is possible to use the transport overhead to help identify the failure for purposes of having it corrected in an expedited manner. Moreover, once the network is repaired, it is also important to restore the transport overhead in an organized and efficient manner.
As known in the art, improper restoration of the transport overhead channel in the ring network may cause an oscillatory action to occur along the network. Such oscillation may occur when the ring becomes "closed" as to transport, that is, having no barrier to prevent the transport overhead from continuously encircling the ring. This unimpeded travel allows an NE to add transport overhead to the ring, and subsequently receive back the same overhead, in addition to any accumulated overhead added by other NEs. This cumulative feedback around the ring may provide undesirable results. For example, for audio transport overhead, such undesirable effects may include high level audio feedback which is received by any NE monitoring the ring.
FIG. 4a illustrates a block diagram of a prior art telecommunications ring network 22. According to this example, ring network 22 is a unidirectional path protection switched (PPS) telecommunications ring network. A unidirectional ring, as known in the art, is one in which traffic generally travels in one medium and direction between elements along the ring, while concurrently flowing in a redundant manner in an opposite direction in another medium. Note also that transport overhead, as opposed to traffic, is communicated bidirectionally between NEs on a unidirectional ring. Ring network 22 includes a first ring 24 and a second ring 26. As illustrated, traffic flow around first ring 24 is clockwise, while traffic flow around second ring 26 is counterclockwise. Further, both rings 24 and 26 traverse through various NEs positioned along the ring. In the example of FIG. 3a, four NEs are provided and are designated with corresponding numerals (e.g., NE0, NE1, NE2 and NE3).
Typically, one of rings 24 or 26 is predetermined as the primary communication medium for traffic flow around the ring. For example, consider first ring 24 as this predetermined ring. As a result, communication between any of the NEs along the ring is, under normal operating conditions, in a clockwise fashion. For each communication, however, a redundant signal is provided along second ring 26 in a counterclockwise fashion. As is known in the art, this redundant signal permits the network element to select between the primary and redundant signals according to the transport performance information received by the corresponding NE.
FIG. 4b illustrates network ring 22 of FIG. 4a, with the additional indication that NE0 has implemented an "artificial transport overhead break" 28. Such an implementation of a transport overhead break is known in the art for preventing ring network 22 from becoming a closed ring. Without overhead break 28, transport overhead would be permitted to continue uninterrupted around the entirety of ring 22 and, hence, could cause the undesirable accumulation and feedback effects discussed above. The inclusion of transport overhead break 28, however, acts as a barrier so that the transport overhead is not accepted from what is illustrated as the right side of NE0. Thus, the effect of the overhead break 28 is to prevent the transport overhead from fully encircling the ring and, consequently, also to prevent undesirable cumulative feedback effects.
FIG. 4c illustrates a block diagram of the effective communication path for the transport overhead caused by the artificial transport overhead break 28 illustrated in FIG. 4b. As shown, the direct line of transport overhead communication between NE0 and NE3 is effectively severed by artificial transport overhead break 28. As a result, any transport overhead communication between these two NEs must be communicated through NE1 and NE2. Nonetheless, transport overhead communication is still permitted between each NE of the ring, without the possibility of cumulative feedback.
FIG. 4d illustrates ring network 22 of FIG. 4a, wherein both rings 24 and 26 have been severed (illustrated by an "X" on rings 24 and 26). The severance may occur due to a physical disturbance of rings 24 and 26, or like situation. In any instance, as known in the art, the NEs along the rings include circuitry for detecting the loss of an incoming signal. When a signal loss occurs, a detecting NE inserts an "actual" transport overhead break on the side of the NE which would receive the signal if it existed. An actual overhead break is to be contrasted with an artificial overhead break. The former occurs upon detection of an actual fault with the ring or one of its components. The latter is imposed, as discussed above, to create a break in transport overhead communications during normal operations of the ring network. Note also that, during an artificial break, the NE imposing the break may evaluate the transport overhead. It does not, however, transmit the overhead to the using application, or pass it through to the remainder of the network.
As an example of an actual overhead break, ring network 22 is shown with an actual failure between NE2 and NE3. In response to the failure, NE2 and NE3 detect a loss of signal along rings 26 and 24, respectively. Upon detection of this signal loss, both NE2 and NE3 force an actual transport overhead break 30 and 32, respectively, on their corresponding sides detecting the failure. Overhead breaks 30 and 32 function in the same manner as artificial overhead break 28 associated with NE0. Thus, breaks 30 and 32 preclude transport overhead information received by NE2 from transmitting along ring 24 toward NE3. Similarly, overhead break 32 prevents overhead information received by NE3 from transmitting along ring 26 toward NE2.
FIG. 4e illustrates the effective communication path for the transport overhead of network ring 22. Note that overhead breaks 28, 30 and 32 act in combination to segment or isolate NE3 from the remainder of the NEs of ring 22. Thus, before restoring the ring or making any provision for this condition, NE3 cannot communicate transport overhead with the remainder of the ring network. Clearly, such a result is undesirable because the lack of overhead communication to NE3 prevents using that information to help troubleshoot the fault which has occurred along the ring network. In addition, no current standards exist for handling the transport overhead channels in a SONET ring upon the imposition of an actual overhead break. Indeed, in some prior art systems, the ring network is simply left in its segmented form, with no restoration of transport overhead to the segmented NE or NEs. One key object of the present invention, as more readily appreciated below, is to maintain a constant communication path between all NEs despite a fault along one of the rings (for example, as shown in FIG. 4c).
One known solution for attempting to restore transport overhead is implemented in the LTS-21130 ring network, formerly owned and sold by Rockwell and currently owned by Alcatel. The LTS-21130, however, is dependent on a strict hardware implementation. In this implementation, a "home node" initially imposes an artificial transport overhead break. Thereafter, an NE along the ring, when detecting a loss of signal, inserts a transport overhead break in the direction of the loss of signal. Upon correction of the break, the detecting NE immediately removes its overhead break. In addition, the detecting node transmits an indication bit and the newly received signal toward the home node. The home node, upon receiving the forwarded information, reinserts its overhead break. Prior to receiving this new information, however, the ring is a closed ring, that is, no overhead break exists on the ring and, therefore, cumulative overhead feedback may occur. Indeed, specific dedicated hardware is included in the home node so that it can quickly reinsert its overhead break before the effects of cumulative overhead feedback become overwhelming.
Thus, in the LTS-21130, additional specific hardware is necessary for quick switching so that the home node can insert its overhead break prior to permitting an immense amount of cumulative feedback to occur. Further, this restoration process is not predictable because the speed of the restoration relies strictly on the speed of the hardware. In contemporary networks, however, software, rather than hardware, is commonly used to manage the network. Moreover, the primary consideration during a failure along the ring is to restore traffic, rather than overhead. Such software restoration processes are well known in the art. Thus, in a software based environment, the scheme of the LTS-21130 is impractical because: (1) the use of dedicated hardware is undesirable; and (2) the speed required to implement the scheme is unavailable because the software is initially appointed to reestablishing traffic, rather than overhead around the ring. In contrast, the present invention provides a deterministic (i.e., predictable and uniform in result) method in which the reinsertion of an overhead break is ensured to occur prior to the release of the break elsewhere in the ring. Thus, the ring is never fully closed to overhead, thereby preventing cumulative feedback from occurring. Further, the present invention is preferably embodied in software, rather than dedicated hardware.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a method and system for restoring some or all of the transport overhead channels in a SONET ring.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a method and system which is useful in both SONET unidirectional and bidirectional rings.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a method and system to prevent oscillatory action around the network ring due to cumulative feedback of the transport overhead channels.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a method and system for providing a deterministic method to restore the overhead channels of a network ring.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a method and system such that there are no requirements as to how the NEs are distributed in the network ring while still having the ability to detect and restore the network transport overhead channels.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a method and system which does not require knowledge of the network topology other than the type of ring operation (i.e., unidirectional or bidirectional) and which path terminating device is the ring master.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a method and system such that overhead operations do not interfere with or delay traffic protection.
Still other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having reference to the following specification together with its drawings.


Methods, apparatuses, and systems are presented for extracting information from a received signal resulting from a process capable of being represented as a finite state machine having a plurality of states, wherein transitions between the states can be represented by a trellis spanning a plurality of time indices, involving calculating branch metrics taking into account the received signal, calculating state metrics at each time index by taking into account the branch metrics and using a pipelined process, wherein the pipelined process is used to calculate state metrics at a first time index, wherein the pipelined process is then used to calculate state metrics at one or more non-adjacent time indices, and wherein the pipelined process is then used to calculate state metrics at an adjacent time index, and generating at least one output taking into account state metrics for states associated with at least one selected path through the trellis.

The transmission of data through a noisy channel could introduce errors into the data stream. In order to reduce the amount of errors in the transmitted sequence and to avoid retransmissions coding techniques have been developed that provide the ability to detect and correct errors in a sequence. This is achieved usually through the addition of redundant information as part of the transmission. Here the term transmission is used broadly to include transfer of data through different types of medium. This can include communication mediums such as those used in wired, wireless, satellite, and other technologies. This can also include storage mediums such as magnetic, semiconductor, and other types of memory.
Some of the most popular and powerful coding techniques use convolutional codes either standalone or in more complex arrangements that include multiple codes, such as Parallel concatenated Convolutional Codes (PCCC or Turbo), Serially Concatenated Convolutional Codes (SCCC) and other Turbo-Like Codes (TLC). Although regular convolutional codes and TLCs differ significantly in terms of performance, structure and decoding techniques, their decoders share some common features.
The decoding structures that are used to decode convolutional codes are based on trellis processing. A trellis is a representation of the state of the encoder state machine unfolded over time. The trellis is used to estimate the state of the convolutional encoder finite state machine over time based on the information attained from the received signal.
As a special case, one could also classify in the same category codes that are based on single parity check codes since they too could be decoded using a trellis based structure. The parity check state machine can be viewed as a 2-state state machine of a convolutional code, with the parity bit being the termination of that code. So a single parity check code of length K could be viewed and decoded as a terminated 2-state recursive convolutional code of length K+1.
The traditional algorithm for decoding the trellis in the case of a convolutional code involves processing one step at a time through the trellis from beginning to end updating the state metrics in the process. The state metrics are updated using branch metrics that are calculated from the observations for the received sequence collected on the receiver. Each path along the trellis is thus associated with a cost that -corresponds to the likelihood of that sequence being transmitted. The decoder then either makes "hard" decisions about the decoded sequence, a process known as Viterbi algorithm, or produces soft metrics that correspond to the likelihood of a bit that was transmitted assuming a particular value, a process known as Soft Output Viterbi Algorithm or SOVA.
In the case of TLCs, the traditional decoding algorithm, which is known as Forward-Backward Algorithm, processes the trellis in both directions updating the state metrics the same way as the Viterbi algorithm. The state metrics from the two passes along with the branch metrics are then used to generate soft outputs for each bit of interest along the trellis. The module that performs this process is called the Soft-In-Soft-Out or SISO module. In the case of the TLCs there is one such SISO module that corresponds to each convolutional code in the encoder and each SISO passes data to the others and the process iterates until some criterion is met, at which time "hard" decisions are made. Such criteria could be the maximum number of iterations was reached, convergence to a solution was achieved, etc.
The challenge in trellis-based processing is its recursive nature. Both in the case of Viterbi decoders and of SISO modules the critical path of the processing is the state-update process. The processing of each step through the trellis depends on the values generated for the previous step (or the next step if processing backwards). This data dependency means that the next step cannot be processed until the previous one is done processing. In the basic approach that also means that the whole trellis has to be processed in series by the same processor.
Some techniques have been developed that allow a designer to break a trellis into sections (such as windows or tiles), thus breaking the process in smaller blocks that could be processed in parallel. The basic concept is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,933,462 issued to Viterbi. Instead of decoding the entire block of size K, U.S. Pat. No. 5,933,462 describes an algorithm for decoding over a window of size L instead to reduce memory requirements. The concept can be extended in the forward direction as well and used to break the block of size K trellis sections into smaller independent sections of size L.
However, this does not solve the data dependency problem, and current hardware implementations of trellis processors are constrained to be as fast as the execution of the recursive state-update calculations. When designers wish to speed up the process they often use multiple state-update units in parallel for different sections of the trellis, in order to achieve the required speed. However, such an approach has inherent disadvantages. For one thing, parallel state-update units for different sections of the trellis likely require numerous simultaneous memory accesses and that translates into very wide memories and several constraints, in order to guarantee that the accesses yield no collisions. Furthermore, the amount of logic required for the trellis-processing engine increases linearly with the number of these parallel units used.
Therefore, there remains a significant need for more efficient trellis-based decoding techniques. This is especially true in performing state-update calculations, which can involve recursive operations.

Scheduling pipelined state update for high-speed trellis processing


An adsorption and desorption analyzer for performing analyses on samples comprises a manifold for selectively storing one or two gases or vapors having different critical temperatures, at least two cells constructed and arranged to store a sample for analysis, a supply line having an isolation valve connecting each cell to the manifold, an absolute pressure transducer for monitoring the pressure in the manifold, vacuum means, a microprocessor for controlling the operation of the isolation valves and the application of gas or vapor or vacuum to the manifold and a coupling line having a differential pressure transducer having a smaller range than the range of the absolute pressure transducer, enables an operator to determine data points for characteristics of the samples under study more precisely and more rapidly than is possible using an analyzer having an identical absolute pressure transducer for each cell to determine the characteristics of the samples stored in the cells. The analyzer is also constructed and arranged to determine the characteristics of additional samples in addition to the first pair of samples compared.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to measurement techniques for performing adsorption and desorption gas analyses on materials, and more particularly to an improved technique and apparatus for simultaneously and independently performing gas adsorption and desorption measurements on a plurality of different samples, such as powder or pellet samples, for example.
Dozens of patents have been issued for method and apparatus for measuring gas adsorption of samples The prior art most pertinent to the present invention involves methods and apparatus which use absolute pressure transducers in the measurement of adsorption on a plurality of samples simultaneously, and methods and apparatus which use differential pressure transducers for purposes different than those of the present invention.
A great variety of applications in modern technology require accurate information concerning the microstructure of materials such as powders which are widely used, for example, as catalysts or in the production of paint, cement, and the like. This information includes the porosity and surface areas of the powder material and the distribution of pore volume in the various sized pores.
One conventional manner of performing such measurements, which is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,555,912 to Lowell (Lowell '912), involves the preparation of adsorption and desorption isotherms of the material in which volume is plotted against the equilibrium relative pressure of the gas (typically nitrogen) adsorbed or desorbed on the surface of the material. To prepare such isotherms, the quantity of the gas adsorbed onto the solid surface or desorbed from the solid surface is measured at various specified pressures at a specific temperature. The conventional gas adsorption and desorption processes are, however, relatively slow, often requiring hours or sometimes even days to acquire the necessary data to accurately characterize the porosity and surface area of the material.
Many types of vacuum-volumetric apparatus and systems have been developed for performing adsorption and desorption measurements on samples. Many of these adsorption and desorption measurement systems have certain essential features. These include a non-adsorbable gas (e.g. helium) for calibrating the volume of the cell containing the sample, (except for the so called NOVA system manufactured by Quantachrome Corporation of Boynton Beach, Fla.), U.S. Pat. No. 5,360,743 to Lowell, which avoids the need for such calibration and another technique to be described later) and an adsorbate gas (e.g. nitrogen) for performing the adsorption or desorption analysis. The non-adsorbable gas is critical in these systems for calibrating the volume of the sample cell with the sample material present.
The prior art has speeded the production of analytical data to some extent. U.S. Pat. No. 4,566,326 to Lowell (Lowell '326) provides an analyzer unit capable of concurrently and independently obtaining data for a plurality of powder samples in a single measuring instrument.
It is the main object of the aforesaid patented invention to provide an analyzer unit which is capable of acquiring data on several samples substantially simultaneously and in which the data derived for a plurality of samples can be stored and presented in any of a number of different forms for each of the samples. To these ends, the automatic measurement units of the invention described and included in the aforesaid Lowell '326 patent includes a common manifold in respective fluid communication through a plurality of isolation valves with a corresponding plurality of sample cells, and absolute pressure transducers are provided to measure the manifold pressure, and a plurality of absolute pressure transducers are respectively coupled to the sample cells (a separate absolute pressure transducer for each sample cell) to provide measurement of the respective pressures in the sample cells.
The Lowell '326 invention operates automatically under the control of a microprocessor, which receives and processes information from the several pressure transducers and controls the operation of the isolation valves. This microprocessor measures current cell pressure, manifold temperature and manifold pressure. When the manifold and cell are connected through an opened isolation valve, a pressure in the combined volume results. This latter pressure is used to calculate a specified relative pressure. The manifold is then pressurized to the calculated value with nitrogen gas, and the cell isolation valve is opened to allow a volume of nitrogen to be admitted (or removed) into (or from) one of the sample cells which contain the solid adsorbent sample to be analyzed. The isolation valve is then closed. As adsorption (or desorption) of the gas occurs in the sample, the pressure in the sample cell as measured periodically by the cell pressure transducer varies until an equilibrium pressure or relative pressure is attained. Relative pressure is defined as the ratio of the equilibrium pressure (P) to the saturated vapor pressure (P.sub.o), expressed as P/P.sub.o. The quantity of the gas adsorbed (or desorbed) at the equilibrium pressure is the difference between the amount of gas admitted (or removed) and the amount required to fill the space around the adsorbent (void space) which was previously determined with non-adsorbable helium gas.
This process is repeated for different volumes and relative pressures until a preselected number of data points have been produced for the sample. At one of several stages in the analysis sequence of a given sample cell at which an interval or delay is required, the processing of analysis is shifted for that period to another of the sample cells according to a priority programmed into the microprocessor. This process of shifting the operations between the sample cells on a priority basis continues in a sequence determined to achieve optimum analysis, until the required pressure-volume data points for all of the samples under analysis have been obtained.
Other pertinent prior publications relevant to this invention in addition to the aforesaid Lowell '326 patent include a book entitled "Adsorption, Surface Area and Porosity" by S. J. Gregg and K. S. W. Sing, published in 1967 by Academic Press, London and New York (particularly pages 324 to 326); a "Strohlein AREA-Meter" brochure and U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,219 to Camp (Camp '219).
As will be explained later, these latter publications incorporate a differential pressure transducer between a sample cell and a comparison cell. In the Strohlein AREA-Meter and Camp '219, the comparison cell is used as a reference only and is not used with a sample in the cell. The sole purpose of the differential gauge and the reference cell is to determine the amount of gas not adsorbed on the sample surface in the sample cell. These publications differ from the present invention in that results obtained in the prior art are not acquired as rapidly as are obtainable with the present invention. It is believed that the prior art fails to obtain the rapid obtention of data possible with the present invention because the prior art measures only one sample cell at a time.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,360,743 to Lowell (Lowell '743) provides an improved apparatus and method for measuring the void volume, and the adsorption of the sample cell walls, and correcting for non-ideal gas behavior by using only the adsorbate gas. This Lowell invention effectively overcomes the aforementioned difficulties and longstanding problems inherent in surface area and pore volume measurements. These problems have been solved in a simple, convenient, and highly effective way by which to increase the accuracy of the measurement and to decrease the time consumed in performing the measurements.
Despite the improvements developed in the technology as evidenced by the patents described hereinbefore, there still remains room for further improvements that enable the art to obtain the requisite data even more rapidly using modified apparatus that is less costly in that the present apparatus eliminates an expensive component previously required in the prior art as will be described hereafter.

Method and apparatus for performing adsorption and desorption analysis of samples


A novel information storage device is disclosed and claimed. The information storage device includes a disk drive and a sheet metal support attached to the disk drive. The sheet metal support includes a plurality of sheet metal projections, each including a major surface. Each of at least two of the plurality of sheet metal projections includes at least one tab bent out of a plane that includes the major surface of that sheet metal projection. The information storage device also includes a plurality of elastomeric inserts. Each of the plurality of elastomeric inserts includes a cavity sized to receive one of the plurality of sheet metal projections. The information storage device also includes a housing. The housing includes a plurality of receptacles, each sized to receive one of the plurality of elastomeric inserts.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of information storage devices, and more particularly to mounting systems and housings for information storage devices.
2. Background of the Art
Information storage devices are used to retrieve and/or store data for computer systems and other consumer electronics products. A magnetic hard disk drive is an example of an information storage device. Many information storage devices, including magnetic hard disk drives, are sensitive to their external environment, including mechanical shocks, externally applied forces and electromagnetic fields, contamination, changes in temperature and/or humidity, etc. Therefore, an information storage device's housing and mounting system may affect its performance, reliability, and lifetime.
Many information storage devices are housed within the system for which they retrieve and/or store data. For example, so-called "internal" disk drives are housed within a host computer system for which they store data, and therefore internal disk drives may take advantage of the host computer system for electrical power, electromagnetic shielding, convective and/or conductive cooling, vibration dampening, some degree of isolation from external mechanical shocks, etc.
Other information storage devices are not housed within the system for which they retrieve and/or store data. For example, a so-called "external" hard disk drive includes its own housing which may provide electromagnetic shielding, vibration dampening, some degree of isolation from external mechanical shocks, and active or passive cooling.
The mounting systems and housings for modern information storage devices must often meet challenging space and cost requirements. Accordingly, there is an ongoing need in the art for improved mounting systems and housings for information storage devices.

Information storage device with sheet metal projections and elastomeric inserts


A system for implementing a transmit uplink channel in MIMO RDN architecture is provided herein. The system includes a multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) transmitting system that includes a MIMO baseband module having N branches; and a radio distribution network (RDN) connected to the MIMO receiving system. The RDN includes at least one beamformer, wherein each of the beamformers feeds K transmit antennas, so that a total number of transmit antennas in the system is M=N*K. At least some of the beamformers include passive splitters/combiners configured to split the signal coming from the transmitter into multiple signals which are weighted individually going to each transmit antenna. The baseband module is configured to repeatedly apply a “blind scanning” process to at least some of the transmit antennas, one at a time, so that performance of the tested transmit beam can be graded.

Prior to setting forth a short discussion of the related art, it may be helpful to set forth definitions of certain terms that will be used hereinafter.
The term "MIMO" as used herein, is defined as the use of multiple antennas at both the transmitter and receiver to improve communication performance, where more than one radio, supported by digital signal processing are used. MIMO offers significant increases in data throughput and link range without additional bandwidth or increased transmit power. It achieves this goal by spreading the transmit power over or collecting the received signal from the antennas to achieve spatial multiplexing that improves the spectral efficiency (more bits per second per Hz of bandwidth) or to achieve a diversity gain that improves the link reliability (reduced fading), or increased antenna directivity.
The term "beamforming" sometimes referred to as "spatial filtering" as used herein, is a signal processing technique used in antenna arrays for directional signal transmission or reception. This is achieved by combining elements in the array in such a way that signals at particular angles experience constructive interference while others experience destructive interference. Beamforming can be used at both the transmitting and receiving ends in order to achieve spatial selectivity.
The term "beamformer" as used herein refers to RF circuitry that implements transmit or receive beamforming and usually includes a splitter/combiner and may further include switches, controllable phase shifters, and in some cases controllable amplifiers and/or controllable attenuators.
The term "Transmit Radio Distribution Network" or "Tx RDN" or simply "RDN" as used herein is defined as a group of beamformers as set forth above.
The term "hybrid MIMO RDN" as used herein is defined as a MIMO system that employ two or more antennas per channel (N is the number of channels and M is the total number of antennas and M>N). This architecture employs a beamformer for each channel so that the radio circuit is connected to a splitter going to two or more antennas where phase and amplitude of each antenna signal could be adjusted individually.
In hybrid MIMO RDN transmitting systems, when the phases of the transmitted signals from each antenna are properly adjusted with respect to one another, the individual signals may be combined and result in an improved SINR for the receiving system.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a standard 3G-4G cellular communication system 10 having a base station (BTS) 20 equipped with P antennas, 22-1 to 22-P. Additionally, a user equipment (UE) 11 in a MIMO configuration is shown. UE 11 includes an N channels MIMO baseband module 12 connected to N receivers 14-1 to 14-N and N transmitters 16-1 to 16-N in a duplex configuration which couples receivers and transmitters of the same channel to a corresponding antenna 18-1 to 18-N.
In operation, and in accordance with known 3G-4G standards, UE 11 transmits via antennas 18-1 to 18-N to base station 20 over an uplink channel (UL) both data and pilot signals. The signal properties of the pilot signals are known to base station 20 and once received by base station antennas 22-1 to 22-P a channel estimation operation is applied. Consequently, the phase of each and every transmitting antenna 18-1 to 18-N can be derived for the MIMO demodulation. This channel estimation information is then used to derive the best pre-coding weight and feed back to UE 11 in the form of a codebook over the downlink channel (DL). The code book includes phases that are to be applied to the respective transmit antenna so that the multiple signal streams can be de-correlated, and separated cleanly. In addition, the SINR of each signal stream at the base station receiver has to be maintained at certain levels to guarantee the quality of service. In 3G (CDMA/UMTS/HSPA) network, base station feeds back power control bit to maintain the SINR. In addition, the data rate for each data stream could change per TTI (2 ms or 10 ms). Both data rate and power control (i.e., TX power) can be used as the metrics of beamformer performance. In 4G (LTE), Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) is fed back to UE to change the transmit data rate for maintaining the service quality.
While the aforementioned mechanism is straightforward to apply in standard MIMO, it would be challenging to achieve in MIMO RDN architecture where there are more transmit antennas (M) than pilot signals (N) in accordance with the 3G-4G standards. Additionally, it would be impossible to determine, when a plurality of UE transmit signals are combined how the phase shift of each of the transmit antennas contributes to the combined pilot signal associated with transmit antennas with a common beamformer. It would be therefore advantageous to find a solution for using existing feedback to UE from the BTS, in order to better adjust the phases of the UE transmit antennas in MIMO RDN configuration.

Implementing transmit RDN architectures in uplink MIMO systems


Provided is a traffic control system being capable of maintaining service quality provided by a toll-way. A traffic control system 1 includes a prediction unit 210 and a control unit 230. The prediction unit 210 predicts a traffic state on one path among a plurality of paths from a first location to a second location. The control unit 230 controls, when the traffic state predicted on the one path does not satisfy a predetermined service level, distributed numbers of vehicles among the plurality of paths on the first location in such a way that the traffic state on the one path satisfies the predetermined service level.

Traffic congestion is becoming particularly serious in urban areas where population growth is advancing. In most of the urban areas, toll-ways for avoiding and detouring the congested urban central part are provided. However, whether or not to actually utilize the detours depends on determination of drivers, and there is a strong tendency for each driver to select a shortest path. Thus, traffic dispersion by detours is not performed as expected, and unnecessary congestion is occurring. As a technique of easing such unnecessary congestion, there is disclosed a technique which guides vehicles to a detour by displaying current traffic states (congestion degrees, traveling times, and the like) of a main road and a detour, and discounts a passage toll of the detour. For example, PTL 1 describes a technique which discounts a passage toll depending on a congestion time, based on information on presence or absence of road congestion recorded by a traveling vehicle. PTL 2 describes a technique which compares congestion degrees of a main road and a bypass road, and presents a path through which it is possible to move from a current position of a vehicle in a shortest time. Moreover, PTL 3 describes a technique which presents conditions of a main road and a detour to a driver by using congestion information acquired by a traffic control system, and discounts a passage toll for a vehicle that selects a path avoiding congestion.
Note that, as a related technique, NPL 1 discloses an information providing method of suppressing hunting caused between two routes of an expressway. Moreover, as another related technique, NPL 2 and NPL 3 each disclose heterogeneous mixture learning technology which generates a predictive model for each group of data having the same pattern or regularity.

Traffic control system, traffic information output device, traffic control method, and recording medium