A method of and an apparatus for controlling brakes suitable for use in an electric vehicle. Target deceleration is determined from the amount of depression of a brake pedal and the deceleration of the electric vehicle is detected. Then, the difference between the target deceleration and the deceleration of the electric vehicle is determined and a desired braking force for attaining the target deceleration is obtained. Thereafter, it is determined whether or not the difference falls within a predetermined range. It is further judged, based on the result of the determination, whether the operation of a regenerative brake is required to obtain the desired braking force. If the difference falls outside of the predetermined range, then the regenerative brake is inhibited from being actuated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for controlling brakes which is suit able for use in an electric vehicle, wherein each of the brakes can efficiently be operated by controlling the braking ratio, or proportion of a regenerative braking function to a frictional braking function.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a regenerative brake is known which makes use of a regenerative operation of a drive motor and a mechanically-operated friction brake. An example of such a brake is a typical disk brake which is principally employed in an electric vehicle in order to decelerate the electric vehicle when running.
A regenerative brake is normally operated by lifting the foot off of an accelerator, whereas a friction brake is actuated by depressing a brake pedal. A battery is charged by feeding back or returning regenerative energy Produced by regenerative braking to the battery. In order to improve the efficiency of recovery, or withdrawal of the regenerative energy, it is necessary to cause the braking of the electric vehicle by the regenerative brake to take precedence over the braking of the electric vehicle by the friction brake. This has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,621,929.
In a conventional brake control apparatus used for an electric vehicle, separate operation systems are provided for the regenerative brake and the friction brake, respectively as in the case where an accelerator pedal and a brake pedal are independently provided. Therefore, regenerative energy cannot efficiently be recovered. When the brake pedal is depressed, for example, the friction brake is applied to the vehicle so as to rapidly reduce the rotational speed of each of the wheels. Therefore, sufficient torque cannot be applied to the drive motor, which serves as a generator, so that recovery of the regenerative energy cannot efficiently be performed. At the same time, a sufficient braking force cannot be developed by the regenerative brake alone. Therefore, the braking of the vehicle is dependent almost entirely on the friction brake. In this case, any regenerative energy is radiated in the form of heat generated by the friction brake, so that it cannot be recovered. Accordingly, the effect of the regenerative energy cannot be enhanced.

Electric vehicle regenerative and friction braking control system


A torsional vibration damper for a bridging clutch of a hydrodynamic clutch arrangement has a drive-side damping device, which can be brought into working connection with the housing of the clutch arrangement and is provided with a drive-side transmission element, which acts via a drive-side energy-storage group on an intermediate transmission element, and a takeoff-side damping device, which uses a takeoff-side group of energy-storage devices to establish a working connection between the intermediate transmission element and a takeoff-side transmission element, which is connected to a takeoff-side component of the hydrodynamic clutch arrangement. A predetermined stiffness ratio is obtained between the energy-storage devices of a first group and the energy-storage devices of a second group, and the energy-storage devices of the drive-side group have a stiffness different from that of the assigned energy-storage devices of the takeoff-side group.

The invention pertains to a torsional vibration damper on a bridging clutch of a hydrodynamic clutch arrangement.
A torsional vibration damper of this type is known from, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,073,646. The hydrodynamic clutch arrangement, realized in the form of a torque converter, is designed with a bridging clutch. The side of the clutch piston facing the clutch housing is provided with a friction surface, by means of which the piston can be brought into frictional connection by way of an intermediate plate with an opposing friction surface on the clutch housing. The bridging clutch establishes a working connection between the clutch housing, which is attached nonrotatably to a drive such as the crankshaft of an internal combustion engine, and the torsional vibration damper. That is, the connection is established between the clutch housing and a drive-side transmission element of the torsional vibration damper, this transmission element being attached nonrotatably but with freedom of axial movement to the intermediate plate. The drive-side transmission element cooperates with energy-storage devices of a drive-side energy-storage group and with cover plates serving as an intermediate transmission element to form a drive-side damping device. The cover plates, which are a certain axial distance apart, for their own part cooperate with energy-storage devices of a takeoff-side energy-storage group and with a takeoff-side transmission element to form a takeoff-side damping device. This is connected nonrotatably to a takeoff-side component such as a gearbox input shaft.
When considered as a free vibration system with a hydrodynamic clutch arrangement, the drive train of a motor vehicle can be broken down roughly into six masses. The drive with a pump wheel represents the first mass, the turbine wheel the second mass, the gearbox input shaft the third mass, the universal shaft and the differential the fourth mass, the wheels the fifth mass, and the vehicle as a whole the sixth mass. In the case of a free vibration system with n=six masses, it is known that there will be n−1 eigenfrequencies, i.e., 5 eigenfrequencies, the first of which pertains to the rotation of the overall vibration system and is unimportant with respect to the damping of vibrations. The rotational speeds at which the eigenfrequencies are excited depend on the number of cylinders of the drive, which is designed as an internal combustion engine. FIG. 2 shows a logarithmic plot of the amplitude-frequency curve at the turbine wheel of a hydrodynamic clutch arrangement.
In the effort to minimize fuel consumption, there is a trend toward closing the bridging clutch even at very low speeds to minimize the losses in the hydrodynamic circuit caused by slippage. For the bridging clutch, this means that it is closed at a frequency which may indeed be above the first and second eigenfrequencies EF1 and EF2 but still below the third and fourth eigenfrequencies EF3 and EF4. Whereas the first two eigenfrequencies EF1 and EF2 in the hydrodynamic circuit of the hydrodynamic clutch arrangement can be damped, the drive train can be excited to generate undesirable noise on passage through the third and fourth eigenfrequencies EF3 and EF4. The third eigenfrequency EF3 in particular can have very large amplitudes.
To return to U.S. Pat. No. 7,073,646, the torsional vibration damper according to FIG. 1, for example, has two damping devices, where the drive-side device is connected nonrotatably to the intermediate plate as a component of the bridging clutch, and where the takeoff-side damping device is connected nonrotatably to the gearbox input shaft as a takeoff-side component of the hydrodynamic clutch arrangement. The turbine wheel, functioning effectively as a mass element between the two damping devices, is connected to the intermediate transmission element.
Because of the way in which the turbine wheel is connected, the drive-side damping device acts as a torsional vibration damper (TD) of the type referred to in professional circles as a "standard TD" and, taken in itself, would make available the damping curve shown in FIG. 3. In the case of the amplitude-frequency curve at the turbine wheel of a hydrodynamic clutch arrangement shown schematically as a logarithmic plot in FIG. 2, a standard TD would lower both the amplitude of the third eigenfrequency EF3 and the amplitude of the fourth eigenfrequency EF4. For the third eigenfrequency EF3, however, the obvious elevation in rotational irregularity in the speed range around 1,500 rpm would remain, as can be seen in FIG. 3.
Because, in the case of the torsional vibration damper according to U.S. Pat. No. 7,073,646, the takeoff-side damping device and its takeoff-side transmission element are able to rotate relative to the turbine wheel attached to the intermediate transmission element, the takeoff-side damping device acts as a torsional vibration damper of the type called in professional circles a "turbine torsion damper" or "TTD", which, taken in itself, would result in the damping curve shown in FIG. 3, in which the elevation in rotational irregularity resulting from the third eigenfrequency EF3 is shifted to a range of around 1,000 rpm and therefore would cause very little trouble in the normal rpm range.
In contrast to the preceding discussion, the torsional vibration damper according to U.S. Pat. No. 7,073,646, called in professional circles a "two-damper converter" or TDC, is designed with a standard TD as a damping device on the drive side, which reduces the eigenfrequencies EF3 and EF4, and with a TTD as a damping device on the takeoff-side, which shifts the eigenfrequency EF3, which is the troublesome one, to a lower speed at which it generates little if any perceptible noise. The damping curve shown in FIG. 3 can thus be achieved with a TDC.
A damping curve of this type is desirable for modern vehicles, so that they can be operated with a completely engaged bridging clutch even in the lower partial load range relevant to fuel economy without thus making it necessary to accept disadvantages in the form of annoying vibrations or noise. To the extent that the bridging clutch is to be closed even at speeds as low as 1,000 rpm, however, even the damping curve provided by a TDC can still prove insufficient.


Described herein are apparatus and methods for a successive approximation register (SAR) analog-to-digital (ADC) based phase-locked loop (PLL) with programmable range. A multi-bit digital phase locked loop includes a multi-bit phase frequency detector configured to output a multi-bit error signal based on a reference clock, a feedback clock sampled using the reference clock, and a threshold voltage, a multi-bit digital low pass filter configured to apply a variable gain to the multi-bit error signal, a current steered digital-to-analog converter configured to generate a control current based on a gain applied multi-bit error signal and multi-bit digital phase locked loop control parameters, a controlled oscillator configured to adjust a frequency of the controlled oscillator based on the control current to generate an output clock, the feedback clock being based on the output clock, and a programmable edge time controller configured to adjust a slope of an edge of the feedback clock.

Digital phase-locked loops (DPLLs) have been widely used in frequency synthesizers as well as for clock and data recovery (CDR). A DPLL has several advantages such as consuming low area and power, scalability, and portability across different process technology nodes in contrast with its analog counterparts. While analog PLLs suffer from long locking time, consuming more power, and sensitivity to process, voltage and temperature (PVT) variations, DPLLs suffer from high jitter performance induced by power supply noise. Another circuit that restricts DPLL design specifications (i.e., jitter and phase noise) is the phase-frequency detector (PFD). Dead-zones of PFDs, non-linearity, and phase offset error in the closed-loop are the main issues in conventional designs.
Conventional approaches to realize a DPLL or CDR use Time-to-digital converter (TDC)-based PFD or bang-bang PFDs (BBPFD) which limits the jitter performance significantly. TDCs have been explored to operate as a PFD with better accuracy, however, its resolution is limited to a unit delay. There have been several approaches to implement a TDC-based PFD with sub-delay resolution such as a Flash TDC, a pulse shrinking TDC, and a Vernier delay line (VDL) TDC including two and three-dimension Vernier TDCs. However, mismatches between delay elements, leakage, and being susceptible to PVT variations degrade the performance of these PLLs. For example, the PFD block is limited to a 1-bit or a low-resolution multi-bit TDC which degrades the performance significantly. Consequently, more effort is needed for on-chip or off-chip calibration system to improve performance.
BBPFDs use a D-Flipflop (DFF) in its architecture and generates either a logic 1 or logic 0 to denote when the reference clock is leading or lagging the feedback clock coming from a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) or digitally controlled oscillator (DCO) regardless of the input time-difference amplitude. The BBPFD operates like a 1-bit quantizer with limited jitter performance.
Both the TDC-based PFD and BBPFD limit design specifications due to PVT variations and mismatches. In some designs, the dynamic range of the loop is static in the previous DPLL implementations, which use a single-bit proportional and integral (PI) path control. For example, these designs have a single bit input to KP and single bit accumulator whose gain is controlled by KI. In order to have more flexibility in these designs, an externally controlled, complicated digital circuit is used. This increases the complexity of the design and chip area. Other DLPF designs control the KI path using a single-bit PFD.
Asynchronous SAR ADCs reported so far use an internal fast oscillator to resolve the bits after sampling. Due to PVT variations and parasitic components, the duty cycle and frequency of the fast clock are changed. This limits the settling time of an internal capacitor-based digital-to-analog (DAC) inside the SAR ADC.

Successive approximation register analog to digital converter based phase-locked loop with programmable range


An image sensor includes circuitry compensating for voltage drops in a VSS line. The image sensor includes a plurality of photoreceptors arranged in a pixel array having a number of column lines, and read-out circuitry on the column lines. The read-out circuitry provides substantially equal currents on each column line so as to compensate for voltage drops in the VSS line and provide more accurate pixel signals. The image sensor also includes circuitry for filtering noise from a voltage supply line, and for providing hard and/or soft reset operations.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to active pixel sensor arrays and, more particularly, to a biasing arrangement for complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) active pixel sensor arrays.
2. Description of the Related Art
Active pixel sensor (APS) imaging devices are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,471,515, for example. APS imaging devices include an array of pixel cells, generally arranged in rows and columns. Each pixel cell includes a photodetector (e.g., photodiode) that converts light energy into electric signals. The pixel cell also includes one or more transistors. The transistors typically provide amplification, read-out control, and reset of the photodetector signal, and operate to provide reset signal and a photodetector pixel signal as output signals from the pixel cell.
The architecture of a conventional imaging device with a CMOS APS 2 is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. APS 2 includes a row and column array of pixel cells 4. As illustrated in FIG. 1, array rows are oriented horizontally, and array columns are oriented vertically. The 4×4 array pictured in FIG. 1 is merely illustrative. Typical APS arrays are fabricated as much larger arrays.
Referring more specifically to FIG. 2, a representative three transistor (3T) pixel cell 4 is shown as including a photodiode 6 (PD) and a readout portion which includes a source follower transistor 8 (MD) and a row select transistor 10 (MSEL). Pixel cell 4 has a drain of source follower transistor 8 (MD) connected to voltage line 12 (VAA—PIX—COL.j). The source of the row select transistor 10 (MSEL) is connected to a column line 14 of the cell array to which a load transistor 16 (MLD) also is connected. The load transistor 16 (MLD) acts as a current sink for a bias current IBIAS—PIX. Thus, each pixel 4 includes a source follower arrangement of transistors 8, 10, with the pixel and a common current sink transistor 16 for each array column.
The operation of APS 2 will be described with reference to the timing diagram of FIG. 3. The photodiode 6 is reset by pulsing a reset transistor 18 (MRS) with a reset pulse ΦRS. During the ensuing integration (exposure), the photodiode 6 voltage is decreased by the photo current. After the pre-determined integration period, a row select pulse ΦSEL turns ON and an output signal appears at the node denoted by VOUT (FIG. 2).
The output signal voltage is given by Equation 1, as follows:VOUT,sig =AV·(VRS,pix−ΔVsig−(Vth−δVth))   (1)where AV, Vth, VRS,pix and ΔVsig are the voltage gain (AV) and the threshold voltage (Vth) of the source follower, the initial photodiode voltage (VRS,pix) just after the reset, and the voltage swing (drop) (ΔVsig) caused by the accumulation of the signal electrons on the photodiode, respectively.
Vth represents a deviation of the effective threshold voltage, which gives rise to fixed pattern noise (FPN) in the array. FPN (also called nonuniformity) is spatial variation in pixel output values under uniform illumination due to device and interconnect parameter variations (mismatches) across the sensor. It is fixed for a given sensor, but varies from sensor to sensor. FPN increases with illumination, but causes more degradation in image quality at low illumination. CMOS (APS) sensors have higher FPN than charge-coupled devices (CCDs) and suffer from column FPN, which may appear as shadow stripes in the image and can result in image quality degradation.
The output signal voltage VOUT,sig for a column pixel is sampled and held on a first capacitor in a sample and hold (S/H) circuit 20 (FIG. 1). Then the photodiode is reset again, and the output reset voltage is sampled and held on a second capacitor in sample and hold (S/H) circuit 20.
The output reset voltage is given by Equation 2, as follows:VOUT,rs=AV·(VRS,pix−(Vth−δVth))   (2)The signal voltage swing, representing the light-induced signal on the photodiode, can be extracted by subtracting (1) from (2), which yields:VSIG=AV·ΔVsig   (3)Thus, variations in VRS,pix and Vth are eliminated, in principle.
Referring again to FIG. 1, a row select circuit 22 selects a row to be reset or readout. All rows are selected for read out in sequential fashion. The S/H circuit 20 performs sample and hold operations for the reset and pixel signals for each of the array columns, which are represented by equations (1) and (2). The outputs of the S/H block 20 are fed to a differential amplifier which subtracts the two signals to produce VSIG in accordance with equation (3). This signal is then digitalized and sent to an image processor with other signals from the pixels of array 2.
The FIG. 3 pulse timing diagram illustrates the operation of the image sensor shown in FIG. 1 having photodiode active pixels. Conventionally, the row select and sample-and-hold operations are performed in a row-by-row fashion, represented in FIG. 3 by these successive rows i−1, i, and i+1. A period at the start of each frame between the end of the last row select and the beginning of the first row select is called the vertical blanking period (V_BL).
In a large format array based on the representative architecture shown in FIG. 1, a problem occurs due to the voltage (I-R) drop along the VSS line, which couples ground to all the column circuit sink transistors 16 as illustrated in FIG. 4. During the readout period, voltage drops along the VSS line, which is typically grounded at terminal AVss, cannot maintain the established (ground) level for each column line due to parasitic resistances RSS denoted in FIG. 4. The graph of FIG. 5 illustrates the voltages on column lines 1 to jmax as shown, those column lines farthest from terminal AVss have a voltage above ground while those closest to AVss have voltages at or near ground along the line VSS.
The voltage drops along the line VSS impact the bias currents IBIAS—PIXproduced by column line transistors 16. The bias current is given by Equation (4), as follows:IBIAS—PIXS,i=β/2.(VGS,i−VTH)2=β/2.(VLN−VSS—PIX—COL,i−VTH)2  (4)where β, V GS,i, and VSS−COL, iare a process and size dependent parameter (β), the gate-source voltage for the j-th load transistor (V GS,i), and the VSS voltage at the column J (VSS—PIX—COL, i), respectively. Thus, as VSS—PIX—COL, i becomes higher than VSS, bias current decreases. The change in the output voltage due to the higher VSS is given approximately by Equation (5) as follows:
                              Δ                                                                          V            OUT                          =                                                                              β                  LD                                                  β                  D                                                      ·            Δ                                                                                V            SS                                              (        5        )            where βLD,βD, VSS are β for MLD and MD, and the voltage change on the VSS line, respectively. If a fixed pattern noise (FPN) suppression operation, where the signal voltage swing is extracted by subtracting Eq. 1 from Eq. 2, is not performed, shading appears in a reproduced image. By applying such an FPN suppression operation, shading caused by the voltage change on VSS line, expressed by Eq. 5, may be suppressed. However, other shading will still be present.
Shading may be caused, for example, by decreased bias currents due to the reduced effective gate-source voltage VGS of the load transistor 16 (MLD), which may result in variations in time constants for charging and discharging the sample and hold capacitors CSHS or CSHR within the sample and hold circuit 20. The capacitor CSHS and CSHR respectively sample and hold the pixel output signal and reset output signal. The time constants are given approximately by Equation 6, as follows:
                    τ        =                                            C              SHX                                      g              m                                =                                    C              SHX                                                      2                ·                β                ·                                  I                  BIAS_PIX                                                                                (        6        )            Thus, the resulting voltages on the sample and hold capacitors may change when the pulse width of the sample-and-hold pulse is comparable to the time constant. The pulse width of the sample-and-hold pulse may be comparable to the time constant since higher resolution image sensors require shorter pulse widths to obtain a given frame rate. Another related concern is the source follower gain variation due to the decreased bias current.
Similar voltage drops occur along a voltage line 24 which supplies the pixel voltage VAA—PIX, as a result of parasitic resistances RAA along that line, as shown in FIG. 4. The voltage changes here affect the pixel output voltage little, however, since the driver transistor 8 (MD) of each pixel cell (FIG. 2) operates in the saturation region and thus the drain voltage does not affect its drain current. A problem arises, however, during the reset operation.
There are two modes of pixel reset operation, "hard" and "soft." A "hard reset" refers to a reset where the reset transistor 18 (MRS) operates in its linear region. The initial voltage of the photodiode VRS,pix is given by Equation 7, as follows:VRS,pix=VAA—PIX—COL   (7)
To make reset transistor 18 (MRS) operate in its linear region, a pulse height of the reset pulse ΦRS should be higher than VAA—PIX—COL by Vth, where Vth is the effective threshold voltage of the reset transistor 18. Noise associated with the 'hard' reset is given approximately by Equation 8, as follows:Vhard2=kT/CPD   (8)where k is the Boltzmann's constant, T the absolute temperature in K and CPD is the capacitance of photodiode 6, respectively.
A "soft reset" refers to a reset where the reset transistor 18 (MRS) operates first in its saturation region, and then in the sub-threshold region. An initial voltage VRS,pix of photodiode 6 is given by Equation 9, assuming the pulse height of the reset pulse ΦRS is equal to VAA—PIX, as follows:VRS,pix=VAA—PIX—−Vth   (9)
When the pulse height of the reset pulse ΦRS is equal to VAA—PIX, reset transistor 18 (MRS) operates in its saturation region. The final stage at the reset operation is dominated by the sub-threshold operation. Reset noise associated with the 'soft' reset is given approximately by Equation 10, as follows:vsoft2=kT/2CPD   (10)
Although the noise associated with the soft reset is less than that associated with the hard reset, there are other concerns with the soft reset. For example, the soft reset yields non-linearity in low light level photo-conversion characteristics of the pixel cell. The soft reset also yields image lag due to the fact that the final stage at the reset operation is dominated by the sub-threshold operation of the reset transistor 18. Therefore, the hard reset is preferable to the soft reset, especially for motion picture applications, for example.
In order to perform the hard reset, the pulse height of the reset pulse ΦRS should be higher than VAA—PIX—COL by Vth, which requires an additional voltage pump circuit in a row select pulse generation circuit (assuming that VAA—PIX is the highest voltage supplied to the image sensor.) There may be a case, however, in which the soft reset is applicable when noise performance and dynamic range are the most important performance parameters.
If a large format array is built based on the architecture shown in FIG. 1, a problem associated with the hard reset occurs due to the voltage (I·R) drops along the VAA—PIX line. When a row is selected for readout, the pixel bias currents Ibias,pix flow from VAA—PIX to AVSS as shown in FIG. 4. During this row select period, voltages along the VAA—PIX line cannot maintain an appropriate level, as shown in FIG. 6, due to parasitic resistances RAA along the VAA—PIX line.
The pixel reset ΦRS is applied after the signal voltage sampling (ΦSHS='H') while the row select pulse ΦSEL is kept on, as shown in the timing diagram of FIG. 3. Since the pixel reset voltage, which is a drain voltage of MRS, is VAA—PIX, as expressed by Eq. 7, the initialized voltage of each photodiode VRS,pix on a row is not identical, as shown in FIG. 6. In addition, if the VAA—PIX line is contaminated by noise, that noise is sampled on a photodiode.

Biasing scheme for large format CMOS active pixel sensors


A head gimbal assembly for a hard disk drive comprises a flexure having a planar surface and a standoff structure extending from the planar surface, where the standoff structure includes a monolithic element. A head slider in which a read-write head is housed is adhered to the flexure with an adhesive, such that the adhesive surrounds the monolithic element so that the monolithic element may absorb strain energy caused by curing of the adhesive.

A hard-disk drive (HDD) is a non-volatile storage device that is housed in a protective enclosure and stores digitally encoded data on one or more circular disk having magnetic surfaces. When an HDD is in operation, each magnetic-recording disk is rapidly rotated by a spindle system. Data is read from and written to a magnetic-recording disk using a read-write head that is positioned over a specific location of a disk by an actuator. A read-write head uses a magnetic field to read data from and write data to the surface of a magnetic-recording disk. A write head makes use of the electricity flowing through a coil, which produces a magnetic field. Electrical pulses are sent to the write head, with different patterns of positive and negative currents. The current in the coil of the write head induces a magnetic field across the gap between the head and the magnetic disk, which in turn magnetizes a small area on the recording medium.
The read-write head is fabricated within a head slider, which is coupled with a suspension in a head gimbal assembly (HGA) assembly process. Often an adhesive is used to adhere the head slider to the suspension. Thus, upon curing and hardening of the adhesive, the adhesive may undergo shrinkage. Such shrinkage may impart energy into the head slider, which may cause undesirable deformation of the head slider.
Any approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.

Suspension standoff geometry for slider crown change reduction


Pharmaceutical compositions comprising an antigenic amount of peptides derived from the L1 and L2 OFR's of human papillomavirus type 16 coupled to a carrier or in multimer form.

The human papillomaviruses (HPVs) cause a variety of proliferative epithelial lesions, from common warts to premalignant intraepithelial neoplasias of the anogenital region (zur Hausen, 1991). Thus far, 68 different types of human papillomavirus (HPV) have been isolated (de Villiers, 1992). HPV type 16 is the predominant type found in human anogenital cancers and highgrade intraepithelial neoplasias (Lorinoz et al., 1992). The HPV capsid contains two proteins encoded by the L1 and L2 open reading frames (ORFs). The major protein of the PV capsid is an approximately 57 kDa protein encoded by L1 (Li et al., 1987); Pliacinski et al., 1984; Tomita et al., 1987). The L2 ORF codes for a 76 kDa protein which is the minor structural protein of the PV capsid (Komly et al., 1986). The HPV virion consists of an icosahedral capsid with 72 capsomeres composed of pentamers of the major capsid protein L1 (Baker et al., 1991). The function and structural location of the minor capsid protein L2 is unclear.
Neutralizing monoclonal antibodies against cottontail rabbit papillomavirus (CRPV) (Christensen & Kreider, 1991), bovine papillomavirus (BPV) (Christensen & Kreider, 1993) and HPV11 (Christensen et al., 1990) have hitherto only been generated against conformation-dependent epitopes on intact virions and it has not been possible to map their location due to the conformational dependence of these epitopes.
Immunization with an L2 protein of CRPV induces low-titered neutralizing antibodies, indicating that at least part of L2 is exposed on the virion surface (Christensen et al., 1991).
However, no specific sequences have been identified which are exposed on the virion surface of HPV. It was hypothesized that intact virions may contain surface exposed linear epitopes which could be identified by antibodies generated by immunization with peptides. A knowledge of the specific amino acid sequences of antigenic sites--exposed on intact virus particles and present in neutralizing epitopes--should enable design of effective immunogenes for vaccination.
It is well recognized that the structure of neutralizing epitopes with the ability of conferring protection is an essential requirement for the design of effective vaccines. Extensive attempts have been made to identify such neutralizing epitopes, however, without success. The problems are: 1) Immunization with an intact capsid containing conformationally sensitive epitopes may induce mostly antibodies to conformational epitopes which cannot be mapped for practical reasons. 2) Immunization with a denatured whole capsid protein will not induce antibodies against conformationally sensitive epitopes, but antibodies are preferentially made against immunodominant epitopes which are found at the inside of the capsid and these epitopes are thus not useful for vaccination.
Since it has not been possible to experimentally define the surface-exposed neutralizing epitopes, previous attempts to identify surface-exposed epitopes had to rely on computer algorithms that may identify evolutionarily variable or hydrophilic amino acid stretches which might conceivably be surface-exposed. Such algorithms have been unreliable, since they have either not worked or have only had a limited success.

Peptide-based composition against papillomavirus infection


Keystrokes input by a user are stored in non-volatile memory together with time stamps, creating a record of keystrokes and associated time stamps. At least some of the time stamps are generated and recorded in response to receipt of specific keystroke events, such as a specific keystroke, a specific sequence of keystrokes, a keystroke following an interval of inactivity or an interval of inactivity following a keystroke. The resulting keystroke record may show sessions of keystrokes received, with a start and end time stamp for each session. An alteration record is also provided to track alterations and erasures of the keystroke record.

Keystrokes entered by a user at a keyboard or other user input device may be monitored by software on the host computer. Alternatively, a device may be connected between the keyboard and the host computer, as described in the co-pending application published as WO 04/097614. Commercially available hardware keystroke monitoring devices and software record keystrokes into a log that can be retrieved later by users.
Newer models include time stamping features that record the time and date at regular intervals after the device is activated. This is generally a useful feature. However, when there are significant intervals between keystrokes it may be difficult to determine exactly when the keys of interest were typed. It is currently not easy to differentiate sessions of typing when they are interspersed with large time intervals. Also, the time stamp is simply entered at periodic intervals and is therefore placed arbitrarily in the keystroke log. A time stamp may be placed between letters and be difficult to find.
Where time stamping capability is added to a hardware device, a larger battery is required to power the internal clock. This means that the device is larger and more conspicuous, unless the keystroke monitor is embedded into the keyboard. However, some devices plug directly into the keyboard port of the computer and the larger size is undesirable for such devices.
In prior software methods and hardware devices it is also possible to tamper with the recorded log and/or internal clock of the device. This means that the evidence recorded by the monitor is unreliable for law enforcement purposes.
There is a need for an apparatus and method that alleviates these problems in the prior art.
It is an object of the invention to allow keystrokes and time stamps to be recorded in such a manner that the resulting log can be more easily interpreted by users.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a hardware device in which keystrokes and time stamps are recorded in such a manner that the resulting log can be more easily interpreted by users.
It is a further object of the invention to improve reliability of the keystroke log.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a hardware keystroke monitoring device with time stamping capability which is less conspicuous than prior devices.
Each object is to be read disjunctively with the object of at least providing the public with a useful choice.

Keystroke monitoring apparatus and method


In one aspect, an interface circuit for interfacing a Parallel ATA bus to a storage device. The interface circuit including a storage device controller in communication with the storage device to control a flow of information between the storage device and a Serial ATA bus. The Serial ATA bus to carry information having a Serial ATA format. A bridge circuit configured as a host bridge to interface between the Serial ATA bus and the Parallel ATA bus. The host bridge to convert Serial ATA information to Parallel ATA information and to convert Parallel ATA information to Serial ATA information.

The Parallel ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment) specification has defined the standard storage interface for PCs since the early 1980s. Parallel ATA provides low cost, broad operating system support, and steady evolution. Over time, parallel ATA has continuously evolved to support higher speed and performance. However, due to several reasons, including performance headroom, cabling issues, and voltage tolerance requirements, a new storage interface known as Serial ATA has recently been created.
Serial ATA may combine software transparency, low cost, scalability, and design flexibility to overcome the limitations of parallel ATA. Point-to-point data rates of 1.5 Gbps may be attainable with Serial ATA. Although SATA provides many benefits over PATA, there remains a large installed user-base of PATA compatible storage devices and computers. To continue to use the existing PATA compatible storage devices, bridge devices have been developed to interface PATA devices to SATA compatible computer systems.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional computer system 10 that communicates information via a SATA link 11. The computer system 10 includes a device bridge 12 to interface a PATA storage device 14 to a host controller 16 through a host bridge 18. The device bridge 12 and the host bridge 18 may each convert PATA formatted information to SATA formatted information and SATA formatted information to PATA formatted information. The device bridge 12 and the host bridge are generally not interchangeable due to differences in the header information that each of the bridges 12 and 18 generate when converting information between the SATA to PATA formats.

Serial/parallel ATA controller and converter


A method and apparatus for facilitating running or pulling tubulars from a well bore whereby the functions of a surface mounted traditional spider/elevator are replaced by an FMS which may also be remotely controlled. The FMS comprises a main body consisting of upper and lower plates assembled in a bolted and welded configuration, a slip assembly each said slip assembly comprising a slip back, a slip, one or more die inserts, a hydraulic or pneumatic cylinder and multiple sized die blocks to conform to the tubular OCTG diameter.

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for facilitating the connection of tubular used in the oil and gas exploration and extraction industries. More specifically, the invention relates to an apparatus for running or pulling tubular into or out of a well bore.
In the construction of oil or gas wells it is usually necessary to line the well bore with a string of steel pipes commonly known as tubular or tubing or generically as oil country tubular goods ("OCTG"). For purposes of this application, such steel pipes shall hereinafter be referred to as "tubular OCTG". Because of the length of the tubular OCTG required, individual sections of tubular OCTG are typically progressively added to the string as it is lowered into a well from a drilling rig or platform. The section to be added is restrained from falling into the well by some tubular engagement means, typically a spider or the like, and is lowered into the well to position the threaded pin of the tubular OCTG section adjacent the threaded box of the tubular OCTG in the well bore. The sections are then joined by relative rotation of the sections until such time as the desired total length has been achieved.
It is common practice to use a power tong to torque the connection to a predetermined torque in order to connect the sections of tubular OCTG. This traditional method and equipment types have been used extensively around the world for a period in excess of fifty years. While this method is in daily use it normally requires a large team of specialist personnel along with a plethora of equipment to successfully undertake this task. It is also a very dangerous task with personnel having to be located on a small platform suspended up to 15 feet from the rotary table and the power tong tethered to a steel cable under high loads.
In more recent times, a top drive may be used; this is, a top drive rotational system used for drilling purposes. Where a top drive system is used to make the connection, the use of a surface mounted slip type spider to restrain the section of tubular OCTG to be added may be problematic, due to the configuration of the spider in so much as it sits on or protrudes above the rig floor causing a further obstruction or safety hazard. It is therefore known to make use of an apparatus generically as referred to as an "FMS" or flush mounted spider, which can be inserted into the rotary table so that a section of tabular OCTG may be added or removed, and engaged therewith to hold the section in place. Such apparatus may comprise one or more slips and or toothed grapples, which may be hydraulically or pneumatically operated to engage an outer surface of the tubular. While this is advancement over the traditional approach as it lowers the equipment operational height; it has drawbacks in that because of the design characteristics of the upper section, plates, slips and or grapples may function or operate above the rotary table, thereby becoming a safety or operational problem. This method also places the tubular OCTG to be connected at a height that may still require an additional work table or platform to facilitate the connection thereof.
Secondly as the slips and or grapples tend to be functioned using only two pneumatic or hydraulic cylinders mounted to a horseshoe or split ring whereby side loading of the tools can occur if misalignment is an issue thereby scarring can occur to the outside surface of the tubular OCTG and its integrity thereof.
The intention of the present invention is to offer a much-improved method for an FMS for running tubular OCTG into a borehole without the shortfalls in the tools available today.

Apparatus for supporting or handling tubulars


An apparatus and method for managing the detection of faults in a wiring system. The wiring system is made up of supply wires and can include return wires. The supply wire connects a power supply to a load end. The fault detecting apparatus is positioned along the wire between the power supply and the load end and can include a first and second resistor, a voltage monitor, and an indicator.

Commercial aircraft typically include an electrical power distribution system. The purpose of the electrical power distribution system is to distribute electricity to the loads on the aircraft, protect wires and loads from hazards, and to route the most appropriate power source to each load. Fault detecting mechanisms along the wiring within the power distribution system can be helpful for maintenance and safety.


An apparatus for supporting wound flexible media includes first and second flanges, a core, and at least one single piece connector. The core is interposed between said first flange and said second flange. The first flange has at least one aperture and at least one protruding feature corresponding to said aperture. The at least one single piece connector includes a first interlocking end that extends through an aperture of the second flange and through the at least one aperture of the first flange, wherein said first interlocking end engages the protruding feature to inhibit a de-insertion alignment of the first interlocking end with the at least one aperture.

Reels for storing flexible media, such as wire, hose, fabric, chain link, or rope, typically comprise a core interposed between two flanges. In general, the flexible media is wound or wrapped around the core and held in place by the flanges. Reels intended for industrial transport, storage and use of flexible media vary greatly in size. Reels have traditionally been fabricated out of wood or metallic material, and have more recently been fabricated from paper and plastic products.
Ideally, a reel combines structural strength with simplicity and economy of manufacture. One commercially available reel design that combines strength with simplicity is a common wood reel. Wood reels typically include a wooden core, a pair of wooden flanges, long bolts and matching nuts. The long bolts and matching nuts secure the flanges to the core. Specifically, one or more bolts are inserted through one flange, through the core, and outward the other flange. A nut is then rotatably tightened on the protruding bolt, thereby securing or trapping both flanges to the core.
A significant drawback of the nut and bolt flange securing design described above relates to the reliability of the resulting reel. Specifically, the conditions under which reels are transported and stored often causes loosening of the nuts. For example, a reel manufactured under environmental conditions in one manufacturing facility may subsequently be shipped in a vehicle, train or ship having higher or lower temperatures and/or humidity. Accordingly, the reel is often exposed to severe climate changes during shipment. The severe climate changes can cause the reel structure to expand and contract repeatedly, which in turn can cause loosening of the nuts on the bolts. Vibration during shipment can also contribute to the loosening of the nuts. A loosened nut can produce catastrophic results to the end user. In particular, users of industrial reels often employ high speed winding machines to wind the flexible media onto the reel. If the nuts that secure the flange to the core are loosened during shipment, the operation of the high speed winding machine can further loosen the nut until the flanges become disengaged from the core. The disengagement of the flange during the winding operation can cause significant production delays and possible injury.
Similarly, reels with finished goods, in other words, reels that have already been wound, may undergo similar thermocycling and/or humidity cycling which could cause the nuts to loosen. Failure of reels with finished goods can have similar catastrophic consequences.
Accordingly, it is desirable to utilize reels that rely on connecting techniques that are alternative to the nut and bolt design. U.S. Pat. No. 2,856,136 to Howsam employs such an alternative flange securing design. Specifically U.S. Pat. No. 2,856,136 describes a disposable reel that includes a frame having a plurality of axially extending rods that extend through the flanges of the reel and are bent against the outside of each flange to secure the flange to the central core. To construct the reel, the flanges are place over the rod ends such that the rod ends extend outward the flanges. A circular wire hoop is then spaced radially outward the extending rod ends on the flanges. The rod ends are then bent over the wire hoop at each flange to secure the flange to the core of the reel.
A drawback to the reel design described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,856,136 is its complexity of manufacture. Specifically, the placement of the circular hoop and the bending of the various rod ends over the hoop requires potentially time-consuming manufacturing steps. Furthermore, the disclosed frame structure itself includes eight rods and three circular hoops in addition to the two wire hoops discussed above. Thus, the frame itself raises manufacturing complexity issues. Moreover, combination of eight rods and five hoops adds to the material cost of the reel manufacture.
Accordingly, there is a need for a simple, structurally sound wire reel that uses a flange connection mechanism that is alternative to the nut and bolt combination of the prior art. Such a reel design should advantageously have reduced material cost and simplicity of manufacture.


A chronograph timepiece has a movable crown, a start button operable to start and stop measurement of a time period in a chronograph mode using at least one chronograph hand, and a reset button operable to reset the chronograph hand to a zero position. A control circuit controls operation of the start button and the reset button in a plurality of reset modes to return the chronograph hand to the zero position in accordance with whether the reset button has already been operated when the crown is operable from one position to another position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a chronograph timepiece having a chronograph function.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There has conventionally been used a chronograph timepiece having a time hand for indicating current time and a chronograph hand for indicating a measured time interval (for example, a chronograph 1/10 second hand for indicating by a 1/10 second unit, a chronograph second hand for indicating by 1 second unit, a chronograph minute hand for indicating by 1 minute unit, and a chronograph second/minute cooperation hand for cooperatively moving the second hand and the minute hand). The chronograph timepiece is provided with a reset function for resetting a chronograph hand to return to a zero position after finishing measurement or the like.
For example, according to a chronograph timepiece described in JP-A-2002-82183, a reset mode for resetting a chronograph hand can be brought about by pulling a crown. In the reset mode, a chronograph hand for resetting is selected by operating a start button and the selected chronograph hand is reset to return to a zero position by operating a reset button.
Further, according to a chronograph timepiece described in JP-A-2002-207089, although operation of a crown is not needed, a reset mode for resetting a chronograph hand can be brought about by simultaneously operating to depress a start button and a reset button. According to the reset mode, there is constructed a constitution in which a chronograph hand for resetting is selected by operating a start button and the selected chronograph hand is reset to return to a zero position by operating a reset button.
However, in either of JP-A-2002-82183 and JP-A-2002-207089, mentioned above, a consideration is not given to a rotational direction (regular or reverse rotation) in returning the chronograph hand to the zero position and even when the chronograph hand is disposed at any position, the chronograph hand is rotated in one direction to return to the zero position.
Therefore, there poses a problem that a time period of returning the chronograph hand to the zero position is extremely prolonged depending on a position of stopping the chronograph hand and a direction of rotating the chronograph hand to the zero position in resetting the chronograph hand.
Further, according to the chronograph timepiece described in JP-A-2002-82183, there is the problem that in order to indicate the selected chronograph hand, the selected chronograph hand is made to carry out a special movement, thereby complicating the construction of the circuit.
Further, according to the chronograph timepiece described in JP-A-2002-207089, there is a concern of bringing about erroneous operation in counting operation or the like in shifting to the chronograph hand reset mode.
It is an object of the invention to enable the return to a chronograph hand swiftly to a zero position even when the chronograph hand is disposed at any position in a chronograph hand reset mode.
Further, it is another object of the invention to prevent erroneous operation from being brought about in a counting operation or the like in shifting to a chronograph hand reset mode.
Further, it is another object of the invention to enable the selection of a chronograph hand to reset using a chronograph timepiece having a simple construction.


An apparatus and method of determining the point at which a tubular is stuck within another tubular or a wellbore by applying a tensile or torsional force to the stuck tubular and measuring the response of various locations within the tubular. In addition, the apparatus may be combined with a cutting tool to separate the free portion of the tubular from the stuck portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for use in a wellbore. More particularly, the invention relates to a downhole tool for determining the location of an obstruction in a wellbore. More particularly still, the invention relates to a downhole tool for locating the point at which a tubular such as a drill string is stuck in an opening or a hole such as a hollow tubular or a wellbore.
2. Description of the Related Art
As wellbores are formed, various tubular strings are inserted into and removed from the wellbore. For example, a drill bit and drill string are utilized to form the wellbore which will typically be lined with casing as the bore hole increases in depth. With today's wells, it is not unusual for a wellbore to be several thousand feet deep with the upper portion of the wellbore lined with casing and the lowest portion still open to the earth. As the well is drilled to new depths, the drill string becomes increasingly longer. Because the wells are often non-vertical or diverted, a somewhat tortured path can be formed leading to the bottom of the wellbore where drilling takes place. Because of the non-linear path through the wellbore, the drill string can become bound or other wise stuck in the wellbore as it moves axially or rotationally. The issues related to a stuck drill string are obvious. All drilling operations must be stopped and valuable rig time lost. Because the drill string is so long, determining the exact location of the obstruction can be difficult.
Because of the length of the drill string and the difficulty in releasing a stuck drill string it is useful to know the point at which one tubular is stuck within another tubular or within a wellbore. Such knowledge makes it possible to accurately locate tools or other items above, adjacent, or below the point at which the tubular is stuck. The prior art includes a variety of apparatuses and methods for ascertaining the point at which a tubular is stuck.
The most common apparatuses and methods employ the principle that the length of the tubular will increase linearly when a tensile force is applied, so long as the tensile force applied is within a given range. The range of linear response is based on many factors, including the mechanical properties of the tubular such as the yield strength of the material. One method of determining an approximate location for the sticking point of a tubular involves applying a known tensile force to the tubular and measuring the elongation at the surface of the well. If the total length of the tubular within the second tubular or wellbore is known, then the total amount of theoretical elongation can be calculated, based on the assumption that the applied force is acting on the entire length of the tubular. Comparing the measured elongation to the theoretical elongation, one can estimate the sticking point of the tubular. If the measured elongation is fifty percent of the theoretical elongation, then it is estimated that the tubular is stuck at a point that is approximately one half of the length of the tubular from the surface. Several factors have a negative impact on the accuracy of this method. Among these are the friction between the tubular and the surface in which it is stuck and the changes in the properties of the tubular due to corrosion or other conditions.
This same principle of applying a known force to the stuck tubular and measuring the response can also be used to more accurately determine the location of the sticking point. By placing a freepoint tool at the end of a run in string within the stuck tubular, one can accurately determine the sticking point location by placing the tool at various locations within the tubular, applying a known tensile force, and accurately measuring the elongation of the tubular at the location of the freepoint tool. A similar method utilizes a known torque applied to the tubular and measurement of the rotational displacement. In both methods, a freepoint tool is placed at a location within the tubular and then anchored to the tubular at each end of the freepoint tool. If the portion of the pipe between the anchored ends of the freepoint tool is elongated when a tensile force is applied (or twisted when a torsional force is applied) at the surface to the stuck tubular, it is known that at least a portion of the freepoint tool is above the sticking point. If the freepoint tool does not record any elongation when a tensile force is applied (or twisting when a torsional force is applied) at the surface to the stuck tubular, it is known that the freepoint tool is completely below the sticking point. By moving the freepoint tool within the stuck tubular and measuring the response in different locations to a force applied at the surface, the location of the sticking point may be accurately determined.
A common problem associated with freepoint tools is the need to provide both a means of positively anchoring the ends of the freepoint tool when a measurement is being taken and also being able to freely move the tool to a new location within the tubular. A common type of anchoring system utilizes a bow spring to anchor the freepoint tool to the inside surface of the stuck tubular. A problem associated with this system is that the bow springs are in constant contact with the inside surface of the stuck tubular as the freepoint tool is being lowered into the stuck tubular on a run in string. It is difficult to set the bow springs so that there is enough friction between the spring and the stuck tubular to allow for accurate measurement of the response to a force on the stuck tubular, yet permit the freepoint tool to be moved from one location to another.
Another method of anchoring a freepoint tool to a stuck tubular utilizes motorized "dog type" anchors. With these systems, a motor is typically used in conjunction with a gear system or other mechanical arrangement to actuate the anchors and drive them into the wall of the stuck tubular. To ensure positive engagement of the anchoring system, the motor is typically driven until it is stalled by the wall of the stuck tubular restricting movement of the anchor. This technique can lead to overheating of the motor and eventual failure of the motor windings. Another problem associated with this type of arrangement occurs when attempting to anchor the freepoint tool in a horizontal section of a stuck tubular. In this situation, the anchor must lift up the freepoint tool from the bottom of the stuck tubular to fully engage anchors. The weight of the freepoint tool may stall the motor before the anchor system is fully engaged and therefore prevent a measurement of the response of the tubular.
In addition, protecting the freepoint tool sensors that detect the response of the tubular from the harsh environment of a wellbore is another problem. The sensors utilized are typically fragile components that can not operate in the extreme pressures and temperatures often found in a wellbore. Typical freepoint tool designs utilize an oil-filled chamber in combination with a piston to hydrostatically balance them with the wellbore pressure, but this complicates the assembly and repair of the freepoint tool and disturbs measurements at high temperatures.
Another problem associated with freepoint tools is the need to generate large forces acting on the tubular at the surface in order to generate a response that is capable of being detected by the sensors of the freepoint tool. This problem is exacerbated by sensors that do not have sufficient sensitivity or accuracy. An additional problem exists in the need to accurately and quickly reset the freepoint tool after a measurement has been taken so that a new measurement may be taken in a different location within the tubular. It is necessary to quickly reset the freepoint tool in situations where measurements will be taken in several different locations. It is also necessary to reset the freepoint tool in an extremely accurate manner due to the small magnitude of the responses that will be measured by the freepoint tool.
A need therefore exists to provide a more accurate means for locating a point where a tubular is stuck in a wellbore. There is a further need for both a means to positively anchor the ends of a freepoint tool when a measurement is being taken and to freely move the tool to a new location within the tubular apparatus for new measurement locations. A further need exists for a means of protecting the freepoint tool sensors that detect the response of the tubular from the harsh environment of a wellbore. Still a further need exists for a freepoint tool that does not require the generation of large forces acting on the stuck tubular in order to generate a response that is capable of being detected by the sensors of the freepoint tool. Yet another need exists for a freepoint tool that may be accurately and quickly reset before measurements are taken to determine the response.

Cutting tool for use in a wellbore tubular


An embodiment of the present invention relates to an operator management system in a first administrative domain for supporting a user roaming from the first administrative domain to a second administrative domain within a network architecture. The network architecture comprises a collection of interconnected network functions deployed in a control plane and a user plane, and the interconnected NFs comprise at least core network control plane functions and a core network user plane function. The OMS in the first administrative domain is configured to generate and issue to an OMS in the second administrative domain, a roaming management request for roaming a user from the first administrative domain to the second administrative domain, over an inter-operator management interface, and configured to instruct the OMS in the second administrative domain to configure the second administrative domain based on the roaming management request to support the user roaming.

According to the industry consensus, the 5th Generation (5G) mobile technology will be standardized and deployed by 2020. Compared to the 4th Generation (4G) mobile technology, the devices and applications of the next generation network will support use cases with a very high diversity in terms of performance attributes, such as ultra-reliable communications for mission critical services, eHealth, public safety, real-time vehicle control, tactile Internet and connectivity for drones. In order to support services with such a diverse range of requirements, the architecture fitting all the solutions used in the 4G network will be not scalable for the myriad of different use cases. Thus, the network slicing concept is expected to be one of the key building blocks of the future 5G network according to the recent standardization agreements. Indeed, the current understanding of the 5G architecture is that each type of device or application will have its own architectural slice, which will be configured just for their requirements. The device or application will be provided by a slice owner and hosted by an operator, and the slice owner will be a vertical or an Over-The-Top (OTT) provider of the device or application, so that the network slicing concept will enable a service-tailored network function provisioning scheme aiming in particular at vertical industries integration.
According to the Technical Report (TR) entitled: 3GPP TR 28.801, "Study on management and orchestration of network slicing for next generation network", V15.0.0 (2017-09), a network slice is composed of a collection of logical Network Functions (NFs) that supports the communication service requirements of particular use case(s). On the other hand, the Technical Specification (TS) entitled: 3GPP TS 23.501, "System architecture for the 5G system", V1.4.0 (2017-09), defines a network slice as a complete logical network that comprises a set of NFs and corresponding resources, which are necessary to provide certain network capabilities and network characteristics. A network slice may include both an Access Network (AN) and a Core Network (CN), and a Network Slice Instance (NSI) may be defined as the instantiation of a network slice, i.e., as a deployed set of NFs delivering the intended network slice services.
The support of network slicing is enabled by the architecture modularization design principle stating that the 5GS reference architecture features the core network decomposition into orthogonal sets of NFs for Control Plane (CP or C-plane) and User Plane (UP or U-plane). The CP NFs are classified as Common Control NFs (CCNFs) and Slice-specific Control NFs (SCNFs), in order to distinguish between the NFs that may be shared among multiple NSIs and those that are NSI-specific.
Many users may frequently roam from one operator to another one. In particular, support for vehicle-to-X (V2X)-like use cases may also imply that, for some users, an operator can predict when a car would leave its coverage area and enter another area covered by other operators.
As disclosed in the above-mentioned 3GPP TS 23.501, different non-roaming and roaming reference architectures may be considered.
FIG. 1 shows a non-roaming 5G system architecture using a service-based interface representation within the CP. Therein, all NFs deployed in the CP (i.e., all CP NFs) and in the UP (i.e., all UP NFs) belong to a same administrative domain like, for example, a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN), which may also be denoted as a Home PLMN (HPLMN, also denoted as hPLMN) since there is no user roaming.
As therein depicted, the 5G system architecture may consist of the following CP NFs and CP entities:                Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF);        Network Exposure Function (NEF);        NF Repository Function (NRF);        Policy Control function (PCF);        Unified Data Management (UDM);        Application Function (AF);        Authentication Server Function (AUSF);        Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF);        Session Management Function (SMF).
Those CP NFs are capable of delivering a respective service and are interconnected to other CP NFs being authorized to access their services, via service-based interfaces denoted as Nxxx (e.g., Naf, Nausf, Namf and so on) for the CP NF denoted as xxx (e.g., AF, AUSF, AMF and so on).
Furthermore, the 5G system architecture may consist of the following CN NFs and CN entities:                User Plane Functions (UPFs);        User Equipment (UE);        (Radio) Access Network ((R)AN);        Data Network (DN), e.g., operator services, Internet access or third party services.
The functional description of these CP NFs, CP entities, CN NFs and CN entities may be found in clause 6 of 3GPP TS 23.501, V1.4.0 (2017-09).
As further depicted, the 5G system architecture may also include point-to-point reference points denoted as Ni, where i=1, 2, 3, . . . . Thus, the UE, which is connected to the (R)AN via an access interface, may be connected to the AMF via a N1 interface. The (R)AN may be connected to the AMF via a N2 interface and to the UPF via a N3 interface. The UPF may be connected to the SMF via a N4 interface and to the DN via a N6 interface.
Except for the DN, which is external to the HPLMN, and the AF, which may be provided by a third party, all NFs belong to the same HPLMN and are therefore managed by a same Home Operator Management System (HOMS) (also designated as Home Operator's Management System).
FIG. 2 shows a roaming 5G system architecture using the service-based interface representation within the CP in the case of a Local Break-Out (LBO) scenario with the AF in a Visited or Visitor PLMN (VPLMN, also denoted as vPLMN).
For that LBO scenario, in comparison with the non-roaming reference architecture of FIG. 1, all UPFs belong to the VPLMN and some CP NFs are split between the VPLMN and the HPLMN. In particular, the UDM and the AUSF belong to the HPLMN only, while the NRF, the PCF and the NEF are duplicated both in the VPLMN and the HPLMN, while the NSSF, the AMF, the SMF and the AF belong to the VPLMN only.
Furthermore, the (R)AN and the DN belong to the VPLMN, so that the connections between the (R)AN and the UPF via the N3 interface and between the UPF and the DN via the N6 interface occur in the VPLMN.
FIG. 3 shows a roaming 5G system architecture using the service-based interface representation within the CP in the case of a LBO scenario with AF in the HPLMN.
This LBO scenario differs from that of FIG. 2 only in that the AF now belongs to HPLMN.
FIG. 4 shows a roaming 5G system architecture using the service-based interface representation within the CP in the case of a Home Routed (HR) scenario.
For that HR scenario, all UPFs belong both to the VPLMN and the HPLMN, wherein the N6 interface between the UPF and the DN is terminated in the HPLMN. Some CP NFs are split between the VPLMN and the HPLMN. In particular, the UDM, the AUSF and the AF belong to the HPLMN only, while the NRF, the PCF, the NEF and the SMF are duplicated both in the VPLMN and the HPLMN, while the NSSF and the AMF belong to the VPLMN only.
Furthermore, the (R)AN belongs to the VPLMN, so that the connection between the (R)AN and the UPF in the VPLMN via the N3 interface occurs in the VPLMN, while the UPF in the VPLMN is also connected to the UPF in the HPLMN via a N9 interface.
For each roaming scenario of FIGS. 2 to 4, it may be assumed that the VPLMN and HPLMN are respectively managed by a distinct Network Management System (NMS), which may be referred to as a Visited or Visitor NMS (VNMS) for the VPLMN and a Home NMS (HNMS) for the HPLMN. This assumption is presented in 3GPP TR 28.801, V15.0.0 (2017-09) and based on the fact that the definition of VPLMN and HPLMN originates from different owners having different management systems.
Further, it can be readily observed that the roaming scenarios represent particular deployments, in which an end-to-end (E2E) network slice spans across different PLMNs, i.e., across different administrative domains.
However, a NF in the HPLMN has no information about or no awareness of the NFs in the VPLMN and vice versa. It results therefrom that, in 5G, a first look-up shall be performed by the VPLMN in order to identify the HPLMN that is responsible for the UE, followed by a second look-up to be performed by said HPLMN in order to find the NF(s) in the HPLMN responsible for serving the UE.
The first look-up is rather straightforward in Long Term Evolution (LTE), because the UE Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) is capable of specifying a priority list with the Mobile Country Code (MCC) followed by the Mobile Network Code (MNC) in the HPLMN selector with Access Technology (AT). The same applies to 5G. However, the LTE-like solution is too static with respect to the billions of connected devices in 5G and the ability to support a dynamic re-configurability.
The second lookup is currently carried out by NFs in the HPLMN.
The problem with the current definition of the 5G systems combined with the incumbent requirement of operating network slices spanning across multiple PLMNs (i.e., HPLMNs and/or VPLMNs) is that such cases are assumed to be handled merely as roaming scenarios, which may render the E2E slice performance requirements difficult to meet. In this connection, the key limitations of the roaming scenarios may, for example, be a limited visibility and accessibility by the VPLMN CP NFs (e.g., AMF) and the HPLMN CP NFs (e.g., NSSF, NRF) that are essential to network slices operations, a limited visibility and accessibility by the VPLMN and HPLMN CP NFs of the UPFs, thereby impairing the ability of monitoring and enforcing the E2E Quality of Service (QoS), and a need to involve the HPLMN CP NFs to access information (e.g., registration, session management procedures, mobility management procedures) necessary to complete E2E slicing related procedure.
Such key limitations are deemed to be performance critical. Indeed, the E2E procedure shall disadvantageously require supplementary VPLMN-to-HPLMN signaling, such as SMFs duplication in VPLMN and/or HPLMN and credential retrieval at AUSF in HPLMN (i.e., at hAUSF) among others. In addition, the E2E procedure may be disadvantageously affected by extra latency/delay when the VPLMNs and HPLMNs are, for example, connected via transoceanic connections, satellite links and/or third party networks, thereby rendering the possibility of running delay sensitive applications across such operators difficult.

System and interface for cross administration or technology domain network functions (NFS) instantiation and configuration for roaming users


A modular upper-door assembly including a standard geometric corner component and a standard geometric B-pillar component for all vehicle model doors. Each header, belt and window-track has a different length and bend geometry for each vehicle model door while each respective component shares a standard geometric cross-section. All headers may connect to the corner component and B-pillar component in the same locations for each vehicle model door. All belts may connect to the corner component in the same location for each vehicle model door, but the attachment location on the B-pillar may vary from vehicle to vehicle. A stationary-glass or mirror-sail may also be overmolded into the assembly.

Automobile doors have typically been manufactured to have a daylight opening in the upper portion of the door. The daylight opening allows the occupants inside the vehicle to see outside of the vehicle. A drop-glass has been used to cover the daylight opening and move up and down within the lower portion of the door allowing the daylight opening to be opened and closed.
Most vehicles have unique designs with differing sized doors and differing sized daylight opening within the doors. To match the paint of the door with the other exterior body components, the doors are often painted at the same time as the body. The drop-glass and surrounding componentry used to secure and operate the drop-glass are also installed at the final assembly location of the vehicle body, usually after the painting process. As a result, there are multiple components with multiple part numbers driving additional complexity into the final assembly of the vehicle, and thus additional opportunity for errors to be made.
Methods of pre-assembling upper-door assemblies to be mated with lower-door assemblies have been attempted to reduce the additional complexity at the final assembly plant. These pre-assemblies have no modularity of the components, and in essence only transfer the additional complexity of the multiple components outside of the final assembly plant to another location. U.S. published application US 2007/0262607 A1 to Saito discloses an example of such a method of assembling door parts.
The above problem(s) and other problems are addressed by this disclosure as summarized below.


Provided is a polycarbonate resin composition that exhibits an excellent flame retardancy and impact resistance as well as an excellent hue and moist heat resistance. The polycarbonate resin composition characteristically contains, per 100 mass parts of a polycarbonate resin (A), 0 to 40 mass parts of a graft copolymer (B) comprising an aromatic vinyl monomer component (b1), a vinyl cyanide monomer component (b2), and a diene rubber polymer component (b3); 10 to 30 mass parts of a phosphate ester compound (C); 0.001 to 1.0 mass parts of a phosphite antioxidant (D); and 0.00001 to 0.1 mass parts of 2,4-di-tert-butylphenol (E).

Polycarbonate resins exhibit, e.g., an excellent transparency, impact resistance, heat resistance, and dimensional stability as a commodity engineering plastic, and as a consequence of these excellent characteristics are broadly used industrially as raw materials in the automotive sector, the office automation equipment sector, the electrical and electronics sectors, and so forth.
There is strong demand for imparting flame retardancy to resin materials with a focus on applications such as office automation equipment, household appliances, consumer electronics, and so forth, and in order to respond to this demand, a large amount of art has been introduced whereby flame retardancy is imparted by blending, for example, a halogen compound, phosphorus compound, siloxane compound, polyfluoroethylene, and so forth, into polycarbonate resin.
For example, PTL 1 teaches that a resin composition having an excellent impact resistance and flame retardancy is obtained through the incorporation in polycarbonate resin of a prescribed phosphate ester compound and a composite rubber-type graft copolymer having a polyorganosiloxane component and a polyalkyl (meth)acrylate rubber component. PTL 2 describes a resin composition provided by blending a phosphorus flame retardant, a polyfluoroethylene resin, and a prescribed multilayer-structured polymer into an aromatic polycarbonate resin. This resin composition exhibits an improved appearance and an excellent flame retardancy, heat stability, and impact resistance and as a consequence is useful for large molded articles and thin molded articles. PTL 3 describes, as a material exhibiting an excellent impact resistance, moldability, and flowability, a flame-retardant resin composition containing a polycarbonate resin, a composite rubber-type graft copolymer, a phosphate ester compound, and a polytetrafluoroethylene.
With the goal of achieving, e.g., smaller size, lower weight, and higher performance, the molded articles for office automation equipment, household appliances, consumer electronics, and so forth have been getting thinner year-to-year and the properties required of them have been undergoing qualitative increases. Polycarbonate resin compositions are thus being required to exhibit flame retardancy and impact resistance as well as a heat stability that can withstand high-temperature molding, but in addition an excellent hue and moist heat resistance.
In addition, flame-retarded polycarbonate/styrenic resin alloy compositions are advantageously used for members in, e.g., electrical equipment, electronic equipment and devices, office automation equipment, and information devices, such as computers, notebook personal computers, various mobile devices, printers, copiers, and so forth.
Among these, polycarbonate/styrenic resin alloy compositions that have been flame-retarded using a phosphorus flame retardant exhibit an unusually good moldability due to the plasticizing effect of the phosphorus flame retardant and as a result are the compositions most commonly used to obtain thin molded articles as well as large molded articles (refer to, for example, PTL 4 to PTL 6).
However, with the goal of achieving, e.g., smaller size, lower weight, and higher performance, the molded articles for office automation equipment, household appliances, consumer electronics, and so forth have in particular been getting thinner year-to-year. The processing temperature must thus be increased in order to obtain an enhanced moldability, and in addition the residence times are becoming longer. As a consequence, problems have occurred with the aforementioned polycarbonate/styrenic resin alloys, i.e., a high impact strength cannot be maintained, or discoloration occurs and a molded article having a desirable hue is then not obtained.
There is thus demand for a polycarbonate/styrenic resin alloy that exhibits flame retardancy and impact resistance as well as a heat stability that can withstand high-temperature molding, and that also exhibits an excellent hue and moist heat resistance.

Polycarbonate resin composition and molded article


An object of the present invention is to provide a DC-DC converter control circuit capable of maintaining, even when any one of a plural number of DC-DC converters enters the abnormal state due to the occurrence of a failure, a voltage relationship between the output voltage of the faulty DC-DC converter and the output voltage of another DC-DC converter. An error amplifier ERA1G has an inverting input, a first non-inverting input, and a second non-inverting input. A first divided voltage VV1 provided from a first voltage divider circuit VD1 is fed into the inverting input; a reference voltage e1G from ground is fed into the first non-inverting input; and a second divided voltage VV2 provided from a second voltage divider circuit VD2 is fed into the second non-inverting input. The error amplifier ERA1G amplifies the error between the lower of the two voltage inputs fed into the two non-inverting inputs (i.e. the lower of the reference voltage e1G and the second divided voltage VV2), and the first divided voltage VV1 fed into the inverting input. The output terminal of the error amplifier ERA1G is connected to the input terminal of a PWM unit P1G.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to DC-DC converter control circuits, DC-DC converters, power supply units, and DC-DC converter control methods and more specifically to a technology capable of maintaining a specified voltage relationship existing between the output voltages of DC-DC converters.
2. Description of Related Art
In a power supply unit which is equipped with a plurality of DC-DC converters and which provides a plurality of output voltages, it might be necessary to constantly maintain the relative voltage relationship between power supply voltages. For example, when supplying a power supply voltage Vcc and a high-order backgate voltage VBGP to a PMOS transistor, it is necessary to maintain a voltage relationship so that the power supply voltage Vcc constantly falls below the high-order backgate voltage VBGP in a series of sequences from the time power is turned on to the time power is turned off, the reason for which is to prevent the occurrence of a burnout et cetera due to latch-up.
As the related art of the above, Japanese unexamined patent publication No. 9(1997)-154275 and Japanese unexamined patent publication No. 10(1998)-323026 have been disclosed.

DC-DC converter control circuit, DC-DC converter, power supply unit, and DC-DC converter control method


A conductive composite composition consisting essentially of about 10 to 90 parts of the conducting form of polyaniline, balance an aromatic benzobisthiazole, benzobisoxazole or benzobisimidazole rigid-rod polymer, and a process for making a conductive benzobisazole polymer film.

This invention relates to conductive composite compositions of the conducting form of polyaniline and benzobisazole polymers and co-polymers.
In the field of conducting polymers, great strides have been made in the development of polyaniline (PANI)-based materials for a broad spectrum of applications ranging from electronic and optoelectronic devices to anti-corrosion coatings to gas separation membranes. PANI exists in primarily four oxidation states: the completely reduced form, leucoemeraldine base (LEB): ##STR1## the intermediate form, emeraldine base (EB): ##STR2## the fully oxidized form, pernigraniline base (PNB): ##STR3## and the protonated state of the intermediate form, emeraldine salt (ES): ##STR4## where A is a counterion, e.g., Cl.sup.-, HSO.sub.4.sup.-, etc. Only the emeraldine salt (ES) is conducting. The ES form can be converted from LEB by oxidation and protonation, from PNB by reduction and protonation and from EB by simply protonation; these processes are chemically and electrochemically reversible.
Because of its good solubility in aprotic solvents such as N-methylpyrrolidinone (NMP), PANI as the emeraldine base (EB) is commonly used to prepare films. However, in this state, PANI is an insulator and a doping step is thus required in the fabrication process. Upon doping with protonic acid, the resultant emaraldine salt (ES) becomes conducting with typical conductivity values of 10.sup.0 to 10.sup.2 S/cm, depending on synthesis and processing conditions.
A major breakthrough was the discovery that the use of organic sulfonic acids, such as camphor sulfonic acid (CSA) and p-dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid (DBSA), as the protonic dopants not only provided high conductivity, but also provided solubility of PANI in its conducting state (emeraldine salt, ES) in organic solvents such as m-cresol, chloroform, hexafluoroisopropanol, and the like. This has provided a means for preparing conducting blends with controllable conductivity and thermo-mechanical properties from conducting PANI-ES and a wide range of thermoplastics and elastomers.
Unfortunately, this simple blending using non-acidic, organic solvents is not applicable to aromatic heterocyclic rigid-rod polymers such as poly(benzobisazoles) (PBX), whose solubility is limited to strong acids such as methanesulfonic acid (MSA) and poly(phosphoric acid) (PPA) and Lewis acid/nitroalkanes. These polymers have repeating units of the general formula --(--Z--Ar--)--, wherein Z is a benzobisazole group and Ar is a para-oriented aromatic moiety, such as 1,4-phenylene, 4,4'-biphenylene, 4,4'-diphenylsulfide, 4,4'-diphenylether or the like. Thus, the group includes poly(p-phenylene benzobisoxazole) (PBO), poly(p-phenylene benzibisthiazole) (PBT) and poly(p-phenylene benzobisimidazole) (PBI) polymers and co-polymers, as well as substituted derivatives thereof. The simpler PBX polymers have repeating units of the formula ##STR5## wherein X is --O--, --S--or --NH--.
The preparation and processing of rigid-rod polymers and co-polymers is well known in the art. They are commonly prepared by the condensation of at least one di- or tetra-amino monomer with at least one para-oriented dicarboxylic acid monomer in a strong acid such as polyphosphoric acid (PPA). The polymer or co-polymer is commonly recovered from the reaction mixture by precipitation in water. In this context, the term `coagulation` is often used interchangeably with `precipitation`. The polymer or co-polymer can be formed into desirable shapes by directly extruding the PPA mixture into water. Alternatively, the polymer or co-polymer can be coagulated or precipitated into water, washed, dried and then taken up in a strong acid, such as sulfuric acid or methanesulfonic acid (MSA), then extruded, cast or spin-cast into desirable shapes followed by coagulation in water.
Rigid-rod polymers and co-polymers generally have very high thermal stability, high mechanical strength and low solubility in ordinary solvents. These polymers and co-polymers generally have melting temperatures higher than their thermal degradation temperatures; thus, they cannot be processed by melt-processing techniques. As noted previously, they are normally processed into desirable shapes by extrusion, casting or spin-casting from a strong acid solution, such as from a methanesulfonic acid or polyphosphoric acid solution.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide new conductive composite compositions comprising the conducting form of polyaniline and aromatic benzobisthiazole, benzobisoxazole and benzobisimidazole (PBX) rigid-rod polymer.
It is another object to provide a process for making such conducting films.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Conductive composites derived from poyaniline and aromatic benzazole rigid-rod polymers

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force


Methods are provided for maximizing the throughput of a computer system in the presence of one or more power constraints. Throughput is maximized by repeatedly or continuously or periodically optimizing task scheduling and assignment for each of a plurality of components of a computer system. The components include a plurality of central processing units (CPUs) each operating at a corresponding operating frequency. The components also include a plurality of disk drives. The corresponding operating frequencies of one or more CPUs of the plurality of CPUs are adjusted to maximize computer system throughput under one or more power constraints. Optimizing task scheduling and assignment, as well as adjusting the corresponding operating frequencies of one or more CPUs, are performed by solving a mathematical optimization problem using a first methodology over a first time interval and a second methodology over a second time interval longer than the first time interval. The first methodology comprises a short term heuristic solver for adapting to computer system changes that occur on a short time scale, and the second methodology comprises a long term solver having greater accuracy and greater computational complexity than the first methodology.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to computer systems and, more specifically, to a method and a system for maximizing the throughput of a computer system in the presence of one or more power constraints.
2. Description of Background
From small clusters of computers to large supercomputers, peak power consumption places a major constraint on the scalability of computer systems. For purposes of cost effectiveness, a computing system may initially comprise a small number of computing elements. At some point, it may be necessary to scale the computing system by adding additional computing elements so as to increase the overall processing capacity of the system. However, each of the components added to the system also increases the overall power consumption of the aggregate system. Energy constraints may prevent the use of computer systems which are capable of providing high throughput. In particular, peak power consumption is constrained such that computer processors are unable to operate at full computational capacity. What is needed is a control system that maximizes throughput in view of energy constraints.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Computer system management and throughput maximization in the presence of power constraints

International Business Machines Corporation


A method, system and program product for transmitting configuration item data by a network object within a network. The steps include the network object detecting a change; the network object detecting an amount of traffic within the network; the network object transmitting configuration item data to the network at a level based on the amount of traffic present within the network. If all of the configuration item data was not sent and the network object detects that the amount of network traffic within the network is below a determined amount, the network object transmits remaining configuration item data to the network; and if all configuration item data was sent, returns to the step of the network object detecting a change.

The present invention relates to the transmitting of configuration items within a network and more specifically to transmitting of configuration items and configuration data within a network based on the amount of network traffic.
To maintain the status or inventory of devices of a network within a configuration management database, commonly at a specifically requested time or at a periodic set time, an automated program is run to discover whether any devices have been added or removed from the network. The program does not collect data regarding the real time in which devices were removed or added to the network or the configuration of the devices in real time.

Transmitting of configuration items within a network


A frame disposed on a rear side of a liquid crystal unit has in a front surface sheet thereof an opening almost the size of the liquid crystal unit, and is constituted so that a translucent optical diffusion sheet is tensely provided on the opening in a thin-box-form. An inverter printed board provided with an inverter circuit and a cold cathode are integrally coupled to this frame directly or indirectly via a retainer to unitize the frame, the inverter circuit and the cold cathode. An electrode lead wire of the cold cathode is connected to a high-voltage output terminal of the inverter circuit. A connector for connection to external wiring is fixed to the inverter printed board or the frame to supply electricity to the inverter circuit via the connector and apply high voltage to an electrode of the cold cathode from the inverter circuit.

In recent years, with regard to liquid crystal display electronic devices such as a personal computer or car-navigation system and the like, liquid crystal display devices with backlights are widely used. As a light source of this backlight, a fluorescent lamp such as a cold cathode fluorescent lamp and the like are used.
The liquid display devices of this kind comprise, as shown in FIG. 15, a liquid crystal unit (2), a lamp unit (6) provided with cold cathode fluorescent lamp (4), liquid crystal control unit (8), inverter unit (10) and connector (12). These devices are electrically connected by virtue of electric cords as shown in this drawing, and are mounted on personal computers or car-navigation systems. The inverter unit (10) is supplied with a power source by virtue of the connector (12), and the liquid crystal control unit (8) is built to input the power source and control signal through the connector (12). Furthermore, a product of an integrally combined liquid crystal unit and liquid crystal control unit has been developed.
When a liquid crystal display device is designed to be of a small size and a thin unit, if a lamp unit and inverter unit are separately built, such a unit is extremely inconvenient, and is not fit to a small size unit of a liquid crystal display device. Moreover, when the lamp unit and the inverter unit are separately built, a high voltage supply electric wire for connection of the inverter unit and the lamp unit tends to become long, and safety is compromised which is a problem.
When the high voltage electric wire becomes longer, electric current leaks due to a floating capacity between grounds which results in a drop of voltage before the voltage reaches a lamp portion. In this case, a problem occurs as a requirement of readjustment of the inverter unit becomes necessary.
An object of the present invention is to solve the foregoing problems.


The present invention relates to a hand-held implement for transferring a film of, e.g., adhesive or coating or colored material from a supporting strip wound on a supply reel onto a substrate, said implement comprising a housing, a pressure-exerting part projecting from the housing and with a pressure tip guiding and deflecting a supporting strip section, and two mounting and/or carrying devices arranged in the interior of the housing for the supply reel and a take-up reel for the supporting strip taken off from the supply reel and guided and deflected round the pressure-exerting part, the housing being open for the purposes of replacing a cassette carrying the supply reel and the take-up real, and a positioning device being provided for positioning the cassette in the housing.

The present invention relates to a hand-held implement for transferring a film of, e.g., adhesive or coating or colored material from a supporting strip wound on a supply reel onto a substrate, said implement comprising a housing, a pressure-exerting part projecting from the housing and with a pressure tip guiding and deflecting a supporting strip section, and two mounting and/or carrying devices arranged in the interior of the housing for the supply reel and a take-up reel for the supporting strip taken off from the supply reel and guided and deflected round the pressure-exerting part, the housing being open for the purposes of replacing a cassette carrying the supply reel and the take-up reel, and a positioning device being provided for positioning the cassette in the housing.
A hand-held implement of this type is described in DE 36 44 946 C2. In this known hand-held implement the pressure-exerting part and the strip guidance device are arranged on the cassette. Also, a special backing device is provided between the cassette and the housing in the vicinity of the pressure-exerting part in order to support the cassette in its installed position in the housing. In this known arrangement the cassette is inserted into the housing from the front. However, this complicates the construction and assembly of the device, resulting in considerable manufacturing costs. It is also wasteful in materials since both the cassette and the pressure-exerting part represent "lost" parts that have to be disposed of when the cassette is replaced.
Apart from this, in this known arrangement a drive mechanism for driving the reel is arranged in the housing as a drive mechanism separate from the cassette. This also involves a complicated design and construction since a rotating shaft drive has to be arranged between the drive mechanism and the reels.
The object of the invention is to provide a hand-held implement of the type described in the introduction that is less complicated in design and construction.
This object is achieved by the features of claim 1.

Hand-held implement for transferring a film of e. g. adhesive or coating or colored material from a backing strip wound on a supply reel to a substrate