An internal combustion engine system that is selectively powered by an enhanced air/fuel mixture. The supply of fuel to the cylinders of an internal combustion engine is increased in response to the addition of a supplemental oxidizing agent into an air/fuel mixture. The additional fuel may be added by increasing the duty cycle of fuel injectors mounted proximate the individual cylinders. In addition, the ignition timing is adjusted in accordance with the change in the density of the fuel air mixture. The amount of supplemental oxidizing agent provided to the cylinders may be regulated by increasing in a controlled manner the rate at which the supplemental oxidizing agent is supplied over a period of time. Furthermore, the control unit for the engine receives and responds to a number of external operating parameters including the oxygen content of the engine exhaust and the traction of the tires.

It is known that one may increase the power delivered by an internal combustion engine by increasing the concentration of oxygen and fuel in the combustion, chambers. Systems employing this technique are widely used in the motor racing field. During normal operation, an internal combustion engine burns an air/fuel mixture consisting of vaporized fuel (supplied from a carburetor or fuel injectors) and air taken directly from the environment in which the engine is operating. It is known that one may increase the concentration of oxygen and fuel in the combustion chambers of an internal combustion engine by increasing the flow of fuel and displacing environmental air flowing into the engine from the air intake ports with an oxygen rich supply of air. One such widely practiced method for increasing the concentration of oxygen supplied to the engine is to deliver oxygen via disassociated nitrous oxide (N2O) to the air intake manifold of the engine.
It is currently neither practical nor advantageous to continuously deliver nitrous oxide whenever the engine is running. Therefore, one problem presented in the development of an effective nitrous oxide and fuel delivery system is determining how to engage the system at a point in time so that the accelerated combustion rate and increased energy supplied by the concentrated oxidizing agent/fuel mixture will enhance the power delivered by the engine without harming the engine or other components of the vehicle.
Typically, the driver enables the nitrous oxide supply system by closing a switch. The nitrous oxide delivery system may immediately administer nitrous oxide and additional fuel after the driver closes the switch, or alternatively the system may be placed in a ready state which must wait for the occurrence of at least one other condition precedent such as the passage of a predetermined period of time. One problem with the immediate administration of the nitrous oxide after an operator closes a switch is that the environment in which the nitrous oxide is utilized (high speed racing) does not favor the added distraction of having to flip a switch during mid-race conditions where the driver's attention is preferably focused upon directing the path of the vehicle and not to manipulating a switch to engage nitrous oxide when certain conditions have been observed by the driver. Therefore, it is desirable to have a control unit within the vehicle to automatically activate the nitrous oxide delivery system when certain relevant vehicle operating conditions have been sensed by the control unit.
A prior nitrous oxide delivery system delays the delivery of nitrous oxide a pre-set period of time after the driver depresses the accelerator. However, waiting a predetermined period of time before engaging the nitrous oxide system fails to account for additional relevant parameters which benefit drivers particularly interested in obtaining and maintaining maximum speed in order to travel a distance in the shortest period of time. It is, therefore, often desirable to utilize a nitrous oxide system that delivers nitrous oxide and additional fuel in response to the occurrence of conditions precedent, other than the passage of time, which are relevant to the optimal operation of the engine and vehicle.
Another problem associated with vehicles powered by nitrous oxide enhanced air/fuel mixtures is the sudden, considerable, increase in power delivered by an engine when the nitrous oxide delivery system is engaged and the concentrated air/fuel mixture begins to power the engine. The sudden increase in torque and horsepower may destabilized the vehicle and cause the driver to lose control of the vehicle. It is thus desirable for the nitrous delivery system, upon demand, to increase to full output at a rate which will provide the maximum power while maintaining the stability of the vehicle.
If additional fuel is not provided to the cylinders when nitrous oxide is added to the air entering the combustion chambers, the air/fuel mixture may "lean out" and as a result detonate instead of burning in a controlled manner. To prevent detonation and obtain maximum engine performance while nitrous oxide is delivered to the air/fuel mixture, additional fuel is added. Prior nitrous oxide systems provide sufficient additional fuel to the cylinders to maintain an air/fuel ratio which provides enhanced power output without detonation when the air/fuel mixture is ignited in the engine.
A proper air/fuel ratio must be maintained within each cylinder in order to obtain the full benefit of the enhanced concentration of oxidizing agent and fuel in the cylinders and to prevent harm to the engine. Prior systems have administered the additional fuel by means of a spray bar mounted at the air intake manifold. This method presents the problem of non-uniform dispersion of the added fuel to each of the cylinders. The additional fuel, small droplets delivered by the spray bar, lacks the mobility which would enable the fuel to disperse evenly in the distinct directions of the air intakes of the individual cylinders. Furthermore, the fuel may accumulate on the sides of the air intake runners before entering the cylinders. The result of these combined factors is that the ratio of the air/fuel mixture cannot be precisely controlled in each of the cylinders. Due to the poor dispersion qualities of the fuel droplets emitted from the spray bar, some cylinders may contain lean air/fuel mixtures while others may contain mixtures which are too rich. It is desirable to precisely control the rate at which fuel is added to each cylinder so that each cylinder burns an optimal ratio of fuel and air.
The fuel/air mixture is ignited in the combustion chamber shortly before the piston reaches the highest position in the cylinder (i.e. the combustion cavity is at its smallest). The period between the ignition and the point where the piston reaches its highest point is called the "spark advance". Spark advance enables the burning gases to exert an optimal force upon the piston resulting in a desirable transmission of energy from the burning air/fuel mixture to the drive shaft coupled to the pistons. Prior systems have adjusted the timing of the ignition as a function of engine speed in order to obtain a favorable conversion of heat energy produced by the burning air/fuel mixture into kinetic energy. However, these systems did not inject nitrous oxide and thus did not address the unique timing problems posed in nitrous oxide burning systems.
When a nitrous oxide delivery system increases the density of the oxidizing agent in the cylinders by injecting nitrous oxide into the flow of air entering the cylinders, the air/fuel mixture burns at an accelerated rate and consequently the maximum pressure in the cylinder is reached at a faster rate than when only environmental air is used to burn the fuel in the cylinders. If the ignition controller does not adjust the spark timing in order to compensate for this faster burn rate when nitrous oxide is added to the air/fuel mixture, the explosive force of the burning gases, even without detonation, will reach a maximum before the piston reaches its highest point in the cylinder. The gases will therefore exert a downward force upon the piston while the crank shaft continues to force the piston upward in the cylinder. Allowing these two forces to oppose one another in the manner described above not only decreases engine power output, it may also damage the engine and/or power train. In order to prevent the counter-productive and possibly destructive opposition of forces described above, the spark advance should be decreased (i.e. "retarded") a calibrated, pre-set, amount when nitrous oxide is added to the air/fuel mixture in order to prevent the explosive force of the burning air/fuel mixture from reaching a maximum until after the piston is on its downward path.
Another sign of too much spark advance is engine knock. This may occur due to a lean air/fuel mixture or erroneous advance calibration by the system designer. It is therefore desirable to provide a knock sensor and to provide a means for adjusting the spark advance in order to eliminate engine knock.
In general, nitrous oxide enhances the power delivered by an engine at a given engine speed. Though it is possible to build an engine and power train strong enough to withstand the increased force delivered by a nitrous oxide burning engine, many vehicles were not designed to endure the increased maximum horsepower and torque delivered by nitrous oxide systems. It is therefore desirable in many instances to adjust the spark advance in order to realize the enhanced output power of an engine at the extreme engine speeds of a given engine's power spectrum and bleed off some of the enhanced power potential at certain engine speeds where the output power and/or torque exceed the structural limitations of the engine or power train.
It is also desirable to provide means for allowing the user of the nitrous oxide system to easily tune the operation of the system by modifying the preprogrammed spark advance values. However, if such modification mechanisms are available to the user, additional safeguards should be included to protect the engine and vehicle against erroneous input values which may destroy the engine and/or drive train.
The ideal quantity of fuel added to a given volume of air changes when environmental conditions change. The ideal amount of fuel is affected by such factors as air temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, and impurities. It is thus desirable for the fuel delivery to modify the amount of fuel delivered to the cylinders in response to changes in environmental conditions. Some prior art fuel delivery systems measure factors such as those listed above directly and adjust the fuel delivery rate accordingly. An alternative system known in the prior art reacts to the level of oxygen in the engine exhaust and adjusts the fuel supply in order to obtain favorable levels of certain exhaust gases. More particularly, prior systems position oxygen sensors in the exhaust path which abruptly change state and provide a signal when the air/fuel ratio rises above or falls below a specific ratio. A common switch point in the prior systems was a 14.7 to 1 ratio. However, these oxygen sensing systems provide neither the necessary feedback for maintaining the desired air/fuel mixture for nitrous oxide combustion nor the appropriate information for determining the degree to which the air/fuel ratio deviates from the ideal ratio.

Computer controlled flow of nitrous oxide injected into an internal combustion engine


A power semiconductor device includes a P type silicon substrate; a deep N well in the P type silicon substrate; a P grade region in the deep N well; a P+ drain region in the P grade region; a first STI region in the P grade region; a second STI region in the P grade region, wherein the first and second STI region isolate the P+ drain region; a third STI region in the deep N well; a gate electrode overlying an area between the second and third STI regions and covering a portion of the second STI region; a gate dielectric layer between the gate electrode and the P type silicon substrate; a P well formed at one side of the third STI region; and a P+ source region in the P well.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device having an IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor), and more particularly to a power semiconductor device integrating an LDMOS (lateral double-diffused metal oxide semiconductor) device with a lateral IGBT, which is fully compatible with CMOS process employing bulk silicon substrate.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Controllers, memories, circuits of low-voltage operation and power devices of high-voltage operation have been largely integrated together to achieve a single-chip system. The power device, such as vertical double-diffusion metal-oxide-semiconductor (VDMOS), insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) or lateral diffusion MOS (LDMOS), has been employed to increase power switching efficiency and decrease the loss of energy resources. It is often required that the switching transistors withstand high breakdown voltages and operate at a low on-resistance.
Double diffuse drain (DDD) technology has been extensively applied to the source/drain (S/D) in order to provide a higher breakdown voltage. The DDD structure suppresses the hot electron effect caused by the short channel of the MOS transistor to further avoid electrical breakdown of the source/drain under high operational voltages. The LDMOS transistors are particularly prevalent because they can operate with a high efficiency and their planar structure allows for easy integration on a semiconductor die with other circuitry.
The IGBT is a power semiconductor device having both a high speed switching property of a power MOSFET and a high output property of a bipolar transistor. For this reason, the IGBT devices are frequently used in the field of power electronics, such as an inverter, a switching power supply, or the like. Among the IGBTs, a lateral IGBT draws attention, since it is suitable for a high degree of integration level. Typically, the lateral IGBT is formed, using an SOI substrate, which requires extra masks and is thus more expensive.
It would be desirable in this industry to provide a power semiconductor device that integrates LDMOS with a lateral IGBT, which is CMOS compatible and employs bulk silicon substrate.


A system and method for performing high-resolution imagery of a target are provided. One embodiment is a method of performing high-resolution imagery of a target comprising: generating a chirped waveform that modulates a light signal transmitted toward a target for performing active LADAR of the target; generating a low-frequency local oscillator waveform for performing active imaging; and simultaneously performing passive imaging and active LADAR.

1. Technical Field
The invention relates to laser radar and passive imaging systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, there are a number of techniques for imaging with laser detection and ranging systems (LADAR). LADAR systems have the ability to collect high angular and range resolution imagery of camouflaged targets hidden in deep clutter. LADAR systems use a laser to illuminate an area of interest and, therefore, the resulting imagery is not affected by variations in background illumination or self-emission. However, if detected, the laser emission may be used to locate the position of the LADAR system. Furthermore, because the LADAR is typically designed with a limited amount of available laser power, LADAR systems generally operate over a narrow field-of-view (FOV).
Passive imaging systems, however, operate using the available background illumination from light sources such as the sun or self-emissions of radiation from a target. Because these radiation sources are subject to unpredictable variations for most cases, images derived from passive imaging systems may not be reliable. These variations may also lead to high false-alarm rates. Passive imaging systems, however, are covert because they do not rely on emissions of energy from the detection system to form an image. Furthermore, passive imaging systems may be designed with focal planes that contain a large number of pixels. Therefore, passive imaging systems typically have a wider FOV than LADAR systems.
Examples of laser detection, ranging, or passive imagery are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,608,514 (Stann et. al.), 5,877,851 (Stann et. al.), 6,618,125 (Stann), 6,844,924 (Ruff et. al.), and 6,522,393 (Higashino). Further, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,608,514 discloses a system where a detector is followed by a signal mixer; 5,877,851 discloses a system where an electro-optic light modulator is positioned in front of a detector; and 6,844,924 discloses a self-mixing detector, which is also referred to as a metal-semiconductor-metal or an MSM detector. All of the above patents are fully incorporated herein by reference.

Systems and methods for performing active LADAR and passive high resolution imagery

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army


Capacitive leadframe testing techniques are improved through knowledge of characteristics of semiconductor junctions specific to nodes of device under test (DUT) that are connected to nodes under test of the DUT.

Capacitive lead-frame sensing technologies are typically used to detect opens between an integrated circuit (IC) signal pin and a mounting substrate (e.g., a printed circuit board). The amplitude of the alternating current (AC) stimulus is normally set to a level that ensures that semiconductor junctions, from which the functional circuitry of the integrated circuit is formed, do not turn on. The primary concern with turning on semiconductor junctions is damage to the IC device being tested due to excessive current.
When semiconductor junctions are turned on, the current supplied from the stimulus must be limited in magnitude and duration to prevent damage. The traditional semiconductor junction turns on at an AC stimulus of approximately 700 mV peak. Thus, the typical AC test stimulus for capacitive lead-frame technologies has been set around 200 mV, at which it is assumed that the junction current is insignificant to device damage and measurement stability.
Semiconductor junctions in newer technologies do not necessarily turn on at the traditional 700 mV due to advancements in semiconductor processing technology (shrinking geometries, changes in doping materials and doping concentrations, etc.) Furthermore, the knee at which these newer semiconductor junctions turn on is not necessarily a sharp transition at a single threshold voltage, but instead is a curve that could transit a significant voltage range. It is also common for a single IC to contain multiple groups of pins that have different junction characteristics.
Almost all pins on modern ICs include some level of protection for electrostatic discharge (ESD). ESD protection circuits commonly incorporate one or more diodes (semiconductor junctions) designed to turn on and discharge energy before any damage is done to internal circuitry. A simple example of traditional ESD protection circuitry is shown in FIG. 1 for an example circuit device, shown at 1, that includes at least one input 2 and one output 8. As shown, the input 2 receives a signal INPUT to be driven to internal circuitry 5. ESD protection on the input 2 includes a first pair of diodes 3, 4 (one 3 forward biased from ground to the input node 2, and the other 4 forward biased from the input node 2 to the power source VCC), which protects the internal circuitry 5 connected to the input 2. ESD protection on the output 8 includes a second pair of diodes 6, 7 (one 6 forward biased from ground to the output 8, and the other 7 forward biased between from the output 8 to the power source VCC), which protects the internal circuitry 5 connected to the output 8.
When one refers to a diode "turning on", one is usually referring to the voltage level (typically referred to as the "threshold voltage") at which the forward conducting current becomes significant. In reality, diodes conduct some current even before the knee at which the current becomes exponentially greater. FIG. 2 shows the traditional diode curve that might be exhibited by the circuit in FIG. 1. Assuming that only one diode is forward conducting at once and that the other conducts a minuscule reverse current, the circuit in FIG. 1 reduces to a simple diode and can be understood using the simplified diode equation:
                    i        =                              I            0                                          (                                          e                                  qV                  nkT                                            -              1                        )                                              Equation                                                            (          1          )
where i is the diode current in amps, Io is the reverse saturation current in amps, q is the electron charge in coulombs, V is the diode voltage in volts, n is a dimensionless ideality factor, k is Boltzmann's constant, and T is the temperature in Kelvins.
As shown in FIG. 2, the circuit 1 in FIG. 1 has a recognizable forward conducting knee (shown at 15) of 700 mV at which the current is approximately 0.5 nA. The current at 200 mV (500 mV below the knee) is a mere 50 fA and unlikely to affect the capacitive lead-frame measurements.
The current-voltage (IV) curve of FIG. 2 is not necessarily representative of all semiconductor junctions in newer technologies. Moreover, not all newer technologies will use a simple protection circuit as shown in FIG. 1 because changing input/output (IO) standards may require protection of even lower voltage logic to higher energy levels.
An alternative circuit shown in FIG. 3 employs a two-stage approach to ESD protection of sensitive circuits. The behavior of the circuit in FIG. 3 cannot be modeled by Equation 1. Even though ESD protection circuits for newer technologies are not predictable, however, at the basic level they almost invariably consist of one or more semiconductor junctions that either explicitly or implicitly carry some of the same characteristics as a diode. One characteristic is a non-linear current-voltage (IV) curve similar in shape to the curve in FIG. 2 that results from the cumulative effects of the current through one or more junctions.
A second characteristic is a dependence of the current on temperature. Equation 1 explicitly includes temperature in the denominator of the exponential term. This would seem to imply that an increasing temperature causes a decrease in current for the diode (and thus any semiconductor junction with diode characteristics). The reality is normally the exact opposite because the reverse saturation component Io is also temperature dependent. The closer the applied voltage is to the forward conducting knee of the diode curve, the greater effect temperature will have on the current.
Capacitive lead-frame testing techniques rely on the ability of the tester to distinguish between very small differences in measured capacitance or measured current flow to allow the device tester to distinguish between the presence or non-presence of open, shorted, or otherwise defective joints of components of a device under test. Capacitive leadframe testing techniques are described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,557,209 to Crook et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,498,964 to Kerschner et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,420,500 to Kerschner, U.S. Pat. No. 5,254,953 to Crook et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,124,660 to Cilingiroglu, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference for all that they teach. In the past, as described previously, the geometry of the junctions were such that the traditional semiconductor junctions were characterized by a single threshold voltage—that is, all semiconductor junctions on a given device under test could be relied to turn on at or within a margin of error of a single threshold voltage (typically at approximately 700 mV). During a capacitive leadframe test, therefore, this allowed the use of a single universal stimulus voltage level for stimulating all nodes under test of the device. The typical AC test stimulus voltage for capacitive lead-frame technologies has been set around 200 mV, at which it could be assumed that the junction current is sufficiently low to eliminate risk of damage to the device under test.
However, because advancements in semiconductor processing technology (shrinking geometries, changes in doping materials and doping concentrations, etc.) has lead to semiconductor junctions that turn on not at a single threshold voltage (or sharp knee), but rather semiconductor junctions that may be characterized by different junction characteristics relative to one another, and that turn on over a significant range of the stimulus voltage, the use of a single universal value of the stimulus voltage applied to all nodes under test of a device during a capacitive lead-frame test may be inappropriate, inefficient, or even problematic. It would therefore be desirable to utilize knowledge of the characteristics of the individual semiconductor junctions of nodes of components of a device under test to improve capacitive lead-frame testing of electrical devices even as the underlying semiconductor processing technology is changing.

Method for using internal semiconductor junctions to aid in non-contact testing


An airbag cover and an airbag apparatus are provided which achieve cost reduction by integrally molding an instrument panel and an inner case as well as ensure the rigidity of the instrument panel without degrading the aesthetically pleasing of the instrument panel. An airbag cover according to one form of the present invention is an airbag cover that is formed by integrally molding a plate-like portion constituting a vehicle interior surface and an inner case that is disposed on the back face of the plate-like portion and constitutes an airbag inflation and deployment path, wherein the plate-like portion constitutes part of the instrument panel disposed in front of an occupant, and the inner case is formed in a position in front of an occupant in a passenger seat, and the side close to a driver's seat of the plate-like portion is formed so as to be disposed in the back of a convex portion formed in the middle of the instrument panel, into which onboard equipment is set.

A vehicle such as an automobile is generally provided with an airbag apparatus that deploys in a passenger compartment to restrain occupants in the event of an emergency such as a crash. Various types of airbag apparatuses have been developed and adopted as such an airbag, including a driver's airbag apparatus mounted inside a steering wheel, a passenger airbag apparatus mounted in an instrument panel, a side airbag apparatus mounted in a vehicle side door or an outboard side of a seat, and a knee airbag apparatus mounted under a dashboard. These airbag apparatuses are mounted inside a vehicle structure so as to be normally hidden, and are designed to split open part of the vehicle structure and inflate and deploy an airbag in a passenger compartment in the event of an emergency such as a crash. Accordingly, a fracture-opening section for an airbag must be normally covered so as to be merged with a vehicle interior surface panel, while it must split open so that an airbag smoothly and rapidly inflates and deploys in the event of an emergency.
The afore mentioned airbag apparatus includes an airbag that is normally stored in a folded state and inflates and deploys in case of an emergency, an inflator for supplying gas to the airbag, a retainer for housing the airbag, and an airbag cover that locks the retainer thereto and constitutes a vehicle interior surface panel. The airbag cover is a resin-molded, thin plate-like body and has a groove called a tear line formed on its back face. A door to be defined when the airbag cover splits open is rotatably supported by a hinge portion formed in the airbag cover and constitutes a fracture-opening section for inflating and deploying an airbag.
Various types of passenger airbag apparatuses to be mounted on an instrument panel have been developed as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2-171364 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-137057. The airbag apparatus disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2-171364 has an airbag cover that is formed so as to be slightly larger than an opening. During the early years of introduction of airbags, an airbag cover was often disposed only at a place necessary for the inflation and deployment of an airbag and was set into an instrument panel, as described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2-171364. However, such an airbag cover posed a problem in that it was not aesthetically pleasing because of its exposure to the front of an occupant and also it limited the flexibility of design.
As described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-137057, disposing an inner case having an airbag module on the back face of an instrument panel has recently become mainstream. In the case of an airbag apparatus of such a type, the instrument panel must be formed of a hard resin because of the necessity of rigidity so that it does not break away at the time of the inflation and deployment of an airbag. To attain this purpose, an inner case made of a soft resin is connected by welding to the back face of the instrument panel so that a door constituting an airbag fracture-opening section turns instead of breaking away.
However, in the case of an airbag apparatus described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-137057, an instrument panel and an inner case are separately constructed, which causes an increase in the number of parts and processes required for connecting them, resulting in an increase in the cost of an airbag apparatus.


Various sensor signals of an engine are A/D-converted by an A/D converter of a sub-microcomputer by an A/D conversion request from a main microcomputer. The A/D conversion is executed a plurality of times within one packet for important parameters in the various sensor signals in the A/D conversion request timing per constant time with a longer time interval than a time required for the A/D conversion by an A/D conversion request timing asynchronous to the A/D conversion request. Thereby, normal ones among a plurality of A/D-converted values A/D-converted by the A/D conversion request of the main microcomputer even if the preceding A/D conversion request is issued asynchronously to the A/D conversion request of the main microcomputer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle electronic control method and system for controlling a vehicle by using A/D-converted values of detection signals from various sensors for controlling the vehicle.
2. Related Art
Among systems in which electronic fuel injection (EFI), electronic ignition spark advance (ESA) and the like are processed in one electronic control unit (ECU), there has been known one in which a sub-microcomputer for discriminating whether or not there occurs a knock is separately constructed from a main microcomputer for performing the other vehicular controls because signal processing for the knock control is complicated.
There has been also known in which an A/D converter for A/D-converting (analog to digital converting) sensor signals from various sensors is built in the sub-microcomputer and an A/D conversion request is output from the main microcomputer to the sub-microcomputer.
In order to simplify the process for outputting the A/D conversion request in the microcomputer, it is proposed to cause the A/D converter to output the A/D conversion request to a plurality of channels in batch (continuously) by a hardware circuit different from a CPU within the microcomputer just by instructing the A/D conversion request time-synchronously by the CPU, i.e., at every constant time interval.
However, when this is adopted to the system having the knock control, A/D conversion of a knock signal for controlling the knock may be activated in the sub-microcomputer during when the A/D converter in the sub-microcomputer side executes the A/D conversion requested by the main microcomputer. It is because the A/D conversion process of the knock signal has to be executed time-asynchronously, more specifically, at every angular rotation of a crankshaft of an internal combustion engine.
Here, if the A/D conversion process in the A/D converter of the sub-microcomputer requested by the main microcomputer overlaps with the A/D conversion process for the knock control via the A/D converter of the sub-microcomputer itself, either one of the A/D-converted values will be necessarily broken. As the A/D-conversion for the knock control is preceded in the sub-microcomputer due to its importance in the vehicular control and the time synchronous A/D-converted value will be sent to the main microcomputer in the state where it is broken.
The A/D-converted values produced by the time-synchronous A/D conversion process also corresponds to important parameters, e.g., a parameter for finding a variation per constant time. Data of such parameters must be taken in corresponding to the output timing of the A/D conversion request. Thus, there will occur a problem that the vehicular control is troubled when the A/D-converted value is broken.

Vehicle electronic control using one A/D converter for time-synchronous and time-asynchronous A/D converter


The circuit includes a differential voltage/current converter (V/I) for connection to the sensor (S), a differential transresistance amplifier (TDA) whose inputs are connected to the outputs of the converter (V/I), and a double-ended/single-ended converter (D/S) connected to the outputs of the amplifier (TDA). The circuit is conveniently formed as an integrated circuit by CMOS P-well technology.

The present invention relates to a circuit for processing signals supplied by a zirconium-dioxide oxygen sensor or lambda probe, particularly for use as an interface circuit between such a sensor and an electronic control unit in a system for controlling the emissions of an internal combustion engine for motor vehicles.
More specifically, the invention concerns a circuit including a voltage/current converter with two input terminals for connection to the terminals of the oxygen sensor and an amplifier circuit connected to the output of the converter.
A circuit of this type is constituted by the integrated device LM1964 which is produced and marketed by National Semiconductors. The structure of this known device is described in the article "Instrumentation Amplifier ICs Designed for Oxygen Sensor Interface Requirements" by B. D. Miller and L. R. Sample, IEEE Journal of Solid-state Circuits, Vol. SC-16, No. 6, December 1981.
The known circuit described in this article includes a voltage/current converter in which the input signal from the sensor is processed differentially but the voltage/current conversion is carried out non-differentially with an open loop so that errors which depend on the integration process in the circuit (current and offset bias errors, transistor amplification, Early effect) are introduced. The voltage/current converter is connected to a non-inverting amplifier which further amplifies the errors introduced during the conversion. The amplification characteristics of the integrated circuit LM1964 therefore depend not only on the ratio between the resistances of some resistors, but also on the "matching" of the active components. The device, which has seven terminals or pins for external connections, thus has a good twenty terminals or pins altogether, thirteen of which serve for the calibration of the characteristics of internal generators, the offsets and the gains. The device is expensive and delicate because of the numerous calibration operations needed. Moreover, it requires two different supply voltages (+5 and +12V).

Circuit for processing signals supplied by a zirconium-type oxygen sensor


A dermatitis-curing agent, characterized by comprising (A) a zinc compound and (B) at least one compound selected from the group consisting of multivalent unsaturated fatty acids and their esters as effective components is very effective for enteropathic acrodermatitis syndrome, and seborrheic dermatitis, psoriasis vulgaris, bullous dermatitis and puritus cutaneus, which show similar skin symptoms, or for symtoms due to zinc deficiency caused by injuries, burn injuries and frostbites.

Zinc (Zn) is a trace element contained in a high concentration next to iron throughout all the tissues and body fluids of human beings.
Physiological actions of zinc relate to, for example, growth, skeleton growth, activation of metabolism of skin and its related organs, maintenance of reproductive functions, maintenance of gustatory sensation and olfactory sensation, effects on mental conditions and action, improvement of immunological functions, etc.
Enteropathic acrodermatitis syndrome known as a recessive hereditary disease, whose main symptom is a characteristic tetter, is obviously due to zinc deficiency. Furthermore, it is reported that in the long-term intravenous zinc-deficient nutrition practice similar symptom to enteropathic acrodermatitis syndrome appears. Still furthermore, it is confirmed and reported that even in skin diseases showing common observations to those of enteropathic acrodermatitis syndrome, such as seborrheic dermatitis, psoriasis vulgaris, bullous dermatitis, pruritus cutaneus, etc. or even in case of injuries, burn injuries, frostbites, a blood zinc concentration is lowered, often resulting in zinc deficiency.
It is known, on the other hand, that when zinc is excessively taken in, there occur diarrhea, stomach erosion, decrease in plasma HDL cholesterol, etc. and in serious cases there occurs dehydration.
Fatty acids having 16 to 22 carbon atoms and at least two double bonds such as linoleic acid, .gamma.-linolenic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), arachidonic acid (Ara), dihomo-.gamma.-linolenic acid (DGLA), etc. are called generally multivalent unsaturated fatty acids, and constitute cell membranes as major components and furthermore take part in control of membrane fluidity, etc. Still furthermore, they have an antilipotropic action, an antiinflammatory action and an antithrombotic action. Still furthermore, they are important precursors for prostaglandins (PG) having functions to control an immunological system, a circulatory system, a hormone secretory system, etc.
There are many reports that linoleic acid has an action to retain water in the skin and effects on prevention of adult diseases caused by excessive intake of animal fat containing a large amount of saturated fatty acids as one factor, such as an action to lower a blood cholesterol concentration, an anti-cancer action, etc.
It is reported that .gamma.-linolenic acid has a stronger action to lower a blood cholesterol concentration than linoleic acid, an anti-allergic action, an effect on atopic dermatitis, control of fatty liver due to alcohol intake, relief of menstruation pain, etc.
It is reported that EPA has many physiological functions such as an antithrombotic action, an antilipotropic action, a hypotensive action, an antiinflammatory action, an anti-allergic action, etc.
It is reported that DHA has physiological actions on the cranial nerve system such as an action to improve the visual acuity reduction, an effect on improvement of memory and learning ability, an essential component of mother's milk for brain growth, etc.
It is reported that Ara has physiological actions such as an action as an essential fatty acid, an action to suppress skin psoriasis, an action to protect the stomach wall, an action to lower a blood cholesterol concentration, a liver-protecting action such as prevention of fatty liver, etc., an important substance for growth of fetal bodies or brains, etc.
It is reported that DGLA has similar physiological actions to those of .gamma.-linolenic acid and further has an action as a PG1 group precursor and such physiological actions as an anti-thrombotic action, a hypotensive action, an anti-dyskinesia action, etc.


The instant application discloses, among other things, techniques to allow multiple tiles containing various types of sensors to be connected via a network to a number of other tiles and a computer, with automatic virtual orientation of the tiles and fast data transmission. Data may be collected by a central processor from four quarter tiles and transmitted to the computer for analysis. Information obtained from the analysis may include, but is not limited to, gait analysis, identity of people on a floor, and safety issues (detecting someone has fallen, for example).

Pressure measuring mats are used for a variety of purposes, including gait analysis and fall detection. A grid of pressure measuring sensors may be embedded in a mat, with the sensors electrically coupled to a computer. The computer may then display an image of the readings from the sensors, or may do an analysis of the values over time.


A transfer film (1) having a print pattern is floated on a liquid surface (12A) within a transfer bath and a transfer objective body (2) is immersed into a liquid (12) within the transfer bath together with the transfer film (1) whereby the print pattern on the transfer film (1) is transferred onto the surface of the transfer objective body (2) using a liquid pressure. The surface portion of the transfer objective body (2) on which the print pattern should be transferred is immersed under the liquid surface (12A) while the surface portion of the transfer objective body follows the transfer film (1) so as to be developed thereon in a plane manner by rolling the surface portion of the transfer objective body (2) on the transfer film (1). The transfer surface (2a) of the transfer objective body (2) and the print pattern on the transfer film (1) are closely attached to each other as if they are adhered in a manner faced to each other with the same area and as a result, the print pattern is closely adhered all over the surface of the transfer objective body (2).

This invention pertains to a method of printing a print pattern by transferring it on a transfer objective body having a three-dimensional surface such as a curved surface or the like by using a liquid pressure on an objective article (a body onto which the print pattern should be transferred) and more particularly, this invention pertains to a method of transferring the predetermined print pattern by using the liquid pressure on the transfer objective body having a relatively larger transfer face area such as a fender, a door, a bonnet or the like of a car, for example.
Furthermore, this invention pertains to an apparatus useful for practicing the aforementioned method and also to a liquid pressure pattern-transferred article formed by the aforementioned method.
A so-called liquid pressure transfer method has been used for printing various patterns onto a transfer objective body or article having a complicated surface configuration. Typically, this liquid pressure transfer method is one in which a liquid-soluble pattern transfer film having a predetermined print pattern of no liquid solution provided thereon is floated on a surface of a liquid flowing within a transfer bath and is made swollen by the liquid and then the transfer objective body is immersed into the liquid within the transfer bath while it contacts the transfer film and has the print pattern transferred from the transfer film by using a liquid pressure.
In a prior art, the transfer objective bodies are sequentially supported on a plurality of holding frames which are mounted on a reversely triangular conveyor in a spaced manner while the reversely triangular conveyor is disposed so that a conveyor portion adjacent to an underside apex of the triangular conveyor is immersed into the liquid. The reversely triangular conveyor conveys the transfer objective bodies so that each of the objective bodies contacts the liquid within the transfer bath just before or upstream of the underside apex conveyor portion going to be immersed into the liquid, is then immersed into the liquid and leaves the liquid on the opposite side or downstream of the underside apex conveyor portion whereby the pattern-transferred objective bodies are pulled out of the transfer bath (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,436,571 specification and Japanese patent Application Publication No. 13064/1991 (JP3-13064)).
According to the prior art, the transfer objective body is immersed into the liquid with the transfer bath at a constant velocity while it is held onto the reversely triangular conveyor with the same pose maintained. Thus, it will be noted that the condition in which the surface of the transfer objective body contacts the transfer film remarkably varies in accordance with variation in a three-dimensional configuration of the surface of the transfer objective body.
More particularly, many transfer objective bodies have a surface varying in a three-dimensionally complicated manner except to a plane article. If such a whole transfer objective body is immersed into the liquid by the conveyor with the same pose maintained, the relationship of position-between the individual portions of the transfer objective body being immersed into the liquid and the transfer film floating on the transfer bath remarkably varies on the surface configuration or profile of the transfer objective body.
In case that the transfer objective body is small-sized, a radius of curvature of the surface of the transfer objective body is relatively smaller and has a smaller area of the individual portions having the three-dimensional surface different from each other even though the surface configuration of the transfer objective body largely varies or is complicated whereby the three-dimensional configuration (a curvature, for example) mutually varies. Therefore, the print pattern is transferred onto such surface portions of the transfer objective body having the three-dimensional configuration different from each other without having such remarkable variation in appearance as adversely affects the transferred pattern.
However, in case that the print pattern on the transfer film is transferred onto a relatively larger body such as a car panel including a fender, a door, a bonnet, a bumper of a car or the like by using the liquid pressure transfer method, the radius of curvature of the individual surface portions having the three-dimensional configuration different from each other is larger and as a result, the area of the individual surface portions gets larger. As such a transfer objective body is immersed into the liquid with the same pose, the print pattern is transferred onto the individual surface portions on the conditions different from each other and as a result, the transferred pattern on the whole transfer objective body is made irregular whereby the appearance of the transfer objective body tends to be deteriorated.
This tendency gets remarkable particularly in case that the surface portion of the transfer objective body which is just going to be immersed into the liquid greatly protrudes toward the liquid surface or toward the side opposite thereto. More particularly, in case that the surface portion of the transfer objective body which is just going to be immersed into the liquid greatly protrudes toward the liquid surface (or dent on the side opposite to the transfer film), the print pattern on the transfer film is extended due to the protruding surface of the transfer objective body so that the pattern is distorted (deformed) or so that the thickness or density of the ink of the print pattern is lowered. Similarly, in case that the surface portion of the transfer objective body which is just going to be immersed into the liquid greatly dents on the side opposite to the transfer film (or protrudes toward the side opposite to the transferring film), the print pattern on the transfer film is extended due to the protruding surface of the transfer objective body so that the pattern is distorted (deformed) or so that the thickness of the ink of the print pattern is lowered. Thus, in both of the aforementioned cases, the transfer objective body cannot disadvantageously provide good appearance.
Generally, the transfer film has a transferring pattern painted while it extends in a uniform direction (such as in a longitudinal direction, for example). As the printed pattern is transferred onto the transfer objective body such as a fender of a car or the like having a surface curved in a curved line, but not extending in a rectilinear line in a longitudinal direction while being used together with other transfer objective body or bodies such as a door of the car or the like having a surface extending in a rectilinear line in a longitudinal direction, the patterns transferred onto these objective bodies get disunited. Thus, an article formed of a combination of these objective bodies has an extremely poor surface appearance.
A large-sized article such as a door panel of a car is sometimes required to have along an edge of a back face thereof the same transferred pattern as that on the surface thereof in a successive manner. Such an operation of transferring on the back face cannot be effectively made by the prior art in which the transfer objective body is immersed into the liquid with the same pose.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the invention to provide a liquid pressure transfer method and an apparatus therefor adapted to provide satisfactory transfer characteristics having no deformation and no thinner color of a transferred pattern even though a transfer objective body onto has a large-sized and complicated surface configuration.
It is another object of the invention to provide a liquid pressure transfer method and an apparatus therefor adapted to apply onto a surface of a transfer objective body a transferred pattern extending in an appropriate direction even though the transfer objective body extends not along a linear line in a longitudinal direction, but along a complicated line such as a curved line.
It is another object of the invention to provide a liquid pressure transfer method and an apparatus therefor adapted to effectively apply a transferred pattern not only onto a surface of a transfer objective body, but also onto a back face succeeding the surface thereof.
It is another object of the invention to provide a liquid pressure transfer apparatus adapted to effectively apply a transferred pattern onto a transfer objective body having a large-sized and complicated configuration.
It is another object of the invention to provide a liquid pressure pattern-transferred article having a good appearance without making a transferred pattern unclear or without disarranging the transferred pattern relative to a direction in which the transfer objective body extends although it has a large sized and complicated configuration.
Firstly, this invention pertains to an improvement on a liquid pressure transfer method of transferring a print pattern on a transfer film floating on a surface of a liquid within a transfer bath by immersing a transfer objective body into the liquid while it is faced to the transfer film. This method may be of a transfer film feeding system in which the transfer film is fed on the surface of the liquid within the transfer bath at a given feeding velocity or of a transfer film stationary system in which the transfer film floats on the surface of the liquid within the transfer bath in a stationary manner while is placed on the liquid surface by a batch system. Since an activator is sprayed onto the transfer film on the surface of the liquid within the transfer bath by using a sprayer or the like so as to make an ink of the print pattern humid, the condition in which the ink on the transferred film is activated never varies on the area portions thereof and thus the area where the transfer objective body is immersed into the liquid may be set voluntarily.
A first method of the invention is to fundamentally immerse a transfer objective body into a liquid while a pose of the transfer objective body is controlled so that the transfer objective body contacts the surface of the transfer film following the transfer objective body whereby the surface of the transfer objective body onto which a print pattern should be transferred is developed on the surface of the transfer film in a plane manner relative thereto.
This can be ideally accomplished by supposing an imaginary development face on the transfer film within the transfer bath so as to be identical to a face obtained by developing in a plane manner the surface of the transfer objective body onto which the print pattern should be transferred and then immersing the transfer objective body into the liquid while the pose of the transfer objective body is so controlled that the surface of the transfer objective body follows the surface of the transfer film whereby the transfer surface of the transfer objective body is identical to the imaginary development on the transfer film. However, since it is difficult that the transfer surface of the transfer objective body follows the surface of the transfer film in the same manner as it does ideally, the transfer surface of the transfer objective body will practically follow the surface of the transfer film in the almost ideal condition.
In one embodiment of the invention, this can be accomplished by sequentially rolling on the surface of the transfer film the face of the transfer objective body onto which the print pattern should be transferred (which will be referred to as xe2x80x9ctransfer facexe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cdecoration facexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cdesign facexe2x80x9d hereinafter) so that the transfer surface of the transfer objective body is substantially identical to the imaginary development face on the transfer film.
Rolling the transfer objective body may be made preferably in all radial directions of the transfer objective body, but as it tries to be made in all the radial directions, the pose of the transfer objective body when immersed will get complicated. Thus, in practice, rolling will be made along a central cross section in its longitudinal direction and its transverse direction for every large-sized surface portion of the transfer objective body forming the surface configuration of the transfer objective body just contacting the liquid.
A system of rolling the transfer objective body will effectively work in case that the transfer face of the transfer objective body (decoration face or design face) is only on the surface (front face) thereof, but in case that the transfer face of the transfer objective body is also on a back face, rolling will not work on this back transfer face.
Another embodiment of the invention described herein just below will effectively work for such a back transfer face. In this embodiment, the transfer objective body enters the liquid while it is lowered in such a condition as the surface of the transfer objective body is inclined and with one of the edges of the transfer objective body being directed toward the surface of the transfer film and thereafter it is immersed into the liquid while it is lowered obliquely downward with a such a pose as the transfer face of the transfer objective body contacts the transfer film while it follows the surface of the transfer film so that the surface of the transfer objective body is developed on the surface of the transfer film in a plane manner. As one of the edges is lowered and enters the liquid together with the transfer film, a portion of the transfer film succeeding the portion of the transfer film adhering to the surface of the transfer objective body is drawn closer to the edge of the back face of the transfer objective body so as to cover the edge of the back face until the print pattern on the transfer film is successively transferred on the surface and back face of the transfer objective body.
Thereafter, as the transfer objective body is lowered into the liquid obliquely downward while the transfer objective body is maintained in the inclined condition, the front transfer face of the transfer objective body enters the liquid while contacting the surface of the transfer film as if the front transfer face is developed in a plane manner on the surface of the transfer film portion succeeding the transfer film portion adhering to the back edge of the transfer objective body.
Thus, as the transfer objective body is developed on the transfer film by such a transfer objective body oblique lowering system, there can be provided the transfer objective body having a decoration faces succeeding on the front face and the back face of the transfer objective body.
In either of the transfer rolling system and the transfer objective body oblique lowering system, the transfer objective body is required to enter the liquid so that no air pocket is formed between the surface of the transfer objective body and the transfer film. This can be accomplished by an operation in which the transfer objective body enters the liquid without closing a dent possibly forming the air pocket. This can prevent air from being involved in the dent.
In case that the method of the invention is of a transfer film feeding system in which the transfer film is successively fed into the transfer bath, the transfer objective body should enter the liquid preferably at a position most suitable for transferring the print pattern with the transfer film perfectly activated within the transfer bath and then fully swollen by the liquid within the transfer bath. If the liquid entrance position of the transfer objective body is shifted on an upstream side in a direction of feeding the transfer film, the print pattern will be transferred in the condition in which the transfer film is not perfectly activated and the ink of the print pattern is not swollen, which causes undesirable pattern discontinuation and wrinkles of the transferred pattern to occur.
Also, in case that the method of the invention is of a transfer film feeding system in which the transfer film is successively fed into the transfer bath, the transfer objective body desirably enters the liquid so that the surface of the transfer objective body contacts the transfer film at a velocity corresponding to the feeding velocity of the transfer film.
However, in the invention, the liquid entrance velocity of the transfer objective body is not required to correspond to the feeding velocity of the transfer film in all cases, but in some cases, it may be later or earlier than the feeding velocity of the transfer film in accordance with liquid entrance conditions such as a liquid entrance angle of the transfer objective body or arbitrarily. Arbitrary variation in the liquid entrance velocity may be made in case that a color tone of the whole decoration face of the transfer objective body is required to vary or the pattern is required to be adjusted, for example.
Furthermore, the transfer face portion of the transfer objective body ideally enters the liquid while it follows the transfer film so as to be developed on the transfer film in a plane manner and it is also required to consider that no air is involved between the transfer objective body and the transfer film. To this end, an angle (liquid entrance angle) of the surface portion of the transfer objective body just entering the liquid relative to the liquid surface may be set preferably from 10xc2x0 through 170xc2x0.
If the liquid entrance angle is less than 10xc2x0, the air will be easily involved while if the liquid entrance angle is more than 170xc2x0, the transfer film will be poorly wrapped whereby the pattern discontinuation undesirably tends to occur.
The liquid entrance angle of 10xc2x0 or more than to less than 90xc2x0 implies that the transfer face portion of the transfer objective body enters the liquid while it is inclined in the same direction as the direction of feeding the transfer film, the liquid entrance angle of over 90xc2x0 to 170xc2x0 implies that the transfer face portion of the transfer objective body enters the liquid while it is inclined in the direction reverse to the direction of feeding the transfer film and the liquid entrance angle of 90xc2x0 implies that the transfer face portion of the transfer objective body enters the liquid at a right angle relative to the liquid surface.
In case that the transfer face portion of the transfer objective body extends not only over the front face thereof, but also along the edge of the back face succeeding the front face of the transfer objective body, it is required to enter the liquid so that the transfer film is wrapped around the transfer back face (the back edge) as already described. Also in this case, the liquid entrance angle should be set from 10xc2x0 through 170xc2x0.
As the transfer face of the transfer objective body has a dent in the condition that the transfer objective body enters the liquid in an inclined manner at the normal entrance angle while the transfer face including the dent is closed relative to the liquid surface, the air pocket will be formed between the face portion including the dent and the transfer film. Therefore, in this case, the transfer objective body is required to enter the liquid while the transfer face portion is directed upwardly relative to the liquid surface so that the transfer face portion corresponding to the edge of the dent (a border portion) is never closed. In this manner, no air remains in the dent and as a result, the print pattern is prevented from being not adhered to the transfer face of the transfer objective body due to the formation of the air pocket.
Preferably, the transfer objective body may have a plurality of sections divided on the just entering surface portion thereof along the longitudinal direction. There may be set each of the sections for every different surface configuration such as every portion having a protrusion on the side of the transfer film, every portion having a dent thereon or every portion having a protrusion or a dent, but having variation in the radius of curvature, for example. The liquid entrance conditions such as the liquid entrance pose (including the liquid entrance angle), the liquid entrance velocity and so on are set for every section in accordance with the surface configuration of every section.
The method of the invention may be accomplished by previously storing the liquid entrance conditions such as a pose mode in which the transfer objective body enters the liquid so that the transfer objective body follows the transfer film while the transfer face portion of the transfer objective body is developed on the transfer film in a plane manner, a substantially constant liquid contact position where the surface portion of the transfer objective body contacts the liquid if necessary (in case of the transfer film feeding system), the liquid entrance velocity, which are set for every surface portion such as the section of the transfer objective body) just entering the liquid and conveying the transfer objective body while the liquid entrance pose and so on are controlled for every the surface portion of the transfer objective body in accordance with the previously stored data.
The pose mode when the transfer objective body enters the liquid may be preferably set for every section and therefore transfer objective body conveyance control means stores the pose mode different for every section and controls the conveyance pose of the transfer objective body based on the pose mode set for every section just entering the liquid within the transfer bath.
Secondly, this invention pertains to a liquid pressure transfer apparatus comprising a transfer bath to float a transfer film having a predetermined print pattern and transfer the print pattern on a transfer objective body while a liquid pressure is applied to the transfer objective body and transfer objective conveyance means to convey the transfer objective body so that the surface portions of the transfer objective body sequentially enter the liquid in a manner faced to the transfer film within the transfer bath whereby the print pattern on the transfer film is transferred onto the transfer objective body using the liquid pressure and then move the pattern-transferred surface portions of the transfer objective body away from the liquid surface within the transfer bath whereby the transfer objective body is sequentially taken out of the transfer bath.
The apparatus of the invention is characterized by including transfer objective body conveyance control means to control a pose of the transfer objective body so that the transfer face of the transfer objective body enters the liquid while the transfer objective body follows the transfer film so that the transfer face of the transfer objective body is developed onto the surface of the transfer film within the transfer bath in a plane manner.
In the apparatus of the invention, the transfer objective body conveyance control means is so constructed as to control the entrance of the transfer objective body into the liquid by the aforementioned method. This transfer objective body conveyance control means conveys the transfer objective body while controlling the pose of the transfer objective body so that the transfer objective body enters the liquid while it is contacting the transfer film with the pose of the transfer objective body rolling system or the transfer objective body oblique lowering system.
In the transfer objective body conveyance control means, the liquid entrance conditions of the transfer objective body may be preferably set for each of a plurality of sections into which the transfer objective body is divided along the liquid entrance direction. The sections may be individually formed based on the portions which have a surface configuration largely different from each other and the central line of each of the sections should be set while right and left three-dimensional configurations of each of the transfer objective body sections are considered so that they are balanced in a transverse direction.
The transfer objective body conveyance control means previously stores the liquid entrance conditions such as the pose mode (including the liquid entrance angle) set so that every transfer face portion of the transfer objective body enters the liquid while it is developed on the transfer film in a plane manner, the predetermined liquid entrance velocity set for every transfer face portion, a liquid contact position (in case of the transfer film feeding system) set for every transfer face portion and so on and controls the poses of the transfer objective body and other conditions on the conveyance of the transfer objective body based on the data previously stored in this manner.
As already described, the liquid entrance conditions including the pose mode and so on when the transfer objective body enters the liquid may be preferably set for every section and therefore the transfer objective body conveyance control means stores the pose mode different for every section and controls the conveyance pose of the transfer objective body based on the pose mode set for every section just entering the liquid within the transfer bath.
Since the transfer objective body has the liquid entrance pose varied whenever the end of each of the sections reaches the liquid, as the transfer objective body is controlled based on the variation in the liquid entrance pose, the transfer objective body will be conveyed in a stepped manner because it is subject to abrupt variation in the liquid entrance pose and so on whenever the liquid entrance of the transfer objective body changed from one section to another section. In order to avoid this, the transfer objective body conveyance control means preferably controls the conveyance of the transfer objective body so that the liquid entrance pose and so on vary in a smooth manner by applying a smoothing command to the transfer objective body conveyance control means before and after the sections are switched.
In the apparatus of the invention, the transfer objective body conveyance means may preferably comprise a plurality of carrying-in transfer objective body conveyance units disposed in a manner spaced to each other in a position adjacent to a liquid contact position of the transfer bath where the transfer object body contacts the liquid and at least one carrying-out transfer objective body conveyance unit disposed in a position adjacent to a transfer objective body taking out position of the transfer bath.
Thirdly, this invention pertains to a liquid pressure pattern-transferred article which is characterized by being formed by transferring the print pattern onto the transfer objective body by the aforementioned method.
The transfer objective body to which the invention may be applied is an article of which the liquid entrance face contacts the surface of the transfer film with the contact area remarkably different from each other if it enters the liquid with the same pose maintained and there are a fender, a door, a bonnet, a bumper of a small-sized car and so on as such an article. It should be noted that such an article may include one used in various fields other than the outer panels of the car.
In this manner, as the pose of the transfer objective body is controlled so that the face (transfer face) of the transfer objective body onto which the print pattern should be transferred enters the liquid while it follows the transfer film so that the transfer face is developed on the surface of the transfer film in the plane manner, in case that the transfer objective body is a large-sized one such as the car panel including the fender, the door or the bonnet of the small-sized car, for example, which has a large radius of curvature, a large area of the curved portion and large areas of adjacent portions on both sides of the curved portion even though it has a small value of angle variation of the curved portion, the transfer objective body enters the liquid while all the surface portions of the transfer objective body contact the surface of the transfer film with the substantially identical contact area in accordance with variation in the surface configuration of the transfer objective body so that the print pattern on the transfer film is transferred onto the surface of the transfer objective body. This prevents the print pattern which should be transferred from being extended and thinned in its color. This allows the print pattern to be satisfactorily attached all over the surface portions of the transfer objective body and therefore the pattern transferred onto the transfer objective body is maintained uniformly and an intended expression of design can be obtained on the transfer objective body.
A movement of the transfer objective body for contacting the transfer film while it follows the transfer film so as to be developed thereon can be easily accomplished by rolling the transfer face of the transfer objective body on the surface of the transfer film or lowering the transfer objective body obliquely downward relative to the surface of the transfer film.
Even though the transfer face of the transfer objective body has a dent, the transfer objective body can enter the liquid while the transfer face thereof is opened when the edge of the dent enters the liquid. This can effectively avoid such an air pocket as obstructs the print pattern from being closely attached to the transfer objective body.
As the liquid entrance conditions such as the liquid entrance pose (including the liquid entrance angle), the liquid entrance position, the liquid entrance velocity or the like are set for each of a plurality of sections into which the transfer objective body is divided for the portions which have a surface configuration largely different from each other, the conditions necessary for entering the liquid in the same conditions as the transfer face of the transfer objective body is developed on the surface of the transfer film in the plane manner can be easily obtained and as a result, the liquid entrance of the transfer objective body can be easily controlled.
In the liquid pressure transfer technique according to the transfer film feeding system, as the transfer face of the transfer objective body is so set to enter the liquid at the substantially identical position (the liquid entrance position) in the direction in which the liquid flows, the transfer objective body immersed into the liquid at the position where the ink forming the print pattern on the transfer film always has a uniform degree of re-tackiness and a uniform degree of swell. This serves to improve the transfer characteristics together with the principle that the surface of the transfer objective body enters the liquid while it contacts the transfer film in a plane manner.
Furthermore, as the liquid entrance conditions such as the pose modes (including the liquid entrance angle) set so that every transfer face portion of the transfer objective body enters the liquid while it is developed on the transfer film in the plane manner, the substantially constant liquid entrance position where the face portion of the transfer objective body enters the liquid and the predetermined liquid entrance velocity set for every transfer face portion (the two latters thereof set only in case of the transfer film feeding system) are previously stored and as the liquid entrance conditions such as the poses of the transfer objective body on the conveyance of the transfer objective body are controlled in accordance with the previously stored data, the operation of transferring the print pattern on various transfer objective bodies can be promptly made by changing record medium having the liquid entrance conditions previously stored for every kind of the transfer objective body or by switching the areas in which the data are written.
The data written areas may be switched on an identification which can be made by detecting an indication such as hole, notch or the like provided in a holder for the transfer objective body by a suitable detector such as a proximity switch, a limit switch or an optical switch (sensor) so that the kind of the transfer objective bodies (articles) on the holder therefor is recognized.
In the apparatus of the invention, as the transfer objective body conveyance means comprises the plurality of carrying-in transfer objective body conveyance units disposed in a manner spaced to each other in the position adjacent to the transfer objective body liquid entrance position of the transfer bath and at least one carrying-out transfer objective body conveyance unit disposed in the position adjacent to the transfer objective body taking out position of the transfer bath, the plurality of the carrying-in transfer objective body conveyance units can be alternately used for sequentially carrying in each one of the transfer objective bodies to the transfer objective body liquid entrance area and deliver these transfer objective bodies to the carrying-out transfer objective body conveyance unit at the transfer objective body liquid take-off area.
Thus, one of the carrying-in transfer objective body conveyance units which previously carries in the transfer objective body can be rapidly returned to the carrying-in start position while another carrying-in transfer objective body conveyance unit is carrying in the next transfer objective body and therefore, the number of the transfer objective bodies onto which the print pattern should be transferred per unit time can increase whereby the liquid pressure transfer operation can be more effectively made.
In particular, since the moving velocity of the carrying-in transfer objective body conveyance units is relatively later after the transfer objective body enters the liquid until it leaves the liquid (while it is immersed into the liquid), if the transfer operation would be made for many transfer objective bodies using only one carrying-in transfer objective body conveyance unit, it will take much time that the single transfer objective body conveyance unit carries in the transfer objective body and delivers the pattern-transferred objective body to the carrying-out transfer objective body conveyance unit. Thus, the transfer operation for the adjacent transfer objective bodies cannot be over in short time. However, with the plurality of carrying-in transfer objective body conveyance units used, while one of the carrying-in transfer objective body conveyance units is carrying in the transfer objective body, the other carrying-in transfer objective body conveyance unit can be rapidly returned to the carrying-in start position. Therefore, the next transfer objective body can be soon carried in to the transfer position succeeding the former transfer objective body. Thus, it will be noted that the print pattern can be more effectively transferred onto more transfer objective bodies with a relatively shorter space by the two carrying-in transfer objective body conveyance units.
As the liquid pressure transferred articles are produced with the liquid entrance surface portion of the transfer objective body immersed into the liquid with such a pose as the surface portion is developed on the surface of the transfer film in the plane manner, it can have a good appearance without any obscure pattern transferred even though it has a large sized and complicated configuration.

Hydraulic transfer method and device and hydraulic-transfer article


An amplifier module includes a magnitude detector configured to detect a magnitude of a reflection coefficient, and a phase detector configured to detect a phase of the reflection coefficient. The magnitude detector includes an incident signal amplifier configured to amplify an incident signal, an output level controller configured control a level of an output of the incident signal amplifier, a reflected signal amplifier configured to amplify a reflected signal, and a comparator configured to compare an output of the incident signal amplifier with an output of the reflected signal amplifier to output a comparison result indicating whether the magnitude of the reflection coefficient is equal to or greater than a threshold determined based on the control signal.

An impedance of an antenna in a radio frequency (RF) signal transmitter is influenced by variances in the environment surrounding the antenna such as an approach of an automobile or physical contact by a user. Variation in the impedance may cause a mismatch between the impedance of the antenna and that of a power amplifier supplying a signal to the antenna, and may adversely affect the performance of wireless communications. In particular, such mismatch may generate a reflected signal flowing from the antenna to the power amplifier, causing interference among signals within the signal transmitter, and a reduction in performance or efficiency of the signal transmitter.
What is needed, therefore, is an apparatus that overcomes at least the shortcomings of the known signal transmitter discussed above.

Avago Technologies General IP (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.


An arrangement and method for channel mapping in a UTRA TDD HSDPA wireless communication system by applying interleaving functions in first (530) and second (540) interleaving means to a bit sequence to produce symbols for mapping to physical channels, the first and second interleaving means being arranged to map symbols from respectively systematic and parity bits in a predetermined scheme, e.g., mapping symbols in a forward direction when a channel has an even index number, and in a reverse direction when a channel has an odd index number. The symbols may comprise bit-pairs, each of a systematic bit and parity bit.

In the field of this invention it is known that for TDD HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) a HS-DSCH (High Speed-Downlink Shared CHannel) transport channel can use QPSK (Quadrature Phase Shift Key) or 16QAM (16-level Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) modulation. In the case of 16QAM modulation, 4 bits are mapped to a 16 level signal (composed of 4 in-phase levels and 4 quadrature levels). Two of the mapped bits have a higher reliability than the other two mapped bits (the bits to be modulated can thus be classified as being "high reliability bits" or "low reliability bits").
HS-DSCH channel coding is known to use turbo codes. It is well known that performance of a turbo code can be improved if the systematic bits produced by the turbo coder are received with a greater reliability than the parity bits. It is thus natural to attempt to map the systematic bits from the output of the turbo coder to the "high reliability bits" within the 16QAM constellation and the parity bits to the "low reliability bits" within the 16QAM constellation. This scheme is known as "bit priority mapping".
Bit priority mapping is known to be implemented for FDD (Frequency Division Duplex) HSDPA using a "HARQ (Hybrid Automatic-Repeat-Request) bit collection interleaver" followed by an "HS-DSCH interleaver". The "HARQ bit collection interleaver" arranges the bits at the output of the physical layer hybrid ARQ (Automatic-Repeat-Request) functionality to achieve a preferential order of systematic bits at its output: the "HARQ bit collection interleaver" attempts to ensure that odd indexed bits are preferably systematic bits and even indexed bits are preferably parity bits.
The HS-DSCH interleaving stage interleaves the odd indexed and even indexed bits separately (in this way, the set of bits that are preferably systematic are kept separate from the set of bits that are preferably parity bits). In FDD HSDPA, the bits from the preferably systematic interleaver are mapped (in the physical channel mapping stage) to high reliability bits and the bits from the preferably parity interleaver are mapped to low reliability bits in the 16QAM symbol.
In TDD, the physical channel mapping stage generally includes a function whereby odd indexed physical channels are filled with bits in a forward direction and even indexed physical channels are filled in the reverse direction. By filling odd indexed channels in the forward direction and even indexed channels in the reverse direction, an extra degree of interleaving is achieved. In general, the forwards/reverse mapping can be considered as a physical channel mapper interleaving function.
The TDD physical channel mapping scheme described above is suboptimal for HSDPA since it destroys the link between systematic bits and high reliability positions.
An alternative approach for physical channel mapping in TDD is to perform the identical operation to FDD: physical channels are all mapped in the forward direction consecutively (physical channel 1 is mapped in the forward direction; once this mapping is complete, left over bits are then mapped to physical channel 2 in the forward direction, etc.). This alternative approach will retain the benefit of mapping preferably systematic bits to high reliability bits and preferably parity bits to low reliability positions. However, this alternative approach does not give the interleaving benefit that is obtained from filling odd indexed physical channels in the forward direction and even indexed physical channels in the reverse direction.
A need therefore exists for channel mapping wherein the abovementioned disadvantage(s) may be alleviated.

Arrangement and method for channel mapping in a wireless communication system

Abstract: Systematic bits are preferably mapped to high reliability bit positions in TDD HSDPA, achieving a performance gain of between 0.2 dB and 0.5 dB. The forwards/reverse mapping allows a degree of interleaving that improves system performance in fading channels or channels disturbed by short time period noise or interference.


A method of scheduling transmission from radios having multiple radios is provided, where the number of radios is smaller than then number of neighbours to which transmission needs to occur. Scheduling blocks are identified consisting of sets of neighbours that can be transmitted to simultaneously without interference. Then, the scheduling blocks are used for scheduling purposes.

In a wireless multihop network, each node corresponds with one or more neighbours. Most multihop solutions implemented to date have assumed that each node has a single radio that operates in a TDM (time division multiplex) fashion to communicate with each of its neighbours. In other words, the single radio is used to communicate in sequence with each of its neighbours. The use of a single radio in a node that has multiple neighbours contributes to delay and reduced throughput due to the sharing of the radio resource amongst all of the neighbouring nodes. A partial solution to this problem is to use multiple radios in each node such that the radios can simultaneously communicate with multiple neighbours. Depending on the number of neighbours a given node has versus the number of radios the node has, the radios may still need to be shared amongst the neighbours. More specifically, if there are more neighbours than there are radios, then radio sharing will need to be implemented. Also, even if there are as many radios as there are neighbours, interference may preclude the simultaneous operation of these radios to the neighbours.
A simple solution is to add radios to a node and then pre-assign the radios for each neighbour node. This is a static solution based on the number of existing neighbours. Each radio is equipped with its own scheduler.

Method of scheduling with multiple radios per node in a wireless multihop network


A semiconductor memory device and a method for performing a memory operation in the semiconductor memory device are provided. The semiconductor memory device includes a plurality of predetermined memory arrays, a bitline decoder, and a controller. The controller provides the memory operation signal to the bitline decoder and, after precharging bitlines of the plurality of predetermined memory arrays, performs the memory operation on selected memory cells in the one or more of the plurality of predetermined memory arrays in accordance with the memory operation signal. The bitline decoder includes a plurality of sector select transistors and determines selected ones of the plurality of predetermined memory arrays and selected rows and unselected rows within the selected ones of the plurality of predetermined memory arrays in response to the memory operation signal. The bitline decoder also precharges the bitlines of the plurality of predetermined memory arrays to a first voltage potential then shuts off the sector select transistors of unselected ones of the plurality of predetermined memory arrays and the unselected rows of the selected ones of the plurality of predetermined memory arrays while maintaining the sector select transistors of the selected rows of the selected ones of the plurality of predetermined memory arrays at the first voltage potential prior to the controller performing the memory operation.

The trend in semiconductor memory devices is to constantly produce devices having more memory and/or having a smaller die size. For example, the cost of producing a semiconductor memory device, such as a Flash memory device having one or more bits in each memory cell can be reduced by reducing the size of the flash memory device die size. Typically the reduction of Flash memory device die size is accomplished by investing in a next technology lithography node. However, such investment is costly in terms of research and developments costs and time.
Conventional Flash memory devices include a plurality of memory core arrays, each memory core array including a predetermined number of memory cells for nonvolatilely storing one or more bits of information. Each of the plurality of memory core arrays includes a bitline decoder, a decoding circuit that includes arrays of sector select (SSEL) transistors. The array of SSEL transistors consumes a large amount of die space.
Thus, it is desirable to provide a method and apparatus for performing one or more memory operations which would allow for reduction in the Flash memory device die size by reducing the size of the SSEL transistors while improving their performance without changing the fabrication process of the Flash memory device or increasing the production cost thereof. 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.

Method and apparatus for performing semiconductor memory operations


An apparatus is disclosed that includes a frame, an impact delivery unit for delivering an impact force and at least one head form. The head form is adapted to be mounted to the frame such that the impact delivery unit can deliver an impact force to a designated location on the head form. The head form is configured to have a helmet installed thereon. The head form is selectively rotatable about each of a plurality of different axes of rotation, wherein movement of the head form is constrained to be able to move only in rotation and in rotation about only one axis of rotation of the plurality of axes at any time. A measuring system provides an indicator of the rotational acceleration of the head form when rotated about each of the plurality of axes. Also disclosed are methods for comparing the degree of protection afforded by first and second helmets.

Various activities, such as for example contact sports or military operations, require the use of helmets to attempt to protect participants from injury to their heads due to impact forces that may be sustained during such activities. As helmets protect against head injury, it follows that the science of head injury should underlie the development and testing of helmets to achieve the greatest effectiveness.
Concussion science is not well understood. Holborn, in 1943 and 1945, proposed rotational acceleration as the primary concussive mechanism. Gurdjian, Lissner, and others in the 1950's and 60's however thought that deformation of the skull and pressure waves that propogated through the cranial vault were the most offending agents. In the 1970's and 80's experiments by Gennarelli, Ommaya, Thibault, Adams and others produced head injuries in monkeys and concluded that rotational acceleration injuries produced diffuse, deep brain injury and that linear acceleration produced focal, superficial damage: concussive injury was more easily produced with rotational acceleration. Recent experiments by Hardy using high-speed bi-planar x-ray imaging to track the displacement of neutral-density radio-opaque markers in the brain of cadavers during impacts have shown that all head impacts produce a figure of eight movement within the brain involving both linear and rotational components. Bayly et al used human volunteers and MRI imaging to measure brain deformation and found that angular acceleration and rotation occurs with linear acceleration forces.
Helmet testing in sport became formalized with motor vehicle racing. The British Standards Institute produced documents in 1952 and 1954 pertaining to the testing of motor vehicle helmets. They dropped a wooden block onto a helmeted headform made of horizontally laminated birch, with a moisture of 12% and that the wood be straight, without defect or "dote" (Neuman). In 1956 the Sport Car Club of America asked George Snively to investigate helmet performance. He put helmets on cadavers and subjected them to severe impacts recording the presence or absence of a skull fracture. He improved his technique and in 1969 put helmets on a 12 lb. K-1A magnesium alloy head form and measured the acceleration to impact. In 1966 the American Standards Association published standards using Snively testing techniques of impacting a mobile metal head form but suggested that there should be time limits placed upon the impact. In 1969 the National Operating Committee for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE) published a standard for football helmets incorporating a more lifelike head form and a drop test paradigm. The helmeted head form is dropped from a prescribed distance onto an anvil and the central accelerometer measures the deceleration. Maximum values of deceleration are used for certification. These values typically range from 275-300×g (force of gravity). This has been a standard method of helmet testing ever since.
It has been recognized for some time that helmet testing has not taken rotational acceleration into account and that helmets may protect against certain types of severe injury but may not be protecting against concussive injury. Science has found that a rotational force component is present in every impact but this is has not been properly accounted for in present helmet standards and certification. Biokinetics and Associates Ltd. is an engineering firm that was employed by the National Football league for helmet testing and developed a pendulum impact test onto a mobile helmeted head form. Pellman Neurosurgery 58:78-96, 2006 reported that data from this has been used to update the NOCSAE drop test by placing the impactor and helmeted mobile head form in a horizontal plane. Results from these recent attempts have been questioned as to their reproducibility and clinical relevance.
A need exists for an improved method and apparatus for testing helmets.

Method and apparatus for simulating head impacts for helmet testing


A system includes a gas distribution network having sub-networks including a first sub-network, each sub-network including a pipe section having a gas safety device coupled to a gas safety valve. The gas safety device includes a pressure sensor, a shut off controller configured to shut off the gas safety valve, a computing device, and a communications module. A server is communicably coupled to the communications modules of the gas safety devices for that implements artificial intelligence (AI) which based on a current threat condition to the gas distribution network determines affected sub-networks. The server is for sending of a valve closing instruction signal to the gas safety device in the first sub-network during the current threat condition when the current threat condition is determined to affect the first sub-network. Responsive to the valve closing instruction signal, the gas safety device shuts off the gas safety valve in the first sub-network.

Safety issues in a hydrocarbon gas distribution network (or a gas grid) can become catastrophic if not handled in advance. Floods, hurricanes, fire and other drastic changes in environmental conditions, the sudden and unexpected increase or decrease in pressure in a gas pipeline, a sudden increase or decrease in the temperature in a gas pipeline, or the manual tampering of safety valves can each result in dangerous conditions, such as a gas line explosion. The dangerous conditions are conventionally addressed by physically (manually) closing specific safety valves installed in the gas line of the gas distribution network.

Automated disconnecting of safety valves in a gas distribution system


A Z/2Z ladder network includes an R/2R ladder network having capacitors coupled across series resistors within the R/2R ladder network, wherein the capacitors are sized to substantially match delays from nodes within the ladder network to an output node. The Z/2Z ladder network can be implemented within a digital to analog controller (“DAC”), including higher resolution DACs, and high data rate DACs. In higher resolution DACs, and high data rate DACs, the Z/2Z ladder network is coupled through switches to corresponding current sources. The Z/2Z ladder is optionally implemented differentially. The invention can be implemented as a Z/kZ ladder network, where k is a real number.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to digital to analog converters ("DACs") and to R/2R ladder networks.
2. Related Art
Conventional DACs use what are known as R/2R ladder networks. Nodes within R/2R ladder networks have associated parasitic capacitances that cause propagation delays through the ladder networks. The propagation delays differ from node to node, which contributes non-linear artifacts in the output waveform. The non-linearities increase with increasing DAC conversion rates.
What are needed therefore are ladder networks that do not have different propagation delays.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Delay equalized Z/2Z ladder for digital to analog conversion