The present invention is directed to providing wireless communication among a plurality of nodes and repeaters that are synchronized for communication with a central hub that constitutes a master repeater. For example, the present invention is directed to a wireless network having a wireless backbone of repeaters which can use frequency hopping to automatically establish synchronization despite dynamic changes in the wireless communication system. Exemplary embodiments provide for control of synchronization whereby a repeater, when introduced to the system, automatically scans for, and synchronizes to another repeater, while at the same time continuing to listen for other repeater signals which identify either the master repeater, or another repeater which is closer to the master repeater (i.e., communicates to the master repeater through a more direct communication link).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to synchronizing communication among plural nodes in a communications system and more particularly, to synchronizing communication among plural nodes which communicate within a network having a wireless backbone of repeaters.
2. State of the Art
Communication systems, such as local area networks (LANs), have achieved widespread use for the exchange of information. These systems include a plurality of data processing nodes or "agents", which access a transmission medium that interconnects the nodes. Many local area network schemes have been devised for providing the nodes with a shared access network, or backbone, through which the nodes communicate with each other or with a central hub, or server. Where plural nodes of a network are synchronized to a central hub, local area network schemes have been devised with a central hub organization wherein a backbone of nodes which function as repeaters are interconnected by a wired communication path. Non-repeater nodes are connected to repeater nodes which are directly, or via other repeater nodes, connected to the central hub. These network arrangements typically involve hardwire connections.
More recent efforts have been directed to developing wireless communication networks. For example, commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,231,634 (Giles et al) relates to a communication system for regulating communication among a plurality of nodes, each of which is equipped with a radio transceiver. The '634 patent describes medium access control of a wireless LAN to provide decentralized, peer-to-peer access for all of the agents. A peer-to-peer communication system is one in which all agents can freely communicate without any agent having an advantage over another.
Wireless communication systems require consideration of potential problems which do not exist in hardwired systems. For example, in a wireless communication system, the nodes and repeaters can be mobile, moving in and out of range of other nodes and repeaters in the system. The '634 patent is directed to continuously ensuring that all agents possess fair access to the communication system (i.e., to avoid, for example, agents which are physically closer to a given destination from having an unfair advantage due to their signal strength being greater than that of agents physically located further from the destination).
Wireless systems also require consideration of radio transmission limits imposed by a physical setting, or even by FCC regulations regarding radio emissions. Due to these considerations, wireless networks, such as the one described in the '634 patent, may have restricted operating flexibility.
Due to their unique considerations, wireless communication systems have not been developed which can freely exploit communication techniques such as central hub organization. Central hub organization is a network scheme involving use of a central, or master repeater, that controls the operation of the network. The master repeater may communicate directly with non-repeater nodes or, in widely distributed networks, through the use of repeater nodes. For purposes of this discussion, both repeater and non-repeater nodes are referred to as "nodes" while repeaters are also referred to as "repeaters". The repeaters in a master repeater network facilitate the propagation of data, control and synchronization information to the nodes, including other repeaters. The repeaters may be in direct contact with the master repeater or, may be in contact with another repeater that is directly or indirectly in contact with a master repeater.
Because of the constraints associated with wireless network schemes, such schemes have at most been used for communications between the nodes and the repeaters of a central hub architecture and not for communications between repeaters. By limiting wireless communications to communications between nodes and repeaters, interference of signals within the overall network can be controlled. For example, all nodes which communicate to the central hub via a first repeater can communicate with the first repeater on a first frequency channel, while all nodes which communicate with the central hub via a second repeater can communicate with the second repeater on a second frequency channel. The nodes connected to a given repeater thus constitute a sub-network, or domain. Each of the repeaters can then communicate with the central hub via a wired link through any number of repeaters to ensure reliable communications. Because repeaters typically handle increased communications (i.e., communications from nodes connected directly to the repeater as well as communication to and from linked repeaters) reliable communication between repeaters can thus be ensured with wired links.
Although techniques exist for enhancing the reliability of wireless communications, these techniques have not been considered practical for use in interconnecting a backbone of repeaters. For example, frequency hopping is a known spread-spectrum technique whereby a signal is transmitted using a plurality of frequencies. The exact frequency used at any given time is switched from one frequency to another either in a random or a predetermined sequence. Frequency hopping is useful in preventing fading errors, and is generally more secure than single channel communication.
While frequency hopping techniques provide reliable and secure wireless communication, conventional frequency hopping techniques are not readily adaptable to a wireless LAN environment, and in particular, a wireless LAN environment which includes a backbone of repeaters which can move into and out of any number of dynamically changing, reconfigurable arrangements. Further, the need to maintain a high level of synchronization for wireless communication has been considered to render its use impractical for high traffic repeaters which are located in communication networks that operate with a number of different frequency channels (e.g., a different frequency channel for each repeater).
It would therefore be desirable to provide the advantages of a central hub organization which exploits the use of wireless links for communication between nodes and repeaters, and for communication between repeaters and a central hub. Further it would be desirable to provide some mechanism for establishing and maintaining synchronization among the repeaters in a dynamically changing, reconfigurable communication system.

Method and apparatus for synchronized communication over wireless backbone architecture


Devices, a system and a method for controlling travel of a railcar along a set of rails are provided, the railcar having wheel treads that ride on the rails. A railcar stop is selectively movable between a first position wherein the railcar is free to travel along the rails, and a second position wherein the railcar stop is configured to engage the tread of the at least one of the wheels to thereby stop and prevent travel of the railcar in at least a first direction along the rails. The railcar stop is further configured to be selectively movable in the first direction along the rails from the second position to a third position to thereby disengage the railcar stop from the tread of the least one of the wheels.

The present application relates to railcar stop devices, systems and methods for controlling travel of one or more railcars along a set of rails, for example, on a sloped surface in a railway yard. In one example, a system and a device includes two railcar stops, each of which is selectively movable between a first position wherein the railcar is free to travel along the set of rails, and a second position wherein the railcar stop is configured to engage the tread of at least one of the wheels of the railcar to thereby stop and prevent travel of the railcar in at least a first direction along the rails. Each railcar stop is further configured to be selectively movable in the first direction along the rails from the second position to a third position to thereby disengage the railcar stop from the tread and the flange of the at least one of the wheels. The railcar stops are separately actuated by first and second drive arrangements coupled to a mounting frame that is selectively movable relative to the rails.

Devices, systems and methods for engaging and disengaging railcar wheels and for controlling travel of railcar


Provided is a photographing apparatus. The photographing apparatus includes: a main body having an image pickup device disposed therein; a middle cover disposed in a back side of the main body and includes a first opening disposed to correspond to a position of the image pickup device; a first connector formed on the middle cover and around the first opening, where the first connector is configured to couple to an external optical component and is disposed so that the an optical axis of the image pickup device coincides with an optical axis of the external optical component, when the external optical component is coupled to the first connector; and a rear cover disposed on the middle cover and includes a second opening disposed to correspond to the position of the image pickup device.

1. Field
Various embodiments of the invention relate to a photographing apparatus, and a method of controlling the photographing apparatus.
2. Related Art
Camera functions have recently been frequently applied to portable devices such as smartphones and, tablets, etc. Because portable devices need to be miniaturized and light, cameras provided in portable devices also need to be miniaturized and light. In addition, because of the constraints of the areas to be occupied by the cameras, the number and size of components that may be used in the camera modules also have space constraints. However, because users increasingly require high specification cameras even in portable devices, and because a wide variety of applications and functions using the camera functions are provided for the portable devices, high-performance cameras are also required in the portable devices.

Photographing apparatus having an external optical component connector and method of controlling the same


A complex includes RNA and a positively charged modified polysaccharide selected from starch, amylose, amylopectin, galactan, chitosan, or dextrin. The complex can be formed into a pharmaceutical composition. The complex can be used in methods for RNA transfection, gene therapy and treatment of a disease, disorder or condition. The positively charged modified polysaccharide can be used in connection with RNA transfection into cells.

Gene therapy involves using nucleic acid as a pharmaceutical agent to treat disease by introducing a target gene into cells and may become an effective treatment in cases where current treatments are insufficient. Recently, the RNA interference (RNAi) field has emerged as a new therapy approach. RNAi is a naturally occurring process of sequence-specific post transcriptional gene silencing, by which gene expression is inhibited RNAi offers tremendous therapeutic promise to silence genes that exhibit aberrant behavior and therefore cause disease. While the number of possible targets for this type of treatment is increasing, clinical success is still rare, due in part to imperfect delivery systems.
A major challenge in gene therapy is finding efficient ways to introduce the desired genes into target cells in a stable manner. Understanding the transfection process is essential in order to improve the efficiency of gene therapy. The transfection process includes introduction of a complex of carrier and nucleic acid which binds to the cell membrane, endocytotic cellular uptake of the complex by the plasma membrane, escape of the nucleic acid from the endosome (endosomal release) into the cell cytoplasm, and complex unpacking. In the case of DNA transfection, the process also includes a crucial step of transport to the nucleus and entrance of the DNA into the nucleus. In the case of RNA transfection, the rate-limiting steps appear to be the endosomal release and unpacking.
Non-viral gene delivery systems have become increasingly desirable in both, basic research and clinical settings as they eliminate some of the problems associated with viral vectors. Presently, non-viral carriers used for gene transfer consist mostly of liposomal formulations and synthetic cationic polymers. Non-viral gene delivery systems based on natural polysaccharides may be advantageous over the current available synthetic ones, due to several characteristics, such as biodegradability, biocompatibility, low immunogenicity and minimal cytotoxicity. However, in contrast with the abundance of structurally different synthetic polymers, there is only a small number of polycations of a natural origin available.
Several natural or modified cationic polysaccharides have previously been tested as carriers for DNA transfection. Azzam et al., 2004 tested dextran polysaccharide modified by grafting with mixtures of spermine and other natural/synthetic oligoamines of two to four amine groups, Lee et al., 2001 found that water-soluble low molecular weight chitosan is an efficient carrier for DNA delivery, and Mansouri et al., 2004 summarizes the use of chitosan as a carrier for DNA transfection.
In an earlier work (Sieradzki et al., 2008) the present inventors modified polysaccharides into cationic polysaccharides by the process of quaternization, which is the introduction of quaternary ammonium groups to the polysaccharide. The cationic polysaccharide has permanent or induced cationic charge and was shown to interact electrostatically with the negatively charged DNA to form complexes, thus condensing it effectively for delivery into cells.

Positively charged polysaccharides for RNA transfection

B.G. NEGEV TECHNOLOGIES AND APPLICATIONS LTD.


A method for linearizing the sensitivity of a quadrupole mass spectrometric system to allow the sensor to more accurately report partial pressures of a gas in high pressure areas in which the reported data is effected by a number of loss mechanisms. According to the invention, correction factors can be applied empirically or software in a quadrupole mass analyzer system can be equipped with correcting software to expand the useful range of the mass spectrometer.

Mass spectrometers include instruments which ionize a gas sample, separate a resulting beam of ions by mass to charge ratio, and then detect filtered ions as an electrical signal. The masses, unique for each substance, identifies the gas molecules from which the ions were created. One such mass filter used is referred to a quadrupole which consists of four parallel electrodes or poles arranged in a square array. Opposite poles are connected together electrically such that an electric field of hyperbolic geometry is produced. Potentials applied to these poles are a superposition of variable DC and RF voltages, generally of a fixed RF frequency.
The above instrument works preferably in a high vacuum environment because the ions, once created, must not collide with other gas molecules as the molecules move through the instrument; otherwise some molecules may not be detected. High vacuum means pressures below 1.3E-2 Pascals, or greater, or approximately 1-0E-4 torr.
It has been determined that the transmission of ions in a quadrupole mass spectrometer suffers losses in the high operating pressure area due to several effects; most notably from collisions between ions and neutral gas molecules, ion scattering and coulombic repulsion. The above effects results in a perceived non-linearity between pressure and ion current. It would be desirable to provide a sensor which could correct such non-linear deficiencies, or alternately to provide a technique for correcting measured ion current data to expand the performance of a quadrupole mass analyzer in a higher pressure regime than currently available.

Method for linearization of ion currents in a quadrupole mass analyzer


The present invention relates to a detergent composition for automatic dishwashing machines, containing (A) particles containing 0.05 to 10% by mass of (a) a polymer compound having a monomer unit with a cationic group and another monomer unit with an anionic group at a molar ratio [the total number of moles of cationic groups]/[the total number of moles of anionic groups] of 30/70 to 90/10, wherein the content of the polymer compound (a) in the detergent composition is 0.05 to 1.5% by mass.

Techniques of applying polymer compounds having cationic groups and anionic groups to detergent compositions for automatic dishwashing machines have already been known, and WO-A 99/58633, WO-A 02/20709, EP-A 0998548, JP-A 2003-505535 and JP-A 2005-527686 can serve as references.
In recent years, automatic dishwashing machines are rapidly becoming widespread, and from the viewpoint of energy saving and resource saving, washing machines for reducing the amount of washing water used and for increasing the amount of tableware washed once have became mainstream. However, when tableware with much dirt is washed with such dishwashing machines, there is a problem of frequent occurrence of white deposited matter known as water spots on tableware after washing/drying, and there is strong demand for solving this problem.
As the technique of detergents for suppressing formation of such water spots, a technique of applying a cationic polymer compound or an amphoteric polymer compound is disclosed in WO-A 99/58633. There are also disclosed techniques of applying a cationic polymer compound or an amphoteric polymer compound as an inhibitor of formation of phosphate scales in WO-A 02/20709 and as a fading or corrosion inhibitor in EP-A 0998548. JP-A 2003-505535 and JP-A 2005-527686 disclose respectively techniques of a copolymer consisting of a diallylammonium monomer, a monomer having an acidic functional group and another monomer as an antiredeposition agent, and particularly JP-A 2005-527686 supra describes a detergent for machine-washing of kitchen goods and tableware, which is compounded with a solid, preliminarily compounded product containing said polymer adsorbed on, and/or absorbed to, a water-soluble inorganic carrier.

Detergent composition for automatic dishwashing machines


There are formed inside a casing, a steam receiving chamber, a supply manifold chamber, a moisture separating chamber, a heating chamber adjacent to the steam receiving chamber in an axial direction and housing a heat exchanger tube group, and a collection manifold chamber communicating with the heating chamber and adjacent to an upper part of the steam heating chamber. The steam receiving chamber and the partition panel are separated by a transverse partition panel which extends in a vertical direction and through which an end of the heat exchanger tube group in the axial direction penetrates, and a shroud that shrouds the end of the heat exchanger tube group penetrating the transverse partition panel. The steam receiving and the collection manifold chambers are separated by a ceiling panel. A panel bonded to the ceiling panel, the transverse partition panel, and the shroud is provided in the steam receiving chamber.

In a power generation plant, steam used in a high-pressure steam turbine may be used again in a low-pressure steam turbine. In this case, if there is moisture (about 12%) in the steam, not only the turbine blades of the low-pressure steam turbine are corroded but also the thermal efficiency of the turbine decreases. In this case, a moisture separator and reheater that generates superheated steam by separating moisture from steam discharged from a high-pressure steam turbine and heating the steam is provided between the high-pressure steam turbine and the low-pressure steam turbine.
As such a moisture separator and reheater, for example, there is one disclosed in the following Patent Document 1.
This moisture separator and reheater includes a cylindrical casing extending in a horizontal axial direction, with opposite ends in the axial direction being sealed, and heat exchanger tubes that heat steam entering into the casing. A steam receiving port is formed in a lower part of the casing, and a steam discharge port is formed in an upper part of the casing. Inside the casing there are formed: a steam receiving chamber into which steam flowing in from the steam receiving port enters; a supply manifold chamber communicating with the steam receiving chamber and adjacent to the steam receiving chamber in the axial direction; a moisture separating chamber communicating with the supply manifold chamber and adjacent to a lower part of the supply manifold chamber for separating moisture from steam; a heating chamber communicating with the moisture separating chamber, adjacent to the steam receiving chamber in the axial direction, and housing the heat exchanger tubes; and a collection manifold chamber communicating with the heating chamber and the steam discharge port and adjacent to the heating chamber and an upper part of the steam heating chamber. The steam receiving chamber and the collection manifold chamber are separated by a ceiling panel.


A machine has upper and lower die members which clamp a disk blank between them and maintain the disk blank axially on a machine vertical axis and planarly on a machine horizontal axis. The die members and disk blank are rotated via a main motor which drives one of the die members through a spur-ring gear configuration or directly along the machine vertical axis. Splitting and swaging tools are positioned to move along the machine horizontal axis to form the disk blank outer peripheral edge into a pulley groove while a splitting-swaging tool carried within a chamber formed by the die members splits and swages a disk blank bore to form upper and lower bearing retaining flanges. Various means for moving the splitting-swaging tool off of the machine vertical axis to a parallel axis are disclosed as well as various means for exact positioning of the disk blank axially on the machine vertical axis.

In the art of metal fabrication, methods are disclosed for creating pulleys, sheaves, and like-type bodies from a solid circular metal blank by splitting the exposed edges of the blank. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,758,930 to Frost et al suggests a method of splitting a metal blank about its peripheral edge to form a pulley groove and also suggests splitting of an inner bore peripheral edge to form a bearing retainer. U.S. Pat. No. 3,828,619 also to Frost et al suggests a pulley configuration as may be made by the method of the '930 patent.
In addition to the above-referenced patents, U.S. Pat. No. 3,225,425 to Skinner et al and U.S. Pat. No. 4,523,446 to Muller suggest methods of metal splitting to form a pulley groove or a tire retaining wheel flange respectively.
While methods of metal splitting to form pulleys and like-type bodies are disclosed in the prior art, an actual apparatus or machine to accomplish the suggested methods is not disclosed.
It is, therefore, in accordance with at least one aspect of the invention an object to provide a machine which effects splitting and swaging of an outer peripheral edge of a solid disk blank to form a pulley groove configuration while also splitting and simultaneously swaging of an inner bore edge to form upper and lower flanges for retaining a bearing.

Apparatus for spin-forming a circular body from a flat blank metal workpiece


A piezoelectric actuator includes a plurality of piezoelectric layers, a plurality of electrodes between which each of the piezoelectric layers is placed so that the electrodes and the piezoelectric layers alternate with each other, and a substrate on which the plurality of piezoelectric layers and the plurality of electrodes are formed.

1. Field of the Invention
The disclosures herein relate to a piezoelectric actuator and an optical scanning apparatus having a piezoelectric actuator.
2. Description of the Related Art
Piezoelectric actuators utilizing the characteristics of piezoelectric material that exhibits deformation in response to application of voltage have been known in the art.
Related-art actuators have piezoelectric material provided on a substrate as disclosed in Patent Document 1, for example. A piezoelectric device includes piezoelectric material and a pair of electrodes between which the piezoelectric material is placed. Drive voltage is applied to the pair of electrodes to deform the piezoelectric material.
Various electronic devices of today are required to have low power conservation. Reduction in power consumption is also required in electronic devices having piezoelectric actuators, for example. As a result, reduction in the drive voltage of piezoelectric actuators is also required.
Accordingly, there may be a need to provide a piezoelectric actuator and an optical scanning apparatus for which drive voltage can be reduced.

Piezoelectric actuator and optical scanning apparatus having a plurality of piezoelectric layers


An imaging device and methods of stabilizing video captured using a rolling shutter operation. Motion estimation is used to determine a row motion vector for individual rows of a current frame of a pixel array. The row motion vectors are used to map the location of pixels in the current frame to a mapped frame representing a single acquisition time for the current frame.

An unstabilized video camera often produces a video image that bounces and jerks according to the movement of the camera user during filming. In order to remedy this normally undesirable result, digital video stabilization is used as a low-cost alternative to optical stabilization, removing video "jitter" through image post-processing, thus making the video appear as if the camera had been stabilized during use. Although many video stabilization techniques have been proposed and are currently used with charge-coupled device (CCD) imaging devices, very few techniques have been proposed for use with complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) imaging devices, such as those widely used in digital cameras and camera phones.
Many CMOS imaging devices acquire digital images using a rolling shutter mechanism. In a rolling shutter device, a pixel array is incrementally exposed to light from an image, row-by-row. For example, the top or first row in the pixel array may be exposed first to light from an image. Soon thereafter, the second row is exposed, followed by the third row, and so forth. Each pixel row has a same total exposure time, but each row begins its exposure time (and hence also ends its exposure time) at different times. Most significantly, there is a significant delay between the moment the first row is exposed to light and the moment the last or bottom row is exposed to light. The result of this delay is a rolling shutter artifact that appears in an acquired image when either the camera or the viewed object moves during the course of the rolling exposure, as illustrated in FIGS. 1A-1E.
FIG. 1A depicts an image 5 as it would appear if the object depicted in the image 5 and the camera taking the image 5 were both not moving. The image 5 appears to be very much like the actual object captured by the image 5. However, if either the camera pans to the left or the object moves to the right during a rolling shutter exposure, the image 5 appears distorted, as seen in FIG. 1B. The rolling shutter results in different portions of the object being acquired for the image 5 at different times. The movement of the object during the exposure time results in some portions of the object appearing to move ahead of other portions of the object. In the example depicted in FIG. 1B, the camera panning to the left or the object moving to the right results in the bottom portion of the object appearing to move further to the right than the top portion of the object in the image 5, because the bottom portion is exposed at a later time than the top portion. Similarly, in FIG. 1C, when the camera pans to the right or the object moves to the left, the bottom portion of the object appears to move further to the left than the top portion of the object. In FIG. 1D, when the camera tilts upward or the object moves downward, the object in the image 5 appears to stretch. When the camera tilts downward or the object moves upward, the object appears to shrink in the image 5, as depicted in FIG. 1E.
The above-described rolling shutter artifacts are especially noticeable when conventional video stabilization techniques are applied to captured video. Even after the video has been stabilized, meaning that the up and down, side-to-side or rotational movements of an unstabilized camera have been compensated for, the distortion caused by the rolling shutter is still apparent. Camera movements from side to side result in the filmed object appearing to wobble instead of standing still, even after video stabilization. Up and down movements of the camera result in the continuous stretching and shrinking of the filmed object. Thus, video stabilization for a rolling shutter video requires both removal of the rolling shutter artifacts as well as the application of video stabilization techniques.
One technique for stabilizing rolling shutter video uses a 3×3 transformation matrix to model the image relationship between a rolling shutter image and a non-rolling shutter image. The transformation matrix is used to transform the acquired rolling shutter image to an equivalent non-rolling shutter image. Afterwards, camera motion is smoothed. Unfortunately, the 3×3 transformation matrix/model makes two critical assumptions that often are not correct. First, the model assumes that image differences between two consecutive frames are the result of a simple translation in x and y coordinates. The model ignores rotational movement. Additionally, the model assumes that any translational motion is uniform from the time that the top row is captured to the time the bottom row is captured. However, motion tends to change abruptly from frame to frame as well as during frame acquisition. Thus, although the assumptions used in the translation model are indeed rough approximations of actual camera or object movement, the approximations are not always valid, and thus do not fully compensate for the rolling shutter artifacts in video.

Methods and system for digitally stabilizing video captured from rolling shutter cameras


A floating seal (23) is provided between a mounting bracket (12) fixed to a side frame (6) and a roller (15) rotatable with respect to this mounting bracket (12), and lubricant oil (L) collected in the roller (15) is sealed by this floating seal (23). On the other hand, an air permeable plug (31) provided with an air permeable member (34) made of a porous material of interconnected cells is provided on a lid member (17) of the roller (15), air and/or water vapor is made to flow between the inside and the outside of the roller (15) and flow of lubricant oil (L) and/or rainwater and dusts is prevented by the air permeable member (34) of the air permeable plug (31). As a result, the pressure of the inside and the pressure of the outside of the roller (15) can be made equal all the time.

In general, a lower traveling structure of a crawler-type vehicle such as a hydraulic excavator is substantially composed of a truck frame having left and right side frames, a drive unit provided on one end side of each of the side frames, an idler wheel (idler) provided on the other end side, a crawler belt set on a drive wheel (sprocket) and the idler wheel of the drive unit, and upper and lower crawler belt guide rollers which guide the crawler belt toward the drive wheel and the idler wheel, respectively. The above-described drive unit, idler wheel, crawler belt guide rollers and the like constitute a rotation device for a construction machine.
The crawler belt guide roller is substantially composed of a shaft support member (fixed body) provided on the side frame in a fixed manner and having a bottomed seal accommodating portion formed, a support shaft fixed to this shaft support member, a roller (rotating body) rotatably supported by the support shaft through a bush (slide bearing) and having a bottomed seal accommodating portion formed opposing the seal accommodating portion of the shaft support member with a gap between them and lubricant oil collected inside, and a floating seal arranged in the seal accommodating portion of the shaft support member and the seal accommodating portion of the roller and blocking the gap between the both.
In this case, the floating seal is composed of a pair of cylindrical seal rings, each having a sealing surface in sliding contact with each other, and a pair of O-rings held between one of the seal rings and the seal accommodating portion of the shaft support member and between the other seal ring and the seal accommodating portion of the roller, respectively. The floating seal presses each of the seal rings by an elastic force of the O-rings all the time so as to bring the sealing surfaces into sliding contact with each other in a liquid-tight manner when the roller is rotated with respect to the shaft support member and seals the lubricant oil supplied to the bearing which supports the roller and the like inside the roller (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-80550 A).

Rotation device for construction machine

Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd.


Refractory modules and other insulating modules, which include a plurality of insulating module layers arranged with their major surfaces in a side-by-side orientation, are provided. Each insulating module layer includes a first section having a slot extending into a joint edge and a second section having a tab extending from a joint edge. The first and second sections each comprise a refractory insulation material, which typically includes a fibrous refractory material. The tab has an outer contour and the slot has an inner contour which substantially corresponds in shape such that when the tab is inserted in interlocking engagement into the slot, the joint edges of the first and second sections are held in juxtaposition along a section juncture.

Refractory materials formed from mats or blankets of ceramic fibers are routinely used to line the interior of high temperature furnaces and other devices involving exposure to high temperature conditions. The insulating materials are typically formed from layers of fibrous refractory material that are often assembled into modules, which may have a cube-shape. The cube-shape is commonly utilized to facilitate post manufacturing shipping, handling and installation. The layers of fibrous material may be held together by a variety of methods and each layer is commonly composed of the same material throughout. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the layers are typically assembled in a side-by-side orientation such that each layer extends completely across from the hot face through to the cold face on the opposite side of the module. Such modules are commonly installed on an interior furnace wall such that the hot face is exposed to the interior of the furnace and the cold face is mounted against the furnace wall.
When a furnace is designed to operate at very high temperature, e.g., such that the furnace walls must be capable of withstanding temperatures in the range of 2000° F. up to 3000° F., the ceramic materials capable of withstanding such conditions can be quite expensive. In general, only the outer portion on the hot face of the module is actually exposed to these very high temperatures, since the insulating effect of the ceramic fiber material will allow a substantially lower temperature to be maintained on the cold face of the module against the furnace interior wall. In furnaces insulated on the interior with such insulating modules, it is quite common for the temperature on the furnace casing next to the cold face of the module to be maintained at a temperature that is substantially cooler, e.g., about 1,000° F. or more, cooler than the hot face of the module. If the module is composed of insulating layers of a single material that extend all the way from the hot face to the cold face of the module, this means that the expensive insulating fibrous refractory material necessary to withstand the very high temperatures on the hot face must be used throughout the module, a solution which is not cost effective.
Efforts have been made to design insulating modules that employ two types of ceramic materials, with an expensive ceramic material rated for very high temperatures on the hot face and a less expensive material with a lower temperature rating on the cold face. The approaches reported to date suffer from various disadvantages. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,379,382 describes a high temperature insulation module having one type of ceramic fiber mat on the hot face and a second fiber mat on its cold face. The two ceramic mats are held together by a planar support member positioned between the mats. The two ceramic mats are either bonded to the support member by layers of cement applied to the outer periphery of the support member or by means of pins or clips attaching a mat to the support member. Either method of attachment can be subject to failure under certain conditions as well as the support member, which is commonly formed from metal, being potentially subject to deterioration due to corrosion.


A valve for a fluid circuit is disclosed. The valve has a main valve element with a first end and a second end. The main valve element is movable between a flow-passing and a flow-blocking position in response to fluid pressure exerted on the first and second ends. The valve also has a solenoid mechanism operatively associated with the main valve element to move the main valve element toward one of the flow-passing and the flow-blocking positions. The valve further has a main valve spring configured to bias the main valve element in opposition to movement caused by the solenoid mechanism. The valve additionally has a relief valve element configured to communicate a fluid with the first end of the main valve element in response to a fluid pressure to initiate movement of the main valve element.

Work machines such as, for example, dozers, loaders, excavators, motor graders, and other types of heavy machinery use one or more hydraulic actuators to accomplish a variety of tasks. These actuators are selectively fluidly connected to a pump on the work machine that provides pressurized fluid to chambers within the actuators, and to a tank to allow the pressurized fluid to drain from the actuators. A valve arrangement is typically fluidly connected between the actuators and the pump and tank to control a flow rate and direction of pressurized fluid to and from the chambers of the actuators.
The portion of the valve arrangement connecting the actuator to the tank is called a drain valve. The drain valve typically includes a solenoid operated electronic flow controlling valve or a hydraulic pressure limiting valve. The electronic flow controlling valve has a valve element that is movable against a spring bias between a flow-passing and a flow-blocking position in response to an electronic signal to control a flow of pressurized fluid to an actuator. The hydraulic pressure limiting valve generally includes a valve element that is spring biased toward a flow-blocking position and movable toward a flow-passing position in response to a fluid pressure exerted against the valve element to limit a maximum pressure within the actuator.
A system having one of the electronic flow controlling and hydraulic pressure limiting valves can be problematic, while a valve arrangement having both the electronic flow controlling and hydraulic pressure limiting valves can be large and expensive. For example, the hydraulic pressure limiting valve does not afford the controllability of the electronic flow controlling valve, while the electronic flow controlling valve can not afford pressure limiting functions during electrical failure or system shut down and is not as responsive as the hydraulic pressure limiting valve. One method of providing the benefits of both the electronic flow controlling and hydraulic pressure limiting valves is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,878,647 (the '647 patent) issued to Wilke et al. on Mar. 9, 1999. The '647 patent describes a hydraulic circuit having two pairs of valves, a variable displacement pump, a reservoir tank, and a hydraulic actuator. One pair of the valves includes a head-end supply valve and a head-end return valve that connects a head end of the hydraulic actuator to either the variable displacement pump or the reservoir tank. The other pair of solenoid valves includes a rod-end supply valve and a rod-end return valve that connects a rod end of the hydraulic actuator to either the variable displacement pump or the reservoir tank. Each of the head and rod-end return valves includes a solenoid operated pilot valve element that selectively communicates fluid from the hydraulic actuator to a hydraulically operated valve element. When both the solenoid operated pilot valve element and the hydraulically operated valve element are in a flow-passing position, fluid from the hydraulic actuator is allowed to drain from the hydraulic actuator to the reservoir tank.
Although the return valves of the hydraulic circuit described in the '647 patent may provide some of the benefits associated with both electronic flow controlling and hydraulic pressure limiting valves, the return valves of the '647 patent may still be problematic. For example, in the situation of electrical failure or system shut down, the return valves of the '647 patent do not perform any pressure limiting functions. Further, because flow through the return valves can be completely blocked by high fluid pressures acting on the hydraulically operated valve element, the hydraulic circuit of the '647 patent lacks control. In addition, excessive pressures within the hydraulic circuit of the '647 patent tend to move the hydraulically operated valve element toward a flow-blocking position rather than a flow-passing position, thereby allowing the excessive pressures to increase even further.
The disclosed valve is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.

Electronically and hydraulically-actuated drain value


A method of data mining represents related items in a multidimensional space. Distance between items in the multidimensional space corresponds to the extent of relationship between the items. The user can select portions of the space to perceive. The user also can interact with and control the communication of the space, focusing attention on aspects of the space of most interest. The multidimensional spatial representation allows more ready comprehension of the structure of the relationships among the items.

This invention relates to the field of data mining, specifically the exposition of the relationships of database items in large databases.
Large databases are becoming commonplace. The INSPEC database on Dialog had almost 4 million records in one file as of November 1990, where records represent scientific articles, books, and papers. The Institute for Scientific Information maintains a database called SCISEARCH, where one file had almost 11 million records as of July 1991. The American Business Directory database had information on over 10 million companies in May 1995. The CLAIMS/U.S. Patents database provides access to over 2 million patents. Countless other private databases exist, storing information such as employee and student records, addresses, customer profiles, and household buying habits.
Even information not stored as a conventional database can have database-like qualities. For example, individual Web pages contain some information; the aggregation of many Web pages contains a large amount of information. Relationships between Web pages are not explicitly stored as in a database, but can be inferred from referencing among the pages. Other examples include financial transactions, not stored as a conventional database but nonetheless representing a large volume of information, with each item of information potentially related to many other items.
Searching and retrieval systems operating with large databases generally allow retrieval of individual items, or retrieval of sets of items related in some way. For example, some databases allow retrieval of individual items. Other databases allow searching for items containing certain keywords or topical markers. The large size of the database makes it more likely that a user can successfully find and retrieve the desired items.
The large size of the database, however, also makes it less likely that the user can comprehend the relationships among the many items in the database. The user can find individual items, and can find groups of related items. The user can not, however, access the structure of the relationships among the items.
The structure of the relationships among items can convey much useful information. For example, a lawyer can use Shepards to find a linear chain of related cases, but can not see beyond that chain to deduce how the cases relate to other such chains. Other lines of reasoning and rules of law in different areas can grow from a line of cases, or a line of cases can itself grow out of several preceding themes in the law. While the relationships among cases are usually explicit through case citations, the structure of the relationships can not be understood using existing search and retrieval tools.
As another example, scientific papers represent the state of research, and often have explicit relationships to other papers through references. Bibliographies and citation lists can help illuminate relationships in a specific area, but are not sufficient to illuminate the ways fields of research grow together, build on each other, or spawn new fields over time.
For databases containing only a few items, a user can read items, analyze relationships, and draw diagrams to deduce the relationships. Databases with more than a few items have much more information embedded in the relationships, but the relationships are too many and too complex for a user to analyze or comprehend from existing search and retrieval tools. Consequently, there is a need for a process that allows a user to comprehend the structure of relationships among items in databases having many items.

Method of data mining including determining multidimensional coordinates of each item using a predetermined scalar similarity value for each item pair


A minimally invasive surgical suturing device has a shaft; a needle slideably coupled to the shaft and having a ferrule engaging end; and a guide tip having a ferrule receiving aperture and moveably coupled to the shaft for selectable movement between a retracted position and an enabled position. In a related method, a distal shaft end, having a guide tip in a retracted position, is passed through a minimally invasive entry point and into a body cavity. The guide tip having a ferrule receiving aperture is actuated into an enabled position such that an insertion profile of the guide tip and shaft in the enabled position is larger than an access dimension of the minimally invasive entry point. A needle, slideably coupled to the shaft and having a ferrule engaging end, is advanced on a path substantially parallel to the shaft, toward and in alignment with the ferrule receiving aperture.

Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) has allowed physicians to carry out many surgical procedures with less pain and disability than conventional, open surgery. However, unlike conventional open surgery, where the surgical site is readily accessible through a large incision, MIS typically requires the surgeon to operate remotely by inserting and manipulating instruments through small punctures, openings, or access sites in the body wall. A hollow cannula may be placed in the puncture to create a minimally invasive entry point. The cannulas, typically ranging in size from 5 to 20 millimeters (mm) are often sealed to maintain positive pressure within the peritoneal cavity to facilitate pneumoperitoneum during laparascopic surgery. One or more cannulas may be inserted into the body for any given operation. Medical instruments, such as grippers, manipulators, cutters, and suturing (sewing) devices are then inserted through the one or more cannula.
One of the more problematic tasks in MIS is suturing. Some surgeons use manipulators, such as needle drivers and gripping clamps, through an MIS entry point, as an extension of their hands in MIS suturing. Such techniques are time consuming and often require coordinated manipulation of multiple instruments. Given the limited space, limited visualization, and limited mobility in MIS, many surgeons find minimally invasive suturing by hand an extremely slow and difficult surgical task.
In response to the MIS suturing difficulties faced by surgeons, suturing devices have been developed to assist with and partially automate the rapid placement of suture stitches. Such devices often are available in a variety of sizes to fit through a corresponding variety of cannula openings. Larger MIS suturing devices can be effective in closing wounds because they are able to engage a larger bite of tissue for suturing, thereby enabling deeper suture placement within the tissue, and minimizing the likelihood that the suture will pull through the tissue. This can lead surgeons to choose larger cannula sizes, such as 10 mm or larger, in order to accommodate the larger suturing tools. Larger cannula sizes are associated with problems such as post-operative hernia formation or pain. Smaller cannulas, such as 5 mm, can lead to better patient outcomes including less peri-operative pain, rapid return of normal functions, earlier return to home and work, and reduced herniation risk. Unfortunately, currently available MIS suturing devices force a surgeon to trade-off between minimizing an invasive entry point size and maximizing suturing device effectiveness.
Therefore, there is a need for an efficient and precise minimally invasive surgical suturing device that enables surgeons to utilize small access sites without sacrificing the optimal larger tissue engagement features needed to enhance suturing effectiveness.

Minimally invasive surgical suturing device and method


An energy absorber for improving passenger safety in a vehicle during an impact to the vehicle, the energy absorber comprising a hollow body having a base defining a proximal end of the body, the base being configured to affix the body to a portion of the vehicle, the body further including a sidewall extending from the base and terminating in a distal end of the body, the sidewall having an interior surface and an exterior surface, the interior surface including a portion defining an interior step transition, the exterior surface including a portion defining an exterior step transition, the interior and exterior step transitions being provided at locations axially offset from each other along the sidewall.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to energy absorbing systems and, in particular, to an energy absorbing component of such systems. Energy absorbing systems, of the kind to which the invention relates, are utilized in various automotive vehicle applications to absorb forces during an impact and to enhance the collision protection of the vehicle's occupants.
2. Description of Related Art
In numerous applications, it is desirable to provide a means by which the shock or impact forces of a collision are absorbed. This is particularly true in automotive vehicles, where the side of the vehicle is often subjected to impact. Side impacts may occur anywhere along the side of the vehicle, but when they occur in the door regions, they may particularly result in the forces of the impact being transferred through the door regions into the passenger compartment or cabin of the vehicle. For this reason, many original equipment manufacturers include energy absorbing components (also known as energy absorbers), of one type or another, between exterior and interior panels, or other structures, of the vehicle doors.
Various types of energy absorbing components are known. Typically, these energy absorbing components operate by being positioned between two elements of the vehicle, such as a sheet metal panel and then interior trim panel of a door, and deforming under stress. The energy absorbing components may take many forms, including foam blocks of suitable density and rigidity. Suitable foam blocks, because of the required density, can significantly add to the weight of the door and, ultimately, the vehicle, particularly when the distance between the two elements is large.
In such instances, hollow elongated bodies have found use as the energy absorbing components. These hollow bodies are generally made of plastic and have a variety of shapes including rectangular, cylindrical or conical. During use, a force applied exteriorly to the door is transferred to one end of the hollow body. The hollow body is designed so that when the body experiences a given stress, it will either elastically or plastically deform, thereby absorbing some of the force being exerted against the door and reducing the amount of force that is transmitted through the door and potentially to an occupant of the vehicle.
When undergoing deformation, the hollow body may be designed to react in a variety of ways. In one known reaction manner, while the hollow body is crushed, it collapses upon itself. Controlling such a collapse is an important consideration in the design of an energy absorbing component of this variety.

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.


An implementation of coherent diversity combining in a RAKE receiver that uses energy in signal echoes by integrating information from main-path and bit-period-delayed signal propagation paths to remove echo distortion, or time dispersion, is described. If delayed by one chip in a CDMA system, such echoes appear as uncorrelated interference. The RAKE receiver correlates a despreading code with the current (main-path) signal samples and with the signal samples delayed by 1, 2, 4, . . . bit periods, and combines the correlation results to determine the information content of the signal. After appropriate conditioning, the received signal is digitized and the signal samples are stored. Groups of samples are Fast Walsh Transformed, and the real and imaginary transforms are scaled according to a table of coefficients; the scaled results are stored. Weighted, scaled transforms of groups shifted by 1, 2, 4, . . . samples are accumulated, and the index of the largest-magnitude accumulation is used to select real and imaginary transform values. The selected values are transferred to a RAKE coefficient computer and quantizer that determines from the sequence of values presented the mean value and trend of the real and imaginary components. A Kalman filter may use these values to estimate the values that will occur during the next group analysis period.

Applicant's invention relates to methods and apparatuses for receiving spread spectrum radio signals, such as digitally modulated signals in a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) mobile radio telephone system, and more particularly to a RAKE receiver scheme for such signals.
In CDMA communication systems, transmitted information signals overlap in both time and frequency as described in, e.g., N. Tzannes, Communication and Radar Systems, pp. 237-239, Prentice-Hall, Inc. (1985). An informational data stream to be transmitted is impressed upon a much-higher-rate data stream known as a "signature sequence". Typically, the signature sequence data are binary, providing a bit stream. One way to generate this signature sequence is with a pseudo-noise (PN) process that appears random, but can be replicated by an authorized receiver. The informational data stream and the high-bit-rate signature sequence stream are combined by multiplying the two bit streams together, assuming the binary values of the two bit streams are represented by +1 or -1. This combination of the higher-bit-rate signal with the lower-bit-rate data stream is called "coding" or "spreading" the informational data stream. Each informational data stream, or channel, is allocated a unique signature sequence, or "spreading code".
A plurality of coded information signals modulate a radio-frequency (RF) carrier by, for example, quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), and are jointly received as a composite signal at a receiver. Each of the coded signals overlaps all of the other coded signals, as well as noise-related signals, in both frequency and time. If the receiver is authorized, the composite signal is correlated with one of the unique spreading codes, and the corresponding information signal can be isolated and decoded.
One CDMA technique, called "traditional CDMA with direct spreading", uses a spreading code to represent one bit of information. Receiving the transmitted code or its complement (the opposite of each bit of the code sequence) indicates whether the information bit is a "-1" or "+1". The signature sequence usually comprises N bits, and each bit is called a "chip". The entire N-chip sequence, or its complement, is referred to as a transmitted symbol. The receiver correlates the received signal with the known signature sequence of its own signature sequence generator to produce a normalized value ranging from -1 to +1. When a large positive correlation results, a "-1" is detected; when a large negative correlation results, a "+1" is detected. Various aspects of PN codeword detection with correlators are described in F. Stremler, Introduction to Communication Systems, 2d ed., pp. 412-418, Addison-Wesley Publishing Co. (1982).
Another CDMA technique, called "enhanced CDMA with direct spreading" allows each transmitted sequence to represent more than one bit of information. A set of codewords, typically orthogonal codewords or bi-orthogonal codewords, is used to encode a group of information bits into a much longer code sequence or code symbol. A signature sequence, or "scramble mask", is modulo-2 added to the binary code sequence before transmission. At the receiver, the known scramble mask is used to descramble the received signal, which is then correlated against all possible codewords. The codeword having the largest correlation value indicates which codeword was most likely sent, indicating which information bits were most likely sent. One common orthogonal code is the Walsh-Hadamard (WH) code.
In both traditional and enhanced CDMA, the "information bits" referred to above can also be coded bits, where the code used is a block or convolutional code. One or more information bits can form a data symbol. Also, the signature sequence, or scramble mask, can be much longer than a single code sequence, in which case a subsequence of the signature sequence is added to the code sequence.
There are a number of advantages associated with CDMA communication techniques. The capacity limits of CDMA-based cellular telephone systems are projected to be up to twenty times that of existing analog technology due to wideband CDMA's improved coding gain/modulation density, voice activity gating, sectorization, and reuse of the same spectrum in every cell. CDMA transmission of voice by a high-bit-rate decoder insures superior, realistic voice quality. CDMA also provides for variable data rates allowing many different grades of voice quality to be offered. The scrambled signal format of CDMA completely eliminates cross-talk and makes it very difficult and costly to eavesdrop or track calls, insuring greater privacy for callers and greater immunity from airtime fraud. fraud.
In many radio communication systems, the received signal includes two components, an I (in-phase) component and a Q (quadrature) component. This results because the transmitted signal has two components, and/or the intervening channel or the lack of a coherent carrier reference causes the transmitted signal to be divided into I and Q components. In a typical receiver using digital signal processing, the received I and Q component signals are sampled every T.sub.c seconds, where T.sub.c is the duration of a chip, and the samples are stored for further processing.
In mobile communication systems, signals transmitted between base and mobile stations typically suffer from echo distortion or time dispersion, caused by, for example, signal reflections from large buildings or nearby mountain ranges. Multipath dispersion occurs when a signal proceeds to the receiver along not one but many paths so that the receiver hears many echoes having different and randomly varying delays and amplitudes. Thus, when multipath time dispersion is present in CDMA system, the receiver receives a composite signal of multiple versions of the transmitted symbol that have propagated along different paths (referred to as "rays"), some of which may have relative time delays of less than one symbol period.
Each distinguishable "ray" has a certain relative time of arrival k T.sub.c seconds and spans N of the I and Q chip samples, since each signal image is an N-chip sequence in a traditional CDMA system. As a result of multipath time dispersion, the correlator outputs several smaller spikes rather than one large spike. Each ray that is received after the symbol period (i.e., if the time delay caused by a reflection exceeds one symbol period) appears as an uncorrelated interfering signal that reduces the total capacity of the communication system. To detect optimally the transmitted symbols (bits), the spikes received must be combined in an appropriate way.
Typically, this can be done by a RAKE receiver, which is so named because it "rakes" all the multipath contributions together. Various aspects of RAKE receivers are described in R. Price et al., "A Communication Technique for Multipath Channels", Proc. IRE, vol. 46, pp. 555-570 (March 1958); G. Turin, "Introduction to Spread-Spectrum Antimultipath Techniques and Their Application to Urban Digital Radio", Proc. IEEE, vol. 68, pp. 328-353 (March 1980); and J. Proakis, Digital Communications, 2d ed., pp. 729-739, McGraw-Hill, Inc. (1989).
A RAKE receiver uses a form of diversity combining to collect the signal energy from the various received signal paths, i.e., the various signal rays. Diversity provides redundant communication channels so that when some channels fade, communication is still possible over non-fading channels. A CDMA RAKE receiver combats fading by detecting the echo signals individually using a correlation method and adding them algebraically (with the same sign). Further, to avoid intersymbol interference, appropriate time delays are inserted between the respective detected echoes so that they fall into step again.
An example of a multipath profile of a received composite signal is illustrated in FIG. 1. The ray that propagates along the shortest path arrives at a time T.sub.0 with an amplitude A.sub.0, and rays propagating along longer paths arrive at times T.sub.1, T.sub.2, T.sub.3 with amplitudes A.sub.1, A.sub.2, A.sub.3, respectively. For simplicity, the typical RAKE receiver assumes that the time delays between the rays are a constant, i.e., T.sub.1 =T.sub.0 +dT, T.sub.2 =T.sub.0 +2dT, and T.sub.3 =T.sub.0 +3dT for the profile shown; the time delays (and amplitudes) are usually estimated from the received composite signal's history.
In one form of RAKE receiver, correlation values of the signature sequence with the received signals at different time delays are passed through a delay line that is tapped at the expected time delay (dt), i.e., the expected time between receiving echoes. The outputs at the RAKE taps are then combined with appropriate weights. Such a receiver searches for the earliest ray by placing a tap at T.sub.0, and for a ray delayed by dt by placing a tap at T.sub.0 +dt, and so forth. The RAKE tap outputs having significant energy are appropriately weighted and combined to maximize the received signal-to-noise-and-interference ratio. Thus, the total time delay of the delay line determines the amount of arrival time delay that can be searched. In one useful CDMA system, up to 128 microseconds (.mu.sec) can be searched, corresponding to thirty-two chips, and the total time delay of the taps that can be combined is thirty-two .mu.sec, corresponding to an eight-chip window movable within the thirty-two-chip total delay.
FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate how manipulating the RAKE taps adapts the RAKE receiver to signals that have different delays. In FIG. 2A, eight taps, which are identified by the arrival times T.sub.0 -T.sub.7, are provided, of which only the outputs of taps T.sub.4 -T.sub.7 are given non-zero weights W.sub.4 -W.sub.7, respectively. In FIG. 2B, only the outputs of taps T.sub.0 -T.sub.3 are given non-zero weights W.sub.0 -W.sub.3, respectively. When the weights W.sub.0 -W.sub.3 are respectively the same as the weights W.sub.4 -W.sub.7, the receiver is adapted to the same signal, but for a time of arrival T.sub.0 rather than T.sub.4. In a "digital" RAKE, or DRAKE, receiver, the weights are either 0 or 1, as described in the paper by Turin cited above.
A diagram of a conventional RAKE receiver using post-correlator, coherent combining of different rays is shown in FIG. 3. A received radio signal is demodulated by, for example, mixing it with cosine and sine waveforms and filtering the signal in an RF receiver 1, yielding I and Q chip samples. These chip samples are collected in a buffer memory that is composed of two buffers 2a, 2b for the I, Q samples, respectively. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the bottom of each buffer 2a, 2b contains the most recently received chip samples.
A multiplexer 3 receives the buffered chip samples and sends complex correlators 4a, 4b a range of I chip samples and the corresponding range of Q chip samples. The range selected includes N samples corresponding to the N-chip sequence arriving at a certain time. For example, if the buffers 2a, 2b each contain 159 chip samples (numbered 0-158) and N is 128, then the multiplexer 3 would send chip samples numbered i through (i+127) from the I buffer 2a, and chip samples numbered i through (i+127) from the Q buffer 2b to the correlator 4a, where i is the discrete time index of the signal rays from when the buffers were first filled. Two different sets of chip samples, i.e., two different received sample ranges and hence a different signal ray, are provided by the multiplexer 3 to the correlator 4b. A complex correlation value is formed by each correlator 4a, 4b that correlates its two sets of signal samples I, Q to the known signature sequence, or spreading code. Of course, the multiplexer 3 can provide the received samples either serially or in parallel.
In general, a complex correlator correlates a complex input stream (I+jQ samples) to a complex known sequence, producing a complex correlation value. If the signature sequence is not complex, each complex correlator can be implemented as two scalar correlators in parallel, which may be defined as a "half-complex" correlator. If the signature sequence is complex, the complex correlators correlate a complex input to a complex sequence, giving rise to "full-complex" correlators. It is to be understood that the term "complex correlator" will be used hereinafter to refer to both of the aforementioned scenarios.
Following correlation, the complex correlation values are transmitted to complex multipliers 5 that multiply the correlation values by the complex weights that each consist of a real part and an imaginary part. Typically, only the real parts of the products of the complex correlation values and weights are sent to an accumulator 6, which sums the weighted correlations for all the signal rays processed. The accumulated result is sent to a threshold device 7, which detects a binary "0" if the input is greater than a threshold, or a binary "1" if the input is less than the threshold.
In mathematical terms, suppose X(n)=I(n)+jQ(n) are the chip samples received by the receiver, where I(n) are the I component samples, Q(n) are the Q component samples, and n is the chip sample index corresponding to a respective discrete time. In FIG. 3, I(n) are stored in buffer 2a and Q(n) are stored in buffer 2b. The multiplexer 3 selects a range of I samples and a range of Q samples corresponding to the same ray. If M(k,n)+M.sub.I (k,n)+jM.sub.Q (k,n) is the multiplexer output for ray k, giving N samples (n=0, . . . N-1), then M(k,n)=X(n+k) and M.sub.I (k,n)=I(n+k) and M.sub.Q (k,n)=Q(n+k).
The complex correlator 4a correlates the range of data samples from the multiplexer 3 to the known spreading code sequence. Consider data samples X(k), X(k+1), . . . X(k+N-1), which are discrete time samples of the received data. If the receiver is trying to detect a code sequence C(0), C(1), . . . C(N-1), which consists of N values (usually .+-.1 values), the correlator 4a correlates some set of N data values with the N code sequence values as follows: ##EQU1## where the index k indicates where to start in the data sequence. This corresponds to a relative time of arrival of the signal, and as described above different arrival times correspond to different signal rays. Thus, ray k corresponds to a range of data values needed: {X(k), X(k+1), . . . X(k+N-1)}. If N is large, rays k, k+1 correspond to ranges that substantially overlap.
The computation of R(k) can be performed by accessing the input data range in parallel or serially. Whether the correlation is performed in parallel or serially, each data value X(n) consists of b bits, which can be accessed and used all at once (parallel computation) or one at a time (bit serial approach).
FIG. 4 illustrates a parallel approach. A data buffer 53 stores consecutive time samples, X(n), of the received signal, and a multiplexer 54 selects a range of N data values, {X(k), X(k+1), . . . , X(k+N-1)}, which are sent to a correlator 55. A group of multipliers 56, which corresponds to the inputs to the correlator 55, multiplies the data values by corresponding spreading code sequence values C(0), C(1), . . . C(N-1). The products are summed by an adder 57 to form the correlation value R(k).
FIG. 5 illustrates serially accessing the input range to compute R(k). An input buffer 58 stores the received data samples. The buffer 58 may be only one sample long because only one sample will be correlated at a time. If the buffer 58 is more than one sample long, a multiplexer 59 would be provided to select a particular sample, X(k+i), where i is determined by a suitable control processor 60. The sample stored or selected is sent to a correlator 61, which computes the product of the sample X(k+i) with one element, C(i), of the code sequence using a multiplier 62. This product is combined by an adder 63 with the contents of an accumulator 64 that stores accumulated past products. The contents of the accumulator 64 is originally set to zero, and i is stepped from 0 to N-1, allowing the accumulation of N products. After N products have been accumulated, the contents of the accumulator 64 is output as the correlation value R(k).
Referring again to FIG. 3, regardless of the correlation approach used, the correlator 4a for ray k correlates the multiplexer output M(k,n) against the real code sequence C(n), producing a complex correlation value R(k)=R.sub.I (k)+jR.sub.Q (k) where: ##EQU2##
The correlation values are multiplied by the complex weights W(k)=W.sub.I (k)+jW.sub.Q (k), and the results are accumulated into the decision statistic, Z, which is given by: ##EQU3## The quantity Z is then thresholded in the threshold device 7 to determine whether a "-1" or a "+1" was sent.
FIG. 6 illustrates the general arrangement of a non-coherent DRAKE receiver 10 for a system using traditional CDMA with direct spreading. In a DRAKE receiver, the tap weights are either 0 or 1, which means simply that the correlation value from a particular tap is either added to a total or not; also, in non-coherent DRAKE, the square magnitudes of the selected correlation values are summed, which obviates the need to align them in phase before summing. Accordingly, the weights can be applied either before or after the square magnitudes are determined. The main difference from the coherent receiver shown in FIG. 3 is that the set of complex multipliers 5 that apply the complex weights to respective complex correlation values is replaced by a squared-magnitude processor 15a followed by weighting with 0 or 1 in a weight processor 15b.
In FIG. 6, a suitable receiver/digitizer 11 amplifies, filters, demodulates, analog-to-digital converts, and finally buffers the in-phase and quadrature components of the received composite radio signal into streams of complex digital samples I, Q. The sample streams I, Q are processed by a set 14 of correlators that compute the values of correlations of the sequence of signal samples with shifts of the receiver's spreading code sequence that are generated by respective ones of a set of local code generators. Of course, one code generator and suitable components for shifting the generator's code sequence can be used instead. For a multipath profile such as that shown in FIG. 1, the set 14 could comprise four correlators, one for each of four shifts of the spreading code, and the shifts of each code sequence would ideally correspond to the arrival times T.sub.0 -T.sub.3. It will be understood that the signal sample streams I, Q may be processed either serially or initially collected in a memory and provided in parallel to the correlators.
Because the code sequences are typically only real-valued, either scalar correlators can separately operate on the I, Q samples or half-complex correlators can simultaneously compute the correlations of the I, Q samples with the code sequence shifts. In addition, the correlation values may be averaged over a number of transmitted symbols to determine an average signal strength for the decoded signal. The squared magnitudes of the four complex correlation values for the four shifts of the spreading code are then computed from the in-phase (real part) and quadrature (imaginary part) component samples by the squared-magnitude processor 15a.
The DRAKE multiplicative weighting coefficients are applied by the weight processor 15b to the squared magnitudes of the correlation values. Because in a DRAKE receiver the weights are only 0 or 1, processor 15b can also be regarded as a tap selection device. The four weighted magnitudes for the shifts of the spreading code are then combined by an adder 16. It will be appreciated that more or fewer than four shifts of each spreading code may be processed to handle other multipath profiles. Setting selected ones of the weights to zero as in a DRAKE receiver eliminates the contribution of the respective correlation magnitudes from the output of the adder 16, and thus can be used to ignore rays that may have been deemed rarely to contain significant signal energy.
The sum of the weighted correlation magnitudes for the spreading code is provided to a comparator device 17 for identifying the transmitted symbol. For a communication system employing block codes as spreading code sequences, the set 14 of correlators would advantageously include a sufficient number of correlators to process simultaneously all code sequences and their shifts, which would be produced by the local code generators. A set of a squared-magnitude processor, a weight processor, and an adder would be provided for each different spreading code sequence. The outputs of the adders for the set of spreading codes would be provided to the comparator device 17.
For a system using block codes, the output of the comparator device 17 is an index value representing the spreading code that produced the largest adder output. In a system using 128 Walsh-Hadamard orthogonal spreading codes, the comparator device 17 examines 128 adder outputs, yielding seven bits of information. Walsh-Hadamard codes are advantageous because a Fast Walsh Transform (FWT) processor, such as that described in commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/735,805, can produce the 128 correlations for each shift of the spreading codes very rapidly. The comparator device 17 can advantageously be implemented by the maximum search processor described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,187,675. The above-cited application and patent are expressly incorporated here by reference.
In the coherent RAKE receiver, the complex weights scale the correlation values to maximize the overall signal-to-noise-and-interference ratio, and bring them into phase so that they are coherently added by the accumulator 6. Each complex weight is optimal when it is the complex conjugate of the mean of its respective correlation value. It will be understood that the very concept of "mean value" implies that the underlying correlation value is static and only varies due to additive noise. Since at least the phase of each correlation (i.e., R.sub.Q (k)) varies due to relative motion between the receiver and transmitter, a device such as a phase-locked loop is usually used to track correlation variations in order to maintain the correct weight angle. In addition, the magnitudes of the complex weights should also track correlation value variations due to varying signal-reflection characteristics of the objects causing the echoes.
In a CDMA system using 128 Walsh-Hadamard orthogonal spreading codes, a non-coherent RAKE receiver expecting a four-signal multipath profile requires 1024 squaring computations to develop the squared magnitudes from the real and imaginary parts of the correlation values and 512 multiplications to apply the weights. For such a system and profile, a coherent RAKE receiver requires at least 2048 multiplications to apply the complex weights to the correlation values. From a processor hardware point of view, multiplication is generally more difficult than squaring because multiplication involves two input arguments rather than one. Therefore, a coherent RAKE receiver is typically more complicated than a non-coherent RAKE receiver.


A weak magnetic force magnetic separator, including: a belt conveyor conveying separation target particles; and a suspended magnet unit provided at a distance above the belt conveyor and configured to magnetically attract, with a uniform, weak magnetic force, the separation target particles conveyed over a belt. With a length of the magnet unit in its longer direction being greater than a belt width of the belt, and with the magnet unit placed such that its longer direction is aligned with the belt width direction and its both ends overhang the belt width, and such that a distance from the surface of the belt is constant across its longer direction, magnetic flux density variations in the belt width direction over the belt surface facing the magnet unit are 10% or less within a weak magnetic force range of from over 0 to 700 gauss.

Magnetic separators are one of the commonest particle separators that are used widely. They use a method of magnetically attracting and trapping iron scraps and the like with a magnet suspended from above, a magnet stored in a pulley of a conveyor, or magnets disposed on both sides of a flow path of particles, to thereby separate them from nonmagnetic particles. As the magnet, not only a permanent magnet, but also an electromagnet and a superconducting magnet may be used. In another method, a matrix made of iron thin lines is disposed between magnets in order for a magnetization gradient to be increased. Any of the methods are means for magnetically trapping particles and micro-particles having a weak magnetic property. As can be understood from above, the conventional magnetic separators aim for a technical goal of magnetically trapping as many particles as possible with a strong magnetic attractive force (a magnetic flux density or a magnetization gradient). There are few separators that are characterized by a weak magnetization property. However, PTL 1, for example, expressly describes an embodiment of such a weak magnetization property by means of reducing the sensitivity (a magnetic force) of a magnetic separator, but does not describe a specific apparatus and method. PTL 2 describes magnetic attraction of only ferromagnetic bodies with, like the present invention, a suspended magnetic separator that is placed at a distance from particles on a conveyor, but does not describe detailed conditions and performance thereof.
Meanwhile, shape separators include sensing sorters that distinguish the targets based on images monitored with a camera, mechanical separators utilizing rolling over an inclined surface, and gas stream separators using a shape as one of the separation factors. Mechanical shape separators include a centrifugal type, a vibration type, an inclined type, etc. Examples of inclined belt particle separators using a conveyor belt are described in PTLs 3 to 5.
Furthermore, there is an inclined belt separator combined with a magnetic separation function, which stores a magnet on the lower surface of the belt (see PTL 6).

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED INDUSTRIAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY


A method for cooling power electronics circuits, in which a printed circuit board is produced according to a prescribed circuit board process and is populated with at least one power electronics components. Contact connecting at least one location on at least one metallic conductor track running on a surface of the printed circuit board that includes at least one metal element, which is both electrically conductive and heat-conductive and the physical height of which is designed to be at least as large as that of the at least one power electronics component. A cooling plate is placed in a planar manner onto the at least one power electronics component and/or the at least one metal element.

Conventional power electronics systems are usually implemented with discrete electrical components, for example thyristors and IGBTs, shortened by those skilled in the art for insulated-gate bipolar transistors, with screw connections and busbars. In contrast, recent power transistors permit integration of high-power circuits into typical circuit boards. However, with typical metal thicknesses of 35 μm, such circuit boards, denoted by those skilled in the art as printed circuit boards or PCBs, are not capable of conducting high currents or absorbing the waste heat thereof.
Modern modular power electronics systems, such as, for example, the modular multi-level converter described in US document U.S. Pat. No. 9,496,799 B2, which is incorporated by reference herein, break down high powers into smaller proportions that can be switched by the low-voltage semiconductors comprised by said multi-level converters. However, it is necessary to conduct said high powers and currents onto printed circuit boards with said modern power electronics systems.
Furthermore, modern, rapidly switching power semiconductors require very compact circuit implementations in order to be able to use their speed. In the background are, in particular, the high parasitic inductances, which result in the case of a physically large circuit design. Magnetic energy stored in the parasitic inductances can undesirably be discharged in switching processes and generate undesirable switching overvoltages, which damage or destroy components. However, printed circuit boards from the prior art contain a plurality of layers of thick copper, as a result of which large printed circuit board thicknesses are achieved. Components that are usually connected to the topmost and bottommost layer thus have a large spacing from one another, as a result of which the area spanned by the current and hence the parasitic inductances increase enormously.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,214,309, which is incorporated by reference herein, discusses a circuit board with a thick metal piece for deflecting heat from a power transistor.
While conventional circuit boards are generally manufactured with a certain number of copper layers with a thickness of approximately 35 μm to 70 μm, the prior art now knows of options for manufacturing printed circuit boards with some layers of 400 μm and more using very similar production methods. Like in standard printed circuit boards, the copper layer is deposited in a fully electrolytic (galvanic) manner or is laminated as a metal film, then coated (positively or negatively) with a photoresist, this is exposed positively or negatively with the corresponding pattern, developed and then partially removed, in order to then etch, in a wet chemical manner, the surfaces no longer covered by photoresist. However, the etching of copper is substantially isotropically unidirectional and therefore also etches from the side into the copper areas still covered by photoresist. The resolution of the possible structures therefore decreases with the layer thickness. Otherwise, nearly all established methods can be used in the production in order, for example, to locally connect different layers of the circuit boards through vies. High-current paths on the printed circuit board are formed in the prior art, for example, with vertically arranged busbars. Said busbars are usually mounted using through-hole technology, wherein surface-mounted device or SMD technology is also conceivable.
Since the etching of thick copper is usually limited to layer thicknesses of considerably below one millimeter, so-called inlays are often produced for higher thicknesses of a few millimeters. Inlays are cut from copper according to the required shape and then embedded in a circuit board. The inlay is generally inserted in an inner layer of the circuit board. The empty spaces that result at the level of the inserted solid copper elements have to be filled with material, generally preimpregnated fibers.
In the prior art, circuit boards for SMD semiconductors at the surface are provided only with an inlay level and possibly some, usually etched, printed circuit board layers lying above or below said inlay level, but in this case overlapping current paths cannot be realized. In this case, it is conceivable to embed a plurality of inlay layers, but there is the problem that a cost-effective conductive connection or through-contacting from the surface to all the stacked inlay layers is not possible using the standard methods. The respectively more remote layers would be able to be connected for high currents and/or heat dissipation only with difficulty and in a cost-intensive manner.
Many modern electronic components, for example transistors, are designed so that they can emit their heat into the conductor tracks via the electrical contacts. In inlay technology, there is the problem that, although the heat can be emitted into the thick copper of the inlay very well, thermal energy is then stuck in the inside of the generally thermally insulating printed circuit board, which consists, for example, of glass fiber composite material. This heat then has to be dissipated out of the inlay in a complex manner.
With respect to heat dissipation, US 2001/0038310 A1, which is incorporated by reference herein, describes a heat sink, which is connected to the circuit board and base plate of a power transistor module. However, there is the problem that, although many power components are approved for increased temperatures, conventional ICs and standard components like resistors, which, for example, may not exceed 85° C., are likewise generally located on the printed circuit board. However, the latter are usually located on a cooling path and closer to a heat source than to a cooling arrangement. Therefore, these components heat up to a higher degree than if the cooling arrangement were located directly at the heat source. Technically, this usually requires higher dimensioning of the cooling arrangement.
US 2012/0236500 A1, which is incorporated by reference herein, discloses a circuit board with power component parts that is isolated by way of an electrically insulating resin-like material from a line through which cooling liquid flows.
It must be noted, in the case of a printed circuit board with inlays, that the thickness of the printed circuit board increases enormously since conductors and components have to be stacked on one another and no crossovers can occur for each inlay layer.


A method for operating a hybrid vehicle that includes a prime mover (1) with an internal combustion engine (2), an electric machine (3), a transmission (4) connected between the prime mover (1) and a driven end (5), and multiple shift elements, including a separating clutch (7) connected between the internal combustion engine (2) and the electric machine (3), and a starting component (8), is provided. After release of a brake pedal (12) or together with the release of the brake pedal (12) for a driving start or an crawling start, an engagement speed threshold (22) for the starting component (8) is established below an idling speed of the prime mover (1) and a previously disengaged starting component (8) is engaged. A control unit (9, 10, 11) for carrying out such a method is also provided.

FIG. 1 shows a diagram of a drive train of a hybrid vehicle. A hybrid vehicle includes a prime mover 1, which includes an internal combustion engine 2 and an electric machine 3. Moreover, a hybrid vehicle includes a transmission 4, which is connected between the prime mover 1 and a driven end 5 of the hybrid vehicle. An electric accumulator 6 cooperates with the electric machine 3. When the electric machine 3 is operated as a motor, the electric accumulator 6 is discharged to a greater extent. When the electric machine 3 is operated as a generator, the electric accumulator 6 is charged to a greater extent. A separating clutch 7 is connected between the internal combustion engine 2 and the electric machine 3. The transmission 4 includes multiple shift elements 8. One single shift element 8 is shown, by way of example, in FIG. 1. During the starting operation of the hybrid vehicle, one of the shift elements 8 of the transmission 4 can act as a transmission-internal starting component. In contrast thereto, it is also possible that a separate, transmission-external starting component is connected between the electric machine 3 and the transmission 4.
The operation of the transmission 4 is controlled by a transmission control unit 9 by way of an open-loop system and/or a closed-loop system. The operation of the internal combustion engine 2 is controlled by an engine control unit 10 by way of an open-loop system and/or a closed-loop system. The operation of the electric machine 3 is controlled by a hybrid control unit 11 by way of an open-loop system and/or a closed-loop system. The hybrid control unit 11 can also control the separating clutch 7. The dashed-line double arrows of FIG. 1 visualize the data exchange of the control units 9, 10, and 11 with the appropriate assemblies of the hybrid vehicle. For example, the transmission control unit 9 exchanges data with the transmission 4 and the hybrid control unit 11. The engine control unit 10 exchanges data with the internal combustion engine 2 and the hybrid control unit 11. Moreover, the hybrid control unit 11 exchanges data with the electric machine 3, the electric accumulator 6, and the separating clutch 7.
FIG. 1 also shows a brake pedal 12 and an accelerator pedal 13, wherein the accelerator pedal 13 is also referred to as a gas pedal. Depending on a driver-side actuation of the brake pedal 12 and depending on a driver-side actuation of the accelerator pedal 13, drive torque can be made available at the driven end 5. For this purpose, the brake pedal 12 and the accelerator pedal 13 can exchange data with the engine control unit 10 and/or the hybrid control unit 11 and/or with the transmission control unit 9.
For the case in which such a hybrid vehicle is operated, during a crawling operation, with the brake pedal 12 released or not actuated and with the accelerator pedal 13 not actuated, the starting component 8 is operated, according to practical experience, with a differential speed in a so-called continuous slip operation, in order to increase the controllability and improve a transition into a driving start upon actuation of the accelerator pedal 13.
GB 2 532 107 A1 describes a hybrid vehicle and a method for operating a hybrid vehicle. The transmission of the hybrid vehicle disclosed therein can be operated in different operating modes, in order to adapt the hybrid vehicle to roadways having different friction. It is known from this prior art, for example, that the transmission can be operated in a low driving position as well as in a high driving position, wherein the low driving position is utilized, in particular, in off-road environments.

Method and control unit for operating a hybrid vehicle


A device for bursting an amusement balloon, and that includes a housing having sides that define an open bottom leading into an internal chamber; tape or the like for securing the housing to an outer surface of the balloon in an orientation so that the open bottom of the housing is directed at the outer surface of the balloon; and an electro-mechanical member supported in the internal chamber of the housing. The electro-mechanical member includes a movable plunger having respective rest and extended positions. A puncture pin is carried by the plunger. The electro-mechanical member is activated so as to move the plunger from the rest position to the extended position thereof so as to move the puncture pin against the outer surface of the balloon to puncture the balloon. The activation can be either hard wired or wireless.

At the present time, for amusement purposes, a series of balloons may be burst by means of a detonator. For example, refer to U.S. Pat. No. 5,538,451. The device shown in this patent actually uses the principle of exploding the balloon. One drawback to this arrangement is a clear safety aspect in that pyrotechnics are typically used which can create an unsafe condition. Mechanical means also exist for bursting a balloon such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,402,582. However, these existing mechanical means have been found to be ineffective and not readily controllable particularly when it is desired to activate the bursting action remotely.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved technique for bursting a balloon or a series of balloons.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved system and device for effectively bursting a balloon and that may be readily controlled either remotely or with a hard-wired arrangement.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an improved system and device for effectively bursting a balloon and which is economical to produce, easy to set-up and operate and which is extremely effective in carrying out any one of a number of different bursting sequences.


A power supply control system includes power supply switch devices each including main relays, sub relays, and control units and a control line connected to sub control lines for controlling the sub relays. The control units control the sub relays of other power supply switch devices via the control line.

As a conventional power supply control system, the configuration shown in FIG. 11 is known, for example. As shown in FIG. 11, the power supply control system 10 includes the power supply switch devices 22, 32, and 42 respectively included in the electrical apparatuses 20, 30, and 40 connected in parallel with respect to a power supply (not shown in FIG. 11).
The electrical apparatus 20 includes the body part 21 and the power supply switch device 22 for supplying power to the body part 21. Moreover, the power supply switch device 22 includes the breaker 23, the main relay 24, the rush-prevention relay 25, the control unit 26 for controlling the main relay 24 and the rush-prevention relay 25. It should be noted that since the configurations of the electrical apparatuses 30 and 40 and the configurations of the power supply switch devices 32 and 42 are the same as above, the explanation will be omitted here.

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.