A method for a user equipment (UE) is provided. The method comprises receiving, from a base station (BS), information via a dynamic signaling comprising at least one of a medium access control channel element (MAC CE) or downlink control information (DCI) that includes information for a set of channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS); identifying CSI-RS resources each of which comprises a set of antenna ports based on the information; and measuring CSI using an aggregation of the CSI-RS resources, wherein an energy per resource element (EPRE) ratio between a CSI-RS and a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) is configured in the information to each of the CSI-RS resources comprising the aggregated CSI-RS resources.

The cellular industry may see a drastic growth in the wireless data traffic and emergence of new services in the next few years. The amount of data handled by wireless networks may exceed 500 exabytes by 2020. The 5G cellular system is expected to meet this demand by significantly improving certain key performance indicators, including spectral efficiency, user experienced data rate, peak data rate, areal traffic capacity, network energy efficiency, connection density, latency, and mobility. To bring 5G visions to commercialization, new radio (NR) standardization effort is well underway in the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP), where the cellular technologies for millimeter wave bands may be introduced, and the fundamental aspects of cellular systems are being redesigned, including waveforms, numerologies, channel coding, and multi-input multi-output (MIMO) schemes. 5G NR MIMO schemes are set to encompass key 3GPP LTE MIMO technologies including single-user MIMO, full dimension MIMO (FD-MIMO), and coordinated multi-point (CoMP) transmission.
The FD-MIMO is the state-of-the-art MIMO technology for 3GPP long term evolution (LTE). The system features a 2D planar antenna array at the base station (BS), which enables tens of active antenna elements to be arranged in a feasible form factor, at operating carrier frequency below 6 GHz. The FD-MIMO provides significantly higher system throughput and improved user experience than the LTE MIMO systems prior to the LTE system.
However, to satisfy the data traffic requirements beyond 5G, the performance of FD-MIMO requires further improvements. In the present disclosure, a new FD-MIMO system, called distributed FD-MIMO (D-FD-MIMO), by spatially distributing the antenna elements of the BS throughout the cell is considered. In particular, the D-FD-MIMO is a multi-cell system, where each cell contains tens of distributed antenna elements performing MU-MIMO. In addition, the D-FD-MIMO achieves not only higher system throughput, but also more uniform user experience compared to an FD-MIMO.

Distributed FD-MIMO: cellular evolution for 5G and beyond


The construction of recombinant respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) strains deleted of the region of G protein most likely to induce unwanted type 2 T cell responses in susceptible recipients is disclosed. Using reverse genetics, recombinant RSV strains were engineered with deletions of amino acids 151-221 and 178-219. Both RSV strains replicated in the respiratory tract of BALB/c mice and elicited serum neutralization and anti-F protein IgG titers that were equivalent to cp-RSV and contributed to a 3.9 log10 reduction in RSV A2 four days after challenge. Importantly, pulmonary eosinophilia was significantly diminished in BALB/c mice primed with native G protein and challenged with either recombinant RSV strain. These findings are important for the development of immunogenic compositions against RSV.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a non-segmented, negative strand RNA virus of the Order designated Mononegavirales. Specifically, RSV is a member of the family Paramyxoviridae, genus Pneumovirus (1, 2). Respiratory tract disease caused by RSV imposes a significant burden on healthcare and all age groups are infected. The most significant disease however, occurs in young infants, aged adults, and patients with immunological abnormalities. It is estimated that lower respiratory tract (LRT) disease caused by RSV is responsible for 90% of bronchiolitis in infancy and 50% of all cases of pneumonia during the first two years of life. Thus, there is an urgent need for immunogenic compositions against RSV. Both subunit and live-attenuated immunogenic composition strategies have been followed to prevent LRT disease (3, 4). Unfortunately, neither tactic has thus far produced an acceptable product. The recent advent of "reverse genetics" technology, however, brings great promise for future immunogenic compositions (5). With "reverse genetics," recombinant RSV strains may be genetically engineered with defined mutations to ensure an attenuated phenotype, or include genes encoding cytokines to modify adaptive immune responses. One caveat, however, is that replication of recombinant RSV in the airways may generate inflammatory responses that lead to wheezing in susceptible infants and toddlers. It is well documented that RSV bronchiolitis is a major risk factor for wheeze up to age 13 (6) and it is even suggested to set in motion immunological events that contribute to asthma (7).
The exact mechanisms whereby RSV infection brings about wheeze and asthma-like symptoms are unknown. It is likely that both innate and adaptive immune responses are involved. Several reports suggested that type 2 T cell responses were dominant in human infants with LRT disease caused by RSV. Peripheral blood eosinophilia, RSV-specific IgE and IgG4, and increased secretion of IL-4 from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) stimulated with allergen or mitogen were associated with acute bronchiolitis caused by RSV (8, 9, 10). Because type 2 T cell responses and atopy are, key factors in asthma (11), unbalanced T cells responses against RSV antigens could contribute to harmful airway inflammation.
An antigen of primary interest in eliciting unbalanced T cell responses is the RSV attachment (G) protein. G protein is a heavily glycosylated 90-kDa type II transmembrane protein that is synthesized in both secreted and membrane-bound forms and has an important role in attachment of RSV to the host cell. The findings from several laboratories established that immunization with highly purified native or vaccinia virus-expressed recombinant G protein primed naïve BALB/c mice for pulmonary eosinophilia upon subsequent challenge with infectious RSV (12, 13). Eosinophilia was dependent on the presence of IL-5 and CD4+ T cells. In contrast, immunization with vaccinia virus-expressed RSV fusion (F) protein (12, 13), or appropriately adjuvanted natural F protein (14), did not prime for eosinophilia. Therefore, it may be possible to increase the safety profile of live attenuated immunogenic compositions or heterologous-expressed antigens of RSV through identification and deletion of G protein antigens that contribute to type 2 T cell responses. These antigens were identified in four inbred strains of naïve mice following immunization with native G protein (15). In a majority of strains, the responsible epitopes were located within the ectodomain encompassed by amino acids 149 to 200. Peptide-mapping studies further revealed that PBMC from most human donors readily recognized T cell epitopes present in amino acids 149 to 200 of G protein (16).

Recombinant RSV strains with altered G protein


A method of making a selectively corrodible article is disclosed. The method includes forming a powder comprising a plurality of metallic powder particles, each metallic powder particle comprising a nanoscale metallic coating layer disposed on a particle core. The method also includes forming a powder compact of the powder particles, wherein the powder particles are substantially elongated in a predetermined direction to form substantially elongated powder particles. In one embodiment, forming the powder compact includes compacting the powder particles into a billet, and forming the billet to provide the powder compact of the powder particles, wherein the powder particles are substantially elongated in a predetermined direction to form substantially elongated powder particles.

Oil and natural gas wells often utilize wellbore components or tools that, due to their function, are only required to have limited service lives that are considerably less than the service life of the well. After a component or tool service function is complete, it must be removed or disposed of in order to recover the original size of the fluid pathway for use, including hydrocarbon production, CO2 sequestration, etc. Disposal of components or tools has conventionally been done by milling or drilling the component or tool out of the wellbore, which are generally time consuming and expensive operations.
In order to eliminate the need for milling or drilling operations, the removal of components or tools by dissolution or corrosion using controlled electrolytic materials having a cellular nanomatrix that can be selectively and controllably degraded or corroded in response to a wellbore environmental condition, such as exposure to a predetermined wellbore fluid, has been described in, for example, in the related applications noted herein.
While these materials are very useful, the further improvement of their strength, corrodibility and manufacturability is very desirable.


The invention is directed to a method for controlling the operating parameters determining the thermal metabolism of a premature or newborn disposed in an incubator. These operating parameters include the incubator air temperature and the incubator humidity. The method is improved in such a manner that the adjustment of the parameters is coupled to the combination thereof optimizing the thermal metabolism without the necessity of a complex multiple step adjustment for each individual parameter. The method is characterized in that a primary control circuit for controlling the first parameter supplies the actual value corresponding thereto as a control parameter to a logic generator which determines a sequence value by means of a logic function. This sequence value is conducted to a secondary circuit as a desired value for the adjustment of the second parameter.

The control of operating parameters of an incubator always has the purpose to determine the ambient conditions for a premature or newborn in the incubator interior so that the patient loses as little heat from its body to the ambient as possible. Maintaining the thermal metabolism necessary for the well-being of the patient means an increased effort by the patient which is intended to be reduced by the ambient conditions within the incubator. The following parameters are essential for maintaining the desired ambient conditions: incubator air temperature to prevent heat losses by convection, surface temperatures of the incubator hood or the cot to prevent temperature losses via heat conduction or heat radiation as well as the moisture content of the incubator air with this moisture content being most significant. Furthermore, it is important to supply adequate oxygen to the patient in order to support the metabolism generating the heat.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/580,549, filed Sep. 11, 1990, is incorporated herein by reference and suggests coupling those parameters which define the required favorable incubator ambient, via a process computer in such a manner that input values for the parameters are inputted and stored which are orientated to selected variables particular to the patient. The selected variables are directed, for example, to body weight, age, and gestation age. Experience values for the corresponding incubator parameters are known which correspond to these selected variables. The input variables stored in this manner are compared to the actual values from the incubator and cause specific actual value combinations to lead to data as to the heat condition of the patient when there is a drop below pregiven tolerance values or when these tolerance values are exceeded. The desired value of suitable parameters is changed when the maintenance of a required heat condition is no longer ensured. The desired value for the incubator air temperature is increased when, for example, the comparison of the actual values to the stored input values leads to the result that the patient is hypothermic.
In this kind of control of operating parameters of an incubator in dependence upon measured actual values, it is, however, not considered that the change of one parameter also affects the action of another parameter on the thermal metabolism of the premature or newborn. Accordingly, the increase of the incubator air temperature means a reduction of the relative humidity in the incubator air for example, whereby the possibility of evaporation to the ambient from the patient's body is increased and therefore evaporation heat is removed from the patient. On the other hand, a reduction of the incubator air temperature means an increase of the relative humidity so that the body temperature of the patient can even be increased notwithstanding the low incubator air temperature because the capacity for giving up evaporation heat is reduced. Furthermore, it can be necessary that the needed supply of oxygen is reduced when there is a high incubator air temperature and a corresponding warming of the body core temperature.
If for this reason, one of the operating parameters must be reduced with respect to its desired value, then it is necessary to also adapt a second parameter to the changed conditions to obtain an optimal adjustment of the ambient conditions of the premature or newborn in the incubator. This would then mean the additional adjustment of an operating variable by the operator of an incubator which must then be continuously monitored by the operator. The care of the patient located in the incubator must, however, at all times be given priority. For this reason, monitoring of the adjustment of the operating parameters must be reduced to a minimum. This means that the operator is willing to adjust at most one operating parameter.

Coupled control of operating parameters of an incubator


Example embodiments of a system and method for analyzing and causing presentation of an impact or influence of a value of a dimension on a data set are described. In an example embodiment, a data set organized according to a first dimension is accessed from a data store. An influence value indicating an influence on the data set of at least one value of the first dimension is calculated. At least one of an influence rating and an influence ranking of the at least one value of the first dimension is determined based on the calculated influence value. The influence rating or ranking of the at least one value relative to other values of the first dimension is caused to be presented in conjunction with at least a portion of the data set organized according to the first dimension.

The analysis of large data sets (e.g., "big data," such as data stored in a data warehouse) has become an increasingly important function for many organizations and individuals. This data may represent various aspects of a particular subject matter area, such as product or service sales or revenue, employee compensation and benefits, component procurement, employment data, organization membership, television viewership, weather data, sports statistics, and so on. Analysis of such data often includes one or more of inspection, filtering, transformation, and modeling of data to facilitate the discovery of useful information for purposes of suggesting conclusions, supporting decision-making, and the like.
A continuing trend, particular in the area of business intelligence (BI), is the customization of data analysis by a consumer of that analysis (e.g., without the aid of an information technology expert). For example, a sales manager may want to determine which product of an array of products sold by his organization has the greatest impact on total revenue or profit. To that end, the sales manager may access a tool that allows the manager to vary how the data are processed and/or filtered, how the results are presented, and so on that may affect the overall data analysis. Due to the size or nature of the data set involved, however, the consumer of the data may not be able to determine which dimensions (e.g., data partitioning structures for categorizing facts or measures, such as according to people, product, place, time, etc.), individual data measures, or other portions of the data set have the greatest impact on the overall results indicated by the data set without either intimate knowledge of the data set itself or of the tool being used to analyze the data.


An automatic sample injector for injecting a liquid sample into a vaporization chamber of a gas chromatograph includes a syringe, a plunger adapted to move inside the barrel of this syringe, a stepping motor having a plurality of magnetic poles for moving the plunger up and down inside the barrel, a power source for supplying excitation currents to these magnetic poles, switches for these magnetic poles, and a control unit for controlling the switches or the power source such that the excitation current to one of a pair of the magnetic poles corresponding to a rotary angular position is increased and the excitation current to the other of the pair is simultaneously decreased.

This invention relates to an automatic sample injector for injecting a liquid sample into the vaporization chamber of a gas chromatograph. In particular, this invention relates to an improved method of operating such an automatic sample injector.
A syringe is commonly used for having a liquid sample vaporized for analysis by means of a gas chromatograph. Such a syringe comprises a barrel, a plunger adapted to slide inside the barrel in a liquid-tight relationship therewith, and a needle at the tip of the barrel, having a liquid passage therethrough. After a liquid sample is introduced into the barrel, the needle is caused to penetrate a septum (a rubber membrane) and is inserted into the vaporization chamber such that the liquid sample can be dispersed. The liquid sample which has been atomized is vaporized by heat and is transported into the column by a carrier gas introduced into the vaporization chamber.
An automatic sample injector is for carrying out these processes automatically and comprises a syringe-driving mechanism for moving the syringe with respect to the vaporization chamber and inserting the needle into the vaporization chamber and a plunger-driving mechanism for moving the plunger with respect to the barrel for sucking in a liquid sample into the barrel or injecting it out of the barrel.
Roughly speaking, the plunger-driving mechanisms can be divided into two kinds, one being by an open loop control by means of a stepping motor and the other being by a closed loop servo control by means of a DC motor. According to the former, the opening and closing of the switches for each magnetic pole of the stepping motor are controlled such that the rotor can be rotated by angles determined by the distribution of the magnetic poles. The advantage of this method is that the circuit is of a simple structure and is easy to control because it is an open loop control. For this reason, many prior art automatic sample injectors made use of this kind of mechanism.
With prior art driving mechanisms, however, rotary motion of the rotor of the stepping motor was accompanied by pulsation (or so-called "cogging"), and it was difficult to move the plunger smoothly at a constant speed. As a result, gas foams were likely to be generated when a sample is sucked in, adversely affecting the accuracy in the amount of the sample to be sucked in.

Automatic sample injector and method of operating same

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Systems and methods of combining OFDM and CDMA signals are provided. An OFDM packet data channel is overlaid over CDMA transmissions. The channel is scheduled slotwise between multiple users. In some embodiments, there is a CDMA packet data channel which is scheduled together with the OFDM packet data channel.

Two existing CDMA standards include UMTS, also referred to as WCDMA and 3 GPP, and CDMA 2000 also referred to as 3GPP-2.
Referring firstly to FIG. 1, shown is an example of a conventional WCDMA (wideband code division multiple access) downlink structure. This consists of a number of channels all of which are separated using Walsh codes. These are shown to include a primary SCH (synchronization channel) 10, secondary SCH 12, pilot channel CPICH (common pilot channel) 14 and a dedicated channel 16, for example a voice channel. All of these are typically covered with a high spreading factor, for example 64. There is a 10 ms frame containing 15 slots each 10/15 ms in duration. Also shown is the WDCMA HSDPA (high speed data packet access) channel 18. This channel is used in a time division multiple access fashion, with two millisecond slots being assigned on a scheduled basis to different users. One such 2 ms slot 26 is shown to contain three 10/15 ms slots 20, 22, 24. This provides a fairly high bandwidth channel. This is still transmitted using CDMA, but typically the spreading factor is lower than that used for the other channels, and it might for example be 16 or 32. All of the channels are covered with a common PN code. Advantageously, this structure is backwards compatible with existing UMTS terminals which do note use the WCDMA HSDPA channel. The WCDMA HSDPA is included in the so called EV/DV evolution.
Referring now to FIG. 14, shown as the structure of the conventional CDMA2000 release A/B/C channel structure. This channel structure includes release A\B channels 200 and release-C new channels 202. The release A\B channels 200 include a CDM pilot 204, a synch channel 206, broadcast channel 208, paging and quick paging 210, CACH 214, F-FCH 214, F-SCH 216, F-SPDCCH 218. The release-C new channels 204 include the F-SPDCCH 218 and the F-PDCH 220. The frame structure consists of a 20 ms frame 222 divided into sixteen 1.25 ms slots 228. Each such slot is used to transmit 1536 chips. Eight such slots produce a 12288 chip transmission 230. Some of the channels are power-controlled channels as indicated at 224, and some of the channels are rate-controlled channels as indicated at 226.
For both of the above examples of existing CDMA systems, the Walsh code space available is all but depleted, and as such new methods of providing further bandwidth would be desirable.

Method for embedding OFDM in CDMA systems


An aminotriazine prepolymer is provided which gives resin with toughness and favorable transparency without use of filler agent by mixing 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (781 g: 6 mole), melamine (126 g: 1 mole), 95% by weight of p-formaldehyde (189 g: 6 mole as formaldehyde), p-toluene sulfonate (3.0 g), hydroquinone monomethyl ether (0.2 g) in a two liter separation flask with a stirring device, a thermometer, an air-inlet tube, and a cooling tube for removing the distillate. The mixture is heated while air is blown in. After the melamine and paraformaldehyde are dissolved in 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, at the temperature of 80.degree. C. to 100.degree. C., the reaction is continued in the temperature range of 105.degree. C. to 115.degree. C. until the quantity of extracted water is 108 g (6 mole). The triazine ring structure-containing methacrylate prepolymer thus obtained has a viscosity of 2,000 cP at 20.degree. C., a bromine number of 92.1 (Br g/100 g), and a Gardner color degree of not greater than 5.

The present invention relates to novel acrylate prepolymers or methacrylate prepolymers that contains triazine ring structure (hereinafter referred to as methacrylate prepolymer containing a triazine ring structure); its manufacture, and to a setting composition which includes the prepolymer which is polymerizable on the site of ethylene unsaturated bonding; and a resin material prepared by curing the setting composition.
Resins containing a triazine ring structure, for example, melamine resin, have excellent insulating characteristics and favorably high hardness and are thus used for manufacturing electric parts and paints. The resins are, however, quite brittle, and thus the resin by itself is not at all usable for the above purposes. Melamine resin is typically mixed with a required amount of a filling agent or alternatively is reinforced with fibers so as to be made tough and strong.
When the resin is made into resin glass or a resin lens, a large quantity of a filling agent or fibers are mixed with the resin to give sufficient mechanical strength to the molded resin. The large amount of a filling agent or fibers, however, make the molded material opaque, thus preventing the resin glass or resin lens from attaining adequate performance.
There is a great demand for development of an aminotriazine containing-prepolymer, which gives sufficient toughness and strength to a setting material including the prepolymer without use of a filling agent or reinforcing fiber.

Methacrylate prepolymer containing triazine ring structure, its preparation, and setting composition and resin


A plurality of image production processing parts each of which generates drawing data for image drawing processing from image drawing instructions obtained through data compression. A dividing part which divides the given image drawing instructions into a plurality of sets of image drawing instructions without decompressing them in such a manner that each set of image drawing instructions can be processed by any of the plurality of image producing processing part without referring to any other set of image drawing instructions. A distributing part which distributes the plurality of sets of image drawing instructions to the plurality of image production processing parts.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an image processing device for performing image drawing processing according to image drawing instructions given by a host.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the related art, in an image processing device used in a printer or the like, in response to drawing instructions given by a host computer, a CPU interprets the drawing instructions, generates bitmap data to be sent to a printer engine, and stores it in a memory. The image processing device transfers the bitmap data stored in the memory to the printer engine by DMA transfer in accordance with operation of the printer engine, and, thereby, the printer engine prints out relevant image data.
In order to improve the processing speed of the image processing device, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 11-31052, for example, discloses a document processing system which divides document data into a plurality of sets of first interim data, distributes the respective ones of the plurality of sets of first interim data into a plurality of drawing units which can operate it in parallel, and convert the plurality of sets of first interim data into a plurality of sets of second interim data. Then, a combining unit combines the plurality of sets of second interim data in page unit, so as to generate image data which can be printed out. Thus, high speed processing can be achieved.
However, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 11-31052 does not discloses a configuration with regard to a case where the interim data is data obtained through data compression. However, image data for a size of A4 in 600 dpi of 8 bits for each color of RGB has a data amount of approximately 100 MB, for example, and, as a result, when this data is transferred from a host computer to a printer without compression, a considerable time is required for the transfer. In order to solve this problem, image data is transferred commonly after being appropriately compressed.
However, if thus-compressed image data is to be processed by the above-mentioned document processing system, the compressed image data should be decompressed first, then be divided into a plurality of sets of drawing instructions and corresponding image data, which are then distributed into the plurality of drawing units. Thus, the plurality of drawing units cannot perform the processing until the decompressing processing is finished, and, thereby, it is not necessarily possible to achieve high-speed image production processing.

Image processing device, image processing method and image forming apparatus


A digital printing system is disclosed having two independently operable printing towers arranged in series such that a substrate sheet passes sequentially through both printing towers, and in which a perfecting mechanism is provided between the two towers to reverse each substrate sheet during transfer from the first printing tower to the second printing tower, the perfecting mechanism being selectively operable to enable the second tower to print either on the same side of each substrate sheet as the first tower or on the opposite side of each substrate sheet. As well as allowing a duplex mode, the system provides a higher speed simplex mode during which different separations of the same image are printed by the two towers.

Digital printing techniques have been developed that allow a printing system to receive instructions directly from a computer without the need to prepare printing plates. Amongst these are color laser printers that use the xerographic process. Color laser printers using dry toners are suitable for certain applications, but they do not produce images of a photographic quality acceptable for publications such as magazines.
A process that is better suited for short run high quality digital printing is used in the HP-Indigo printer. In this process, an electrostatic image is produced on an electrically charged image bearing cylinder by exposure to laser light. The electrostatic charge attracts oil-based inks to form a color ink image on the image bearing cylinder. The ink image is then transferred by way of a blanket cylinder onto paper or any other printing medium, the substrate.
Inkjet and bubble jet processes are commonly used in home and office printers. In these processes droplets of ink are sprayed onto a final substrate in an image pattern. In general, the resolution of such processes is limited due to wicking by the inks into paper substrates, unless coated paper is used. However, using substrates with special coatings engineered to absorb the liquid ink in a controlled fashion or to prevent its penetration below its surface is a costly option that is unsuitable for certain printing applications, especially for commercial printing. Furthermore, the use of coated substrates creates its own problems in that the surface of the substrate remains wet and additional costly and time consuming steps are needed to dry the ink, so that it is not later smeared as the substrate is being handled, for example stacked or wound into a roll. Excessive wetting of the substrate causes cockling and makes printing on both sides of the substrate (also termed perfecting or duplex printing) difficult, if not impossible. Inkjet printing directly onto a substrate results in poor image quality also because of variation of the distance between the print head and the surface of the substrate.
Indirect or offset digital printing systems have been disclosed in the patent literature that comprise an intermediate transfer member, an image forming system operative to form an ink image on the surface of the intermediate transfer member, apparatus serving to dry the ink image as it is transported by the transfer member, and an impression station at which the dried ink image is transferred from the intermediate transfer member onto a substrate supported by an impression cylinder that is rotatable about a fixed axis and driven independently of the intermediate transfer member.
Using an offset printing system overcomes many problems associated with inkjet printing directly onto the substrate. For example, it allows the distance between the surface of the intermediate transfer member and the inkjet print head to be maintained constant and it reduces wetting of the substrate as the ink can be dried on the image transfer surface before being applied to the substrate. Consequently, the final image quality on the substrate is less affected by the physical properties of the substrate.


A system to monitor the temperature of power electronic devices in a motor drive includes a base plate defining a planar surface on which the electronic devices and/or circuit boards within the motor drive may be mounted. The power electronic devices are mounted to the base plate through the direct bond copper (DBC). A circuit board is mounted to the base plate which includes a temperature sensor mounted on the circuit board proximate to the power electronic devices. The temperature sensor generates a digital signal corresponding to the temperature measured by the sensor. A copper pad is included between each layer of the circuit board and between the first layer of the circuit board and the sensor. The circuit board also includes vias extending through each layer of the board. The copper pads and vias establish a thermally conductive path between the temperature sensor and the base plate.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to temperature estimation in a motor drive and, more specifically, to an improved system for monitoring the temperature of power electronic devices in an integrated motor drive.
As is known to those skilled in the art, motor drives are utilized to control operation of a motor. The motor drive is configured to control the magnitude and frequency of the output voltage provided to the motor to achieve, for example, a desired operating speed or torque. According to one common configuration, a motor drive includes a DC bus having a DC voltage of suitable magnitude from which an AC voltage may be generated and provided to the motor. The DC voltage may be provided as an input to the motor drive or, alternately, the motor drive may include a rectifier section which converts an AC voltage input to the DC voltage present on the DC bus. The motor drive includes power electronic switching devices, such as insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs), thyristors, or silicon controlled rectifiers (SCRs). The power electronic switching device further includes a reverse conduction power electronic device, such as a free-wheeling diode, connected in parallel across the power electronic switching device. The reverse conduction power electronic device is configured to conduct during time intervals in which the power electronic switching device is not conducting. A controller, such as a microprocessor or dedicated motor controller, generates switching signals to selectively turn on or off each switching device to generate a desired DC voltage on the DC bus or a desired motor voltage.
It is also known that each of the power electronic devices has certain inherent power losses, such as conduction losses and switching losses. Thus, as each of the power electronic devices conducts current or as it is turned on and off, power is dissipated as heat within the device. In order to prevent device failure, it is desirable to monitor the junction temperature of the power electronic devices.
Historically, motor drives have been mounted in control cabinets at a location separated from the motor which it is controlling. The motor drives typically utilize power modules which contain the power electronic devices. A power module may include, for example, six IGBTs and their respective free-wheeling diodes (FWDs). The IGBTs and FWDs are enclosed within a plastic housing and terminals are provided to establish an electrical connection between each power electronic device and the DC bus and/or the motor. Also enclosed within each module may be a thermistor to monitor the temperature of module.
However, developments in the power electronic devices used to control the motor have reduced the size of the components. This reduction in size of the power electronic devices along with a desire to reduce the size of the control enclosures have led to placing at least a portion of the motor controller electronics on the motor itself as an integrated motor drive. Specifically, the inverter section, which converts the DC voltage on the DC bus to the AC voltage supplied to the motor, is mounted on the motor. Because the motors are typically located on a machine or within an industrial process line, it is desirable to use an enclosure for the integrated motor drive which has a footprint equal to or less than the area of the surface on the motor to which it is mounted and which has a low profile, and conventional power modules may not fit within the desired enclosure.
As a result, motor controllers have been developed in which individual power electronic devices are mounted within the housing to form an inverter section. The individual power electronic devices may be mounted in a smaller area than traditional power modules. However, by eliminating the traditional power module, the thermistor is no longer present. Providing a separate thermistor within the integrated motor drive has its drawbacks. The thermistor generates an analog signal that is susceptible to interference from modulation of the power electronic devices. Further, the analog signal requires conversion of the signal to a digital signal prior to being input to a controller and isolation of the signal from the controller. Finally, the signal generated is non-linear and requires calibration and compensation within the controller.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide an improved system and method for monitoring the temperature of power electronic devices in an integrated motor drive.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for temperature estimation in an integrated motor drive


First varactor diodes for changing tuning frequency are provided at tuning circuits, a second varactor diode for changing an oscillating frequency is provided at an oscillator, tuning voltages between both ends of the first varactor diodes become equal to the tuning voltage between both ends of the second varactor diode when a television tuner receives a television signal, and the tuning voltages between both ends of the first varactor diodes become lower than the tuning voltage between both ends of the second varactor diode when the television tuner receives a FM broadcasting signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a television tuner.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional tuner used for a television receiver and the like will be described with reference to FIG. 4. A high frequency tuning circuit 11 is connected between an antenna 10 and a mixer 1 of a first frequency converting circuit 6, a first tuning voltage VT1 of a variable voltage source 9 is supplied as a tuning voltage of a variable capacity diode, which forms a first local oscillating circuit 2, and a second tuning voltage VT2, which is obtained by expanding the variable range of the first tuning voltage VT1, is supplied as the tuning voltage of the variable capacity diode, which forms the high frequency tuning circuit 11. The high frequency tuning circuit 11 and the first local oscillating circuit 2 include variable capacity diodes as a capacitive element respectively.
The second tuning voltage VT2 can be obtained by applying the first tuning voltage VT1 to an expander 12, and the second tuning voltage VT2 has a variable range, which is expanded 7 times larger than that of the first tuning voltage VT1. The second tuning voltage VT2 is made to have the 7 times larger variable range than that of the first tuning voltage VT1 on the assumption that it will satisfy the condition, on which tracking errors do not occur, if the variable ratio of the total capacitance of the high frequency tuning circuit 11 becomes 1.21 by making the variable range of the second tuning voltage VT2 7 times, which is close to 7.34, larger than that of the first tuning VT1, since the variable ratio of the total capacitance of the high frequency tuning circuit 11 is 7.34 times larger than that of the first local oscillating circuit 2.
Also, a received high frequency signal is mixed with the oscillating signal of the first local oscillating circuit 2, and then becomes a first intermediate frequency signal. The first intermediate frequency signal is amplified in a first intermediate frequency amplifying circuit 3, and then mixed with the oscillating signal of a second frequency converting circuit 5 so as to become a second intermediate frequency signal. The second intermediate frequency signal is applied to a detection circuit (not shown) through a terminal 8 (For example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 07-283693 (FIG. 1).
In the case of a variable capacity diode used for the high frequency tuning circuit 11 and the first local oscillating circuit 2, an anode is grounded, and a cathode is applied with the tuning voltage, but tracking error does not occur. Also, when the variable capacity diode having the above structure receives a television signal, the tuning characteristic of the high frequency tuning circuit 11 is set to have the video carrier frequency P at the peak and the voice carrier frequency S at a location several dB lower than that of the video carrier frequency P as shown in FIG. 5A, thereby the signal is frequency-converted to the intermediate frequency signal. It is because the frequency characteristic of the video signal after demodulation is required to be flat.
However, if the receiving band is widened to receive the FM broadcasting, and the FM broadcasting is frequency-converted into the television voice intermediate frequency signal at the above state, the tuning characteristic of the high frequency tuning circuit is changed to have a frequency P′, which is 4.5 MHz lower than the frequency F of the FM broadcasting signal, which is to be received, at the peak as shown in FIG. 5B, and there is a problem in that the level of the FM broadcasting signal, which is to be received, is lowered, thereby the receiving sensitivity deteriorates.

Television tuner which can obtain sufficient receiving sensitivity even when receiving FM broadcasting signal


An intake flow control device includes valve units, a drive shaft, and an actuator. The valve unit includes a housing defining an intake passage therein. A valve shaft is supported between side walls of the housing. The drive shaft connects and drives the valve shafts. The actuator is directly connected to the drive shaft so as to drive a valve mounted to the valve shaft to open or close the intake passage. The valve has a width defined between side ends of the valve, which is larger than a width defined between side walls of the intake passage located at an upstream side of the valve.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an intake flow control device having a valve unit for changing intake flow so as to switch air flow formed in a combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine.
2. Description of Related Art
As shown in FIG. 6, an intake flow control device 100 includes an intake manifold 102 defining an intake passage 103 therein. A valve unit 104 is arranged in the intake passage 103 to change intake flow. Air flow to be formed in a combustion chamber 111 of an internal combustion engine 112 is changed by controlling the valve unit 104 to open or close the intake passage 103.
When the engine 112 is cool, or when the amount of intake air is small, the valve unit 104 totally closes the intake passage 103 so as to generate a tumble flow in response to a control signal output from an electronic control unit (ECU, not shown) of the engine 112. A turbulence generated in the combustion chamber 111 is enhanced so as to homogenize a fuel-air mixture. A combustion generated in the combustion chamber 111 is improved so as to increase combustion efficiency and decrease emission of exhaust gas.
In contrast, when the engine 112 is warm, a large amount of intake air is necessary. In this case, the valve unit 104 totally opens the intake passage 103 so as to stop generating the tumble flow. Thus, all intake air is made to pass through the intake passage 103.
As shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B, JP-A-2007-170340 (corresponding to US 2007/0144483 A1) discloses an intake flow control device having a valve unit 104 constructed with a valve 109, a valve shaft 105, and a housing 108. The valve 109 is rotatably arranged in an intake passage 103 so as to generate a tumble flow to be supplied into a combustion chamber. The intake passage 103 is closed by the valve 109 so as to decrease a cross-sectional area of the intake passage 103. The tumble flow is generated by opening or closing the valve 109.
The valve 109 is mainly made of resin, and is integrally connected to the valve shaft 105. The valve 109 is a swing-type valve, and the valve shaft 105 is supported by two side walls of the housing 108 defining the intake passage 103 therein. When the valve 109 closes the intake passage 103, the valve 109 is approximately perpendicular to the intake passage 103.
The housing 108 has an outer wall, which is held in an intake manifold 102 through a floating gasket 110. Thus, thermal deformation of the housing 108 due to a temperature change can be absorbed by the floating gasket 110. The valve 109 and the housing 108 oppose to each other with a predetermined side clearance C. Intake flow is separated into a main flow M and a bypass flow B at the valve unit 104. The amount of the bypass flow B is determined by the side clearance C. The tumble flow can be easily generated by controlling the side clearance C, and the amount of the main flow M can be maintained by controlling the side clearance C.
The valve unit 104 is inserted into each branch tube of the intake manifold 102. The number of the valve units 104 corresponds to the number of cylinders of the engine. A drive shaft having a rectangular cross-section penetrates and connects the valve shafts 105 of the valve units 104, which are arranged in a line. An actuator is directly connected to the drive shaft. The valve unit 104 can be driven to open or close the intake passage 103 due to the drive shaft and the actuator.
When the valve unit 104 totally closes the intake passage 103, intake air is contracted by the valve unit 104. A flowing area of the contracted air is set to be small so as to generate a high tumble flow. A speed of the contracted air becomes fast, and a turbulence is enhanced so that the high tumble flow can be generated. However, if air flowing in the intake passage 103 is more contracted, a flow loss is increased when the valve unit 104 totally closes the intake passage 103. Further, the bypass flow B flowing through the side clearance C is increased, because the flow loss is increased. Furthermore, the amount of the main flow M may be decreased. Thereby, the high tumble flow cannot be increased.
The side clearance C is made small so as to secure the generation of the high tumble flow. Thus, the amount of bypass flow B is decreased, and a predetermined amount of main flow M is secured. However, the floating gasket 110 absorbing the thermal deformation of the housing 108 is required so as to prevent a break of the valve 109 when the side clearance C is made small. In this case, cost may be increased because the floating gasket 110 is additionally needed.
The housing 108 of the valve unit 104 is supported by the floating gasket 110. When a pulsing of air flow is generated in the intake passage 103, the housing 108 may be rotated in a condition that the valve shaft 105 is a center of the rotation. In this case, the valve unit 104 may contact with other parts with slapping sound. When an additional construction change or a sound-absorbing material is needed for reducing the slapping sound, a cost of producing the intake flow control device may be increased.
Further, the valve 109 may contact the housing 108 due to a thermal deformation or a time-lapse deposit adherence. When the valve 109 contacts the housing 108, the valve 109 cannot smoothly rotate. Further, the rotation of the valve 109 may be stopped. In this case, a drive torque of the actuator may be increased, such that a size of the actuator needs to be increased. Thus, the cost of producing the intake flow control device may further be increased.
If the side clearance C is made large, the break of the valve 109 and the contact between the valve 109 and the housing 108 due to the time-lapse deposit adherence can be prevented. Further, the floating gasket 110, and the increasing of the size of the actuator are not needed, such that the cost of producing the intake flow control device may not be increased.
Furthermore, a predetermined amount of the main flow M and the high tumble flow are required to be maintained without the increasing of the bypass flow B, even if the side clearance C is made large.

Intake flow control device for internal combustion engine


An approach is provided for managing network resources and policies. A network resource manager receives an allocation request, over a radio network, for one or more network resources for joining one of a plurality of multicast groups, the one mutlicast group being associated with a quality of service (QoS) level. The network resource manager then determines whether the network can accommodate the allocation request and modifies the network to accommodate the allocation request based on the determination by modifying a local multicast service provider (LMSP) mapping list that associates, respectively, one or more LMSPs with the multicast groups.

Communications service providers are continually challenged to develop new services and applications (e.g., Internet protocol television (IPTV), audio conferencing, video conferencing, content distribution, etc.) to remain competitive and develop new sources of revenue. Customers have also come to expect that these new services and applications will be available to mobile users. However, implementation of these services and applications in a mobile environment can be problematic because of the difficulty of maintaining the quality of service (QoS) levels required for the network traffic components (e.g., voice, video, and data) associated with these new services and applications, particularly when potential users are on the move or using different access technologies. Moreover, in a mobile environment, it is likely that network traffic for these services and applications are transported over multiple networks that belong to different carriers and/or service providers, adding to the overall complexity of the problem.
Therefore, there is a need for an approach that provides for robust and real-time management of network resources and policies to assist in delivering services and applications at predetermined QoS levels.

System and method for managing network resources and policies in a multicast environment


Disclosed is a method of treating an electroless nickel plating bath mainly containing a water-soluble nickel salt, a complexing agent for complexing the nickel salt, and sodium hypophosphite as a reducing agent for reducing the nickel salt, including the steps of:repeatedly regenerating and reusing the electroless nickel plating bath in which a phosphite is accumulated by adding nickel sulfate to the plating bath to produce and precipitate nickel phosphite and separating the nickel phosphite from the plating bath; and adding sulfuric acid or a mixture of sulfuric acid and sodium sulfate to the nickel phosphite separated from the plating bath to convert the nickel phosphite into nickel sulfate and phosphorous acid or NaH.sub.2 PO.sub.3, and recovering the nickel sulfate. According to this method, it is possible to simply, positively and inexpensively separate phosphite ions, without inclusion of any impurity, from an aged electroless plating bath in which phosphite ions are accumulated in a large amount, and to simply recover nickel sulfate from the nickel phosphite thus separated from the plating bath and effectively use the nickel sulfate as a reactive medium for removing a plating bath component or phosphite ions.

The present invention relates to a method of treating an electroless plating bath, particularly an electroless nickel plating bath, containing hypophosphorous acid and/or a hypophosphite such as sodium hypophosphite as a reducing agent, which is capable of effectively treating nickel phosphite produced when the plating bath is regenerated and repeatedly using the plating bath without wastage.
Electroless plating, particularly electroless nickel plating (typically, electroless Ni--P plating) using sodium hypophosphite as a reducing agent has been used extensively in a variety of industrial fields. In the electroless plating of this type, metal ions are reduced by hypophosphite ions to be thus deposited on a substance to be plated.
Accordingly, with progress of plating, metal ions and hypophosphite ions in the plating bath are consumed, so that the deposition rate becomes smaller and/or the composition of deposit or plating film (for example, alloy contents of Ni and P for a Ni--P plating film) is changed. Therefore, plating is generally performed by compensating for the consumed metal ions and phosphite ions to keep concentrations thereof at the initial or predetermined values.
In the electroless plating, however, when metal ions are reduced by hypophosphite ions, the hypophosphite ions are simultaneously oxidized to produce phosphite ions (H.sub.2 PO.sub.3.sup.-), and the phosphite ions thus produced are gradually accumulated in the plating bath.
The phosphite ions (H.sub.2 PO.sub.3.sup.-) in a small amount little affect plating; however, when they are accumulated in a large amount, for example, in the range of 50-100 g/l or more, particularly, in higher than 150 g/l in concentration, they possibly exert adverse effect on plating. For example, by the effect of the phosphite ions accumulated in a large amount, the bonding strength between a plating film and a substrate may be weakened; the uniformity and corrosion resistance of the plating film may be degraded due to codeposition of the phosphite ions in the plating film; and in the worst case, the plating bath may be decomposed.
For this reason, in electroless Ni--P plating, an electroless Ni--P plating bath is generally discarded after used 3-10 turns. One turn is equivalent to a state in which the whole amount of nickel ions contained in the initial electroless Ni--P plating bath is consumed or deposited. For example, assuming that 6 g/l of nickel ions in concentration exists in a fresh solution or the initial electroless Ni--P plating bath, a state in which the nickel ions in an amount of 6 g/l are consumed or deposited is taken as one turn. Accordingly, 3-10 turns mean that the nickel ions in an amount of 18-60 g/l are consumed or deposited.
In addition to the problem that the service life of an electroless Ni--P plating bath is relatively short as described above, the Ni--P electroless plating has another industrial problem on waste water treatment accompanied by discard of the electroless Ni--P plating bath. To solve these problems, there have been proposed various methods of regenerating an electroless Ni--P plating bath. The related art regenerating methods, however, have been not extensively used because of disadvantages, for example, the complicated treatment, inclusion of impurity ions harmful to plating in the regenerated plating bath, or expensive system.
In view of the foregoing, the present inventors have proposed a method for regenerating an electroless nickel plating bath in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei 5-247660. This method is characterized by regenerating an aged electroless nickel plating bath containing a water-soluble nickel salt, a complexing agent, and hypophosphorous acid or a hypophosphite as a reducing agent, and also containing 100 g/l or more of phosphite ions produced by oxidation of the hypophosphorous acid or hypophosphite with progress of plating. Specifically, the water-soluble nickel salt is added to the above aged plating bath at a ratio of 0.5 mol or more with respect to 1 mol of the above phosphite ions to produce and precipitate nickel phosphite, and the nickel phosphite thus precipitated is separated from the plating bath.
The above method, however, fails to examine the effective use of the nickel phosphite separated from the plating bath, and particularly to propose the effective recycle of the electroless plating bath.

Method of treating electroless plating bath


A method and circuit for adaptively estimating channel conditions of a pilot channel in a wireless communication system. The method includes estimating channel statistics of the pilot channel, and adaptively filtering the pilot channel in response to the estimated channel statistics. The estimation is performed by filtering a channel signal derived from the pilot channel to determine an estimated channel mean and an estimated channel covariance. In order to perform the adaptive filtering, the present invention partitions the pilot channel into one or more time slots and weights each time slot according to the channel statistics. Thus, an advantage of the present invention is that it automatically and continually updates the pilot filter parameters in order to optimize the pilot filter performance over a broad range of channel conditions.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wireless communication systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to a novel and improved method and apparatus for adaptively estimating the channel conditions of a wireless communication channel.
II. Description of the Related Art
In a wireless radiotelephone communication system, many users communicate over a wireless channel. Communication over the wireless channel can be one of a variety of multiple access techniques that allow a large number of users in a limited frequency spectrum. These multiple access techniques include time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), and code division multiple access (CDMA).
The CDMA technique has many advantages. An exemplary CDMA system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,307, entitled xe2x80x9cSpread Spectrum Multiple Access Communication System Using Satellite Or Terrestrial Repeatersxe2x80x9d, issued Feb. 13, 1990, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, and incorporated herein by reference. An exemplary CDMA system is further described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,103,459, entitled xe2x80x9cSystem And Method For Generating Signal Waveforms In A CDMA Cellular Telephone Systemxe2x80x9d, issued Apr. 7, 1992, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, and incorporated herein by reference.
In each of the above patents, the use of a forward-link (base station to mobile station) pilot signal is disclosed. In a typical CDMA wireless communication system, such as that described in EIA/TIA IS-95, the pilot signal is a xe2x80x9cbeaconxe2x80x9d transmitting a constant zero symbol and spread with the same pseudonoise (PN) sequences used by the traffic bearing signals. The pilot signal is typically covered with the all-zero Walsh sequence. During initial system acquisition, the mobile station searches through PN offsets to locate a base station""s pilot signal. Once it has acquired the pilot signal, it can then derive a stable phase and magnitude reference for coherent demodulation, such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,764,687 entitled xe2x80x9cMobile Demodulator Architecture For A Spread Spectrum Multiple Access Communication System,xe2x80x9d issued Jun. 9, 1998, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, and incorporated herein by reference.
A functional block diagram of a typical prior art forward link data formatter as used by a CDMA base station is shown in FIG. 1. Data source 102 may be, for example, a variable rate vocoder such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,657,420, entitled xe2x80x9cVariable Rate Vocoderxe2x80x9d, issued Aug. 8, 1997, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated herein by reference. Data source 102 generates traffic channel information in the form of frames of digital data. CRC and tail bit generator 104 calculates and appends cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits and tail bits to the frames generated by data source 102. The frame is then provided to encoder 106, which provides forward error correction coding, such as convolutional encoding, upon the frame as is known in the art. The encoded symbols are provided to repetition generator 120, which repeats the reordered symbols to provide the appropriate modulation symbol rate. The repeated symbols are then provided to interleaver 108, which re-orders the symbols in accordance with a predetermined interleaver format. The repeated, interleaved symbol stream is then covered with one of a set of orthogonal Walsh sequences in traffic Walsh coverer 122, and gain adjusted in gain element 124. It should be understood that other forward link data formatters are also known in the art. For example, it is well known that the repetition generator 120 may be placed after the interleaver 108.
Pilot signal generator 128 generates a pilot signal, which may be a sequence of all ones. The pilot signal is then covered with the all-one Walsh sequence and combined with the output of gain element 124 in combiner 136. The combined pilot channel and traffic channel data (which may be plus or minus ones) is then spread in PN spreader 138 using a complex PN code generated by PN generator 140, and then transmitted by radio frequency transmitter 142 over antenna 144. A similar forward link data formatter is disclosed in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/886,604, entitled xe2x80x9cHigh Data Rate CDMA Wireless Communication Systemxe2x80x9d, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein.
Other data formatting techniques also exist. For example, in the cdma2000 reverse link, the pilot signal is time-multiplexed with power control commands. Additionally, in W-CDMA, the forward link uses dedicated pilot signals that are time-multiplexed with other information.
FIG. 2 illustrates a functional block diagram of a typical prior art data demodulator for use in a CDMA mobile station. Receiver 202 receives and downconverts the signals transmitted by transmitter 142 of FIG. 1. The digital baseband output of receiver 202 is despread in PN despreader 204 using the complex PN code generated PN generator 206, which is the same complex PN code as that generated by PN generator 140 of FIG. 1.
The despread signal is then Walsh uncovered in traffic channel Walsh uncoverer 208 using the same Walsh sequence as that of the traffic channel Walsh coverer 122 of FIG. 1. The Walsh-uncovered chips are then accumulated into Walsh symbols in Walsh chip summer 210 and provided as a traffic channel signal to dot product circuit 212. In some applications, an additional delay element (not shown) is introduced between Walsh chip summer 210 and dot product circuit 212 to account for delays introduced by pilot filter 216. However, if pilot filter 216 is a causal filter, such a delay element (not shown) is not necessary. The dot product circuit is also known as a xe2x80x9cconjugate productxe2x80x9d circuit. It performs the operation expressed mathematically by one of the following equivalent forms:  less than a,b greater than =axc2x7b=ab*, where b* is the complex conjugate of b.
The despread signal is also provided to Walsh chip summer 214 where they are accumulated into Walsh symbols and provided to pilot filter 216 as pilot channel symbols. Note that since the pilot channel is covered with the all-one Walsh sequence in Walsh coverer 134 of FIG. 1, a vacuous operation, the corresponding uncoverer is also vacuous in operation. However, in the general case, the pilot signal may be uncovered using any same Walsh sequence as is used to cover it. The pilot filter 216 serves to reject the noise in the pilot symbols, providing a phase and scale reference for the dot product circuit 212.
Once per symbol, the dot product circuit 212 computes the component of the traffic channel signal in phase with the pilot channel signal generated by the pilot filter 216. As described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,506,865, entitled xe2x80x9cPilot Carrier Dot Product Circuitxe2x80x9d, issued Apr. 9, 1996, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated herein by reference, the dot product adjusts both the received signal""s phase and scale as needed for coherent demodulation.
The symbols output from dot product circuit 212 are de-interleaved in de-interleaver 218, using the same format used by interleaver 108 of FIG. 1. The de-interleaved symbols are then decoded in decoder 220 according to the error correcting codes employed by encoder 106 of FIG. 1. The resulting decoded symbols are analyzed on a frame-by-frame basis by CRC Check 222 to ensure that the frame was properly decoded. If the frame was properly decoded, then that decoded frame is forwarded for further processing. CRC Check 222 typically would examine the CRC portion of the frame, but may also use other frame quality indications such as Yamamoto metrics.
A typical pilot filter 216 is implemented as an equal-weight finite impulse response (FIR) filter with all defining parameters (e.g., weighting, window width, window center) remaining constant regardless of the channel conditions. Alternately, an exponential decay infinite impulse response (IIR) filter having fixed parameters (e.g., decay time constant, scaling) may be used. In other words, the designer of a typical prior art pilot filter 216 will choose a static filter design that performs adequately for a given energy per bit to noise density ratio (Eb/N0) under most channel conditions of interest, but not optimally over the entire range of conditions.
As a mobile station (e.g., a cellular telephone, PCS telephone or other wireless remote communication terminal) moves through the terrestrial environment, the signals it transmits and receives will experience various types of fading. The mobile environment is usually characterized by fading that can be either Rician or Rayleigh in nature. Other types of fading are also possible. The fading characteristic in the typical channel signal is caused by the signal being reflected from many different features of the physical environment, thus it is called multipath fading. At the UHF frequency bands usually employed for mobile radio communications, including those of cellular mobile telephone systems, significant phase differences in signals traveling on different paths may occur. The possibility for both constructive and destructive summation of the signals may result, with on occasion deep fades occurring.
Multipath channel fading is a function very sensitive to the physical position of the mobile unit. A small change in position of the mobile unit changes the physical delays of all the signal propagation paths, which further results in a different phase for each path. Thus, the motion of the mobile unit through the environment can result in a rapid fading process. For example, in the 850 MHz cellular radio frequency band, this fading can typically be as fast as one fade per second for every mile per hour of vehicle speed. Fading this severe can be extremely disruptive to signals in the terrestrial channel resulting in poor communication quality, particularly as the speed of the mobile station increases beyond 150 km/hr.
As previously stated, the typical fixed-parameter pilot filter 216 is not optimized for such a broad range of channel conditions. It is typically designed to work adequately at speeds from stationary to about 120 km/hr, or about as fast as a mobile station might be expected to travel in a motor vehicle on the highway. However, since the fading characteristics of the channel are vastly different as between a slow-moving mobile station and a fast-moving mobile station, the typical fixed-parameter pilot filter 216 cannot be optimized for both extremes. Typically, this forces the designer to design a pilot filter 216 that works well only when the mobile station is stationary or moves slower than about 150 km/hr, and works poorly beyond 150 km/hr. As transportation such as bullet trains and airplanes exceeds this speed, it is unlikely that the user of a mobile station will be able to obtain reliable communications. Even when operational, the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) (or in other words, the Eb/N0) of the communication link must be kept at a high enough level to be reliable in these severe fading conditions. Increasing the Eb/N0 of the communication link decreases the total capacity of the wireless system, particularly in a CDMA system where one transmitter""s transmissions comprise interference to all other transmitters in the same CDMA frequency band. As a result, the designer of a fixed-parameter pilot filter 216 generally adopts an unfavorable compromise in selecting the filter parameters when faced with such a broad range of channel conditions.
Thus, there is a need for a more optimal pilot filtering method and apparatus, particularly in the wireless communication environment, that avoids these shortcomings in the prior art.
The present invention is a novel and improved method and circuit for adaptively estimating channel conditions of a pilot channel in a wireless communication system. The method includes estimating channel statistics of the pilot channel, and adaptively filtering the pilot channel in response to the estimated channel statistics. The estimation is performed by filtering a channel signal derived from the pilot channel, or any channel bearing ambiguous data with the ambiguity removed after detection or decoding. This determines an estimated channel mean and an estimated channel covariance. In order to perform the adaptive filtering, the present invention partitions the pilot channel into one or more time slots and weights each time slot according to the estimated channel statistics. Thus, an advantage of the present invention is that it automatically and continually updates the pilot filter parameters in order to optimize the pilot filter performance over a broad range of channel conditions.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the channel signal is filtered in one or more infinite impulse response (IIR) filters to determine the channel statistics. In a another embodiment, the channel signal is filtered in a combination of IIR and finite impulse response (FIR) filters to determine the channel statistics.
In an embodiment applicable to the cdma20000 system wherein the pilot channel comprises a pilot signal portion having a known sign and a power control bit portion having an unknown sign. The method of the present invention may also include determining the sign of the power control bit portion, correcting the sign of the power control bit portion, and then combining the sign-corrected power control bit portion with the pilot signal portion to generate the channel signal from which the channel statistics are estimated by the channel statistics estimator. In yet another embodiment, the method includes determining the sign of the traffic signal and generating the channel signal in response to the traffic signal.
In yet another embodiment applicable to a cdma2000 system, wherein the pilot channel comprises a sequence of power control groups, each power control group having a pilot signal portion having a known sign and a power control bit portion having an unknown sign, the time slots have a duration substantially equal to the duration of the pilot signal portion.
A circuit for performing the method of the present invention is also described herein.

Adaptive channel estimation in a wireless communication system


A food grater (10) is disclosed as including a first arm (12) and a second arm (14), the first arm (12) including a grating plate (18), the second arm (14) including a wall (23) and a press plate (36) for confining movement of food, and the first arm (12) and second arm (14) are engaged with each other and pivotable relative to each other to grate the food by the grating plate (18).

One type of existing cheese graters is in the shape of a plate with a number of grating teeth. When grating, a user holds the cheese with one hand and rubs the cheese across the surface of the plate. In addition to having the chance of contaminating the cheese, the user may also accidentally hurt his/her hand during the grating process. It is also not suitable for serving food to guests, whether in a restaurant or at home.
In a second type of existing cheese graters, a grating cylinder is provided on which a cheese is placed. A hand of a user presses on the cheese while another hand of the user rotates a handle to rotate the grating cylinder, to thereby grate the cheese. Similarly, the cheese may be contaminated by germs carried by the hand of the user. It is also inconvenient to use such a cheese grater when serving guests.
A further shortcoming common to both of these conventional cheese graters is that they can be operated only by rising both hands. If, or any reason, the user can only use one hand when serving cheese, neither of these conventional cheese graters is appropriate.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a food grater in which the aforesaid shortcomings are mitigated, or at least to provide a useful alternative to the trade and public.


A gate for rejecting from a gathering conveyor folded printed products which are found to be defective. The gate includes several mating pairs of ejector rolls positioned to form a nip above the gathering conveyor, and an air ejection system for lifting a defective product into the nip so that the ejector rolls engage the lifted product and convey it to a reject receptacle.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for rejecting defective folded printed products from a processing line.
Folded printed products of the type with which the present invention is concerned each comprise a plurality over overlying printed sheets, which are commonly referred to as signatures, and which are assembled into various book forms. The products are serially conveyed in a straddling relation on a gathering conveyor, upon which the individual sheets or signatures are deposited to make up the products, and the conveyor conveys the products through the various assembly operations, which typically include a stitching or binding operation and a trimming operation.
Malfunctions can occur in the delivery of the individual sheets or signatures onto the gathering conveyor, which can result, for example, in a sheet being missing, or in duplicate sheets being delivered, or in a sheet being mis-positioned. Such malfunctions lead to the production of a defective book or magazine, which must then be discarded.
In the prior art, various detectors have been provided which monitor for such malfunctions, with a non-standard product being ejected from the production line. In one known detector, the thickness of each product is measured, and if the measured thickness does not conform to the predetermined standard, the product is removed by a removal device which comprises cammed rollers which physically move into engagement with the defective product and convey it to a reject receptacle. This known removal gate is structurally complex and unreliable in operation.
In another prior reject gate, a blade is utilized to lift a defective product into a nip formed by rollers, which then convey the product to a reject receptacle. The blade must advance and completely retract before the next product arrives on the conveyor, and since such movement involves a relatively significant time period, the production speed of the gathering conveyor is limited.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for ejecting defective products of the described type from a processing line, which is of simplified construction and highly reliable in operation.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a product rejecting gate of the described type which can be operated at high speed so as to not limit the product speed of the conveyor.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a product rejecting gate of the described type which is able to remove a defective product without tearing or damaging the product, and so that the product can be easily recycled onto the chain conveyor, thereby avoiding the loss and wastage of the product materials.

Apparatus for processing folded printed products


A vehicle main electric motor includes: a ring-shaped filling chamber, which is formed in contact with a ball bearing and a roller bearing in a direction of a rotation shaft, for filling with a semi-solid lubricant, and which has a central axis concentric with the rotation shaft; and a discharge section connected to the filling chamber, for inflow of the semi-solid lubricant from the filling chamber. A display member, which has a specific gravity lower than a specific gravity of the semi-solid lubricant, is arranged, in an interior of the discharge section, at an initial position that is a position not reached by the semi-solid lubricant during an initial greasing. The discharge section has a retaining part for retaining, at a movement position that is a determined position within the discharge section, the display member moving in a greasing direction due to pressure of the semi-solid lubricant during a supplemental greasing. At least a portion of visible light from the exterior reaches at least a portion of the movement position.

Periodic inspection of a main electric motor of an electric railway vehicle is mandatory. Generally every four years the main electric motor is removed from the vehicle, the main electric motor is disassembled, and bearing components are cleaned and then refilled with grease. In recent years in order to lower maintenance costs, a greasing port is provided for supplying grease to the bearing components, greasing is performed four years after the beginning of use, and re-greasing is performed eight years after the beginning of use.
Whether greasing is previously performed cannot be determined on the basis of external appearance of the main electric motor. Thus a determination of whether greasing is previously performed is made on the basis of a maintenance work management ledger and the like. If the record in the maintenance work management ledger is erroneous, then a lubrication failure may occur due to an excessive or insufficient amount of grease.
A bearing device disclosed in Patent Literature 1 is equipped with a lubricating oil introduction tube that increases flowability of grease by heating grease supplied to an inner tubular space of a double-tubular structure, using an operation fluid sealed in an outer tubular space of the double-tubular structure. This bearing device is equipped with an oil level gauge in the lubricating oil introduction tube, thereby enabling checking of the remaining amount of grease.


The present invention provides a process for preparing a 4-hydroxypyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidine derivative of the formula ##STR1## wherein R is NHC*H(COOR.sup.1)CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 COOR.sup.1 or OR.sup.1 ;. R.sup.1 is H or a carboxyl protecting group; PA1 the configuration about the carbon atom designated * is L; PA1 n is 0 or 1; and PA1 A is an aryl group optionally having, in addition to the COR substituent, one or two substituents selected from the group consisting of halo, hydroxy, C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl and C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkoxy; or a salt thereof, which comprises PA1 j is 0 or 1; and. (a) halogenating a compound of the formula ##STR2## wherein R, R.sup.1, A and * are as defined above;. (b) reacting 2,4-diamino-6-hydroxypyrimidine, or a salt thereof, with the reaction product from step (a), in the presence of a polar solvent.

Antimetabolites have been used for a number of years as chemotherapeutic agents in the treatment of cancer. One such drug, methotrexate, is now one of the most widely used anticancer drugs; and many other compounds in the folic acid family have been synthesized, tested and discussed in the chemical and medical literature. The compounds have various activities at the enzymatic level; they inhibit such enzymes as dihydrofolate reductase, folate polyglutamate synthetase, glycinamide ribonucleotide formyltransferase and thymidylate synthetase.
More recently, a series of 4-hydroxypyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidine-L-glutamic acid derivatives have been disclosed and shown to be particularly useful antifolate drugs. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,996,206; 5,106,974; and 4,997,838. However, the synthetic pathways described therein greatly vary and are frequently inconvenient and complex.
The present invention provides an improved process for the synthesis of intermediates which are useful for the synthesis of 4-hydroxypyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidine based antifolate compounds. The process of the present invention is also useful for the synthesis of antifolate compounds which are employed as antineoplastic agents.
Although the intermediate compounds synthesized by the process of this invention are primarily useful for the synthesis of antineoplastic glutamic acid derivatives, one of ordinary skill in the pharmaceutical and organic chemical arts will recognize that the usefulness of these intermediates is not limited to the synthesis of the abovedescribed antineoplastic agents.

Process for preparing 4-hydroxypyrrolo(2,3-d)pyrimidine based antifolate compounds and intermediates


The invention relates to a dispersion comprising one or more protic solvents as dispersion medium and also, as base components dispersed therein,                one or more matrix polymers,        one or more epoxides,        at least one kind of a modified compound of the polyamine adduct type which is insoluble in the epoxides,        where the at least one modified polyamine adduct is in dispersion in particulate form, with 90% of the particles having a particle size in the range from 0.1 to 10 μm as determined by laser diffractometry.

Adhesive tapes are nowadays used in a diversity of forms, for example as auxiliaries in processes and for joining different objects. Self-adhesive tapes comprising pressure-sensitive adhesive compositions have permanent tack. They are able to exert their joining function without further curing, typically immediately after bonding. With self-adhesive tapes of this kind it is possible to realize sometimes very high bond strengths. In spite of this, there is a need in certain applications for adhesive solutions which permit even greater bond strengths. Many such adhesive systems are applied in a hot compression step. Under such conditions, they melt, wet the bond substrate, and develop strength by solidifying as they cool. Adhesive systems of this kind may still, moreover, have chemical reactivity if these adhesive systems have been admixed with reactive systems which react with one another and thereby cure the adhesively bonded assembly.
The term "curable adhesive composition" in the sense of this invention refers to a preparation which comprises functional groups which, by the action of a curing component in combination with increased temperature as an additional stimulus are able to participate in a reaction leading to an increase in molar mass and/or to crosslinking at least of one constituent of the preparation.
The terms "curing agent", "initiator" and "activator" are used synonymously in the sense of this invention. They describe substances or substance mixtures which are able to bring about a curing reaction with participation of molecules—especially macromolecules—having functional groups—such as epoxide functionalities, for example—after an activation temperature has been exceeded. The curing reaction is generally accompanied by a linking reaction or a crosslinking reaction of the functionalized molecules by means of the curing agent molecules.
With reactive adhesive tapes the requirement is that the adhesive systems can be processed rapidly, in particular in terms of the activation time for the initiation of the curing reaction. Besides the activation, full curing as well is to proceed rapidly to the desired degree of curing. A particularly advantageous reactive system in this context is based on epoxides. Curable epoxide adhesive systems are well-known in liquid form and in adhesive tape form, and are part of the prior art. They are diversely employed.
Curable adhesive systems which are employed in the form of adhesive tapes comprise, in one of their realization variants, a film former component, which may for example be a thermoplastic polymer, an elastomer or a thermoplastic elastomer, and a reactive component, consisting for example of an epoxide-based reactive resin, and also a curing agent system (also referred to as activator system or initiator system).
Through the use of the film former component and the associated production process—in the form of dissolving, mixing, coating from solvents, or mixing, metering, extrusion as a hotmelt—these reactive adhesive tapes are usually supplied with thermal energy even before they are employed in the actual adhesive application. For epoxide-based reactive adhesive tapes, therefore, it is necessary to use what is called a "latent" curing agent system which is not (yet) activated by the thermal energy introduced in the adhesive tape production process. Accordingly, the process is typically limited to curing agent systems having high activation energies, since there are only limited degrees of freedom with regard to the temperatures to be selected.
Another processing approach is afforded by adhesive tape systems, involving the film former component being constructed only in the coating step at room temperature, by means of polyurethane crosslinking, for example. In relation to such systems as well, however, process-related reasons frequently impose limits, because, for example, the cohesion that is needed in the case of coating is absent or has to be achieved by additional additization.
In the case of curable adhesive systems which are to be employed in the form of reactive adhesive tapes, there is typically a need, moreover, to ensure sufficient storage stability under storage conditions, allowing the reactive adhesive tape to be straightforwardly transported and stocked, before the actual reactivity is intended to emerge only in the activation step and under activation conditions. Without such latency, the practicability of aforesaid adhesive tapes is limited. Although many epoxide systems can also be cured by UV radiation, with an appropriate curing agent, thermal curing methods are preferred in many industrial bonding processes, since radiation sources cannot always be integrated into manufacturing lines. Moreover, adhesive composition located in shadow regions is not so easily activatable by radiation. Radiation curing in complex bondline geometries is therefore not universally a possibility.
Epoxide Adhesive Tapes in the Prior Art
Epoxy resins based on glycidyl ethers are cured in an economically rational way using, for example, polyamines, polyamides or acid anhydrides; in this regard compare, for example, specification DE 695 13 309 T2. For cycloaliphatic epoxy resin systems, furthermore, cationic crosslinking mechanisms, involving what are called super acids, are also described.
US 20150240136 A1 describes a reactive adhesive tape based on epoxides and on what is probably the most well-known curing agent system, dicyandiamide (DICY). In this case the curing agent, which is in powder form and is insoluble at room temperature, is dispersed in very fine division into the epoxy resin and the film former component. When a compression temperature is applied, the DICY curing agent dissolves in the epoxide and becomes commixed, and the amine-epoxide reaction takes place. To lower the solubility temperature needed for this purpose, of 160 to 200° C., an accelerator based on a urea compound is added. This allows the activation temperature to be lowered down to 140° C. Film formers used are thermoplastics having a softening range of 60 to 120° C. To offer such mixtures in products in web form—in other words, as adhesive tapes—the mixture must be dissolved in a solvent and homogenized. In the subsequent coating process, after coating has taken place, the solvent is evaporated off. The stated specification also describes the likewise possible path of coating out the reactive adhesive tape solventlessly via a melt at 60° C. At this temperature, however, the curing agent/accelerator system used (DICY/UREA) cannot be soluble.
To cure the reactive adhesive tape, the adhesive bonded assembly is stored in a forced air oven at 180° C. for 30 minutes.
Specification EP 1 028 151 B1 sets out a further crosslinking reaction of epoxides in adhesive tapes. The curing agent is a maleic anhydride, which is incorporated by polymerization into the film former component. For the crosslinking of epoxy resin and maleic anhydride, temperatures of 120 to 180° C. for 3 to 30 minutes are recommended; described by way of example is a bonding process of 160° C. for 10 minutes at an applied pressing pressure of 6 bar.
Latent Curing Agent Systems in the Prior Art
Latent curing agent systems for epoxide crosslinking, besides the aforementioned DICY system, are melamines, polyamines, polyamine-epoxy adducts, DBA dihydrazines, boron trifluoride-amine complexes, guanamines and imidazoles, for example.
Specification EP 2 653 492 A sets out pros and cons of such systems.
WO 2009/060576 A relates to a latent curing agent system based on polyamine adducts, especially their production processes. The resulting curing agent systems can be incorporated insolubly into epoxides, and initiate the crosslinking of the epoxy resins from an activation temperature of 80 to 130° C.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,124,232 B2 describes an electroconductive epoxide paste for the bonding and electrical contacting of components on circuit boards. Curing agents identified include microencapsulated polyamine adducts having a melting range—corresponding to a curing agent activation range—of ˜80° C.
The prior art therefore results in epoxide-based adhesive tapes which are storable at room temperature and have high application temperatures and/or long working times, or in epoxide-based, one-component liquid or paste adhesives which are storable at room temperature and have working temperatures and times that are advantageous for the particular fields of application.
Examples of curing agents for epoxide systems which are processed in the liquid state or in the melt are latent reactive diamines or polyfunctional amines, dicarboxylic acids or polyfunctional dicarboxylic acids, difunctional acid anhydrides or polyfunctional acid anhydrides, primary dithiols or polyfunctional primary thiols, for example.

Curable adhesive compound and reactive adhesive tapes based thereon


A method and system of determining whether a stationary vehicle is a blocking vehicle to improve control of an autonomous vehicle. A perception engine may detect a stationary vehicle in an environment of the autonomous vehicle from sensor data received by the autonomous vehicle. Responsive to this detection, the perception engine may determine feature values of the environment of the vehicle from sensor data (e.g., features of the stationary vehicle, other object(s), the environment itself). The autonomous vehicle may input these feature values into a machine-learning model to determine a probability that the stationary vehicle is a blocking vehicle and use the probability to generate a trajectory to control motion of the autonomous vehicle.

Stationary objects, such as vehicles on a road, may interfere with autonomous operation of a vehicle. For example, a stationary vehicle in front of the autonomous vehicle may be double-parked, or otherwise incapacitated, blocking the autonomous vehicle. Detecting such blocking vehicles may be limited by sensor visibility, as it may be impossible to "see" in front of the potentially blocking vehicle to determine if it is a blocking vehicle.
Furthermore, environmental cues may add to complexity of detection. To enumerate two examples, a vehicle stopped at an intersection having a detected red light may be a blocking vehicle and not waiting on the traffic light. Similarly, a vehicle stopped near an intersection having a detected green light may, in fact, be waiting in a long line to make a turn and not be a blocking vehicle. Operating autonomously based on improperly detected blocking vehicles may create additional problems, such as the inability for the autonomous vehicle to re-enter its original lane.


Semiconductor structures, and methods for fabricating semiconductor structures, comprising high dielectric constant stacked structures are provided. A stacked dielectric structure (16) in accordance with one exemplary embodiment of the present invention has a first amorphous dielectric layer (18) comprising HfXZr1-XO2, where 0≦X≦1. An amorphous interlayer (20) overlies the first amorphous dielectric layer. The interlayer has a net dielectric constant that is approximately no less than the dielectric constant of HfZrO4. A second amorphous dielectric layer (22) overlies the interlayer. The second amorphous dielectric layer comprises HfYZr1-YO2, where 0≦Y≦1. The stacked dielectric structure (16) has a net dielectric constant that is approximately no less than the dielectric constant of HfZrO4.

As future generations of electronic devices advance in complexity and decrease in size, a growing need exists for a dielectric material more effective than SiO2. Increased demands on ultra-large scale integrated (ULSI) circuits have required that the SiO2 that forms the gate oxide of field-effect transistors be made laterally smaller and, consequently, thinner. Eventually, however, the SiO2 layers will be required to be so small and thin that electron tunneling will make current leakage unacceptably high for low-power devices.
Hafnium oxide (HfO2), also known as hafnia, has been identified as a promising candidate to replace SiO2 as a gate dielectric. Hafnium oxide, having a relatively high bulk dielectric constant (k=15–25), would allow gate oxides to be physically thicker (for a given capacitance), which could significantly reduce tunneling. Hafnium oxide also exhibits a large band gap (approximately 5.7 eV) and a band offset (greater than 1 eV) with substrates such as silicon. Further, the diffusion of hafnium atoms into substrates such as silicon, particularly during or after post-deposition anneals, has proven to be negligible.
However, when sufficiently thick, an amorphous hafnium oxide film tends to crystallize at relatively low temperatures (approximately 400° C.) to form monoclinic, cubic, and/or tetragonal crystallites. Polycrystalline hafnium oxide facilitates unwanted metal or impurity diffusion through grain boundaries and degrades gate stack performance. Polycrystalline hafnium oxide also causes higher leakage current because of charge transport through grain boundaries. Further, the surface of polycrystalline hafnium oxide may have grains with different terminations associated with different surface potentials due to different dipole strength and orientation of the terminations. Such varied surface potentials could be detrimental to device yield if the variation of the surface potential is sufficiently large and the grain sizes are comparable to gate dimensions.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a semiconductor structure and a method for fabricating a semiconductor structure without the undesirable drawbacks described above. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.

Semiconductor structures and methods for fabricating semiconductor structures comprising high dielectric constant stacked structures