A method and apparatus for detecting and measuring head-disc interference, in a disc drive, for the purpose of taking preventative and corrective measures, to prevent disastrous head crashes and permanent data loss, is disclosed. The method and apparatus detect and measure the frequency modulation (FM) of a read back signal generated by longitudinal head oscillation, as a result of head-disc interference. The longitudinal head oscillation can be ascribed to the non-linear response of the air bearing supporting the head on the disk surface. The response exhibits a vibration frequency in the head in the 100 to 250 kHz range. The more severe the interference contact is, the higher the vibration amplitude which then leads to read signal frequency modulation (FM). A method and apparatus is described to detect the FM modulation and thereby to detect the severity of the head disk interference for proximity recording. A pre-written pattern on the disk can be read back to monitor for FM, and a modulation index, .beta., is generated by observing the resulting signal. By demodulating the modulated read back signal, the severity of the interference can be determined. This method can be applied as a diagnostic tool at a manufacturing test station, in a laboratory test setup, or in a disk drive using the disk drive's own read/write channel electronics, without the need for an external sensor.

In a disc drive using magnetic recording media, data is recorded in concentric tracks on a plurality of disc surfaces. The recording heads are mechanically ganged together and are arranged one per surface with all heads nominally positioned over the same radial track location. The assembly of heads are positioned in unison using a voice coil motor. The recorded data, consisting of a certain topology of magnetic transitions are recorded on the surface, or surfaces, of the magnetic media. The reading and writing of the recorded data is accomplished by read and write heads that are positioned on the required track by the drive's positioning control system. During operation of the disc drive, the heads fly over the media. The fly height depends on the drive design and can be very small, typically sub micro-inch to micro-inches. In addition, the texture of the media can be rough depending upon the media used. As a result of the physical properties of the elements involved and of the operating conditions, head to disc interference, or contact may occur. The interference is significant because of the impact on the principles involved in reading the data. The magnetic transitions emanate magnetic fields from the magnetized regions on the disc (disk). When a magnetized region passes under a head, flux reversals are detected to produce an analog signal (a voltage pulse) which is converted to a digital signal by the drive's read electronic circuitry. The shape of the voltage pulse and its ability to be recovered depends on the type of media coating and the fly height, sometimes also referred to as the distance from the read head gap. The fly height is a function of the head-surface separation and the depth of the flux reversals within the coating of the magnetic media. When head-disc interference occurs, air bearing vibrations in the 120 to 250 Khz range are present. The vibration in the air bearings leads to slider motion in the direction along the data track. This motion causes the transducer to move back and forth along the track during the read back operation. Such back and forth movement, or oscillation, of the head in the longitudinal axis causes the head to read magnetic flux transitions earlier and later, which cause frequency modulation in the read back signal. The modulation is proportional to the amount of slider vibration, which is a reflection of the severity of the head-disc interference. The more severe the interference, the more severe the modulation. The interference may be slight or severe, depending upon the amount of clearance that can be established by the air bearing supporting the slider. Wear or burnishing of the transducer and the alumina at the back of the slider typically will occur, see generally FIG. 2. The continued interference leads to generation of debris, contamination of the slider and consequently, degradation of the read signal from the drive. If such interference persists and the condition is not checked, this eventually leads to disastrous head crashes and permanent data loss.
The known methods and apparatus used for analysis of head-disc interference during drive operations include the use of acoustic emission (AE) sensors and laser doppler vibrometers to detect mechanical vibrations. In using the AE sensor and the laser doppler vibrometer, the target components are inside the head gimbal assembly (HGA). In the case of the AE sensor, the device must be mounted on the E-block member of the HGA. Any mechanical vibration on the HGA during drive operation induces (or transduces) a corresponding electrical signal at the output of the AE sensor. In using the laser doppler vibrometer, the laser is pointed at the slider within the head disc assembly (HDA) containing the HGA to detect vibrations on this component. The use of the AE sensor and the laser doppler vibrometer involve an invasive procedure that requires opening the HDA which has inherent disadvantages of introducing contamination into the assembly. The contaminations are minimized by conducting the procedure in a clean room environment. The mounting of the AE sensor is typically accomplished using glue which introduces contamination, not only at time of mounting, but also at time of removal of the sensor element. If a number of head disc assemblies are suspected of having head-disc interference, each must be invasively analyzed. The signal produced at the output of the AE sensor, or the vibration detected by the laser doppler vibrometer, can be caused by a number of factors which, although minimal, the potential for erroneous oscillation sources exists. For example, inadvertent vibration of the test bench, HDA or other elements not associated with the HGA could be erroneously identified as an oscillation source. Further, in using these methods, the actual head that is experiencing longitudinal oscillations can not be particularly identified. Mechanical vibration detection methods are viewed as being limited in that all modes of vibration, i.e. longitudinal, lateral and vertical vibrations contribute to the response of the AE sensor, or laser doppler vibrometer, and as such, the amount of oscillation due only to the longitudinal axis cannot be determined.
To applicants' knowledge, there are no known apparatus and method which capitalize on the existence of frequency modulation that is created by head-disc interference during reading of recorded magnetic transitions to analyze the severity of the head-disc interference.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved method and apparatus for determining the existence, severity and mode of head and media interference so as to take corrective measures against generation of debris, contamination of the slider and consequently, degradation of the read signal from the drive and to prevent disastrous head crashes and permanent data loss. In particular, there is a need for apparatus and method which accurately and precisely detects and measures longitudinal axis vibration of a head that is caused by head-disc interference.
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for detecting head-disc interference for purposes of determining the existence of head-disc interference so as to take preventative and corrective measures to prevent disastrous head crashes and permanent data loss by capitalizing on the frequency modulation that is generated by head-disc interference.
It is another related object of the present invention to provide a disc drive apparatus and method for detecting and measuring longitudinal axis (along the track) head-disc interference for purposes of determining the severity of the head-disc interference so as to take preventative and corrective measures to prevent disastrous head crashes and permanent data loss by capitalizing on the frequency modulation that is generated by head-disc interference.

Detection and measurement of head disc interference using read back signal (without acoustic emission sensor or laser doppler vibrometer)


There is provided a lighting device including: a light emitting module having at least one light emitting device outputting light and a light emitting device board on which the at least one light emitting device is disposed; a housing installed on one side of a ring in a central axis direction relatively to the light emitting device board; and a resin globe installed to cover the light emitting module, wherein the globe has a plurality of protrusions formed by retaining at least a portion of a gate unit used in molding the globe, and the light emitting device board may have notch portions combined with the protrusions.

In lighting devices using a light emitting device, a heat sink, dissipating heat from a light emitting device is generally disposed to the rear of a board on which the light emitting device is mounted. However, in order to avoid degradations in performance of lighting devices caused by insufficient heat dissipation efficiency, various measures have been adopted to enhance the heat dissipation efficiency of lighting devices.
Also, lighting devices using a light emitting device employ light emitting diodes (LEDs) having strong directivity as light sources, and thus, light may only be distributed in limited directions. Meanwhile, incandescent lamps are available to substantially distribute light in all directions, excluding a region covered by a metal socket thereof, or the like. Thus, in a case in which light needs to be substantially distributed in all directions, LED lighting devices may not be appropriate as substitutes for incandescent lamps. Thus, a technique of enhancing light distribution is required in the field of LED illumination devices.

Heat-dissipating structure for lighting apparatus and lighting apparatus


A light modulating device comprising a pair of electrode substrates having supported therebetween an electrically light modulating material containing a liquid crystal and a polymer, in which said light modulating material further contains (1) a combination of a dichroic dye having a maximum absorption in the wavelength region of from 400 to 489 nm, a dichroic dye having a maximum absorption in the wavelength region of from 490 to 559 nm, and a dichroic dye having a maximum absorption in the wavelength region of from 560 to 699 nm and/or (2) a near infrared- to infrared-absorbing dichroic dye having a maximum absorption in the wavelength region of 700 nm or more. The light modulating device exhibits high performance in controlling transmission of visible to infrared light and a high contrast between "on" and "off" states.

A light modulating material (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "light controlling material") comprising a liquid crystal and a supporting polymer shows an opaque state in the absence of an electric field ("off" state) because incident light is scattered therein due to a difference in refractive index between the polymer matrix and the liquid crystal, a spatial distortion of the liquid crystal director, discontinuity of the liquid crystal director among liquid crystal domains, and the like. In the presence of an electric field, the liquid crystal molecules are aligned in the direction of the electric field so that the refractive index of the liquid crystal becomes approximate to that of the polymer matrix to show a transparent state ("on" state). The "off" and "on" states occur reversibly.
Light modulating devices utilizing such optical properties are disclosed, e.g., in JP-A-64-62615 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application") and U.S. Pat. No. 4,435,047.
However, since the light modulating devices disclosed in the above publications usually assume white while in an opaque state, they are capable of controlling transmission of visible light to some extent but hardly capable of controlling transmission of longer wavelength light, especially near infrared to infrared light. Besides, the element disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,435,047, which achieves displaying or light control by making use of changes of the liquid crystal state caused by a difference in temperature, is different from those utilizing application of an electrical field.
Near infrared to infrared light is heat rays and forms about 50% of sunlight. A light modulating device has been expected to control transmission of sunlight for making the atmosphere in the rooms and vehicles more comfortable. From this viewpoint, the above-described known light modulating devices fail to sufficiently serve for expected functions because of the poor control on near infrared to infrared light.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,707,080 discloses a light modulating device using a liquid crystal material containing two kinds of dichroic dyes, a black dye and a magenta dye. However, use of only two kinds of dichroic dyes as disclosed has a limit of capability in controlling color density, tone, and transmission of light inclusive of near infrared to infrared light.
On the other hand, when used as a display, etc., a light modulating device is required to exhibit appreciable light screening properties in the absence of an electric field and appreciable light transmitting properties in the presence of an electric field, that is, to make a high contrast between "off" and "on" states. Under the present situation, a sufficiently high contrast has not yet been achieved with any of the known light modulating devices, inclusive of the above-described elements containing two kinds of dichroic dyes as well as those containing no dichroic dye.
Further, it has been proposed to form an infrared light reflecting film made of, e.g., gold or Ti.sub.2 O/Ag/Ti.sub.2 O, on a light modulating device thereby to reduce infrared light energy as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,749,261 and JP-A-2-289782. This means being taken singly, it follows that the light modulating device always reflects infrared light, failing to control transmission of infrared light. If the infrared reflecting film is made thicker, transmission of light rays other than near infrared to infrared rays is also reduced, resulting in a reduction of total transmission. If the reflecting film is made thinner, on the other hand, the effect of infrared reflection would be lessened.

Light modulating device including a liquid crystal, a polymer and dichroic dyes having maximum absorption in the different wavelength regions


A liquid crystal element in which a liquid crystal layer containing at least two types of dual frequency addressable smectic liquid crystal compositions having different threshold voltage are disposed between one pair of electrodes at least one of them being a transparent electrode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a liquid crystal element, and particularly, it relates to a liquid crystal element that can be utilized suitably as to a guest-host type liquid crystal element.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the spread of the digital technology, the importance of a paper type display for displaying digital information (hereinafter referred to as "electronic paper") has been increasing. The performance required for the electronic paper includes a high visual recognition and a low electric power consumption. High visual recognition means white background similar to paper, and hence a display method based on light-scattering white background similar to paper is suited. On the other hand, as to the electric power consumption, the reflection type display system has a lower power consumption as compared with that of self light-emission display system. Many systems have been proposed so far for the electronic paper. Examples include a reflection type liquid crystal display system, electrophoresis display system, magnetophoresis display system, dichroic ball rotation system, electrochromic display system, and leucothermal system. Any of these methods is not satisfactory from the viewpoint of high visual recognition, and improvement therefore has been demanded.
For the liquid crystal element (liquid crystal display element), various systems have already been proposed, and a light shutter effect has usually been utilized for the coloration of the liquid crystal element by providing red, blue, and green mosaic color filters to a liquid crystal panel, putting the liquid crystal panel between two polarizing plates, and changing the alignment direction of liquid crystals by switching on/off of a voltage. However, in this method, transmittance is decreased extremely by the color filters to result in extremely dark display.
In view of the above, a guest-host type liquid crystal element has received attention, and the method is promising as a liquid crystal element capable of bright display and suitable to reflection type display. In the guest-host type liquid crystal element, a liquid crystal composition in which a dichroic dye is dissolved in the liquid crystal is sealed in a cell, an electric field is applied, and alignment of the dichroic dye is changed along with the movement of the liquid crystals according to the electric field to change the light absorption state of the cell and thereby conduct display.
Since the liquid crystal element scarcely absorbs light in a state where the liquid crystals are aligned in the direction parallel with the electric field (direction toward the side of observation), achromatic display is possible. Accordingly, display in a wide color reproduction range is possible by laminating liquid crystal compositions containing dichroic dyes of different absorption wave lengths. However, independent addressing thereof involves a problem in that the structure is extremely complicated due to, for example, the requirement of providing an electrode for each of the layers.
On the other hand, as a method of addressing a plurality of liquid crystal layers independently by using one pair of electrodes, a method of using dual frequency addressable nematic liquid crystal and addressing in low frequency and high frequency regions while changing the state of the initial alignment of each liquid crystal layer has been disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 5-216018, etc. However, the liquid crystal element described above involves problems in that the color reproduction range is narrow due to the color combination of a complimentary color relationship and in that the state can not be maintained when the voltage application is stopped, thereby there is no memory property.
Accordingly, it has been desired to provide a liquid crystal element and a color display method capable of addressing respective liquid crystal layers independently by one pair of electrodes and having a memory property. Further, since such a technique would also be useful in a case where a dye is not contained (colorless), the reflective index could be changed in the depth direction, and the reflective index could be modulated freely by one pair of electrodes, it could be applied, for example, to reflective index modulating material or a material for changing an image depending on the viewing angle.


Methods, systems, and products are disclosed for determining a bisection bandwidth for a multi-node data communications network that include: partitioning nodes in the network into a first sub-network and a second sub-network in dependence upon a topology of the network; sending, by each node in the first sub-network to a destination node in the second sub-network, a first message having a predetermined message size; receiving, by each node in the first sub-network from a source node in the second sub-network, a second message; measuring, by each node in the first sub-network, the elapsed communications time between the sending of the first message and the receiving of the second message; selecting the longest elapsed communications time; and calculating the bisection bandwidth for the network in dependence upon the number of the nodes in the first sub-network, the predetermined message size of the first test message, and the longest elapsed communications time.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention is data processing, or, more specifically, methods, systems, and products for determining a bisection bandwidth for a multi-node data communications network.
2. Description of Related Art
The development of the EDVAC computer system of 1948 is often cited as the beginning of the computer era. Since that time, computer systems have evolved into extremely complicated devices. Today's computers are much more sophisticated than early systems such as the EDVAC. Computer systems typically include a combination of hardware and software components, application programs, operating systems, processors, buses, memory, input/output devices, and so on. As advances in semiconductor processing and computer architecture push the performance of the computer higher and higher, more sophisticated computer software has evolved to take advantage of the higher performance of the hardware, resulting in computer systems today that are much more powerful than just a few years ago.
Parallel computing is an area of computer technology that has experienced advances. Parallel computing is the simultaneous execution of the same task (split up and specially adapted) on multiple processors in order to obtain results faster. Parallel computing is based on the fact that the process of solving a problem usually can be divided into smaller tasks, which may be carried out simultaneously with some coordination.
Parallel computers execute parallel algorithms. A parallel algorithm can be split up to be executed a piece at a time on many different processing devices, and then put back together again at the end to get a data processing result. Some algorithms are easy to divide up into pieces. Splitting up the job of checking all of the numbers from one to a hundred thousand to see which are primes could be done, for example, by assigning a subset of the numbers to each available processor, and then putting the list of positive results back together. In this specification, the multiple processing devices that execute the individual pieces of a parallel program are referred to as 'compute nodes.' A parallel computer is composed of compute nodes and other processing nodes as well, including, for example, input/output ('I/O') nodes, and service nodes.
Parallel algorithms are valuable because it is faster to perform some kinds of large computing tasks via a parallel algorithm than it is via a serial (non-parallel) algorithm, because of the way modern processors work. It is far more difficult to construct a computer with a single fast processor than one with many slow processors with the same throughput. There are also certain theoretical limits to the potential speed of serial processors. On the other hand, every parallel algorithm has a serial part and so parallel algorithms have a saturation point. After that point adding more processors does not yield any more throughput but only increases the overhead and cost.
Parallel algorithms are designed also to optimize one more resource the data communications requirements among the nodes of a parallel computer. There are two ways parallel processors communicate, shared memory or message passing. Shared memory processing needs additional locking for the data and imposes the overhead of additional processor and bus cycles and also serializes some portion of the algorithm.
Message passing processing uses high-speed data communications networks and message buffers, but this communication adds transfer overhead on the data communications networks as well as additional memory needed for message buffers and latency in the data communications among nodes. Designs of parallel computers use specially designed data communications links so that the communication overhead will be small but it is the parallel algorithm that decides the volume of the traffic.
Many data communications network topologies are used for message passing among nodes in parallel computers. Such network topologies may include for example, a tree, a rectangular mesh, and a torus. In a tree network, the nodes typically are connected into a binary tree: each node typically has a parent and two children (although some nodes may only have zero children or one child, depending on the hardware configuration). A tree network typically supports communications where data from one compute node migrates through tiers of the tree network to a root compute node or where data is multicast from the root to all of the other compute nodes in the tree network. In such a manner, the tree network lends itself to collective operations such as, for example, reduction operations or broadcast operations. The tree network, however, does not lend itself to and is typically inefficient for point-to-point operations. A rectangular mesh topology connects compute nodes in a three-dimensional mesh, and every node is connected with up to six neighbors through this mesh network. Each compute node in the mesh is addressed by its x, y, and z coordinate. A torus network connects the nodes in a manner similar to the three-dimensional mesh topology, but adds wrap-around links in each dimension such that every node is connected to its six neighbors through this torus network. A mesh or a torus network generally lends itself well for point-to-point communications. In computers that use a torus and a tree network, the two networks typically are implemented independently of one another, with separate routing circuits, separate physical links, and separate message buffers. Other network topology often used to connect nodes of a network includes a star, a ring, or a hypercube.
The different network topologies mentioned above each have different characteristics that impact the performance for data communications among the nodes in a network. One important performance characteristic is bisection bandwidth. Bisection bandwidth is the total network bandwidth that can be achieved when nodes from different, approximately equal size network partitions communication with one another. Bisection bandwidth may therefore be used as a measure of the bandwidth through a network bottleneck and may be used to represent the effectiveness of a network at handling injected traffic. Networks having a higher value for bisection bandwidth generally handle injected traffic better than networks having a lower value for bisection bandwidth. Because bisection bandwidth is such an effective measurement of how well any given network handles injected traffic, readers will appreciate any advancement in determining a bisection bandwidth for a multi-node data communications network.

Determining a bisection bandwidth for a multi-node data communications network

International Business Machines Corporation


When either a front-side sensor or a rear-side sensor of a subject vehicle detects an obstacle entering a certain distance range of multiple distance ranges within a detection zone close to the subject vehicle, a micro-computer causes a warning unit to warn with a buzzer in a primary warning pattern that is prepared for each distance range. In contrast, when both detect obstacles, the warning unit is caused to warn in the following patterns. In a first case that at least one of two sensors detects an obstacle entering a shortest distance range, the warning unit warns in a different warning pattern differentiated from the primary warning pattern. In a second case except the first case, the warning unit warns in the primary warning pattern corresponding to the distance range that is entered by the obstacle that is closer to the vehicle, of the obstacles detected by the two sensors.

There is known an obstacle detection system that causes a distance sensor to detect an obstacle approaching a vehicle to then warn an occupant of the vehicle of the obstacle approaching. For instance, as shown in FIG. 5, a vehicle is provided with distance sensors 101 to 104 at four corners of the vehicle, each of which has a detection zone including a short range, a middle range, and a long range. The vehicle is further provided with a first buzzer corresponding to the front-side sensors 101, 102 and a second buzzer corresponding to the rear-side sensors 103, 104. The first and second buzzers output sounds whose frequencies are different from each other, which enables determination whether an obstacle is present in a vicinity to the front corner of the vehicle or to the rear corner of the vehicle. For instance, as shown in FIG. 6, when a vehicle 100 is parallel parked, a left front sensor 101 and a left rear sensor 103 detect obstacles. In this case, the distinction between the two locations can be possible.
Under this obstacle detection system, when the number of buzzers is changed from two to one, the following problem occurs. FIG. 7 shows a combination of output patterns of a warning sound by the buzzer. The line shows each case where an obstacle is detected by the front-side sensors 101, 102 in a short range, in a middle range, or in a long range of the detection zone, or where no obstacle is detected. Similarly, the column shows each case where an obstacle is detected by the rear-side sensors 103, 104 in a short range, in a middle range, or in a long range of the detection zone, or where no obstacle is detected. Here, when both sensors do not detect an obstacle, the buzzer is being off so that no sound is outputted, as shown in (a) in FIG. 8. In contrast, when either sensor detects an obstacle, the buzzer is repeatedly turned on and off according to a distance. That is, the buzzer is repeatedly turned on and off with 0.15-second intervals in the long distance, as shown in (b) in FIG. 8; the buzzer is repeatedly turned on and off with 0.075-second intervals in the middle range, as shown in (c) in FIG. 8; and the buzzer is continuously turned on (or outputs a continuous sound) in the short range as shown in (d) in FIG. 8.
On the other hand, when both sensors detect obstacles, the buzzer is controlled as follows. In a case where one of the front-side sensor 101, 102 or the rear-side sensor 103, 104 detects an obstacle in the long range, the buzzer is repeatedly turned on and off with 0.15-second intervals when the other detects an obstacle in the long range, as shown in (b) in FIG. 8; the buzzer is repeatedly turned on and off with 0.075-second intervals when the other detects an obstacle in the middle range, as shown in (c) in FIG. 8; and the buzzer is continuously turned on (or outputs a continuous sound) when the other detects an obstacle in the short range, as shown in (d) in FIG. 8. Further, In a case where one of the front-side sensor 101, 102 or the rear-side sensor 103, 104 detects an obstacle in the middle range, the buzzer is repeatedly turned on and off with 0.075-second intervals when the other detects an obstacle in the middle range, as shown in (c) in FIG. 8; and the buzzer is continuously turned on (or outputs a continuous sound) when the other detects an obstacle in the short range as shown in (d) in FIG. 8. Furthermore, in a case where one of the front-side sensor 101, 102 or the rear-side sensor 103, 104 detects an obstacle in the short range, the buzzer is continuously turned on (or outputs a continuous sound) when the other detects an obstacle in the short range, as shown in (d) in FIG. 8.
These warning patterns cannot detect that obstacles are present in both of the front side and the rear side, so that the vehicle has possibility of contacting whichever of the obstacles is closer to the vehicle. To avoid this, if all different warning patterns are prepared for all the combination when the both of the front-side sensor 101, 102 and the rear-side sensor 103, 104 detect obstacles, nine patterns must be prepared. However, it is not realistically favorable because, for an occupant of the vehicle, it is very burdensome to judge the warning patterns of no fewer than nine and thereby very difficult to properly determine the circumstance.


In a curve section, a comb tooth mark 28 is provided concentrically with a center line 44 of a running rail 4. A comb tooth sensor 34 on an overhead running vehicle 2 reads comb teeth 40. Then, corrections are made using the ratio of the radius of curvature (R) of the center line 44 and the radius of curvature (r) of the comb tooth mark 28. An encoder interpolates the areas between the teeth 40. Then, the position of the overhead running vehicle 2 in the curve section is determined. The present invention thus enables the exact position of the overhead running vehicle 2 to be recognized even when the overhead running vehicle 2 is located in a curve section. This makes it possible to provide a load port in a curve section.

The inventor has examined how to precisely recognize the position of a carriage in a curve section. Successful precise recognition, for example, enables the recognition of the position of the carriage in all the sections of a running route from a start point to a destination. As a result, the carriage can reach the destination in an intended running time without unwanted acceleration or deceleration. A reduction in the need for acceleration or deceleration enables the minimization of vibration to which articles may be subjected during conveyance.
The inventor has further examined how to precisely recognize the position of the carriage in a curve section to enable the carriage to be stopped at a predetermined position even in the curve section, thus allowing a station to be provided in the curve section. If this is successful, restrictions on the installation of stations can be reduced to allow a carriage system to be flexibly laid out.
In connection with the recognition of the position of a guided carriage in a curve section, the Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication (Tokkai-Hei) No. 8-292813 discloses a technique for correcting an output from an encoder for the curve section so as to vary a determined running distance between a curve section and a rectilinear section even if the output is the same for both sections. However, such positional recognition is an approximate technique and is not suitable for the recognition of the exact position in the curve section.


A method and system to map density and temperature of a chip, in situ, is disclosed. The method includes measuring a propagation time that a mechanical propagation wave travels along at least one predefined path in a substrate. The method further includes calculating an average substrate density and temperature along the at least one predefined path as a function of the propagation time and distance. The method further includes determining a defect or unauthorized modification in the substrate based on the average substrate density being different than a baseline substrate density.

Integrated circuit (IC) design, test, reliability, failure analysis and system design teams need the ability to monitor an IC's temperature, in situ. In addition to the average temperature of the IC, transient and/or localized hot spots also need to be detected and addressed by the IC or system. Known methods for measuring such temperature or localized hot spots include the use of one or more thermal resistors, thermal diodes, and/or digital temperature sensors incorporated directly into the IC, preferably in the active area. Other known methods include external sensors such as laser interferometers and solid state thermal imagers to record temperature remotely at each XY grid location or pixel of the IC.
The thermal resistors, thermal diodes, and/or digital temperature sensors, however, use valuable real estate of the IC, within the active areas. Also, the thermal resistors, thermal diodes, and/or digital temperature sensors may not provide accurate readings, because they may be placed far away from any temperature change and as such do not provide the ability to measure the average temperature over a specific predetermined area of the IC. For example, it is not known during the design phase where all of the transient and/or localized hot spots will occur, requiring multiple sensors be spread throughout the most active regions (and most valuable real estate) of the IC. Even then, these sensors may not be located near hot spots created by packaging or other thermal barriers (thermal resistance), or near hot spots created by electrically resistive defects that pass functional, structural, parametric and other testing.
Remote temperature sensors such as laser interferometers and solid state thermal imagers are incapable of accurately measuring the temperature of the IC at subsurface locations when one or more overlying films act to diffuse the heat. These unpredictable hot spots can lead to lower performance (lower revenue), increased test costs, increased system costs, increased operating costs, and premature failure of the IC (lower reliability, lower customer satisfaction, and lower revenue). Other drawbacks of the thermal resistors, thermal diodes, and/or digital temperature sensors include processing dependencies which require calibration in order to obtain measurement accuracies better than 2° C. to 3° C.
Accordingly, there exists a need in the art to overcome the deficiencies and limitations described hereinabove.

Mapping density and temperature of a chip, in situ

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


Vehicle includes an engine, a first rotating electric machine and a control device controlling the rotational speed of the first rotating electric machine such that the rotational speed of the engine matches a target rotational speed. The control device calculates a torque command value of the first rotating electric machine based on an upper limit value of electric power discharged from a power storage device supplying electric power to the first rotating electric machine. The control device calculates the torque command of the first rotating electric machine based on a further restricted value of the upper limit value when a torque restricting condition including simultaneous operation of an accelerator pedal and brake pedal is met.

Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-323481 (PTD 1) discloses a control method of a hybrid vehicle. The hybrid vehicle has an engine, a first motor, a drive shaft and a second motor connected to a planetary gear mechanism, and includes a battery transferring electric power to/from the two motors. In the case where the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal are both stepped on when the vehicle is in a stopped state to request stall-starting according to the control method, the loss power and margin power of the drive system calculated based on the torque upper limit of the second motor at stall-starting are added to the battery input limit Win to set the engine required power. The engine and the first motor are controlled while the second motor is restricted to be within the range of the torque upper limit.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Hybrid vehicle and control method of hybrid vehicle


Call processing can include receiving a call directed to a first destination device associated with a called party, determining, using a processor, an attribute of the call, and determining a location of the called party. A call processing rule can be selected that matches the attribute of the call and the location of the called party. The call can be redirected to a second and different destination device according to the matched call processing rule.

Call forwarding refers to a feature in which an incoming call to a first destination is redirected to a second or different destination. For example, one may wish to have calls to one's home telephone forwarded, e.g., redirected, to one's mobile phone. In this example, once activated, call forwarding causes a call to one's home, e.g., the first destination, to be redirected to one's mobile phone, i.e., the second destination. Typically, the destination to which a call is redirected is static. As such, calls are forwarded to the second number until the feature is turned off or a different destination is specified by the person receiving the calls.

Unified communications using called party location


A method of encoding and storing locations of bounding boxes of drawing primitives to be rendered on a multi-resolution display that includes a plurality of regions of different resolution, at least one of which is subdivided into a plurality of sub-regions. The method includes steps of dividing the viewable area of the multi-resolution display into four quadrants and encoding only selected attributes of each of the plurality of bounding box locations within only one of the four quadrants of the multi-resolution display. The encoded selected attributes are then stored in a number of locations of a memory. The selected attributes include information regarding the regions of different resolutions within the multi-resolution display and the boundary lines therebetween, such as the region of lowest resolution partially covered by each of the bounding boxes; either the number of boundary lines cutting each of the bounding boxes or the number of sub bounding boxes forming each of the bounding boxes; either the direction of the first boundary line cutting through each of the bounding boxes or the direction of the sub-region of lowest resolution partially covered by each of the bounding boxes; and an indication as to whether a portion of the region of lowest resolution appears on both sides of the first cut cutting through each of the bounding boxes.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to the field of computer graphics. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for encoding locations of bounding boxes of drawing primitives such as triangles to be rendered on a multi-resolution display.
2. Description of the Related Art
Graphics processors typically contain at least two sections: a geometry section and a rendering section. The geometry section carries out the floating-point calculations to calculate the size and orientation of three-dimensional polygons, which are drawing primitives used in computer graphics. The most important drawing primitives used in graphics generation are triangles. The three-dimensional triangles computed by the geometry section are then projected and rendered onto the display device in two dimensions.
A technique called supersampling is used to improve the perceived quality of the display by attenuating aliasing, even though the display resolution is fixed. Supersampling can either be regular or stochastic. In regular supersampling, a number of regularly spaced samples are taken for each pixel. These samples are then re-sampled or averaged out to yield the pixel value. Stochastic supersampling, on the other hand, in some aspects more closely resembles the human eye's structure, wherein the photoreceptors of the retina are randomly and uniformly distributed, and no closer to one another than a minimum distance. In the field of computer graphics, stochastic supersampling refers to a random, uniform and independent distribution of samples for each pixel. These samples are then averaged to yield the pixel value. This effectively corresponds to creating a virtual image at high resolution and digitally down-filtering the result, to eliminate the high frequencies that are the source of aliasing. Supersampling has the practical effect of moving the Nyquist limit to higher frequencies.
To return to the human model, because the eye contains an array of non-uniformly distributed photoreceptors, it is extremely good at eliminating aliasing effects. Moreover, the photoreceptors in the foveal region of the eye, the center region, are much more tightly packed than in the peripheral region, or in the medial region between the foveal and peripheral regions. Indeed, the density of photoreceptors decreases from a maximum in the foveal region, to an intermediate distribution in the medial region, and to the lowest distribution of photoreceptors in the peripheral region.
Conventional frame buffers are memories that are organized as rectangular arrays of uniformly sampled pixel values. For every pixel on the final display device, there is a single pixel of memory storage in the frame buffer. There is thus a one to one correspondence between the 2D-memory address of a given pixel and its 2D-sample address for the mathematics of rendering.
Stochastically sampled variable resolution frame buffers, on the other hand, break the frame buffer into smaller regions whose attributes can vary dynamically. FIG. 1 shows a graphical representation of such a multi-resolution frame buffer. Reference numeral 100, generally shows a graphical representation of a multi-resolution frame buffer. The buffer is divided into three regions, each of the regions having a different sampling density. The sampling density is constant within each of the three regions. The three regions are: the foveal region 130, the medial region 120 and the peripheral region 110. The foveal region 130 is the region of highest sampling density, including 16 samples per 1 screen pixel. The foveal region is nested within the medial region, which is the region of the multi-resolution frame buffer having the next highest sampling density. The sampling density of the medial region is a constant 4 samples per 1 screen pixel. The medial region, in turn, is nested within the outermost region, the peripheral region. The sampling density of the peripheral region is 1 sample every 16 screen pixels. Thus, the multi-resolution screen buffer's structure roughly approximates the distribution of photoreceptors in the human eye.
FIG. 2 illustrates, at 200, further divisions within the multi-resolution frame buffer of FIG. 1. The peripheral region 110 and the medial regions 120 of FIG. 1 are each further divided into sub-regions labeled left, right, top and bottom. The peripheral region 110 comprises four sub-regions of the same kind, meaning four sub-regions belonging to the same region. These sub-regions are the peripheral left sub-region 213, the peripheral right sub-region 214, the peripheral top sub-region 211 and the peripheral bottom region 212. Similarly, the medial region 120 also comprises four sub-regions of the same kind: the medial left sub-region 223, the medial right sub-region 224, the medial top sub-region 221 and the medial bottom sub-region 222. The foveal region 230 is the same as the foveal region 130 of FIG. 1, and is not further broken down. Each of the regions is rectangular, allowing an easy translation from a 2D location within a sub-region to a linear address in the frame buffer memory.
FIG. 3 illustrates a multi-resolution frame buffer 300, wherein the sub-regions are further divided into bins. Bins belonging to the same region have an equal number of stochastic sample points associated therewith. The bins 330 of the foveal region 130 have a constant sample density, the bins 324 of the medial region 120 have a constant sample density and the peripheral bins 314 of the peripheral region 110 also have a constant sample density. The sampling density of the foveal region is greater than the sampling density of the medial region, which has a greater sampling density than the peripheral region. This means that the resultant image will have a greater perceived resolution at the center, the perceived resolution decreasing toward the peripheral areas of the display. Alternatively, the region of highest sampling density can be dynamically moved about the display, in synchronism with the user's eye movements, which may be tracked with an eye-tracking device. In this manner, the region of highest sampling density may be always located where the user is looking.
Triangles prior to processing are encapsulated in a bounding box. A bounding box is any box that contains a drawing primitive, such as a triangle. Such a bounding box is shown in FIG. 4 at reference numeral 402. In FIG. 4, the edges of the bounding box 402 are defined by the edges of the smallest rectangle containing the triangle 401. To reduce the accuracy requirements of the geometry and rendering sections, most computations are performed using a slightly larger box than the bounding box, instead of the full screen. Such a slightly larger box is called a bin-bounding box. The sides of a bin-bounding box correspond to the nearest integral bin-boundaries of the region having the lowest resolution. In other words, the bin-bounding box 405 shown in FIG. 4 is created by snapping the bounding box 402 to the coarsest grid, meaning the grid of next lowest resolution. As can be seen, the bin-bounding box 405 covers portions of three sub-regions. Indeed, the bin-bounding box 405 covers portions of the peripheral left sub-region, the peripheral top sub-region and the medial left sub-region.
Reference is now made to FIG. 5, which shows a bin-bounding box 505 apart from the rest of the multi-resolution frame buffer shown in FIG. 4. The bin-bounding box 505 contains three sub bounding boxes; namely, sub-box 510, sub-box 520 and sub-box 530 corresponding to the peripheral left, the peripheral top and the medial left sub-regions, respectively. The sub bounding boxes each have a constant resolution corresponding to the sub-region they occupy. Conventionally, to completely define a bin-bounding box, each of the sides of each sub bounding box had to be specified. Specification of a bin-bounding box consisted in identifying the four sides of each constituent sub bounding box, the four sides being aligned with the grid lines. As shown in FIG. 6, these four sides can be: an edge of the bin-bounding box; or any of the sub-region boundary lines: the peripheral top line PT; the peripheral bottom line PB; the peripheral right line PR; the peripheral left line PL; the medial top line MT; the medial bottom line MB; the medial right line MR; the medial left line ML; the foveal top line FT; the foveal bottom line FB; the foveal right line FR and the foveal left line FL.
Because the viewable area is divided into several regions, and because the triangles are limited in size so as not to cross more than one region boundary line, the bounding box locations may be categorized into 13 locations in the horizontal direction and 13 locations in the vertical direction, as shown in FIG. 6. The thirteen locations in the horizontal direction are:
0) to the left of the left peripheral line (PL); PA1 1) across the left peripheral line(PL); PA1 2) between the left peripheral line (PL) and the left medial (ML) line; PA1 3) across the left medial line (ML); PA1 4) between the left medial line (ML) and the left foveal line (FL); PA1 5) across the left foveal line (FL); PA1 6) between the left foveal line (FL)and the right foveal line (FR); PA1 7) across the right foveal line (FR); PA1 8) between the right foveal line (FR) and the right medial line (MR); PA1 9) across the right medial line (MR); PA1 10) between the right medial line (MR)and the right peripheral line (PR); PA1 11) across the right peripheral line (PR); and PA1 12) to the right of the right peripheral line (PR); PA1 0) below the bottom peripheral line (PB); PA1 1) across the bottom peripheral line (PB); PA1 2) between the bottom peripheral line (PB) and the bottom medial line (MB); PA1 3) across the bottom medial line (MB); PA1 4) between the bottom medial line (MB) and the bottom foveal line (FB); PA1 5) across the bottom foveal line (FB); PA1 6) between the bottom foveal line (FB) and the top foveal line (FT); PA1 7) across the top foveal line (FT); PA1 8) between the top foveal line (FT) and the top medial line (MT); PA1 9) across the top medial line (MT); PA1 10) between the top medial line (MT) and the top peripheral line (PT); PA1 11) across the top peripheral line (PT); and PA1 12) above the top peripheral line (PT); PA1 dividing a viewable area of the multi-resolution display into four quadrants; PA1 encoding only selected attributes of each of a plurality of bounding box locations within only one of the four quadrants of the multi-resolution display, the selected attributes including information regarding regions and sub-regions of different resolutions within the multi-resolution display and boundary lines therebetween; and PA1 storing the encoded selected attributes in a memory. PA1 dividing a viewable area of a multi-resolution display into four quadrants along two lines of symmetry; PA1 encoding bounding box locations only within one of the four quadrants; and PA1 setting at least one variable from which bounding box locations encoded within the one of the four quadrants of the viewable area may be extrapolated to an entire viewable area of the display. PA1 a first encoding step to encode a region of lowest resolution that is partially covered by each of the bounding boxes; PA1 a second encoding step to encode one of a number of boundary lines cutting each of the bounding boxes and a number of sub bounding boxes contained within the bounding box; PA1 a third encoding step to encode either a direction of a first cut or a direction of a sub region of lowest resolution that is partially covered by each of the bounding boxes; and PA1 a fourth encoding step to encode whether a portion of the region of lowest resolution appears on both sides of the first cut cutting through each of the bounding boxes. PA1 dividing a viewable area of the display along two perpendicular lines of symmetry to create four quadrants; PA1 encoding locations of bounding boxes of primitives to be rendered in only one of the four quadrants; PA1 setting a first and a second bit for the encoded location of each the bounding boxes, the first and second bits indicating whether each encoded bounding box location should be flipped left to right, and bottom to top, respectively, to derive the location of each of the encoded bounding boxes in each of the four quadrants from the encoded location in the one quadrant; and PA1 storing the encoded locations in a memory.
The thirteen locations in the vertical direction are the following:
With thirteen possible locations in the horizontal direction and thirteen possible locations in the vertical direction, the total number of location combinations is 13.times.13, or 169 combinations. It follows that the bin-bounding box and the sub bounding boxes locations must be defined in terms of these combinations. The solution that has been proposed thus far consists in utilizing a ROM that stores all of the combinations.
The width of a data word in such a ROM is calculated as follows. Each edge of each sub-box is encoded with 2 bits. As sub bounding boxes have four edges, 2.times.4=8 bits are needed to encode a sub bounding box. Up to three sub-boxes are potentially needed to specify a bin-bounding box which straddles three sub-regions, so 8.times.3=24 bits are needed to encode a bin-bounding box. As there are 169 possible location combinations, a 169 by 24 bit wide ROM is needed. This results in a 4056 bit ROM.
One technique that has been utilized to reduce the size of the ROM is to note that triangles that are located in groups 0 and 12, although being capable of being processed by the geometry section, cannot be rendered on the display as they would be outside of the physical boundaries of the display. Therefore, triangles that are located outside the display may safely be ignored during the rendering process. This reduces the number of different combinations of locations to 11.times.11=121. Thus, the size of the ROM can be reduced from 4056 to 121.times.24=2,904 bits.
However, a 2094 bit ROM for specifying triangle bin-bounding boxes is large, and occupies an inordinate and unacceptable silicon area on a graphics processor integrated circuit embodying such geometry and rendering sections. Moreover, such a large ROM also entails complex programming and increases the probability that errors will be introduced. Moreover, such a conventional ROM includes memory locations for bits describing each of the three sub-regions that a particular bin-bounding box may occupy. Not all triangles to be rendered, however, occupy three sub-regions. Indeed, encoding bounding boxes that do not cross sub-region boundaries, or that cross only one sub-region boundary, will result in empty spaces in the ROM that are not used. Such a ROM will not be fully populated, which is an inefficient use of the available silicon area on the integrated circuit.
What is needed, therefore, is a method for encoding bounding boxes of drawing primitives to be rendered for multi-resolution supersampled frame buffers which is more efficient than was previously available.
There is also a need for an encoding method which, by virtue of its efficiency in describing bounding box locations, simplifies programming of memories used for storing bounding box locations, and which reduces the probability that errors will be introduced therein during programming.

Method for encoding bounding boxes of drawing primitives to be rendered for multi-resolution supersampled frame buffers


A tray for storage and transportation of multiple pin grid array (PGA) and K6 integrated circuit components, each having a planar housing and plurality of terminal pins arranged in spaced rows. The tray has a framework for supporting upstanding ribs that interfit between adjacent integrated circuit components. Each upstanding rib lies along an axis in one of two sets of intersecting axes and aligns with and fits between certain spaced rows to position the terminal pin in precise alignment with the tray. The rib axes are intersecting and oblique to the general tray orientation.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to integrated circuits and more specifically to devices for the storage and transport of such integrated circuits.
2. Description of Related Art
The storage and transportation of semiconductor components have become important considerations in the production of electronic assemblies, especially as semiconductor components have matured from inexpensive, elementary circuit elements into expensive, sophisticated, complex circuit components. As these components have grown in complexity, they have become more susceptible to damage from a number of external influences, such as mechanical shock and discharges of accumulated electrostatic charge. Consequently, there have been many changes in the transportation, assembly and testing procedures that in electronic assembly production facilities utilize. Such procedures, when properly implemented, now contribute significantly to the success of such electronic assembly facilities.
For example, in certain circumstances it is important to transport a component, such as an integrated circuit, pretest it, and provide ready access to the component for delivery to or insertion into a printed circuit board. "Chip carriers" now provide such functions for individual components. A "chip carrier" is a special fixture that houses and protects an individual component, such as an integrated circuit, from damage due to mechanical shock or electrostatic discharge during processing, production, testing and assembly operations. It also can orient an integrated circuit during the production process, assure proper placement and alignment of terminals for testing and for insertion into a printed circuit board.
In other circumstances, there may only be a requirement for the storage and shipment of large numbers of integrated circuits and like components without testing. For example, integrated circuit manufacturers ship such components to customers in bulk quantities. Some customers may desire to move such components in groups or sets directly to a printed circuit board. Other customers may desire to transport or store such components and then transfer the components to chip carriers or the like for further transportation and testing. When this limited requirement exists, it is difficult to justify the costs of purchasing and handling individual chip carriers.
There are a number of devices that store or carry semiconductor components and the like in a plurality of pockets. Examples of such devices are illustrated in the following U. S. Letters Patent:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,469,686 (1969) Gutsche et al PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,482,682 (1969) Cronkhite PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,661,253 (1972) Cronkhite PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,946,864 (1976) Hutson PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,057,142 (1977) Lechner et al PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,210,243 (1980) McDowell PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,725,918 (1988) Bakker PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,792,042 (1988) Koehn et al
The Gutsche and both Cronkhite patents disclose a series of marginally registrable plastic trays. Each tray has a plurality of wells characterized by a tapered walls that support a single semiconductor wafer within each well. The tapered walls prevent a polished face of a wafer from contacting any surface of the tray. It is possible to nest or stack individual trays for shipment as a unit. Thus, these trays provide a means for the bulk storage and transportation of semiconductor wafers. The Cronkhite patents provide a removable cap member that is disposed upon a rim-forming element of each well. Each cap member has a recessed portion that engages an upwardly presented surface of a semiconductor wafer to hold the wafer in a substantially immobile position in the well.
The Hutson patent discloses a package for semiconductor chips with first and second transparent plastic sheets that each contain an array of discrete and spaced depressions. When the sheets are stacked, the depressions in adjacent sheets nest and form a plurality of discrete compartments for containing the semiconductor chips. The sheets attach to each other about their peripheries to form a package for transmitting the chips in bulk. Apertures through each plastic sheet in the region of the compartments are smaller than the chips and allow access for physical testing and visual inspection while the chips remain constrained within the compartments.
The Lechner et al patent discloses a plastic pallet with plural circular depressions formed for containing semiconductor disks on an individual basis. When individual pallets are stacked on top of one another in opposite directions, they position part sector surfaces so they slope alternatively upward and downward. The upward sloping surface in one pallet is immediately above a downward sloping surface in an adjacent pallet. These counterfacing surfaces clamp the edges of the semiconductor disk so the disk can be transported with substantially no abrasion between the semiconductor disks and the pallets.
Although the foregoing references disclose generally devices for storing semiconductor wafers, such wafers do not have terminal pins that are normally encountered in finished integrated circuits. These trays are not readily adapted to devices with terminal pins. The following United States Letters Patent do disclose devices for the shipment and transportation of integrated circuit components or for circuits utilizing such integrated circuit components:
McDowell disclose a tray for holding integrated circuit packages of the transistor outline type. Such packages have cylindrical cases with preformed leads that flair radially outward from the bottom of the package. Flat portions of the free ends of the leads lie in a common plane. A tray for transporting a plurality of such packages has a top plate with a plurality of funnel shaped openings each having a cylindrical bottom portion for receiving a case. The top and bottom edges of the trays are dimensioned so that the top of a first tray nests inside the bottom of a second tray. When the nested trays are turned over, packages and openings in the first tray sit with the flat portions of their leads on the bottom of the second tray. A rim limits transverse movement of the packages set on the plate when the tray is shaken to cause them to fall into associated openings.
The Koehn et al patent discloses a chip carrier for individual electronic circuits. The chip carriers adapt for stacking for shipment. This enables a number of integrated circuit components to be shipped in bulk in a single package.
The Bakker patent discloses a box for storing electronic devices apparently including integrated circuits. The box includes a material that minimizes electrostatic accumulation and resultant discharges that could otherwise damage the electronic device.
Each of the foregoing references describes a device for use with a component of a single size or limited range of sizes. However, these approaches do not adapt readily for the transportation and storage of pin grid array or like integrated circuit components. A pin grid array (PGA) integrated circuit component typically has a thin planar housing of a ceramic or other material for containing a semiconductor substrate and related circuitry. Terminal pins extend perpendicularly to one planar surface of the housing. The terminal pins define an array or matrix of columns and rows with an industry-standard spacing. Currently the spacing is 0.1 inch. PGA integrate circuit components come in myriad sizes that are defined alternatively by the size of the housing (from a 1-inch square to a 2.5-inch square) or by the size of the matrix (from a 9.times.9 terminal pin matrix to a 25.times.25 terminal pin matrix). Thus the adaption of a prior art design for accommodating PGA integrated circuit components would require a facility to inventory large number of specially sized trays.
A device for transporting and storing PGA integrated circuit components must also accommodate other characteristics inherent in such components. As previously indicated many electronic assembly facilities now utilize robotic devices to retrieve a component from a storage device, orient that component accurately and position and insert the component with respect to a printed circuit board or a chip carrier. It is critical for the robotic device to "know" the position of the pins. If the robotic device only "sees" the housing, placement errors can result. Although tight tolerances exist with respect to the relative positions of the terminal pins, only relaxed tolerances exist as to the position of the terminal pin array with respect to the housing. The prior art trays and devices rely on the engagement of a housing or wafer edge. If such devices were adapted to PGA components, there would be no direct repeatable correlation between the tray and the terminal pins.
It also is desirable that any device for transporting and storing PGA integrated circuit components provide other desirable benefits. For example, it is possible for any number of external forces to transfer to the terminal pins with force components directed along and transversely to the terminal pins. To some degree, the device should protect the terminal pins from damage due to such mechanical shock during transport. The device also should prevent the accumulation of an electrostatic charge on the PGA integrated circuit component to avoid a potential discharge and damage.


The invention relates to a software maintenance supporting device that analyzes and displays the structure of software, and its object is to divide software into clusters including plural variables and illustrate the result of the division. The software maintenance supporting device extracts variable dependence relation data from a source code, and divides software into clusters including plural variables, using a variable dependence relation. Also, an inter-variable dependence relation is illustrated as a directed graph in which a variable is expressed as a node and a dependence relation is expressed as a link, and variables belonging to the same cluster are highlighted.

In the fields of elevators, automobiles, construction machinery and the like, an embedded control device which controls a control target with so-called embedded software is used. As advantages of embedded software, the ability to realize more flexible and advanced control than in a conventional method using on a mechanical system or electric circuit and the ability to develop many variation products by partial change in the software can be mentioned.
Such an embedded control device, for example, an elevator control device employs a so-called data-driven computation model in which a task is started on a predetermined cycle or according to an interrupt and control variables are updated based on an input from a destination floor designation button or a sensor such as door safety sensor, thus controlling an actuator such as door open/close motor or cage drive motor.
Meanwhile, there is a problem that as control processing which is required of the embedded control device becomes complicated year by year, the dependence relation between control variables becomes more complicated, making the software difficult to understand.
For example, in the case of control software updated with several thousand variables, if the operation method of a variable at one site is changed, it is essential to specify variables which are influenced by the change and thus verify the software.
Patent Document 1, mentioned below, discloses an example of a business-use software maintenance supporting device which makes analysis based on the data type of variables. This software maintenance supporting device divides the type of data into domains such as "date data" based on variable definitions and a determination text on the source code, analyzes the relation between the domains, and displays the software structure.
Patent Document 2, mentioned below, discloses an example of a software maintenance supporting device which highlights a processing content related to a variable which the user focuses on. The processing content of a specific function is illustrated and a processing block related to the variable which the user focuses on is clarified in cooperation by a technique such as bold-line display.

Software maintenance supporting device for analyzing relationships between variables


One object of the present invention is to monitor water pipes regularly and to detect water leaks by using basic equipment and to provide a device that generates an alarm when a leak occurs. The present invention responds not only to minor leaks that occur naturally because, for instance, a water pipe is decrepit, but also responds to human-caused leaks, such as those that occur because a person forgets to turn off a water faucet or because of the failure of equipment such as a hot-water heater. The present invention is a leak-detection alarm system that is composed of two main parts: (1) a leak-detecting check valve that detects movements of a movable device that makes the same movement as the valve element of a check valve that is attached to a water pipe and performs switching, and that transmits as detection signals the movement of valve elements, and (2) a signal-processing device that analyzes detection signals transmitted by the leak-detecting check valve and actuates a leak-detection alarm. The leak-detecting check valve has a main valve and an ancillary valve. The main valve operates in response to a high rate of flow of fluid through the pipe, such as occurs when there is a large leak that corresponds to said human-cause leaks, and the ancillary valve operates in response to low rate of flow of fluid through a pipe, such as occurs when there is a small leak that occurs naturally.

This invention relates to a leak-detecting check valve and a leak-detection alarm system. More particularly, the leak-detecting check valve has a function of detecting the movement of a valve element of said leak-detecting check valve when said check valve is attached to a water pipe or other conduit for water. In addition, the leak-detection alarm system includes said leak-detecting check valve and a signal-processing device that receives leak-detection signals from said leak-detecting check valve, analyzes said signals, and actuates an alarm that indicates that a leak has been detected.
A leaking water pipe in a building not only increases water costs needlessly, but also, depending on the location and degree of the leak, can cause damage to the building and property therein, and can cause various problems for inhabitants of the building. In particular, in a residential complex such as a condominium building or hotel, there is the danger that a single leak in an upper floor will cause great damage to many units and rooms on lower floors; there are quite a few cases of such damage. Therefore, in a residential complex, where damage can spread easily and where there is relatively little communication among residents, and in a hotel, where the lodgers usually are temporary and constantly changing, checking for water leaks should be done regularly. And if a leak is detected, it is necessary to promptly take responsive action, such as by alerting the manager and each resident or lodger, so as to prevent water damage from spreading.
There are two types of leaks that damage buildings and chattels. The first type is generally a small leak that occurs naturally because a decrepit water pipe suddenly breaks or develops a hole in it. The second type is a human-caused leak such as one that results because someone forgets to close a faucet, which causes a sink or tub to overflow, or is a leak that results because of a breakdown or operational error of equipment that uses tap water. In order to prevent a leak from causing damage, regardless of which type of leak it is, it must be detected soon after it occurs and it must actuate an alarm.
Some methods of full-time monitoring of a building to detect a leak therein have already been known. There is, for example, a method that measures acoustic vibrations transmitted through a water pipe and thereby detects leaks (See Patent Document 1). Another example is a method that detects a leak by using supersonic waves (see Patent Document 2). However, both of those methods require a large device, and if a leak is not a large one, they cannot detect it. Also, those methods cannot be used to detect human-caused leaks such as might result from forgetting to close a faucet.
Another example is a check valve that is capable of detecting the flow volume of a fluid through a pipe by measuring the magnetism of a magnet installed on said check valve by using a plurality of magnetism detectors installed on a valve casing that opposes said magnet—i.e., measuring the distance that a valve of said check valve moves in proportion to the rate of flow of the fluid that passes through said check valve (see Patent Document 3).
Another leak-detection method is one that detects pulsed signals by a sensor installed on a rotary flowmeter, collecting and analyzing the signals' data to determine if there is a leak (see Patent Document 4). One object of such an invention is to detect only naturally occurring (i.e., not directly caused by human action) minor leaks, and therefore such an invention determines the existence of a leak by comparing the flow of water when there is no leak in the water pipe with the flow of water when the water system is not in use. As such, it cannot respond to leaks caused by human actions.                [Patent Document 1] Unexamined Patent Publication 2002-122502 Gazette        [Patent Document 2] Unexamined Patent Publication 2002-131170 Gazette        [Patent Document 3] Unexamined Patent Publication 2000-205447 Gazette        [Patent Document 4] Unexamined Patent Publication 2002-055019 Gazette.

Leak-detecting check valve, and leak-detection alarm system that uses said check valve


A signal transmission device is used for connection between a first electrical connector at a truck-tractor of a towing vehicle and a second electrical connector at a trailer of the towing vehicle. The signal transmission device includes first and second magnetic holders, third and fourth electrical connectors mounted to the first and second magnetic holders respectively, a stretchable coil tube, and a cable. The first magnetic holder is adapted to be attached to the truck-tractor and the second magnetic holder is adapted to be attached to the trailer. The third electrical connector is adapted for connecting the first electrical connector at the truck-tractor and the fourth electrical connector is adapted for connecting the second electrical connector at the trailer. The cable is spirally inserted through the stretchable coil tube and provided with two ends electrically connected with the third and fourth electrical connectors.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a signal transmission device for a towing vehicle and more particularly, to a signal transmission device, which utilizes a magnetic attractive force to fasten the electrical connectors at the two ends of a cable to the truck-tractor and trail of towing vehicle respectively and, which allows quick mounting and dismounting of the electrical connectors.
2. Description of the Related Art
A towing vehicle uses a truck-tractor to pull a trailer, semi-trailer, platform or container platform. The cart (trailer, semi-trailer, platform or container platform) to be pulled is provided at the rear side of the truck-tractor and linked thereto by a coupling. The coupling is a mechanical linking mechanism that allows the truck-tractor to pull the card and to turn the card when the truck-tractor is turning, shortening the turn radius of the towing vehicle. The coupling simply provides a mechanical link, cannot transmit electric signals.
Subject to traffic regulations for safety parts, the cart to be pulled by a truck-tractor must be equipped with directional lights, stoplights, and parking lights. These signal lights must be controlled by the truck-tractor so that the driver in the truck-tractor can operate related switches to turn on/off these signal lights. Therefore, a cable must be arranged between the truck-tractor and the cart linked to the track-tractor for transmission of electric signals.
Further, an advanced truck-tractor may be installed therein a monitoring system to monitor the operation status of the cart being pulled. The status signals and data generated by this monitoring system must be transmitted to the truck-tractor. For example, a TMPS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System) has sensors installed in the wheels of the towing vehicle to detect the tire pressure of the wheels and to transmit the respective detected tire pressure signal by radio. However, because of low power level, the radio signal must be filtered and amplified by a receiver circuit in the cart that is pulled by the truck-tractor and then transmitted by the receiver circuit through a cable to the console in the truck-tractor.
Therefore, a cable must be provided between the truck-tractor and the cart being pulled by the truck-tractor to achieve signal transmission. However, the connection between the truck-tractor and the cart must be easily detachable so that another cart can be switchingly connected to the truck-tractor. For example, when the truck-tract of a container truck pulled the container with the container platform from the start point to the destination, the container platform must be immediately disconnected from the truck-tractor so that an empty container platform can be connected to the truck-tractor and then pulled by the truck-tractor to the start point again for exchange of the empty container platform with another container platform that carries another container for a next transportation. During connection and disconnection between the truck-tractor and the attached cart, the cable must be relatively connected and disconnected.
For quick connection of a cable between a truck-tractor and a cart to be pulled by the truck-tractor according to a conventional method, an electrical female connector is respectively and fixedly provided at the truck-tractor and the cart to be pulled by the truck-tractor, and the two opposite ends of the cable are respectively provided with an electrical male connector. By means of detachably connecting the electrical male connectors to the electrical female connectors, the cable is quickly and detachably connected between the truck-tractor and the cart. When the truck-tractor changes the moving direction, the distance between the two electrical female connectors is relatively increased, causing the cable to be stretched. To avoid disconnection of the electrical male connectors from the electrical female connectors when the cable is being stretched, means for preventing disconnection may be provided to enhance the connection between the respective electrical male connectors and the respective electrical female connectors. According to conventional methods, a locking device is provided at each electrical female connector for locking the associated electrical male connector. Taiwan Utility Model Nos. 478457 and M246643, U.S. Pat. No. 7,258,559 and publication No. 2007072461 teach the use of different fixation means to lock the electrical male connector, keeping positive connection between the electrical male connector and the matched electrical female connector. Further, U.S. Pat. No. 7,172,150 discloses a retractable reel apparatus for connecting the electrical wiring on a trailer to the electrical system of a towing vehicle. This design allows adjustment of the connection length of the electrical wiring to fit straight movement or turning of the truck-tractor.
However, the use of lock means to lock an electrically female connector to an electrical male connector simply prohibits movement of the electrical male connector in direction away from the electrical female connector. When stretched by an external force (stretched by the cable), the electrical male connector will be vibrated with the cable. A severe vibration of the electrical male connector may cause a contact error or damage to the electrical female connector. Further, when the cable is frequently stretched, the electrical male connector may be kept connected to the electrical female connector by the lock means, however the electrical contacts between the cable and contact pins of the electrical male connector may be damaged, losing the signal transmission function of the cable.

Signal transmission device for towing vehicle


A receiver (1) of a position-finding system comprises a calculation unit (6, 7, 8) for calculation of a statistical value (Λ) on the basis of a received signal, and a detector unit (9) for comparison of the statistical value (Λ) with a threshold value (κ) and for determining whether the received signal is a synchronized location signal, an estimation unit (10) for estimation of the Rice factor (K) of the radio link via which the received signal has been transmitted, and a determination unit for calculation of the threshold value (κ) on the basis of the Rice factor (K).

It has been known for some time for position finding to be carried out on the basis of radio links, for example within the satellite-based GPS (Global Positioning System). The European satellite navigation system Galileo, as well as positioning methods based on terrestrial radio sources, offer further applications. Position-finding methods such as these and corresponding appliances allow the user to determine his position by measuring the distance to a specific number of wire-free signal sources such as satellites or base stations. By way of example, each GPS and Galileo satellite transmits unique digital sequences, which include a time identification and the satellite position. The signals are normally coded with long spread codes. The spread codes for the individual satellites are virtually orthogonal with respect to one another, so that the signals can be distinguished from one another in the receiver. By way of example, the spread codes of the various GPS and Galileo satellites are synchronized with respect to one another by means of high-precision atomic clocks which are installed in the satellites.
The receiver evaluates the relative delays between the signal transmission from different radio sources (GPS satellites, Galileo satellites or terrestrial transmitters), and uses these delays to determine the so-called delay time offsets. Together with the data relating to the position and the time reference of the various radio sources, the delay time offsets can be used in order to locate the receiver exactly. The receiver for this purpose calculates the so-called pseudo ranges, which represent the distance to each radio source. Navigation software can then calculate the user position on the basis of the pseudo range to each radio source and the position of the radio sources, by solving a set of non-linear equations.
The delay time offsets between the signals received from the radio sources are frequently measured by determining a correlation maximum in a receiver architecture and by assuming that this maximum corresponds to the direct line-of-sight path (LOS) with additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN). The problem is that the individual location signals do not always reach the receiver along a direct line-of-sight path, but are often reflected on a large number of obstructions such as buildings or hills. These reflected location signals travel over a longer path than the location signal which is propagating on the line-of-sight path before they are received by the receiver, and are thus delayed. In the case of this so-called multipath signal propagation, that is to say in which various versions of the location signal arrive at the receiver at different times, the delayed location signals are superimposed at the receiver antenna. Depending on the phase offset, the location signals are subject to constructive or destructive interference. Thus, depending on the transmission scenario, the amplitude and the phase of the received signal may be very different.
The reflection, diffraction and scatter of the location signals on obstructions also leads to attenuation of the location signals. This makes it harder to identify the signal in the receiver, in the event of multipath signal propagation.
The effects that have been mentioned require high receiver sensitivity in order to make it possible to reliably identify and synchronize location signals.
Many conventional modern receivers for position-finding systems are based on first of all despreading the sample values of the received signals and then subjecting them to coherent integration and non-coherent integration. The resultant statistical values are passed to a detector, for example a Neyman-Pearson detector, which maximizes the probability of identification of the location signals in accordance with the desired requirements.
The detector compares the statistical values supplied to it with a threshold value. Provided that a statistical value is greater than the threshold value, it is assumed that a location signal has been received. In the converse situation, the received signal is not classified as a location signal. This is intended to avoid signals which are not location signals being used for position finding. Furthermore, this method also prevents location signals with an excessively low reception amplitude being used for position finding. Modern receivers frequently have detectors which are optimized for additive white Gaussian noise.

Receiver for a position-finding system with improved sensitivity


A machine for closing an open end of a cover encasing a mattress core in order to form a mattress is provided. A frame is adapted to support at least an edge portion of the mattress core encased in the cover. A mattress core press is mounted on the frame for vertical movement and is adapted to compress an edge of the mattress core to a desired height. A mattress cover clamp is mounted on the frame for vertical movement and is adapted to clamp free edges of the open end of the mattress cover together. A sewing head carriage is mounted on the frame for horizontal movement. A sewing head is mounted on the carriage, and a sewing head motor is mounted on the carriage for driving the sewing head. The sewing head is adapted to stitch the free edges of the open end of the mattress cover closed as the sewing head carriage traverses from one side of the mattress to the other side of the mattress.

In the manufacture of mattresses, it is known to encase the mattress core in a cover or "sock." The cover or sock may be fabricated of a fire retardant material. Once the mattress core is placed in the cover, it is necessary to stitch the open end of the cover closed.
A secure seam is important to the fire retardancy of the finished mattress. A tight fit of the cover to the core is also desirable. Further, it is desirable to automate the process of closing the mattress cover to the extent possible.
Accordingly, a improved mattress cover closing machine that attains these goals is desirable.

Mattress cover closing machine and method


A honeycomb filter includes a plurality of honeycomb fired bodies each having a longitudinal direction and a plurality of cells which are divided by cell walls and which extend in the longitudinal direction in substantially parallel with each other, each of the cells having one end sealed; and an adhesive material binding the plurality of honeycomb fired bodies. The plurality of honeycomb fired bodies includes outer peripheral honeycomb fired bodies each having a first outer wall and positioned at an outermost periphery of the honeycomb filter; and inner honeycomb fired bodies surrounded by the outer peripheral honeycomb fired bodies. Each of the inner honeycomb fired bodies has a second outer wall thinner than the first outer wall.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a honeycomb filter.
2. Discussion of the Background
In recent years, it has become a serious issue that particulate matter (hereinafter, referred to simply as particulate) contained in an exhaust gas discharged from internal combustion engines of vehicles such as buses and trucks and construction machines causes harmful effects on the environment and human being.
Therefore, various kinds of honeycomb filters made of porous ceramics have been proposed as a filter for capturing the particulate contained in an exhaust gas and thereby purifying the exhaust gas.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view schematically showing one example of a conventional honeycomb filter of this kind, FIG. 4(a) is a perspective view schematically showing a honeycomb fired body constituting the honeycomb filter, and FIG. 4(b) is a cross-sectional view along the line A-A of FIG. 4(a).
In the honeycomb filter of this kind, as exemplified by a conventional honeycomb filter 70 shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of honeycomb fired bodies 80 comprising silicon carbide and the like are bonded to each other by interposing an adhesive material layer 72 to compose a ceramic block 71, and a coat layer 73 is formed around the ceramic block 71.
In each of the conventional honeycomb fired bodies 80, as shown in FIGS. 4(a) and 4(b), a large number of cells 81 are longitudinally placed in parallel with one another and cell walls 83 partitioning the cells 81 from one another work as a filter. In other words, each of the cells 81 formed in the honeycomb fired bodies 80 is sealed with plugs 82 in one of the end parts in an inlet side or an outlet side of the exhaust gas as shown in FIG. 4(b) so that the exhaust gas introduced into one cell 81 is flow out of another cell 81 after surely passing through the cell wall 83 partitioning the cells 81.
In an exhaust gas purifying apparatus, the honeycomb filter 70 with the above-mentioned configuration is installed in an exhaust path of the internal combustion engine, and the particulate contained in the exhaust gas discharged from the internal combustion engine is captured by the cell wall 83 while passing through the honeycomb filter 70 so that the exhaust gas is purified.
As an example of a honeycomb filter, WO 2003/002231 A1 discloses a honeycomb filter formed by integrating a plurality of honeycomb segments with a honeycomb structure having a large number of communication holes, in which a heat capacity per unit volume of the honeycomb segment in the outer peripheral part is higher than that of the honeycomb segment in the center part. The contents of WO 2003/002231 A1 are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.