A bridge type phase detection device comprises one or more than one transformer, a plurality of tubes, a voltage-detecting protection circuit and a first, second and third impedance, wherein a first tube of said plurality of tubes has a phase opposite to that of a second tube of said plurality of tubes, and a first end of said first impedance coupling with a secondary side of said transformer and a first end of said first tube, a first end of said second impedance coupling with said secondary side of said transformer and a first end of said second tube, then a second end of said first impedance connecting to a second end of said second impedance to form a detection point, said detection point coupling with said third impedance and said voltage-detecting protection circuit; said detection point having a voltage value derived from calculating a sum of said phase of said first impedance and that of said second impedance, then an output voltage divided among said first, two and third impedance, resulting in approximately zero voltage at said detection point during normal operation, if said voltage-detecting protection circuit detecting a non-zero voltage, it is concluded that a tube anomaly is present.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bridge type phase detection device and more particularly, to a bridge type phase detection device which can accurately detect an anomaly of a LCD backlight tube.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 1A illustrate a prior art tube anomaly detection circuit for LCD backlight, the tube anomaly detection circuit comprising an electronic switch 91, a first and second transformer 921, 922, a first tube 931 and a second tube 932, a first and second capacitor 941, 942, a voltage-detecting protection circuit 95, a current-detecting protection circuit 96, a pulse width modulation (PWM) IC 97. PWM IC 97 and a primary side of first transformer 921 and second transformer 922 couple with the electronic switch 91, and a first end of a secondary side of first and second transformer 921, 922 couple with a first end of first and second tube 931, 932, while a second end of the secondary side of first and second transformer 921, 922 couple with current-detecting protection circuit 96; a second end of first and second tube 941, 942 are grounded, respectively, and a first end of first capacitor 941 couples with the first end of the secondary side of first and second transformer 921, 922 and the first end of first and second tube 931, 932; the second end of first capacitor 941 couples with a first end of second capacitor 942, and a second end of second capacitor 942 is grounded, the place where first capacitor 941 couples with second capacitor 942 is called a detection point 98. Detection point 98 couples with voltage-detecting protection circuit 95, and then couples with current-detecting protection circuit 96 and PWM IC 97 through voltage-detecting protection circuit 95.
In the above mentioned circuitry, voltage-detecting protection circuit 95 detects a voltage value of detection point 98 to find out if first and second tube 931, 932 operate normally; however, the voltage of detection point 98 is derived from dividing an output voltage based on the impedance of first capacitor 941 and that of second capacitor 942; therefore, the voltage is around 1000Vrms during normal operation and rises to 1200V˜1300Vrms when an anomaly occurs, the difference between them is only 20%, which is not easy for voltage-detecting protection circuit 95 to detect any anomaly associated with first and second tube 931, 932.
FIGS. 1B–D illustrate a few prior art tube anomaly detection circuits for LCD backlight. In FIG. 1B, two transformers couple with U-shaped tube 933 to provide power and to detect if U-shaped tube 933 works properly; in FIG. 1C, a single transformer 921 couples with tube 931, 932 to detect if tube 931, 932 work properly; in FIG. 1D, a single transformer 921 couples with U-shaped tube 933 to detect if U-shaped tube 933 works properly; however, all of the tube anomaly detection circuits detect the divided voltage derived from first capacitor 941 and second capacitor 942, it is likely that voltage-detecting protection circuit 95 has difficulties in detecting any anomaly associated with the tubes.
Therefore, the prior art tube current control device mentioned above presents several shortcomings to be overcome.
In view of the above-described deficiency of prior-art tube anomaly detection circuit for LCD backlight, after years of constant effort in research, the inventor of this invention has consequently developed and proposed a bridge type phase detection device in the present invention.


As shown in FIG. 2B, a photographing area is divided into a plurality of blocks. The block at the center of the photographing area is defined as an observation block 31, and the blocks at the periphery of the photographing area are defined as background blocks 32. When the number of background blocks 32 having the largest number of identical motion vectors is larger than a threshold m, when the scalar quantity of the motion vectors of these background blocks 32 with the largest number is larger than a threshold v, and when the scalar quantity of the motion vector of the observation block 31 is smaller than a threshold vc, the digital camera 1 judges that the user is performing a follow shot and there is no blurring of the observed photographic subject, and performs an automatic shooting.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus and a program thereof, and particularly, relates to an imaging apparatus having an automatic shooting function and a program thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, digital cameras equipped with an automatic shooting function have been devised.
For example, Japanese Laid-Open (Kokai) Patent Application 2001-235782 discloses an art which, when a detected angular velocity or angular acceleration of a camera satisfies a certain condition, judges that a follow shot (i.e., a shooting technique in which a user shoots a moving subject while moving the camera) is being performed, and automatically shoots an image.


A universal asynchronous receiver and transmitter includes a transmit clock supplier and a receive clock generator. The clock supplier provides an opposite system with a baud clock in response to its baud rate before transmitting data to the opposite system. The receive clock generator generates a baud clock in response to a baud rate supplied from the opposite system and receives data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a universal asynchronous receiver and transmitter, and more particularly to such a universal asynchronous receiver and transmitter that can minimize a baud rate error that may occur due to differences between systems.
2. Background of the Related Art
A universal asynchronous receiver and transmitter (UART) is a control system that converts bytes of data between the parallel format in which bits are stored side by side within a device and the serial format whereby bits are propagated sequentially over a communication line. As shown in FIG. 1, a UART 6 includes a control circuit 1 generating a control signal indicative of the amount of data transmission, first and second latches 2 and 2' latching higher bits and lower bits of the control signal, and a baud generator 3 for generating a baud rate in response to a control signal produced from the control circuit 1.
The baud generator 3 counts the data latched by latches 2 and 2' and generates transmission and reception clock signals. The UART also includes a receiver 4 having a receive buffer register and a receive first input/first output (FIFO) buffer to interface a remote host to a local host, and a transmitter 5 having a transmit hold register and a transmit FIFO buffer to interface the local host to the remote host.
In asynchronous data transmission, the data comprises a 1-bit start bit, 5- to 8-bit data, a parity bit attached to the data bits, and 1-, 1/2- or 2-bit stop bit. In case of serial data communication between two otherwise incompatible systems, data transmission and reception operations are carried out after making baud clocks of both systems equal to one another by programming the values to be latched in the first and second latches 2 and 2'. The conventional UART accomplishes data communication with the trouble of making baud rates of two incompatible systems equal to each other every time, and with a high probability of a baud rate error due to differences between systems.

Universal asynchronous receiver and transmitter


An online conference session management system includes computer sites associated with a conference session holder, a plurality of service providers and a plurality of conference session participants. The conference session holder and each service provider has a respective associated public/private key pair for a specified online conference session. Each service provider is provided with an active participant registration certificate that gives the service provider the authority to register participants of the specified conference session, as well as authority to register other service providers as active participants of the specified conference session by providing those other service providers with respective active participant registration certificates. Each active participant registration certificate is digitally signed by either the conference session holder or one of the service providers using a private key of a public/private key pair unique to the conference session holder or respective service provider. Each active participant registration certificate includes the public key of the public/private key pair unique to the service provider whose authority to register participants is given by that active participant registration certificate. The service providers provide participants of the specified conference session with passive participant registration certificates. Each passive participant registration certificate is digitally signed by a service provider using a private key associated with that service provider. A passive participant registration certificate is validated by verifying the certificate's digital signature with the public key associated with the service provider that provided the passive participant registration certificate, and then validating that service provider's active participant registration certificate.

An online conference session is defined to be a communication session in which two or more parties communicate electronically. If a conference session is private, participation is restricted, typically using encryption keys (sometimes herein called secret keys) to encrypt the conference session. If a conference session is not private, participation is not restricted. A private conference session always requires participants registration and authentication, whereas a public conference may require either participants' registration, or both participant' registration and authentication. Registration is the procedure by which a participant indicates his/her intention to participate in a conference session and receives in return a registration certificate. For private conferences, registration is also the process by which a participant obtains the secret key required to decode the contents of the conference session. Authentication is the procedure by which a participant's identity is validated.
For example, a scientific conference may be public in nature, but require participants registration for billing purposes. Similarly, it may require authentication for providing membership discounts.
A multi-party communications system allows two or more parties to send and receive data and to communicate accordingly. A conferencing system, is a multi-party communications system that provides real time communications.
An online conferencing system will typically allow several conference sessions to take place simultaneously. Every conference session is assumed to be initiated by a particular user, namely the session holder, and it is up to the session holder to specify the conference type, and to handle participants registration and key distribution accordingly. With regard to participants registration and key distribution, the session can follow either a centralized or distributed approach. In a centralized approach, the session holder handles everything himself, whereas in a distributed approach the session holder nominates agents to assist him. The present invention utilizes a distributed approach.
It is a goal of the present invention to enable a session holder to enlist the services of other parties to facilitate the registration and distribution of secret keys to conference session participants.
It is a further goal of the present invention to provide a mechanism so that registration certificates given to conference session participants can be validated by any user of the system, including parties not participating in the conference session.
It is a further goal of the present invention to provide a mechanism that enables any user of the system to determine if a particular participant has registered for a conference session, who provided that participant with a registration certificate, and provided him with the session key in a private conference session.
It is a further goal of the present invention to enable conference session participants to be able to request specified certification parties, such as universities, to convert their registration certificates into attendance certificates, and for such certification parties to be able to validate the registration certificates so as to verify that the requesting party actually participated in the conference session for which an attendance certificate has been requested.

Distributed registration and key distribution system and method

International Computer Science Institute


A lighting control circuit includes a rectifier connected to an electric ballast to which a commercial AC power is supplied, and configured to convert an AC to a DC, a series light emitter a plurality of solid-state light-emitting elements is connected in series, a smoothing capacitor provided in parallel with the series light emitter in a current supply line between the rectifier and the series light emitter, and configured to eliminate an AC component included in the DC from an output side of the rectifier, and a switching control circuit configured to generate an output voltage equal to an output voltage from the electric ballast when a fluorescent lamp starts up upon the connection of the fluorescent lamp to the electric ballast as a startup voltage in the startup of the series light emitter.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lighting control circuit for use in controlling lighting of a solid-state light-emitting element, a lamp, and a lighting control method using the lighting control circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
A lamp using, for example, a light-emitting diode (LED) as a battery-friendly solid-state light-emitting element is proposed instead of a fluorescent lamp having filament electrodes (refer to, for example, JP2008-277188A).
According to the technique disclosed in JP2008-277188A, a lamp having a solid-state light-emitting element can be exchangeably attached not only to a lighting device for a glow starter fluorescent lamp or a rapid starter fluorescent lamp but also to a lighting device having an inverter electronic ballast for a fluorescent lamp.
However, in a case of attaching a lamp having a rectifier circuit, smoothing circuit, and solid-state light-emitting element to an electronic ballast of a fluorescent lamp, a lamp different from a commercial fluorescent lamp is connected to an electronic ballast of a fluorescent lamp, so that a protection operation of the electronic ballast operates, which may disturb the lighting of the lamp.
Unstable lighting of a lamp is a generally known fact. In order to avoid such unstable lighting of the lamp, the output voltage of the electric ballast is set to be a voltage (equal voltage) close to the output voltage while a fluorescent lamp is connected to the electric ballast when the lamp is connected to the electric ballast instead of the fluorescent lamp.
However, when the output voltage while the lamp is connected to the electric ballast is set to be close to the output voltage while the fluorescent lamp is connected to the electric ballast, the protection operation of the electric ballast becomes difficult to operate. Therefore, it is disadvantageous in electric power saving although it is advantageous in stable lighting of a lamp.
On the other hand, when the output voltage while the lamp is connected to the electric ballast is set to be lower than the output voltage while the fluorescent lamp is connected to the electric ballast, the electric power saving can be improved, but the lighting of the lamp becomes unstable.

Lighting control circuit, lamp, and lighting control method using the lighting control circuit


A voltage reference generator includes a voltage source and a differential amplifier. The voltage source supplies a stable voltage reference to a positive input of the differential amplifier which is configured as a follower having its output looped back to its negative input. The negative feedback loop is a variable-resistance loop that is controlled by the output of the differential amplifier. The variable-resistance feedback loop transiently imposes open-loop operation when the voltage reference generator is turned on so as to provide high current to the output before imposing closed-loop operation in follower mode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a voltage reference generator, and more particularly to a voltage reference generator that generates a read voltage reference applicable to the cells of an EEPROM memory.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
The read voltage applied to the cells of a memory circuit is usually produced from the logic supply voltage of the circuit. It typically has a level below this supply voltage, for example, on the order of 2.5 volts. This read voltage should be stable to enable reliable reading of the memory cells, meaning that it should not vary with the supply voltage or the temperature. It should also be reproducible from one circuit to another despite the fact that the characteristics, for example the threshold voltage of the transistors, may vary dependent on the particular manufacturing method used.
The circuits used to generate a voltage reference of this kind generally use a current mirror structure with means to compensate for the different variations of temperature, supply voltage, etc. An example of such a structure is given for example in the French patent application No. FR 95 09023. Other circuits use a differential amplifier mounted as a follower amplifier to deliver, at the output, the reference voltage given by a voltage source at its positive input.
Usually, the read voltage reference generation circuit associated with a memory in an integrated circuit works continuously, once the integrated circuit is no longer in standby mode. However, it is a design goal to limit the consumption of the integrated circuits.
One way of limiting the consumption in an integrated circuit of this kind is to activate the read reference circuit only when it is needed, namely on demand, when there actually is a read operation to be carried out. However, using conventional read reference circuits, a problem arises. Because the read voltage reference is applied to a highly capacitive line, the build-up time of this read voltage is very long. This problem is further aggravated when these circuits are based on current mirror structures which require a long time to reach the state of equilibrium. Accordingly, conventional voltage reference circuits cannot be used on demand.

Voltage reference generator for quickly charging capacitive loads


A filament non-woven fabric comprises thermally adhesive conjugated filaments comprising a first component that contains not less than 20 weight % of ethylene-acrylic ester-maleic anhydride copolymer and that is formed in at least a part of the filament surface in the longitudinal direction of the filament, and a second component that is a crystalline thermoplastic resin having a melting point higher than that of the first component. At least the first component contains an inorganic powder and the content of the inorganic powder is 500 to 50000 weight ppm with respect to filament. The present invention can provide the non-woven fabric comprising filaments which is excellent in the high adhesive property, low temperature adhesive property, adhesion property to other kinds of materials, hand feeling such as softness or touch etc., and uniformity. Furthermore, the operating efficiency such as the spinning property is desirable. Absorbent articles can be made using the above mentioned non-woven fabric comprising filaments.

A spun bond non-woven fabric is a typical example of a non-woven fabric comprising filaments. Such fabric is produced by a method wherein a group of filaments discharged from a spinneret for melt spinning are drawn and stretched by introducing into an air sucker etc., opened, and accumulated on a collecting conveyor to be formed into a filament web. Then the filaments are entangled or thermally adhered by appropriate means. Therefore, since this non-woven fabric comprises filaments, that is, continuous fibers, it is more excellent in the mechanical properties such as tensile strength etc. as compared with a non-woven fabric comprising staple fibers. Moreover, since this non-woven fabric is produced by opening and accumulating the filaments obtained directly by melt spinning, it can be rationally produced as compared with non-woven fabrics obtained by opening and accumulating staple fibers by a dry method or a wet method. In recent years, the production of such non-woven fabrics has radically increased.
Moreover, thermally adhesive conjugated fibers comprising polypropylene or polyester as a high melting point component and high density polyethylene, low density polyethylene, or linear low density polyethylene etc. as a low melting point component conventionally have been known. Such conventional thermal adhesive conjugated fiber is formed into, for example, a non-woven fabric by the method wherein a web is produced and then heated at the temperature above the melting point of the low melting point component to bond each fiber by softening or melting the portion where fibers contact each other. However, these thermal adhesive conjugated fibers are poor in bonding or adhesion to the different kind of materials such as metal, paper, rayon, glass or the like, due to the characteristics of the low melting point component of the fiber. Therefore, when the above mentioned non-woven fabric is used by bonding or adhering to the above mentioned different kinds of materials, or when the composite materials are formed by combining this non-woven fabric with different kinds materials, new binder needs to be used. Furthermore, even when a binder is used, the adhesive property is not always excellent.
Moreover, conventionally, absorbent articles of medical and sanitary materials such as disposable diapers like paper diapers, sanitary napkins and the like have structures so that body fluids such as urine, blood or the like are absorbed and the leaking is prevented. Although the structure of such absorbent articles varies between respective specific embodiments, however, such an absorbent article generally comprises an absorptive core layer for absorbing and retaining body fluids such as urine, blood or the like; a liquid permeable cover of the absorptive core layer for wrapping up the absorptive core layer; a liquid permeable top sheet located at the side of the front surface of the cover of the core layer (the side contacting with the user's skin); and a liquid impermeable back sheet located at the back side of the absorptive core layer (the side opposite to the location where the top sheet is located) to which prevent the absorbed body fluids from leaking outside, or the like. Moreover, some of the absorbent articles have a structure comprising a second sheet at the location between the cover of the absorptive core layer and the top sheet, or the location between the absorptive core layer and the cover of the absorptive core layer. The second sheet is inserted so as to provide any of the functions of: providing cushion property, dispersing body fluid, or preventing the absorbed body fluid from returning to the body side. The function of preventing the body fluid absorbed by the absorptive core layer from returning to the body side applies the principles in which the filling density of fibers of the second sheet is made to be smaller than those of the absorptive core layer, and thereby the fluid is made to be absorbed by the absorptive core layer having the larger fiber filling density by the capillary phenomenon etc. However, it is not particularly limited to this method. Besides the above mentioned structures of the absorbent articles, some of the absorbent articles have multi-layered structures because further sheets are inserted for providing various functions.
As the absorptive core layer, a compressed mixture is used in which, in general, the aggregate of fibers comprising cellulose type fiber such as fluff pulp etc. is combined with a highly water absorptive resin. Further synthetic fibers, if necessary, are additionally mixed and hardened therewith. As the liquid permeable cover for wrapping up the absorptive core layers, tissue paper is usually used. Moreover, as the top sheet, a through air non-woven fabric comprising staple fibers (a non-woven fabric produced by the method in which a part of staple fibers constituting non-woven fabric is adhered by heating with hot air) or an embossed type of non-woven fabric comprising staple fibers (a non-woven fabric produced by the method in which a part of staple fibers constituting non-woven fabric is adhered by passing it between the thermal embossing roll and a roll having a smooth surface) etc. is used. Moreover, as the back sheet, a thermoplastic film is usually used. In general, the thermoplastic film has a large number of minute micropores so as to prevent stuffiness inside in use and to provide ventilation. Moreover, from the view point of improving the plastic-like touch and appearance that are peculiar to such films, or from the viewpoint of improving the strength, the composite comprising a film and a non-woven fabric also is used. And necessary portions between the above mentioned parts of the absorbent article are adhered by using appropriate hot melt type adhesives etc.
However, the hot, melt type adhesives have stickiness, and the adhesive strength is not so strong as the case where adhered by using a pressure sensitive adhesives. Furthermore, if too much hot melt type adhesive is used, clogging in each sheet occurs, thus damaging the ventilation or deteriorating a permeability with respect to body fluid.
As to a non-woven fabric comprising filaments, in order to solve the above mentioned problems, as the component to be used for the thermally adhesive component of the non-woven fabric comprising thermal adhesive conjugated filaments, ethylene-acrylic ester-maleic anhydride copolymer having various kinds of functional groups and exhibiting an excellent adhesive property to various kinds of materials is considered to be used as one component of the conjugated filament. Such resin is excellent in adhesive property with respect to other kinds of materials, but it has a problem such as having a strong stickiness and large friction coefficient.
Therefore, there are the following problems: when filaments discharged from the spinning nozzle holes are drawn by the metallic air sucker, the non-uniformity of fineness occurs due to the friction between filaments and metal or between filaments; or filaments thermally adhere to each other and form a bundle, so that the filaments are not easily opened.
Moreover, since in the ethylene-acrylic ester-maleic anhydride copolymer, various kinds of functional groups are introduced into ethylene copolymer, the ethylene-acrylic ester-maleic anhydride copolymer has the low crystallinity, low melting point property, or low softening point property. In a case where the resin having low crystallinity is used, the time or distance for the resin filament discharged from the spinning nozzle holes in a molten state to become crystallized and solidified, namely the solidification length, becomes remarkably long.
Therefore, in such non-woven fabrics, filaments form bundles due to the friction, and non-uniformity of fineness or poor opening may occur. Moreover, the distance between filaments is short, so that filaments whose solidification length becomes long contact with each other in a molten state. That is, low melting point or a low softening point ethylene-acrylic ester-maleic anhydride copolymer portions contact with each other in a molten state, thus causing so-called filament breakage and deteriorating the operating efficiency.
JP-A-3-287875 discloses a thermal adhesive conjugated fiber in which ethylene-acrylic ester-maleic anhydride copolymer is used as a low melting point component and silicon polymer emulsion is substantially applied to the surface to reduce the friction coefficient of the fiber surface. Therefore, it is thought that if this technique is applied, even if the filament comprising ethylene-acrylic ester-maleic anhydride copolymer is used as a low melting point component, a non-woven fabric which is excellent in uniformity can easily be obtained.
However, in the technique disclosed in JP-A-3-287875, staple fibers are presumed to be used. In this case, in general, a finishing agent such as silicon polymer emulsion is applied to the fiber surface in the form of an aqueous emulsion by miffing with surface active agent. At the time of manufacturing non-woven fabrics comprising filaments, it is when filaments are drawn and stretched by the metallic air sucker that the problems tend to occur. Therefore, a finishing agent such as silicon polymer emulsion needs to be applied between the spinneret and the air sucker. However, there are the following problems: applying such a finishing agent to the group of filaments moving at high speed per se is difficult; the applied liquid is splashed in the air sucker; fibers form bundles due to the surface tension of the aqueous emulsion; and in a case where filaments are opened by providing the same electric charge by corona discharge, chargeability is deteriorated due to the finishing agent so that the opening property actually is deteriorated. In view of the above, it is inadequate to directly produce non-woven fabrics comprising filaments by means of this technique.
In other words, even in a case where this technique disclosed in JP-A-3-287875 is used, the opening property is not sufficient and formation (the uniformity of non-woven fabric) is poor, and the hand feeling such as softness or touch etc. is not sufficient. Consequently, this technique is not suitable for producing the non-woven fabrics comprising filaments.
The object of the present invention is to avoid the above mentioned problems and to provide a non-woven fabric comprising filaments comprising conjugated filaments having an excellent adhesive property. A low temperature adhesive property and an excellent adhesive property to other kinds of materials; providing the resultant non-woven fabric comprising filaments with an excellent hand feeling such as softness or touch etc, and the uniformity of the non-woven fabric; and having a high operating efficiency such as spinning property.
Another object of the present invention is to avoid the above mentioned problems of the conventional absorbent articles and by using the above mentioned non-woven fabric comprising filaments in at least one portion of the absorbent article to provide an absorbent article which is free from clogging, which is excellent in adhesive property, and which is well adhered to other members so that layers constituting the absorbent articles are not peeled off and do not lose shape in use.
The present inventors found that by addition of inorganic powders to at least the first component that is a low melting point component or low softening point component, the inorganic powder is exposed at the surface of filaments, so that minute unevenness is provided on the surface of filaments. As a result, the area where the filaments contact with each other is reduced, and adhesion between the filaments during spinning can be inhibited, so that filament breakage is decreased to thus make the operating efficiency good. It also was found that even if inorganic powder is added, the crystallization temperature of ethylene-acrylic ester-maleic anhydride copolymer hardly increases and the increase in the crystallization is remarkably small, and therefore a non-woven fabric comprising filaments which is excellent in hand feeling such as softness or touch etc. can be obtained without damaging the properties of ethylene-acrylic ester-maleic anhydride copolymer, that is, softness, an excellent adhesion property, low temperature adhesion properties and excellent adhesive property to other kind of materials etc. It also was found that when such non-woven fabric comprising filaments is used for at least a part of the absorbent article, an absorbent article which is free from clogging, is excellent in adhesive property, and is well adhered to other members so that layers constituting the absorbent articles are not peeled off and do not lose shape in use can be obtained.

Non-woven fabric comprising filaments and an absorbent article using the same


A method and hardware design is disclosed for allowing the bring-up of a large scale system of interfaces that need to undergo a sequence of calibration steps. The method involves the use of a flexible broadcast scheme whereby groups of interfaces within a chip are assigned to groups to which commands can be broadcast. The scheme allows for the maximum amount of flexibility, allowing interfaces to be assigned to multiple groups which can overlap and be subsets of one another, and still allows for groups to be excluded from broadcast commands and be access individually. A method is also disclosed for using a chip-global status summary that can be accessed as any other register on the chip and can report calibration results for an entire chip with only one command. According to the invention a service utilizing the method embodied with code for implementing the method can now be provided.

1 Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and service for performing symmetrical multi-processor (SMP) computer system bring-up, and particularly to parallelizing operations while maintaining granularity flexibility while sending commands and gathering status over a multi-node system.
2. Description of Background
In large-scale systems using an Elastic Interface which is the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 6,671,753 issued Dec. 30, 2003; U.S. Pat. No. 6,571,346 issued May 27, 2003 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,334,163 issued Dec. 25, 2001 and entitled "Elastic interface apparatus and method therefor" and characteristic of IBM's computer systems, the Elastic Interface is calibrated for the system. Running a system through an Elastic Interface calibration & diagnostic sequence presents two problems. A large-scale computer system such as those provided by IBM have multiple nodes and a many elastic interfaces use to interconnect the various chips and modules of these systems, so a first problem could be said to be: "How do you send commands and read status to/from the interface/s?", and a second problem could be said to be: "How do you speed up the entire process when there can be hundreds of interfaces that need to be calibrated?".
Other methods are typically geared toward small-scale systems where only a few interfaces need to be calibrated and bring-up time is not an issue. Our solution is applicable to multiple interface systems, but in these small scale other systems, hardware (such as hard coded counters) are used to trigger controls and status is allocated to a small number of registers. The current, large scale system and more complex Elastic Interface requires the ability to gather status more quickly and set a larger number of registers for each interface.

Method and service and computer program code for broadcast of interface group bring-up in a multiprocessor computer system having multiple nodes

International Business Machines Corporation


An optical fiber distribution enclosure includes a housing defining an interior, a first fiber distribution area disposed within an upper portion of the interior, a second fiber distribution area disposed within a lower portion of the interior and a signal splitting area disposed between the fiber distribution areas. A splitter module secured within the signal splitting area has a connectorized splitter input optical fiber and connectorized splitter output optical fibers. A fiber parking area is movably disposed within the lower portion adjacent the second fiber distribution area for temporarily storing splitter output optical fibers that are not routed to the fiber distribution areas. An input fiber distribution area disposed within the interior interconnects an optical fiber of a feeder cable with the splitter input optical fiber. The splitter output optical fibers are eventually routed to a fiber distribution area and interconnected with a corresponding optical fiber of a distribution cable.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an optical fiber distribution enclosure for use in a passive optical network (PON), and more particularly, to a high density optical fiber distribution enclosure for splitting an optical signal carried on an optical fiber of a feeder cable into multiple optical signals carried on a plurality of optical fibers of a distribution cable in the outside plant of a PON.
2. Technical Background
It is now well known to use an optical splitter or splitter module (sometimes also referred to as a coupler module) in the outside plant of a passive optical network (PON) to distribute a broadband optical communications signal from a service provider to multiple subscribers. In a typical PON, an optical fiber distribution enclosure, sometimes referred to as a fiber distribution hub (FDH), a fiber distribution terminal (FDT) or a local convergence cabinet (LCC), is positioned at a convenient location along a primary feeder cable to split the optical signal carried on an optical fiber of the feeder cable into multiple optical signals carried on a plurality of optical fibers of one or more distribution cables. An outdoor cabinet for interconnecting an optical fiber of a feeder cable with at least two optical fibers of a distribution cable at a local convergence point beyond the central office in a PON is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,792,191 assigned to Corning Cable Systems LLC of Hickory, N.C.
In the LLC described in the '191 patent, the feeder cable and the distribution cable are first routed into the cabinet and optical fibers of the feeder cable and the distribution cable are then spliced to a relatively short length of optical fiber having a connectorized end, referred to in the art as a "pigtail." Each pigtail of the feeder cable is then routed to an input fiber adapter provided on a coupler module mounted within the cabinet. Likewise, the pigtails of the distribution cable are routed to output fiber adapters provided on the coupler module. In this manner, the optical signal carried on an optical fiber of the feeder cable is split (i.e., divided) into multiple optical signals carried on different optical fibers of the distribution cable. In a particular example, eighteen (18) optical fibers of a feeder cable are each split into sixteen (16) optical fibers of a distribution cable utilizing 1×16 coupler modules. In another particular example, nine (9) optical fibers of a feeder cable are each split into thirty-two (32) optical fibers of a distribution cable utilizing 1×32 coupler modules. In either case, the corresponding optical fiber distribution cabinet is referred to as a "288-Fiber Capacity Fiber Distribution Hub (FDH)" because the optical connections between the feeder cable and the distribution cable(s) result in a maximum of 288 distribution cable optical fibers. While a 288-Fiber Capacity FDH is common, a cabinet resulting in any convenient number of distribution cable optical fibers is also possible, including for example, 144, 432, 576, etc.
Regardless of the number of optical connections, the optical fiber distribution enclosure functions as an interface between the service provider's optical network (e.g., the PON) and the optical fibers connecting the individual subscribers to the network. The enclosure ensures mechanical and environmental protection for the optical fibers, the optical connections, and the optical hardware and equipment located inside the cabinet, while at the same time providing convenient access to the optical connections for the service provider to establish or reconfigure service to the subscribers. In addition, the enclosure provides an organized routing and management system for the optical fibers, as well a point of access to verify the operation and integrity of the optical network. While existing enclosures (including the LLC described in the '191 patent) satisfy at least some of the above objectives, all function less than optimally in one or more of the desired attributes. In particular, none of the existing enclosures is configured to interconnect optical fibers of a pre-connectorized feeder cable stub with optical fibers of a pre-connectorized distribution cable stub in an outside plant enclosure with organized cable routing and management and easy and ready access to the optical connections between the connectorized optical fibers of the distribution cable and connectorized output optical fibers from a splitter module.
Furthermore, existing optical fiber distribution enclosures are typically suspended from a utility pole or mounted on a utility pad along a street of a neighborhood. The current demand, or the planned expansion, of the optical network requires the size of the distribution enclosure to be significantly reduced in order to at least maintain the existing aesthetics (sometimes referred to as "curb appeal"). At the same time, many new deployments of optical networks require the distribution enclosure to be buried underground for improved aesthetics. Obviously, the need for increased density of optical connections and the desire for at least similar or improved aesthetics are inherently at odds with one another. Accordingly, what is needed is a high density optical fiber distribution enclosure configured to interconnect a pre-connectorized optical fiber of a feeder cable with a plurality of pre-connectorized optical fibers of a distribution cable in a compact housing. What is further needed is such a distribution enclosure that also facilitates handling, installation, initial configuration, reconfiguration and testing, and which is scalable to accommodate an increasing number of optical connections as service is provided to additional subscribers. In particular, an optical fiber distribution enclosure is desired for a buried optical network to provide centralized splitting in a high density, environmentally sealed closure. As will be described in further detail hereinafter, the present invention provides these and other features and advantages, and thereby satisfies the heretofore unresolved need for a high density optical fiber distribution enclosure.

High density optical fiber distribution enclosure


A method and apparatus for home agent redirect is provided. A method for redirecting a device from a first home agent to a second home agent includes sending a first message to the first home agent, receiving a second message from the first home agent, and sending a third message to the second home agent. The first message includes a binding update, and the second message includes a binding acknowledgement and a redirect indication that the device is being redirected to the second home agent. The third message includes a binding update, and an address of the first home agent.

Mobile IPv6 (MIPv6) is an implementation of Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) that supports the exchange of data in a packet switched internetwork. MIPv6 allows an IPv6 node to be mobile, i.e., arbitrarily move about an IPv6 network while maintaining existing connections as well as reachability using an IPv6 address.
FIG. 1 illustrates an internetwork 100. Internetwork 100 includes a mobile node (MN) 105 that communicates with a host 110, for example. Communications between MN 105 and host 110 go through a home agent (HA) 115. All traffic to and from MN 105 should go through HA 115. MN 105 registers its current location, e.g., its IP address, with HA 115. However, prior to providing HA 115 with its own IP address, MN 105 may need to obtain the IP address of HA 115. Please refer to "Mobile IPv6 Bootstrapping in Split Scenario," Giaretta, G., Kempf, J., and V. Devarapalli, RFC 5026, October 2007, for a detailed discussion of the registration of a MN to a HA, which is incorporated herein by reference.
Generally, there may be multiple HAs that may serve as HA for a particular MN. A particular HA may be selected out of the multiple HAs based on factors such as proximity to either a MN or its host, HA response times, HA load, and so forth. Once a HA has been selected to be the HA of the MN, a sequence of messages may be exchanged to complete the registration process, with the exact sequence being dependent on the actual mechanism being used to perform the registration.
Typically, once the MN has registered with the HA, the MN may remain with the HA until it is powered down, leaves the internetwork, or so forth. However, it may be necessary for the HA of the MN to redirect the MN to a different HA. The HA may redirect the MN to the different HA due to factors such as overloading, load balancing, scheduled downtime, occurrence of unexpected fault or error, and so forth.
In "Mobility Header Home Agent Switch Message," Haley, B., Devarapalli, V., Deng, H., and J. Kempf, RFC 5142, January 2008, which is incorporated herein by reference, a mechanism called Home Agent Switch is proposed to allow for a HA to handoff some of its MNs to other HAs. A Home Agent Switch message may be used as a handoff notification between the HA and a MN. However, the Home Agent Switch mechanism may only be used after a binding cache has been created at the HA for the MN. The necessity of creating the binding cache may place additional burdens on the HA, which may already be overloaded or faulty.

Method and apparatus for home agent redirect


A communication system (KS) with a hierarchical server structure is indicated for a demand service, which makes possible a suitable compliance with requests for services from users (U1 . . . UN). To that end, the communication system (KS), as viewed by the respective user (U1 . . . UN), is divided into a central (I) and a local (II) distance zone. Movies (A1 . . . A10) frequently requested by the users (U1 . . . UN) are stored in local servers (SL1 . . . SLN) and seldom requested movies (B1 . . . B100) are stored in central servers (SM). According to the invention, in case the local server (SL1) is unable to provide a movie (B2) requested by a user (U11 . . . U13), the central server SM or another local server (SL2 . . . SLN) complies with the request through a switched connection between the requesting user (U11 . . . U13) and the central server (SM), or the other local server (SL2 . . . SLN).

Such a communication system is known from the article "An Open Systems Approach to Video On Demand" by Y.-H. Chang et al, IEEE Communications Magazine, May 1994, pages 68 to 80. The communication system is a Video-On-Demand (VOD) communication system, in which the services are movies stored in the servers. The article states that three factors determine the optimum locations of the communication system servers and of the stored movies. They are: storage costs, transmission costs and the anticipated number of simultaneous users of each movie. To make Video-On-Demand attractive to the user, a suitable server structure must be found in the communication system, whereby the cost of the Video-On-Demand service, which is generated by hardware investments in the servers and transmission of the movie data via the public communications network, can be kept low. A hierarchical server structure is known from the article, which is predetermined by the rate of movie requests and the geographical distance of a server from the requesting user. The communication system is divided into several distance zones. Frequently requested movies are stored in servers that are close to the user (local), and less frequently requested movies are stored in central servers (regional, national servers, archives). The local servers are the subordinate servers and the central servers are the superordinate servers. If a user requests a movie, it is transmitted by the server close to the user (local server). If the local server cannot comply with the user's request, the local server requests a copy of the requested movie from the central server, which is stored in the local server via downloading. The local server has a reserve memory for storing the movie transmitted by the central server. The requested movie is transmitted at a high bit rate in a short period of time via the public communications network from the central server to the local server, where it is stored in the reserve memory. If the requesting rate for movies frequently requested by the users and stored in local servers becomes low, the movie is deleted from the local server and is then only available from the central servers.

Communication system with hierarchical server structure


A semiconductor device capable of detecting and suppressing SSO noise after the semiconductor device has been mounted on a board. The semiconductor device includes an output circuit for outputting parallel output signals in accordance with a clock signal, an SSO noise generation circuit for activating the output circuit to generate SSO noise, and a clock control circuit for detecting the SSO noise and adjusting phase of the clock signal to suppress the SSO noise.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, and more particularly, to a semiconductor device having an output circuit for providing a plurality of signals from an internal circuit to output pads in parallel.
In recent years, as the number of output pins in a large-scale LSI has increased, a plurality of output buffer circuits are used to provide an output signal from an internal circuit to an output pin via an output pad. Each buffer circuit has a relatively large transistor for rapidly driving large capacitance loads, such as an external semiconductor chip and wirings on a packaging substrate. When the buffer circuits operate simultaneously, the simultaneous switching operation of the transistors in the output buffer circuits tends to generate power supply noise. Therefore, it is required that such power supply noise be suppressed.
FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing an output circuit 100 mounted on a conventional semiconductor device. Each of a plurality of flip-flop circuits 1a and 1b receives data da1-dan and db1-dbn from internal circuits, and provides the data da1-dan and db1-dbn to a corresponding one of buffer circuits 2, in response to the rise of a corresponding clock signal CLKA or CLKB. The buffer circuits 2 amplify the data da1-dan and db1-dbn and provide output signals DA1 to DAn and DB1 to DBn to corresponding output pads 3.
The clock signal CLKA is generated by frequency-dividing a reference clock signal CLKS generated by a PLL circuit 4 with a frequency dividing circuit 5a. The clock signal CLKb is generated by frequency-dividing the clock signal CLKA from the frequency dividing circuit 5a into two with a frequency dividing circuit 5b. Accordingly, the flip-flop circuits 1a and the flip-flop circuits 1b operate on different clock signals.
In the output circuit 100, as shown in FIG. 2, a potential of a low potential power supply Vss temporarily rises to generate noise N when H level output signals DA1 to DAn and DB1 to DBn, which are being output from the buffer circuits 2, drop to L levels synchronously in response to the rise of the clock signals CLKA and CLKB. This noise N is referred to as "simultaneous switching output (SSO)" noise. If the SSO noise exceeds a tolerable value, it may cause erroneous functioning of other circuits commonly using the low potential power supply Vss.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 09-93108 discloses a technique for suppressing SSO noise by shifting the phases of clock signals provided to a plurality of output buffer circuits.

Semiconductor device having output circuit adaptively suppressing SSO noise


A device includes a first divider circuit connected to a first data lane and configured to receive a first data lane value having a first index, to receive a second index corresponding to a second data lane value from a second data lane, and to selectively output a first adding value or the first data lane value based on whether the first index is equal to the second index and a first adder circuit connected to the second data lane and the first divider circuit and configured to receive the first adding value from the first divider circuit, to receive the second data lane value, and to add the first adding value to the second data lane value to generate an addition result.

The inventive concept relates to a calculation device and a calculation method, and more particularly, to a calculation device for and a calculation method of performing a convolution calculation.
Machine learning is a field of artificial intelligence that has evolved from the study of pattern recognition and computer learning theory. Machine learning is technology for studying and constructing a system, which learns, predicts, and improves the performance thereof based on empirical data, and an algorithm for the system. Algorithms for machine learning typically build a specific model to derive predictions or decisions based on input data.
A convolutional neural network (CNN), utilized in deep learning (a type of machine learning), is an artificial neural network that has been studied in various fields, such as image processing and computer vision, to understand images and extract high-level abstracted information or generate images having new textures. CNN is a neural network in which a convolution layer and a sub-sampling layer are added to a fully connected layer of a hidden layer included in a conventional neural network and of which a structure is subdivided to improve performance. Deep learning using a CNN can provide a very high accuracy compared to other techniques. However, deep learning using a CNN may have a very low calculation speed because the CNN may have a plurality of neural network hierarchical structures and a large number of convolution calculations.

Calculation device for and calculation method of performing convolution


Audio processing systems and methods comprise an audio sensor array configured to receive a multichannel audio input and generate a corresponding multichannel audio signal and a target activity detector configured to identify audio target sources in the multichannel audio signal. The target activity detector includes a VAD, an instantaneous locations component configured to detect a location of a plurality of audio sources, a dominant locations component configured to selectively buffer a subset of the plurality of audio sources comprising dominant audio sources, a source tracker configured to track locations of the dominant audio sources over time, and a dominance selection component configured to select the dominant target sources for further audio processing. The instantaneous location component computes a discrete spatial map comprising the location of the plurality of audio sources, and the dominant location component selects N of the dominant sources from the discrete spatial map for source tracking.

Many conventional audio systems include speech enhancement components to enable automatic speech command recognition or speech communication in noisy environments. Traditional enhancement methods rely on spatial constraints or the estimation of the speech and noise activity. During speech activity, such systems train filter parameters to enhance the related audio signal while canceling the ambient noise. During noise activity, a spatial/spectral noise statistic is estimated to induce the filtering system to suppress the noise.
Estimating the spatial location of acoustic sources in the environment can provide useful information to supervise the enhancement. If the target speaker location is known, spatial constraints can be imposed in the filter to produce an output which has a limited distortion in the direction of the target speaker while suppressing the sound coming from other directions. If the target speaker location is known, the target speaker's activity can be inferred by looking at the dominant direction in a particular frame of data. For example, directional Voice Activity Detection (VAD) can be derived to supervise a spatial filter which would enhance that particular target speaker while suppressing the remaining noise. If the coherent noise source locations are known, spatial filters can be appropriately constructed to suppress them, for example, through beamforming.
One of the challenges for an automatic speech enhancement system is to determine with little supervision the dominant speaker direction. Many source localization/tracking frameworks have been proposed which exploit mixture models in the spatial domains and statistical tracking based on Monte Carlo methods. While these methods are theoretically valid, they are often impractical for applications with low memory and computation footprint and often cannot handle these operations on-line without applying complex inferences from a batch of several data observations. The source localization task is often performed using global spatial likelihood functions, such as the steered response power-phase transform (SRP-PHAT) algorithm, or through time-delay estimation and triangulation. However, these techniques are not often sufficiently accurate when multiple sources are active at the same time, due to multidimensional ghost source issues, for example. Other methods based on multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system identification may not be appropriate in implementations with underdetermined conditions (e.g., when there are more sources than microphones) and often require high computational power. In many systems, tracking is often performed through computationally expensive state-space methods which may be solely based on the source position and then subject to ambiguities when the speaker trajectories cross to each other. Furthermore, these methods do not model the concept of the source dominance in the signal power domain and are not guaranteed to track the most dominant sources.
In view of the foregoing, there is a continued need in the art for improved detection, tracking and/or enhancement of audio from audio targets in noisy environments.

360-degree multi-source location detection, tracking and enhancement


A computer system with concurrent direct memory access is provided including a computer node having a processor interface bus and a cut-through network interface controller installed on the processor interface bus. A data transfer is initiated through the cut-through network interface controller by starting a direct memory access to move data from a memory to a transmit buffer in the cut-through network interface controller and a network interface controller physical interface transmitting the data, to the computer node attached to a reliable network, before all of the data is in the transmit buffer.

Computer networks are an increasingly important part of both private and business environments. Computing devices such as workstations, personal computers, server computers, storage devices, firewalls and other computing devices function as nodes of a network with at least one network element connecting the computing devices. The various nodes transmit and/or receive various kinds of information over the network. Computing devices and users are demanding higher communication speeds across networks as more and more information flows across the various networks. The introduction of new technologies will likely load down networks even more.
The state of the art in high speed data access on computer networks has in large part been driven by exponential growth in the Internet and e-commerce. Furthermore, as computers become more powerful, applications are always being developed which take advantage of any increase in computer performance. Often, these applications utilize networks, both local and global.
It is becoming increasingly important to keep pace with the increased demands for network services by the general public. This can be accomplished by removing the bottlenecks that inhibit data transfer across computer networks because the thirst for increased bandwidth is ever present. Internet users are becoming ubiquitous as home users and businesses tap into the resources of the information superhighway. Electronic mail, which is fast becoming the preferred method of communication in business as well as in the private sector, and new business models, such as the Virtual Office, rely on computer networks for their very existence. In essence, the demand for computer networking connectivity and bandwidth is large, and growing larger all the time.
In an effort to keep up with increasing network connectivity and bandwidth demands, makers of networking hardware and software, as well as the Information Services (IS) managers that operate computer networks are continually looking for ways to improve network connectivity and bandwidth, while reducing network traffic latency.
Increasingly, computer networks are being called upon to carry time-critical telecommunications and video data streams. Guaranteed bandwidth to residential communications ports that carry voice, video and data has increased from tens of kilobits/second to Megabits/second levels. Commercial communications bandwidth has increased to several Megabits/second guaranteed bandwidth per port. However, the infrastructure that enables Wide and Local Area Networks to operate is comprised of installed network gear that is running industry standard network protocols that are not well-suited for the performance demands of time-critical, latency-intolerant network traffic such as voice and video.
Thus, a need still remains for a computer system with concurrent direct memory access that can help to reduce the latency of the network. In view of the ever increasing demand for faster network response, it is increasingly critical that answers be found to these problems. In view of the ever-increasing commercial competitive pressures, along with growing consumer expectations and the diminishing opportunities for meaningful product differentiation in the marketplace, it is critical that answers be found for these problems. Additionally, the need to save costs, improve efficiencies and performance, and meet competitive pressures, adds an even greater urgency to the critical necessity for finding answers to these problems.
Solutions to these problems have been long sought but prior developments have not taught or suggested any solutions and, thus, solutions to these problems have long eluded those skilled in the art.

Computer system with concurrent direct memory access

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


Oxygenation of a subject's blood is determined by sensing an absorption spectrum of light directed either invasively or non-invasively into the blood, and then calculating an oxygenation value by evaluating a cost function of the remitted spectrum relative to at least two pre-determined reference absorption spectra representing different, known levels of blood oxygenation. The source of light preferably uses stable, long-life, white LEDs, in which case white-balancing of the remitted spectrum can be accomplished by pre-determining and storing the spectrum of the LEDs, one time for all, and then adjusting the remitted spectrum accordingly to compensate for deviations of the LED spectrum from the constant ideal.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and a system implementation for determining the oxygen saturation (SO2) of blood in a blood vessel or body organ. The invention may employ invasive or non-invasive measurement techniques and is suitable for determining blood oxygen saturation in patients in any context, for example, central venous SO2 monitoring, pulmonary artery SO2 monitoring, extracorporeal SO2 monitoring, amputation level assessment, free-flap SO2 monitoring, etc.
2. Description of the Related Art
The standard way to measure blood oxygen saturation in a patient is to direct light into or through the blood, to measure the intensity of the light at either discrete wavelengths or over a substantially continuous spectral range after transmission through or reflection by the blood, and then to calculate SO2 as a function of the measured intensity values. Such devices are described, for example, in International Patent Application No WO94/03102.
Many factors reduce the accuracy of known SO2 monitors. Beginning with the light source itself, it must be able to produce light at a well-defined wavelength, or over a well-defined wavelength range, and it should do so stably over the life of the measurement instrument—there is no point measuring light absorption at a wavelength that is not produced with enough intensity to allow for a useful range of detection.
Getting the light to blood is also affected by various irregularities. When the light is directed into the blood using a non-invasive device such as a finger or ear lobe cuff, for example, inhomogeneities and irregularities in the body tissue between the light-generating device and the blood can influence light transmission in sometimes hard-to-estimate ways, which have nothing to do with the degree of blood oxygen saturation.
One irregularity that degrades the accuracy of most non-invasive monitors is patient motion, that is, motion artifact, which leads to a change in the path length of the light through the biological tissue and hence to a variation in the intensity of the detected transmitted or reflected light. This problem is in fact so great that it can render these devices inoperative for long periods of time. The problem is particularly severe in critical health care applications, were continuous monitoring is essential.
Generally, medical practitioners desire to measure arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2). Accordingly, most conventionally used pulse oximeters measure SaO2. The device described in WO 94/03102, for example, attempts to address the problem of motion artifact in measuring SaO2 by transmitting into the blood not only n predetermined wavelengths of light, but also an additional wavelength that makes it possible to cancel the motion artifact. Although WO 94/03102 broadly describes the use of a plurality of wavelengths (including the n+1 motion artifact wavelength) the device exemplified uses three wavelengths. However, in practice, the three wavelengths proposed in WO 94/03102 are not sufficient to overcome motion sensitivity.
Yet another factor that reduces the accuracy of non-invasive SO2 monitors is skin pigmentation: Many existing optical devices do not take into account the variations in transmitted light caused by with varying skin colors, which range from fair through brown to black as the concentration of melanin increases. The peak of melanin's absorption spectrum is at roughly 500 nm, decreasing almost linearly with increasing wavelength. Melanin is present in the epidermis; thus, in very high concentrations as is the case in black skin, it can mask the absorption of hemoglobin in the dermis. Even in brown skin, the absorption by melanin is superimposed on that of hemoglobin so that any algorithm which uses the shape of the absorption spectrum to produce an SO2 estimate needs to compensate for this fact.
International Patent Application No WO 00/09004 describes an optical device which is adapted to measure blood oxygen saturation. The device operates by passing light through biological tissue to monitor the transmitted or reflected output signal from a photodetector of this device continuously. However, one difficulty with the device of the prior art is the fact that the use of a limited number of wavelengths as in WO 00/09004 results in a poor signal-to-noise ratio in the detected signal. This reduces the accuracy of the SO2 determination. Further, this limited-wavelength technique is also more prone to ambient interference e.g. fluorescent lighting, etc.
One way to reduce the impact of the factors mentioned above is to measure SO2 invasively. In these applications, light is usually directed into blood by means of catheter-mounted or enclosed optical fibers. The light intensity measured to determine an absorption spectrum for the blood is then usually that of reflected rather than transmitted light. The obvious disadvantage of invasive monitors is the same as for any other invasive device: patient discomfort and the need for great care in positioning the sensor.
Regardless of whether the arrangement used to monitor SO2 is invasive or non-invasive, there is still the problem of converting the measured light spectrum—which comprises intensity values measured at several and sometimes very many wavelengths—into a single, accurate SO2 value, and to do so quickly enough to be useful in real-time, continuous patient monitoring. There is therefore a standing need to improve the accuracy and reliability of SO2 monitors.


Methods and systems are provided for reducing audible clunks and objectionable drive feel in vehicles including start/stop systems. In one example, a vehicle engine is shutdown during vehicle coasting. The vehicle engine is then restarted, while the vehicle is moving with a torque converter clutch disengaged. A transmission clutch pressure is then adjusted during the restart based on a torque converter output speed relative to a torque converter input speed.

Vehicle engines may be configured to be shut-off during idle conditions, such as when the vehicle comes to a stop while a brake is applied, and restarted once the brake is released (e.g., a stop/start system). Such stop/start systems enable fuel savings, reduction in exhaust emissions, reduction in noise, and the like. Fuel consumption may be further reduced by shutting down the engine before braking, for example, while the vehicle is moving during extended coasting periods.
However, the inventors have recognized an issue with such systems. Frequent switching between engine idle-stop and engine restart operations may lead to objectionable noise and clunks that affect drive feel due to the transition between engine stopped and engine spinning conditions. For example, lash in various transmission components, such as gears, chain drives, differentials, etc., can cause increased noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH), due to engagement and disengagement that occurs. As such, these may reduce drive feel as well as customer satisfaction. Furthermore, repeated clunks and related torsional stress may degrade transmission or driveline components (e.g., transmission gears, clutches, etc.) over time.
Thus in one example, some of the above issues may be at least partly addressed by a method of operating a vehicle engine having a torque converter and an automatic transmission, each with a clutch. One example embodiment comprises, during a vehicle moving condition, spinning down the engine to rest, and during a starter-assisted restart from the rest, and while the torque converter clutch is disengaged, adjusting a degree of transmission clutch engagement based on torque converter output speed relative to torque converter input speed.
In one example, a vehicle may be coasting with the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal not depressed, and a vehicle speed being above a threshold. In response to the coasting condition, the engine may be shutdown, for example, by shutting off a fuel supply and spark to the engine. While the engine spins down to rest, a torque converter clutch (e.g., torque converter lock-up clutch) may be disengaged. Further, a clutch pressure of a vehicle transmission clutch (e.g., forward clutch) may be reduced to a near stroke level (e.g., at or just below the stroke level) during the engine spin-down. In this way, the clutch may be kept pre-stroked by maintaining the clutch pressure near a stroke level until a subsequent restart from engine rest.
During a subsequent restart, while the vehicle is still moving, and while the torque converter clutch is still disengaged, the engine may be started using starter assist by activating a starter motor. Further, a degree of engagement of the transmission clutch may be adjusted (e.g., increased) based on a torque converter output speed relative to a torque converter input speed. In one example, when the torque converter input speed (as inferred from the engine speed, for example) is lower than the torque converter output speed (as inferred from a transmission input shaft speed, for example) indicating that the engine is not yet applying positive torque to the driveline, a clutch pressure of the transmission forward clutch may be increased at a first lower rate, and/or to a first lower amount of clutch pressure. The first amount and/or rate may be based on a difference between the speeds when the torque converter input speed is lower than the torque converter output speed. In comparison, once the torque converter input speed exceeds than the torque converter output speed and the engine is now applying positive torque through the driveline, the clutch pressure may be increased at a second higher rate, and/or to a second higher amount of clutch pressure. The second amount and/or rate may be based on a difference between the speeds when the torque converter input speed is higher than the torque converter output speed. In this way, the degree of torque applied during the transition through the lash region may be kept relatively low until after the lash transition is completed (as indicated by the torque converter speeds) to reduce driveline clunk. Then, once the transition is completed, the clutch pressure may be applied to a sufficient level to provide the desired torque to propel the vehicle.
It will be appreciated that while the degree of transmission clutch engagement may be adjusted based on a difference of speeds across the torque converter, other approaches are possible. For example, the adjustment may be based on a ratio (or alternate function) of speeds across the torque converter.
In this way, an engine may be restarted with starter motor assistance while the vehicle is still moving, with reduced torque disturbances in the driveline. By keeping a transmission clutch pre-stroked during an engine shutdown, delays in clutch engagement during a subsequent restart may be reduced. By reducing the torque capacity of a transmission clutch during an engine shutdown, and then increasing the torque capacity of the clutch based on an engine speed relative to a transmission input shaft speed, a smoother transition through the lash region of the transmission may be enabled. By improving overall engine torque control during an engine restart, torque disturbances and audible clunks may be reduced, thereby substantially improving the quality of engine restarts.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods and systems for assisted direct start control


A capillary made of plastics material that is suited for use in capillary electrophoresis. The capillary has its inner surface chemically modified for the generation of properties different from those of the original plastic capillary material. In the process of producing such capillaries, a premanufactured capillary is treated with a chemical reagent which generates functional groups directly on the capillary surface or generates attachment sites, on the capillary surface to which functional groups are later bonded.

Capillary electrophoresis is widely applied in analytical and preparative separation processes in chemistry, biochemistry, and biotechnology. Conventional capillaries made of fused silica suffer from a number of drawbacks as they lack chemical stability. When subjected to high pH values, lack physical stability under mechanical stress, and during operation they show poorly reproducible electroosmotic flow (EOF) values after an exchange of the buffer solution. Developments to overcome these drawbacks have provided capillaries made of synthetic polymer materials such as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC), polyfluorocarbon (PFC), and the like, for example. Studies of the electrokinetic properties of PE, PVC and PFC capillaries in aqueous solutions in dependence on pH are reported by Schutzner, W. and Kenndler, E. in: Anal. Chem. 64 (1992), p. 1991-1995. In the J. Microcolumn Separations, Vol. 5, No. 3, 1993, pages 246 and 247 it is described to coat the inner surface of hollow fibres of poly(butylene terephthalate) or polypropylene with polymers of acrylamide by graft polymerization
The capillaries made of silica or synthetic polymer materials both present another problem in the phenomenon of electroendosmosis or electroosmotic flow which arises from an electrokinetic potential between the solid capillary wall and the liquid medium. A further problem with polymer capillaries is the adsorption of substrates to be separated by the capillary wall. These phenomena interfere with the mobility characteristics of the components involved and may deteriorate component separation efficiency and decrease resolution.

Capillary made of polymer material having a modified inside surface and process for its production


A road milling machine includes a milling drum, an enclosure assembly, an actuator, and a controller. The milling drum may modify surface. The enclosure assembly includes a member moveable between a closed state and an open state. In the closed state, the member at least partially encloses the milling drum to direct materials milled by the milling drum to a conveyor. The actuator is adapted to be actuated between a first state and a second state to correspondingly move the member between the closed state and the open state. Further, the controller is configured to detect the closed state of the member; determine a lowering of the milling drum with respect to the surface; and reverse an actuation of the actuator towards the second state to offset and balance out a weight of the member based on the lowering of the milling drum.

Road milling machines, such as a cold planer, generally includes a milling assembly suspended below a frame of the machine. The milling assembly typically includes a milling enclosure and a milling drum. The milling enclosure generally surrounds the milling drum, while the milling drum is rotated and applied for milling a top surface of a roadway. The milling enclosure may include various components, including an adjustable anti-slab device that may apply down pressure over a roadway slab ahead of a rotating milling drum. Further, the milling enclosure may include opposing side gates, and a rear gate (commonly referred to as a moldboard or a scraper door). The moldboard may be adjustable via actuators, such as fluid actuators, and may be provided to confine and limit the spread of the milled materials within the milling enclosure and to also direct materials milled by the milling drum on to a conveyor.
During a milling operation, the milling drum of the milling assembly may be lowered (with the milling drum rotating) towards and/or into the top surface of the roadway for milling said top surface of the roadway. A lowering of the milling drum is commonly referred to as a plunging operation. In such situations, one or more components or members of the milling enclosure (e.g., the moldboard) may catch or bind on and/or against certain portions of the roadway. Such catching or binding may make the milling operation and the associated machine unstable, e.g., by causing one or more of the legs or traction devices of the machine to lift off relative to the surface of the roadway.
US Publication No. 2013195554 ('554 reference) relates to a milling machine having a chassis. A chamber is mounted to the chassis and includes a moldboard at the rear of the chamber. '554 reference discloses that the moldboard may move to contact the milled surface, and an operator of the milling machine may provide a limited downward force to scrape the milled surface with more force, depending on the nature of the surface to be milled.

Method to prevent binding in road milling machines


A process for effecting mass transfer between a liquid phase and a gaseous phase in a filled-type column comprising an external shell which accommodates at least one filler-containing basket wherethrough the phases are caused to flow in countercurrent relationship, advantageously comprises the step of feeding the gaseous phase to the at least one basket through a gas-permeable surface thereof which is larger than the basket cross-section, preferably in a prevailing radial flow direction.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process for effecting mass transfer between a liquid phase and a gaseous phase in a filled-type column wherethrough said phases are caused to flow in a countercurrent relationship.
In the description given below and in the following claims, the term: "filled-type column", is understood to mean—in general—an apparatus having, disposed on its interior, a plurality of variously shaped and sized elements (filler) at whose surfaces a liquid phase and a gaseous phase are caused to contact each other in order to effect mass transfer; apparatus of this type are widely employed in chemical plants, e.g. for decomposing, absorbing, distilling, and scrubbing chemicals.
The invention also relates to a filled-type column for implementing the above process, and to a method of retrofitting a pre-existing column for conversion into a filled-type column according to the invention.
In the description given below and in the following claims, the term: "retrofitting", is understood to mean the in-situ modification of a pre-existing column of the filled or plates type to improve its performance and, for example, to increase its capacity and/or its efficiency in mass transfer between the liquid phase and the gas phase, as well as to reduce its energy consumption.
As is known, in the field there is increasingly felt the need of providing processes easy to implement, which can effect mass transfer between a liquid phase and a gaseous phase in a simple and efficient way, at low investment and operating costs and with a low energy consumption.
2. Prior Art
In order to meet the above requirement, processes for effecting mass transfer have been proposed in the field wherein a liquid phase and a gaseous phase are caused to flow through a filled-type column in a downward and an upward (substantially axial) direction, respectively.
While being simple to implement, such prior processes are beset with problems arising mainly from the large pressure drop experienced by the gas phase in going through the filler.
The filler is, in fact, disposed inside substantially cylindrical columns having a large height-to-diameter ratio intended to ensure an interphase contact of sufficient duration for the phases to enhance the mass transfer.
Consequently, in flowing through the filler, the gas phase undergoes a significant reduction in pressure (pressure drop), which places limitations on the amount of gas that can be fed into the column, thus curtailing the column capacity.
By reason of this pressure drop, the flow rate of the gas phase fed into the column must be held below predetermined values, the overtaking of which would result in the appearance of an undesirable "flooding" phenomenon, whereby the column becomes flooded with liquid phase which is held back in its downward movement by frictional drag from the gas phase. It will be appreciated that in this condition the column would no longer be operable, due to the mass transfer dropping to virtually nil.
In other words, the large pressure drop of the gaseous phase in going through the filler is a limiting factor of the gas phase flow rate through the column designed to implement the above prior art processes, and hinders an effective mass transfer between the phases.
To counteract the pressure drop in the gaseous phase, and thus to increase the capacity of filled-type columns according to the prior art, some special fillers having a high void ratio have been proposed, wherethrough the gaseous phase stream undergoes no large pressure drops.
While such fillers allow the flow rate of the gas phase being fed into the column to be increased somewhat, they have been unsuccessful in providing a fully satisfactory mass transfer between the phases, because the pressure drop of the gas phase through the column is still quite significant, as are the operational constraints due to the aforementioned flooding phenomenon.
Columns of the so-called plates type, i.e. provided with a plurality of perforated plates fitted horizontally inside the column, have been proposed alternatively to the filled-type columns.
In this case, the process for effecting mass transfer between the liquid and gaseous phases comprises mixing the phases together in the plates, the plates being typically designed to enhance the mutual contact of the phases.
Plates-type columns have been found suitable for low liquid flow-rate applications, but are liable to become flooded, disallowing any further effective mass transfer between the liquid and gas phases.
It is on account of the above disadvantages that prior art processes for effecting mass transfer between a liquid phase and a gaseous phase have provided unsatisfactory performance heretofore, both in terms of overall efficiency of the transfer between the phases, energy consumption, and operating and investment costs of the columns used to implement such processes (which are, as said before, beset with several limitations).
All this, despite this technology having been utilized in a variety of chemical applications for years and the aforementioned need being increasingly felt in the field.

Process for effecting mass transfer between a liquid phase and a gaseous phase


A power supply circuit comprises a power conversion circuit, a voltage selection circuit, and a voltage regulator. The voltage regulator coupled to the voltage selection circuit and a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), and the voltage regulator is configured to provide supply power to the DAC; the power conversion circuit is coupled to a first power supply and a power amplifier (PA), and the power conversion circuit is configured to convert, based on output power of the PA, a voltage of the first power supply into an output voltage that supply power to the PA; and the voltage selection circuit is coupled to a second power supply, the power conversion circuit and the voltage regulator, and the voltage selection circuit is configured to select the second power supply or the power conversion circuit to supply power to the voltage regulator based on an output voltage of the power conversion circuit.

To implement high-fidelity (High-Fidelity, Hi-Fi) sound quality in a portable device, that is, to play a replayed sound that resembles to an original sound, the portable device usually needs a lossless sound source, a high-performance audio coder/decoder (coder/decoder, Codec), a DAC (digital-to-analog converter), a power amplifier (Power Amplifier, PA), and a high-quality headset (or a related play device such as a receiver, a sound box, or a speaker).
Currently, a hi-fi mobile phone mainly means that the mobile phone has a high-performance audio codec and some DACs and PAs to play music. A diagram of a system architecture of the hi-fi mobile phone is shown in FIG. 1. An application processor (Application Processor, AP) or a digital signal processor (Digital Signal Processor, DSP) reads stored audio data that is in an MP3 format (or in another storage format), and transmits the audio data to the audio codec for decoding. A decoded signal is transmitted to the DAC, and the DAC converts the digital signal into an analog signal that can be identified by a human ear, and then the PA drives a speaker to play the analog signal.
In the foregoing process, in a process of converting the digital signal into the analog signal by using the DAC, amplifying the analog signal by using the PA, and driving a device such as a headset or a sound box to play the analog signal, whether distortion occurs is a key factor for obtaining hi-fi sound quality. The DAC is a sensitive circuit, and is extremely susceptible to interference. Therefore, if a same power supply circuit is used to supply power to the DAC and the PA, noise crosstalk generated when the PA drives the speaker is transmitted to the DAC by using the power supply circuit, and consequently the analog signal output by the DAC is distorted, and sound quality is damaged. Generally, the DAC and the PA are separately provided with a power supply circuit, to prevent the DAC from being affected by crosstalk, so as to resolve the foregoing problem. In consideration of obtained sound quality and power efficiency, an H-type power amplifier principle is usually used to supply power to the DAC and the PA. However, if two H-type power amplifier circuits are separately used to supply power to the DAC and the PA, chip interior and exterior designs become more difficult because of costs, and component costs increase.
Therefore, how to ensure hi-fi sound quality while taking power efficiency and design costs into consideration is a difficult problem that troubles an audio play device designer.

Power supply circuit and audio play device


A battery management circuit for managing a battery apparatus is provided. The battery apparatus includes at least a first battery unit and a second battery unit connected in parallel. The battery management circuit includes a detection circuit and an adjustment circuit. The detection circuit is arranged to detect a voltage relationship between the first and second battery units to generate a first detection result. The adjustment circuit is coupled to the detection circuit. When the voltage relationship does not meet a predetermined voltage condition, the adjustment circuit is arranged to adjust a voltage of at least one of the first and second battery units in order to make the voltage relationship meet the predetermined voltage condition.

1. Field of the Invention
The disclosed embodiments of the present invention relate to battery management, and more particularly, to a battery management circuit, which increases an amount of power supply of a battery apparatus by hot-plugging batteries, and a related battery management method.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In order to increase an amount of power supply of a battery power system (BPS), an auxiliary battery is used to increase the overall battery capacity. For example, if the user finds out that an amount of stored power of a main battery is insufficient during the operation of the BPS, the auxiliary battery may need to be added in order to maintain the normal operation of the power system. However, when a voltage difference between the added auxiliary battery and the main battery is too great, hot-plugging (or hot-swapping) the auxiliary battery may result in high surge current or even damage to the BPS.
Thus, a novel battery management circuit is needed to prevent damage to the BPS during the hot-plug operation.

Battery management circuit and battery management method for managing battery apparatus


A MEMS magnetometer comprises a deflectable resonator comprising a base layer; a Lorentz force (LF) drive conductor attached to the base layer; and a piezoelectric sensor attached to the base layer and electrically isolated from the LF drive conductor. The LF drive conductor comprises conductive material configured for receiving a current at a mechanical resonant frequency of the device capable of causing mechanical deformation of the deflectable resonator, wherein the current causes formation of Lorentz forces in a presence of a magnetic field, and wherein the deflectable resonator is mechanically deformed as a result of the formation of the Lorentz forces. The mechanical deformation of the deflectable resonator generates a detectable piezoelectric electrical signal that is proportional to the magnitude of the magnetic field.

1. Field of the Invention
The embodiments of the invention generally relate to microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices and microelectronic devices, and, more particularly, to Lorentz force magnetometer devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional MEMS Lorentz force magnetometer designs, such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,959,452, issued to Givens et al. on Sep. 28, 1999, the complete disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference, describe both optical and capacitive transduction schemes. This capacitive design has achieved a sensor resolution of approximately 1 μT using a drive current of 1 mA and a Q-factor of 20,000, such as suggested by Wickenden et. al, "An Extremely Sensitive MEMS Magnetometer for use as an Orientation Sensor on Projectiles," Royal Aeronautical Society Conference, Nanotechnology and Microengineering for Future Guided Weapons, Nov. 11, 1999, the complete disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference.
However, producing miniaturized optical MEMS devices, such as magnetometers, generally appears to present substantial technical challenges including overcoming size, weight, and power consumption parameters as well as attaining acceptable sensor resolution standards. In addition, the proposed piezoelectric devices appear to suffer from inappropriate design choices. Using the same electrode for driving the Lorentz force current and piezoelectrically sensing those Lorentz forces directly couples the drive and sense functions of the sensor; which generally prevents the measurement of external magnetic fields. This may also severely limit the maximum drive currents of the device due to the limited cross-sectional area and thermal/electrical material properties of the chosen conductor, platinum. Generally, the limited drive current directly limits the sensitivity and resolution of such a device.
Accordingly, there remains a need for a novel MEMS magnetometer device capable of mapping magnetic fields in various applications, and which is further capable of achieving size, weight, power consumption, and resolution parameters previously unattainable by the conventional designs.

PZT MEMS resonant Lorentz force magnetometer

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army


Device for articulately interconnecting members of an exhaust line, in particular of an automobile vehicle wherein the device comprises at least one flexible conduit element (1) interposed between the members (2,3) of the exhaust line, and damping means (4,5) for damping the relative displacement of the ends of the flexible conduit element and therefore of the members of the line, evenly arranged about the flexible conduit element (1) and interposed between fastening elements (6,7) fixed on each side of the flexible conduit element, and is characterized in that each damping means (4,5) comprises at least one coil of metallic cable.

The present invention relates to a device for articulately interconnecting members of an exhaust line, in particular of an automobile vehicle.
Such devices are employed in the exhaust lines of automobile vehicles to permit relatively large movements between the engine of the vehicle and the exhaust line of the latter.
It is indeed known that when starting up or upon relatively sudden variations in the load on the engine, the latter has a tendency to move with respect to the rest of the structure of the vehicle and consequently with respect to the exhaust line in that the latter is fixed to the structure of the vehicle.
A number of devices known under the name of line decoupling devices have been developed in the prior art to permit overcoming the problems related to these movements and to prolong the life of the exhaust line.
Thus, devices have been developed for articulately interconnecting the members of an exhaust line, in particular of an automobile vehicle, which comprise at least one flexible conduit element interposed between the members of the exhaust line, and means for damping the relative displacement of the ends of the flexible conduit element and therefore of the members of the line, evenly arranged about the flexible conduit element and interposed between fastening elements fixed on each side of the flexible conduit element.
Such devices are for example disclosed in the documents DE-OS-2 838 990 and FR-A-2 531 914.
In the first of the aforementioned documents, the fastening elements are formed by connecting flanges which are disposed at the connecting ends of a rolled pipe, have bolts extending therethrough and are elastically connected by means of the latter through a spring element constituting a damper.
In the second of the aforementioned documents, support elements connected to the ends of the flexible conduit element constitute pockets similar to housings and are movable relative to each other, and damping cushions of compressed metallic wire are disposed in the pockets so as to form elements damping the displacement.
However, the devices described in these documents are not fully satisfactory.
Indeed, the use of spring elements does not permit decoupling in a satisfactory manner the engine from the exhaust line, so that vibrations of the engine may be transmitted to this line and result in noise and premature wear of the line.
The device disclosed in the second document has a relatively complex structure and is of relatively high cost.

ECIA-Equipements et Composants Pour L'Industrie Automobile