A lawn mower-mounted weed trimmer is provided including a lawn mower with a weed trimmer assembly hingably coupled about a horizontal axis to one of the side faces of the mower portion of the lawn mower adjacent to a front face thereof. The horizontal axis is in line with movement of the lawn mower. The weed trimmer assembly has a flexible line dispenser for trimming weeds adjacent to the lawn mower when rotated. Next provided is a driving mechanism for selectively rotating the flexible line dispenser.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to lawn mower edgers and more particularly pertains to a new pivoting lawn mower-mounted edger for trimming edges of walls, side walks and drive ways with a trimmer while mowing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of lawn mower edgers is known in the prior art. More specifically, lawn mower edgers heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
Known prior art lawn mower edgers include U.S. Pat. No. Des. 304,728; U.S. Pat. No. 4,642,976; U.S. Pat. No. 4,718,221; U.S. Pat. No. 4,551,967; U.S. Pat. No. 4,854,115; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,478,028.
In these respects, the pivoting lawn mower-mounted edger according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of trimming edges of walls, side walks and drive ways with a trimmer while mowing.


A film and a method of preparing the same. The film includes cellulose ether and sodium chloride, wherein an amount of the sodium chloride is from about 0.25 wt % to about 0.6 wt % based on a total weight of the film, and the film has a light-transmission reduction ratio of about 15% or less.

Cellulose ether is commonly used for commercial purposes to prepare films such as gastric hard capsules and enteric hard capsules.
The preparation of cellulose ether involves alkalizing cellulose pulp by contacting it with sodium hydroxide; etherifying the alkalized cellulose pulp using methyl chloride to form cellulose ether; washing the cellulose ether to reduce sodium chloride content in the cellulose ether; drying the washed cellulose ether to reduce water content, and pulverizing the dried cellulose ether. The sodium chloride as a product of a reaction of the sodium hydroxide used in the alkalizing of the cellulose pulp with the methyl chloride used in the etherifying the alkalized cellulose pulp and hydrochloric acid used in hydrolyzing the cellulose ether may remain in a final cellulose ether.
According to existing technologies, a film prepared using a cellulose ether solution prepared from cellulose ether with a high sodium chloride content (for example, greater than about 0.3 wt %) may undergo quality degradation due to salting out and a haze on a surface thereof when stored at a predetermined temperature and a humidity condition for a long time.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,294,008 discloses a method of washing an increased number of times in preparing cellulose ether to reduce a sodium chloride residue to about 0.3 wt % or less. However, the increased number of washings in this method may increase manufacturing costs and wastewater efflux, thereby raising environmental concerns.


A motor winding wire. The motor winding wire may be configured for use in, and direct exposure to, a hydrocarbon environment. The motor winding wire may be electrically insulated by one polymer layer, whereas another, outer, polymer layer is employed to provide moisture resistance as well as other contaminant and hydrocarbon environment shielding to the underlying layer. Additionally, this manner of polymer layering over the motor winding wire is achieved in a manner cognizant of the limited dimension of the motor winding wire.

A variety of hydrocarbon applications involve the use of electrically powered equipment disposed within a hydrocarbon well for extended periods of time. For example, an electric submersible pump (ESP) may be positioned within a hydrocarbon well to promote the extraction of hydrocarbons from the well. In such circumstances it may be preferable to leave the pump in place and operating throughout the hydrocarbon production from the well. Thus, depending on the hydrocarbon reservoir itself and the parameters of the operation, the pump may be left operating and in place for up to about 5 years or longer.
Equipment such as the indicated ESP may include several components susceptible to damage upon exposure to the downhole conditions of the well. For example, the moisture content, chemical makeup, and pressure or temperature extremes of the downhole environment may tend to degrade certain components of the ESP over time. Components of the ESP susceptible to such exposure may include a power cable and motor parts such as motor windings or conductors. However, measures may be taken to help shield such components from the downhole environment. For example, in the case of the power cable, thick and robust, moisture resistant polymer layers may be extruded over an electrically conductive core. In this manner the core may remain substantially unaffected by downhole conditions so as to help ensure that the cable remains operation for an extended period. Alternatively, in the case of the motor and windings, they may be housed within an oil-filled and hermetically sealed casing isolated from the environment of the well.
Unfortunately, the oil filled casing noted above invariably fails to maintain complete isolation from the conditions in the surrounding downhole environment. For example, when left within the well for an extended period, moisture and chemical contaminants from the downhole environment are eventually able to seep through and penetrate the casing to some degree. Nevertheless, in the case of some parts of the motor, the fact that the casing remains predominantly oil-filled may be enough to avoid failure. For example, the moving parts of the motor may remain in the presence of sufficient lubrication to remain operational in spite of a degree of moisture and chemical contaminants. However, as described below, the direct exposure of the motor windings to the well contaminants, especially moisture, may be enough to render them ineffective, leading to malfunction of the entire ESP.
Unlike other parts of the motor, motor winding wires are not dependent upon the presence of sufficient oil concentration within the casing in order to remain operational. Rather, like the power cable, it is the substantial shielding of the motor winding wires from direct contact with downhole contaminants, especially moisture, which may be key to ensuring continued functionality of the wires. However, as indicated above, given enough time downhole, the casing is likely to be penetrated by such downhole contaminants leaving the wires directly exposed to contaminants.
In order to further shield the motor winding wires from direct exposure to downhole contaminants, polymer layers may be provided about the conductive core of the motor winding wires. Thus, in theory, the polymer layers may provide a degree of shielding to the motor winding wires similar to the power cable configuration noted above. Unfortunately, however, the dimensions and properties of the motor winding wires themselves render conventional polymer layering and shielding ineffective for prolonged protection of the wires from exposure to downhole contaminants. For example, a conventional motor winding wire may be magnetized wire core of no more than about 5 gauge copper wire, generally between about 16 and 50 gauge. Furthermore, the motor winding wire may be configured for relatively tight windings. As such, no more than between about 0.25 to 20 mil polymer layers may be effectively provided over the wires. In fact, for 30 gauge or so windings and smaller, as a matter of practicality it may be more effective to bypass extruding the polymer layer altogether and simply varnish the polymer over the wound wires to provide the shielding from downhole contaminants. Regardless, the polymer layer may be of limited thickness and effectiveness.
In addition to the limited thickness, the effectiveness of the polymer layer as a shield from downhole contaminants may be further limited by the particular types of polymers available for use with motor winding wires. That is, given the small dimension and the conductive nature of motor winding wire, materials disposed thereabout may be of an electrically insulating character to ensure proper wire operation. These materials may include polyimide, polyester, polyamide, poly-ether-ether-ketone and other conventional electrical insulators. Unfortunately, however, such insulators are prone to hydrolytic degradation or moisture absorption upon prolonged direct exposure to even a small degree of moisture and other downhole contaminants. As a result, the motor winding wire as well as the entire ESP or other equipment employing such winding wire is prone to fail, generally well in advance of about 5 years. In fact, smaller ESP motors positioned downhole for continued use often display a lifespan of no more than about 1 year. Furthermore, efforts to overcome polymer shielding limitations via over-wrapping or enamel layer configurations remain insufficient to prevent such hydrolytic degradation and moisture absorption.

Motor winding wire for a hydrocarbon application


A braking light system mounted on a road vehicle includes at least one braking light, a power source, a detecting unit, and a controlling unit. The braking light includes a light guide plate, a first light source, and a second light source. The light guide plate includes a first sidewall and a second sidewall and a plurality of holes and depressions to release internal light, the holes are arranged to present a decreasing diameter and decreasing density of holes between the light sources and sidewalls. The controlling unit controls the power source to provide power for the first light source at night, and when the detecting unit detects deceleration, the controlling unit is prompted to further control the power source to provide power for the second light source to emit light to provide an effective visual braking warning to any following driver.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to brake lights, and particularly to a brake light system and a brake light.
2. Description of Related Art
Road vehicles have a braking light. The braking light includes a light source and a cover. When a driver depresses a brake pedal to slow or stop the vehicle, the light source emits a light beam to the cover to indicate that the vehicle is braking, thereby avoiding a rear end collision. However, because the brightness of the light beam from the cover is low, it cannot provide an effective warning light for a driver following.
Therefore, what is needed is a braking light system to overcome the above described limitations.


When encoding the continuous image by dividing the respective frames into a plurality of blocks, the image in the block in the present frame is compared with a corresponding image in the block in the same position of the reference frame and the amount of the changes of the predetermined image element within respective blocks is calculated. Only when the amount of change exceeds the predetermined threshold value, the image data of respective blocks is coded. A plurality of threshold values can be adapted and appropriately changed by considering a spatially changing pattern of the amount of the change of the image from the reference frame or a refreshing operation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image data coding method of coding the image data with a high efficiency, an apparatus for coding an image data, a restoring method of decoding the coded image and an apparatus for restoring the same and more particularly to an image data coding and decoding method of dividing the image data into a plurality of blocks to produce the coded data of all the images related to the respective blocks obtained by dividing the image data.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of a television conference/television telephone involving colored static images and colored moving image, the image data whose information capacity is much greater than typical numerical data are used, and more particularly, the data of the intermediate level of the image, or the colored image data requires high-speed and high quantity transmission. Therefore, it is necessary to process the coding of the values of the respective image elements with a high efficiency.
The adaptive discrete cosine transform method is known as an example of an image data coding method with a high efficiency.
This adaptive discrete cosine transform method (which is abbreviated as ADCT) divides the image into a plurality of blocks comprising, for example, 8.times.8 image elements, transforms the image signal of respective blocks into (two-dimensional DCT coefficients corresponding to the distributions of the space frequency by the two-dimensional discrete cosine transform), quantizes the two-dimensional DCT coefficient within a block obtained by the transform by using a threshold value suitable for vision, and then encodes the quantized coefficient by using a huffman table obtained statistically.
The conventional coding device for the static image using the ADCT encodes the respective images separately, even if the respective values between images do not change greatly because of a close interrelation between them, for example, in the case of a moving image which is considered as a group of static images.
FIG. 1 shows an example of a structure of the conventional coding apparatus for a static image.
A static image is divided into a plurality of blocks comprising 8.times.8 image elements, for example, and is inputted from the input terminal 11 and the respective image signals are sequentially restored in the input order to the block buffer 12.
The two-dimensional DCT unit 13 reads the respective image signals from block buffer 12 by transforming the image signal corresponding to a plurality of image elements in respective blocks into the two-dimensional DCT coefficient corresponding to the space frequency of the same number as the plurality of image elements by using the two-dimensional discrete cosine transform.
Linear quantization unit 14 quantizes the two-dimensional DCT coefficient (matrix) of respective blocks by using the quantizing threshold value (quantizing matrix) which is suitable for vision and obtained from visual experimentation. The linear quantization unit 14 reads the quantizing threshold value from a quantizing threshold unit.
Variable length coding unit 16 performs a variable length coding of the quantization coefficient obtained by quantizing unit 14 by using the huffman coding table 17 obtained statistically, and outputs from the output terminal 18 the coded data obtained from the variable length coding method.
In the variable length coding method, the quantizing coefficient (matrix) arranged in a two-dimensional manner is converted to a one-dimensional train of numerical values by using a scanning operation called zig-zag scanning and performs a variable length coding based on the difference between the head DCT coefficient of a block and the head DCT coefficient of the preceding block with regard to the DC component. The value of the valid coefficients whose value is not zero is combined with the length of run (Run-length of the invalid coefficient whose value is zero), thereby applying the variable length coding to respective blocks.
FIG. 2 shows a structure of a conventional restoring apparatus of the static image for restoring data coded by the above-recited variable length coding to the images.
The data coded by the coding apparatus for the static image is inputted from the input terminal 21 to variable length restoring unit 22 in units of blocks.
The variable length restoring unit 22 restores the quantizing coefficient of the DC component and AC components in the respective blocks using the huffman coding table 17 (huffman decoding table 27) which is used in the above variable length coding.
Dequantization unit 23 converts the decoded quantization coefficient of respective DC component and AC component into the two-dimensional DCT coefficients by using the quantized value 29 (quantized matrix).
Inverse DCT transforming unit 24 performs the two-dimensional DCT transform by using the two-dimensional DC coefficient of the respective blocks which are decoded and restored as the image elements.
The image signal of respective restored image elements is stored within the image memory 25 in units of blocks.
An operation of the image signal of respective image elements at image blocks into the image memory 25 is controlled by inside-block image element writing controlling unit 26 and controls the block address generating unit 27 and enables it to output an address of a block in which the image signal is to be written into the image memory 25 and performs a writing operation of the image signal of respective image elements of the present frame into the image memory 25 in units of blocks.
There is a method of coding a moving image which is subject to a continuous scene, i.e. a television conference or a television telephone system. Conventionally, the respective images are subject to the methods of coding the moving images.
FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of a basic part of the moving image coding apparatus by using an inter-frame prediction coding method of utilizing a relation between the image in reference frame and the image in the present frame.
The image of respective scenes of the moving image is inputted to difference image generating unit 32 through input terminal unit 31.
The reference image which is obtained by restoring the image in the preceding frame and is used as the image in the reference frame.
The difference generating unit 32 obtains the difference image between the reference images stored in an image memory 33 and the present image (the image in the present frame) inputted from the input terminal 31 and stores the difference image in block buffer 34. The difference image can be obtained for respective blocks comprising image elements of 8.times.8, for example. Therefore, the block buffer 34 stores the difference image i.e difference block image between the block in the reference frame of 8.times.8 image element, for example and the corresponding block in the present frame of 8.times.8 image elements with regard to the blocks in the same position.
The two-dimensional DCT transform 35 applies the two-dimensional DCT transform to the difference block image of 8.times.8 image elements stored in the block buffer 34 obtains the 8.times.8 DCT coefficients, and thereby outputs them to quantization unit 36.
Quantization unit 36 applies a linear quantization to 8.times.8 coefficients by using adequate threshold value applicable to an eyesight, thereby providing 8.times.8 quantized coefficients.
The 8.times.8 quantization coefficients are subject to zig-zag scanning and is outputted to variable length coding unit 37 in the order of the DC component, AC components with a low space frequency AC components with relatively high space frequency.
The variable coding unit 37 performs a variable length coding of the 8.times.8 input quantized coefficients by using huffman coding table 38 and outputs the data coded by the variable length coding from the output terminal 39.
The 8.times.8 quantizes coefficient matrix outputted from quantization unit 36 is inputted to the dequantization unit 39 and the dequantization unit 39 restores it into the two-dimensional DCT coefficient matrix.
Inverse two-dimensional DCT transform unit 40 performs the inverse two-dimensional DCT transform by using 8.times.8 two-dimensional coefficient and restores the above difference block image.
The adding unit 41 adds the restored difference block image to the preceding image of the block in the same position in the reference image as in the position in the present block image and again rewrites the image obtained by the addition into the image memory 33.
The above-recited sequential operation is applied to all the blocks of the image (the present image) of the new frame inputted from the input terminal 41, thereby enabling the coded data of the difference image regarding all the blocks of the present image to be outputted from the output terminal 39. As discussed above, the image data of the present frame is not coded as it is and a difference image between the reference frame and the present frame is coded, thereby decreasing the amount of the coding. The same image as restored from the image of the present frame, which is restored based on the coded data of the difference image on the image restoring side, is stored in the image memory 33 as the reference image to be used as the image of the reference frame when the image of the succeeding frame is inputted from the input terminal 31.
FIG. 4 shows a principle structure of a conventional restoring apparatus of the moving image for restoring the image of the coded data outputted from the conventional coding device for the moving image.
A variable length restoring unit 52 inputs the coded data obtained by applying a variable length coding to the difference image in units of block from the input terminal 51 and restores the coded data into quantization coefficients in units of blocks by using Huffman coding table 58, which is the same as the Huffman coding table 38 in the conventional coding apparatus for the moving image.
Dequantization unit 53 performs a dequantization of quantization coefficients of respective blocks by using the same matrix as used in the dequantization units 39 in the coding apparatus for the moving image, and restores the two-dimensional DCT coefficients of respective blocks. Inverse two-dimensional DCT transforming unit 54 restores the difference image of respective blocks by performing the inverse two-dimensional DCT conversion in units of blocks by using the two-dimensional DCT coefficient matrixes of respective blocks.
Adding unit 55 adds the decoded difference image of respective blocks to the image in the block in the same position in image memory 56 and the image obtained by this adding operation is rewritten in image memory 56.
A writing operation of a restored image into image memory 56 for respective blocks is controlled by intra-block image element write controlling unit 57. Intra-block image element write controlling unit 57 controls block address generating unit 59 and outputs an address of the particular block which is stored in the image memory and to which the difference image is added, to image memory 56 from block address generating unit 59, thereby writing the restoration image of respective frames in the image memory 56 in units of blocks.
The above sequential process is applied to the coded data of the difference image of all blocks of respective frames of the image and thus image memory 56 stores the restoration image of respective frames.
However, the above recited conventional technology has the following problems.
In the conventional coding technology of the static image, even respective images having small variation between continuous images are independently coded. Thus, even if the variation between the continuous images is very small such as images for a moving or a television telephone having a camera fixed, the compression ratio cannot be increased.
When the coding technology for the moving image as shown in FIG. 3 is used, the compression ratio can be raised owing to the difference coding method but it requires a larger scale of apparatuses. In the conventional coding apparatus for the moving image, the difference image between the present frame and the reference frame is calculated and the image of the reference frame to be used for obtaining the difference image is stored in the image memory 33. The variable length coding to the above ADCT is irreversible coding (information loss coding) and thus the error of the difference image from the original image becomes large when the number of accumulations exceeds a predetermined number and thus the quality of the image stored in the image memory 32 is decreased evidently. Therefore, it is necessary to refresh the image in an inter-frame mode at a predetermined number of frame intervals.
The inter-frame mode performs a variable length coding of the input image according to the ADCT in the similar manner to the conventional coding apparatus for the static image.
When the inverse two-dimensional DCT transform unit 40 used in the conventional decoding apparatus of the moving image is different from the two-dimensional DCT transform unit 54 used in the conventional coding apparatus for the moving image in respect of an operation or operation method, the errors generated in coding operations are stored and accumulated in the image memories 33 and 56, the noise caused by the accumulated errors becomes evident. Therefore, CCITT recommendation H-261 recommends that a refreshing operation should be performed at least once by using the above inter-frame mode during the period of 132 coding operations to solve the above problem of the accumulated errors generated due to a mis-match between the inverse two-dimensional DCT transform unit 40 and 54 in both apparatuses.
In the inter-frame mode, the image data of all blocks of one frame is coded as it is and the coded data of all blocks of one frame are transmitted to the receiving side. The frame in which such a coding is performed is called a refresh frame and such a coding is called refreshing. A quantity of the coding of the refresh frame in which the image data of all the blocks of one frame are coded as is, is greatly different from the quantity of coding of the ordinary frame in which only the difference image is coded. Namely, a quantity of the coding of the refresh frame is usually larger than that of the ordinary frames.
Therefore, when the image is transmitted by performing the data compression using such a high efficiency coding method as described above in television conference or a television telephone, the receiver of the coded data restores the frame after a longer time period passes upon receipt of the coded data of the refreshing frame than upon receipt of the coded data of an ordinary frame.
This difference in receiving time causes a receiver of the image to feel it naturally long.
When the image is transmitted at ten frames per second through an ISDN (Integrated Service Digital Network) with the transmission rate of 64 Kbps provided by a Japanese Telecommunication and Telephone Company, the amount of coded data of one frame should be less than 6400 bits.
Generally speaking, a quantity of coded data of one frame in the case of the ordinary frame can be compressed less than 6400 bits but the quantity of the coded data of one frame in the case of the refreshed frame is sometimes more than 6400 bits.
When a quantity of coded data per one frame exceeds the maximum quantity of coded data (which is 6400 bits in this case) of one frame which is originally assigned to one frame, the transmission processing of the refresh frame cannot be completed within the processing time assigned to the refresh frame and is extended into the processing time of the next frame.
In this case, the coding process of the next frame is not performed and the transmission process of the refresh frame will be performed. As a result, the frame which is not subject to the coding process is not transmitted to the receiving side and the monitor screen on the receiving side is displayed with one frame missing.
This example is shown in FIG. 5.
In FIG. 5, the third frame is a refresh frame and quantity of the coded data of the refresh frame exceeds 6400 bits. Therefore, the image of the third frame is not restored at time T3 when the image of the third frame should be restored on the monitor screen in the receiving side. An image of the third frame is restored at time T4, at which the image of the fourth frame should be restored. Thus, the image of the frames following the fourth frame are restored with one frame delay.
In the case of transferring the moving image, the coding side and decoding side have the coding buffers.
These code buffers are respectively provided in a succeeding stage of the variable length coding unit 37 and in a preceding stage of the variable length decoding unit 52 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. These code buffers have to store the data when the refreshing operation is performed, and thus the capacity of these code buffers depend on the maximum amount of the data of one frame, namely, the amount of data required for the refreshing operation. Accordingly, the decrease of the capacity of these code buffers greatly contribute to realization of a small size and inexpensive coding and decoding apparatus.
When the refreshing operation is performed, the image data of all the blocks of the refresh frame are coded without being subject to any process, as recited above and thus the amount of the coded data in the refreshing frame is greater than that in the ordinary frame which updates only the difference image. Therefore, there is a problem that a time spent to update the reference frame upon performing the refreshing operation becomes longer than that to update the reference frame upon coding the ordinary frame.
The variation between two consecutive frames in the moving image depends on the kind of the image. Therefore, upon performing the refreshing operation, the amount of the data is increased in the case of the image with a large movement and thus the refreshing operation sometimes cannot satisfy various conditions of the transmission line such as an information transmitting rate and the number of frames transmitted per unit time.
There is also a problem that the image appears strange as if it flashes at the time of the refreshing operation since a large amount of errors compared to the original image is accumulated in the image data of the reference frame before the refreshing operation is applied to the reference frame.

Image data coding and restoring method and apparatus for coding and restoring the same


A method and apparatus for redundant zero micro-operation removal. In one embodiment, the method includes the identification of a predetermined macro-instruction. Once identified, a value associated with a source register operand of the identified macro-instruction is determined. Once determined, the identified macro-instruction is decoded into a first macro operation and a second micro-operation if the determined value is not set. Otherwise, the identified macro-instruction is decoded into a single micro-operation if the determined value is set. Accordingly, the method described prevents the generation of redundant micro-operations that use valuable resources, such as allocation slots, as well as execution units within the processor core.

Internet audio and video streaming, as well as image processing and video content creation continuously drive system architects to design even faster microprocessors. In order to improve microprocessor performance, several techniques are used to improve the efficiency of modern day processors. One such technique for providing more efficient microprocessors is "Dynamic Execution". In summary, Dynamic Execution functions by determining the most efficient manner for executing program instructions, irrespective of the order in which the program instructions are received.
Dynamic Execution uses front-end logic that fetches the next instructions within a program and prepares the instructions for subsequent execution in the machine pipeline. This front-end logic utilizes highly accurate branch prediction logic that uses the past history of program execution to speculate where the program is going to execute next. The predicted instruction address from this front-end branch prediction logic is used to fetch instruction bytes from a level two (L2) cache. Once fetched, these instruction bytes are decoded into basic operations called micro-operations (uOPs) that the execution core can execute.
As such, these micro-operations are provided to out-of-order (OOO) execution logic, along with a sequence number assigned to each uOP. The OOO execution logic has several buffers that it uses to sort and reorder the flow of instructions to optimize performance as instructions go down the pipeline and get scheduled for execution. OOO execution allows program instructions to proceed around the delayed instructions as long as they do not depend on those delayed instructions. As a result, uOPs do not stall when following delayed instructions, in which case, efficiency dictates that the instructions execute in an out-of-order fashion.
The OOO execution logic generally includes retirement logic that reorders the instructions, executed in an out-of-order fashion (dynamic manner), back into the original program order. As a result, OOO execution logic generates a pool of active uOPs that can be executed in a manner which is more efficient than conventional systems. However, in order to implement out-of-order execution, register renaming logic is required to rename logical registers in order to use physical register files. In addition, the renaming logic is required for execution of legacy instructions with improved efficiency.
The described dynamic execution may be implemented within microprocessors that support 128-bit streaming single instruction multiple data (SIMD) extensions (SSE) and streaming SIMD extensions 2 (SSE2) instruction set architectures (ISA). Generally, the 128-bit SSE and SSE2 ISAs ("128-bit ISA") are implemented by splitting each 128-bit instruction into two uOPs that generate the lower and upper 64-bit chunks of the 128-bit register. These two halves of the architectural register are treated internally as two independent registers.
Unfortunately, for some macro-instructions from the 128-bit ISA, a 64-bit implementation of the 128-bit ISA, redundant uOP is generated during decoding of the macro-instructions. The redundant uOPs use valuable resources such as register allocation slots, as well as execution unit and uOP retirement execution bandwidth. Therefore, there remains a need to overcome one or more of the limitations in the above-described existing art.

Apparatus and method for redundant zero micro-operation removal


A liquid ejecting head unit includes: a liquid ejecting head that has a fixing face to be used for attachment and that ejects a liquid from a nozzle; a head fixing member that has stiffness higher than that of the fixing face and that is secured to the fixing face on the liquid ejecting head; and a support member that has an attachment face to which the liquid ejecting head is attached through the head fixing member.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid ejecting head unit that has a liquid ejecting head such as an ink jet type recording head, and relates to a liquid ejecting apparatus that has the liquid ejecting head unit and a liquid ejecting head set.
2. Related Art
A liquid ejecting apparatus includes liquid ejecting heads that eject drops of various kinds of liquid. A typical example of a liquid ejecting apparatus is an image recording apparatus such as an ink jet type recording apparatus (a printer) that includes, for example, an ink jet type recording head (hereinafter referred to "a recording head") and that performs a recording action by ejecting drops of liquid ink from a nozzle of the recording head. In addition, the liquid ejecting apparatus is used for ejecting various kinds of liquid such as a color material to be used in a color filter such as that of a liquid crystal display, an organic material to be used in an organic electro luminescence (EL) display, and an electrode material to be used for producing an electrode. The recording head for the image recording apparatus ejects a liquid ink. A color material ejecting head for a display producing apparatus ejects red (R), green (G), and blue (B) color material liquid solutions. An electrode material ejecting head for an electrode producing apparatus ejects a liquid electrode material. A bioorganic material ejecting head for a chip producing apparatus ejects a bioorganic material liquid solution.
The printer described above includes a recording head unit in which a plurality of recording heads are fixed on a support member (for example, see JP-A-2008-221745). Each recording head introduces an ink from an ink supply source such as an ink cartridge into a pressure chamber (a pressure generating chamber) and actuates a pressure generating unit such as a piezoelectric element or a heater element. Consequently, the ink in the pressure chamber is subjected to pressure fluctuations. A nozzle ejects the ink in the pressure chamber as ink drops by utilizing the pressure fluctuations. Since a head casing of the recording head is secured to a support member by using screws or the like, the recording head is secured to the support member.
Here, a resin which is easy to mold is usually used for the head casing due to manufacturing cost and the like. However, since the resin has a lower stiffness than metals or the like, there is a problem that when the head casing is secured to the support member and the recording head is attached to the support member the head casing that is pressed onto the support member may become deformed. Consequently, there is a problem that the recording head and the support member may become misaligned and that it is necessary to check for such positional misalignment of the recording head after attaching the recording head to the support member. For example, in the case of having to replace the recording head because of a failure, after fixing a new recording head on the support member, the ink drop is ejected from the new recording head and the landing position of the ink drop is confirmed. If misalignment of the landing position of the ink drop exceeds an allowable area, the position of the recording head is adjusted and the landing position of the ink drop is confirmed again. Consequently, the work for attaching the recording head to the support member of the recording head unit is complicated. This similarly applies to the case of a liquid ejecting head as well as the case of the recording head.

Liquid ejecting head unit, liquid ejecting apparatus, and liquid ejecting head set


Displacements of respective joints corresponding to respective joint elements (J9 and the like) of a rigid link model (S1) representing a two-legged walking mobile body (1) are sequentially grasped. Also at the same time, values, in a body coordinate system (BC), of an acceleration vector of the origin of the body coordinate system (BC) fixed to a waist (6) as a rigid element, a floor reaction force vector acting on each leg (2), and a position vector of the point of application of the floor reaction force vector are sequentially grasped. With the use of the grasped values, joint moments respectively generated in an ankle joint (13), a knee joint (14), and a hip joint (9) of each leg (2) are sequentially estimated based on an inverse dynamics model using the body coordinate system. The estimation accuracy of the joint moments of the leg can be enhanced by reducing arithmetic processing using tilt information of the two-legged walking mobile body relative to the gravity direction as much as possible.

When controlling the operation of a walking assist device to assist a human being in making a walking motion, for example, it is necessary to grasp joint moments actually acting on the joints of the legs of the human being. The grasp of the joint moments enables an appropriate determination of a target support force of the walking assist device. Also in a two-legged walking robot, there is sometimes a need to grasp the joint moments actually acting on the joints of the legs appropriately to control its operation.
Accordingly, the applicant of the present application has earlier suggested a method of estimating joint moments of the legs of a two-legged walking mobile body such as a human being in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-89083 (hereinafter, referred to as the patent document 1) and the like, for example. This method includes measuring displacements (rotation angles) of respective joints of the legs of the two-legged walking mobile body or an acceleration and an angular velocity of a predetermined region by using a required sensor and estimating a floor reaction force vector acting on each of the legs and a position of the point of application of the floor reaction force vector by using the measured data or a rigid link model of the two-legged walking mobile body. In this regard, the rigid link model is a model in which the structure of the two-legged walking mobile body is represented as a link body composed of a plurality of rigid elements coupled together by a plurality of joint elements. The rigid link model is used to estimate an total center-of-gravity location of the two-legged walking mobile body and the positions and postures of rigid equivalent parts (a thigh, a crus, a waist and the like) and joints (a knee joint, a hip joint, and the like) of the two-legged walking mobile body corresponding to the rigid elements and the joint elements, respectively, and is also used as a basis of a model for describing kinetic behaviors of the two-legged walking mobile body. For each of the rigid elements of the rigid link model, the weight, the length, and the center of gravity location (the position on each rigid element) are preset concomitantly.
Moreover, in the method disclosed in the patent document 1, a joint moment of a knee joint or a hip joint of each leg is estimated by arithmetic processing based on an inverse dynamics model by using an estimated floor reaction force vector, a position of the point of application of the floor reaction force vector, and the rigid link model. Generally speaking, the inverse dynamics model is a dynamic model for use in estimating a reaction force, which is an internal force of an object, or a moment, supposing that an external force acting on the object and position information have already been known (with the external force and the position information as input parameters), and represents a relation between the motion of the object (a time-series pattern of a position) and a force or a moment acting on the object. In the method of the patent document 1, the inverse dynamics model is constructed based on an equation of motion related to the motion (translational motion and rotary motion) of each rigid element of the rigid link model and the joint moments of each leg are estimated in order from a joint moment on the side of a joint closer to the point of application of the floor reaction force vector.
When estimating the joint moments as in the patent document 1, the floor reaction force vector, the point of application of the floor reaction force vector, and the inverse dynamics model need be expressed in a single coordinate system. Then, in the patent document 1, an absolute coordinate system fixed to a floor has been used as the coordinate system.
If the absolute coordinate system is used in this manner, there is a need to grasp a tilt angle in the absolute coordinate system such as, for example, a tilt angle relative to the vertical direction, of a predetermined region of the two-legged walking mobile body (more specifically, a rigid equivalent part corresponding to a certain rigid element of the rigid link model) and at the same time to transform the position and the posture of each region of the two-legged walking mobile body (a rigid equivalent part corresponding to the rigid element of the rigid link model) grasped as the relative position and posture to a certain reference region of the two-legged walking mobile body to values in the absolute coordinate system. Moreover, when calculating a floor reaction force vector or a joint moment, it is also necessary to estimate the position in the absolute coordinate system of the center of gravity of each body element of the rigid link model and thus it further requires arithmetic processing (coordinate transformation) to represent the center of gravity location in the absolute coordinate system. Accordingly, a lot of arithmetic processing such as the coordinate transformation using the tilt angle is needed.
In this case, as a method of measuring a tilt angle relative to the vertical direction of a predetermined region of the two-legged walking mobile body, there is generally known a method of integrating a detected value of a gyro sensor for detecting an angular velocity, a method of estimating a tilt angle in the form of a so-called Kalman filter by using both of the gyro sensor and the acceleration sensor, or a method of directly detecting a tilt angle using a pendulum tiltmeter. In all of these methods, however, accumulated errors involved in an integral of detected values of the gyro sensor or an inertial acceleration during the motion of the two-legged walking mobile body often inhibits a measurement of a tilt angle relative to the vertical direction with a fully satisfactory degree of accuracy in general. Therefore, it is generally hard to grasp the tilt angle of a predetermined region of the two-legged walking mobile body in the absolute coordinate system with a high degree of accuracy. Therefore, in the method of the patent document 1 requiring a lot of arithmetic processing such as coordinate transformation using the tilt angle as described above, arithmetic errors are easily accumulated, thus inhibiting an improvement of estimation accuracy of the joint moments.
The present invention has been provided in view of the above background. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method of estimating joint moments of a two-legged walking mobile body enabling an enhancement of estimation accuracy of the joint moments of the legs by reducing arithmetic processing using tilt information relative to the gravity direction of the two-legged walking mobile body as much as possible.

Method of estimating joint moment of two-legged walking mobile body


A device for positioning encoding of a rotating shaft in which a polygonal mirror having a number of facets is mounted to the shaft and a light beam is directed towards the facets. The facets of the polygonal mirror reflect the light beam such that a light spot is created on a linear array detector. An analog-to-digital converter is connected to the linear array detector for reading the position of the spot on the spots on the linear array detector. A microprocessor with memory is connected to the analog-to-digital converter to hold and manipulate the data provided by the analog-to-digital converter on the position of the spot and to compute the position of the shaft based upon the data from the analog-to-digital converter.

Many scientific, industrial, military weapons systems, and aerospace applications require precise and accurate knowledge of the angular orientation of a shaft or other rotating object. Typically, this knowledge is provided by a rotary shaft angle encoder. Encoders of the highest practical precision are relative or incremental in nature, i.e. they resolve very small angular changes and keep track of accumulated change relative to some reference angle. In these encoders the angular information generally is lost if this reference angle becomes corrupted, e.g., through power interruption or upset by electromagnetic interference. There are also absolute encoders which provide angle information which is independent of any reference angle (except of course its own calibration, traceable to some standards maintenance organization such as NIST--formerly NBS). The absolute nature of these encoders is generally accompanied by only low to moderate angular sensitivity. Those which have the highest sensitivity are exorbitantly expensive ($30,000 to $100,000). Further, some of these encoders often achieve additional sensitivity by means of gear trains which are subject to hysteresis which limit accuracy and make angular determination indirect.

Rotary encoding device with polygonal reflector and centroid detection

The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration


A hard phase forming alloy powder, for forming a hard phase dispersed in a sintered alloy, consists of, by mass %, 15 to 35% of Mo, 1 to 10% of Si, 10 to 40% of Cr, and the balance of Co and inevitable impurities. A production method, for a wear resistant sintered alloy, includes preparing a matrix forming powder, the hard phase forming alloy powder, and a graphite powder. A wear resistant sintered alloy exhibits a metallic structure in which 15 to 45% of a hard phase is dispersed in a matrix. The hard phase consists of, by mass %, 15 to 35% of Mo, 1 to 10% of Si, 10 to 40% of Cr, and the balance of Co and inevitable impurities.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a hard phase forming alloy powder that may preferably be used for forming a hard phase dispersed in a wear resistant sintered alloy. The wear resistant sintered alloy, such as that used in valve sheets for internal-combustion engines, must have wear resistance at high temperatures. The present invention also relates to a production method for a wear resistant sintered alloy using the hard phase forming alloy powder, and the wear resistant sintered alloy may preferably be used for valve sheets for internal-combustion engines. In addition, the present invention relates to a wear resistant sintered alloy obtained by the production method.
2. Background Art
For a sintered alloy, the alloy design can be freely selected, and various characteristics, such as heat resistance and wear resistance, can be easily added thereto compared to doing so for ingot materials. Therefore, the sintered alloy is used for valve sheets for internal-combustion engines. In such wear resistant sintered alloy for valve sheets, a hard phase having a high degree of hardness is generally dispersed in an iron-based alloy matrix primarily to improve wear resistance. For example, the following sintered alloys are known. A sintered alloy, in which ferroalloy particles are dispersed in an iron-based alloy matrix as a hard phase, is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application of Laid-Open No. 64-015349. This sintered alloy is formed by adding a ferroalloy powder, such as ferromolybdenum and ferrotungsten, to a raw powder and then sintering. Another sintered alloy, in which a hard phase is dispersed in an iron-based alloy matrix, is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application of Laid-Open No. 09-195012. This sintered alloy is formed by adding a high-speed tool steel powder or a die steel powder to a raw powder and then sintering, and metal carbides are dispersed in the hard phase. Specifically, when high wear resistance is required for a sintered alloy, it is preferable that a Co-based alloy powder or a Ni-based alloy powder (see Japanese Patent Application of Laid-Open No. 10-046298) be added to a raw powder and be dispersed as a hard phase. For the Co-based alloy powder, a Co—Cr—W alloy (see Japanese Patent Application of Laid-Open No. 64-015349) and a Co—Mo—Si alloy (see Japanese Patent Application of Laid-Open No. 56-152947) may be used.

Hard phase forming alloy powder, wear resistant sintered alloy, and production method for wear resistant sintered alloy


Systems and methods are provided for generating training data for a machine-learning classifier. A knowledge representation synthesized based on an object of interest is used to assign labels to content items. The labeled content items can be used as training data for training a machine learning classifier. The labeled content items can also be used as validation data for the classifier.

Information technology is often used to provide users with various types of information, such as text, audio, video, and any suitable other type of information. In some cases, information is provided to a user in response to an action that the user has taken. For example, information may be provided to a user in response to a search query input by the user or in response to the user's having subscribed to content such as an e-mail alert or an electronic newsletter. In other cases, information is provided or "pushed" to a user without the user having specifically requested such information. For example, a user may occasionally be presented with advertisements or solicitations.
There is a vast array of content and information that can be provided to users via information technology. Indeed, because of the enormous volume of information available via the Internet, the World Wide Web (WWW), and any other suitable information provisioning sources, and because the available information is distributed across an enormous number of independently owned and operated networks and servers, locating information of interest to users presents challenges. Similar challenges exist when the information of interest is distributed across large private networks.

System and method for generating training data for machine learning classifier


A bearing seal includes at least one first metal-plate element having an attachment region for attaching the first metal-plate element to a bearing inner ring, at least one seal element attached to the first metal-plate element, and at least one spring element configured to press at least one region of the seal element in a radially outward direction. Also a wheel bearing assembly including the bearing seal.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show known bearing seals that include metal-plate elements 10. These bearing seals attach directly or indirectly to an inner ring 12 of a bearing and include a seal element 14 attached to each metal-plate element. FIG. 3 shows another known seal in which a seal element 14 is pressed against a metal-plate element 10 that is attached to an inner ring 12.


An integrated image processing system includes an array of cells arranged in rows and columns. Each cell corresponds to a pixel of an image and includes a photosensitive element for detecting the luminous intensity of its respective pixel and for generating a value. A first switch controls the transfer of the value from a respective photosensitive element to the corresponding capacitor, which stores the value. A second switch couples each of the cells in parallel to a common line. A control circuit receives the values from each cell on the common line and generates a signal for regulating the switching time interval of the first switch.

The present invention relates to monolithically integrated image processing systems and more in particular to an adaptive optical sensor, monolithically integrated together with control and image processing circuitry.
Integrated optical sensors are becoming very useful in a number of application fields. Fundamentally, the sensor constitutes the image detector (video camera) in a certain format, for example in the QCIF format (176.times.144 pixels) and advantageously is monolithically integrated with the processing and control circuit. Integrated sensors of this type are useful in industry for realizing cameras suitable for functioning in hostile environments, for alarm and monitoring systems, for implementing of intelligent motion sensors and for filming in multimedia environments, PC, low OCR resolution, FAX and the like.
The following publications treat various aspects of the state of the art technology used for fabricating this type of optical sensors, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
"An Object Position and Orientation IC with Embedded Imager", David L. Standley, JSSC Vol. 26, n. Dec. 12, 1991; PA1 "Smart Sensor Interface with A/D Conversion and Programmable Calibration", P. Malcovati, C. Azzeredo Leme, P. O'Leary, F. Maloberti and H. Baltes, JSSC Vol. 29, n. Aug. 8, 1994; PA1 "A New MOS Imager Using Photodiode as Current Source", Mikio Kyomasu, JSSC Vol. 26, n. Aug. 8, 1991; PA1 "Image Motion Detection Using Analog VLSI", Chu Phoon Chong, C. Andre, T. Salama and K. C. Smith, JSSC Vol. 27, n. Jan. 1, 1992, PA1 "Smart Pixel Cellular Neural Network in Analog Current Mode CMOS Technology", S. Espejo et al., JSSC Vol. 29, n. Aug. 8, 1994; PA1 "A 256.times.256 CMOS Active Pixel Image Sensor with Motion Detection", A. Dickinson, et al., ISSCC ISSN 0193-6530, February 1995, San Francisco.
The photosensitive portion of the integrated device is commonly constituted by an array or matrix of elementary cells, each corresponding to a pixel of a picked-up image (frame). The photodetector member of each cell may be a phototransistor or a photodiode. The luminous intensity of each pixel of an image optically projected over the area occupied by the array of photosensitive cells can be detected in terms of the current photogenerated by the photodetecting component of the respective cell.
The reading of an image detected by the array of photosensitive cells takes place by scanning the cells in cyclic succession, usually row by row. For each row of selected cells, the values relative to the single pixels of the row are commonly read in a parallel mode by a number of reading circuits equal to the number of pixels per row (i.e. equivalent to the number of columns of the photosensitive array). The values, read simultaneously for all the pixels of a selected row are "discharged" in a parallel mode, for example through a parallel-to-serial converter, in order to produce as output, a serial video signal including appropriate row synchronism pulses.
An alternative to the use of phototransistors or photodiodes is photomodulated sources of a current proportional to the luminous intensity, which, adequately amplified, provides a pixel signal that may be sampled in the reading phase, stored and/or processed in various ways according to particular algorithms. The common use of a photodiode and of an associated capacitance that may be switched in parallel to the diode for a preestablished period of time for storing the value of luminous intensity of the respective pixel in terms of electric charge, has the advantage of allowing for a great simplification of the integrated structure of the individual cell.
Transfer of the charge photogenerated by the photodiode to the respective storing capacitance can be controlled by a dedicated integrated switch.
Normally, the subsequent reading destroys the information (pixel) temporarily stored in the cell capacitance, thus resetting the state of charge of the storing capacitance to a preset level. Therefore, the cell is ready again to record the next frame.
The reading of the state of charge of the capacitance is commonly enabled by a dedicated integrated read select switch, capable of coupling the storing capacitance of the cell (pixel) to the input of a charge amplifier, common for all the cells of a column of the cell array (that is, for pixels of the same order of all the rows).
A typical cell arrangement in rows and columns is shown in FIG. 1. The figure schematically illustrates the read select switches Rs and the array of the reading charge amplifiers Ra.
A frame is read selecting one row at the time in succession. The pixel values, produced at the outputs of the charge amplifiers Ra, for each selected row, are delivered in parallel and converted into a serial signal by a dedicated parallel-to-serial converter circuit (not shown in the figure).
These systems require means for preventing saturation of the photosensitive elements (cells) and optimizing, that is adapting the sensitivity of the sensor to the illumination conditions of the scene or of the filmed subject. This requisite is of paramount importance because the variation of illumination between successive frames has a great impact on the global performances algorithm of analysis, principally based on the luminance component of the frames, especially so in the case of black and white videocameras.
Commonly, this function is electronically implemented through normal automatic gain control (AGC) loops, in function of luminance. A luminance signal can be generated in various ways. Often it is obtained from a dedicated sensor (exposure meter), integrated on the same device. In other systems, an average value of the frame luminance is obtained by processing the video signal itself. As a whole, the known systems rely on controlling the gain of a video signal amplifier, "downstream" of the sensor, through automatic gain regulation techniques.
These sensitivity regulation systems are intrinsically complex. There is a need and/or utility of an "adaptive" sensor, capable of automatically implementing a control of its own sensitivity in function of the illumination level of the filmed subject, that is of the luminance of each frame without requiring the realization of burdensome signal processing circuits.
This aim is fully attained by the present invention whose object is a method and relative sensor's architecture, capable of exerting a sensitivity control of the optical sensor in response to the level of illumination of the subject or of the frame's luminance.
Therefore, control is implemented at each photogram (frame) by the sensor in an essentially adaptive way.
In a sensor operating in a cyclic mode that stores each frame in the form of electric charge, a preferred method of the invention consists of detecting, during a first phase of each cycle, the value of the global electric current resulting from the sum of the currents photogenerated by all the photosensitive elements that make up the sensor and in regulating the (shutter) closing interval of the switches through which the photogenerated current is integrated in the storage capacitance of each photosensitive cell, substantially in accordance with an inverse proportionality law in function of the preliminary assessed level of the global current.
The successive "reading" of the charge level of the storage capacitance, that corresponds to the relative intensity value of each pixel of the frame, eventually produces a video signal whose amplitude has already been adjusted on the ground of the frame's luminance level, without the need of further signal processing and compensation of the video signal.
According to an important aspect of the invention, this sensor adaptivity can be implemented with a particularly simple cell structure, realizable in a completely compatible way by a standard CMOS fabrication process, as it shown hereafter.
The processing circuitry of the global current and that for generating the appropriate control signals that establish the interval of integration of the current photogenerated in each photosensitive element, typically a photodiode, in its respective storage capacitance, in function of the preliminary measured global photogenerated current, can be realized in an essentially analog form or in an almost entirely digital form. Alternatively, its function can be partly implemented by processing via software an information relative to the global current in order to generate, via software, the desired time interval during which the frame's pixel values are stored as electric charge.
According to a fundamental aspect of the invention each individual cell comprises, in integrated form, beside its photosensitive structure, for example a photodiode, a storage (MOS) capacitance, a first switch for coupling the storage capacitance in parallel to the photodiode and a second read-select switch (discharge) for discharging the electric charge stored in the capacitance through the input of the charge amplifier (reading amplifier), and also a third integrated switch. The latter has the function of connecting in parallel all the sensor photodiodes to a common line during an initial phase of each cycle. During this first phase of each cycle, the global current photogenerated by all the sensor cells is coupled, through a low impedance coupling circuit, to the input of a resettable charge amplifier. Therefore, the voltage ramp of the output node of the charge amplifier can be compared with a reference voltage by a comparator.
The interval of time between the initial instant of a new cycle and the triggering of the comparator provides the primary information for enabling, based on other prearrangeable parameters, the closing time of the switch for integrating the photogenerated current of the photodiode its respective storage capacitance, thus implementing the desired adaptive function of the sensor to the changing illumination conditions, on a frame-by-frame basis. In practice, the system of the invention implements an automatic regulation of a parameter that can be equated to the exposure time (i.e. the shutter of a classical camera system). In other words, the invention realizes an electronic shutter whose opening time is automatically regulated in terms of illumination condition of the subject, on a frame-to-frame basis.


A submount for an optoelectronic device includes a substrate, a first top pad on a top surface of the substrate, a first bottom pad on a bottom surface of the substrate and a first wrap-around contact in a sidewall recess of the substrate, in which the first wrap-around contact is coupled electrically to the first top pad and to the first bottom pad. Alternatively, or in addition, the submount includes a device mounting pad on the top surface of the substrate, a wire-bond pad on the top surface of the substrate, a contact pad on the bottom surface of the substrate and a feedthrough contact which extends through the substrate and electrically couples the wire-bond pad to the contact pad.

This disclosure relates to optoelectronic device submounts. Optoelectronic devices, such as light emitting diodes (LEDs), are used for a variety of applications. For example, LEDs are commonly used in consumer electronic devices such as flash elements in mobile camera phones. In some cases, LEDs can be used as backlighting in laptop displays. In other examples, LEDs are used in automobiles as brake lights, head lights or for cabin lighting.
In conventional LED packages, a LED chip is placed on a submount that enables electrical connection to the LED chip. To accommodate different types of LED chips, various submounts have been produced with a range of sizes, geometries, and electrical connections. However, there is no single submount design that can accommodate the different LED chip designs. In addition, existing LED submounts can lead to increases in package size and cost. Furthermore, many LED submounts are not compatible with surface mount devices (SMDs). In some cases, it is not possible to incorporate circuitry into the LED chip because solder reflow techniques can lead to circuit damage.


A system and method for detecting and handling errors in a computer system are disclosed. The invention is configurable to permit selecting of timelength or time out values, assigned interrupts to be generated and error recover procedures so that failures of system events can be promptly detected and recovered from. The watchdog timer is started with a timelength or time out value and generates an interrupt (i.e., is triggered) if the period of time set as the timelength passes without receiving a reset. The watchdog timer interface interacts and controls the hardware based timer to obtain this watchdog timer functionality. The hardware based timer is generally a high precision timer that exists in hardware architecture for a computer system and is usable by system software. The watchdog timer interface controls and sets various parameters and/or registers of the hardware based timer in order to provide the desired functionality of a watchdog timer. Thus, another software component can call and interact with the watchdog timer interface for a system event and view the watchdog timer interface as a watchdog timer (i.e., the operation of the hardware based timer is transparent).

A watchdog timer is a standard mechanism employed to detect and respond to system failures in a timely manner. The watchdog timer reacts to a failure by executing a specific routine after the expiration of a set time period, unless it is reset by software. A watchdog timer is typically utilized to handle situations in which a computer locks up, halts, hangs or is in an infinite loop. A watchdog timer is started or initialized with a time out value. Then, the time out value of the watchdog timer is decremented at a certain frequency by a decrement value until the timer reaches zero, indicating that an error has occurred. During normal operation, a watchdog timer is reset, typically at regular intervals, prior to reaching zero. On being reset, the watchdog timer is reinitialized or reset to the time out value. However, if the timer is not reset prior to reaching zero, the watchdog timer is triggered indicating that an error has occurred. Generally, a recovery procedure is then initiated to recover from the error.
Watchdog timers are typically employed in computer systems to detect errors and/or assist in recovering from errors. For example, a watchdog timer can be employed to detect and recover from application errors. If an application locks, halts, or is otherwise non-responsive, the timer will not be reset, which will consequently cause a previously set period of time to expire and a response to be triggered. Typical examples of watchdog-initiated responses include an interrupt, a warm boot (system reset), or a system shutdown.
Watchdog timers utilized in computer systems are often implemented as a separate retriggerable hardware timer attached to a processor's reset line. These hardware based watchdog timers are typically integrated into computer systems on Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) or Integrated Standard Architecture (ISA) cards connected through their respective slots on the motherboard, or alternatively, made to operate outside the computer by way of an external serial device. These timers are connected to a computer's reset line and initiate a reboot when the timer is triggered (i.e., counts down to zero). Although this approach enables recovery from system lock-ups, it can result in complete system reset, which typically involves a significant delay in waiting for the system to reboot. Generally, these hardware based watchdog timers are unable to interact with an operating system thereby limiting their applications to computer systems.
Another approach to employing watchdog timers in computer systems is to utilize conventional system timers to implement watchdog timers. However, these system timers require a relatively large amount of time to program and operate and utilize significant system resources. Additionally, these system timers generally are only accessible via I/O registers, which is inefficient for accessing and programming the timers. Also, these system timers are often utilized for existing applications and are, thus, unable to be employed by software components such as the operating system or applications.
Another shortcoming of conventional watchdog timers is that they have limited time out values. For example, 32 bit based watchdog timers operating at typical system bus speeds are limited to time out values of about seven minutes. Such a limitation renders these watchdog timers unusable for applications requiting longer time out values, such as when booting a series of large servers many of which require an hour or more to boot.
Thus, watchdog timers can be effective in detecting and recovering from errors encountered in computer systems. However, conventional watchdog timers are either too expensive or require significant system resources. Specifically, hardware based watchdog timers are costly and can be limited in recovery procedures, yet standard system timers require too many system resources.

Watchdog timer using a high precision event timer


Described are molded bodies comprising bond material based on cellulose acetate as a bonding agent and reinforcing natural cellulose fibers or natural cellulose-containing fibers. These components are characterized by the fact that the cellulose acetate has a degree of substitution (DS) of approximately 1.2 to 2.7 and the molded bodies have a Vicat temperature of at least approximately 160.degree. C. and the ratio of the weight of cellulose acetate to the natural cellulose fibers or natural cellulose-containing fibers is approximately 10:90-90:10. These molded bodies are produced by mixing cellulose acetate with the natural cellulose fibers or the natural cellulose-containing fibers in a ratio by weight of approximately 90:10-10:90, in particular 15:85-85:15, in the total moisture content is adjusted to at least approximately 3% by weight, with respect to the total amount of the cellulose acetate in the mixture, and this mixture is molded at a temperature of approximately 220.degree. to 280.degree. C. and a pressure of approximately 30 to 150 bars. The molded bodies according to the invention can advantageously be used as interior parts of automobiles, in particular as roof ceiling and as side paneling, as well as packaging material, insulating material or as a furniture part.

Apart from synthetic materials from thermoplastic or thermosetting polymers, in many fields, for example in the automotive, packaging, furniture, electric and electronics industry as well as in the field of construction and the like, occasionally synthetic materials from thermoplastic or duroplastic polymers from polymers containing fiber structures or polymers containing fibers or fiber-reinforced polymers are used. Such materials are frequently produced as semifinished products, for example in the form of web materials, matting, boards etc. These are used immediately or only after further processing or refining and finishing, for example by molding, coating or the like. In addition to fiber materials, or instead of fiber materials, these polymeric materials may comprise suitable fillers to lend them specific properties. The variety and the number of options of applications of these bond materials comprising a great variety of polymers, fibers and fillers is almost unlimited.
Within the scope of increased environmental awareness and restrictive laws, the ability for recycling of materials or their environmentally harmless disposal plays an increasingly more important role. In particular, the ecologically compatible waste disposal assumes increasingly critical significance since the recyclability is limited due to growing contamination and material damages and in this case the elimination becomes unavoidable. This may be carried out by combustion or forming deposits. An unlimited formation of deposits may be made in public locations. The perpetual waste disposal unlimited in time is not possible for reasons of space. A particularly simple and advantageous form of elimination is the biological degradation which can occur, for example, through composting. If the expression "biologically degradable" herein-below is used, it is intended to be understood that the corresponding substance is accessible to degradation through living organisms (organisms/microorganisms) and/or through natural environmental factors, for example the chemical degradation through bacteria, fungi, in particular molds and yeasts. Synthetic materials which are commonly used in packaging materials, in particular polystyrene, are not biologically degradable. In the case of carbohydrates the biological degradation, for example primarily in the form of anaerobic bacterials decomposition, leads to harmless lower fatty acids, alcohol and carbon dioxide. This is referred to by the term "rot". Intermediate products of the rotting processes can combine to form harmless new polymeric products and this advantageous humification is utilized in composting. This process involves in particular the biological degradation or the conversion of organic substances, in particular organic wastes, wood, leaves, and other plant materials, paper and sewage sludge, which proceeds with the development of heat ("spontaneous heating") and leads to the formation of compost, a dark, crumbly substance with advantageous components of nutrient salts (phosphate, nitrogen and potassium compounds) (see Rompp Chemie-Lexikon, 9th Edition, Vol. 3, 1990, pp. 2312/2313).
In view of the mentioned possibilities of subjecting specific waste materials to biological degradation, natural products are increasingly therefore of interest in material development. They offer many advantages. As regenerated raw materials they contribute to the protection of resources. They are further largely nontoxic and can be combusted without leaving residues. Their degradation products are compatible with environmental protection.
Materials of wood chips or natural fibers, such as cellulose, cotton, bast fibers and wool have been processed for a long time into known products, such as paper, cardboard, felts, fiber boards and particle board. These wood chips or natural fibers can also serve for the manufacture of preforms (molded bodies) according to different processes. There is also a a great number of new developments in which high-strength natural fibers such as flax, hemp, ramie and the like, whose mechanical properties are to some extent comparable to those of synthetic high-performance fibers, are used as reinforcing fibers in bond or composite materials. The old and the new materials have in common the feature that they must comprise a synthetic polymer or synthetic polymers as bonding agents to achieve strength, stiffness, good molding properties or durability. However if biological degradability is required, only natural bonding agents such as starch, rubbers etc. can be considered. However, there is the disadvantage that they are soluble in water.
The development of replacing synthetic, biologically non-degradable polymers in the bond materials by biodegradable polymers has not yet been concluded. Natural products, such as cellulose, starch etc. as directly moldable substances are not suitable for most purposes or are inferior to synthetic polymers with respect to variability of properties and processing. Biodegradable novel polymers suitable for composites are, for example, the polyhydroxy butyrates, but these are very expensive.
In bond and composite materials the mixing ratio of bonding means components and reinforcement or filler components can fluctuate within wide limits. The portion of the polymer bonding means depends only on the properties required for the particular applications. For insulating materials or specific packaging materials, for example relatively soft web materials or specific packaging materials, for example soft web materials with low amounts of polymer bonding means are suitable. However also hard and stiff fiber boards can be produced with low mixtures of bonding means. On the other hand, for viscoplastic and waterproof materials and materials suitable for thermoforming, higher amounts of polymers are necessary. If in the final analysis the material properties are to be largely determined by the polymer, potentially only small additions--only for purposes of modification--of filler or reinforcement materials are necessary.
Moldable semifinished products, for example, for automobile parts, such as paneling, for example door paneling, roof ceiling and the like, are currently produced in large quantities with resin-bonded fiber matting comprising glass fibers, wood fibers, reprocessed cotton or bast fibers. Phenolic resins are predominantly used as the polymer. However, this is controversial from a toxicological and ecological point of view. Therefore, increasingly also other thermosetting materials, such as epoxides or unsaturated polyesters, are being used. Thermosetting bonding agents offer the advantage that they do not tend to become deformed at the temperatures in cars, which to some extent can be extreme. However, there are the drawbacks in the use of thermosetting bonding agents that the processing is complex and the price is high. In particular, epoxides, for example, are relatively expensive. A further drawback is that cured thermosetting materials can only be recycled with difficulty. For these reasons, other fiber-reinforced thermoplastic polymers, most often polypropylene, are currently used to a large extent. However, these polymers have low thermal dimensional stability. As an alternative to glass fibers natural fibers, such as cellulose are used or jute, but also wood powder. The materials for molded bodies known so far, comprise as a rule at least 20% by weight of polymers. Due to this relatively high amount of polymer the fibers are enveloped and bonded in such a manner that their biodegradability is no longer possible.
As insulating material for the thermal insulation of buildings there are used in large quantities glass fibers or mineral fiber matting which are bonded with low amounts of thermosetting materials, such as phenolic or urea resins. Due to toxicological considerations against the use of mineral fibers and their uncertain disposal, natural fiber matting is being increasingly developed and offered for sale. Depending on the production process, these fibers must also be strengthened with suitable polymer bonding agents. For example, for thermal strengthening, readily melting, synthetic bonding fibers are being used. However, these fibers conflict with the demand for biological degradability.
Various publications, for example "Verpackung aus nachwachsenden Rohstoffen (Packaging of regenerated raw materials"), Vogel Buchverlag, Wurzburg, 1st Edition, 1994, pp 146-148 as well as 374-380, "Nachwachsende und biobbaubare Materialien im Verpackungsbereich (Regenerated and biodegradable materials in the packaging field"), Roman Kovar Verlag, Munchen, 1st Edition, 1993, pp. 120-126 as well as 463 and DE 39 14 022 A1, describe a raw material which is readily biologically degradable by composting and which is based on cellulose acetate and citric acid esters and its use for the production, for example of wrappings or containers for oil lights, eternal oil candles, composition oil lights, other light implementations for graves and foils. In addition to the specified materials, this synthetic material comprises polyesters and if necessary other organic acids and/or acid esters. The citric ester serves as softener and results in the capability of the cellulose acetate to be processed thermoplastically so that it can be formed into a molded body.
The article "AVK-Tagung Faserverstarkete Kunststoffe Weg zuruck zur Natur" (AVK Conference Fiber Reinforced Synthetic Materials--the path back to nature), by Wolfgang Asche in the Journal "Chemische Rundschau", No. 39, 30 September 1994, p. 3, describes the use of the above mentioned synthetic material, described inter alia in the cited publication "Verpackung aus nachwachsenden Rohstoffen", based on cellulose diacetate and citric acid esters together with natural fibers, such as ramie, flax, sisal or hemp, for the production of composite materials. The described moldable material based on cellulose diacetate, citric acid esters and polyesters and if necessary other organic acids and/or acid esters as well as natural fibers, ramie, flax, sisal or hemp can be processed into molded bodies which can be readily degraded biologically. Because of the high prices of the synthetic material, they are relatively expensive. A drawback in particular is the portion of citric acid ester as softener. During the processing of these materials this softener can escape at high temperatures which can lead to undesirable vapors or smoke loads. The softener can also migrate at normal temperatures to the surface of the material and can evaporate impairing the environment. Due to the incorporation of the low-molecular softener the finished product also experiences a loss of strength. It has further a rather low softening point, which is due to the softener.
United States Patent; U.S. Pat. No. 3 271 231 relates to a flexible fiber web free of support comprising cellulose acetate fibers and cellulose fibers. By necessity, in its production a softener is used in the amount of 2 to 8% by weight. This patent shows that the cellulose acetate is not completely plastified but rather is only softened and bonds the cellulose fibers at their points of contact. In this manner flexible molded sheet objects with an open structure are obtained.
The known processes for the production of molded bodies based on cellulose acetate and reinforcing natural cellulose fibers as well as the molded bodies produced accordingly require absolutely the presence of softeners. However, this is a drawback from a number of points of view. The softener leads, for example, to a lower thermal stability under load, as a measure of which, for example, the Vicat temperature can be used. The thermal stability under load of the known materials is insufficient for applications, for example, in the automobile industry, where markedly higher Vicat temperatures are desired. On the other hand, the use of softeners in the thermal molding of cellulose acetate has been considered among experts to be absolutely necessary. Pure cellulose acetates can hardly be melted without degradation since their softening is always accompanied by thermal degradation. For example, the monograph "Cellulose and Cellulose Derivatives", Vol. V, Part 3, Emil Ott, H. M. Spurlin explains on page 1364: ". . . softening and degradation of 2.5 cellulose acetate is in the range of 235.degree. C. to 270.degree. C. . . . ". One skilled in the art must thus assume that during the thermal shaping of cellulose acetates, softeners are always required.

Molded bodies comprising bond material based on cellulose acetate and reinforcing natural cellulose fibers, a process for the production and the use thereof


A laser produced plasma (“LPP”) extreme ultraviolet (“EUV”) light source and method of operating same is disclosed which may comprise an EUV plasma production chamber having a chamber wall; a drive laser entrance window in the chamber wall; a drive laser entrance enclosure intermediate the entrance window and a plasma initiation site within the chamber and comprising an entrance enclosure distal end opening; at least one aperture plate intermediate the distal opening and the entrance window comprising at least one drive laser passage aperture. The at least one aperture plate may comprise at least two aperture plates comprising a first aperture plate and a second aperture plate defining an aperture plate interim space. The at least one drive laser aperture passage may comprise at least two drive laser aperture passages. The laser passage aperture may define an opening large enough to let the drive laser beam pass without attenuation and small enough to substantially reduce debris passing through the laser passage aperture in the direction of the entrance window.

In the above referenced patent application Ser. No. 11/067,099, there is discussed that an LPP EUV drive laser input window may consist of two windows: one for sealing, e.g., vacuum sealing, of the EUV Plasma production chamber and another one for exposure to the debris from plasma creation and that the cleaning of such debris inside the chamber may be accomplished, e.g., with a cleaning mechanism, which may incorporate, e.g., etching with a halogen-containing gas and/or by plasma etching.


A method of calculating recovery commands for numerical controlled system that an upper controller provides position commands to a servo driver to drive a motor. A memory space is provided to store the position commands, and then a position matrix and a transformation matrix are read. Finally, the transformation matrix is multiplied by the position matrix to calculate the coefficients of a position polynomial and a plurality of position interpolations. In addition, a velocity polynomial and an acceleration polynomial can be calculated. Therefore, the position commands are calculated to recovery as a high-order differentiable continuous polynomial to synchronize the servo driver and the upper controller.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of calculating recovery commands for a numerical controlled system, and more particularly to a method of calculating recovery commands for recovering a high-order differentiable continuous polynomial for a numerical controlled system.
2. Description of Prior Art
Motion control is the core technique in the precision machining tools, and applications scope of the motion control includes industrial machines for a position control or a velocity control, and further includes computerized numerical control (CNC) machine tools for a high-precision control. A motion control system is integrated with various software and hardware techniques, so cost, stability, use frequency, maintaining service of the motion control system and even scalability and interoperability of the software and the hardware are important factors for evaluating the motion control system. Furthermore, both position and velocity of all spindles of the machine tool are practically taken into account to determine controlling quality of the machine tool.
The CNC machine tools mean that the computerized numerical control system is installed in the machine tool, and the computerized numerical control system receives and calculates inputted data and afterward sends commands to control operating conditions, such as spindle rotation, cutting tool replacement, cutting motion, coolant switch, or so on, to achieve expected control.
During the process of CNC machine tools, original data (such as geometric shape and outline size) and corresponding instructions are provided to calculate a plurality of interpolations to process accurately a contour curve between a starting point and an end point of an unprocessed material.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,772,020 disclosed an arrangement for generating command variables for control loops of a numerically controlled machine that includes an interpolator unit for providing position set points with a defined interpolator scanning rate and a precision interpolator unit. The precision interpolator unit includes a scanning rate converter and a downstream-connected low-pass filter, wherein the precision interpolator unit is arranged downstream of the interpolator unit, which generates command variables at an output side from position set points at an input side for one or several downstream-connected control loops, wherein the precision interpolator unit generates command variables in a time pattern of the control loops with a control loop scanning rate. The command variables for the control loops are implemented to adopt a structure of a two-order filter, and the filter is also designed to match the numerically controlled machine. However, it does not render a higher-order differentiability for resultant path curves. The practicability of the numerically controlled machine is reduced due to high complexity of the command-generating arrangement.

Method of calculating recovery commands for numerical controlled system


A welding apparatus spot welds an upper sheet and a lower sheet together. A substantially semi-circular hole or notch is formed at an edge of the upper sheet at the desired location of spot welding. When the semi-circular hole or notch is formed, the process does not wrinkle or deform the upper sheet. A clamping cup of the welding apparatus surrounds the semi-circular hole or notch and contacts the upper surface of the upper sheet. A plasma arc torch heats the sheets, allowing entrapped vapors in a coating on the lower sheet to vent freely to the atmosphere. Filler wire is added and melted to fill the semi-circular hole or notch and to secure the overlapping sheets together.

The present invention relates generally to an apparatus and method for spot welding an upper coated sheet including a semi-circular hole or notch formed at an edge to a lower coated sheet at the location of the semi-circular hole or notch.
Spot welding type process have been employed to secure overlapping sheets of material together. In one variant, a circular hole is punched in an upper sheet at the desired location of the weld, and the upper sheet is positioned over a lower sheet. The two sheets are then spot welded together at the location of the circular hole. The sheets are commonly made of zinc coated sheet steel or aluminum or magnesium alloys with tenacious surface oxide films.
The circular hole is generally punched away from the edge of the upper sheet because it is difficult to punch circular holes near the edge without deforming or wrinkling the upper sheet. Additionally, as the circular hole is punched closer to the edge of the upper sheet, the material between an edge of the circular hole and the edge of the upper sheet is more likely to melt during welding. This can create a very brittle joint that has variable strength properties and a poor cosmetic appearance.
The distance between an edge of the circular hole and the edge of the upper sheet should ideally be at least equal to the diameter of the circular hole. If the sheets are made of aluminum, magnesium or other materials having a high thermal conductivity, the distance between the edge of the semi-circular hole or notch and the edge of the upper sheet should ideally be at least 1.5 times the diameter of the semi-circular hole or notch to prevent over-melting of the upper sheet. However, if the upper sheet is a narrow flange, it may not be possible to locate the circular hole away from the edge of the upper sheet sufficiently far to create optimal conditions.
Hence, there is a need in the art for an apparatus and method for spot welding an upper sheet to a lower sheet that prevents deformation and wrinkling of the upper sheet, that produces a spot weld having a good cosmetic appearance, and overcomes other problems of the prior art.

Welding apparatus and method for welding overlapping coated sheets

International Aluminium Holdings Limited


The present disclosure relates to a semiconductor structure comprising a positive temperature coefficient thermistor and a negative temperature coefficient thermistor, connected to each other in parallel by means of connecting elements which are configured such that the resistance resulting from the parallel connection is substantially stable in a predetermined temperature range, and to a corresponding manufacturing method.

1. Field of the Invention
Generally, the present disclosure relates to highly sophisticated semiconductor structures, and, in particular, to a resistor which has a resistance value substantially stable in a range of operating temperatures and a manufacturing method thereof. Further, the disclosure relates to the integration of such a resistor in a manufacturing flow, such flow optionally comprising the manufacturing of transistors having a metal gate.
2. Description of the Related Art
The fabrication of advanced integrated circuits, such as CPUs, storage devices, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and the like, requires the formation of a large number of circuit elements on a given chip area according to a specified circuit layout. Among the various elements, resistors are often needed.
The specific characteristic of a given resistor depends on its design features, such as its thickness, width and length, on its physical features, such as what implant base and materials are used, as well as the quantity of the implant. One physical feature intrinsic to any given material is the relation between its resistivity value and the operating temperature.
In particular, while a given material may have a nominal resistance value, its actual resistance is susceptible to changing as a function of the temperature of the material.
In particular, a material may experience a so-called positive temperature coefficient type of resistance, in which the resistance increases with the increase of the temperature, or a negative temperature coefficient type of resistance, in which the resistance decreases when the temperature increases.
In view of this situation, the present disclosure relates to a semiconductor structure and manufacturing techniques capable of obtaining a resistor which has a substantially stable resistance value, over a given temperature range, preferably as broad as possible, and further preferably without further incurring in the realization of steps in addition to those usually carried out in a CMOS process flow.