In a connector 57, its mounting plate 51 comprises a base 27, a press-in portion 53 extending forwardly from the central portion of the base 27 and having a locking hole 52 formed therethrough, and a pair of arms 28 extending forwardly from opposite end portions of the base 27 and then bent downward and having tapped holed 29 formed through the bent portions. The mounting plate 51 is assembled to the connector body 11 by press-inserting thereinto the press-in portion 53 from behind the body 11 and firmly gripping tip end portions 28a of the arms between the connector body 11 and a base 23.

The present invention relates to a connector that is provided with a metal mounting plate having tapped holes for mounting the connector, for example, on a chassis and has a locking mechanism.
In FIGS. 4A, 4B and 4C there is depicted the construction of a conventional connector of this kind. The connector has a block-shaped body 11 of an insulating resin material, which has an annular deep groove 12 formed in its front face. The connector body 11 has peripheral flanges 13 laterally directed from right and left marginal edges of its front face. The flanges 13 have mounting holes 14 and 15 formed therethrough diametrically opposite across the annular groove 12. In the upper peripheral wall of the annular groove 12 there is formed a slot-aperture 16 extending rearwardly from the back of the flange 13 and opening into the top of the connector body 11; the slot-aperture 16 receives a lug 35 of a connector (FIG. 6) for locking it in position when it is fitted into the connector. The forward end portion of the slot-aperture 16 is tapered inwardly in the front face of the connector body 11 as indicated by 17. In a cylindrical portion 18 surrounded by the annular groove 12 there is formed opposite the tapered portion 17 a groove 19 extending through the connector body 11.
The cylindrical portion 18 has formed therein a plurality of contact receiving holes 21, in each of which a female contact 22 is held at one end. The female contact 22 is L-shaped, and its other end portion extends down and projects out of the bottom of the connector body 11 through a base 23 of an insulating resin material on the underside thereof, forming a terminal 22a. The base 23 has attached thereto a grounding contact piece 24, which resiliently projects in the annular groove 12 through an aperture 25 made in the bottom of the connector body 11.
As depicted in FIGS. 5A, 5B and 5C, the metal mounting plate 26 has a base portion 27 that rests on the top of the connector body 11, and a pair of arms 28 extending forwardly from both ends of the base portion 27 and then bent down. The arms 28 each have a tapped hole formed therethrough and a lug 31 protrusively provided on the inside surface thereof. The arms 28 have their lower end portions narrowed.
The mounting plate 26 is assembled with the connector body 11 by inserting thereinto the former from above so that the arms 28 bear against the back of the flange 13 at the right and left sides thereof. As a result, the tapped holes of the arms 28 are placed in alignment with the mounting holes 14 and 15 at the rear thereof, respectively. The lugs 31 are pressed to the outside of the connector body 11, and the lower end portions 28a of the arms 28 are held between the connector body 11 and the base 23.
With the provision of such a mounting plate 26, the connector can easily be mounted, for example, on a chassis by screw-holding through the tapped holes 29 with the front face of the connector body 11 held in engagement with the inside surface of the chassis.
FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic representation of a plug 33 that is connected to the above-described connector 32. Though not shown, the plug 33 has a plurality of male contacts inside a cylindrical metal cover 34 and a positioning protrusion inside the forward end portion of the metal cover 34 for engagement with the groove 19 of the connector 32. As referred to above, the lug 35 resiliently protrudes beyond the periphery of the metal cover 34 for locking engagement in the slot-aperture 16 of the connector 32.
When the plug 33 is fitted into the connector 32, the metal cover 34 is received in the annular groove 12, and at the same time, the male contacts are received in the contact receiving holes 21. The male contacts make contact with the female contacts 22 and the metal cover 34 contacts the grounding contact piece 24, establishing electrical connections between the plug 33 and the connector 32. The lug 35 of the plug 33 is guided by the tapered portion 17 of the mating surface of the connector 32 into the body 11 thereof, and protrudes outwardly of the slot-aperture 16 so that the rear end of the lug 35 matingly engages the rear side of the flange 13, locking the plug 33 to the connector 32.
The flange 13 is reinforced with a plate of metal 36 at the point of engagement therewith of the lug 35 to protect the flange 13 from breakage by undue stress when the plug 33 happens to be forced out of engagement with the connector 32. The reinforcing plate 36 has a pair of bumps 37 as depicted in FIG. 7, and is pressed into a groove 39 defined in the top of the connector body 11 by a pair of projections 38 disposed opposite across the slot-aperture 16 and the flange 13.
The plug 33 thus locked by the lug 35 to the connector 33 can be unlocked therefrom simply by pressing a push-button 41 of the plug 33. By pressing the push-button 41, the lug 35 is retracted into the metal cover 34, enabling the plug 33 to be pulled out of the connector 32.
The conventional connector 32 of the above construction has a shortcoming that, for example, when it is mounted on a chassis, the mounting plate 26 moves relative to the connector body 11, creating difficulty in securing the connector to the chassis by screws.
That is, while the mounting plate 26 has the tip end portions 28a of both its arms 28 gripped between the connector body 11 and the base 23, it has no coupling means other than the lugs 31 that are pressed against the body 11--this fails to provide a rigid connection between the mounting plate 27 and the connector body 11. For example, when screwing starts at the mounting hole 14 at the left-hand side in FIG. 4A, the screw tightening force is applied to the mounting plate 26 in the clockwise direction, turning it accordingly. Hence, the tapped hole 29 of the mounting plate 26 at the right-hand side moves out of alignment with the mounting hole 15 of the connector body 11, presenting difficulty in fastening thereto the mounting plate 26 at the right-hand side.
Further, the mounting plate 26 is not fixed at its base portion 27 to the connector body 11, so that when subjected to a force in the direction indicated by the arrow during screwing, the mounting plate 26 falls or turns backward about the lower ends thereof gripped between the connector body 11 and the base 23. This also introduces difficulty in screw tightening operations.
On the other hand, the molding of the connector body 11 necessitates the use of a sliding die for the formation of the groove 39 that receives the reinforcement plate 36 press-fitted thereinto. This gives rise to the problem of a complex die structure.
Additionally, assembling of the conventional connector is cumbersome since it involves assembling of the mounting plate 26 and the reinforcing plate 36 to the connector body 11.


Ethylenically unsaturated compounds are provided having Structure I and from which polymers with a plurality of groups of Structure II are derived. ##STR1## In Structures I and II, R.sub.1 is hydrogen or methyl, and R.sub.3 is hydrogen or lower alkyl having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, and when R.sub.3 is hydrogen and R.sub.2 has two carbon atoms R.sub.2 is methyl methylene. In Structure I, R.sub.2 and in Structure II R'.sub.2 is a divalent linking group having 2 to 20 carbon atoms. When R.sub.3 is hydrogen and R'.sub.2 has two carbon atoms, R'.sub.2 is methyl methylene. The compounds of Structure I may be used as monomers and reacted with other ethylenically unsaturated monomers via addition polymerization to arrive at the polymer with groups of Structure II.

Acrylic polymers curable with aminoplasts like melamine aldehyde condensates are formulated with other components into useful coating compositions for a variety of substrates. Generally, the curing mechanism is through ether linkages formed by the reaction of the melamine aldehyde condensate and the hydroxyl functionality of the acrylic polymer. Coatings based on this type of cure chemistry on some substrates that are exposed to the environment can develop acid etching defects from the more acidic natural phenomenon such as acid rain. Additionally, acrylic and other ethylenically unsaturated monomers like acrylamide, methacrylamide and N-methyl acrylamide are useful in the production of polymers that can be used in coating compositions. The amide functionality allows for crosslinking with aminoplast-type crosslinking agents to provide cured coatings with desirable properties such as mar resistance and solvent resistance.
Japanese Kokai 6-184073 (A) discloses 2-carbamoylethyl methacrylate monomer. Acrylamide and methacrylamide are among other known amide functional monomers. These monomers of the prior art are relatively hydrophilic such that it may be difficult to use them in large amounts in polymers that will be formulated into solvent borne coating compositions.
It would be desirable to provide amide functional monomers that can be copolymerized with ethylenically unsaturated monomers and that yield amide functional polymers and to provide amide functional polymers where such polymers are suitable for use in formulating waterborne and/or solventborne coating compositions capable of producing coatings with increased resistance to acid etching while maintaining other desirable properties.

Amide functional monomers and acrylic polymers with amide functionality


A computer system comprising a processor, a memory subsystem having a fast memory and a slow memory, and other at least one peripheral-performing variable length processor write cycles is described. The present invention includes a method and apparatus for generating signals to indicate write cycles to either a fast memory or a slow memory. The present invention also includes a method of generating signals to indicate the initiation of write cycle to a slow memory and avoiding the insertion of unnecessary wait states in write cycles to memory. The present invention further includes a method of minimizing wait states in a write cycle to memory. The computer system further includes a memory controller having a control flag signal to indicate a write to slow memory when asserted, and to indicate a write to a fast memory when deasserted. The control flag signal when asserted memory system includes a programmable address decoder having a writable memory which provides bank address signals.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of computer systems. More specifically this invention relates to write cycles performed in a computer system.
2. Related Art
A computer system typically comprises a processor, a bus, memory, and other peripheral devices. The processor is responsible for executing instructions using the data in the computer system. The bus serves as a communication pathway between the processor and the other devices for transferring information between one another. The memory subsystem stores data and instructions for the processor and other resources of the computer system. A memory controller controls access by the processor and other devices to the memory devices in the memory subsystem.
In many prior art systems, the overall system performance is linked to the performance of the memory subsystem. To realize the performance potential of many prior art processors, a prior art system must use relatively fast memory devices. However, because of the cost of fast memory devices, some prior art systems are not able to use only fast memory devices, such that performance does not reach its potential.
To resolve the cost-performance tradeoff, prior art systems partition system functions by using a combination of fast and slow memory devices. If the most frequently used functions are stored on the fast memory device, all the other functions are stored on the slow memory device. One prior art memory configuration uses Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) devices which are slow but cheap for slow memory, and Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) devices which are more expensive, yet faster, for fast memory.
Prior art computer systems typically include a memory controller for controlling access to the memory devices. Although various types of memory may be installed in the computer system, the memory controller must be configured to correctly access both fast and slow memory without unnecessarily wasting processor resources.
The peripherals in a computer system communicate to the processor via a host or system bus. The bus cycle for the processor is the period of time taken to send an address on the system bus from the processor to memory and to transfer data between the memory and the processor. The bus cycle is typically measured in clock cycles. For example, it can take the processor three clock cycles to send an address to memory and two clock cycles to receive data from memory. The number of clocks for each operation determines the bus cycle length. The functional operation of the bus and the bus cycle length used (herein referred to as cycle length) when the processor is accessing other peripherals in the computer system depends on the parameters established for the particular bus and the bus controller used by it to control access to the bus. Fast memory devices coupled to the memory controller can communicate to the processor at shorter bus cycle lengths while slow memory devices require longer cycle lengths.
FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art system having a processor 12 for executing data and instructions. Processor 12 is coupled to local bus 10. Local bus 10 provides a communication pathway between processor 12 and other peripherals of the computer system. Processor 12 also transfers data to the memory devices.
Bus control unit (BCU) 14 manages communications between peripherals 20 on the system bus 22 and processor 12 via the local bus 10. Memory controller 16 is shown coupled to system bus 22. Memory controller 16 manages communications between processor 12 and memory device 18. Memory device 18 is coupled to memory controller 16 and it is used to store data and information in the computer system.
A write cycle to memory typically begins with processor 12 driving an address on local bus 10. A write signal is sent to memory device 18 via BCU 14 and memory controller 16. BCU 14 manages the communication of the address signals from processor 12 on the local bus 10 and system bus 22. The memory controller 16 controls the access to memory device 18 according to the memory destination specified in the address generated by processor 12. The time taken to write to the memory location specified by the address generated by processor 12 is known as a write cycle.
Many prior art processors in order to perform a write operation to both slow and fast memory devices insert wait states in their write cycles. Wait states are additional bus cycles which extend the time (number of clock cycles) required to perform a write cycle operation. Wait states are inserted in order to allow enough time to complete the write cycle.
During wait states, the processor is typically idle. This wastes the processor resources and directly affects the efficiency of the prior art computer system. Since the processor could be performing other instructions instead of being in an idle state waiting for a write cycle to complete, the addition of extra clocks to complete a write cycle impedes the processor's potential performance, thereby affecting the performance of a computer system.
The extended time required to perform writes to slow memory devices with inserted wait states has proved unacceptable to many system designers. To improve prior art system performance and still accommodate slow memory devices, several techniques are being used. One such technique is the pipelining of bus cycles. Pipelining is a processor instruction fetches, decoding, and execution overlapping technique to maximize processor throughput and bus utilization. Pipelining allows the overlapping of bus cycles to decrease the amount of time for the memory to respond to processor requests. Pipelining also decreases the address access time by one or more clock cycles for the processor. So for example, if a non-pipelined write cycle to memory has three wait states, pipelining such a write cycle will decrease the number of wait states to two.
FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a pipelined write cycle of the prior art system. Referring to FIG. 2, the clocks are labelled 1-6 and the signals are labelled with a "#" to indicate that a signal is low when asserted (i.e., active low). In clock 1, processor 12 initiates a write cycle by asserting address strobe (ADS#) signal 200 and driving an address on the address bus. In clock 3, the next address (NA# 220) signal is asserted. Because the first write cycle (cycle 1) has not yet completed, the next address is not driven until clock 5 when address strobe (ADS#) signal 200 is asserted to start the next write cycle (cycle 2). The memory controller of the prior art system waits until clock 3 to assert next address (NA#) signal 220 because it assumes the first cycle (cycle 1) is going to slow memory (even if the cycle is really to fast memory) thereby slowing the computer system down.
Although pipelining helps prior art processors increase their performance, the performance is less than the potential performance of some advanced processors. The higher clock frequencies and fast memory cycle times supported by these advanced processors often force the insertion of unnecessary wait states during write cycles to fast memory devices in the prior art systems. The unnecessary wait states are included because the decision to insert wait states is made before any determination is made as to whether the write cycle is directed to a fast or slow memory device. Thus, prior art systems include wait states in write cycles to both fast and slow memories. It is desirable to have a computer system that includes wait states when they are needed and to not include wait states when they are not required.
The present invention provides for performing write operations in a computer system to both fast and slow memories. The present invention causes wait states to be inserted in the write cycles in order to compensate for slow memory devices and not for fast memory devices. Thus, the present invention uses variable length write cycles when performing write operations.

Method and apparatus for performing variable length processor write cycles


Laser light generated from laser light generating means (10) is fed through laser light transfer means (11) including a demagnification optical system (23) so as to be condensed in a part Ex where an object gas of analysis exists. The laser light is imparted with energy for causing a multiple photon excitation phenomenon or a multiple photon ionization phenomenon of gas in the condensed part Ex. The energy of the laser light is large enough for 17 eV or higher energy to be injected into a hydrogen molecule when the object gas of analysis is hydrogen and for 23 eV or higher energy to be injected into a helium atom when the object gas of analysis is helium. For example, the intensity of the laser light in the condensed part Ex is 1014 W/cm2 or higher. This provides a laser analytical instrument capable of observing various types of gas through an inexpensive and simple arrangement.

There is already known a method of analyzing whether there is a specific type of object gas of analysis, gas concentration or the like by exciting the gas using laser light to produce fluorescence and analyzing the state (the wavelength, the intensity of the wavelength, and so forth) of the fluorescence (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 8 (1996)-75651 (hereinafter, referred to as Patent Document 1)). The outline of the theory of operation of this method is now described with reference to FIG. 7. The object gas of analysis or plasma of the gas is irradiated with laser light for excitation in order to allow an atom in a lower level 1, which is a normal energy level (ground level), among atoms constituting the gas or plasma to absorb the energy of the laser light, by which the atom is excited to an upper level as indicated by an arrow Ya. In this instance, the wavelength of the laser light is set to the same level as the wavelength corresponding to the energy difference between the lower level 1 and the upper level (the wavelength is proportional to a reciprocal of the energy difference), that is the wavelength (resonance wavelength) corresponding to the energy to be absorbed when the atom is excited from the lower level 1 to the upper level. Therefore, the energy absorbed by the atom during the excitation is equal to energy of a photon of the laser light for excitation.
The gas or plasma excited to the upper level as described above is thereafter deexcited to the lower level 1 or 2 as indicated by an arrow Yb or Yc and produces fluorescence A or B during the deexcitation. In this instance, it is assumed that the lower level 2 exists between the lower level 1 and the upper level. In the analytical method as described in the Patent Document 1, the fluorescence A or B is picked up and the state (the intensity or the like) thereof is analyzed.
In addition, as an analytical method applicable only if the object gas of analysis has a molecular structure, the Raman scattering method (the spontaneous Raman scattering or stimulated Raman scattering (CARS)) is also conventionally known (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 9 (1997)-292341 (hereinafter, referred to as Patent Document 2)). The Raman scattering method includes rotationally or vibrationally exciting molecules using laser light and analyzing the state of light scattered from the molecules (scattered light) during the excitation.
Furthermore, there is already known a method of detecting visualized hydrogen by visualizing hydrogen using a hydrogen visualization agent such as iodate ion solution to react iodine, which has been generated by reacting the hydrogen visualization agent with the hydrogen, with starch (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-147225 (hereinafter, referred to as Patent Document 3)).
On the other hand, for example, regarding a fuel cell stack, it has been required to detect a gas leak before shipment or the like of the fuel cell stack since the gas leak from its body part or a pipe connected thereto leads to a reduction in generating efficiency or other troubles.
In the conventional fluorescence analysis method as disclosed in the Patent Document 1, the wavelength of the laser light emitted for irradiation needs to be the same as the wavelength corresponding to the inter-level energy difference of the atom or plasma as described above. Therefore, the wavelength of the laser light needs to be varied according to the type of gas to be detected (gas for producing fluorescence). Accordingly, the conventional fluorescence analysis method has a problem that it requires a device for varying the wavelength of the laser light when analyzing various types of gas using the conventional fluorescence analysis method, which leads to a complicated device configuration and to an increase in device cost. Furthermore, where gas is changed to plasma (dissociated electrolytically) to increase the intensity of the produced fluorescence, it is necessary to use two laser devices, which leads to a more expensive and complicated device.
Moreover, in the conventional fluorescence analysis method, some types of gas (for example, hydrogen and helium) cannot be detected as a matter of fact for the reason described below. More specifically, hydrogen or helium has a large inter-level energy difference (10 eV or higher) and therefore the absorption wavelength for its excitation exists in an extreme vacuum ultraviolet region of 120 nm or less. Under present circumstances, there is no laser device or optical component that can easily generate laser light having a wavelength in the extreme vacuum ultraviolet region. Furthermore, the light in the extreme vacuum ultraviolet region is immediately absorbed and attenuated in the air and therefore it is very difficult to irradiate a desired position with that kind of light.
In addition, since hydrogen and helium are useful as gas for use in leak inspection of a vacuum chamber or a fuel cell (fuel cell using hydrogen as fuel), it is required to develop a technology for optically detecting the hydrogen or helium without using the extreme vacuum ultraviolet light.
Moreover, the Raman scattering method as described in the Patent Document 2 is applicable only to some types of gas such as, for example, hydrogen molecules and nitrogen molecules, which are molecules that can be vibrationally or rotationally excited by irradiation with laser light and whose polarizability varies remarkably during the excitation. Accordingly, monoatomic gas (rare gas) such as helium or argon and a hydrogen atom cannot be detected by the Raman scattering method, by which the object gas of analysis is limited disadvantageously. Furthermore, in the spontaneous Raman scattering of the Raman scattering method, it is difficult to detect a very small amount of gas in the air. Still further, in the stimulated Raman scattering of the Raman scattering method, two different kinds of laser light are needed, which leads to a large-sized or complicated device configuration and to an expensive device disadvantageously.
Regarding the method using the hydrogen visualization agent as described in the Patent Document 3, it is difficult to supply the hydrogen visualization agent, which is liquid, only to a region within a specific small area of a fuel cell stack, for example, when it is attempted to detect a leakage of the hydrogen while supplying the hydrogen to the fuel cell stack. Therefore, it is difficult to identify the region of occurrence of a gas leak accurately using the method. Moreover, it has a problem of requiring a work for removing hydrogen visualization agent adhered to the surface of the fuel cell stack after the inspection.
In addition, it is also possible to soak the fuel cell stack in water and to supply the fuel cell stack with gas in this condition and to observe bubbles generated in the water in order to inspect the fuel cell stack for a gas leak. This method, however, requires a work for drying the fuel cell stack after the inspection.
In view of the above background, the present invention has been provided. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a laser analytical instrument and a laser analytical method capable of observing various types of gas through an inexpensive and simple arrangement independently of the type of gas employed. Furthermore, it is another object of the present invention to provide a gas leak inspection instrument capable of easily detecting a gas leak of a fuel cell stack or the like by using laser light.

Laser analytical instrument, laser analytical method, and gas leak inspection instrument


Described are embodiments for developing a message-passing application program. The program is constructed using stages having a plurality of asynchronous functions, or operations. The operations communicate with other operations of other message-passing programs in a distributed computing environment. The operations also communicate with other operations on other stages of the message-passing application. In order to reduce deadlock errors, a behavioral type signature is appended to the declaration of each operation of the message-passing application program. The behavioral type signature specifies behavioral properties for each operation, such as when an operation should send a message to another operation. A type checker utilizes typing rules and the behavioral type signature to extract an implementation model of each function. The type checker then compares the implementation model to the behavioral type signature to determine whether the asynchronous function conforms to the behavioral type signature.

Software programming has changed over the years as computer programs have moved away from a sequential model of performing operations and toward a more asynchronous model wherein multiple operations of a single program may be performed substantially simultaneously. These computer programs are typically referred to as "event-driven" programs in that a user may initiate an event in the program and thereafter fail to take any other action with respect to that event for an indefinite period of time. As such, the program is in a waiting pattern in which the program takes no action with respect to this event until the user initiates such. During this interim, the user may initiate any number of other events in the computer program, take any number of other actions with respect to these other events, or perform no action.
Event-driven programs may perform any number of internal operations while waiting for the user to take action with respect to the initiated event or while the user is currently taking action with respect to that or any other event. That is, these programs do not execute tasks and perform operations in a sequential manner, but rather, in a concurrent manner wherein tasks and operations are performed substantially simultaneously with respect to each other. For instance, in a word processor having a graphical user interface, a user may select a control for formatting text in a document using a word processor application program. Meanwhile, between selection of the control and action by the user in the document utilizing the formatting function activated by the control, an auto save feature of the processor may be activated by an internal call initiated by the word processor application. The auto save and formatting operations thus execute logically in a concurrent manner, i.e., "concurrently," with each other in the word processor.
The increasing use of distributed computing environments further illustrates the aforementioned transition in software programming. In distributed computing environments, multiple computer programs communicate with one another by passing messages over channels through which the programs are operably connected using some form of network connection, such a Local Area Network, Wide Area Network, the Internet, or the like. As such, a distributed computing environment may contain various application programs running on multiple computing systems. These application programs are operable to communicate with any number of application programs connected over the same network or possibly another network connection. As such, application programs, or instances thereof, in a distributed computing environment often await communications from other application programs. During this indefinite wait period, the application program may continue to perform operations, such as communicating with other application programs by sending and/or receiving messages. Consequently, application programs operating in a distributed computing environment perform tasks and operations in a concurrent manner that is similar to the event-driven application programs described above.
Collectively, application programs operating in a distributed computing environment and event-driven application programs may be referred to as "concurrent," or "message-passing" applications. Although message-passing applications provide many functional advantages over sequential application programs, message-passing applications are not without problems. One common problem associated with message-passing application is deadlock. Deadlock is an error that may occur in many situations, but most frequently, in situations where an expected action for an operation never occurs. For instance, deadlock occurs when a message sent by a sender (caller) is never received by a receiver (callee). Likewise, deadlock occurs when a receiver waits for a message that is never actually sent by a sender.
Together with deadlock errors, asynchrony and nondeterminism introduced by the unpredictable nature of when message-passing applications may render a specific action make message-passing applications more difficult to write, debug, test and tune than applications operating in a sequential manner. Indeed, today's programming languages and tools currently offer little or no support for concurrent programming. Moreover, there are no current modeling techniques that accurately address the problems of deadlock errors described above.

Programming model to detect deadlocks in concurrent programs


A crystallographically-oriented ceramic including first regions, in which crystal nuclei remain and which contain a specific element in a predetermined concentration range and extend at least partially in a layered shape along a crystal plane, and second regions, which contain the specific element in a different concentration range from the first regions and extend at least partially in a layered shape along the crystal plane. The regions are alternately repeated, and a compositional distribution exists in a direction orthogonal to the crystal plane. In the first region, the concentration of Na is higher, the concentration of K is lower, the concentration of Nb is lower, and the concentration of Ta is higher than the second region, and in the second region, the concentration of Na is lower, the concentration of K is higher, the concentration of Nb is higher, and the concentration of Ta is lower than the first region.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a crystallographically-oriented ceramic. Specifically, the invention relates to a crystallographically-oriented ceramic used for a piezoelectric/electrostrictive material.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a crystallographically-oriented ceramic which has been proposed to date, a mixture of a first anisotropically shaped powder having lattice matching with a specific crystal plane of a first perovskite-type alkali-pentavalent metal oxide compound and a first reaction material capable of reacting with the first anisotropically shaped powder to form a first perovskite-type alkali-pentavalent metal oxide compound is shaped such that the first anisotropically shaped powder is oriented, and orientation is further enhanced by firing, thereby enhancing piezoelectric properties (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-12373).
In the crystallographically-oriented ceramic described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-12373, piezoelectric properties are enhanced by enhancing orientation. It is assumed that, in order to enhance the piezoelectric properties, the crystallographically-oriented ceramic formed from the first anisotropically shaped powder and the first reaction material is produced so as to have a more uniform composition. As described above, in the crystallographically-oriented ceramic described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-12373, in order to enhance the piezoelectric/electrostrictive properties, crystals are oriented, and furthermore the compositional ratio is appropriately set in a more uniform state. However, this is still not sufficient. Further enhancements in piezoelectric/electrostrictive properties are desired.


The present disclosure relates to a system including an anchor configured to be disposed within a foundation, wherein an upper side of the anchor is configured to be exposed at a surface of the foundation and a wedge-style anti-ram security barrier configured to mechanically couple to the anchor and mount to the surface of the foundation.

Anti-ram security barriers may be used to secure a property's perimeter access points while maintaining access control. For example, an anti-ram security barrier may be engaged or deployed to block vehicles and/or personnel from entering or accessing a property. Specifically, such barriers are generally designed to withstand a ramming force from a vehicle when deployed. Additionally, an anti-ram security barrier may be disengaged or retracted to allow vehicles and/or personnel to access a property. Indeed, traditional anti-ram security barriers may be raised and lowered to block or allow access to a property, respectively.


A power assisted vehicle includes an auxiliary propelling device disposed to the frame body. The auxiliary propelling device has an auxiliary wheel and at least one transmission portion disposed in the auxiliary wheel. When two friction wheels of the transmission portion fasten to two sides of a friction ring of the auxiliary wheel, and the two power sources is in reverse to drive the two friction wheels for rotating, a wheel rim and a tire are further driven to produce rotations. The power assisted vehicle is therefore capable of self-propelled going forward without any external force. A processing device is further disposed in the power assisted vehicle. The auxiliary propelling device is then activated when the power assisted vehicle is at a specific speed. The energy consumption for the power sources is then reduced and the service life is extended. The transmission force distribution generated from the power sources is further adjustable. The usage of the power assisted vehicle is more efficient.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a vehicle design, more particular to this vehicle is equipped with an auxiliary propelling device and an electric motor for powering the power assisted vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional electric vehicles and light transportations usually rely on electric motors to transmit powers. For designing traditional motors, external gears, belts are utilized to drive tires for rotating. However, the speeds for those transportations are to regulate voltages to achieve. The regulation may consume electricity and torsions generated by motors may be easily affected by the available capacity remaining in batteries. For any type of transmission mechanism, the precision requirement is really high and the noise is quite loud. The transmission mechanism may also have larger volume and weight.
To overcome the foregoing shortcomings, the inventor of the present invention based on years of experience in the related field to conduct extensive researches and experiments, and finally invented a power assisted vehicle as a method or a basis for achieving the aforementioned objective.


A method for detecting unreliable bits in transistor circuitry includes applying a controllable physical parameter to a transistor circuitry, thereby causing a variation in a digital code of a cryptologic element in the transistor circuitry, the variation being a tilt or bias in a positive or negative direction. An amount of variation in the digital code of the cryptologic element is determined. Unreliable bits in the transistor circuitry are defined as those bits for which the variation is in a range defined as unreliable.

The huge amount of sensing devices found in future cars/homes/workplaces/cities require a much stricter security requirement for identification and authentication. The Internet of Things (IoT) can become the "Internet of Threats" without proper security measures. Secured communication is required for all of the sensors and sensing hubs in IoT. It is essential that during hardware communication, the two parties are capable of identifying each other through secret keys and reliable authentication protocols. Trusted environment involves authentication or identification by another party and/or secure transition of private information after the data has been encrypted by a safe algorithm. The vast majority of secured interaction requires storing a secured key inside or at the vicinity of the secured hardware. For example, in the case of mobile devices in the medium to low level security hazards, the secret key in the prior art is stored by external nonvolatile memory. Beside the cost and power drawbacks of this approach it is extremely vulnerable to security attacks.
A technique which has recently emerged is the utilization of inherent semiconductor device mismatch to facilitate physical unclonable functions (PUFs). These PUFs are used to generate digital identifiers, unique to every chip, which are not even visible to the chip manufacturer. The quality of the security depends on the inherent uniqueness and reliability/controllability of these functions. The PUF relies on intrinsic undetectable manufacturing variations in the CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) process. These are divided into two categories: local/random mismatches and global/systematic variations, such as process/voltage supply/temperature (PVT). Random mismatches come from stochastic atomic-level variations which cannot be controlled or predicted, and can be utilized to generate a unique digital identifier from the PUF structure. It is highly desirable that the PUF will be very sensitive to these local mismatches to give each element a maximized uniqueness/randomness. At the same time, PVT variations should not affect the PUF output, thus enabling high repeatability and reliability.
In the prior art, a variety of digital circuits have been used to generate PUFs. While these circuits are very sensitive to device variation, they are also vulnerable to noise and environmental effects, such as temperature, supply noise, device noise, etc. This has resulted in a limited reliability of the PUFs and error correction codes have been required to compensate for this, which exposes some of the secure information to the outside world. Among the different types of circuits used to generate PUF include delay lines and ring oscillators, but the most common PUF circuit is the SRAM (static random access memory) PUF.
A prior art SRAM PUF, which was recently reported (S. Mathew, et. al. "A 0.19 pJ/b PVT-Variation-Tolerant Hybrid Physically Unclonable Function Circuit for 100% Stable Secure Key Generation in 22 nm CMOS" in ISSCC 2014, Digest of Technical Papers, pp. 278) is shown in FIG. 1. When the cell is disabled, the SRAM latching nodes H and H_b are held at VCC by keeper transistors P2 and P3. A keeper transistor is a transistor which biases a node at a given level in a given state, such as a disable state. In FIGS. 1, P2 and P3 have this function. A virtual VSS, VssV, is generated by N1, and this is the Vss of the two criss-crossed latching inverters, iL and iR. The inverters are connected in a criss-cross or latching manner, such that the input of the first inverter is connected to the output of the second inverter and the input of the second inverter is connected to the output of the first inverter. When the cell is enabled, H and H_b are released and VssV is pulled down to Vss. The logical values of latch are mainly determined by the trip point variation between the two inverters. If there is a substantial amount of variation in a given cell, the latch will always reach the same logic value.
However, a problem can exist: If the variation is small, the logical value will be determined by noise, and can vary from run to run. In this case the bit is unstable and the PUF value from this bit is unreliable. In addition, this trip value for unstable bits can vary as a function of process, voltage and temperature conditions. According to S. Mathew, et. al., given no correction technique, 30% of the SRAM bits can be unstable. A temporal majority voting (TMV) method is suggested in S. Mathew, et. al., in which 20 multiple runs are done and bits which wake up in the same state 75% of the time are deemed valid. In addition, burn-in methods are used to solidify existing variation paths. Between these two techniques, only 6% of the array has unstable bits. Error correction codes are then used to make the PUF viable. The unstable bits can be masked by fusing or in the trusted environment and the algorithm can be implemented with the stable bits and error correction codes. However, the error correction code exposes some information to the outside world and is thus less secure.
A transient noise simulation of an unstable bit in the prior art is shown in FIG. 2, which consists of 100 orthogonal noise runs. During the initialization, both H and H_b are held at VCC. When the PUF cell is enabled, P2 and P3 release these nodes and they are both pulled towards VSS. Based on the noise and random variations in the bit, the latch can wake up in either state. If the random variation is large, the cell will consistently wake up in the same state. For this unstable cell shown in FIG. 2, the noise dominates and the cell can wake up in either state, which can present a reliability problem.
Thus, a need exists for a method for uncovering unstable bits in transistor circuitry, especially to achieve reliable SRAM PUF.

Detecting unreliable bits in transistor circuitry

Birad—Research & Development Corapany Ltd.


A dressing for a wound having a porous structure of continuous pores throughout the dressing made of minute filaments arranged in three dimensions and filmy links (viewed at a magnification of about 35 to 350) connecting the filaments. The porous structure has pores defined by the filmy interconnections. In other words, the wound dressing has a continuous open-celled structure in an expanded foam. The wound dressing can advantageously be made of a highly biocompatible material, such as poly-.alpha.-amino acid.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wound dressing, and more particularly to a wound dressing which is suited for treatment of wounds, for example burns or trauma.
2. Description of the Prior Art
To date, various dressings have been developed to treat a broad range of skin defects due to burns, trauma or wounds.
While a variety of structural contrivances have been made for such wound dressings, those being often used at present are in the form that a silicone film is adhered to one side of a fabric or sponge structure to inhibit the invasion of bacteria This structure creates a primary vital adhesion by absorbing the exudate from the affected site to form fibrin, and in turn enables secondary vital adhesion by ensuring the subsequent penetration of fibroblasts and capillaries, thus resulting in the strong adhesion of the dressing to the wound surface. However, since the silicone film allows body fluid proteins to accumulate under the film, it has a great danger of becoming a source of nourishment for bacterial growth present on the wound surface, so that it has the shortcoming that the healing of wound is disturbed.
In the sponge structure as described above, moreover, its required performances such as good contacting ability with the above-mentioned exudate and blood, the efficiency of drug release, the good dressing ability of affected sites, etc. have been examined less sufficiently to date. For example, the structure disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,113,568 includes a barrier 20 which is made of foam having a network structure provided under a pad 11, as illustrated in FIGS. 12 and 13. Unit cells 21, which constitute this barrier 20, present a polyhedral structure having each face 22 (which is three-dimensionally linked by leg-like links 23 to become pores) formed. Therefore, this structure is simply network-like, not structurally satisfying each of the above-mentioned required performances to a sufficient extent. In other words, since the network-like structure is only linked by the leg-like links 23, it involves the following problems: the contact area having contact with exudate and blood is not sufficient; the mechanical strength of the network object is low; the drug dispersed from the network-like structure (which is contained in the structure beforehand) is released less efficiently; and the barrier effect on bacteria still remains to be improved. These problems are found generally in other known sponge structures.

Wound dressing having a porous structure


In a method for operating a system having an implantable medical device that communicates by wireless telemetry data exchange with an external unit, an algorithm is employed, selecting either an internal calculation processor in the implantable device or an external calculation processor in the external unit for accomplishing a given data processing. If the sum of an estimated amount of energy to process the data in the internal calculation processor and an estimated amount of energy required to then transmit an expected amount of result data to the external unit exceeds an estimated amount of energy required to transmit the source data to the external unit, the external calculation processor is selected. Otherwise, the internal calculation processor is selected. The method thereby results in a minimal energy consumption in the implantable medical device. This, in turn, allows for a device with a long battery lifetime and thus an improved patient comfort.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an implantable medical device that is associated with telemetry means for wireless data exchange with external unit of the type wherein each of the implantable device each has a calculation processor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally the data processing capacity in implantable medical devices has been relatively restricted, primarily due to limitations in the internal memory and processing capacity. However, the amount of processing in the devices has also been kept low in order to economize the energy resources therein. Therefore, raw data generally have been transferred from the implantable device to an external unit for processing whenever a more extensive data analysis has been requested.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,603,331 discloses a data logging system for an implantable cardiac device with a capability of computing and storing histogram arrays of heart rate variability data over a prolonged period of time. A logarithmic data compression algorithm is used to save memory and energy resources in the cardiac device.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,161,043 describes another example of an implantable cardiac device having event recording capability with data compression. A compressed electrogram signal is transmitted from the implantable device to an external programmer according to the following. First, an uncompressed starting value is sent. Nevertheless, following signal samples are sent in the form of delta signals in respect of the starting value. Finally, based on the delta signal, the programmer produces a decompressed signal, which may be presented graphically.
In recent years, however, the processing and data storage capacity of implantable medical devices has increased dramatically. Additionally, battery technology has made many important advancements. Although the external data processing saves energy in the implantable medical device, the process of transferring the source data from the device to the external processing unit also consumes energy. In view of today's comparatively competent processors it is therefore no longer self-evident that external processing is always preferable to internal processing. In fact, transferring the raw data from the implantable medical device may very well demand more energy than performing the calculation in the device and instead transmit the result data for external presentation or further processing.

Implantable medical device system with minimization of energy employed for processing data


A method for establishing certifiable patient informed consent for a medical procedure, where, in one embodiment, the patient interacts with a video training system until mastery of all required information is successfully achieved. Training techniques which permit elicitation of measurable behaviors from a patient as a guide to discerning the level of knowledge of the patient are utilized. Certification is only granted when the measurable behavior approximately coincide with the legal and medical standards for establishing informed consent. The system is capable of adapting to various medical procedures, as well as various patient attitudes and knowledge bases, while still maintaining a level of consistency throughout. In one embodiment, a minimum probability of understanding may be preset, and the training procedure will continue until the actual statistical probability of understanding is at least equal to the preset minimum. An interactive nature of the system is present in the present system for facilitating the training process and continuously monitoring the patient's knowledge.

Virtually every medical procedure performed in the United States, including psychiatric treatment and dental procedures, requires that the patient consent to the procedure. This consent may either be expressed or implied. A competent adult patient can implicitly consent to a procedure by his/her situation or his/her actions. Examples of this type of consent would include certain emergencies and typical physical examinations. Consent to such procedures is implied by the patient. While it is frequently deemed acceptable, it is not the type of consent preferred by the medical community and is to be avoided where possible.
Expressed consent is preferred by the medical community. At present, expressed consent is usually oral or written. The inherent difficulty in proving details with respect to oral consent makes this type of expressed consent less preferable for most health care providers. Using existing techniques, many non-emergency type surgical procedures require the patient to read and sign an "informed consent" form. Admittedly, this can be awkward; it is well established, however. For example, the "Operating Room Administration Manual--Checklists, Guidelines & Forms" includes a checklist of clauses which may be included in the typical written consent form. In addition, a list of medical procedures requiring full disclosure is included as Exhibit 30-3 to this reference. These procedures, among many others, are deemed to require not merely consent, but informed consent.
The author of an article discussing surgical informed consent suggests to establish legally-sufficient informed consent, at least three elements are required: (1) sufficient information in understandable terms, (2) competence on the part of the patient to reason, and (3) absence of coercion. (This reference, disclosed below, contains much authoritative material on the subject of informed consent.)
These legal requirements can be burdensome to the medical practitioner. Not only does complying with such requirements take time, but the constantly changing state of the law makes merely remaining current in this developing field a challenge. When properly fulfilled, it is even possible that the health care provider could spend more time obtaining consent to avoid lawsuits than practicing medicine. The present invention is designed to alleviate this imposition on medical personnel by providing a method of establishing certifiable informed consent. The disclosed system and methods improve the ability of achieving an "informed" state, the credibility of having received "consent", and enhance the ability to prove in a court of law that informed consent was indeed established, should it be necessary.
For many years the only device used to indicate possible informed consent was a standard form, as mentioned previously. In some instances the form served as a reference guide for the practitioner as he/she read from it to the patient. In other instances the form might have been handed to the patient along with a multitude of other forms, each requiring the patient's signature. It is very likely that, in haste, many of these informed consent forms are signed without ever having been read; even more likely is the fact that such forms are rarely truly understood by the patient. One study has shown that on the average patients read 4.6 grade levels below their reported highest grade completed. The mean reading level in some communities was reported as low as third grade, with consent forms requiring a postcollege reading level (Southern Medical Journal, October 1991, vol. 84, p. 1172). This combined with the possible recklessness on the part of the patient, as well as the medical provider, fueled by the litigious nature of our society, has contributed to the skyrocketing malpractice insurance fees experienced by many health care providers. These are, naturally, passed on to the patient in the way of higher medical fees charges. Most acutely however, the signed informed consent form technique has failed in its primary purpose. Often it has not been deemed to sufficiently establish true "informed consent" by the patient.
To overcome this potential impact, written forms are often accompanied by a verbal explanation or interview by the health care provider. This solution is undesirable for at least two reasons. First, it reintroduces the oral element in obtaining a consent. Second, unfortunately, informed consent interview techniques are not an area focused upon by most medical schools. Instead, new practitioners are usually expected to observe, assimilate, and personalize what other colleagues do. While to a patient this interview may be no less important than the procedure itself, the health care provider may view it as a bothersome task that has little relevance to the procedure to be performed.
Even the standard informed consent forms currently used have often fatal practical limitations. They can be inconsistently applied. Typically the forms are modified for each specific medical, dental or psychiatric procedure. While this is efficient, it rarely takes into account the impacts of the differing information to be conveyed, the differing manners in which it must be delivered (if read), and the differing attitudes of the patient. Each of these naturally affect the dependability of the form. In addition, as each doctor tries to alter a general form for a specific procedure, personal biases can detract from the real goal of the process. Even if each of these limitations were recognized, until the present invention, it simply would not have been practical to tailor a document not only doctor to doctor, but also from day to day, and from patient mood to patient mood. This latter aspect--that a given patient might have different needs from day to day or hour to hour--has been an aspect that, until the present invention, those skilled in the art could not readily address. Those skilled in the art, the doctors and lawyers, simply believed it was not possible to accommodate the needs of the patient to this degree. While the need for controlled consistency in this area has been openly sought by consumer protection groups, medical groups, and malpractice insurance carriers, until the present invention it was not deemed practical to attempt to utilize a technique which could be varied to suit each specific occasion.
In order to meet these needs, the present invention utilizes techniques not traditionally applied to the informed consent field. Among these techniques is the use of video technology. The use of video as a training tool has been known and widely accepted in a number of fields. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,360,345 and 4,907,973, both to Hon, disclose the use of computer/video systems for teaching health and medical education. U.S. Pat. No. 4,459,114 to Barwick discloses the use of video to teach communication skills, while U.S. Pat. No. 4,948,371 to Hall has applications in law enforcement training and military training. As the present invention recognizes, the video system's ability to provide consistency through controlled presentation can be beneficially applied to the informed consent field as well. Video tape (VHS or beta) and video disk systems have been used in some hospitals, clinics and doctor offices, functioning to educate patients on a limited number of medical procedures. None, however are used to address the very important aspect of certifying or proving the patient had, without question, given his or her informed consent. Given this known use of such a system, it might initially be considered surprising that the application of such a technology to the informed consent field was not recognized. This, however, may be a result of the diverse perspectives of the techniques traditionally involved.
The technology of using video as a training aid has been distinct from that of establishing informed consent. This is due to the goals involved, and may be highlighted by the goals of "teaching" and "training." The Oxford English Dictionary defines training as "bringing a person to a desired state or standard of efficiency by instruction and practice." Teaching on the other hand, is merely a process of conveying information. While most patients would sit through a short film on the risks and alternatives as related to a hysterectomy, few would view such a video with the intent of being trained. Merely presenting a video would not significantly overcome the limitations of the prior art. For example, while the entire procedure may be explained in detail, the patient is capable of "tuning out" certain information--just as he/she might-ignore or overlook the statements of a doctor. In this case the medical practitioner may believe he/she has satisfied his/her responsibilities when in fact the patient is not truly consenting in an informed manner. The present invention overcomes this limitation by devising a method for certifying not only the level of information conveyed to a patient, but the patient's level of understanding as well. The patient simply cannot be certified by the present invention and still have failed to understand the necessary aspects of the procedure.
Another problem with both the informed consent form, and standard education video is the extent of the information. Too little, or too much information can be detrimental to the process of establishing informed consent. While most systems and forms might hope to err on the side of too much information, this "overkill" may cause a patient to fail to fully comprehend important elements. Naturally, too little information would also fall short on the informed side of the issue. According to a December 1987 article from The American Journal of Surgery, entitled "Surgical Informed Consent: What It Is and Is Not", by W. Sterling Edwards, M.D., et al., the courts have utilized two concepts as guidelines for the degree of information that must be provided to a patient--the professional standard and the lay standard.
The professional standard has been suggested to require that the medical practitioner disclose what is standard for the community. As the more objective rule, it is used by the majority of jurisdictions. The lay standard, known also as the material risk standard, has been suggested to require the practitioner to disclose what any reasonable person would want to know about the procedure. With respect to what type of information must be disclosed, the two standards are in agreement that the information need not be encyclopedic, and that any possible serious conditions, no matter how remote, should be disclosed. With both the standard informed consent form and the continuous video type patient education system, a patient is virtually locked into the presentation process. If it is too much information, the patient must usually endure. If the information conveyed is deficient, it falls to the patient to glean additional information from another source, such as a doctor or nurse. The present invention avoids placing this burden on the patient. Instead, through interaction with the patient, the information provided can be personalized to the patient's knowledge base regardless of which standard is utilized.
Documentation of consent is usually not required by law. Obviously, though, if a suit is filed against a practitioner, the more documentation available, the better. In many instances, both the patient's and the doctor's recall of the information presented can be poor and unreliable. Thus, a signed document may be the only evidence to reliably evidence consent. The question still remains as to whether such consent was "informed", however. Did the practitioner read over all elements of the form? Did the patient? If either party read the form, did the patient understand the various terms used? Naturally, in a mere video presentation, similar concerns would arise. Prior to the present invention, reproducing the events that transpired up to the point of signature was very difficult if not impossible. The present invention overcomes this limitation to protecting both parties before consent can be established.
The present invention, in its various methods, recognizes and addresses these and other problems and overcomes many limitations encountered by those skilled in the art by bringing together, and bridging the gaps that have existed between the legal, medical, consumer and training fields with respect to establishing certifiable informed consent. Many devices and procedures have taught education of patients in the area of medical procedures. However, these devices and procedures have typically considered only the consumer (patient) groups and the medical field. Other approaches have taken the perspective of the legal field in attempts to protect medical practitioners and their insurance carriers. Until the present invention, no one had taken the approach of training and certifying patients' knowledge in a pending medical procedure, despite the long felt need for such certification, and the existence of the necessary implementing arts. Certainly problems such as proving "informed consent" exist in the field of informed consent (it might not be such a heavily litigated field otherwise), but such problems have gone unnoticed by those skilled in the art. Basically attempts at establishing patient informed consent were inadequate because those skilled in the art failed to address and balance the needs of the patient, the doctor, the court system, and the insurer. The recognition by the present inventors that the problems encountered in the informed consent field could be solved by applying and modifying techniques of a training nature, and not an educational nature, lead to the present invention. While other aspects of these training techniques have been known for some time, and while they have been used in various other fields, those skilled in the art of establishing informed consent have failed to recognize their value as solutions in the informed consent field. The prior art has taught away from the present invention by stressing education of patients rather than training. Other areas of teaching away by the prior art are rooted in the desire for a single general form, rather than a process which adapts to the continuously varying characteristics of procedures, doctors, patients, and courts. Rather than supplying a system which affords only an incremental increase in performance and design over the prior art, the present invention utilizes techniques which were not previously considered to achieve leaps in performance compared to the prior art.

Methods for establishing certifiable informed consent for a procedure

Medical Training and Services International, Inc.


A valve for use in an EGR system for an internal combustion engine has a housing having an exhaust inlet, an EGR outlet, an exhaust outlet and a bleed air inlet. A butterfly plate is pivotally connected to the housing. The butterfly plate has at least a first position and a second position, wherein the first position defines a first fluid path between the exhaust inlet and the EGR outlet and defines a second fluid path between the bleed air inlet and the exhaust outlet, and wherein the second position defines a third fluid path between the exhaust inlet and the exhaust outlet and defines a fourth fluid path between the bleed air inlet and the EGR outlet.

This invention relates generally to an internal combustion engine and, more particularly, to an EGR/bleed air diverter valve.
An exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) system is used for controlling the generation of undesirable pollutant gases and particulate matter in the operation of internal combustion engines. Such systems have proven particularly useful in internal combustion engines used in motor vehicles such as passenger cars, light duty trucks, and other on-road motor equipment. EGR systems primarily recirculate the exhaust gas by-products into the intake air supply of the internal combustion engine. The exhaust gas that is introduced to the engine cylinder reduces the concentration of oxygen therein, which in turn lowers the maximum combustion temperature within the cylinder and slows the chemical reaction of the combustion process, thereby decreasing the formation of nitrous oxides (NOx). Furthermore, the exhaust gases typically contain unburned hydrocarbons, which are burned on reintroduction into the engine cylinder, which further reduces the emission of exhaust gas by-products which would be emitted as undesirable pollutants from the internal combustion engine.
In many EGR applications, the exhaust gas is diverted by an EGR valve directly from the exhaust manifold. The percentage of the total exhaust flow which is diverted for reintroduction into the intake manifold of an internal combustion engine is known as the EGR flow rate of the engine.
Some internal combustion engines include turbochargers to increase engine performance, and are available in a variety of configurations. For example, fixed housing turbochargers have a fixed exhaust inlet nozzle that accelerates exhaust gas towards a turbine wheel, which in turn rotates a compressor. Also, a variable nozzle turbocharger (VNT) has a variable nozzle having a ring of a plurality of variable vanes which are controlled to change the cross sectional area through which the exhaust gases pass to reach the turbine. In a VNT, the smaller the nozzle opening, the faster the gas velocity to the turbine, and in turn, the higher the boost. Still further, it is known to provide a turbocharger having two independent compressors, which is known as a double sided compressor.
When utilizing EGR in a turbocharged diesel engine, the exhaust gas to be recirculated is often removed upstream of the exhaust gas driven turbine associated with the turbocharger. The recirculated exhaust gas is typically introduced to the intake air stream downstream of the compressor and air-to-air after-cooler (ATAAC). Reintroducing the exhaust gas downstream of the compressor and ATAAC is preferred in some systems due to the reliability and maintainability concerns that arise if the exhaust gas passes through the compressor and ATAAC.
The ability to supply EGR gases into the intake manifold and/or fresh air into the exhaust manifold is a difficult task, considering the high temperatures, exhaust corrosion and abrasion, sealing needs, actuators and packaging constraints of prior EGR systems. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,440,880 discloses a diesel engine EGR system having a flow diverter valve positioned immediately downstream of an EGR valve. The flow diverter valve is controlled to modulate the portion of exhaust gas that is directed to an after-cooler to be cooled prior to introduction into the intake manifold, or directs exhaust gas directly to the intake manifold. The exhaust gas that is directed to the after-cooler is first conditioned by an exhaust gas conditioner to remove soot so as to optimize the efficiency of the after-cooler.
At high speed and load, the pressure in the intake manifold will be higher than that of the exhaust manifold. If a passageway is opened between the intake and exhaust manifold under these conditions, fresh air will flood into the exhaust manifold, thereby significantly decreasing the engine performance.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems or disadvantages associated with the prior art.
In one aspect of the invention, a valve is provided for use in an EGR system for an internal combustion engine. The valve has a housing having an exhaust inlet, an EGR outlet, an exhaust outlet and a bleed air inlet. A butterfly plate is pivotally connected to the housing. The butterfly plate has at least a first position and a second position, wherein the first position defines a first fluid path between the exhaust inlet and the EGR outlet and defines a second fluid path between the bleed air inlet and the exhaust outlet, and wherein the second position defines a third fluid path between the exhaust inlet and the exhaust outlet and defines a fourth fluid path between the bleed air inlet and the EGR outlet.
In another aspect of the invention, provided is an internal combustion engine, comprising a block defining a plurality of combustion cylinders, the plurality of combustion cylinders having a first group of combustion cylinders and at least one EGR pumping cylinder. An intake manifold is connected to the block for providing combustion air to each of the plurality of combustion cylinders. A first exhaust manifold is connected to the block to receive combustion gases from the first group of combustion cylinders. A second exhaust manifold is connected to the block to receive combustion gases from the at least one EGR pumping cylinder. A turbocharger has a turbine and a compressor. The turbine has an exhaust gas inlet port and an exhaust gas outlet port, the exhaust gas inlet port of the turbine being coupled for fluid communication with at least one of the first exhaust manifold and the second exhaust manifold. A compressed air conduit is coupled to provide fluid communication between a compressed air outlet port of the compressor and the intake manifold. The compressed air conduit has a bleed air port. A valve is provided having a housing and a valve mechanism. The housing has an exhaust inlet, an EGR outlet, an exhaust outlet and a bleed air inlet, the exhaust inlet being connected in fluid communication with the second exhaust manifold, the EGR outlet being connected in fluid communication with the intake manifold, the exhaust outlet being connected in fluid communication with the first exhaust manifold, and the bleed air inlet being connected in fluid communication with the bleed air port of the compressed air conduit. The valve mechanism has at least a first position and a second position. The first position defines a first fluid path between the exhaust inlet and the EGR outlet and defines a second fluid path between the bleed air inlet and the exhaust outlet. The second position defines a third fluid path between the exhaust inlet and the exhaust outlet and defines a fourth fluid path between the bleed air inlet and the EGR outlet.
In still another aspect of the invention, provided is a method of providing EGR for an internal combustion engine, comprising the steps of providing a single valve having a housing and a valve mechanism, the housing having an exhaust inlet, an EGR outlet, an exhaust outlet and a bleed air inlet; positioning the valve mechanism in a first position to define a first fluid path between the exhaust inlet and the EGR outlet and to define a second fluid path between the bleed air inlet and the exhaust outlet; positioning the valve mechanism in a second position to define a third fluid path between the exhaust inlet and the exhaust outlet and to define a fourth fluid path between the bleed air inlet and the EGR outlet; and positioning the valve mechanism between the first position and the second position to simultaneously control an amount of EGR gases and an amount of compressed bleed air supplied in the internal combustion engine.


A waterproof structure for a tightening section where a first member (1) having a screw hole (1a) with a bottom and a second member (2) having a screw insertion hole (2a) are fastened with a screw (4) that is inserted into the screw insertion hole (2a) and screwed to the screw hole (1a). The screw (4) is a flat head screw, and an annular groove (3b) is formed in the outer surface of a spacer (3) having an insertion hole where recessed circular conical surface (3a) is formed. The spacer (3) is fitted in the screw insertion hole (2a) to be in surface contact with a circular conical surface of a head of the flat head screw. The annular groove (3b) is coaxial with the recessed circular conical surface (3a). An O-ring (5) is installed in the annular groove (3b), and the flat head screw (4) is tightened with the spacer (3) placed between first member and the second member, causing the O-ring (5) to be pressed between an inner surface of the annular groove (3b) and a surface of the screw insertion hole of the second member (2). The waterproof structure can be repeatedly used without damaging the members and does not enlarge a necessary space.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a conventional waterproof structure for a portion where members are tightened with a screw. FIG. 4 shows a state of a tightening section where a first member 10 and a second member 11 are fastened with a bolt 12, the tightening section being cut out by a plane passing through a central axis of the bolt 12.
In the first member 10, a screw hole 10a with a bottom is provided, and in the second member 11, a screw insertion hole 11a is provided. The second member 11 is fastened to the first member 10 by screwing the bolt 12 which passes through the screw insertion hole 11a into the screw hole 10a with a bottom.
Then, to form a waterproof structure, a spacer 13 and a packing 14 are placed between the bolt 12 and the second member 11. In addition, FIG. 4 exaggeratedly shows a state in a larger scale before the packing 14 is deformed. A ring-like packing 14 having a rectangular cross-section made of rubber is fitted in a dent of the spacer 13 made of metal and placed on the screw insertion hole 11a of the second member 11 mounted on the first member 10, and the bolt 12 is inserted into the packing 14 to be tightly screwed into the screw hole 10a with a bottom.
A lower surface of the spacer 13 is pressed against an upper surface of the second member 11 by tightening up the bolt 12, and further the packing 14 is compressed and pressed against an inner surface of the spacer 13, an outer surface of the bolt 12 and the upper surface of the second member 11, providing a waterproof property.
In the conventional waterproof structure for a portion where members are tightened with a screw described above shown in FIG. 4, a bottom surface of the spacer 13 is arranged to abut on the upper surface of the second member 11 for positioning in the vertical direction, which has presented a problem that the surface of the second member 11 was scraped away, when it was made of resin. Also, the packing 14 gets entangled with a screw portion of the bolt 12, which leads to a problem that the packing 14 becomes unusable, when the bolt 12 is repeatedly tightened.
Further, because the packing 14 gets entangled with the screw portion of the bolt 12 in a process of tightening the bolt 12, the spacer 13 and the packing 14 are rotated together with the bolt 12, so that there arises a problem that the packing 14 is likely to be deformed.
Also, because lower surfaces of the spacer 13 and the packing 14 are arranged to abut on the upper surface of the second member 11, the upper surface of the second member 11 has to be a horizontal surface. Then, because a head of the bolt 12 is mounted on the upper surface of the second member 11, the spacer 13 and the head of the bolt are protruded from the upper surface of the second member 11, presenting a problem of requiring a larger, necessary space.
In a waterproof structure for apparatuses proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-277934, a first boss 33 is provided in a front case 31 in a protruding manner toward a rear case 41, and a second boss 43 is provided in a protruding manner in the rear case 41 to be opposite to the first boss 33.
Then, a through hole 44 is made into the second boss 43 to insert a fixing screw 55 thereinto, and a hole 34 with a bottom is made into the first boss 33 to screw the fixing screw 55 thereto. Also, an annular groove 45 coaxial with the through hole 44 is formed in a surface of the second boss 43 opposite to the first boss 33, and an O-ring 46 is positioned in this annular groove 45.
On the one hand, in a surface of the first boss 33 opposite to the second boss 43, an annular projection 35 is formed to be opposite to the annular groove 45. Then, when the front case 31 and the rear case 41 are fitted in each other, the annular projection 35 is arranged to press the O-ring 46.
In the waterproof structure for apparatuses proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-277934 described above, because the O-ring 46 is pressed by the annular projection 35, too strong fastening force on the fixing screw 55 may damage the O-ring 46, causing a problem that the O-ring cannot be repeatedly used.

Waterproof structure for portion where members are tightened with screw


Personal information is transferred between an old appliance and a new appliance by use of communication capabilities of the appliances. A transfer facility on the old appliance is used to select the information to transfer. A receive facility on the new appliance is provided to verify the information prior to finalizing the transfer. The personal information is translated by either facility as desired, and the information is optionally encrypted, compressed and verified. The facilities are downloaded from a network and are modified based on characteristics of the appliances exchanging personal information. The personal information includes preferences for operation of the appliance. Telephony and wireless communication methods such as cellular are employed for the exchange in various embodiments.

Many personal devices such as cellular telephones, digital assistants and other appliances contain personalized data. Personalized data includes telephone and address book information, speed dial numbers, task lists, calendar information, home page, book-marked web sites, password histories, user settings, graphical interface configurations and other information. Technology is changing rapidly, and users upgrade to new higher function appliances quite often. When changing or upgrading to new devices, personal information in the old device needs to be entered in a new device. It is time consuming to manually enter the new information into the new device.
Some device providers have tools that can obtain information from the old device and transfer it to the new device provided both devices are communicating directly with the tool. Some personal digital assistant appliances have the capability to beam a business card or file to another digital assistant via infrared ports, or to transfer information to a computer system via network. However, it is difficult to transfer personal information between such appliances when switching or upgrading to new appliances. It is even harder to transfer appliance preference personal information that customizes the operation of the appliance.

Inter device personal information transfer


A knee airbag apparatus for an autonomous vehicle, wherein a first cushion and a second cushion are deployed toward the knees of a passenger and a third cushion is deployed toward the feet and shins of the passenger according to a collision mode (head-on collision, offset collision or oblique collision) and a position (normal position or relaxation position) of a seat.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
An autonomous vehicle is a smart vehicle which utilizes autonomous driving technology to allow a driver to travel to a destination without directly manipulating a steering wheel, an accelerator and a brake. Recently, autonomous vehicles have been rapidly developed.
When an autonomous driving situation is universally realized, the driver may select a driving mode in which the driver directly drives the vehicle and a relaxation mode in which the driver takes a rest without driving the vehicle.
In the driving mode, the position of a seat is located on the front side of a seat rail. At this time, the seat is located in a normal region. The normal region may mean a region from the front end of the seat rail to a predetermined distance therefrom toward the rear side.
In the relaxation mode, the seat is located in a relaxation region. The relaxation region is a region of the seat rail excluding the normal region and may mean a region from the end of the normal region to the rear end of the seat rail.
Meanwhile, when the seat is located in the relaxation region, a distance between a passenger seated on a seat and a crash pad is excessively large. Therefore, it is impossible to efficiently secure safety of the passenger using a conventional knee airbag.
The matters disclosed in this section are merely for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the disclosure and should not be taken as an acknowledgment or any form of suggestion that the matters form the related art already known to a person skilled in the art.

Knee airbag apparatus for autonomous vehicle and method of controlling the same


An ink tank of the foam type which is provided with a detected portion capable of exactly and surely detecting the amount of ink used by the printer or remaining in the ink tank. The ink tank includes a sub ink chamber that is disposed or formed between a main ink chamber and an ink outlet of an ink tank of a foam type. When an amount of air flowing into the sub ink chamber increases, one or more reflecting surfaces of a right-angled prism, which function as ink interfaces, resume their original function of reflecting surfaces, thereby enabling the detection of an ink end. Air bubbles having entered the sub ink chamber are surely led onto the one or more reflecting surfaces by a bubble storage part. At an ink passage having a narrow width, which is defined by the one or more reflecting surfaces, air bubbles are pressed against the one or more reflecting surfaces to be put to a crushed state and in surface contact with the latter. Air bubbles are surely led onto the one or more reflecting surfaces, and are crushed and pressed against the reflecting surfaces. This configuration prevents the one or more reflecting surfaces from being covered with ink retained in spaces among the air bubbles. Therefore, the ink end can be detected surely and exactly.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an ink tank with an ink absorbing member absorptively retaining ink, and more particularly to an ink tank with a detected portion capable of exactly detecting when ink in the ink tank has been depleted, including the amount of ink used or remaining in the ink tank, and an ink jet printer using the ink tank as an ink supplying source.
2. Related Art
An ink tank of a foam type is known for the ink tank of an ink jet printer. The foam type ink tank is composed of a foam containing part containing a foam absorptively retaining ink, an ink outlet communicating with the foam containing part, and an air communication port through which the foam containing part is opened to the air. When ink is sucked through the ink outlet in response to an ejection pressure of the ink jet head, an amount of air corresponding to an amount of sucked ink flows from the air communication port to the foam containing part.
In the case of the foam type ink tank, detection as to whether ink is present is carried out based on a count result, viz., in a manner that an amount of used ink is counted in accordance with the number of ink dots ejected from the ink jet head, and an amount of ink sucked by the ink pump which sucks ink from the ink jet head, or the like.
Generally, a contents state of the ink tank in which little ink is left in the ink tank is called a "real end". A contents state of the ink tank in which an amount of ink left in the ink tank is smaller than a predetermined amount of ink is called a "near end". In the present specification, the term "ink end" involves both the terms "real end" and "near end" unless otherwise stated or indicated.
The ink end detecting method, which counts the amount of used ink and detects the ink end based on the count result, has the following problems. First, some variations are present in the amount of ejected ink in the ink jet head and the amount of ink sucked by the ink pump. An amount of used ink that is counted on the basis of those ink amounts may greatly deviate from the amount of ink actually used. Therefore, the necessity is that a large margin must be set up to definitively determine the ink end state. The result is that at a time point where the ink end is detected, a great amount of ink is often still left, thereby resulting in the waste of ink.
A possible way to solve the problem is that the ink end is directly detected by using an optical detecting system which utilizes the reflecting surface of a prism which resumes its original reflecting surface function when the ink is used up. The detecting system utilizing the prism reflecting surface is disclosed in, for example, JP-A-10-323993 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,616,929.
In the case of the foam type ink tank, the ink is absorptively retained in the foam. Therefore, it is impossible to directly apply the detecting system disclosed in the patent publication to the ink tank. A possible solution to this is that a sub ink chamber of a small capacity, which can store ink, is located between a main ink chamber (foam containing part containing a foam), and the ink outlet. The reflecting surface of the prism is disposed in the sub ink chamber. In a state that a certain amount of ink in the main ink chamber is consumed, air flows into the sub ink chamber.
By so doing, every time ink is supplied through the ink outlet, ink flows from the main ink chamber to the sub ink chamber. As the amount of ink in the main ink chamber becomes small, air bubbles enter the main ink chamber. Over the course of time, the ink in the main ink chamber is used up, and the only ink remaining in the ink tank is the ink stored in the sub ink chamber.
When the amount of ink left in the sub ink chamber is reduced to be small, the reverse surface of the reflecting surface of the prism, which serves as an ink interface, becomes exposed above the ink liquid surface, and a reflecting state of the reflecting surface changes. More particularly, the reverse surface of the prism, which does not function as the reflecting surface when it is covered with ink, gradually resumes its original function of the reflecting surface as the ink liquid level lowers. Accordingly, a state in which the amount of residual ink is smaller than a predetermined amount of ink can be detected based on the amount of light reflected by the reflecting surface. Therefore, if the volume of the sub ink chamber is sufficiently small, the ink end can be detected at a time point where the amount of residual ink is substantially zero.
When air bubbles having entered the sub ink chamber stick to the reverse surface of the prism reflecting surface or stray in the vicinity of the reverse surface, the prism reflecting surface remains covered with ink retained among the air bubbles even if the ink liquid surface lowers to a level below the prism reflecting surface. As a result, a reflecting state of the prism reflecting surface remains unchanged even if the ink liquid surface lowers. As such, a disadvantageous situation in which it is impossible to detect the ink end possibly occurs.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An exemplary apparatus embodiment provides for controlling current supplied to solid state lighting, such as light emitting diodes. An exemplary apparatus comprises a memory adapted to store a plurality of current parameters; and a control circuit adapted to modulate an energizing cycle time period for providing a substantially constant DC average current to the solid state lighting in response to a selected current parameter of the plurality of current parameters. In an exemplary embodiment, the control circuit modulates a current provided to the solid state lighting in response to a predetermined minimum current level (IMIN) parameter and a predetermined peak current level (IP) parameter, such that the DC average current level (IO) is substantially proportional to one-half of a sum of a predetermined peak current level (“IP”) and a predetermined minimum current level

A wide variety of LED drivers or regulators are known for use in providing high power or high current levels to high brightness LEDs, on the order of 20-25 mA, and typically up to 1 A. For example, Supertex Inc. (HV9925 data sheet) and Melexis Microelectronic Integrated Systems (MLX10803 data sheet) provide peak current control with a constant off-time, but require external loop compensation and restrict the accuracy and dynamics of the converter. External loop compensation, requiring feedback through a current sense resistor which is used to measure the current through the LEDs, compromises the efficiency of the regulator. That decreased efficiency means excessive power consumption, which is highly detrimental for portable, battery-operated applications.
Prior art LED drivers generally have very low efficiency, making them highly unsuitable for applications in portable devices such as cameras and mobile telephones. These drivers generate a very high ratio of peak to average current for typical LED devices, leading to potential damage and reduced reliability. In addition, such prior art drivers use analog current regulators, rather than digital, resulting in increased cost for the driver.
Accordingly, a need remains for a driver circuit or current regulator for solid state devices such as LEDs used in lighting applications which can provide digital control, without requiring external compensation. Lastly, the current regulator should utilize comparatively fewer components, providing reduced cost and size, while simultaneously increasing its efficiency and enabling longer battery life when used in portable devices.

Digitally controlled current regulator for high power solid state lighting

Abstract: I      M                  (                        I          O                ∝                                            I              P                        +                          I              MIN                                2                    )        .


Examples described herein enable a user to organize and manage e-books on a computing device that utilizes a network-based e-book service. According to some examples, a user e-book collection can be organized so that it can be displayed when archived, as well as in accordance with user-defined lists.

"E-books" are a form of an electronic publication that can be viewed on computing devices with suitable functionality. Multi-function devices, such as cellular-telephony or messaging devices, can utilize specialized applications (E.g., e-reader apps) to view e-books. Still further, some devices (sometimes labeled as "e-readers") can be centric towards content viewing, and e-book viewing in particular.

System and method for managing user e-book collections


Provided is an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display including: first and second plastic layers; a first barrier layer and a first intermediate layer each positioned between the first and second plastic layers; and an OLED layer formed on the second plastic layer. The first barrier layer comprises silicon nitride.

1. Field
One or more embodiments of the present invention relate generally to an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display. More specifically, one or more embodiments of the present invention relate to an OLED display including a flexible substrate, an electronic device including the OLED display, and a method of manufacturing the OLED display.
2. Description of the Related Art
An organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display is a self-emission type display that includes a hole injection electrode, an electron injection electrode, and an organic emission layer disposed therebetween, wherein a light is emitted as holes injected from the hole injection electrode and electrons injected from the electron injection electrode are recombined in the organic emission layer. The OLED display has been attracting attention as a potential next generation display due to its high quality characteristics, such as low power consumption, excellent luminance, and high response speed.

Organic light-emitting diode display having improved adhesion and damage resistance characteristics, an electronic device including the same, and method of manufacturing the organic light-emitting diode display