Semiconductor devices are used in a variety of electronic applications, such as personal computers, cell phones, digital cameras, and other electronic equipment, as examples. Semiconductor devices are typically fabricated by sequentially depositing insulating or dielectric layers, conductive layers, and semiconductive layers of material over a semiconductor substrate, and patterning the various material layers using lithography to form circuit components and elements thereon.
The semiconductor industry continues to improve the integration density of various electronic components (e.g., transistors, diodes, resistors, capacitors, etc.) by continual reductions in minimum feature size, which allow more components to be integrated into a given area. These smaller electronic components also require smaller packages that utilize less area than packages of the past, in some applications.
One smaller type of packaging for semiconductors is a flip chip chip-scale package (FcCSP), in which a semiconductor die is placed upside-down on a substrate and bonded to the substrate using bumps. The substrate has wiring routed to connect the bumps on the die to contact pads on the substrate that have a larger footprint. An array of solder balls is formed on the opposite side of the substrate and is used to electrically connect the packaged die to an end application.
However, some FcCSP packages tend to exhibit bending, where warping of the substrate occurs during processing, such as during temperature stress. The bending can cause reliability issues, such as bond breakage of the bumps, delamination of an underfill, and delamination of a passivation layer on the die.


In a tube and shell heat exchanger, such as a vertical tube chemical reactor, there are various situations in which it is desirable to temporarily plug or indicate the condition of one or more tubes. A temporary plug may be used to protect a tube or catalyst inside the tube, or to identify the condition of the tube, or to aid in keeping track of the work progress on tubes while the reactor is out of service for maintenance. In the prior art, this is usually done by a colored plastic cap or plug inside the top end of each tube, with a particular cap or plug color intended to identify a particular tube condition (such as a tube to be unloaded, cleaned, loaded, pressure-drop tested, tube failed due to high pressure drop, tube failed due to a low pressure drop, tube passed the pressure drop test, tubes that have or will have thermocouples or pressure sensors, or even tubes from which catalyst samples may be removed for laboratory analysis after the catalyst has been used).
This procedure requires large numbers of caps or plugs of different colors to be used as the tubes in the reactor are worked on to indicate the status of particular tubes and to serve as a visual indication of the work flow progress on all of the tubes in the reactor while the tubes are brought to within the desired specifications for cleaning, empty, full, outage, and pressure drop. It is not unusual to run out of different colors to designate the numerous tube conditions, resulting in improvisations by the catalyst changeover crew in order to identify the condition of the tubes. For instance, a cap or plug may be removed from a tube and if pliable enough then twisted and reinserted sideways into the top edge of the tube to designate the new condition of the tube. Sometimes two caps or plugs are stacked on top of each other and inserted into a tube. In both of these cases, the caps or plugs then project awkwardly from the tube and are more prone to being accidentally kicked and dislodged from the tube, so they no longer perform the desired function of visually identifying the tube condition. In the case of the twisted and reinserted cap or plug, it can become lodged down inside the tube if walked upon, such that it may not be easily seen and may even unknowingly be left behind.
In order to prevent the caps or plugs from being accidentally dislodged from, or pushed down into the tubes, they usually are designed to fit snugly inside the tubes. Some caps or plugs are simple pipe thread protectors that are applied to protect the threads on the ends of threaded pipes that use a tapered thread like those available from Caplugs from Buffalo, N.Y. (www.caplugs.com). Since these devices are tapered, they can be pushed very securely into a tube. Upper tubesheets with caps or plugs in them are continuously walked upon by the catalyst change crew, and heavy machines and supplies are temporarily located and moved across this upper tube sheet, forcing the caps or plugs securely into the tubes.
Cap or plug size availability is often somewhat limited, as these caps or plugs are sized for commercially sized pipe threads, although custom sizes could be used. Reactor tube inner diameters are seldom standard pipe sizes, and instead are often custom sized to optimize heat transfer. In the case of tight fitting tapered caps or plugs, this results in two problems. First, the tight wedging action of the tapered cap or plug within or upon the tube makes it very difficult to remove the cap or plug from the tube, so it usually is pried but with a screwdriver, which may damage the cap or plug and may even score the inside wall of the tube. Second, after a cap or plug which has been removed and reinserted a number of times may become; cut or otherwise damaged by the blade of a screw driver, or by being removed by narrow end (needle nose) pliers, it may no longer fit snugly inside the tube, making it more prone to being accidentally kicked out or otherwise, dislodged from its tube, or it may be damaged so that it is no longer serviceable.
Tape, such as duct tape, can be attached to the caps or plugs in certain tubes in order to identify them (this tape may be accidentally scuffed off or otherwise removed from its corresponding cap or plug). Sometimes caps or plugs are actually taped to the tubesheet (resulting in art undesirable sticky residue on the tubesheet when the tape is removed).
Most tube caps or plugs, such as those intended to protect the threads on the ends of pipes, include an open cavity or depression where dirt, catalyst and foreign material can accumulate. It can be difficult and time consuming to remove the dirt, spilled catalyst and foreign material from these cavities, especially when many thousands of such caps or plugs are used.
Some tube plugs have a flat top (do not include an open cavity) but they incorporate a tapered body that fits snugly into the tubes and require a screw driver or fork device to remove them, making them time consuming and sometimes difficult to install and remove. Other plugs have a flat top but have a loose fitting body so they effectively float around in the tube. These plugs are relatively easy to install and remove, but they do not seal the tube from air flow, and they are sometimes inadvertently removed while walking across them or by moving equipment across them. Since reactors are often made of carbon steel, the reactor is often kept warm to prevent condensation that could lead to iron oxide formation. Also, it is desirable to keep most catalyst pellets that have been loaded dry and away from moisture. The warm vertical tubes in the reactor vessel may induce natural convection air flow through the tubes, and this may be undesirable as the air being supplied to the bottom of the tube could be moisture-laden ambient air. Another reason for minimizing or eliminating this natural convection phenomenon is that some catalyst can off-gas certain chemicals which can be annoying and even hazardous for the catalyst handling crew. Also, convection air flow can raise the ambient temperature in the dome area above the tubesheet, making it uncomfortable for the catalyst handling personnel. Loose fitting plastic caps with or without recesses or plugs with flat tops can slow down the convection air flow, but they do not stop it.


In the field of dental implants, patient comfort and the efficient use of a dentist's time are paramount. Likewise, precision alignment of the prosthetic components is essential. The need to match upper and lower teeth to within a few microns and provide accurate mating of the prosthesis with existing teeth requires accurate replication of oral structures when making dental impressions. It is possible with the introduction of an intra-oral scanning apparatus to scan the oral environment and precisely display a working virtual model on a computer screen and to generate a physical model in accurate detail. Alternately, the more direct method of creating a physical stone model is still preferred by the majority of dentists.
To create accurate stone models for fitting the final prosthesis, a matched upper and lower impression can be obtained simultaneously with the jaw in the closed position and the teeth in the interdigitated position (centric occlusion). Currently, the tall impression transfer posts used to register the implants to the upper and lower jaws prevent the full closure of the mouth while making the simultaneous upper and lower scans and impressions. The present invention remedies this oversight for both virtual scanning and physical modeling.
Existing practice has been to perform the following procedures. After dental implants have healed into the underlying bone structures of the mandible or maxilla and the soft tissue has healed around a protective healing cap or healing screw, a full set of upper and lower impressions of the mouth are made using individual full or partial arch upper and lower trays. A separate bite registration elastomeric impression is also made in centric closure. Positive casts of the upper and lower impressions are poured, mounted on a dental articulator and aligned in centric occlusion by means of the separate elastomeric bite registration.
In more detail, the prior art performs the following steps to make an accurate impression, the healing caps are removed from one or more dental implant fixtures and standard length impression transfer posts are accurately placed with retaining screws on each implant fixture. An impression tray filled with a self-hardening elastomeric impression material is pressed over the region of the dental arch containing the impression transfer posts.
After a few minutes, the elastomeric impression material has set. The tray is gently removed from the mouth leaving the tall standard impression posts still attached to the implant fixtures. The screw retaining the standard impression transfer post is removed and the tall impression post is attached to an implant analog. The impression post and attached implant fixture analog is reinserted in the elastomeric compound. Taking care to seat the impression post accurately. The pratitioner or a dental lab casts a stone model embedding the implant analog. The implant fixture analog is thus fixed accurately within the stone model. The stone model serves as the platform to craft the prosthesis. The healing cap is replaced on the dental implant fixture in the mouth. Another impression of the mating jaw is taken by the same method. A third elastomeric cast is made of the teeth in centric closure to insure later alignment.
The stone models of the upper and lower mouth structure with dental implant analogs exactly aligned and retained are molded in hard plaster stone from the separate impressions. These models are separately placed upon a dental articulator to mimic the actual jaw motions. The separate upper and lower stone casts are aligned in centric closure with the elastomeric bite cast. The final prosthesis is built and tried in for a non-interfering, good fit. This prosthesis relies upon proper replacement of the tall standard impression post to insure the properly aligned position.
With the optical scanning apparatus, a virtual three dimensional image of the whole oral environment can be created in a minute or two. The virtual image file can be transmitted electronically to a lab and a physical model of the upper and lower jaw can be printed in rigid polymer with a three dimensional printer.
Applicants offer an impression post serving the needs of both the physical casting techniques and the virtual scanning methods.
Applicants, in order quickly to make an accurate, simultaneous impression of the upper and lower teeth in the correct alignment use a dual arch impression tray such as the Triple Tray™. This tray consists of a molded plastic or metal assembly with a handle connected to a set of confining dams and a thin open screen mesh. The mesh is oriented horizontally and is to be placed between the mating occlusal surfaces of the teeth while the jaw is in the closed or centric position. The mesh is thin enough to allow complete centric closure. The mesh is flexible and porous to trap and retain an elastomeric impression compound.
The buccal and lingual dams are molded to the mesh. A paste of quick-setting elastomer is placed on both sides of the mesh within the confines of the dams. The mouth is closed with the upper and lower teeth in the closed or centric position while embedded within the curing elastomer. In this manner, a matching set of aligned upper and lower impressions along with the proper bite registration are made simultaneously.
The elastomeric impression materials, such as polyvinylsiloxane or polyether, are dimensionally stable, but need adequate thickness and surface area in contact with the impression transfer post to ensure accurate positioning and replication of the implant within the models mounted upon an articulator. Currently, long tapered impression transfer posts are used, which have adequate surface area to accurately register the elastomeric impression to the dental implant analog, but interfere with the use of a dual arch impression tray by preventing closure.
In prior art Neal B. Gittleman U.S. Pat. No. 6,213,773 Reduced Height Dental Impression Post, and Neal B. Gittleman U.S. Pat. No. 7,632,096, with all reference made therein, a low profile wing impression post is taught. The impression post is of reduced height to allow complete closure to obtain a triple impression of the upper and lower dentition as well as the dental occlusion. This impression post is removably attached to an installed implant fixture and remains embedded within the triple impression compound, when the impression is removed from the mouth. The winged coronal top of the impression transfer post has sufficient volume and surface area to remain accurately fixed and stable within the impression compound. An implant fixture analog is mated with the impression transfer post and cast in the stone model. The prosthesis is accurately built upon implant fixture analog, with a matching manufactured abutment.


The present invention relates to a thin film type piezoelectric element which transduces electric energy to mechanical energy and vice versa. The piezoelectric element is used as a pressure sensor, temperature sensor, actuator for ink jet recording head or the like. The present invention also relates to such an ink jet recording head. More particularly, the present invention relates to a process for the preparation of the thin piezoelectric film element.
In conventional ink jet recording heads, the vibrator which acts as a driving source for injecting an ink is composed of a thin piezoelectric film element. This thin piezoelectric film element normally comprises a thin piezoelectric film made of a polycrystalline substance and an upper electrode and a lower electrode arranged with the thin piezoelectric film interposed therebetween.
This thin piezoelectric film is normally made of a binary system having lead zircotitanate (hereinafter abbreviated as xe2x80x9cPZTxe2x80x9d) as a main component or a tertiary system comprising the binary system having a third component incorporated therein. The thin piezoelectric film having such a composition may be formed, e.g., by sputtering method, sol-gel method, laser abrasion method, CVD method or the like.
A ferroelectric material comprising a binary PZT is disclosed in xe2x80x9cAllied Physics Lettersxe2x80x9d, 1991, Vol. 58, No. 11, pages 1161-1163.
Further, JP-A-6-40035 (The term xe2x80x9cJP-Axe2x80x9d as used herein means an xe2x80x9cunexamined published Japanese patent applicationxe2x80x9d) and xe2x80x9cJournal of The American Ceramic Societyxe2x80x9d, 1973, Vol. 56, No. 2, pages 91-96 disclose a piezoelectric material comprising a binary PZT.
In the case where a thin piezoelectric film element is applied to an ink jet recording head, it is preferred that a thin piezoelectric film (PZT film) having a thickness of from about 0.5 xcexcm to 25 xcexcm be used. This thin piezoelectric film must have a high piezoelectric strain constant.
In general, it is reportedly necessary that the PZT film be subjected to heat treatment at a temperature of 700xc2x0 C. or higher to allow the crystal grains in the thin piezoelectric film to grow in order to obtain a thin piezoelectric film having a high piezoelectric strain constant. As the material constituting the lower electrode in the thin piezoelectric film element there may be used an electrically-conductive material such as platinum, titanium, gold and nickel.
JP-A-6-116095 describes crystal grains constituting a piezoelectric material. This patent discloses a process for the formation of a thin ferroelectric film which comprises applying a precursor solution of lead zircotitanate or lanthanum-containing lead zircotitanate to a platinum substrate which is oriented in (111) plane, characterized in that the-application of the precursor solution is followed by heat treatment at a temperature of from 150xc2x0 C. to 550xc2x0 C., where a desired crystalline orientation is attained, further followed by calcining at a temperature of from 550xc2x0 C. to 800xc2x0 C. for crystallization, whereby a specific crystal plane of the thin film is preferentially oriented along the surface of the substrate according to the heat treatment temperature.
As a prior art technique concerning the present invention there is proposed a process for the preparation of a bulk piezoelectric ceramic as disclosed in JP-A-3-232755. As disclosed in this reference, it is said that a piezoelectric ceramic having a higher density exhibits better piezoelectric characteristics.
Further, JP-A-50-145899 discloses an example of the application of a bulk piezoelectric ceramic in the generation of a high voltage as in gas apparatus. This patent describes that a piezoelectric ceramic having pores having a diameter of from 4 to 10 xcexcm uniformly dispersed therein and having a specific gravity of from 90% to 93% based on the true specific gravity exhibits a percent discharge rate of 100%.
A conventional ink jet recording head comprising a thin piezoelectric film element is proposed in, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,315.
In the case where a thin piezoelectric film (PZT film) having a thickness of not less than 1 xcexcm is formed, a problem arises that when the foregoing heat treatment is effected-to obtain the foregoing high piezoelectric strain constant, cracking can occur in the film. As described in JP-A-3-232755, it is considered that a bulk ceramic having a higher density exhibits better piezoelectric characteristics. However, in order to make a good application of a film having a very high density to an actuator for ink jet recording head, etc., the optimum thickness of the piezoelectric film is from about 0.5 to 25 xcexcm. When a piezoelectric film having this thickness is produced at a single step, it is normally liable to cracking. If thin films are laminated to avoid cracking, it requires a prolonged production process which is industrially unsuitable.
Further, an approach for raising the thickness of the piezoelectric film by repeating a process which comprises applying a sol or gel composition to a substrate, and then calcining the material at a high temperature is disclosed in xe2x80x9cPhilips J. Res.xe2x80x9d, 47 (1993), pages 263-285. However, this approach is disadvantageous in that the resulting thin piezoelectric film not only has a laminated interface that makes it impossible to provide good piezoelectric characteristics but also exhibits a deteriorated workability.
In general, a thin piezoelectric film is formed on a metal film which has been formed as a lower electrode on a substrate. However, a problem arises that the heat treatment effected during the formation of this thin piezoelectric film causes the substrate to be warped or distorted. Further, it is necessary that a good adhesion be established between the lower electrode and the thin piezoelectric film.
JP-A-50-145899 discloses a piezoelectric element comprising a bulk ceramic suitable for the generation of a high voltage. However, this differs in purpose from the present invention, which concerns a thin piezoelectric film element which can be applied to an ink jet recording head.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,315 discloses an ink jet recording head similarly to the present invention. However, this patent has no reference to the pores in PZT as piezoelectric film or the density thereof. Further, the proposed process for the preparation of the piezoelectric film comprises the use of sol-gel method and thus requires the lamination of a plurality of layers and a heat treatment process. Therefore, this proposal is industrially unsuitable.
In the above cited JP-A-6-116095, the orientation by X-ray diffraction wide angle method, i.e., orientation in the plane along the surface of the substrate is discussed. However, X-ray diffractometry of thin film is not discussed.
Further, if a piezoelectric element is used as an actuator for ink jet recording apparatus, etc., good piezoelectric characteristics are required. However, the relationship between crystal orientation and piezoelectric characteristics is not disclosed in JP-A-6-116095
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a thin piezoelectric film element having improved piezoelectric characteristics and a process for the preparation thereof.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a thin piezoelectric film element having a high piezoelectric strain constant.
It is other object of the present invention to provide a thin piezoelectric film element which can be prepared to have a necessary thickness without being cracked.
It is still other object of the present invention to provide a process for the preparation of a thin piezoelectric film element which can provide a thin piezoelectric film element comprising a thin piezoelectric film having a necessary thickness at a single process without causing cracking.
It is further object of the present invention to provide a piezoelectric element comprising a thin piezoelectric film having a good adhesion with a lower electrode.
It is further object of the present invention to provide an ink jet recording head comprising such a thin piezoelectric film element which can provide high precision printing.
These and other objects of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description and examples.
The present invention can accomplish the foregoing objects and concerns a novel improved thin piezoelectric film element. The present invention provides a thin piezoelectric film element comprising a metal film formed on a substrate and a thin PZT film comprising lead zircotitanate having a third component incorporated therein formed on said metal film, wherein said thin PZT film has a rhombohedral crystalline structure which has (100) orientation of not less than 30% as determined by X-ray diffractometry of thin film, thereby enhancing the piezoelectric characteristics of said thin piezoelectric film element.
The foregoing orientation can be accomplished with an arrangement such that the annealing temperature of thin PZT film is from higher than 750xc2x0 C. to lower than 1,000xc2x0 C., preferably from not lower than 800xc2x0 C. to not higher than 1,000xc2x0 C., and the molar ratio of Zr/Ti is preferably from not less than 35/45 to not more than 45/35.
More preferably, the crystalline structure of the thin piezoelectric film element is further improved. The present invention further provides a thin piezoelectric film element comprising a piezoelectric film made of a polycrystalline substance and an upper electrode and a lower electrode arranged with the piezoelectric film interposed therebetween, wherein the crystalline constituting the piezoelectric film, i.e., the crystal grain boundary, is formed almost perpendicular to the surface of the electrodes.


The present invention relates to storage apparatuses for performing asynchronous remote copying between primary and secondary disk controllers. In particular, the present invention relates to techniques effective for adaptation to the transfer of update data.
Conventionally, when performing an asynchronous remote copying between a primary disk controller of a storage apparatus and a secondary disk controller thereof, by way of update data from the primary disk controller to the secondary disk controller, all write data to the primary disk controller are transferred.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-202962 discloses a storage controller proposed to achieve an object of minimizing performance deterioration even at an increased inter-controller distance. To achieve the object, after a termination notification of write data is returned from a primary disk controller, the write data is directly transmitted to a secondary disk controller, and the secondary disk controller stores the received data into a nonvolatile memory, whereby data securement is performed. In addition, predetermined reference time is set to enable all write data occurring before the reference time to be secured and to enable all data occurring after the time to be abandoned.


The present disclosure relates to an information processing apparatus.
In recent years, the importance of design is growing in information processing apparatuses such as a personal computer, a mobile terminal, and an electronic book apparatus. Further, even in one model thereof, there are many combinations of color, pattern, and the like for a casing, and the variety of designs increasingly becomes important.
For example, in the case where a pattern is provided on a casing, laser processing is performed to respond to a variety of designs.
Further, regarding a casing, a high-quality texture can be given thereto, in addition to the pattern or shape thereof, by painting an inner side of a top plate formed of an acrylic transparent resin to cause a color to stand out and providing a pattern for irregular reflection to a front surface thereof.
In addition, there is also known a structure in which a panel constituting a part of a casing emits light. For example, a light guide body is used as the panel. In the structure, a light source such as an LED (light emitting diode) is provided inside a device and the light from the light source is propagated to the panel of the light guide body. On a rear surface of the panel, patterns such as logos are printed in white color, and light propagated along the panel of the light guide body is partially reflected on the printed portion so as to be output to the front side of the panel. As a result, there is obtained such an illumination effect that the patterns such as logos are profiled on the front surface of the panel, and the improvement in aesthetic appearance of the device can be expected (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2004-326901 (paragraph [0029], FIG. 3; hereinafter, referred to as Patent Document 1)).


1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a wall cladding panel for the outside wall of a building with a solar generator and with a frame which surrounds the panel.
2. Description of Related Art
These wall cladding panels are known, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 4,223,667. Here, the frame has a metal profile which, with one leg, overlaps a glass pane outside.
The disadvantage of the known wall cladding panels is that the frame is not flush with the outer surface, and moreover, installation and sealing of the wall cladding panels are complex.


1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a printing device in which color ink nozzle arrays are arranged left-right symmetrically and a printing method.
2. Related Art
In cases where a number of nozzles are formed on a print head in lines, if a print head is mounted in an inclined manner with respect to its original mounting position, the landing position will be displaced from the originally assumed position. As an example of the countermeasures, what are disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Laid-open Patent Application Publication No. 2009-000836 and Japanese Unexamined Laid-open Patent Application Publication No. 2009-149064 are known.
What are disclosed in the above mentioned publications are directed to a displacement in the so-called main scanning direction as a displacement of the landing position, and utilize the data of the position displaced in the main scanning direction to land at the displaced position, assuming that the landing position will be displaced in the main scanning direction.


Most meat sold in supermarkets is packaged in an open container or tray, overwrapped with a transparent film, weighed, and the weight printed on a label that is attached to the overwrap, in advance. Some fruits and vegetables are similarly packaged and weighed. The package is then placed in a refrigerator, showcase or on a shelf of a supermarket, where a customer may select the merchandise which he/she wishes to purchase.
Single roll wrapping machines for overwrapping food packages with plastic film are well known and are used in supermarket chains. A disadvantage of the present single roll wrapping machine is that they do not provide any space for a weighing device (e.g. a load cell or scale), which is a necessary adjunct of every food overwrapping operation. Another disadvantage of such machines is that it is difficult to transport the film from the roll to the wrapping location.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a controlling method for use in a data processing device, and more particularly, to a storage controlling method for use in a processor comprising a store port for holding store data, which is transmitted from an arithmetic unit and is to be stored in a cache memory, etc.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mainly in a super scalar processor, etc. adopting an out-of-order method, a process of a store request is performed by assigning the store request, for example, to a store port or a write buffer, which is managed by an instruction processing device and intended to temporarily hold data to be stored in a cache memory or a memory such as a main storage.
As conventional techniques using such a store buffer, the following documents exist.    Document 1) Japanese patent Publication No. H6(1994)-4402 “Data Processing Device”    Document 2) Japanese Patent Publication No. H10(1998)-55303 “Memory System”
Document 1 discloses a technique with which a write buffer for holding at least one write address and data is comprised between a central processing unit and a cache, and write data is first written to the write buffer when a store instruction is executed, and then written to the cache storage device, in a data processing device comprising the cache storage device between the central processing unit and a main storage device.
Document 2 discloses a memory system in which an instruction bus and a data bus are separately arranged, 4 write buffers that are interposed in parallel between a CPU and a main storage device, and do not have an address comparator are comprised, and a data write is made to a memory via a write buffer, so that the speed of the entire system is improved.
Conventionally, a data write was directly made from a write buffer or a store port to a primary cache as described above. Additionally, a dedicated write buffer was sometimes arranged for a secondary cache memory. However, a write to a primary cache was directly made from a write buffer or a store port also in this case.
In recent years, however, the demand for enabling out-of-order execution with much more inflight request has been rising to improve a throughput. For example, the need for increasing the number of store ports (or write buffers) has been arising. If the number of store ports is increased to improve a throughput in correspondence with such a demand, the number of store ports (or write buffers) to be processed increases, which requires a time, for example, to select from which store port data is to be stored in a cache memory. To perform such an operation on one cycle, one cycle time must be made longer, and an improvement in the throughput cannot be expected due to an increase in the number of store ports. Accordingly, a method with which out-of-order execution with much more inflight request is enabled without degrading a throughput is demanded.


1. The Field of the Invention
The invention disclosed herein is a device in which a compressive force results from the action of a straight line motion on a body having a tapered surface.
2. The Prior Art
The prior art includes devices such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,737,840 and 4,252,992. In '840 a deformable, star-shaped connector with a wire receiving passage therethrough is compressed inwardly around the wire by being driven into a body having a tapered opening therethrough. The device disclosed in '992 includes a plurality of jaws which are driven down a tapered passageway and thereby gripping cable ends which were inserted into the passageway.


The invention relates to a valve, particularly for a structural element of microfluid technology, with valve bodies having surfaces for mutual contact which are moveable relative to each other, so as to displace the contact surfaces, wherein ducts end in one of the contact surfaces for the inflow and outflow of a fluid and an indentation for the formation of a connection between the ducts is provided in the other contact surface.
Miniaturized valves of this type which can be used for flow control in microfluid technology are known from, for example, DE 102 27 593 B4 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,748,975 B2. The contact surfaces of the valve bodies of these known valves carry out a double function. On the one hand, they seal the inlet duct relative to the outlet duct when the valve is closed. On the other hand, they ensure that the valve is sealed relative to the surroundings in any position of the valve. The latter function is of particular importance, because fluid-technological microelements, in particular flow cells, are primarily used for examining substances which burden the environment, for example, substances containing pathogenic germs.
The manufacture of the contact surfaces in the quality necessary for the sealing function is very difficult. In addition, numerous requirements, among them the suitability for friction pairing, limit the possibilities of material selection. Elastic synthetic materials, which are usually suitable for sealing, which however contain softeners, usually do not qualify. In the same manner, in most cases the use of lubricants for supporting the sealing function is not permissible. For example, in the case of long-term use of the valves which impairs the sealing function of the contact surfaces there is the danger of environmental contamination.
In addition, in accordance with the prior art, a moveable valve body for securing the sealing function relative to the surroundings/environment must always rest against the wetted sealing surface and, thus, connected tightly with a structural component which processes the fluid. This is particularly disadvantageous if the structural component processing the fluid is a disposable article. Particularly in the case of several valves per disposable, the manufacture of the moveable valve body itself and for its fluid-tight mounting, for example, at a flow cell, becomes significantly more difficult.


As known, a string musical instrument, such as an acoustic guitar or a violin, has a remarkable sound richness, depending on the construction features of the sound board which derive also from the fine skill of the lute maker which produces them. The acoustic power supplied directly by an instrument can be modulated by the music maker, but it cannot go beyond a certain level and in the cases of sonorisation of large indoor or outdoor spaces, it is certainly insufficient. From here the need to amplify the acoustic signal of the instrument.
A traditional system for amplifying volume is that of placing a microphone in front of the instrument and hence amplifying the sound with conventional amplifying equipment. This solution is not always satisfactory, because it is affected by microphone and environment quality, in addition to being prone to the problem of the Larsen effect, due to the return of the acoustic signal into the microphone, precisely in situations of great amplification; moreover, the microphone is able to pick a limited dynamic of the sound which comes out of the instrument, in addition to being strongly affected by environmental acoustics and by the microphone position with respect to the instrument.
Somewhat better results are obtained by positioning special microphones on the mouth of the sound board, below the strings. However, this solution is not fully satisfactory either.
In order to improve the quality of the acquired sound, freeing oneselves from the use of acoustic microphones sensitive to changes of acoustic pressure, it has also already been suggested to use special pickups (acquisition sensors), of the type found on electric guitars.
The pickups used in string instruments (guitars and double basses) are substantially of two types.
A first one is of a magnetic type and comprises a series of single or double coils of metal wire, which generate a magnetic field due to the presence of permanent magnets: this type of pickup is arranged in the proximity of the metal strings of ferromagnetic material, so that the magnetic field is “disturbed” by the vibration of the metal strings and the extent of this change is acquired as electric signal (the technical term is “variable-reluctance”). This signal detects well the vibrations of the strings which move in front of the pickup, but is unable to significantly appreciate any resonance of an acoustic board, which provides the timbre of a certain instrument.
A second one is of the piezoelectric type and comprises a piezoelectric pressure sensor: it is positioned below a bridge, for detecting the direct or resonance vibration in terms of variable pressure, consequent to the mechanical action of the strings vibrating on the support bridge. The nature of the signal acquired with this sensor, as can be guessed, is profoundly different from the one obtained with a magnetic pickup.
In order to acquire a signal from a piezoelectric transducer, it is normally resorted to preamplification circuits with a high input impedance, such as the schematised ones in the attached FIGS. 1A and 1B.
A first exemplifying circuit structure (FIG. 1A) is obtained through Q1 and Q2 and defines a discrete-component amplifier stage with a high input impedance, obtained with the use of a FET (Q1) in a bootstrap configuration. The second circuit structure (FIG. 1B) is obtained by means two operational amplifiers and defines an amplifier with a high input impedance. In both cases the circuits are adequate as voltage amplifiers.
With known electronic configurations, no perfect adaptation of the input stages towards the piezoelectric transducers is obtained and a significant reduction of signal quality is determined in case of parallel connection of multiple piezoelectric transducers. Moreover, since the mixing between signals coming from different, jointly-used transducers is critical, in the prior art no optimisation of the logarithmic response curve of the individual level controls for each signal is provided.
In order to supply an amplified sound as faithful as possible to the natural one, it has also been suggested to simultaneously acquire the signal deriving from multiple different sensors, arranged on a same acoustic instrument. WO2004/023454, for example, discloses a preamplification system for a pair of sensors arranged, on an acoustic instrument, one below a bridge for detecting the direct vibrations of the strings, and one on the instrument sound box, for detecting resonance vibrations. WO2011/003148 discloses a similar system, wherein a third sensor in the shape of a microphone is also provided.
Both these prior-art systems, however, still have significant management problems of the different signals. As a matter of fact, in the light of the different nature of the signals produced by the various sensors, as well as the different nature of the acquired sound (direct vibration, resonance vibration, acoustic wave in the air, . . . ), problems of electronic processing of the signals in the preamplification stage exist, to then obtain the correct output signal to be amplified in the final stage, without distorsions, without spectrum limitation of the signal, and having a final sound as natural as possible. It must be observed, moreover, that the magneto-dynamic inertia sensors have limited responses in frequency, remarkable mass and high sensitivity towards external electromagnetic fields, especially those at network frequency and harmonic frequencies thereof.
Finally, it must be considered that the reduced space available on the musical instrument also makes critical the physical configuration of the preamplifier which must be of excellent quality as well as having high immunity to electromagnetic fields of external sources.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,304,232 discloses a joystick gain control system for the amplification of a string instrument. Two equal magnetic-type or piezoelectric-type pickups are provided, with the volume potentiometers directly connected to the pickups. Such configuration in actual fact does not allow to obtain a good response from piezoelectric-type sensors, because it would require a load resistance of a few MΩ, necessary in order not to load the sensor, which would imply an alteration of the frequency response upon the varying of the potentiometer cursor position. Moreover, a change of the equivalent resistance seen from the piezoelectric sensor would imply a change of the frequency response on the low part of the spectrum (equivalent to a sort of response of a high-pass filter at variable frequency). The volume control is arranged between the pickups and the amplification stages. The structure is that of a generic amplification system, volume adjustment of a passive type and tone control, but it cannot be understood what the inner structure and the circuitry in the active version are. The volume controls are carried out directly on the sensors, changing the response thereof, increasing the equivalent electric noise thereof due to the additional resistance of the potentiometer circuit, virtually allowing the use of sole low-impedance sensors; an analogic→digital and digital→analogic chain is furthermore accomplished, obtaining the volume and tone adjustment functions numerically. The phase inversion of either one of the two sensors is obtained through an electromechanical-type switch (a double deviator with crossed connections).
In the document Jarmo Landevaara: “The Science of Electric Guitars and Guitar Electronics” some amplification circuits for a piezoelectric sensor are disclosed. This prior-art solution does not offer an ideal amplifier in the application considered by the present invention yet, because it is a FET impedance-adapter, follower circuit.


This invention relates generally to electrical appliances used in food preparation, and more particularly, to automatic bread making appliances.


The present invention relates to variable picture rate coding/decoding and conversion of scanning type of a video signal from interlaced scanning to progressing scanning, for example, in highly efficient coding of moving pictures into a bitstream at a small code amount for efficient video data transfer, storage and displaying, such as, MPEG-coding with inter-picture predictive coding.
Moving-picture coding at a low transfer bit rate, for example, 60 kbps, decimates several pictures from an incoming moving picture and encodes the remaining pictures according to need. An incoming moving picture carrying 30 frames per second (30 fps) is decimated, for instance, to 15, 10 or 5 fps. Decimation of pictures decreases the number of pictures, or frames, thus decreasing the amount of generated codes, although, motion smoothness on screen will be degraded a little bit.
Pictures under MPEG-coding are divided into three different types I-, P- and B-pictures. I-pictures (intra-coded pictures) are coded independently, entirely without reference to other pictures. P-pictures (unidirectionally predictive-coded pictures) are compressed by coding the differences the pictures and reference preceding I- or P-pictures. B-pictures (bidirectionally predictive-coded pictures) are also compressed by coding the differences the pictures and reference preceding or upcoming I- or P-pictures.
B-pictures can be removed from a coded bitstream for changing a picture rate because B-pictures are not used as reference pictures. A bitstream of 30 fps with P-pictures for every 3 frames, for example, can be converted into a bitstream of 10 fps by removing B-picture streams only.
A well-known variable picture rate coding performs predictive-coding for P- and B-pictures after decimation. A changed picture rate due to decimation varies a distance for prediction between a picture to be coded and a reference picture. The lower the picture rate, the longer the prediction distance, thus the amount generated codes being not so decreased.
Particularly, in MPEG, B-picture decimation causes lowering of picture rate too much, and can not change picture rate at several stages.
Moreover, for interlaced moving picture, decimation in unit of field lowers vertical resolution and decimation in unit of frame causes time reversal due to frame interpolation.
Decimation in unit of field or frame for varying picture rate is thus not applicable to an interlaced moving picture.
Although it is applicable to progressive moving picture, several scanning lines are decimated in reproduction by interlaced scanning.
This decimation processing causes redundancy in scanning lines and decoding processing. It further causes change in picture rate that depends on the amount of generated codes. Particularly, a picture rate tends to be lowered for moving picture of a big movement on screen by decimation in progress scanning, thus un-smoothness in reproduced picture being noticeable.
Moving picture is composed of interlaced or progressive moving pictures, as discussed above. An interlaced moving picture has been decimated half the scanning lines, however, has resolution about 70% of that in progressive scanning on stationary scenes. The progressive scanning produces almost no line flicker or crawling.
TV broadcast usually employs interlaced scanning, however, digital TV broadcast employs both interlaced and progressive scanning. Cinema films and animation carry progress moving pictures of about 24 frames per second as an interlaced scanning signal. Such an interlaced scanning signal carries 60 fields per second with the same picture for two or three successive fields.
Encoding of moving pictures by MPEG inter-picture predictive coding requires the same bit rate for both interlaced and progressive scanning when the picture rate and the number of scanning lines is the same. Progressive scanning is, however, superior to interlaced scanning on coding efficiency because the former carries scanning lines twice the latter.
A picture rate converted to half in progressive scanning lowers frame correlation, thus a required bit rate being lowered to 60 to 80% of the original rate. The bit rate in progressive scanning is lowered drastically compared to that in encoding in interlaced scanning at the same number of scanning lines. A picture rate is, however, half in progressive scanning, thus loosing smoothness in motion on screen a little bit when reproduced.
A well-known scanning line conversion performs conversion of interlaced pictures into progressive pictures at the same picture rate. Progressive pictures converted to half the picture rate lowers a coding bit rate compared to interlaced pictures having the same number of scanning lines, however, being reproduced rough on screen for rapidly moving pictures.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a server and the method for recovery from a failure in one of its links (hereinafter referred to “link recovery”), and in particular, to link recovery in a server equipped with a PCI Express interface.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the computer system processes more data and the processor becomes faster, the interface for interconnecting various components in the computer system is required to transfer larger amounts of data at higher speeds.
For some time now, the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) has been used widely as an interface for interconnecting various components in the computer system. In more recent years, the serial PCI Express has been catching broader market attention because it realizes high-speed, large-capacity data transfer at low implementation costs. It is now expected to be used widely in a variety of computer systems, from personal computers (PCs) and small-scale servers for front-end use to mission critical servers for back-end use.
Mission critical servers are required to have high system availability. It is important to minimize the possibility of a system down as well as the system's down time. One of the known methods of achieving high availability in a system equipped with a PCI Express interface has been the reduced lane mode of operation, whereby, in the event of a failure in one of the links in the system, an alternative link is configured using those lanes constituting the failing link which are usable, so that the system is kept operating with reduced lanes.
In such an arrangement, link recovery calls for the recognition of whether any receiver is present on the PCI Express interface. Without this information, it is impossible to tell whether the link is failing even though a receiver is present on the interface or it is failing because no receiver is present on the interface; as a result, it is impossible to properly process link recovery. In addressing this problem, PCI Express employs a mechanism called receiver detection during the link training sequence, as defined in the PCI Express Specifications (refer to the Web link below), to determine the presence or absence of a receiver.
“PCI Express Base Specification 1.1a,” PCI-SIG <URL: http://www.pcisig.com/specifications/pciexpress/base/>
Receiver detection is a mechanism for detecting the presence or absence of a receiver on a link, whereby, after power-on of the system, the transmitter on the PCI Express interface applies a certain level of voltage to the lanes that make up the link and measures the difference in transition time to determine whether a receiver is present on the link. It takes advantage of the fact that the presence of a receiver pulls down the receiver-side of the AC coupling capacitor inserted between the transmitter and the receiver on the physical signal lines of PCI Express, thereby increasing the load capacitance as seen by the transmitter and lengthening the signal transition by as much time as needed to charge the excess capacitance. This means that the signal transition time is long if a receiver is present on the PCI Express interface, and is short otherwise. This difference is used to determine the presence or absence of a receiver on the interface.
As stated above, the PCI Express interface is also expected to apply to large-scale servers that are used in mission critical systems. With servers of a large form factor such as those, implementing a high-speed interface as fast as, for example, 2.5 GHz results in extended wiring lengths, which makes it difficult to keep the signal quality because of the resulting transmission losses. Therefore it becomes necessary to insert, along the PCI Express interface, a redriver such as an equalizer for compensating transmission losses. The problem, however, is that with the receiver detection mechanism, the insertion of the redriver makes it appear as if there were always a receiver present on the interface, rendering it impossible to determine whether or not an I/O extension adapter is mounted.
As a result, when a link failure occurs on a PCI Express interface in a server, one cannot determine whether one should carry out link recovery, and thus cannot realize high system availability.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for correcting a preferred color, which is capable of correcting a color of an input image to a color preferred by a person so as to improve image quality, and a liquid crystal display device using the same.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
High resolution and high definition of an image display device has been realized according to user's requirements. Most users determine the definition of an image on the basis of a preferred color displayed on a display device, such as a skin color, a green color or a blue color. This is because the preferred color is stored in a color storage space of a person so as to have a significant influence on color perception. Accordingly, the image display device uses a preferred color correcting method for detecting a preferred-color area from an input image and converting the detected preferred-color area into a color preferred by the user, in order to display a high-definition image preferred by a user. In the method for correcting the preferred color, the preferred-color area should be accurately detected such that other color areas are not included, and should be corrected to the color preferred by the person.
As a conventional preferred color correcting method, an area correcting method for deciding an input color area and a preferred-color area in an elliptical shape in a u′v′ chromaticity coordinate and mapping the input color area to the preferred-color area (“Preferred Skin Color Reproduction Based on Adaptive Affine Transform”, IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, Vol. 51, No. 1, pp 191-197, 2005) and a point correcting method for setting one point of a color space as a target and positioning an input color to be close to the target (“Skin color reproduction algorithm for portrait images shown on the mobile display”, SPIE vol. 6058, pp 1-8) were reported.
However, the area correcting method is disadvantageous in that contour noise occurs and luminance deteriorates because brightness is not corrected. In addition, the point correcting method is disadvantageous in that preferred color correction capability deteriorates because the contents of the input image are not considered.


The invention relates generally to phosphors, specifically phosphors for use in fluorescent lamps. More particularly, the invention relates to europium and manganese activated aluminate phosphors doped with rare earth elements.
A phosphor is a luminescent material that absorbs radiation energy in a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum and emits energy in another portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Phosphors of one important class are crystalline inorganic compounds of very high chemical purity and of controlled composition to which small quantities of other elements (called “activators”) have been added to convert them into efficient fluorescent materials. With the right combination of activators and inorganic compounds, the color of the emission can be controlled. Most useful and well-known phosphors emit radiation in the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in response to excitation by electromagnetic radiation outside the visible range.
Aluminate phosphors such as barium-magnesium-aluminate (BAM) are widely used as the blue-emitting component of the phosphor blends in most fluorescent lamps intended for white light generation. Such phosphors generally have the formula (Ba, Ca, Sr)MgAl10O17. These phosphors may contain various activator ions, which impart the phosphor property. For example, a divalent europium (Eu2+) activated phosphor absorbs ultraviolet (UV) emission (i.e., exciting radiation) from the mercury plasma in a fluorescent lamp and emits blue visible light. Furthermore, a divalent manganese (Mn2+) activated BAM phosphor produces blue-green emission in fluorescent lamps.
Despite its wide use, BAM is notorious for its shortcomings in brightness and maintenance, particularly in those applications involving exposure to high ultraviolet (UV) and vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) fluxes. These phosphors suffer from poor efficacy and lumen maintenance, specifically under high wall load conditions, which is usually found in compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), and linear fluorescent lamps. Efficacy is the luminosity per unit of input electric power (measured in units of lumens/watt). Lumen maintenance is the ability of the phosphor to resist radiation damage over time. Because of these shortcomings, the blue BAM emission is reduced at a significantly faster rate over time than the emissions of the other color components in the blends or pixels. This results in a loss of lumens and a color shift in the overall light output.
It is believed that the poor efficacy and lumen maintenance are caused by UV-induced visible absorption centers, such as “color centers” and other lattice defects. Color centers are believed to be caused by lattice defects in the lattice that trap an electron or a hole, as described on pages 79-80 of K. H. Butler, Fluorescent Lamp Phosphors, Penn State University Press, 1980, incorporated herein by reference. It has been established that in many fluorescent lamp phosphors, the color centers are created by the 185 nm radiation emitted by the mercury plasma. The color centers induce absorption of the exciting radiation anywhere from the deep UV to the infrared region of the spectrum. Thus, these centers can degrade phosphor brightness by either absorbing the visible phosphor emission or by absorbing a part of the 254 nm mercury exciting radiation.
Therefore, it would be desirable to obtain a BAM phosphor with an improved efficacy and lumen maintenance.


As computer-based systems become more prevalent, the quality of the interfaces through which humans interact with these systems is becoming increasingly important. One interface that is of growing popularity due to its intuitive and interactive nature is the touchscreen display. Through a touchscreen display, a user can perform a variety of tasks by contacting a region of the touchscreen with the user's finger. In order to create a more intuitive and enhanced user experience, designers often leverage user experience with physical interactions. This is generally done by reproducing some aspects of interactions with the physical world through visual, audio, and/or haptic feedback. Haptic feedback often takes the form of a mechanical vibration. There is a need for additional systems and methods to generate haptic feedback.


Vector network analyzers (VNA) are instruments that measure the magnitude and phase of signals as they pass through and/or are reflected from devices under test (DUTs). Typically, a DUT is connected to the VNA at connectors with short lengths of cable; however, there are some applications where the connectors of the DUT are very far away, and it is not feasible to connect the DUT connectors to the VNA with test port cables. For instance, if the DUT is coaxial cable installed in a building, one end of the cable may be hundreds of meters away from the other. The DUT could also be a radio link with transmitting and receiving antennas positioned very far apart.
There is a need for network analyzers capable of measuring transmission magnitude and phase (s21) through DUTs that have input and output ports very far apart.


The present invention generally relates to a transmission control device for vehicles and to a steering assembly for vehicles. More specifically, the present invention relates to a transmission control device for coordinating steering inputs with speed inputs and to a steering assembly providing increased reliability and space efficiency.
When the driver of a typical vehicle makes a turn, the vehicle responds by changing its direction. In certain vehicles, such as the conventional tractor, the steering wheel is coupled to a steering linkage which, in turn, is coupled to the front wheels. When the driver turns the steering wheel, the front wheels pivot clockwise or counterclockwise. In one type of tractor, commonly known as a zero turn radius tractor, the rear drive wheels rotate independent of one another. The driver controls both the speed and direction of this tractor by controlling the motion of the rear drive wheels relative to one another. In this case, the steering linkage is coupled to the rear drive wheels. When the driver turns the steering wheel, this causes the rear drive wheels to rotate at different rates, which causes the tractor to turn.
It has been found that, in this type of tractor, when the driver is in the process of making a turn, the radius of the turn can change even though the driver holds the steering wheel in one position. This can occur when the driver increases or decreases the ground speed while making the turn. For example, if the driver turns the steering wheel to follow along a curved driveway, and at the same time, the driver presses the foot pedal, increasing the ground speed, the tractor can slightly wander away from the curved driveway. This is because the transmission of this tractor, which controls the ratio of right rear wheel speed to the left rear wheel speed, produces a change in this ratio when the driver changes the ground speed in the midst of a turn.
In addition to this wandering disadvantage, this type of tractor also has the disadvantage of castor front wheels which do not function like the conventional automobile-type front wheels. The castor wheels, which are not linked to the steering wheel, are free to swivel in any direction. This freedom is necessary to prevent front wheel slippage when the tractor wanders as described above.
Not only are castor front wheels less familiar to automobile drivers, they tend to cause the front end of the tractor to wander when the tractor is traveling laterally along a slope or hillside. For these reasons, drivers must spend time to acquire the skill necessary for steering and operating this tractor in various driving conditions.
However, if the transmission of a zero turn radius tractor could be adapted to prevent the wandering problem described above, the tractor could use conventional automobile-type front wheels. If a conventional automobile-type steering linkage, commonly known as an Ackerman-type steering linkage, were to be used in a zero turn radius tractor, such a steering linkage would present several disadvantages. This steering linkage includes a rack and pinion gear assembly and steering arms, both of which are positioned behind the front axle of the vehicle. This type of linkage consumes valuable space which could be occupied by other parts of the vehicle. In addition, the rack and pinion gear assembly is relatively complex which leads to several disadvantages. The gear assembly can malfunction relatively frequently, require a relatively high amount of maintenance service and is relatively expensive to manufacture.
The zero turn radius tractor described above also requires a reverse travel mechanism in order for the tractor to properly respond to the driver's steering inputs while traveling in reverse. This mechanism is necessary, in part, because the steering wheel and the foot pedals are separately and independently coupled to the rear drive wheels. The reverse travel mechanism is relatively complex, including a relatively high number of mechanical and electrical parts. Therefore, the reverse travel mechanism results in a relatively significant manufacturing expense and can require maintenance, service and replacement from time to time.
Therefore, there is a need to overcome each of the disadvantages described above.


Most central nervous system (CNS) pathologies share a common neuroinflammatory component, which is part of disease progression, and contributes to disease escalation. Among these pathologies is Alzheimer's disease (AD), an age-related neurodegenerative disease characterized by progressive loss of memory and cognitive functions, in which accumulation of amyloid-beta (Aβ) peptide aggregates was suggested to play a key role in the inflammatory cascade within the CNS, eventually leading to neuronal damage and tissue destruction (Akiyama et al, 2000; Hardy & Selkoe, 2002; Vom Berg et al, 2012). Despite the chronic neuroinflammatory response in neurodegenerative diseases, clinical and pre-clinical studies over the past decade, investigating immunosuppression-based therapies in neurodegenerative diseases, have raised the question as to why anti-inflammatory drugs fall short (Breitner et al, 2009; Group et al, 2007; Wyss-Coray & Rogers, 2012). We provide a novel answer that overcomes the drawbacks of existing therapies of AD and similar diseases and injuries of the CNS; this method is based on our unique understanding of the role of the different components of systemic and central immune system in CNS maintenance and repair.


The invention generally relates to the field of money deposit and dispensing devices, particularly devices of this kind having a plurality of compartments in a housing and a closure member associated with the opening and placed under the control of a control unit enabling the closure member to be brought into an opening position only after predetermined conditions are complied with.
In a known device of this kind, the individual compartments for receiving bank notes are arranged one above the other in adjacent rows. Each compartment row may be closed by a closure member of sliding door type. Initially, all of the doors are completely closed. In each row associated with determined bank notes, the respectively next compartment may be opened by opening the corresponding sliding door. On the one hand, this has the drawback that any third person will immediately determine from outside how many compartments are already empty and how many are still filled with bank notes. On the other hand, those compartments of a row associated with a first kind of bank notes which have been emptied in the meantime cannot subsequently be simply used for storing bank notes of another value, as these would then be released upon the next request of bank notes of the previous value. Furthermore, the known device is very bulky and needs much space.


1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to integrated systems on silicon chip, or SoC (“System On Chip”), comprising at least one central processing unit, or CPU, on which programs can be run, a direct memory access, or DMA, controller, and a local memory.
The present invention relates more particularly to such systems in which successive processes, for example using algorithms, are applied to input data, typically digital audio and/or video data. Such SoCs are, for example, included in electronic appliances such as set-top-boxes, personal digital assistants (PDA), mobile phones, and so on.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the dimensions of the processing cores reducing as their processing capabilities increase, one trend is to carry out a maximum of processes via software applications, the hardware components, for example the logic gates, being used only when particularly high processing performance levels, in terms of bit rate in particular, are required.
In practice, the use of software applications allows the use of algorithm languages with a high level of abstraction, for example “C” language, which facilitates the design step. Furthermore, errors are corrected in software applications simply by loading a new code.
One trade-off between the advantages of software implementations and those of hardware implementations is to combine both aspects within one and the same system, then called “firmware”, in which the system comprises on the one hand modules comprising hardware components and on the other hand software applications which are run on the CPU, the tasks to be performed by the system being divided between the hardware modules and the software applications. When executing instructions that are part of these software applications, the CPU interacts with the hardware modules, for example by sending commands to these modules. These commands use, for example, successive processes carried out by the hardware modules, for example of digital filtering, image processing, speech recognition, MPEG encoding/decoding, and other such types, on the digital data received as input to the system.
The hardware modules of the “firmware” type systems therefore receive data as input, carry out processes on this received data, and deliver the processed data as output.
It is also necessary to optimize the processing times of the software applications that the CPU applies to the data which is stored in the local memory of the system, which the CPU accesses quickly. However, in most systems on chip, it is not possible to store in local memory all the data that needs to be processed by the system on chip, for example, all the image data in the case of a system working on images. One, or even several, mass storage memories (for example, disks), hereinafter designated external memories, thus store at respective addresses in the external memories, data intended for processing by the CPU of the system on chip.
The function of the DMA controller of the system on chip is to transfer data from the external memory to the local memory, when this data is needed for the processing currently being carried out by the CPU. Similarly, the function of the DMA controller is to release storage resources in the local memory by transferring data from the local memory to the external memory. The data is thus transferred from memory to memory, from a source address in one memory to a destination address in another memory.
Moreover, in some cases, the data to be processed by the hardware modules is interchanged with the hardware modules via dedicated interfaces of the processor, normally called “streaming” interfaces, each comprising an input port named SDI (Streaming Data In) and an output port named SDO (Streaming Data Out), and a register associated with each of these ports. Each of these ports normally consists of a data bus and a few synchronization signal channels.
Such a configuration is represented in FIG. 1. The “firmware” type system on chip SP1 comprises a CPU 1, hardware modules 2 and 3. The system SP1 has access under control of the CPU 1 to an external or local memory 6. The CPU 1 comprises a register 4 (respectively 5) linked to the hardware module 3 via the output port SDO1 (respectively the input port SDI1). The CPU 1 also comprises a register 4′ (respectively 5′) linked to the hardware module 2 via the output port SDO2 (respectively the input port SDI2).
The writing, controlled by the CPU 1, in the register 4 (respectively 4′), of data from the memory 6, has the effect of applying this written data to the port SDO1 (respectively SDO2). The CPU 1 can then control the writing in the register 4 (respectively 4′), of new data from the memory 6 which will, also, be applied to the port SDO1 (respectively SDO2). The reading, controlled by the CPU 1, of the register 5 (respectively 5′) has the effect of supplying the data then applied to the port SDI1 (respectively SDI2). The writing in the memory 6 of this data is then controlled by the CPU 1.
In some cases, one and the same port can be used for reading and writing.
This solution for supplying input data and recovering output data from the hardware modules is not suitable for large volumes of data because it requires intensive involvement from the CPU.
In other configurations, each hardware module comprises its own DMA controller. For example, the “firmware” system SP2 diagrammatically represented in FIG. 2 comprises a CPU 7 and two hardware modules 8 and 9. The CPU 7 controls access to an external memory 6 via DMA controllers. The hardware modules 8 and 9 in practice each comprise a DMA controller 8′ and 9′. The DMA controller of each hardware module can thus be used to read the data to be processed in the mass memory 6, then, once this data has been processed by the hardware module, to write the data obtained in the mass memory 6. However, this solution increases the cost of the hardware modules. It also constitutes an obstacle to the granularity of the hardware modules. For example, a hardware module comprising a DMA controller carries out two successive processes on the input data, for example a temporal interpolation and a spatial interpolation of image data. If there is a desire to divide it into two hardware modules, one carrying out the temporal interpolation and the other the spatial interpolation, in order for certain data to be able to be subjected to just one of the two processes, it is then necessary to add a DMA controller.
There is therefore a need for a solution to supply input data and collect output data from the hardware modules of a “firmware” type system on chip, reducing the drawbacks of the prior art.


Conventionally, as a sealing device, there is one described in JP-UM-A-4-93571 Publication (Patent Literature 1).
This sealing device is disposed between an inner race and an outer race of a rolling bearing for a wheel. This sealing device comprises a core metal member, an elastic member fixed to the core metal member, a cross-sectionally L-shaped slinger, and a garter spring. The slinger includes an axially-extending portion, and a radially-extending portion, and the elastic member includes a radial lip always sliding on the axially-extending portion, a first axial lip sliding on the radially-extending portion, and a second axial lip disposed radially inwardly of the first axial lip and sliding on the radially-extending portion. The second axial lip has an annular groove formed in a radially-outward surface thereof.
The garter spring is fitted in the annular groove of the second axial lip. The garter spring presses the second axial lip radially inwardly.
This sealing device is formed such that in a condition in which the second axial lip is not worn, the second axial lip is not in contact with the axially-extending portion, while when the second axial lip is worn, so that a press-contacting force of the second axial lip for the radially-extending portion becomes less than a predetermined force, part of that portion of the second axial lip opposed to the axially-extending portion is brought into contact with the axially-extending portion, so that part of the above opposed portion forms a radial seal.
The second axial lip, when not in a worn condition, functions as an axial seal, while in a worn condition of the second axial lip, part of the above opposed portion of the second axial lip functions as the radial seal, so that this sealing device can continuously maintain a stable sealing function.
Patent Literature 1: JP-UM-A-4-93571 Publication (FIG. 1).


The present invention relates to a composite flexible frozen confection containing a distinct block(s) of a gel component, that is combined with one or more frozen dessert components, in such a manner that the composition may exhibit hand-held flexibility without significant separation of one or more of the components. The present invention further teaches a method of preparing such a food composition for frozen dessert applications.
The key features of the invention are the fun, or play factor and the absence of the messiness of eat that would otherwise ensue. Other aspects of multiple components are also present such as having more than one visual appearance such as color and clarity, more than one texture, mouthfeel, flavor, flavor release etc. upon consumption. In particular, the frozen dessert component provides the refreshment aspect that complements the physical strength necessary for the wobbly gel component.
WO 99/38386 relates to a water ice containing stabilizers and having a channeled structure of air passages. It does not teach flexibility or combinations having blocks of gel components with other blocks of frozen dessert component.
EP 0864256 teaches a way of molding an ice confection using multipart molds and liquid nitrogen as a cryogen. It does not teach a way to achieve flexibility of multicomponent products.
JP 2000 004793 relates to an iced dessert with a jelly-like solid item coated with ice cream. Product is made by coating solid or fluid edible material with ice cream, or using concentric nozzles. It teaches viscosity control and use of sweet potato fiber as additive to ice cream and does not teach flexibility.
JP 1999 346659 relates to a swirl design food based upon molding and nozzle devices. This does not relate to a gel, or to a method of making a gel, and does not teach flexibility.
EP 0560052 relates to the use of a gelatin coating (not a polyanionic) upon ice cream. The teaching is for low calorie products. There is no teaching regarding wobbliness or prevention of disengagement of gel layer.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,752,678 involves dipping an ice cream into a thixotropic batch containing alginate. This product contains the separate gel phase as a distinct component block (a coating) and emphasis is upon achieving a jelly coating, not upon wobbliness.
In any situation of bending a typical flexible material (like a piece of eraser), it is not just the change in the direction of the arc that must be considered. There is typically one surface of the flexible material that suffers dilation (the outside of the arc) and the opposite surface suffers compression (the inside of the arc). Both dilation and compression effects typically lead to other indirect but significant changes in surface geometry. These indirect changes have large contributions to the disengagement of the components of the composition. The present invention minimizes both the occurrence and the consequences of these side effects.
These side effects are explained as follows.
A dilated surface also typically undergoes some narrowing in one direction, to compensate for the stretching in the other direction. A compressed surface also undergoes some lateral broadening and buckling, in order to tolerate the material displacement that is resultant from the squeezing of its fabric in the other direction. Although these changes are side effects of the creation of the bend, they are nonetheless substantive, geometric displacements.
When such changes in surface geometry of a flexible gel occur in juxtaposition with a more rigid conjoined structure such as a frozen dessert; surface separation and delamination of the union is wholly expected. Bending movements lead to substantial breaking of at least one of the more brittle non-gel components. Such broken fragments of the non-gel component(s) then typically fall off the gel component.
Thus there is a need for a composition in which two or more components of different rigidity are combined, yet in which the application of bending motions does not cause the falling apart of the composition in any significant way. Another need is for a composition that, despite being able to be wiggled about, does not generate a very messy eating experience. The present invention now satisfies these needs.
Surprisingly, it has been discovered that with the present composition, compositions having greater structural integrity are provided such that meesy eating experiences due to breakage are substantially minimized. In fact although the more rigid component does still crack, or craze to some degree, this is not excessive. Further, the more rigid component does not readily separate or disengage from the gel component and survives repeated wiggles without disengaging. Part of this is due to the discovery that the adhesiveness of the gel phase should not be too high.
The invention thus concerns a composite frozen confection containing one or more component block(s) of polyanionic gel(s) in conjunction with more rigid component such that:
a) During warming to room temperature the confection develops flexibility,
b) When flexible, the confection may be bent or wobbled such that one end may distort to an angle of at least 5 degrees from other end and
c) During the first 4 distortions, not more than 5% by weight of the rigid component falls off.
In this invention the gel phase is separate, as a distinct and elongated component block, such as a filling, a layer, a rope, a coating, or as laminations etc., provided the gel phase substantially extends longitudinally from one end of the product to the other end.
The gel component is not present as an emulsion phase or dispersion (in which individual particulate gel sizes and geometries are not visible to the eye of a healthy individual).
The adjunct frozen dessert component is typically a water ice, but may be a sorbet, sherbet, ice cream etc. and might or might not itself also be, or contain, a gel. There is a difference in the rigidities of the two components of the present composition.
The method for preparing such items is embodying the ability to form a viscoelastic charged gel component and a rigid component together into a composite.
The method comprises contacting the gel component with the rigid component by processes such as molding, enrobing, spraying or co-extrusion.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a position detection and anti-pinch system for a power window of a vehicle and more particularly to a position detection and anti-pinch system and method for detecting the position of a window in a vehicle door assembly.
2. Background Art
Door assemblies for automotive vehicles generally include a metal door frame attached to the body of a vehicle. The door frame generally includes inner and outer door frame panels joined about a common edge and a door sill running along top edge of the door to define a window frame. The window frame includes an opening or channel extending through the door frame to receive a window pane. A reinforcement panel may be attached to the inner door panel to provide additional structural support for the door frame and to receive various hardware components. Hardware components such as a handle assembly, window regulator and motor assembly, and electrical components such as interior lights and speakers, are secured to the reinforcement panel concurrently with assembly of the vehicle door.
Certain vehicle door assemblies include automatic vehicle window adjustment having a “one-touch up” feature. The “one-touch up” feature allows a passenger to raise the window pane with a single touch of a control button on the vehicle door. When actuated, the switch activates a motor assembly operatively connected to a window regulator, causing the window regulator to move the window pane upward toward the top of the window frame to a fully closed position without additional operator intervention. Of particular concern with such “one-touch” systems is that the passenger may not be able to stop the upward travel of the window pane if an object or an appendage of a person becomes pinched or trapped between the moving window and the window frame, which may lead to significant bodily harm.
Several types of obstruction detection systems have been proposed for vehicle door assemblies. One known obstruction detection system includes a control module which senses current spikes in the window drive motor or pressure on the window which would indicate an obstruction being pinched between the upward moving window and the window frame. The obstruction detection system stops and/or reverses the motor upon sensing the current spike or increased pressure while raising the motor. The problem with this design is that an object must be trapped or pinched with sufficient force for the system to sense the need to reverse the motor and lower the window, causing undesirable injury to an occupant prior to the lowering of the window. Further, the sensor is mounted adjacent the motor rather than the window pane, which does not provide an accurate measurement if an object becomes trapped between the window and window pane.
Another known obstruction detection or anti-pinch system includes a window seal with a gasket having varying resistivity based upon its level of compression. For example, if an obstruction is pinched between the window and the window frame, the gasket is locally compressed, which alters the resistivity of the gasket. A low current is applied through the gasket, and the variation in resistivity may be sensed to determine the existence of the obstruction, at which point upward movement of the window would be stopped. The system is not particularly desirable because the resistive gasket and associated electronics may be costly and injury may still occur prior to the lowering of the window.
Generally, it is known in window control designs to determine the velocity of a power window via pulses from the rotation of a motor's shaft. These pulses are generated by Hall sensors (magnetic sensing), CPD (commutator pulse detection) or switches that provide an open or closed circuit as the motor spins. To coordinate a system to detect information about a moving power windowpane, a supplier must change the system that they are designing to accept these pulses. Control algorithms must then be used to determine the velocity and position of the windowpane based on the received the pulse information. This task is especially critical when considering safety standards like FMVSS 118, where an obstacle must be detected during an auto-up function before a predetermined force is exerted on the window as a result of an obstruction in the path of the power window.
With such stringent guidelines, the control system in such motor pulse generating arrangements must “learn” the characteristics of not only the motor, but the regulator, grease and all of the mechanical linkages between the motor and the window. The system must also be able to accommodate temperature variation and different road conditions into the control process. All of these factors must be considered to provide flawless auto-up operations.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an improved window position detection and anti-pinch system for an automatic power window of a vehicle. It is also desirable to provide a window position detection system incorporating an anti-pinch detection system which prevents an obstruction from becoming trapped or lodged between a window and a window frame of the vehicle door.


1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a snapshot mechanism. More particularly, the present invention relates to a snapshot mechanism adopting a rollforward and a many-to-one management method, which is adaptive to a remote snapshot mechanism.
2. Description of Related Art
To backup data for security, selection of a backup technique should take possible disasters, such as natural disasters, physical damage to the storage hardware and data corruption (including human errors, software errors, viruses, hacker invasion) into consideration. Only generating copies of the original data cannot solve the problem of data corruption. Thus, to correctly recover the data, the concept of version control should be adopted, and a snapshot technique meets the requirement.
The first advantage of the snapshot technique is that a current service will not be interrupted, by which the service level of the company will be improved. The second advantage is that a backup window is shortened, so frequently conducting snapshoot and backup the important data can be easily achieved. As such, a data loss window can be effectively shortened to reduce the estimated amount of data loss when disasters occur. The third advantage is that snapshot can solve the problem of data corruption. The above-mentioned backup window refers to the time needed for executing backup. The backup window is usually defined by the time needed for operating a backup process. For example, if data is needed from 8 a.m. to midnight, the window can be used to fabricate backup copies from midnight to 8 a.m. of the next day. However, to obtain consistent backup, data cannot be varied when being backed up. Therefore, in some circumstances, the backup window is also a time interval in which data and application programs cannot be used.
Copy-on-write (CoW) is the mainstream of practical snapshot manners, as it has good flexibility, scalability and can be practiced at a block level. Besides, the efficiency of snapshot at a block level is higher than at a file system level. As the CoW is independent from the file system in design, the dependency thereof to the file system does not need to be considered. In the snapshot of copy-on-write, when CoW occurs, the write action is suspended till the CoW action is finished. As for a remote snapshot, the time needed to suspend a write process will add double transmission time, the application performance is affected and weakened significantly.
In the development of snapshot techniques, LSI Logic Corporation Company proposed a snapshot technique in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,771,843 titled “Data Timeline Management Using Snapshot Volumes” published on Aug. 3, 2004. As shown in FIG. 1, the data loss window is shortened to reduce loss and avoid accidents caused by man-made improper operations. The snapshot technique of rollforward is achieved by reserving the snapshot data after the time point for rollback plus timeline management skills.
As shown in FIG. 1, according to the technique, snapshot volumes 110, 120, 130, 140 respectively reserve data at one o'clock, two o'clock, three o'clock and four o'clock on one day afternoon. When rolled back to the status reserved by the snapshot volume 120, the data is checked sequentially by an algorithm provided by the LSI Company, and the data required to be reserved is replicated into one or several appropriate volumes. Thus, to roll forward, the snapshot volume 130 or the snapshot volume 140 can be used to roll forward to the status at three o'clock or four o'clock. When system administrator makes an improper operation, the system can be recovered to the point-in-time before improper operation happened. To rollback to the snapshot volume 120, for example, the data of the snapshot volume 120 will be cleared, and Copy-on-Write (CoW) must be performed again for rolling forward, thus prolonging the recovery window in such a situation. Another disadvantage is that the block of the CoW may need to be replicated into a plurality of snapshot images, which results in the waste of resources.
In addition, LSI Logic Corporation Company proposed another snapshot technique in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,594,744 titled “Managing a snapshot volume or one or more checkpoint volumes with multiple point-in-time images in a single repository” published on Jul. 15, 2003, which supports a single snapshot volume to store a plurality of snapshot images. As shown in FIG. 2, all the snapshots belonging to the same target volume are stored in a big snapshot volume. For example, each snapshot of a target volume 210 is respectively stored in a snapshot volume 220 in sequence, for example, snapshots A, B, C and D are respectively stored in images A, B, C and D of the same snapshot volume 220. Similarly, each snapshot of the target volume 230 is respectively stored in a snapshot volume 240 in sequence, for example, snapshots E, F, G and H are respectively stored in images E, F, G and H in the same snapshot volume 240. That is, different target volumes respectively have the corresponding snapshot volumes.


In a manner which in itself is known, unlike an electrical machine with permanent magnets, a rotary electrical machine with excitation can produce engine torque, or supply electric energy, only when an excitation current passes through its inductor.
A common type of rotary electrical machine with excitation, which is widely used in the motor vehicle industry for the alternator and starter functions, comprises a rotary inductor and a stator with a plurality of windings.
When the machine is functioning as an alternator, the current which is generated in the stator windings by the rotating inductor is rectified such as to supply direct voltage to the vehicle battery.
This voltage depends on the speed of rotation of the inductor, the connected load and the excitation current.
For motor vehicle applications, the output voltage must be regulated such as to remain constant irrespective of the speed of rotation of the alternator and irrespective of the battery load.
For this purpose, the output voltage is measured and compared continually with a set value by a control device which controls the excitation current such as to cancel out any difference.
The company VALEO EQUIPEMENTS ELECTRIQUES MOTEUR has already proposed to carry out this control on the basis of measurements by sampling by means of digital techniques, which provide substantial advantages in comparison with the conventional analogue methods, in particular in its European patents EP 0 481 862 and EP 0 802.606.
In the design of a modern control device, the subjection of the output voltage to a set value is based on the theorisation of a proportional (P) or proportional integral (PI) control loop.
The creation of this loop by the corresponding algorithms makes it possible to design regulators with programmable functionalities which can adapt more easily to the specifications of the motor vehicle manufacturers, such as the one described in the article “An high-voltage CMOS voltage regulator for automotive alternators with programmable functionalities and full reverse polarity capability”, P. Chassard, L. Labiste, P. Tisserand et al, Design, Automation and Test in Europe Conference and Exhibition (DATE), 2010, EDAA.
In the motor vehicle industry, a plurality of characteristics of the alternator make it possible to evaluate the performance of the alternator, in particular the following characteristics:
maximum current supplied according to the speed of rotation for a given regulation voltage;
voltage regulation, i.e. the aptitude of the alternator to generate a voltage corresponding to the set value according to the loads connected;
stability of the system, i.e. the phase margin and the gain margin of the system comprising the regulator, the alternator, a battery and loads.
However the inventive body has observed a decrease in the phase and gain margin in systems comprising high-power alternators.
This decrease can become critical. In fact poor voltage regulation arises which leads to an “oscillating” voltage, or worse still, an alternator output voltage which can no longer be controlled by the regulator. This lack of control can lead for example to excess voltage; reference is then made to an unstable controlled system.
According to arbitrary criteria, the phase margin of the transfer function in an open loop (FTBO) of a controlled system must be more than 45°, and the gain margin must be more than 13 dB in order to consider the system as stable.
However, mostly, for a system which uses a very high-power alternator (which supplies a current of 300 A for example), the respective criteria of the phase margin (>45°) and gain margin (>13 dB) can no longer be complied with for a performance level of the voltage regulation which is identical to that of an alternator with lower power (which for example supplies a current of 100 A). The system is liable to be unstable.
A solution which is well-known in order to compensate for the increase in alternator gain is to create a decrease in the regulator gain.
Unfortunately, in the case of a control loop of the proportional type, the performance of the voltage regulation is affected by the change of the regulator gain.
In fact, although the criteria of stability are improved, the drop in voltage of the voltage regulation according to the current output is then increased, and can reach 600 mV, which is considered to be a deterioration of the performance of the voltage regulation in comparison with a voltage drop of approximately 200 mV for an alternator which outputs 100 A, for example.
A known solution for limiting the voltage drop of the regulation when the regulator gain is decreased is the use of an integral part in the control loop.
The voltage drop can thus be brought to a value close to 0 mV; however, it is known that the phase margin and the gain margin are slightly affected.
There is therefore a need for a solution which would make it possible to increase the phase margin and the gain margin of the transfer function in an open loop of a voltage regulation system associated with a high-power alternator, whilst maintaining the performance of the voltage regulation.