This device is a cleaning tool for cleaning the inside of gun barrels. The device consists of a metal brush which is enclosed within a tubular sheath of material, typically a woven fabric. The bristles of the brush extend through the wall of the woven sheath of fabric. The tubular sheath is pulled through a gun barrel and the bristles of the brush clean the inside of the gun barrel. Also enclosed within the tubular sheath are one or more foam inserts, or one or more cleaning regions formed by folding the cord within itself, either of which creates a bulge in the tubular sheath and cleans debris from the gun barrel, spreads gun cleaning solvent in the gun barrel, absorbs solvent and combustion and bullet residues, and spreads a layer of gun oil in the gun barrel.

1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to devices for cleaning the inside of tubes and more particularly to devices for cleaning the inside of gun barrels.
2. Background
When a bullet is fired in a gun, explosive chemicals inside the cartridge are ignited. This ignition causes a rapid production of ignition gasses, which expand and push the bullet away from the brass casing. The expanding gasses cause the bullet to move rapidly through the barrel of the gun and to exit the barrel. Inside the barrel of most modern guns there are fairly delicate spiral cut grooves, called riflings, which cause the bullet to rotate as it passes down the barrel and over the rifling. The rotation of the bullet as it leaves the barrel greatly enhances the accuracy of its flight. It is very important for improved shooting accuracy that riflings retain their accurately machined surfaces. As the bullet passes through the gun barrel, it touches the side of the gun barrel and leaves traces of metal. In addition to metal deposited by the bullet, the expanding gasses of combustion leave residues on the inside of the barrel. Both of these deposits can build up with repeated firings. In an extreme condition, deposits of bullet material as well as residues of combustion can build up on the walls of the gun barrel to a point that accuracy is affected and back pressures may become dangerously high.
To prevent this build up of material inside the gun barrel, deposits within the gun barrel must be removed by cleaning. Traditionally, cleaning of gun barrels is accomplished either by forcing a wire brush through the gun barrel, or by forcing an oiled or solvent saturated cloth through the gun barrel. Often these operations are performed sequentially. One widely used method for cleaning gun barrels in this manner is by the use of a rigid aluminum rod which is in short sections approximately 8" long. The ends of each section are threaded and screwed together. On the end of an assembled rod, utensils are screwed into the rod. These utensils can include a wire brush or a slotted metal tool into which a cloth patch or swab is inserted. Solvent can be applied to the cloth patch or brush to help loosen hardened residues in the barrel. The metal brush is pushed completely through the barrel and pulled out again. The metal brush is most effective in loosening metal particles and other hardened residues inside the gun barrel. After the barrel has been treated with a metal brush, clean swabs are usually run through the barrel to absorb the solvent and loosened residue. The final step in the process is usually to use another clean swab to which a small amount of light gun oil is applied. This leaves a layer of oil on the metal of the barrel to protect from rust and corrosion.
The use of a sectional rod with utensils at its end has several disadvantages. It requires assembly, disassembly, changes of attachments and several patches during the process. Thus it is time-consuming and complex to use. Another shortcoming is that patches and cloth pieces when passed through the slot of such a cleaning device and pushed into the barrel of a gun will compress around the rod. The patch or cloth may be loose in the barrel, depending on the diameter of the rod and the thickness of the patch. Even if the rod and cloth are sized to provide a firm fit between the rod and the gun barrel, the contact of the patch with the surface of the gun barrel is inherently uneven because the cloth bunches. Additionally, this becomes a problem if an oversized cloth binds in the barrel and becomes stuck.
Another problem with the use of rigid rods with utensils at their end is the inability of such combinations to make mid-bore directional changes. In the use of such a rigid rod, it is the usual practice to push the utensil, either the brush or the patch, entirely through the barrel.
However, sometimes the user will reverse the direction of the rod part way through the bore. When this happens, a cloth patch, especially a thick one which provides good contact and cleaning characteristics, is forced to reverse upon itself and may jam in the barrel. This may result in the utensil tip of the rod breaking off inside the gun barrel. In some instances it is required that gunsmith tools and techniques be used to remove the jammed utensil. In the case of a brush performing a mid-bore directional change, the wires of the brush are forced to change from a sloped back angle to a sloped forward angle. This change in alignment of the brush filaments can increase the resistance of the brush traveling through the barrel by 400%. This can result in the brush being broken off from the rod or the rod itself breaking, usually at a threaded connection.
A rod device may be able to make a mid-bore directional change with a small cloth if the small cloth is square, round or of some other non-elongated type, and if the user is careful. However, these cloths lack enough surface area to be effective to clean the inside of the barrel in this back and forth or "see-saw" manner. They become "loaded up" with residues. Also, they will at times "double up" upon themselves and get stuck in the bore. As previously stated, elongated patches have a somewhat greater surface area, and therefore are more effective at absorbing residues, but any attempt to "see-saw" with elongated cloths can result in the extremely difficult problem of "doubling up" and jamming in the barrel. Other cleaning devices are simply not "foolproof" in this regard, and in the real and practical world many problems result. Regarding rifle barrels and forces required to push objects through, an explanation follows:
Approximately eight to fifteen pounds of force are required to push a brush through a worn but still usable barrel in clean condition. Approximately nine to eighteen pounds of force are required to push a metal brush through a worn but still usable barrel which is in need of cleaning.
Approximately ten to twenty-two pounds of force are required to push a wire brush through new barrels or barrels with little wear and which are in clean condition. Approximately ten to twenty-five pounds of force are required to push a wire brush through new barrels or barrels with little wear which are in need of cleaning. Approximately twenty to forty pounds of force are required to remove unusually large, stubborn and hardened amounts of build up from the inside of a barrel. Ninety pounds of force or more may be necessary to remove severely jammed, oversized gun cleaning cloths that have "doubled up" and wedged with a broken cleaning tip. Sometimes these jammed tips require the services of a gunsmith to remove.
Another problem with current cleaning devices is that they contain exposed metal parts. A wire brush typically in use in the industry consists of steel spiral wire in which relatively soft, phosphor-bronze metal bristles of the brush are bound. The spiral wire of these wire brushes is exposed at the end. Many devices also contain fittings, connections, clamps, crimps, wires, push rod tips and other metal parts. Any of these metal parts can, either by poor design, misuse, carelessness, or accident, be damaging or abrasive to sensitive rifle barrel areas, especially the throat, rifling and crown. Damage to these areas is an especially important consideration to knowledgeable gun owners including: marksmen, long-range shooters and owners of fine, high-grade rifles and pistols. Damage to these areas often occurs when cleaning utensils are inserted into the barrel. At the moment of insertion, the rod or utensil may be at an angle to the long axis of the barrel, and this can allow the tip of the wire brush to touch the sides of the barrel or the rifling of the barrel. Any hardened metal-to-metal contact with the rifling or the barrel can cause damage.
Other pull-through devices make use of connections on the main body of the flexible wire or cord. These connections require knots or other stitched, glued, twisted, melted, crimped, soldered or injection molded connections. All of these connections increase the size and/or decrease the compression potential at the connection site, thus requiring the use of a smaller diameter cord or wire than would otherwise pass through the barrel. The smaller cord or wire decreases strength, durability, and ease of grasping. Additionally, connections often have a greater propensity to be defective or to wear, break or otherwise separate.
Some cleaning devices utilize a cord which is pulled through the barrel, and drags a cloth patch, but which does not contain a metal brush feature. These pull-through devices are typically in the nature of a thick woven wick or rope-like cord. Such a wick or rope-like cord contacts the gun barrel along its entire surface. This requires that the resistance along the entire surface of the wick be a fairly low pressure against the inside of a gun barrel. A high pressure would make the wick impossible or difficult to pull through the gun barrel.
Sometimes a gun barrel will have dirt, mud, sand, ice, or other environmental debris lodged inside. If this material is abrasive, such as sand or dirt, it is preferable that this abrasive material be removed before a metal brush is passed through the barrel. If a metal brush is passed through a sandy or dirty barrel, the sand and/or dirt become embedded in the bristles of the brush and are ground into the gun barrel as an abrasive. This can scratch and cause uneven wear to the gun barrel and the rifling. A preferable technique is to use a utensil to clean out such environmental debris before the metal brush goes through the barrel. Current barrel cleaning devices do not provide a means of doing this except to add another step to the process and run a clean patch in and then out of the barrel. To do a good job of cleaning environmental debris from a barrel, three or more clean patches might be required. Since sand and dirt are most likely to be in a barrel during field conditions, such an inconvenient cleaning process is not likely to be utilized, even if the user has gone to the trouble of carrying a cleaning kit with him or her.
All cleaning devices in use today require assembly, changing of fittings, and/or changing of cloths or patches prior to and during their use. This is always an inconvenience and it can prove to be a detrimental disadvantage under tense circumstances, tight time constraints, bad visibility or severe environmental conditions. Many cleaning devices require specialized storage compartments or containers.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a gun barrel cleaning device which performs several cleaning functions with one pass through the barrel of a gun, thus saving the user a great deal of time and trouble. Among the steps that can be accomplished in one pass of the cleaning device through the gun are: (1) removal of environmental debris from the barrel prior to and separate from the use of a bore brush; (2) distribution of cleaning solvent onto the inner surface of the barrel; (3) cleaning the barrel with a metal wire brush; (4) absorbing solvent and picking up residues loosened by the wire brush; and (5) distributing a thin layer of light gun oil in the barrel.
Another object of the invention is to provide a gun barrel cleaning utensil which eliminates the possibility of metal-to-metal contact with the gun barrel itself.
A further object of the invention is to provide a gun barrel cleaning device which eliminates the possibility of broken cleaning rod tips, broken cleaning rods, jammed cleaning utensils, or stuck patches, cloths or brushes by providing for foolproof mid-bore direction changes.
Another object of the invention is to provide a gun barrel cleaning utensil which is light weight, easily carried under field conditions, and which reduces or eliminates the metal parts typically used in a cleaning device.
Another object of the invention is to provide a gun barrel cleaning device which eliminates assembly, disassembly, changing of parts, changing of patches, etc., and is always ready to use.
Additional objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combination particularly pointed out in the appended claims.


An energy efficient system for reducing the water friction on the hull of a marine vessel. The contact of water with the portion of the outer surface of the hull of a marine vessel which normally engages the water is reduced by the strategic induction of pressurized or compressed air or gas to cover that outer surface. The compressed air is retained on the outer surface by various grooves, channels or semi-flat surfaces running the length of the vessels bottom and in certain applications vertical sides, which prevent the flow of the compressed gas to the surface of the water. The pressurized air or gas is recaptured before exiting the stern or sides and recycled to the bow through an energy efficient circulation system, thus recovering the energy in the compressed air or gas which has flowed from bow to stern. The larger and the deeper the hull displacement, the greater is the efficiency realized by the recycling of the compressed air or other gas.

Of the energy required to move a vessel through water, a major portion is consumed in overcoming the friction between the outer surface of the hull of the vessel and the water through which the vessel is passing. It is well known that reducing the water/hull contact area of a vessel will improve efficiency. In the past many attempts have been made to supply air or gas in the form of bubbles or streams to separate the water from the hull so as to reduce the friction there between. However, such attempts have provided little gain and in some cases loses in efficiency due to the loss of energy, in the form of the pressurized air, which flows away from the hull. The energy loss multiplies, and the efficiencies of such attempts rapidly dropped off, the deeper in the water the air is supplied, since it takes more energy/pressure to supply the air/gas at greater depths. Thus, such prior attempts were greatly limited as to the depth at which they could be effectively used. Because of the loss of efficiency at greater depths, their use has been primarily restrict to shallow draft or planning type hulls. Using reduced amounts of air/gas more effectively as micro-bubbles, or using the air in combination with textured surfaces is usually less effective in reducing friction. The efficiency of both of these methods is also limited by depth as previously discussed.
These many attempts over the years, gave up the energy stored in the form of pressurized air/gas as it exits the stern or sides and returned on its own to the surface of the water as bubbles or streams. Numerous systems and methods have been disclosed in the past using air between the outer surface of the hull of a vessel and the water to reduce friction, and therefor the energy necessary to propel the vessel through the water. The following patents disclose variations in such systems:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. Inventor(s) ______________________________________ 4,340,004 Kaneil 4,393,802 Rizzo 4,523,536 Smoot 4,528,931 Lantz 4,926,771 Hull 5,031,559 Bartholomew 5,054,412 Reed et al 5,117,882 Stanford 5,176,095 Burg 5,476,056 Tokunaga et al 5,524,568 Bobst 5,575,232 Kato ______________________________________
The Kanei, Rizzo, Hull, Reed et al, and Burg patents reveal the use of channels or grooves of some sort on the external surface of the hull of a vessel, with air or gas being supplied to the channels or grooves, to reduce the surface area of contact of water with the hull of the vessel. The Hull patent shows the use of an axial supply fan 23 to supply the air. The Bartholomew, Stanford, Tokunaga et al, Bobst, and Kato et al patents disclose various means for introducing air bubbles, or an air film, over the outer surface of the hull of a ship. The remaining Smoot and Lantz patents are directed to other schemes for reducing the water drag on the hull of a ship.
While the disclosures of these patents show various ways of providing air to at least a portion of the outer surface of the hull of a vessel, to reduce the surface area of contact of water with the hull, they are all similar in that the pressurized air is permitted to escape from the hull at the sides or stern of the vessel, and presumably flow or bubble to the surface of the water in which the vessel is moving. In order to force air or any other gas to occupy a space between the hull and the water, it is necessary to provide the air or other gas at a pressure which is at least equal to, or greater than, the pressure which would be exerted by the water on the hull if the air or gas were not interposed there between. The further below the surface of the water at which the air must be supplied to the interface between the hull and the water, the greater the pressure at which it must be supplied. Thus, on fully loaded ocean going vessels, having a deep draft, air at considerable pressure must be provided to the lower portions of the hull. While providing an air interface between the outer surface of the hull and the water will reduce the friction between the water and the hull, the loss of the compressed air at the stern of the ship represents considerable lost energy. While the performance of the ship with respect to energy used to propel the ship may be improved in this way, the energy consumed in providing the compressed air, which is lost at the sides or stern of the ship, may well outweigh any improvement in performance with respect to overall energy used to propel the ship. Thus, if the loss of compressed air could be eliminated or at least reduced to a minimum, considerable less energy would be required to supply the necessary compressed air.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a method and system for reducing water friction on the hull of a marine vessel, which provides a gas, usually air, interface between the outer surface of the hull and the water in an energy efficient manner. More particularly, it would be advantageous to provide such a method and system wherein the compressed gas is recovered, usually downstream toward the stern of the vessel, thereby reducing the energy otherwise lost in permitting the compressed air escaping at the stern of the vessel.

Energy efficient system and method for reducing water friction on the hull of a marine vessel


A method and apparatus for channel allocation using pathloss estimates. Pathloss values between mobile stations located in one cell and base stations located in surrounding cells are calculated. Using the calculated pathloss values the system can determine the amount of interference which will be caused to transmissions in the surrounding base stations by allocating a certain channel to a base station located in the one cell. The system also can determine the source of the interference and use such a determination in the allocation of channels.

The present invention relates to radio communication systems, and more specifically, to frequency and/or channel selection using enhanced pathloss estimates.
Radio communication systems and cellular radio communication systems are typically allocated a specific band of frequencies to operate within, usually by a governmental body. Accordingly, operators of these communication systems desire to maximize the number of users who can communicate within the allocated bandwidth. A conventional method of maximizing system capacity is through frequency reuse. Frequency reuse is a technique whereby groups of frequencies are allocated for use in regions of limited geographic coverage known as cells. Cells containing the same or similar groups of frequencies are geographically separated to allow callers in different cells to simultaneously use the same frequency without interfering with each other. By so doing many thousands of subscribers may be served by a system of only several hundred frequencies.
Link quality is the benchmark of any radiocommunication system. To provide high quality voice communication the desired signal in a cellular system must maintain a minimum signal strength above all other interference. The ratio of the desired signal to the interference is known as the carrier to interference (C/I) ratio. Aside from noise, which is omnipresent, there are fundamentally two other types of interference with which a designer must contend. The first of these is interference arising from users simultaneously operating on the same channel. This is known as co-channel interference. The second source of interference is from users operating on adjacent channels. This is known as adjacent-channel interference. Adjacent channel interference is controlled by selecting the frequencies in a given cell to be separated by large frequency increments, e.g., in a typical GSM system a separation of 200 kHz between adjacent channels is used for frequencies allocated to one cell in a cell plan using three sector sites, and by using a sharp cutoff in the channel filters in order to obtain a high-adjacent channel suppression. Co-channel interference is reduced by use of a frequency reuse pattern which geographically separates cells with the same frequency group. An example of an ideal seven cell frequency reuse pattern is shown in FIG. 1.
Frequency planning is the process by which individual channels are assigned to cells within the network. Currently, most frequency planning is done a priori, i.e., a fixed frequency plan is xe2x80x9chard-wiredxe2x80x9d in place by each cellular system operator.
This is known as fixed channel allocation or FCA. However, as interference and traffic load are time varying, FCA is not optimal. For example, consider FIG. 2 which illustrates a highway which bisects a plurality of cellular boundaries. Since the highway may have significant automobile traffic in the morning and very little in the afternoon, the cellular traffic may significantly differ depending on location and time of day. As a result, most fixed frequency plans are not very efficient; many channels in a fixed frequency plan will have a much better link quality than is necessary to achieve high quality voice communication while many others in the same system will suffer from poor link quality which might force them to be dropped or blocked. A capacity increase could be obtained by some form of channel allocation which attempts to make the quality of all of the links equal, such as an adaptive channel allocation (ACA) scheme.
An important consideration in frequency allocation and cell planning is pathloss. Pathloss is a measure of the difference between the transmitted and received signal strengths. Various factors contribute to pathloss between the sending and receiving stations including the terrain, i.e., hills, trees, mountains, buildings. The greater the pathloss between the sending and receiving stations, the higher the transmitter power has to be in order for the receiving station to receive a signal of acceptable quality. Conventional systems for estimating pathloss for frequency planning purposes use propagation models to estimate the pathloss. The propagation models use information from terrain maps, actual site placements and antenna heights to estimate what the pathloss will be in the system. Based upon the estimated pathloss, which may or may not correlate to the actual pathloss in the system, the system determines the average disturbance in the cells and how much the different cells contribute to the disturbance level. The use of propagation models has serious drawbacks due to the fact that the models do not include the combined effects of the actual distribution of traffic and the actual radio propagation conditions.
Another solution for channel allocation is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,837 to Haartsen, the disclosure of which is incorporated here by reference. In Haartsen, mobile stations are instructed to make received signal strength (RSSI) measurements of individual pilot signals transmitted from surrounding base stations. The RSSI measurements are used to estimate the pathloss between the base station whose signal was measured and the mobile station performing the measurements. However, the system of Haartsen has several limitations. The first limitation is that the RSSI measurements include signal energy associated with different types of interference, i.e., co-channel interference, adjacent channel interference, and interference from non-cellular emission (both licensed and unlicensed). Also, since the source of the interference is not known, the allocation of a new frequency may eliminate one type of interference, but the allocation may cause interference with other frequencies allotted to other users in other cells, which had good link quality prior to the new frequency allocation. Further, since Haartsen relies upon the detectors in mobile stations for measurements, and the quality of the detectors vary from one mobile station to the next, the measurements are susceptible to errors due to the different detectors.
The present invention relates to a method and system for frequency and/or channel allocation using enhanced pathloss estimates. According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, available channels (e.g., frequency and time slot for a TDMA system, frequency, channelization codes and scrambling codes for a CDMA system) are allocated to a base station in order to serve a mobile station with the best compromise between the connection quality and the disturbance this connection will cause to other connections if a particular channel is used. Further, the channels are chosen based on the actual current usage of channels, power levels in cells and measured pathloss values between cells and mobile stations. Exemplary embodiments of the invention also provide estimates of the actual disturbance for both the uplink and downlink between a mobile station in one cell and base stations in other cells. Using the enhanced pathloss estimates the system also provides estimates of the impact due to changes in power level, changes in the amount of traffic and changes in the distribution of mobiles. Further, the system provides estimates of the effects of frequency replanning without causing disturbance to the system.
Through the use of the measurements provided by exemplary embodiments of the present invention, it is possible to optimize the frequency plan for a whole cellular communication system before the frequency plan is placed into operation. Exemplary embodiments of the present invention also use the measurements to optimize the frequency plan due to different traffic situations during a day, e.g., two frequency plans for an area one for high traffic and one for low traffic. In addition, the system uses the pathloss estimates in the determination of neighboring cells for handover execution, handover evaluation, and cell reselection.

Channel allocation using enhanced pathloss estimates


A method for operating a soft keyboard of a touch device is disclosed, the touch device including a touch screen and a processor, the touch screen being coupled to the processor, and the method including: the processor determining a touch signal generated from a single touch point applied onto a trigger region for the soft keyboard; the processor determining a drag signal generated through move of the single touch point from inside of the trigger region to outside of the trigger region; the processor determining a starting point and an end point of the drag signal, to generate a soft keyboard display signal; and displaying the soft keyboard on the touch screen according to the soft keyboard display signal.

Typically, a user performs inputting operation through a soft keyboard displayed on a touch device when using the touch device. In the related art, it typically needs two fingers to simultaneously perform an expanding or shrinking operation to change a size of the soft keyboard. Moreover, in the related art, the soft keyboard is typically displayed as a whole.

Method for operating soft keyboard of touching device and the same touching device


The present teachings are directed toward methods of controlling the charging of a battery. The method includes the steps of receiving current and voltage output information for the battery during a charging/discharging cycle at a certain time interval, and using a model to determine both charging efficiency of the battery and the overpotential for a side reaction. These values for the charging efficiency and the overpotential of the side reaction are then compared to respective first and second given values. If either the charging efficiency or the overpotential is less than their respective given values, then the charging of the battery is suspended. The present method is particularly applicable to Li-ion batteries.

1. Field of the Invention
The present teachings relate to control systems, or methods directed to the control of the charging of a lithium-ion battery system. Such methods can employ algorithms which consider various internal battery parameters or states to determine charging conditions.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
One known technique, as presented in U.S. Pat. No. 5,982,152, directed to primarily to Ni-MH batteries, estimates charging efficiency based on the battery temperature increment and stops the charging operation when the charging efficiency is less than certain value. This technique can prevent unnecessary charging. Unneeded charging does not increase battery's state of charge but can lead to possible deterioration of the battery.
Conventionally, battery performance deterioration is addressed by adding an excess of electrode material and restricting the usable battery range. Such an approach results in a heavier and more expensive battery.
Clearly, a need exists for a Li-ion battery charging control system that measures and determines significant internal battery states and parameters to control the charging system, which can in turn, lead to a lighter and less expensive energy storage device, particularly for automotive applications.


A valve for a cold gas generator for an airbag in a vehicle includes: a valve chamber; a control chamber; a control piston; an overflow channel; a retaining element; and a shutoff element. The valve chamber includes an inlet from the cold gas generator and an outlet to the airbag. The control piston separates the control chamber and the valve chamber. The control piston is movable between an open position and a closed position, the control piston releasing the outlet in the open position and closing it in the closed position. The control piston has (i) a first active piston surface on the side of the valve chamber, and (ii) a second active piston surface on the side of the control chamber. The first piston surface is smaller than the second piston surface. The overflow channel fluidically connects the valve chamber and the control chamber to one another.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a valve for a cold gas generator for an airbag in a vehicle and to an airbag system and to a method for inflating an airbag.
2. Description of the Related Art
To activate an airbag, a gas is necessary, which may be provided rapidly to fill the airbag, before a person to be protected or a body part strikes an object to be cushioned. For this purpose, the gas may be generated pyrotechnically or a pressure reservoir, which contains the gas in compressed form, may be pierced. The pressure reservoir may also have a closure unit, which may be operated by an actuator.
Various principles may be used for generating gas for an airbag filling. The gas may be generated pyrotechnically and fill the airbag. In the case of pyrotechnics, a safety concept is necessary. Furthermore, hot gases require a special design of the airbag. Alternatively, a gas pressure reservoir may be pierced via a pyrotechnic trigger. The contained gas fills the airbag. The gas pressure reservoir may only be triggered once and a volume flow is not settable. The gas pressure reservoir may also be sealed via a (solenoid) valve. The solenoid valve opens when needed and the outflowing gas fills the airbag. A gas leak-tightness over the service life is to be ensured, to guarantee a function when needed.
Published German patent application document DE 10 2007 003 321 A1 describes a closure unit for a pressure reservoir of a cold gas generator which is fillable using pressurized gas.

Valve for a cold gas generator and airbag system


By varying only the thickness of a known material having superior magnetic characteristics to increase spin polarization without changing the chemical composition, a tunnel magnetoresistive element capable of producing a larger magnetoresistive effect is provided. The tunnel magnetoresistive element includes an underlayer (nonmagnetic or antiferromagnetic metal film); an ultrathin ferromagnetic layer disposed on the underlayer; an insulating layer disposed on the ultrathin ferromagnetic layer; and a ferromagnetic electrode disposed on the insulating layer.

The tunnel magnetoresistive effect is a phenomenon in which the electrical resistance of a ferromagnetic tunnel junction including an insulating material between two ferromagnetic metal electrodes is varied depending on the relative magnetization directions of the two ferromagnetic electrodes. The magnitude of magnetoresistance is expressed by the following equation:Magnetoresistive effect=[(Antiparallel R−Parallel R)/Parallel R]×100 (%)   (1)
Parallel R represents electrical resistance when the magnetization directions of the two ferromagnetic electrodes are parallel to each other; and Antiparallel R represents electrical resistance when the magnetization directions are antiparallel. This phenomenon was discovered in 1995 (T. Miyazaki and N. Tezuka, J. Magn. Mater., Vol. 139 (1995), L231), and applied researches to a magnetic sensor of a pickup head of a hard disk drive, a ferromagnetic random access memory, and so on have been advanced. In order to achieve a magnetic sensor or ferromagnetic random access memory using this effect, a large magnetoresistive effect is required, and it is desired that the magnitude of magnetoresistive effect at a limited bias voltage can be artificially controlled.
However, the tunnel magnetoresistive effect, first, has a problem in that it is limited by spin polarization (P1 and P2 in equation (2)) of the electrode material.
This relationship is expressed by Julliere's equation shown in below:Magnetoresistive effect=[2P1P2/(1−P1P2)]×100 (%)   (2)
Accordingly, in order to obtain a high magnetoresistive effect, a material with a high spin polarization has to be used. On this account, for example, an Fe—Co Alloy is prepared to increase the spin polarization. However, it is considered that even this technique provides a magnetoresistive effect of at most about 70% or less.
In order to solve this problem, use of a semimetal having a spin polarization of 100% in principle has been attempted. However, since such a semimetal is of a compound, its surfaces are unstable. No material suitable for practical use has been discovered.
Furthermore, for use as a magnetic sensor, the magnetic characteristics, as well as the spin polarization, of the material have to be optimized. Unfortunately, such a new material does not generally provide good magnetic characteristics.
Second, in general, the tunnel magnetoresistive effect is monotonously decreases as bias voltage increases. This decrease of magnetoresistive effect with increasing bias voltage is not easily controlled because it is an intrinsic problem resulting from increase of magnon scattering or phonon scattering. Accordingly, an attempt has been made to, for example, dualize a tunnel barrier wall layer so as to prevent the magnetoresistive effect from decreasing with increasing bias voltage.
On the other hand, Moodera et al. attempted to vary the dependence of magnetoresistance on bias voltage by disposing a polycrystalline nonmagnetic interlayer between a ferromagnetic electrode and a barrier layer (Moodera, Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 83, 1999, pages 3029–3032).
FIG. 1 shows the dependence of junction magnetoresistive effect of a magnetoresistive effect element on the thickness of a Au interlayer at zero bias and 77 K, in which the horizontal axis represents the thickness (nm) of the Au interlayer and the vertical axis represents the magnetoresistive effect. FIG. 2 shows the dependence of magnetoresistive effect of the same element on bias voltage (V), in which the horizontal axis represents bias voltage (V) and the vertical axis represents the magnetoresistive effect.
However, in the foregoing magnetoresistive element in which the polycrystalline, nonmagnetic interlayer is disposed between the ferromagnetic electrode and the barrier layer, the scattering magnetoresistive effect of electrons is rapidly reduced as the thickness of the nonmagnetic interlayer increases, because the nonmagnetic interlayer is formed of a polycrystalline material. Although the bias voltage dependence of the magnetoresistive effect has been successfully controlled to some extent, characteristics sufficient for practical use have not been achieved.
Accordingly, it is desired to develop an element in which electron scattering of a nonmagnetic interlayer is reduced, the element whose magnetoresistive effect does not seriously reduced even if the thickness of the interlayer is large, and the element from which oscillation of spin polarization in a nonmagnetic layer can be drawn out as magnetoresistive effect.
Third, it has been pointed out that a barrier layer formed of MgO (001) single crystal produces a giant tunnel magnetoresistive effect (J. Mathon, et al., Physical Review B, volume 63 (2001), pages 220403(R)-1-4). Also, a giant tunnel magnetoresistive effect of more than 60% has been experimentally obtained (M. Bowen et al., Applied Physics Letters, volume 79, number 11 (2001), pages 1655–1657). In this instance, a single-crystal substrate is necessary to form an element. This however makes it difficult to form the element on a silicon LSI, and thus a challenge for realizing a magnetic random access memory has not yet overcome.

National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology


Autonomous non-destructive inspection equipment provides automatic and/or continuous inspection and evaluation of a material under inspection. The inspection equipment preferably comprises at least one detection sensor and at least one detection sensor interface for a computer. The autonomous non-destructive inspection system may also be retrofitted into conventional inspection systems by extracting pertinent features through spectral frequency analysis and sensor compensation and utilizing those features in the autonomous non-destructive inspection system.

As is known in the art, materials are selected for use based on criteria including minimum strength requirements, useable life, and anticipated normal wear. Safety factors are typically factored into design considerations to supplement material selection in order to aid in reducing the risk of failures including catastrophic failure. Such failures may occur when the required application strengths exceed the actual material strength. During its life, the material is weakened by external events such as mechanical and/or chemical actions arising from the type of application, repeated usage, hurricanes, earthquakes, storage, transportation, and the like; thus, raising safety, operational, functionality, and serviceability issues throughout the materials life. Non-Destructive Inspection (herein after referred to as "NDI") is carried out, at least in part, in order to verify that the material exceeds the minimum strength requirements for the application.
Since its inception in the early 1900s, the NDI industry has utilized a variety of techniques and devices with the majority based on the well known and well documented techniques of magnetic flux leakage (herein after referred to as "MFL"), magnetic particle, eddy-current, ultrasonic, radiation, such as x-ray and gamma ray, dye penetrant, and dimensional as well as visual and audible techniques. These techniques have been utilized alone or in combination with each other to address the specifics of the Material-Under-Inspection (herein after referred to as "MUI"). A list of typical MUI includes, but is not limited to, engine components, rails, rolling stoke, oil country tubular goods (herein referred to as "OCTG"), chemical plant components, pipelines, bridges, structures, frames, cranes, aircraft, sea going vessels, drilling rigs, workover rigs, vessels, structures, other components of the above, combinations of the above, and similar items.
A prolifically used MFL inspection unit is found in U.S. Pat. No. 2,685,672 and in particular, the sensors and their arrangement as described in FIGS. 5 and 6 are still in use today with hundreds of units employed worldwide in portable or stationary configurations. The same sensor configuration is also described in FIG. 7 of U.S. Pat. No. 2,881,386. This type of NDI is commonly referred to as Electro Magnetic Inspection (herein after referred to as "EMI"). These types of units utilize a magnetizing coil to induce a magnetic field into the MUI. It should be understood that the magnetic field can be applied in any direction. U.S. Pat. No. 2,685,672 shows the induction of a longitudinal magnetic field while U.S. Pat. No. 3,202,914 shows the induction of a transverse magnetic field.
Since these types of EMI units deploy a single sensor per area of MUI, they are classified as one-dimensional herein after referred to as "1D")units. In this type of EMI unit, the signal of each 1D sensor is typically amplified and filtered by a high-pass filter for system stability and by a low-pass filter to remove the noise. Referring to FIG. 6 of U.S. Pat. No. 3,202,914, capacitor 51 and its associated components form a high-pass filter while capacitor 48 and its associated components form a low-pass filter. The highest signal is then selected for presentation to the inspector under an assumption, now widely accepted as being false, that the highest signal corresponds to the worst imperfection. EMI units with multichannel chart recorders assign sensors to a group and then they select the highest signal within the group for presentation to the inspector.
The main drawback of these EMI units is that they are one-dimensional and specifically, that the signal of any 1D sensor can be used as a variable to only one equation. Centuries of strength-of-material knowledge however, define NDI as a multidimensional problem that can never be solved in 1D. The severity of any imperfection, its failure-potential, is a function of its overall geometry, its immediate neighborhood and the loads applied to the MUI, but it is never a function of its response to magnetic excitation. In fact, large 1D signals often arise from well known material features such as braces, tapers, etc. while the detection of dangerous defects, such as fissures or cracks, is the aim of NDI. This predicament, further discussed below, is also illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 2,527,000.
It is therefore desirable to retrofit Autonomous NDI (herein after referred to as "AutoNDI") capabilities to the hundreds of 1D EMI units deployed worldwide. The imperfection features discussed in the AutoNDI prior application Ser. No. 10/995,692, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,155,369, are derived by the extraction matrix. The extraction matrix however, cannot solve a multidimensional problem with only one variable. This problem can be solved by compensating and then analyzing in detail the frequency spectrum of the imperfections to derive a frequency based flaw spectrum for further use by the AutoNDI.
Early on, NDI recognized that the inspection sensor signals were made-up from components of different frequencies. It was readily apparent that the lower frequency components originated from material features that were large while smaller material features gave rise to the higher frequency components. Most of the large material features were often designed into the MUI, thus these features were known in advance, or they could be observed visually while the smaller features were mostly associated with imperfections and could not readily be observed visually.
This often encountered NDI predicament is addressed in the first paragraph U.S. Pat. No. 2,527,000 and it is also shown graphically in its FIG. 3. While searching for small imperfections " . . . to discover any irregularities caused by the presence of fissures or other discontinuities in the rail . . . " the large MUI features that were part of the original rail design " . . . rails are joint by angle-bars, bolts . . . which constitute in themselves irregularities . . . " interfere with the detection of the fissures "As a result, should an internal fissure occur in the rail within the region of the angle bar or closely adjacent to the ends of the angle bar it would be impossible to distinguish such fissure from any other indication". The oil country tubular goods (OCTG) NDI face a similar problem with pipe collars (couplings) and the detection of small imperfections on or in the vicinity of the collars, which has typically been assigned to an offline manual inspection/verification crew. For example, during a trip, when tubing or drill pipe is pulled out of a well, every single joint must be broken off the stand and laid down separately instead of standing up double or triple stands. This process creates a very expensive, labor intensive, and time consuming endeavor. Therefore, it is desired in the art, to provide a simple solution to this predicament by deploying the AutoNDI features.
Early NDI units focused on the smaller imperfections by passing the inspection sensor signal through a high-pass frequency filter and thus selecting its higher frequency components for presentation to the inspector. A high-pass filter is also known in the art as Low-Reject, Low-Cut, DC-block, or AC-Coupler. The simplest high-pass filter known to the art is made up by a capacitor followed by a resistor and can be found in patents such as U.S. Pat. No. 2,582,437 (see FIG. 1 capacitor 13 and resistor 40). Two such filters can be seen in the earlier U.S. Pat. No. 1,823,810 (see FIG. 1, amplifier 20) as well as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,671,155 (see FIG. 1, AC-couplers 6) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,943,632 (see FIG. 1, AC-couplers 6).
U.S. Pat. No. 2,770,773 encompasses many elements of the above to detect corrosion pitting and clearly states a frequency separation essential element, the frequency versus scanning speed interdependence. The high-pass filters of FIG. 7 (capacitors 66, 67 and resistors 69, 70) remove many unwanted " . . . signal producing variables such as separation from the casing wall, wall roughness, misfit . . . " [Column 6, Line 15]. Following the high-pass filter is a band-pass filter ". . . to pass frequencies in the band between about 3 and 20 cycles per second, as this is the characteristic frequency range of signal due to the passage of the shoe 15 across a casing corrosion pit at a transverse speed of twenty feet per minute. This frequency band related to the speed of traverse of the instrument 10 through the casing 12 will, of course, be varied to suit any other traverse speed selected" [Column 6, Line 33]. It is well known in the NDI art that the frequency range of the imperfection signal is proportionately related to the scanning speed. Thus the frequency range of the filters must be adjusted for different scanning speeds, an essential element missing from U.S. Pat. Nos. 5, 671,155 and 5,943,632. Thus, it is desired, in the art, to provide a simple compensation technique to fulfill this essential element. Such a compensation technique is further described herein below.
Yet another example of this technology can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,202,914. The MFL signal for different types of imperfections is shown in its FIG. 5. The specification is written in terms of time which is inversely proportional to frequency and it utilizes both frequency filtering and purpose built sensors to separately process the imperfection signals. This is found at Column 5, Line 57 "Signals from the rod wear search coils 8 and 9, being of low level and low frequency . . . " and at Column 6, Line 37 "Thus the values of resistance 50 and Capacitor 51 are chosen so that the high frequencies of the signals from the seam pass . . . ", a classical separation of rod wear and seam signals. For the same sensor and scanning speed, rod wear, being wider than a seam by at least an order of magnitude, gives rise to lower frequency signal than the seam. Examples of this technology are inspection units offered by OEM, Inc. San Antonio, Tex.
Another early observation of the NDI industry is the scanning speed versus signal amplitude proportional interdependence for coil sensors. U.S. Pat. No. 2,881,386 (see FIGS. 10 and 11) provides a technique for amplitude compensation for the scanning speed variations.
There are many drawbacks associated with this signal processing technology. In nature, even simple imperfections are made up of multifaceted slopes, each slope giving rise to signals of different frequency. Thus, there is no single frequency component exclusively associated with any imperfection type. U.S. Pat. No. 2,770,773 associates the frequency band of 3 Hz to 20 Hz primarily with corrosion pitting signals at the scanning speed of 20 ft/min. However, other imperfections, such as the ends of wall thickness changes could also give rise to signals with frequency components within the same frequency band. The above shortfalls, of conventional inspection equipment, explain the NDI industry's extensive use of manual verification whereby the inspection unit flags an area on the MUI and the verification crew investigates further using visual, dye penetrant, mag particle, ultrasonic, x-ray, pressure testing, and/or miscellaneous other manual techniques. Manual verification is typically performed offline, utilizes specialty inspection equipment and inspectors skilled in a multitude of inspection techniques, it is time consuming, and is therefore very expensive.
Furthermore, imperfections in nature coexist and when detected give rise to even more complex waveforms that include a multitude of frequency components including their sums and differences. This often occurs in materials that endure dynamic loading, where simple corrosion pits become stress concentrators resulting in cracks forming at the bottom of the corrosion pits. The prior art does not address this complexity.
Another drawback of the conventional inspection systems, is the scanning speed interdependence of the imperfection signal frequency spectrum, discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,770,773, which prohibits the use of frequency filters with fixed characteristics such as the ones used in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,671,155 and 5,943,632.

Extraction of imperfection features through spectral analysis


An organic EL display includes an organic material, a gas barrier layer on the member, and an organic EL unit on the gas barrier layer. The gas barrier layer comprises AlxTiyOz, wherein Al represents aluminum, Ti represents titanium, O represents oxygen, x represents the ratio of atoms of Al, y represents the ratio of atoms of Ti, and z represents the ratio of atoms of O. A Ti-atom ratio of the gas barrier layer is given in the units of atom % and defined by the following equation: Ti-atom ratio={y/(x+y)}·100. The gas barrier layer has a first portion at an interface with the member and a second portion at an interface with the organic EL unit. The Ti-atom ratio of the first portion is 0 atom %. The Ti-atom ratio of the second portion is greater than or equal to 10 atom %.

An organic electroluminescent (EL) display, also called an organic light emitting diode (LED) display, generally includes a base substrate, an organic member (e.g., color filter) on the substrate, a gas barrier layer on the organic member, and an organic EL unit on the gas barrier layer.
For example, an organic EL display employing a color filter generally includes a transparent substrate, a color filter layer on the substrate, an overcoat layer on the color filter layer, a gas barrier layer on the overcoat layer, and an organic EL unit that is located on the gas barrier layer and configured to emit white light. The color filter layer and the overcoat layer are made of organic materials.
In such a display, volatile matter (e.g., moisture) volatilizing from the color filter layer or the overcoat layer may cause a dark spot on the organic EL unit and a reduction in luminous efficiency of the organic EL unit. The gas barrier layer blocks the volatile matter so as to prevent the above problems.
For example, JP-A-2007-194168 or US 2006/0017383 corresponding to JP-A-2006-253106 discloses a gas barrier layer formed with a thin film that is represented by the formula AlxTiyOz and formed by an atomic layer deposition method. Typically, such a gas barrier layer has a closely packed structure that improves gas barrier performance.
The AlxTiyOz film is a metal oxide of aluminum (Al) and titanium (Ti). In the formula, the x represents the ratio of atoms of Al, the y represents the ratio of atoms of Ti, and the z represents the ratio of atoms of O. To ensure gas barrier performance, it is required that the AlxTiyOz film be amorphous.
However, depending on the concentration of the Ti of the AlxTiyOz film, a portion of the AlxTiyOz film may change to a crystalline structure that causes a reduction in gas barrier performance. Recently, there has been a strong demand for a gas barrier layer having an improved gas barrier performance for a large-sized display.

Organic electroluminescent display and method of making the same


A motor drive control device for controlling the driving of a brushless motor includes position detecting units (e.g. sensors or Hall elements), a drive signal determining unit and a drive signal outputting unit (an output circuit). The position detecting units are disposed in positions apart from each other by an electric angle of 120 degrees and output position detection signals representing the position of the rotor with respect to the stator. The drive signal determining unit determines drive signals for driving the 3-phase drive coils on the basis of the position detection signals. The drive signal outputting unit generates and outputs, to the 3-phase drive coils, the drive signals that have been determined by the drive signal determining unit.

In recent years, in air conditioners disposed with devices such as a compressor and a blowing fan, a 3-phase brushless DC motor, for example, has been used as a power source of these devices.
Generally, a 3-phase brushless DC motor includes a rotor comprising a permanent magnet having plural magnetic poles and a stator having 3-phase drive coils. A current corresponding to the position of the rotor with respect to the stator is allowed to flow in the drive coils of this kind of brushless DC motor by a motor drive control device for controlling the driving of this motor. Thus, in the drive coils, a magnetic field corresponding to this current arises, and the rotor rotates.
Here, among methods of detecting the position of the rotor with respect to the stator, there is often used a method that uses three position detecting sensors disposed so as to correspond to each of the 3-phase drive coils. Examples of the position detecting sensors include Hall elements and Hall ICs. However, costs become higher when there are many of these position detecting sensors, and the size of the substrate on which the position detecting sensors are disposed ends up becoming large.
Thus, in Japanese Patent No. 3,483,740, there is disclosed a device where the number of Hall ICs that are to be used, which is ordinarily three, is made into two and these two Hall ICs are disposed such that the phases of position detection signals that the two Hall ICs detect are shifted from each other by π/2, whereby the device stably drives a motor.

Motor drive control device and motor drive control system


A linear scale attachment device for holding and securely attaching a linear scale on an object to be measured is disclosed. The device includes an aluminum base formed with a holding groove having a larger opening than the width of a linear scale that is fitted in this groove, and a retainer for preventing the linear scale fitted in the holding groove from falling off. The base is permanently attached to the object at one location in the lengthwise direction, and resiliently attached at one or more other locations such as to be pressed in the X and Y directions using a cantilever plate spring. While using an aluminum base, the attachment device allows easy attachment and maintenance of the scale and relieves the effect of thermal stress caused by a difference in the thermal expansion coefficient between the aluminum base and the object.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device and a method for holding and securely attaching a linear scale on an object to be measured. More particularly, the invention relates to a linear scale attachment device and attachment method which allow easy attachment to an object to be measured and maintenance of the scale, and which can relieve the effect of thermal stress caused by a difference in thermal expansion coefficient between the linear scale and the object made of a different material from the scale.
2. Description of the Related Art
An attachment device used for attaching a relatively long linear scale such as a glass scale or thin metal tape scale on a machine to be measured generally includes a base that has both functions of holding the scale and fixing the scale on the machine.
Such an attachment device requires to be small and lightweight, and should allow easy attachment to the target machine and maintenance of the scale. Further, the device should have a structure that relieves the effect of thermal stress caused by different thermal expansion coefficients of the materials for the device and the machine. These requirements are particularly important for metal linear scales commonly called tape scales, which can sometimes have an entire length of more than 10 m.
A conventional technique devised to satisfy the above requirements is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Sho 59-224501. A tape-like scale is inserted into a hollow base from one end in a lengthwise direction. As the scale sometimes cannot be inserted smoothly because of size variation and the like, high-frequency vibration is applied during the insertion of the scale using a vibration generator. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Sho 59-138915 discloses a technique in which the scale is pulled from one direction into a similar base using a spring.
Some such attachment devices in practical use are provided with an aluminum base. In some applications, the base may be permanently attached to an iron machine using a screw, or, tacked to the machine using a double-sided tape. Here, the thermal expansion coefficient of aluminum is different from that of iron.
However, when the aluminum base is permanently attached to the iron machine using a screw, the measurement accuracy may be degraded because of thermal stress caused by a difference in thermal expansion coefficient between aluminum and iron. The effect of thermal stress can be reduced by resiliently attaching the scale onto the machine using a double-sided tape, but such tape is inferior in respect to easy attachment or maintenance of the scale, and long-term stability.
Thus, while conventional aluminum bases for holding and fixing scales on an object to be measured are small and lightweight, there still is a scope of improvement for securely attaching a relatively long scale on a machine, such as various problems described above.

Linear scale attachment device and attachment method


An apparatus is disclosed which is for forming an image using a fuser unit, including: a fuser roller; a heater heating the fuser roller; a temperature sensor detecting a temperature of the fuser roller; and a controller controlling the heater to substantially achieve a desired temperature of the fuser roller, wherein the controller includes a desired-temperature setting device. The device is operated during a cold start of the fuser unit, so as to set the desired temperature to a second standby-temperature which is lower than a fusing temperature and higher than a normal standby-temperature, so as to maintain the desired temperature at the second standby-temperature during a heat-storing period during which heat is stored in the fuser unit, and so as to set the desired temperature to the normal standby-temperature upon termination of the heat-storing period.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique employed in an image forming apparatus such as a laser printer, and more particularly to a technique of controlling the temperature of a fuser roller fusing an image to a receiver medium such as a print sheet.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typically, an image forming apparatus such as a laser printer is operated in combination with a fuser unit. The fuser unit is provided for heating a print sheet bearing an unfused toner thereon and then fusing the toner image to the print sheet.
The above fusing unit is typically configured to include: a fuser roller incorporating a heater therein; a pressure roller disposed in pressure contact with the fuser roller; a temperature sensor (e.g., a thermistor) detecting the surface temperature of the fuser roller; etc. In printing operation, the fuser unit controls the heater in an on-off manner based on a signal from the temperature sensor, to thereby perform a fusing operation such that the surface temperature of the fuser roller is maintained at a predetermined level.
In operation, such an image forming apparatus performs a warm-up operation once a printing operation becomes required soon after the occurrence of a cold start of the fuser unit. The term "cold start" may be defined to mean a start immediately from a power-on event of the image forming apparatus, a start immediately from the release of an operation mode of the image forming apparatus from a sleep mode, etc.
Conventionally, even when the temperature of the surface of the fuser roller reaches a desired fusing-temperature owing to the above warm-up operation, the remaining portion of the image forming apparatus (possibly including the remaining portion of the fuser roller and the remaining portion of the fuser unit) fails to become adequately warm. For the reason, once the printing operation begins, the heating process of the fuser roller runs short due to heat scattering and lost into the above remaining portion and the print sheet, possibly resulting in an inadequate fixing of the print sheet.
For avoiding the inadequate fixing, it is conventional to take an approach to inhibit a printing operation during a given length of period elapsed from the occurrence of the power-on event of the image forming apparatus, or an approach to temporally maintain the temperature of the fuser roller at a temperature higher than the desired fusing temperature, i.e., a desired operating temperature. The latter approach is disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3,119,690.

Fuser temperature control providing faster wake up from cold start by optimizing standby temperature of fuser roller


Systems and computer readable codes for maintaining data structures in accordance with the events of a nonvolatile memory system. At least part of one or more management tables and a future information data structure are stored in a nonvolatile memory. The future information data structure contains records of events expected to occur subsequent to the storing of the future information data structure. When flash memory events occur, those events are handled in accordance with the future information data structure. When the memory system wakes up, the management table(s) is/are retrieved and the records of the future information data structure are compared with the table(s) state. The table(s) is/are updated in accordance with the future information data structure.

The present invention relates to methods and systems for maintaining data structures that are useful for facilitating a wake-up of a flash memory system.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,510,488 of Lasser entitled "Method For Fast Wake-Up of a Flash Memory System" (hereinafter "Lasser '488") discloses a method and system for allowing a flash memory system to achieve a fast wake-up time after powering the flash memory system up even if the flash system software relies on management tables whose generation from scratch is time-consuming. This fast wake-up time is achieved without sacrificing data integrity. The aforementioned patent of Lasser '488 is incorporated by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
As explained in Lasser '488, using a flash memory device for computer data storage traditionally requires a software translation layer that sits between the host computer's operating system and the device low-level access routines. This is so because the flash technology has some usage limitations, which make the flash memory impossible to access in a simple random-access linear method. One such limitation is the inability to randomly overwrite any desired flash memory location. Specifically, the writing of new content into a flash memory location may require first erasing the whole block containing that location (preserving the contents of any other locations still needed), and only then writing the new content.
The translation layer presents to the hosting operating system a virtual view of a random-access addressable array of independent data sectors, while hiding and handling the details of mapping those virtual addresses into their real locations in the flash media. This translation mechanism is far from trivial, and an example of such a flash memory translation layer is disclosed in Amir Ban's U.S. Pat. No. 5,937,425, which is incorporated as if fully set forth herein. Ban discloses a method for implementing a mapping mechanism between virtual and physical flash addresses. Another example of such as system is detailed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,678,785, which is also incorporated by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
The translation process relies on internal translation tables that provide the flash system software with the information required for converting the host computer data access requests to the actual flash access requests. These translation tables are constructed by the flash memory system software during system wake-up (or at later time, if so requested by the hosting software), based on control information stored within the flash device. Even though it is theoretically possible not to construct such tables and instead to use only the raw control data from the flash memory, this is practically unusable as the response time to an access request would be too slow. This is so because accessing data on flash is much slower than accessing data in RAM memory, and also because the RAM memory tables are usually optimized for efficiency in the type of operations required during runtime, while the flash-stored control data is not.
For example, a flash physical unit might contain the number of the virtual unit mapped to it. During program runtime we may frequently need to translate a virtual unit number into its physical counterpart. If we have to rely only on flash-stored control data, we may need to scan the units until we find the unit with the specified virtual unit number, a very long process by the standards of a simple media access. However, by scanning the flash device once on system wake-up and constructing a table mapping each virtual unit number into a corresponding physical unit number, we are able to later do such mappings very efficiently.
The problem is that scanning the flash data storage device on system wake-up might take a long time, especially for high capacity devices. This is especially annoying for systems and devices in which a user expects immediate turn-on (i.e. cellular phones, PDAs, etc.). Simply storing the tables in the flash memory may work for read-only devices, such as flash devices storing only computer executable code that is not changeable by the user. However, merely storing the tables in flash memory will not succeed when using devices used to store data which might be changing frequently (such as text files or spreadsheets in a PDA). This is so because when continuously writing to the device and changing the device's contents, the contents of the translation tables also change. It is not practical to update the copy of the tables in the flash memory each time the tables change in RAM, because the incurred overhead will slow the system considerably. Consequently, a difference will be accumulated between the tables stored in flash memory and the "correct" ones in RAM. Now if the user switches the power off and then turns the power back on, without updating the tables, the software will read incorrect translation tables from flash memory, and the results might be data loss when writing new data.
According to some embodiments disclosed in Lasser '488, this problem is solved by storing translation tables in the flash memory and adding some means for the software to invalidate the translation tables in a way that is detectable whenever reading them. Possible implementations (but not the only implementations) include adding a checksum value that makes the sum of all entries equal some fixed known value, or adding a validity flag to the stored tables. Additionally, one should ask the application software to call a specific function in the translation layer before shutting the system down.
In these ways the flash memory device is able to initiate fast wake-ups when the system undergoes an orderly shut down, and reverts to regular wake-ups when the system undergoes an un-orderly shut down.
While this solution is useful for many cases, there are situations where this solution may not be adequate. A first example where the solution may not be adequate is when sudden power failures are frequent and it is expected that many (or even most) of the power-up events will encounter invalid stored tables and will result in regular wake-ups that are slow.
A second example where the solution may not be adequate is where the operating system of the appliance hosting the flash memory system does not provide the software application with a service for orderly device dismounting or shutting down. While complex operating systems like Linux do provide such service, there are many simpler and smaller operating systems that are designed for starting up the storage system upon power-on and never shut the operating system down. In such cases the methods of Lasser '488 will result in every power-up of the system doing a regular wake-up of the flash management system, gaining nothing from those methods.
A third example where the solution may not be adequate is where there is a strict limit on the length of the time interval between powering the system up and having the system ready for operation. So even if power failures are rare and almost all power-up cases result in a fast wake-up of the flash management system, it is still unacceptable that a power failure will cause a later regular power-up sequence, regardless of how rarely this occurs.
Because of the above inadequacies of Lasser '488, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/382,056 to Lasser (hereinafter "Lasser '056") discloses another solution to the problem of a fast wake-up of flash management systems. The aforementioned application of Lasser '056 is incorporated by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
Lasser '056 discloses a technique whereby one or more flash management tables are updated and saved in flash memory after some but not after all events of the flash memory system. When waking up, if it turns out that a given flash management table stored in the flash memory contains out-of-date information, it is still possible to use the stored table(s) to facilitate system wake-up, and there is no requirement to invalidate the out-of-date table. Instead of invalidating this table, the out-of-date flash management table saved in flash memory before shut down and/or power loss may, when waking up, be used to re-construct the "proper" table (i.e. reflecting a current state of the system)
This is carried out by concurrently maintaining in flash memory an events log. When waking up, data stored in the events log are used to update the flash memory table and thereby maintain data integrity even if there was not an orderly exit before loss of power or shut-down. In most cases, the deriving of an "up-to-date" from an "out-of-date" table stored in flash memory using an events log is faster than the constructing of an up-to-date table by scanning the flash storage device.
A drawback of Lasser '056 is that it requires maintaining an events log in the flash memory. While in some flash management systems this is not a real drawback because an events log is already maintained for other reasons, there are many flash management systems in which an events log is not otherwise required, making the use of the methods of Lasser '056 costly in write performance.
There is thus a widely recognized need for, and it would be highly advantageous to have, a method and system that can provide a method for fast wake-up of a flash memory system, without compromising the integrity of the flash data structures and without sacrificing performance.

Method and system for facilitating fast wake-up of a flash memory system


A power factor correction (PFC) circuit (10) includes a pulse width modulator (31) operating in response to a clock signal (CLK) for switching a coil current (ICOIL) over a charging period (TCHG) to correct a power factor at a node (32). The coil current discharges over a discharging period (TDSCHG) to develop an output voltage (VOUT) at an output (30). An oscillator (35) generates the clock signal to have a clock period (TCLK) longer than the sum of the charging and discharging periods, thereby operating in a discontinuous mode, and has an input (39) for sensing the input signal to modify the clock period.

The present invention relates in general to integrated circuits and, more particularly, to integrated power factor correction circuits.
Lighting fixtures and other electrical systems have a low power factor because they draw current from the alternating current (AC) mains only near its peak voltage levels, rather than throughout the cycle. Since the voltage peaks occur at the same time for all users in a given distribution network, the aggregate effect is to load the network's generators with a high current at the voltage peaks and little or no current at other times. Such loading generates harmonic distortion of the mains voltage, high neutral currents in three-phase distribution networks and the possible malfunctioning of devices operating from the mains. To avoid the line distortion, regional utility companies are forced to oversize their distribution networks, which requires a large capital investment.
Some governments are trying to relieve this problem by requiring system manufacturers to incorporate power factor correction (PFC) in some electrical systems. For example, Europe's IEC1000-3-2 specification requires PFC in lighting systems as well as the power supplies of certain other electrical devices. The PFC typically is accomplished with PFC circuits that switch the mains current through a coil at a frequency much higher than the mains frequency, and then discharge the coil current through a blocking diode into a capacitor to develop a direct current (DC) supply voltage that is further regulated to power the device or system. The current switching is controlled so that the average value of the coil current is proportional to the AC mains voltage, i.e., in-phase and substantially sinusoidal. This method results in power factors of 0.995 or more, with 1.0 being ideal.
A significant portion of previous PFC circuits operate in a continuous conduction mode, where a new switching cycle is initiated before the previous cycle's coil current discharges to zero. Continuous conduction mode PFC systems require a high performance coil and a blocking diode with a fast recovery time in order to maintain an efficient power transfer. However, the high performance coil and blocking diode have a high cost, which increases the manufacturing cost of the continuous mode PFC systems. Moreover, these systems typically operate at a fixed switching frequency, and therefore produce a high peak energy that requires a costly filter to suppress the resulting electromagnetic interference (EMI).
Other PFC systems operate in a critical or borderline conduction mode where a new switching cycle is initiated just as the coil current reaches zero. Critical conduction mode circuits provide a high power factor but they operate over a wide switching frequency range, and require complex and costly filters to suppress the EMI. Also, under low power conditions, the switching frequency is so high that propagation delays through the PFC circuit degrade the achievable power factor.
Other PFC circuits operate in a discontinuous mode in which the coil current is allowed to decay to zero for a period of time on each switching cycle. These systems can be made to switch at a fixed frequency to reduce the EMI spectrum and allow the use of narrow band EMI filters. However, like the continuous conduction mode PFC circuits, these systems generate high peak levels of radiated energy at a single frequency that can be difficult to suppress even with the narrow band filters.
Hence, there is a need for a PFC circuit and method that switches over a controlled range in order to reduce the EMI filtering cost of an electrical system.

Power factor correction circuit and method of varying switching frequency

Semiconductor Components Industries, L.L.C.


A networking system may include a switch coupled to a computing resource. A resource management system may control the computing resource. A controller may be coupled to the switch. The controller may include a resource management interface that is coupled to the resource management system via a communications link. The resource management interface may receive computing resource information for the computing resource via the communications link. The controller may provide control data to the switch to update a cloud network for the computing resource based on the received computing resource information.

This relates to communication networks, and more particularly, to communications networks having network switches that are controlled by controller circuitry.
Packet-based networks include network switches. Network switches are used in forwarding network traffic (e.g., packets) between end hosts (e.g., from packet sources to packet destinations). Network switch controller circuitry can be used to control the network switches in forwarding network traffic.
In some applications, computing hardware such as network racks of server hardware form packet sources and packet destinations. As an example, the server hardware may provision and instantiate computing resources (e.g., compute and/or storage resources) across different network racks as needed to form the end hosts for the network switches. One or more computing resource management systems (e.g., cloud orchestration systems or platforms) are often used by a user to collectively instantiate one or more of these computing resources as computing clusters across the server hardware.
Because the control and management of network switches are separate from the orchestration and management of these computing resources, it can be tedious for a user seeking to deploy applications using these computing resources to separately control, monitor, and modify the networking fabric such as by configuring the network switches. As an example, a user may be required to manually gather computing resource information and manually input control parameters to facilitate the control and management of the network switches in forming the complex connections between the computing resources and organizing these connections in meaningful manner. These issues are further exacerbated by the large number of computing resources typically employed and by the number of different orchestration and management systems available to be used, among other considerations. Such constraints can delay the deployment of applications based on these computing resources connected by the network switches.
It is within this context that the embodiments described herein arise.

Systems and methods for integrating network switch management with computing resource management


In an electro-surgical high-frequency generator, the signal frequency or the modulation frequency or a clock frequency or any combination thereof are modulated using a low-frequency modulation signal in such a way that the spectra thereof are widened. This results in a reduction of interference on peripheral devices.

The invention relates to a method for controlling an electro-surgical high-frequency ("HF") generator and an electro-surgical device.
Modern surgery frequently makes use of electro-surgical devices including a high-frequency generator for generating a high-frequency alternating current. This high-frequency alternating current is then used to cut or coagulate biological tissue or treat it in some other way.
The fundamental frequency of the HF generator is usually between 300 kHz and 4 MHz. Depending upon the application, this high-frequency is modulated in different ways with respect to its amplitudes. Usually, pulse duration modulation is performed in order to determine the power applied. Here, the ratio of burst-type signal segments to succeeding pauses is set. The clock frequency or modulation is usually performed with frequencies of between 1 kHz and 50 kHz.
In addition, further modulation (switching the output signal on and off) is performed with very low frequencies between 1 Hz and 10 Hz to achieve a power intensity which enables the operator to follow the progress of the treatment.
Finally, to avoid leakage currents or losses from the generators during idling with no load, very low-frequency pulses (e.g., sine beats of the fundamental frequency) are used.
In addition to electro-surgical devices, a plurality of other electrical or electronic devices is used in the operating theatre. These include, for example, patient monitoring devices (for example EEG devices) or video devices. A typical example of a video device essential for an operation is in operations performed using endoscopy. In this case, the video chip is located in the immediate vicinity of the location at which an electro-surgical instrument is used to apply the above-described high-frequency alternating current to tissue.
In all the above cases, there is frequently interference with the electronic device, which could even result in the failure of the patient monitor used meaning that, after a certain time, it is not possible to monitor the vital parameters of the patient. The same applies to the video picture. In all cases, problems of this kind can have fatal consequences for the patient.

Method for controlling an electro-surgical HF generator and electro-surgical device


The methods of this invention relate to immunizing animals with conjugates of cytokines and a carrier to induce a prolonged high titre antibody response specific for the cytokine. This invention also relates to the treatment of pathological conditions, e.g., eosinophilia and allograft rejection, associated with the production of cytokines, in particular interleukins, e.g., IL-4, IL-5, IL-9, and IL-13, by immunization with the cytokine conjugates or by administration of antibodies specific for the cytokine. This invention also relates to compositions comprising the cytokine conjugates and the conjugates per se.

Cytokines are involved in many biological functions and are major mediators of the immune response. They are associated with the initiation and progression of various autoimnimune diseases. For example, tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα), interferon γ (IFNγ) and interleukin-1 (IL-1) have been associated with diabetes and the destruction of islet cells, the elevated production of Th2 cytokines have been associated with asthma, and interleukin-12 (IL-12) has been associated with rhuematoid arthritis.
Interleukin-9 ("IL-9" hereafter), is a glycoprotein which has been isolated from both murine and human cells. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,208,218, incorporated by reference. This reference also teaches isolated nucleic acid molecules encoding the protein portion of the molecule, and how to express it.
Since its discovery as a T- and mast cell-growth factor produced by Th2 cells, the physiological processes in which for IL-9 is known to have a role have been gradually expanded (Uyttenhove, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 85:6934–6938 (1988); Hültner, et al., Eur. J. Immunol. 20:1413–1416 (1990); and Gessner, et al., Immunobiol. 189:419–435 (1993)) (Renauld, J.-C., & Van Snick, J. (1998), The Cytokine Handbook 313–331). Prominent features, disclosed by analysis of transgenic mice overexpressing IL-9, include increased susceptibility to lymphoma-genesis (Renauld, et al., Oncogene 9:1327–1332 (1994)), intestinal mastocytosis (Godfraind, et al., J. Immunol. 160:3989–3996 (1998)), expansion of the B-1 lymphocyte population (Godfraind, et al., J. Immunol. 160:3989–3996 (1998)), bronchial hyper-responsiveness (Temann, et al., J. Exp. Med. 188:1307–1320 (1998), and McLane, et al., Am J. Resp. Cell. Mol. 19:713–720 (1998)) and airway eosinophilia (Dong, et al., Eur. J. Immunol. 29:2130–2139 (1999)). In line with these observations, genetic analyses revealed a linkage between both IL-9 and IL-9 receptor (IL-9R) genes to human asthma (Holroyd, et al., Genomics 52:233–235 (1998) and Marsh, et al. Science 264:1152–1156 (1994)), a finding that was confirmed with respect to IL-9 in murine models (Nicolaides, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 94: 13175–13180 (1997)).
Various uses of IL-9 are disclose in, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,164,317 (proliferation of mast cells); U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,246,701 and 5,132,109 (enhancing production of IgG and inhibiting production of IgE), in addition to its first recognized utility, which is as a T cell growth factor. Exemplary of the vast scientific literature on IL-9 are Van Snick, et al, J. Exp. Med. 169(1): 363–368 (1989) (cDNA for the murine molecule, then referred to as P40). Houssiau, etal, J. Immunol 148, (10): 3147–3151(1992) (IL-2 dependence of IL-9 expression in T lymphocytes). Renauld, et al, Oncogene 9(5):1327–1332 (1994) (effect on thymic lymphomas); Renauld, et al, Blood 85(5):1300–1305 (1995) (anti-apoptotic factor for thymic lymphoma); U.S. Pat. No. 5,830,454 (treatments of cell mediated autoimmune disorders); and U.S. Pat. No. No. 5,935,929 (treating or preventing interstitial lung disease). Review articles may be found at, e.g., Renauld, et al, Cancer Invest, 11(5): 635–640 (1993); Renauld, et al, Adv. Immunol 54:79–97 (1993).
While detrimental in asthma, elevated production of Th2 cytokines has been reported to correlate with resistance to certain parasite infections (Finkelman, et al., Annu. Rev. Immunol., 15:505–533 (1997)). IL-9, for example, was found to enhance mouse resistance to infection with the caecal dwelling nematode T.muris (Faulkner, et al., Infect. Immun., 66:3832–3840(1998)). This resistance was associated with high IgE and IgG1 levels, as well as with pronounced intestinal mastocytosis.
The absence of T cell help has previously been suggested to be crucial for B cell tolerance toward self-proteins (Dalum, et al., J. Immunol., 157 ; 4786–4804 (1996)). Using bovine luteinizing hormone (LH) as a self protein coupled to ovalbumin (OVA), Johnson, et al. (J. Anim. Sci., 66, 719–726 (1988)) were able to induce high titers of autoantibodies against LH, causing cows to become anestrous. Similarly, a vaccine that prevents pregnancy in women was developed by coupling human chorionic gonadotropin and ovine luteinizing hormone to tetanus and diphtheria toxoids (Talwar, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 91:8532–8536 (1994)). More recently, immunization with a fusion protein of an OVA epitope and mouse TNFα was found to prevent experimental cachexia and collagen-induced arthritis in mice (Dalum, et al., Nature Biotechnology, 17:666–669 (1999)).
Earlier attempts to generate autoantibodies capable of regulating biological processes, were successfully carried out mainly with hormones (Johnson, et al., J. Anim. Sci., 66:719–726 (1988) and Talwar, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 91:8532–8536 (1994)), hormone receptors (Chackerian, et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 96:2773–2778 (1999)) or cellular components (Dong, et al., J. Exp. Med., 179:1243–1252 (1994) and Dalum, et al., Mol. Immunol., 34:1113–1120 (1997)). These observations were recently extended to cytokines with reports of anti-IFNα induction in AIDS patients (Zagury, et al., Biomed. Pharmacother, 53:90–92 (1999)) and of anti-TNFα vaccination in mice, the latter preventing cachexia and rheumatoid arthritis (Dalum, et al., Nature Biotechnology, 17:666–669 (1999)).

Method for making cytokine specific antibodies and uses thereof


Methods are given for making scale inhibitors, that were previously incompatible with fluids containing fluoride ion, compatible with fluids containing fluoride ion. Examples of such scale inhibitors include phosphonates and phosphino-polycarboxylates. The method is replacing alkali metal and alkaline earth metal cations, present in salts or bases, or as counter ions of the scale inhibitors, with hydrogen or ammonium ions. Methods of inhibiting scale formation and of dissolving scales are also given.

The invention relates to the use of scale inhibitors in the presence of hydrogen fluoride. More specifically, it relates to making scale inhibitors that previously could not be used in the presence of hydrogen fluoride useful in the presence of hydrogen fluoride.
Five principal generic types of inorganic scale inhibitors are commercially available. They are: phosphonates, phosphino-polycarboxylates, polyacrylates, poly vinyl sulphonic acids, and sulphonated polyacrylate co-polymers. Because of the pKa values of the corresponding phosphonic and phosphino-polycarboxylic acids, most phosphonates and phosphino-polycarboxylate scale inhibitors are ineffective at pH values below about 4; they do not dissociate to a sufficient extent at lower pH's. Two methods have commonly been used to address this issue. One method has been to increase the pH (at least partially neutralize the solution) in order to increase the extent of dissociation of the corresponding acids. The other has been to increase the electrostatic attraction of the inhibitor molecules by introducing strongly acidic sulphonic acid groups.
In addition, simultaneous (or sequential) treatment that includes both scale control and matrix acidizing has become more and more attractive due to its cost-effectiveness and operational simplicity. In order to increase the effectiveness of the scale inhibitor, the pH of the inhibitor is generally adjusted high enough (sometimes to greater than 7) to compensate for the pH drop that may occur if there is contamination of the inhibitor by the acid. This is done by adding caustic additives, such as NaOH, Ca(OH)2 or others; there may also even be addition of NaCl/CaCl2 or other salts (to promote precipitation of the inhibitor).
It is well-known that sandstone acidizing fluid systems (HF-based, containing HF or HF sources such as ammonium fluoride or ammonium bifluoride) are incompatible with cations such as Na+, K+, and Ca++ in aqueous solution. If concentrations reach certain levels, NaF and similar fluoride salts precipitate.
There is a need for scale inhibitors that can be used in situations in which they may come into contact with fluoride ions.

Scale inhibitors compatible with sandstone acidizing