A method of manufacturing a gas spring including the steps of fitting and inserting a first seal member, an annular space member, a second seal member, and a rod guide, to an outer periphery of a piston rod in accordance with this order from a side of a piston, a step of providing a piston rod assembly in which a lubricant is previously injected, in an annular chamber defined among the first seal member, the space member and the second seal member, and a step of charging a pressurized gas into an inner portion of a cylinder from an opening portion of the cylinder under a sealed state, and thereafter pressing the rod guide fitted and inserted to the piston rod, thereby inserting the piston rod assembly into the inner portion of the cylinder from the opening portion of the cylinder and fixing the rod guide to the cylinder.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gas spring which is interposed between a vehicle body and a back door or the like in a vehicle, and is preferably used for applying an assist force when opening the door.
2. Description of the Related Art
Since the back door of a vehicle is generally mounted so as to be opened and closed about a horizontal axis, a gas spring device employs an inverted type gas spring structured such that a cylinder is positioned in an upper side and a piston rod is positioned in a lower side when the back door is closed.
In the gas spring structured as mentioned above, a small amount of working fluid is injected within the cylinder for lubricating a seal lip portion of a seal member and the like. Accordingly, when the door is closed, since the working fluid moves to a side of a cylinder opening end portion so as to dip the seal lip portion, no oil film break is generated between the piston rod and the seal lip portion, so that no gas leaks to the outer side.
However, in some types of vehicles, the gas spring is used in a horizontal state. In this case, the seal lip portion of the seal member is not sufficiently dipped with the working fluid. As a result, an oil film is not formed between the seal lip portion and an outer periphery of the piston rod, and a pressurized gas leaks to the outer side of the cylinder due to a lack of seal caused by the oil film break or an abrasion in the seal lip portion.
In a gas cylinder for solving the problem mentioned above, there is a gas spring in which two seal members are provided in an opening end portion of the cylinder so as to be spaced in an axial direction, and a lubricant such as a working fluid or grease is injected between two seal members (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-21042 (patent publication 1)).
In the gas spring structured as mentioned above, since the lubricant such as grease or the like injected between two seal members always wets or lubricates the seal lip portion of the seal member even in the case that the gas spring is arranged in the horizontal state, the pressurized gas in the inner portion of the cylinder does not leak to the outer side.
The gas cylinder of the patent publication 1 has the following problems.
(1) A packing 4 is clamped among a piston rod guide member 5, a disc 7 and a support sleeve 8, and is fixed to a portion between an annular protruding portion 6 formed in a cylinder and a collared cylinder end portion 12. Thereafter, a pressurized gas is charged into the cylinder from an inner periphery of the packing 4.
As a result, since the gas is charged through a small annular gap between the inner periphery of the packing 4 and a piston rod 3, there is a problem that a long time is required for charging the gas, and productivity is not good.
Further, since the piston rod guide member 5 having a small annular gap is further arranged in a lower side of the packing 4, there is a problem in that the time for charging the pressured gas is further increased.
(2) After charging the pressurized gas, the lubricant is injected in an annular chamber between the support sleeve 8 and the piston rod 3, and the annular chamber is sealed with respect to the outer side by a packing 9 and a close ring 10. That is, the close ring 10 is provided in an upper portion of the packing for sealing the lubricant, and closes the opening end portion of the cylinder. As a result, in addition to the piston rod guide member 5, another piston rod guide member, that is, the close ring 10 is provided as a member for guiding the piston rod. An increase in a number of parts is caused, which becomes expensive.


A method includes exchanging signaling between a first entity providing access by a user equipment to a video stream and a second entity through which the video stream passes prior to being delivered via wireless transmission to the user equipment, the second entity receiving video information corresponding to the video stream, the exchanged signaling associated with the video information received at the second entity. Responsive to the exchanged signaling, sending information from the first entity to the second entity to modify status at the second entity of at least a portion of the video information previously received at the second entity. Another method includes at the first entity, receiving from a second entity an indication the second entity is capable of accepting multiple resolutions of a video in the video stream. Responsive to the received indication, the first entity sends to the second entity multiple resolutions of the video.

This section is intended to provide a background or context to the invention disclosed below. The description herein may include concepts that could be pursued, but are not necessarily ones that have been previously conceived, implemented or described. Therefore, unless otherwise explicitly indicated herein, what is described in this section is not prior art to the description in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
More wireless, mobile devices are able to download or stream video, and this trend appears to be increasing. A radio access network serving many mobile devices ideally would be able to handle all of the video being requested by these devices. However, as the number of mobile devices increases and video remains popular, radio access networks may not be able to deliver all of the requested video as efficiently as possible.
A service entity such as media optimizer (MO) and video servers use corresponding video protocols used to optimize video downloading provide powerful techniques for significantly increasing system capacity and video quality. In particular, if the service entities provide more video to the radio access network, well in advance (e.g., seconds) of when that video will likely be downloaded or required by a mobile device, this enables the radio access network to quickly exploit any short term improvement in radio frequency (RF) conditions or loading. That is, the radio access network can send additional video to mobile devices because of the short term improvement.
If the service entities provide more video than strictly required to the radio access network, this tends to prevent flexibility of the radio access network in quickly adapting the best possible level of video compression and video frame type on shorter timescales, e.g., based on anticipated future system loading, packet loss (e.g., if significant packet loss, then additional compression may be appropriate when a packet is retransmitted by radio link control), user media selection such as fast-forward, or video abandonment by user. This tends to result in more packet loss at the radio access network, e.g., when radio access network memory is exhausted.
Thus, it difficult to achieve the benefits of having more video at the radio access network while avoiding the detriments to having more video.

Signaling enabling status feedback and selection by a network entity of portions of video information to be delivered via wireless transmission to a UE


A binary-coded structure document, (e.g., in an EXI format which is based on a structure document designed in a text-based description language, such as XML), is provided with a binary-coded index document, which is based on a structural part of the structure document. A storage representation of the binary-coded index document is stored in a working storage unit of the device, and the binary-coded structure document is stored in a background storage unit assigned to the device. A processing operation or a request by at least one processing process is carried out by accessing the storage representation of the binary-coded index document via an object interface, and in certain examples, fragments of the binary-coded structure document are loaded into the working storage unit by the object interface. By carrying out processing operations on the binary-coded index document, faster request operations are facilitated in that specific requests may already be processed using the index document BCI without the involvement of the binary-coded structure document.

In the prior art, text-based description languages for the specification of data formats and the required methods for processing the data are already known. A structure document in the sense of this description includes, at least in part, passages in a description language.
A known description language is »Extensible Markup Language«, (abbreviated as XML), with which hierarchically structured data are described in text form or "plain text". The description language XML is used for the platform-independent exchange of data between computer systems. Due to the textual nature of XML, this is readable both by machines and by human beings.
In order to process, (which includes in particular searching, filtering, manipulating, transforming and querying data), the data contained therein, structure documents prepared in the XML description language may be converted into a storage representation, which in professional practice is also known as an "in-memory" model. A known specification for access to a storage representation of XML documents is the "Document Object Model" or DOM, which provides an object interface for data access by one or more processing processes. The object interface is implemented, for example, as a programming interface or Application Programming Interface (API). The storage representation is, however, several times larger than the associated structure document. For this reason, processing of more extensive structure documents in resource-limited devices, (e.g., devices having limited memory space and/or processing power), may not be possible, or only possible to a restricted extent. Such resource-limited devices include, for example, embedded systems for monitoring, open-loop and close-loop control functions, e.g., in the form of so-called intelligent sensors, in particular in a production line or in a vehicle.
In certain cases, a fast data transfer between devices is necessary, which with a textual description language such as XML is not fully possible. Binary representations of XML are therefore proposed to allow an efficient data transfer. A binary representation of XML known as "Efficient XML Interchange", abbreviated as EXI, requires less transmission bandwidth compared to text-based XML data for data transfer between devices, or general-purpose computer systems.
The advantages of the data exchange format EXI are apparent not only in the data exchange between computer systems suggested by its name, but also in the case of device-internal processing of a binary-coded structure document in resource-limited devices. A device-internal processing of the binary-coded structure document, (e.g., in the EXI format), may prove to be more efficient than the use of the XML format, especially where the data are transferred between devices according to EXI specifications anyway.
For a device-internal processing then, the binary-coded structure document (in an analogous manner to the structure document compiled in a text-based description language, on which this binary-coded structure document is based) is converted into a storage representation, to enable one or more processing processes access to the data of the binary-coded structure document via an object interface. Even a device-internal processing of the binary-coded structure document is subject to limits in resource-limited devices, which necessitates considerations of the size of the storage representation to be weighed against a limited storage capacity of a working memory of the device.
If the storage representation of a structure document exceeds a predetermined size, the associated structure document is curtailed to a permissible size by relinquishing originally planned functionalities. If this option is not feasible, this forces the use of proprietary solutions for a leaner storage representation or alternative processing processes, which need to be designed individually for each specific application. This inevitably means that for new or modified applications, an alternative solution will again need to be developed. This is a disadvantage in relation to the basic objective of a generically applicable solution.
It has also been demonstrated that of the possible processing operations, read operations, in particular, outnumber operations that use write access. In contrast to read operations, in general processing operations data are not only read but also modified, overwritten, or re-arranged. In these read operations, structural read operations on a binary-coded structure document again outnumber read operations in which content is required to be read out. The first-mentioned structural read operations include, in particular, queries relating to a hierarchical relation, a number, or particular categories of elements to be determined within the structure of the underlying structure document. These structural read operations may demand processing of the entire memory representation of a structure document, which is represented, e.g., in a tree structure in the memory representation. In the following for reasons of general validity, all reading and writing operations will be referred to with the general term processing operations.

Device and method for processing a binary-coded structure document


A state analysis device is capable of determining a state of the interior of piping with high precision, and includes: an index calculation means for deriving an index indicating the state of the piping, based on a flow speed of fluid flowing out of the piping, and a fluid pressure of the interior of the piping at two or more locations of the piping; and a determination means for determining the state of the piping, based on the index.

Prediction on a deterioration status of piping constituting a water and sewage network, a pipeline, and the like has been performed in an aspect of preventive maintenance. When the deterioration status is predicted, for example, renewal and the like of the piping are performed based on a prediction result.
PTL 1 describes a conduit deterioration diagnostic facility and the like. The conduit deterioration diagnostic facility described in PTL 1 diagnoses deterioration of a conduit whose interior is filled with liquid by using a shock wave.

State analysis device, state analysis method, and recording medium


A position determination apparatus for a vehicle may include: a first sensing unit configured to sense driving state information of the vehicle; a GNSS module configured to acquire position data of the vehicle; a first core unit configured to generate a first driving trajectory of the vehicle based on the driving state information sensed by the first sensing unit, and estimate the current position of the vehicle based on the generated first driving trajectory; a second sensing unit configured to detect driving environment information of the vehicle; and a second core unit configured to generate a second driving trajectory of the vehicle, generate map matching data by performing map matching on the driving environment information sensed through the second sensing unit, and generate fused position determination information by fusing the position data received from the GNSS module, the second driving trajectory and the map matching data.

The present invention relates to a position determination apparatus and method for a vehicle, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for determining the current position of an autonomous vehicle.
An autonomous vehicle refers to a vehicle which autonomously decides a drive path by recognizing the surrounding environment through an outside information sensing and processing function during driving, and independently drives using its power. Although a driver does not operate the steering wheel, accelerator pedal or brake, the autonomous vehicle can travel to the destination by itself, while preventing a collision with an obstacle on the drive path and adjusting the speed and driving direction depending on the shape of a road. For example, the autonomous vehicle can raise the speed on a straight road, or lower the speed on a curved road while changing the driving direction in response to the curvature of the road.
A position determination system applied to the autonomous vehicle determines the current position of the vehicle through GPS (Global Positioning System) data acquired during driving and sensor data acquired through sensors mounted on the vehicle, based on roadmap information constructed through GPS and various sensors such as a radar, lidar and camera. In order to secure the stability of autonomous driving, it is important to accurately determine the current position of the vehicle. For this operation, a DGPS (Differential GPS) or RTK-DGPS (Real Time Kinematic-DGPS) may be used to improve the position accuracy of the GPS. Furthermore, in order to correct an error of the GPS data, which inevitably occurs, a map matching technique for comparing a previously constructed roadmap and sensor data may be applied.
In such a position determination system applied to the autonomous vehicle, the position information of the vehicle has a direct influence on a control output of the vehicle at the current time. Therefore, the real-time performance and the stability of the position determination system must be guaranteed. In the related art, however, the position determination system must process a large amount of data such as data provided from various sensors, a high-definition map and GPS data. Therefore, the real-time performance of the position determination system and the stability of the position information output cycle may not be secured.
The related art of the present invention is disclosed in Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2017-0098071 published on Aug. 29, 2017.

Position determination apparatus and method for vehicle


Flow-control system includes a fluid reservoir configured to store a fluid, a pressure accumulator in flow communication with and positioned downstream from the fluid reservoir, and a loading zone that is configured to receive and fluidly couple to a flow cell having a biological or chemical sample. The loading zone is in flow communication with and positioned downstream from the pressure accumulator. The flow-control system also includes a system pump in flow communication with and positioned downstream from the loading zone. The system pump is configured to induce a flow of the fluid from the fluid reservoir and through the pressure accumulator and the loading zone. The pressure accumulator is configured to receive fluid from the fluid reservoir during a filling operation. The pressure accumulator is configured to impart pressure on the fluid and drive the fluid toward the loading zone during a pressure-assist operation.

Embodiments of the present application relate generally to systems and method for controlling flow of a fluid through a system configured for biological or chemical analysis of a sample or configured for sample preparation.
Various assay protocols used for biological or chemical research are concerned with performing a large number of controlled reactions. In some cases, the controlled reactions are performed on a flow cell. The flow cell may have, for example, inlets, outlets, and a plurality of channels extending therebetween. Reagents may be delivered to the flow cell in order to carry out the designated reactions. The designated reactions may then be observed and analyzed to help identify properties or characteristics of the chemicals involved. For example, one known sequencing-by-synthesis (SBS) technique involves the enzymatic extension of a nucleic acid strand through the iterative addition of nucleotides against a template strand. In traditional methods of SBS, a single nucleotide monomer may be provided to a target nucleic acid in the presence of a polymerase in each delivery. The target nucleic acid is typically immobilized to a surface of the flow cell. For each cycle in which a nucleotide is added to the target nucleic acid, a number of solutions are delivered to the flow cell, such as a reagent solution (e.g., nucleotides, polymerase) and a wash solution.
Flow-control systems for biological and chemical analysis include a reagent reservoir and a pump that is configured to induce a flow of the fluid from the reagent reservoir to the flow cell. One challenge for flow-control systems that carry out designated protocols, such as the SBS protocol described above, is that the speed at which the fluid may be delivered to the flow cell is limited by system resistances. Moreover, increasing the flow rate of the fluids may cause a pressure drop that increases the likelihood of degasification, which may be undesirable for certain applications. To offset this pressure drop, the reagent reservoir may be pressurized. However, increasing the pressure of the fluid at the reagent reservoir can be challenging due to the volume of the fluid in the reservoir. Moreover, the increased pressure may risk gassing the fluid (i.e., introducing external air into the fluid at the reagent reservoir).

In-line pressure accumulator and flow-control system for biological or chemical assays


A multilayer piezoelectric element is provided with a multilayer body, a first external electrode on a side face of the multilayer body, and a second external electrode outside the first external electrode. The multilayer body consists of an alternate stack of a plurality of piezoelectric members and a plurality of internal electrodes. The first external electrode is electrically connected to predetermined internal electrodes. The second external electrode extends in a wave pattern along a stack direction of the multilayer body and is of flat plate shape. The first external electrode and the second external electrode are electrically and physically connected through a plurality of connections.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multilayer piezoelectric element.
2. Related Background Art
An example of the conventionally known multilayer piezoelectric elements is one comprised of a multilayer body consisting of an alternate stack of a plurality of piezoelectric members and a plurality of internal electrodes, and external electrodes each of which is provided on a side face of the multilayer body and electrically connected to predetermined internal electrodes. In the multilayer piezoelectric element described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-340489, the entire external electrodes are formed so as to extend in the stack direction of the multilayer body. In the multilayer piezoelectric element described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-210884, the external electrodes are mesh members made of electroconductive wires and are fixed to respective side faces of the multilayer body with an electroconductive adhesive. In the multilayer piezoelectric element described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-171003, the external electrodes are coiled elastic members.


A lighting appliance for vehicles includes a flat light guide having a light coupling section for the coupling of light into a first or a second end of the light guide, a narrow-side front serving as a light coupling section for the coupling-out of light into the main radiation direction extending between the first end and the second end of the flat light guide, a first flat side and a second flat side arranged on the opposite side, on which the coupled-in light can be fully reflected, a rear extending between the first end and the second end of the flat light guide having a number of optic elements for the redirection of the light into the direction of the narrow-side front, wherein the flat light guide is held with fastening means in a holding section of a holding lens running at right angles to the main radiation direction.

From DE 10 2010 061 210 A1, a lighting appliance for vehicles is known, in which a flat light guide is provided for the generation of a specified light distribution. The flat light guide has opposing flat sides, on which the coupled-in light is conducted. On a narrow side, several LED light sources are provided, so that on this narrow side, light is coupled into the flat light guide. A narrow-sided rear has optic elements for the redirection of the coupled-in light into the direction of a narrow-sided front, on which the light is coupled out toward the front. The known flat light guide allows a signal light function having a depth effect. However, due to a further signal light function arranged behind the flat light guide, fastening means for the holding of the flat light guide in its mounting position can only be arranged at the ends of the flat light guide. Therefore, the flat light guide must be arranged so that its ends protrude.
From WO 2012/059852 A1, a lighting appliance for vehicles is known, in which a flat light guide is force-lockingly held between two blind plates in a sandwich-type manner. The disadvantage of this invention is that the signal function is limited to a linear light radiation and that the plates provided for the fastening of the flat light guide are comparatively thick, so that for the fastening of the flat light guide, a relatively large installation space is required.
Therefore, the task of the present invention is the further development of a lighting appliance for vehicles with a flat light guide so that on one hand a noticeable depth effect is created and on the other hand a safe, space-saving fastening of the flat light guide is ensured.


Systems and methods are disclosed that implement multiple inter-chip (IC) links to communicate digital signals and data between multiple tuner circuit chips of a radio frequency (RF) antenna diversity system. The multiple IC communication links may be employed, for example, to simultaneously communicate different signals and/or data between individual tuner circuit chips of a multi-signal type antenna diversity system in an asynchronous manner, and may be employed to achieve simultaneous antenna diversity for multiple RF signal types using a scalable IC communication link architecture that includes multiple IC communication links to interconnect a varying number of RF tuner circuit chips.

In radio receivers, received radio frequency signals are frequently a combination of signals, some received directly from a transmitting antenna and some reflected from stationary and/or moving objects. In the worst case, the received signals from the direct and alternate path signals combine at the receiving antenna to cause destructive interference. Such interference makes decoding of the signals more difficult. Further, in some instances, interference can reduce the amplitude of the received signals to a level that is too low for reliable decoding by the receiver. Such amplitude reduction is sometimes referred to as multi-path fading.
One technique for improving signal reception under multi-path fading and weak signal conditions includes the use of multiple antennas and receiver circuits in an antenna diversity system. In a multi-chip antenna diversity system, multiple tuner circuits that are tuned to particular frequencies receive program content (channel information) from more than one direction or at slightly different positions. Such antenna diversity systems typically include processor circuitry configured to combine signals from the different tuners to produce an enhanced signal or to select a particular signal from a tuner having the strongest signal output.
Diversity reception makes use of statistically independent signal streams to reduce the impact of severe multipath-related channel fading. However, digital communications between the multiple tuner circuits and associated processing circuitry can radiate spectral energy at radio frequencies to which one or more of the tuner circuits are tuned, further complicating signal reception.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional FM antenna diversity system 100 having two or more antennas 1041-104N that are spaced apart at a known distance and are configured to receive a FM radio frequency signal. FM antenna diversity system 100 includes two or more FM tuner circuits 1021-102N that are each an individual chip that is connected to a respective one of independent antennas 1041-104N, and that is configured to receive FM radio frequency signals 105 from its given antenna 104 within a particular frequency band or channel to which the given FM tuner circuit 102 is tuned. The multiple FM tuner circuits 1021-102N are interconnected as shown by segments of uni-directional inter-chip (IC) communications link 120 via inter-chip communications circuitry provided for each tuner circuit 102 in the form of a respective IC communication link transmitter circuit 114 and a respective IC communication link receiver circuit 118 that are configured to communicate control/status information, intermediate frequency (IF), and audio data content from received FM radio frequency signals using inter-chip (IC) link frames in one direction from tuner circuit 102N toward tuner circuit 1021 across inter-chip communication link 120. These IC communication link (ICLINK) frames include frame synchronization information and three data channels, i.e., two synchronous streaming data channels that have a rate synchronous with ICLINK frame rate and a programmable word width of 24 or 32 bits, and one streaming/packetized messaging channel that sends a single data packet over multiple frames using any available bandwidth. The two synchronous streaming data channels are used for transmitting FM IF data or FM audio data. The single streaming/packetized messaging channel is used for sending messages between MCUs of the tuner circuits 102. Idle bits are sent when no data is available.
As shown in FIG. 1, system 100 also includes crystal oscillator 106 that provides an oscillator reference frequency that is used to produce a common reference clock signal 130 that is shared by the FM tuner circuits 1021-102N. Further information on antenna diversity systems and an IC communication link employing inter-chip link frames may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 8,548,031; U.S. Pat. No. 8,331,887; and United States Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0158298.
Still referring to FIG. 1, each of FM tuner circuits 1021-102N includes analog FM receiver circuitry 108 that is coupled to independently receive FM radio frequency (RF) signals 105 from its respective coupled antenna 104. Each analog FM receiver circuit 108 utilizes the reference clock signal 130 to mix with its respective received FM radio frequency signals 105 to produce IF FM signals, such as low IF or zero IF signals, that are provided to an analog to digital converter (ADC) 112 of the same respective tuner circuit 102. In the case of all tuner circuits except tuner circuit 102N, ADC 112 of each tuner circuit 102 digitizes the received IF signals to produce digitized versions of the IF signals that are provided as IF FM data to the digital signal processor (DSP) 116 of the same FM tuner circuit 102, which performs signal processing and/or demodulation operations to obtain an audio signal from the incoming FM signal. Further, as shown each tuner circuit 1021 to 102N includes a respective micro-controller unit (MCU) 110 that is configured to control operation of its respective tuner circuit 102, and that is coupled through a control interface to a data circuit (host processor) not shown.
In the conventional FM antenna diversity system 100 of FIG. 1, the DSP 116 of each FM tuner circuit 1021-102N-1 can demodulate the IF data provided from the ADC 112 of its own respective tuner circuit 102 to produce FM audio signals. The DSP 116 of each FM tuner circuit 1021-102N-1 can also combine the IF data of its own tuner circuit 102 with IF data received from a DSP 116 of another tuner circuit 102 across an inter-chip communications link 120 to produce combined FM IF data, which it can also demodulate to produce FM audio signals. In either case, each FM tuner circuit 1022-102N can send its demodulated FM audio signals out across inter-chip communications link 120 to the next preceding FM tuner circuit 102 as shown in FIG. 1. Since tuner circuit 102N of FIG. 1 has no DSP 116, ADC 112N of tuner circuit 102N provides its IF FM data across IC communication link 120 to DSP 112N-1 of tuner circuit 102N-1 where IF FM data of tuner circuit 102N is combined with IF FM data of tuner circuit 102N-1 and then demodulated and provided to the DSP 112N-2 of the next tuner circuit 102N-2 across IC communication link 120. In the conventional system 100 of FIG. 1, all final signal combining is performed by DSP 1161 of tuner circuit 1021 as shown to produce a combined demodulated FM audio signal.
Still referring to the conventional architecture of FIG. 1, the MCU 1101 of tuner circuit 1021 controls the DSP 1161 of tuner circuit 1021 to process the signal data received from other tuner circuits 1022-102N across IC communication link 120 according to a selected operating mode, i.e., a phase diversity mode, a switching antenna mode, or an alternate frequency scan mode.
In a phase diversity mode, the DSP 1161 synchronizes DSP frames including the digitized version of the IF signal and signal data within an IC communication link frame received across IC communication link 120 from upstream tuner circuit/s 1022-102N, performs maximal ratio combining or other similar digital signal processing techniques to coherently combine the IF signal from tuner circuit 1021 and the 1022-102N, and then demodulates this combined IF signal to provide the combined audio signal through a digital interface 150 to the data circuit.
In a switching antenna mode, each of the tuner circuits 1021-102N operate independently, and the signal reception is improved by continuously monitoring the signal quality metrics calculated from the digitized version of the IF signal as compared to the IF signal metrics received within IC communication link frames from the IC communication link 120. In this operating mode, the DSP 1161 is configured to select between the signals of the multiple antennas 1041-104N based on the signal metrics and to provide the stronger signal as a demodulated audio signal to the data circuit through the digital interface 150.
In an alternate frequency scan, the data circuit controls the multiple tuner circuits 1021-102N to use the IC communication link 120 to continue listening to a selected one of the multiple tuner circuits 1021-102N having the strongest signal and controls the other tuner circuits 120 to tune to the same content at another frequency to check the associated signal quality metrics. Depending on the results, the coupled data circuit may decide to control the multiple tuner circuits 1021-102N to operate in phase diversity mode or switched antenna diversity mode at the new frequency.

Systems and methods using multiple inter-chip (IC) links for antenna diversity and/or debug


The present invention is directed to a forging method for forming a heat sink 9 including a base board 91 and a plurality of pin fins 92 integrally formed on an upper surface of the base board 91. A back pressure applying pin 75 of a forging die for forming pin fins 92 are slidably arranged in a fin-forming hole 52. At the time of plastically deforming a forging blank W, a back pressure is applied by the back pressure applying pin to a metal material of the forging blank W flowed into the fin-forming hole 52. A concave portion 76 is formed on the restraining tip end face of the back pressure applying pin 75 for restraining the metal material, and a joining convex portion 93 is integrally formed on a tip end of the pin fin 92 by the metal material filled in the concave portion 76.

Heat sinks are widely used for the purpose of lowering the temperature of a heat generating member, such as, e.g., a CPU or a chip set for use in a computer, a power transistor for use in an AV amplifier and/or an audio device, or an inverter for use in an electric automobile and/or a hybrid automobile (HV car).
For example, Patent Document 1 listed below discloses a technology for producing a heat sink equipped with a base board and a number of pin-shaped fins (pin fins) provided on a surface thereof by die forging processing.


Electronic devices and methods to provide wireless ranging are shown. A first electronic device includes a memory containing stored instructions that can perform a method for determining a distance between the first electronic device and a second electronic device. For each frequency in a selected set of frequencies, the method sets the transceiver to the respective frequency, sends a first tone having the frequency and a first phase to the second electronic device and receives a second tone having the first frequency and a second phase. For each selected frequency, the first electronic device determines the phase difference between the second tone and the controllable oscillator, receives a phase difference from the second electronic device, and calculates a phase delay for the frequency. The first electronic device calculates a phase delay difference for pairs of the frequencies; and determines the distance using these phase delay differences.

Multiple methods for measuring distance between devices and their environment or between two or more devices are used, e.g., Received-Signal-Strength-Indication (RSSI), Time-of-Flight (TOF), the use of wide bandwidth to achieve high precision TOF measurements and using phase difference information for synchronized devices that share, for example, a common clock source. However, achieving a desired accuracy in wireless devices, which can contain low complexity hardware and require low power consumption, remains a challenge.

Electronic device and method for low power RF ranging


Tire comprising two beads comprising an annular reinforcing structure and a carcass reinforcement which is anchored in the two beads by being wrapped around the annular reinforcing structure so as to form, in each bead, a main portion and a wrapped-around portion, in which each bead comprises a bead filler situated between the main portion and the wrapped-around portion of the carcass reinforcement, and an outer strip positioned axially on the outside of the carcass reinforcement and of the bead filler in which the entity formed by the bead filler and the outer strip has a thickness E(r), the thickness E(r) changes as a function of the distance r such that, in the range of distances r comprised between 25 and 45% of the height H of the tire, the variation in thickness

The load index of a tire is a parameter well known to those skilled in the art. It quantifies the maximum load that a tire is able to bear when mounted on a mounting rim and inflated to service pressure. A load index of 100 corresponds to a maximum load of 800 kg.
Most passenger vehicle tires comprise:                two beads designed to come into contact with a mounting rim, each bead comprising at least one annular reinforcing structure;        two sidewalls extending the beads radially outwards, the two sidewalls meeting in a crown comprising a crown reinforcement surmounted by a tread;        at least one carcass reinforcement extending from the beads through the sidewalls as far as the crown, the carcass reinforcement comprising a plurality of carcass reinforcing elements and being anchored in the two beads by being wrapped around the annular reinforcing structure so as to form, within each bead, a main portion and a wrapped-around portion;        a bead filler situated radially on the outside of the annular reinforcing structure and at least partially between the main portion and the wrapped-around portion of the carcass reinforcement, and        an outer strip positioned axially on the outside of the carcass reinforcement and of the bead filler.
Recently, there have been proposals to improve the rolling resistance of passenger vehicle tires by optimizing the beads thereof. Document WO 2010/072736 notably teaches the use of special rubber compounds. The outer strip and possibly the bead filler are made using rubber compounds that have an elastic modulus G′ less than or equal to 15 MPa and a viscous modulus G″ such that:G″[MPa]≦0.2·G′[MPa]−0.2 MPa,the elastic and viscous moduli being measured at 23° C.
That document also recommends further reducing the rolling resistance by optimizing the geometry of that or those portions of the tire that have these moduli. In particular, the portion of rubber compound having an elastic modulus G′ less than or equal to 15 MPa and a viscous modulus G″ such that:G″[MPa]0.2−G′[MPa]−0.2 MPa,has, in any radial cross section, a thickness E(r), this thickness corresponding to the length of the intersection of the direction perpendicular to the main portion of the carcass reinforcement with the portion of rubber composition, r denoting the distance separating the intersection of the direction perpendicular to the main portion of the carcass reinforcement from the radially innermost point of the annular reinforcing structure. The thickness E(r) changes as a function of the distance r such that, in the range of distances r comprised between 20 and 50 mm, the variation in thickness
      ∂          E                    (        r        )                  ∂    r  is less than or equal to −0.25 mm/mm (and preferably less than or equal to −0.3 mm/mm) over at least 5 mm. In other words, it is advantageous to ensure that the entity formed by the bead filler and the outer strip is "squat", that is to say shorter and wider than in conventional tires.
When implementing this teaching in tires designed to be fitted to vehicles of the "4×4" type that have a load index above 100, i.e. tires which traditionally have had very stiff (above of 50 MPa) bead fillers, it has been found that the incorporation of thick outer strips presents a problem of industrial robustness. Because the quantities of rubber compound involved are fairly great, it is difficult to prevent rubber from moving while the tires are being cured. As a result, the proportion of tires that fail to meet the specifications increases significantly.

Abstract: ∂          E                    (        r        )                  ∂    r  Is less than or equal to −0.25 mm/mm over at least 4% of the height H of the tire, and in which the annular reinforcing structure has a maximum axial width DE such that the ratio

Abstract: E                                (            r            )                          max            -      DE                      E                          (          r          )                    max        ,where E(r)max is the maximum value of the thickness E(r), is less than or equal to 10%.

COMPAGNIE GENERALE DES ETABLISSEMENTS MICHELIN


Systems and methods for selectively manipulating and/or restandardizing color measurement or spectral data are provided. The color measurement or spectral data may be advantageously restandardized based on a selected color coordinate system using data transform(s) or delta profile(s). Users of the systems/methods are able to mix or employ color-measuring instrument types more easily and effectively by selectively causing a first instrument produced by a first color-measuring instrument manufacturer to provide color measurement data according to a color measurement standard of another color-measuring instrument manufacturer. Selective transformation of color measurement data gathered by the first manufacturer's color-measuring instrument is facilitated, so that the resultant color measurement data may be evaluated as though it was generated by the other manufacturer's color-measuring instrument.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure is directed to color measurement systems and methods and, more particularly, to systems and methods for multi-standard color-measurement, whereby color-measurements based on a first color measurement standard may be selectively restandardized.
2. Background Art
Color-measuring instruments, such as spectrophotometers and calorimeters, are generally employed in making color measurements in a variety of laboratory and production environments. For example, color measurements are used in determining whether the color of an article being produced meets the applicable color specifications. Color-measuring instruments generally produce color measurement data that is based upon a color coordinate system, e.g., CIELAB. However, even when the same color coordinate system is utilized by color-measuring instruments manufactured by different instrument manufacturers, the color measurements generated by such instruments frequently differ for a variety of reasons.
For example, color-measuring instruments manufactured by different instrument manufacturers may generate different results because the instruments: (i) are calibrated to different standards (e.g., the white standard of NPL vs. the white standard of NIST); (ii) utilize different correction modalities to address linearity of data measurement results; (iii) have physical and/or structural differences that affect color measurements; and/or (iv) employ differing approaches to illumination, e.g., as to bandwidth, wavelength, etc. For purposes of the present disclosure, differences in color measurement data that result from one or more of the structural/functional differences described above (or from other such structural/functional differences) are referred to as resulting from differences in "color calibration standards."
Thus, color measurement data generated by a first color-measuring instrument may not be directly comparable to color measurement data from a second color-measuring instrument based on differing color calibration standards. Indeed, the color measurement data generated by the first color-measuring instrument may be characterized by a first centroid, whereas the color measurement data generated by a second color-measuring instrument may be characterized by a second centroid, wherein the first and second centroids are characteristics of the respective color-measuring instruments.
The ability to compare color measurement data is often of significant importance in commercial applications of color-measuring instruments. Color performance is often used as a litmus test for manufacturing quality. The importance of color measurement data assessment is heightened by challenges associated with multi-site enterprises, extended supply chains, compressed cycle times, and limits on resources and expertise in the field of color measurement and management. For example, it may be desirable to produce parts of the same color at multiple locations with the business requirement that the parts match in color when assembled. Color matching is also important in production of replacement parts. Because color-measuring instruments produced by different manufacturers are frequently subject to different color calibration standards, fundamental difficulties arise in comparing color measurement data generated by spectrophotometers/colorimeters from different manufacturers.
Thus, a user at one location measuring a color sample using a color-measuring instrument from a particular manufacturer is likely to obtain color measurement data that is different from the color measurement data obtained by a user measuring the same color sample at a different location using a color-measuring instrument produced by another manufacturer. Similarly, matching colors may become difficult where the standard color specifications are generated based on color calibration standards employed by a color-measuring instrument produced by a first manufacturer, while another manufacturer's instrument is to be used to test the article being produced.
Accordingly, systems and methods are desired whereby color measurement data generated by different color-measuring instruments could be selectively standardized to a desired color calibration standard. In addition, systems/methods for automatically transforming spectral data as part of a communication regimen between color-measuring instruments is needed to enhance operations that involve or rely upon color measurements, e.g., operations that are situated at multiple locations and/or that are using color-measuring instruments from different manufacturers.

System and method for transforming color measurement data


A drill bit including at least one rolling cutter body with rows of relatively hard substantially outwardly projecting and circumferentially spaced cutting inserts projecting from the cutter body and having effective erosion reducing features by application of hardfacing materials placed in oriented regular patterns and shapes on designated critical and vulnerable cutter body areas. The cutter body is produced by a method wherein the body is marked in specific locations of desired patterns, shapes, or boundaries, and, then, hardfacing is applied in these specific boundaries to avoid the insert hole locations. After the hardfacing is permanently bonded to the specified areas, the holes are drilled and the hard cutting inserts are pressed into the holes.

The present invention relates to drill bits having inserts pressed into one or more cutter members or cones and, more specifically, it concerns a rock bit having hardfaced wear protection on the cutter members.
During the drilling of boreholes, rock bit cutter members constantly operate in a highly abrasive environment. This abrasive condition exists during drilling operations wherein either a drilling mud, air, or gas is utilized as the medium for cooling, circulating, flushing, and carrying the cuttings from the borehole.
Drill bit life and efficiency are of prime importance in the drilling of oil and gas wells, blast holes, raise holes or other types of boreholes since the penetration rate is related to the condition of the bit. When harder formations are encountered during drilling of the borehole, a bit having carbide inserts projecting from the body of each of the cutter members is generally utilized because of the ability of the inserts to penetrate the hard formations. However, the carbide inserts are mounted in a relatively soft metal that forms the body of each of the cutter members. The relatively soft metal cutter body which holds the inserts in place is abraded or eroded away relatively easily when subjected to the highly abrasive drilling environment. This abrasion or erosion is primarily due to the presence of relatively fine cuttings from the formation that have not been carried out of the borehole, the direct blasting effect of the fluid utilized in the drilling process, and the rolling or sliding contact of the cutter body or cone shell with the formation.
The wearing away of the cutter member body is usually most pronounced on the inner and outer edges of the lands of the cutter surface immediately adjacent the insert and the groove between one row of inserts and another on the cutter member. For every two consecutive rows of inserts on a cutter member, one is considered the outer row, the other the inner row. The heaviest wear on the cutter member surface lands is usually most pronounced on the inner edges of the outer rows, and on the outer edges of the inner rows. Consequently, the innermost row on the cutter member will predominantly wear on the outer edge of the land, the gage row predominantly on the inner edge of its land, and the rows in between the two wear on both the inner and outer edges of their lands.
When the material supporting the inserts is eroded or abraded away to a sufficient extent, the drilling forces being exerted on the inserts when they engage the formation either break the inserts or force them out of the cutter member altogether with the result that the bit is no longer effective in cutting the formation.
When drilling many of the softer abrasive formations where the bit is able to penetrate at an extremely high rate, it can be expected that the individual cutting inserts can penetrate entirely into the abrasive formation causing the formation to come into contact with the cutter body or cone shell. When this cone shell contact occurs, the relatively soft cone shell material will erode away, namely at the edges of the surface lands, until the buried portion of the insert itself becomes exposed and the retention ability in the cone shell is reduced ultimately resulting in the loss of the insert and reduction of bit life.
The inserts are retained in the cutter member by the "hoop" tension generated when the insert is pressed into a drilled hole in the cutter member body. Accordingly, any method utilized in attempting to alleviate the erosion of the cutter member must take into consideration that the "hoop" tension holding the insert must be retained.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,461,983 and 3,513,728 issued to Lester S. Hudson and Eugene G. Ott disclose a drill bit having a plurality of cutter members with hard inserts in holes surrounded by hardfacing. These patents describe a method of manufacturing the drill bit wherein holes are drilled in the cutter members and, then, the holes are plugged and the hardfacing material is applied to the surface around the plug. After the hardfacing material has been permanently bonded to the surface, the plugs are removed and the hard inserts are pressed into the holes to complete the apparatus.
It has been found that the method described in the above-mentioned patents is impractical because of the tedium and the economics of placing plugs into the numerus holes on a cutter member. In addition, it was also found that the heating process which bonds the hardfacing to the member surface caused the pre-formed holes to warp or otherwise become out of round. This out of roundness lead to an inconsistency in the "hoop" tension that holds the inserts in the cutter member and ultimately to the loss of inserts.
It also has been found impractical to press the inserts into the cutter before applying the hardfacing since the utilization of heat to adhere the hardfacing material to the surface of the cutter member relieves the "hoop" tension in the cutter member.
Previous attempts to hardface cutter members before drilling the holes lead to difficulty since the hardfacing was placed on the cutter member surface where the inserts were to be located. Penetrating this hardfacing material proved to be difficult and impractical. Even when holes were successfully drilled through the hardfacing material, pressing the inserts into the holes resulted in cracks in the cutter member immediately surrounding the inserts. The cracks relieved the "hoop" tension so that the inserts were not retained adequately.
Certain cutter shell areas were not expected to experience wear because it was thought that during normal drill bit operation the cutter shell would not come into contact with the abrasive formation. However, with the increased use of tooth-shaped insert bits for use in softer formations where the full insert extension penetrates entirely into the formation, this expectation is not applicable. Current high penetration rates with these types of insert bits have made cutter shell erosion an increasingly significant factor in limiting bit life.
In light of the foregoing, an economical, uncomplicated, and aesthetically pleasing method of protecting the vulnerable cutter shell is sorely needed.

Patterned hardfacing shapes on insert cutter cones


In an apparatus and a method for detecting impurities in a material, infrared rays or a plurality of specific wavelength components of the infrared rays are applied to a material on a conveyor, the respective reflection intensities of the specific wavelength components reflected by the material are measured, the measured reflection intensities and the reflection intensities of specific wavelength components inherent to the material are compared, and impurities in the material are detected according to the result of the comparison.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an impurity detecting apparatus for efficiently detecting various foreign substances or impurities in a material and a detecting method therefore.
2. Description of Background Art
Tobacco leaves, a harvest, are packed in various forms as they are carried into tobacco material plants or cigarette manufacturing plants. After they are unpacked in these plants, the tobacco leaves are separated according to their varieties or mixed with other varieties. In this state, they are transported as the material for cigarettes to the next stage.
In some cases, materials in a transportation process may be mixed with some foreign substances, such as wrappers or strings used to pack tobacco leaves or some pieces of moisture-proof paper used to line packages. These foreign substances or impurities must be removed in the packages. These foreign substances or impurities must be removed in the material transportation process. To attain this, the impurities should be detected during the material transportation. If the impurities include any plastic materials that produce poisonous gases as they burn, in particular, they must be securely detected and removed.
Conventionally, a detecting apparatus with a video camera is used to detect impurities. According to this detecting apparatus, the video camera shoots the material being transported, and a decision circuit of the apparatus then detects impurities in the material according to image data obtained by the shooting. More specifically, the decision circuit detects the impurities in the materials in accordance with differences in color between tobacco leaves and the impurities.
The detecting apparatus described above can be effectively used only in the case where the colors of the impurities to be detected differ substantially from those of the tobacco leaves. If the impurities have the same or similar colors as the tobacco leaves, therefore, they cannot be detected practically.
In the tobacco leaves are of a same variety, moreover, they have their respective colors, which substantially vary depending on the quality of the leaves. In the case where the material include tobacco leaves of different varieties, in particular, therefore, it is very hard to detect impurities in them.

Apparatus for detecting impurities in material and detecting method therefor


An audio module for use in a vehicle cabin. An elongated substantially sealed enclosure has two ends in the lengthwise direction. A first acoustic driver is mounted in the enclosure near one end of the enclosure for radiating acoustic energy from the end of the enclosure. A second acoustic driver is mounted in the enclosure near a second end of the enclosure for radiating acoustic energy from the second end of the enclosure. The audio module includes a bass augmenting device for radiating low frequency acoustic energy from the enclosure. The audio module is constructed and arranged to be pre-assembled so that the audio module can be installed in the vehicle as a single assembly. The audio module is configured to be mounted to the vehicle so that the lengthwise direction is substantially vertical with the first end of the enclosure higher than the second end of the enclosure.

This specification describes a loudspeaker device that is a component of an audio system for a vehicle, such as a passenger vehicle or truck, or some other vehicle with a cabin, such as a construction vehicle, a farm vehicle, a military vehicle, or the like. Audio systems for vehicles typically include speakers positioned about the vehicle cabin, in locations such as the doors, the parcel shelves, the pillars, or the like. The audio signals for the speakers are typically equalized and amplified for each speaker and conducted to the individual speakers through wiring harnesses.


A high-frequency power module is provided which has excellent heat radiating characteristics for carrying heat away from a power device element contained in the module. Also, the module can be miniaturized to a size of about 0.2 cm.sup.3 and can be inexpensively manufactured. In order to produce the module, a multilayer substrate for a high-frequency integrated circuit device is provided. The substrate contains a first substrate layer, a first metal layer, a cavity, and a first through hole. The first substrate layer has a first surface on which a first wiring layer is formed, and the first metal layer is formed at least indirectly on the first substrate layer. The cavity is formed through the first substrate layer such that an exposed portion of the first metal layer is exposed, and the first through hole is provided at the exposed portion of the first metal layer and extends through the first metal layer.

A conventional high-frequency integrated circuit device having a multilayer wiring plate is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 63-292660 and is illustrated in FIG. 4. As shown in the figure, the device primarily contains a laminated body 25 which is formed by sequentially laminating layers of an insulating plate 24 and thin metal layers 26. Specifically, a first insulating plate 24 is formed as the bottom layer, and a first thin metal layer 26 is formed on the first insulating plate 24. Then, a second insulating plate 24 and a second thin metal layer 26 are sequentially formed on the first thin metal layer 26, and a third insulating plate 24 is formed on the second thin metal layer 26. Cavities are formed in the third insulating plate 24 to expose portions 27 of the second thin metal layer 26, and electronic components 28 are adhered to the exposed portions 27. Similarly, cavities are formed in the first insulating plate 24 to expose portions 27 of the first thin metal layer 26, and electronic components 28 are adhered to the exposed portions 27.
The heat generated by the electronic components 28 is transmitted directly to the thin metal layers 26 and travels within the metal layers 26 only in a transverse direction (i.e. the horizontal direction in FIG. 4). However, if a PoGaAsFET or similar power device is adhered to the exposed portions 27 of the thin metal layers 26, the metal layers 26 could not sufficiently radiate the heat away from the power device. Therefore, the size of the metal layers 26 would need to be enlarged. As a result, the device in FIG. 4 cannot be used to create a micro power amplifier/module which houses a power device and which has a size of approximately 0.2 cm.sup.3.
FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a multilayer printed wiring plate disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 7-50489. As shown in the figure, the wiring plate comprises a laminated body 29 having insulating plate layers. The laminated body 29 also contains pads 30 on its surface, and through holes 31 are formed though the pads 30. Also, a chip carrier integrated circuit ("IC") 32 is mounted on the pads 30 over the through holes 31, and the heat generated by the chip carrier IC 32 is radiated via the pads 30 and the through holes 31 to the atmosphere. Also, some of the heat which radiates via the through holes is transmitted from the holes 31 in a transverse direction (i.e. the horizontal direction in FIG. 5) to thin earth or grounding layers 33 which are laminated between the insulating layers in the laminated body 29. Then, the heat is radiated from the earth layers 33 to the atmosphere.
In the conventional device above, only the thin earth layers 33 and the radiating through holes 31 radiate heat away from the chip carrier IC 32. Therefore, in order to adequately radiate heat away from a PoGaAsFET or another power device element, the thin earth layers 33 need to be enlarged or increased in number. However, if the size or number of the layers 33 is increased, the device cannot be used to form a micro power amplifier/module of having a volume of about 0.2 cm.sup.3.
Another conventional micro power amplifier/module is shown in FIG. 6. As shown in the figure, the module comprises a ceramic substrate 35 which is provided with a wiring layer 8a, and a thick external radiating plate 36 is adhered to a rear surface of the substrate 35. Also, cavities are formed in the ceramic substrate 35 to expose a portion 37 of the radiating plate 36, and a power device element 2 is mounted on the exposed portion 37.
Although heat can be adequately radiated away from the power device element 2 via the plate 36, the module must be assembled by incorporating the thick external radiating plate 36 into the module. Therefore, the process by which the module is manufactured is complicated and expensive. As a result, the conventional device cannot be used to produce an inexpensive micro power amplifier/module which has a volume of approximately 0.2 cm.sup.3.
As described above, the conventional devices shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 cannot sufficiently radiate heat away from a power device element without enlarging the size of the metal layers contained in the laminated body. As a result, the size of such devices must be dramatically increased, and a micro power amplifier/module which has a volume of about 0.2 cm.sup.3 and which houses a PoGaAsFET or similar power device element cannot be produced.
Also in the conventional device shown in FIG. 6, the thick radiating plate is not laminated in a laminated body, but externally incorporated into the device. Thus, the manufacturing process of the conventional device is complicated and expensive.

High-frequency integrated circuit device and manufacture method thereof


The wheeled luggage has upper and lower cast skeletal frame members and substantially parallel tubular members interconnecting the upper and lower skeletal frame members and maintaining the skeletal frame members in a predetermined spaced apart relation so as to define a body cavity therebetween. The wheeled luggage also has a covering connected to the skeletal frame members and enclosing the body cavity with an openable fastener on the covering for providing access to the interior of the body cavity. A retractable handle having elongate substantially parallel side members telescopically is received in the tubular members and is in an extended position when the luggage is being transported. Spaced apart wheel mounting members extend from rear portions of the lower skeletal frame member and are cast integral therewith. Wheels are mounted on the wheel mounting members for facilitating the transporting of the luggage and feet extend downwardly from front portions of the lower cast skeletal frame member and are cast integral therewith. The lower end of the feet is in a common plane with the lower portions of the wheels so that the luggage may be positioned in an upright position.

Extensive travel often requires the traveller to handle their own luggage in walking through airports, hotels, or other various assembling and marshalling areas. The luggage is usually heavy when fully loaded and, therefore, the traveller often uses a dolly truck, bell-hop, or sky-cap to transport the luggage through these assembling and marshalling areas. These methods of transporting the luggage, however, are sometimes impractical, difficult, expensive, or burdensome to the traveller.
To solve this luggage transporting problem, wheels and retractable handles have been added to luggage to enable the traveller to easily transport the luggage through airports, hotels, and the like. Some examples of early types of wheeled luggage may be seen in U S. Pat. No. 2,925,283 by Stilger entitled "Luggage On Wheels"; U.S. Pat. No. Re. 28,757 by Cassimally entitled "Trolley Case"; and U.S. Pat. No. Re. 29,036 by Hager entitled "Luggage Transport Structure." Some types of wheeled luggage, such as seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,087,102 by Sprague entitled "Hand Carryable Travel Container Convertable To Rollable Cart" and U.S. Pat. No. 4,314,624 by Royet entitled "Wheel-Mounted Luggage", have added retractable wheels to enhance the portability of the luggage. Others have attempted to strengthen the pulling or handle mechanism as seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,649 by Carpenter et al. entitled "Luggage With PullHandle." Still others have applied the wheels and handle to garment bags to improve their portability as seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,406,353 by Walker entitled "Wheeled Garment Bag" and U.S. Pat. No. 4,538,709 by Williams et al. entitled "Wheeled Garment Bag."
As also seen by the examples in U.S. Pat. No. 4,995,487 by Plath entitled "Wheeled Suitcase And Luggage Support" and U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,119 by Huang entitled "Wheeled Carrying Case", the wheeled luggage is typically constructed or manufactured by adding wheel mounts and wheels to a luggage body, welding together frames for the luggage, and/or mounting retractable handles thereon. The various types of wheeled luggage also usually receive rough treatment by the frequent traveller or luggage handling personnel. The previous wheeled luggage, however, does not provide structural strength, lightweight for ease of transporting and lifting, and ease of manufacturing because of the various manufacturing techniques required.
Thus, there is a need for wheeled luggage that is still lightweight, has structural strength, and is relatively easy to manufacture for the frequent traveller such as an airplane pilot or airplane stewardess.


System and methods are disclosed to selectively project individual UI elements of display images from stereoscopic HMDs as monocular or stereoscopic images. An UI element may be tagged for rendering as a monocular image or as stereoscopic images with a stereo separation to create a perception of depth. Tagging of UI elements as monocular images or stereoscopic images may be based on whether the UI elements are persistent elements. Persistent elements present information to the user but do not require the user's focused attention. Persistent elements may be rendered as monocular images to allow the user to focus on other UI elements or on the real world while maintaining awareness of information presented by the persistent elements. In contrast, non-persistent UI elements may require the user's focused attention. Non-persistent UI elements may be rendered as stereoscopic images for projection at a specific depth plane to invite the user's focus.

See-through head mounted displays (HMD) enable displays of computer-generated images on a display medium mounted a few inches in front of the eyes of a HMD-wearing user. A HMD may be incorporated into a pair of glasses or a helmet worn by the users. A user may view videos, receive information, and interact with a display with minimal obstruction to the user's field of view of the real world. HMDs are increasingly being found in augmented-reality devices. See-through HMDs may be monocular or stereoscopic. A monocular HMD displays a single image of the display. On the other hand, a stereoscopic HMD displays an object stereoscopically by projecting a left-eye and a right-eye image of the object independently to create a perception of depth to the user. The stereo separation of the left-eye and right-eye images may be increased or decreased to project the digitally projected images at a specific depth plane.
Frequently, however, a HMD-wearing user may focus on a depth plane not coinciding with the depth plane at which the currently displayed images are being projected. When this happens, eye separation artifacts between the left-eye and the right-eye images may be perceptible, leading to a double vision effect. For example, if an image such as an user interface (UI) element is stereoscopically projected at a depth plane of three feet, but the user is focusing on infinity while walking, the UI element may appear doubled and out of focus. Such a double vision effect is not only unpleasant but may also lead to eye strain or fatigue, thereby detracting from the overall experience of the HMD-wearing user. As such, there is a need for a solution to mitigate the double vision effect experienced by HMD-wearing users when the users focus on a depth plane different from the one at which stereoscopic images are being projected.

Methods and apparatus for displaying images on a head mounted display


Embodiments relate to integrated sonic sensors having a transmitter, a receiver and driver electronics integrated in a single, functional package. In one embodiment, a piezoelectric signal transmitter, a silicon microphone receiver and a controller/amplifier chip are concomitantly integrated in a semiconductor housing. The semiconductor housing, in embodiments, is functional in that at least a portion of the housing can comprise the piezoelectric element of the transmitter, with an inlet aperture opposite the silicon microphone receiver.

Ultrasonic sensors can be used for distance measurement and object detection. One such application is the incorporation of ultrasonic sensors in the bumpers and fenders of cars for parking assistance, obstruction detection and adaptive cruise control.
Conventional ultrasonic sensors comprise an ultrasonic transmitter, an ultrasonic receiver and driver electronics soldered onto printed circuit boards (PCBs) and combined in modules. Other conventional sensors have a single transceiver unit that toggles between transmitting and receiving. These solutions suffer from several drawbacks, including the need to solder the components onto PCBs and increased space requirements for the combined module, among others.
Therefore, there is a need for improved ultrasonic sensors.


A method for determination of precipitation types in the atmosphere is described, wherein an output signal, in particular a radar signal, having a transmitting frequency spectrum is transmitted, reflection signals formed by reflection of the output signals at precipitation particles at at least two atmospheric levels and having a reflection spectrum are detected, and wherein finally the characteristics of the reflection signals are analyzed.

Monitoring the atmosphere regarding precipitation phenomena is of high significance for air and road traffic, agriculture and water management. Therefore, a multitude of systems is known, with which precipitation types in the atmosphere can be detected. The precipitation types to be detected include all forms of liquid and frozen precipitation, like e.g. rain, drizzle, snow and hail. Furthermore, airborne particles in the atmosphere are of significance as well, since they also can result in visibility obstacles. Such airborne particles generally include mist, fog, haze, dust or the like. Conventional instruments for monitoring atmospheric phenomena occurring at the location of the measuring instruments use various methods for monitoring precipitation phenomena.
Thus a number of devices for measuring the precipitation rate as well as the strength or intensity of precipitation are known, with which precipitation is collected to be able to make statements about the amount as well as the intensity of previous precipitation. One particular embodiment of this type of measuring devices comprises two oscillating collection vessels or "tilting buckets", with which the precipitation in liquid state is collected. Additionally, a heating apparatus is provided, with which frozen precipitation is melted to water to determine the amount of precipitation.
The measuring method described above, however, does not provide measuring results with high accuracy. On the one hand, there often is a long signaling interval for light precipitation, and on the other hand, a too low precipitation value is displayed on occurrence of "blowing" precipitation.
Therefore, for more precise measurements, devices are known using optical or electrical measuring methods, with which generally the amount of precipitation as well as the rate of fall and the size of the precipitation particles is measured. One measuring principle, for example, is based on the effect, that particles falling through an electrical field change their capacity, while other measuring methods detect the reflection of light rays at precipitation particles.
In DE 35 90 723 C2, an automated system for identifying the type of precipitation, and for determining precipitation strength or visibility, respectively, is described. The represented system substantially comprises a beam source for generating a beam bundle, as well as a detector for detecting the radiation scattered or reflected, respectively, by airborne or precipitation particles within a test volume. The beam source emits radiation with a wavelength from the visible and near-visible spectral ranges; for example, a diode emitting visible light or infrared radiation is used for that. The detector includes a sensor with a photoelectric element. Furthermore, a lens or a screen, respectively, is provided, which is arranged such that the detector can only detect a discrete range of the beam, in particular the radiation scattered forwards at a medium angle or central scattering angle of 30° to 35° compared to the axis of the beam bundle. Due to this measuring arrangement, the size of the test volume is limited to 200-1000 ml. Thus this device is a measuring instrument with which precipitation types are exclusively detectable in a very small sector of the atmosphere only. Detection of precipitation types at different altitudes of the atmosphere, however, is not possible with this device. Furthermore, it is, for example, also not possible to determine the altitude at which the state of aggregation of a precipitation, e.g. from snow to rain, changes.
Furthermore, from "F. Prodi et. al.: "Time Variability in Rainfall Events Observed by Pludix; 2nd European Conference on Radar Meteorology; Delft, NL; 18-22 Nov. 2002", a device is known using electromagnetic radiation for determination of precipitation types. Two radar transmitters transmit beam bundles such that a test volume is formed having a diameter of approx. one meter, and reaching up to a height of 3 m above the measuring device. Via detectors, the frequency of radiation scattered at precipitation particles in the test volume is determined, and subsequently the rate of fall of the precipitation particles is determined considering the frequency shift compared to the transmitting frequency. The measurement interval, via which the recorded measured values are integrated, is 60 s. With the measuring device described in this publication, however, it is also not possible to detect precipitation phenomena occurring in the atmosphere altitude-resolved, and thus to state the precipitation types occurring at different altitude levels. Furthermore, for systems with crossed beams in the short range, the scattering angle changes when precipitation particles fall through the scattering volume. A rate of fall thus includes an entire range of Doppler shifts, the width of which depends on the scattering geometry. Since here no unequivocal relation between Doppler shift and rate of fall exists, the Doppler spectrum is not unequivocal, but can only be interpreted with restricting assumptions via drop size distribution.
Beside the measuring devices stated above, polarimetric Doppler weather radars are further known, with which a classification of precipitation types is possible, wherein precipitation particles can be detected within a radius of up to 300 km. One example of such a device is the polarimetric Doppler radar operated by DLR (German Aerospace Center) in Oberpfaffenhofen since 1986. The disadvantage of the weather radars stated above is that due to the curvature of the earth the altitude, at which the lowest detectable measuring volume is located, increases quadratically with increasing distance from the radar, making characterization of the precipitation striking the ground unreliable.

Method for determining types of precipitation in the atmosphere

Abstract: The method according to the invention is characterized in that on analyzing characteristics of the reflection signals a course of a difference frequency spectrum formed by transmission frequency and reflection frequency spectrum is analyzed resolved by altitude levels.


A scan driving circuit is disclosed, and the scan driving circuit has a pull-up control module, a pull-up module, a pull-down module, a pull-down maintaining module, a down-stream module and a bootstrap capacitor; when the pull-up control module generates a scan level signal, the pull-up control module and the pull-down maintaining module use a constant high-level voltage to avoid an electrical leakage phenomenon; and the pull down module uses a present-level scan signal to avoid the electrical leakage phenomenon. Thus, the electrical leakage phenomenon can be efficiently avoided.

A gate driver on array (GOA) generates a scan driver circuit on an existing array substrate of a thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD), in order to implement a driving method which progressively scans for scan lines. A structural diagram of an existing scan driving circuit is illustrated in FIG. 1, and the scan driving circuit 10 includes a pull-up control module 101, a pull-up module 102, a down-stream module 103, a pull-down module 104, a bootstrap capacitor 105, and a pull-down maintaining module 106.
When the scan driving circuit 10 works in a high-temperature state, a threshold voltage of a switch transistor moves to a negative value, so as to lead the switch transistor of each module of the scan driving circuit 10 to easily have an electrical leakage phenomenon, which affects the reliability of the scan driving circuit.
As a result, it is necessary to provide a scan driving circuit to solve the phenomenon existing in the conventional technologies.

SHENZHEN TECHNOLOGY STAR OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


The present disclosure provides a method and apparatus for cleaning a workpiece, and a method and apparatus for cleaning a ventless tire segment mold. The method for cleaning a workpiece comprises: heating the workpiece to a preset temperature; and applying a cleaning solution onto the workpiece so that the cleaning solution is vaporized instantaneously to form a micro-explosion at each shocking point, thereby peeling dirt off the workpiece and achieving the purpose of workpiece cleaning. The apparatus for cleaning a workpiece comprises: a heating device for heating the workpiece into a preset temperature range, and a cleaning device for applying a cleaning solution onto the workpiece so that the cleaning solution is vaporized instantaneously to form a micro-explosion at each shocking point, thereby peeling dirt off the workpiece and achieving the purpose of workpiece cleaning. The present disclosure not only cleans the dirt on the surface of the workpiece, but also makes a significant breakthrough in the cleaning of the gaps of micron or nano scale on the workpiece. The present disclosure has the characteristics of lower cost, simple cleaning, thorough dirt removal, etc.

Currently, the cleaning methods used by some industrial and mining enterprises in China mainly are chemical cleaning, mechanical cleaning, high pressure water cleaning, dry ice cleaning, laser cleaning, etc.
Chemical cleaning includes organic solvent cleaning, melting method, acid washing, alkali washing, etc. The workpiece will be corroded when above methods are used for a longer time, which directly affects the appearance and quality of the product, and the environment will also be polluted to a certain extent.
Mechanical cleaning includes manual grinding, sand grinding, etc., and avoids the chemical corrosion. But after multiple grindings and cleanings, the workpiece precision will be decreased, and a dust pollution will be caused.
High pressure water cleaning is a process to flush the surface of an object using high pressure water generated by a high pressure plunger pump driven by a power unit, so as to peel and wash away the dirt. But if the pressure is too low, the cleaning will not be thorough and complete, and if the pressure is too high, the workpiece will be damaged and the operator's labor intensity and security risk will be increased.
Dry ice cleaning is a process in which dry ice particles are accelerated in the high pressure airflow to shock a surface to be cleaned; the dry ice particles are gasified at the moment of shocking, and a thermal shock occurs due to the temperature difference between the dry ice particles and the surface to be cleaned; the material has its temperature decreased while the brittleness increased, and the dry ice particles can break the dirt layer by shocking. But as a solid carbon dioxide, dry ice has a poor fluidity, thus the cleaning effect on the corners of the workpiece is not ideal, and particularly, the inner cavity of the workpiece can hardly be cleaned.
Laser cleaning utilizes the difference between an absorption coefficient of the base material of the workpiece and an absorption coefficient of dirt attached to the surface of the workpiece with respect to laser energy of a certain frequency, so that the dirt attached to the surface absorb the laser energy sufficiently, thus being expanded under heat until gasified, so as to achieve the purpose of cleaning. The laser cleaning is efficient and environment friendly. But due to the energy attenuation or being untouchable, tiny gaps and the inner cavity of the workpiece almost cannot be cleaned, while the cleaning cost is high and the cleaned surface of the workpiece has a chromatic aberration.
All of those cleaning manners have a certain cleaning effect on the surface of the workpiece, with their own advantages and disadvantages. However, the cleaning effect on tiny apertures, grooves and gaps of the workpiece is not good, and particularly, there is no obvious cleaning effect on those below the millimeter scale (e.g., micron or nano scale).

Method and apparatus for cleaning workpiece, and method and apparatus for cleaning (pore-free) tire segment mold

HIMILE MECHANICAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (SHANDONG) CO., LTD


The formation of a shortage protection region is disclosed. In one embodiment, a method includes three steps. In the first step, a first ion implantation is applied to form lightly doped regions within a semiconductor substrate adjacent to sidewalls of a gate over the substrate. In the second step, two spaces are formed on the substrate, each adjacent to a sidewall of the gate, so that a second ion implantation forms heavily doped regions within the substrate adjacent to the first spacers. In the third step, two additional spacers are formed on the substrate, each overlapping and extending beyond a corresponding spacer previously formed. Thus, a third ion implantation forms lightly doped shortage protection regions within the substrate adjacent to the spacers most recently formed.

An insulated-gated field-effect transistor (IGFET), such as a metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET), uses a gate to control an underlying surface channel joining a source and a drain. The channel, source and drain are located within a semiconductor substrate, with the source and drain being doped oppositely to the substrate. The gate is separated from the semiconductor substrate by a thin insulating layer such as a gate oxide. The operation of the IGFET involves application of an input voltage to the gate, which sets up a transverse electric field in the channel in order to modulate the longitudinal conductance of the channel.
To electrically isolate IGFETs or other devices fabricated within the same silicon substrate, techniques such as LOCOS and SWAMI are used. LOCOS is the local oxidation of silicon, a surface isolation scheme where silicon dioxide is grown around islands of silicon nitride, which is in turn removed to leave oxide-free areas for the formation of circuit components. SWAMI is an enhanced LOCOS-like technique.
Still another technique is the formation of a trench isolation, and more particularly the formation of a shallow trench isolation, within the substrate. The procedure for forming a trench insolation is the same as forming trench capacitors. Thus, trenches are etched either isotropically with wet techniques or anistropically with dry etch techniques. An insulating material, such as silicon dioxide, may then be deposited within the trench to act as a insulating layer.
A difficulty with trench isolation, however, is that the formation of subsequent metallization layers may result in overetching of the insulating material (e.g., silicon dioxide), such that deposition of a metal shorts an active region with the silicon substrate, which is usually grounded. For example, one metallization technique involves first applying a thin layer of silicon oxynitride prior to the deposition of tetra-ethyl-ortho-silicate (TEOS). The silicon oxynitride acts as an etch stop when the TEOS is selectively etched to expose the components to be, for example, locally interconnected (LI'ed).
Because silicon oxynitride is an insulator, however, it must be removed prior to depositing metal in the area exposed by the selective etching of the TEOS. Etching the silicon oxynitride is usually not selective to silicon oxynitride, however; silicon dioxide may also be etched. Thus, the oxide material within a trench may be etched away during removal of the silicon oxynitride layer, exposing the silicon substrate such that a short between an active region and the substrate may result.
There is a need, therefore, for prevention of such shorting during metallization (e.g., during the formation of local interconnects.


This apparatus automatically lines up and forwards in a single line lengthwise objects supplied at random and in many lines and yet automatically returns objects overflowed from a line-up line to upstream. This apparatus includes: a cantilever type main conveying conveyor (A1) constructed from a plurality of conveying roller rollers of an oblique arrangement drivingly rotated by a non-contact transmission system, a return conveying conveyor (A2) having a conveying direction formed of drivingly opposite to the conveying direction of the main conveying-conveyor, and a delivery conveying conveyor (A3) for transferring objects conveyed by the return conveying conveyor to an upstream end of the main conveyor. The return conveying conveyor (A2) has been with an open end side of the conveying roller placed close to a side portion on the open side alongside a downstream side portion of the main conveying conveyor (A1).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a conveying apparatus for lining up objects (products) to be conveyed, which are carried out of a manufacturing line, in a single line lengthwise for conveying, and more particularly to a circulation type line-up conveying apparatus for lining up objects to be conveyed, which are irregularly carried out, in a single line lengthwise for the next process for conveying, and automatically returning objects to be conveyed which have been overflowed from a line-up line, upstream for conveying.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to individually package products, which are irregularly carried out of the manufacturing line, in the next process, it is necessary to line up and convey the products. For example, in a bun factory, in order to individually package buns to be carried out of the manufacturing line, it is necessary to line up the buns in a single line lengthwise at predetermined intervals for conveying.
As the line-up conveying means, there has been proposed a method (See, for example, Patent Reference 1 (Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 8-81045)) whereby for example, a conveying apparatus is constituted by contiguously providing a plurality of belt conveyors in a single line lengthwise, and a speed difference is given to the revolution speeds of the belt conveyors to thereby separate the products at a transferred portion from a conveyor to another conveyor, and further guides are provided on the conveyors to thereby line up the products in a single line lengthwise. In another method (See, for example, Patent Reference 2 Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 6-345236)) a guide device is installed for drawing the products into a line on the downstream side (in the neighborhood of an outlet) of the conveying apparatus, or the like.
In the case of the line-up conveying apparatus described in the Patent Reference 1, however, since the plurality of belt conveyors are contiguously provided in a single line lengthwise and arranged, large installation space for the line-up conveying apparatus is required, and further as pretreatment for supplying the products to the line-up conveying apparatus, conveyors and the like for lining up in a single line sideways, having a forcible feeding finger for conveying the object group in a predetermined direction, and further other equipment are required, leading to a problem that the requirements will be expensive.
Also, in the line-up conveying apparatus described in the Patent Reference 2, there may be cases where the products get delayed in the vicinity of the upstream of the guide device, and in that case, an operator has to manually remove the delayed products. There is an inconvenience that in order to return the products to the line-up conveying apparatus, the operator or the like will be required.
The present invention has been achieved in view of the problems that the above-described conventional techniques have had, and is aimed to provide a circulation type line-up conveying apparatus capable of automatically lining up objects, which have been supplied in disorder and in many lines, in a single line lengthwise for forwarding, and automatically returning objects, which have been overflowed from the line-up line, to an upstream part of the conveying apparatus.

Circulation type line-up conveying apparatus


The present invention offers a method for channel change in digital broadcasting consisting of: a step 1 for recognizing a command for a channel change while the currently connected channel is being decoded at the digital broadcasting terminal; a step 2 for completing reception of the current stream while maintaining the received picture if there is a command for a channel change according to said step 1; a step 3 for receiving and analyzing the information of the newly concatenated stream without re-initializing the decoder and concatenating two streams; and a step 4 for renewing information of the newly concatenated stream in order to maintain continuity between the previous stream and the newly concatenated stream using the information obtained in said steps 2 and 3. Therefore, time delay during channel change will be minimized by changing channels without decoder re-initialization and without break in the channel changing time.

FIG. 1 is a flow diagram showing the conventional channel changing method of a digital broadcasting terminal.
As shown in the FIG. 1, if there is a command for a channel change (ST1-1), the previous channel is first stopped (ST1-2). Then, the decoder of the digital broadcast terminal is reinitialized (ST1-3). At this point, the duration of time that has passed is approximately 1-2 seconds. The following channel is then played (ST1-4).
In this conventional manner, every time there is a digital broadcast channel change, the digital broadcast set top box (STB) decoder is reinitialized.
Thus, according to conventional techniques, every time the decoder is reinitialized there is a 1-2 second pause, at which time the TV screen becomes blank before the next channel appears. This 1-2 second delay and black picture creates a disturbance for the viewer and thus is a problem of the conventional digital broadcast channel changing method.

Method for channel change in digital broadcasting


Methods of forming a liquid crystal blue phase from composite materials having a chiral nematic liquid crystal host and a bent-shape molecule are described. The stable temperature range of the liquid crystal blue phase may be improved by controlling the thickness of the composite materials. For example, a given composition may have a maximum stable temperature range for the liquid crystal blue phase at about 1 μm.

The liquid crystal blue phase is a thermotropic mesophase, usually existing between the isotropic phase and the chiral nematic phase that was first identified in an 1888 report describing the melting behavior of cholesteryl benzoate. The report noted that the substance briefly turned blue as it changed from clear to cloudy upon cooling. The structure of the liquid crystal blue phase is formed by double-twisted cylinders, which are self-assembled and form three dimensional cubic lattices. Such an arrangement endows the liquid crystal blue phase with special properties, such as optical isotropy, tunable reflection of circular polarized light with certain wavelengths, microsecond response, etc. These properties enable many potential applications of liquid crystal blue phase including high efficiency flat panel displays, fast response optical devices and improved laser techniques. Practical applications using the liquid crystal blue phase have been limited by their stability only in a narrow temperature range (typically about 1° K).

East China University of Science and Technology