What is claimed is:
1. An off-road vehicle comprising a frame, a plurality of wheels arranged to support the frame, an internal combustion engine having a crankshaft configured to rotate, a transmission arranged to transmit the rotation of the crankshaft to at least one of the wheels, and a housing configured to house at least a portion of the transmission, the housing having an air inlet duct through which ambient air enters the housing and an air outlet duct through which the air leaves the housing, the air inlet duct having an inlet opening, the outlet duct having an outlet opening, the inlet and outlet openings positioned higher than the wheels.
2. The off-road vehicle as set forth in claim 1 additionally comprising a seat that defines a surface onto which a driver or passenger of the vehicle sits, the seat surface positioned higher than the wheels, and the outlet opening being positioned at an elevation close to an elevation of the seat surface.
3. The off-road vehicle as set forth in claim 2, wherein the outlet opening is faces rearward.
4. The off-road vehicle as set forth in claim 1 additionally comprising a seat that defines a surface onto which a driver or passenger of the vehicle sits, the seat surface positioned higher than the wheels, and a portion of the outlet duct extending next to the seat.
5. The off-road vehicle as set forth in claim 4, wherein the portion of the outlet duct that extends next to the seat is an uppermost section of outlet duct.
6. The off-road vehicle as set forth in claim 4, wherein the seat has a slant surface, and the portion of outlet duct has a configuration that corresponds to the slant surface such that the seat and the portion of the outlet duct generally nest together.
7. The off-road vehicle as set forth in claim 4, wherein another portion of the outlet duct extends upwardly along at least a front section of the housing at a location not more than just forward of the seat.
8. The off-road vehicle as set forth in claim 1 additionally comprising at least two seat assemblies disposed side by side on the frame, and the outlet duct having a portion extending between the seat assemblies.
9. The off-road vehicle as set forth in claim 8, wherein the outlet opening is directed rearward.
10. The off-road vehicle as set forth in claim 8, wherein each one of the seat assemblies comprises a seat and a pedestal configured to support the seat, the portion of the outlet duct extends along one of the seats and has a configuration corresponding to a configuration of the seat.
11. The off-road vehicle as set forth in claim 8, wherein the housing at least in part is positioned between the seat assemblies.
12. The off-road vehicle as set forth in claim 1 additionally comprising a seat that defines a surface on which a driver or passenger of the vehicle sits, the surface being positioned higher than the wheels, and the inlet opening being positioned at generally the same elevation as the surface or at a location higher than the surface.
13. The off-road vehicle as set forth in claim 1 additionally comprising a seat unit, the inlet opening is positioned at a location generally behind the seat unit.
14. The off-road vehicle as set forth in claim 1 additionally comprising a seat unit, the seat unit defining a surface on which a driver or passenger of the vehicle sits, the seat unit including a seat back against which the driver or passenger leans, the seat back having a top, the inlet opening of the air inlet duct being positioned at a location higher than the surface and lower than the top of the seat back.
15. The off-road vehicle as set forth in claim 1 additionally comprising at least two seat assemblies, wherein the air inlet duct at least in part is positioned between the seat assemblies.
16. The off-road vehicle as set forth in claim 1, wherein the inlet opening is faces forward.
17. The off-road vehicle as set forth in claim 1, wherein the inlet opening is faces rearward.
18. The off-road vehicle as set forth in claim 1, wherein the transmission comprises a belt-transmission mechanism, and the housing houses the belt-transmission mechanism.
19. The off-road vehicle as set forth in claim 18, wherein the belt transmission mechanism includes a drive pulley coupled to the crankshaft, an output shaft, a driven pulley coupled to the output shaft, and a belt extending around the drive and driven pulleys.
20. The off-road vehicle as set forth in claim 1, wherein at least one of the inlet and outlet ducts is a member formed separately from the housing and is coupled to the housing.
21. An off-road vehicle comprising a frame, a plurality of wheels arranged to support the frame, an internal combustion engine having a crankshaft configured to rotate, a transmission arranged to transmit the rotation of the crankshaft to at least one of the wheels, a housing configured to house at least a portion of the transmission, and means for introducing ambient air into the housing and discharging the air from the housing and for inhibiting water from entering the housing.
22. An off-road vehicle comprising a frame, a plurality of wheels arranged to support the frame, an internal combustion engine having a crankshaft configured to rotate, a transmission arranged to transmit the rotation of the crankshaft to at least one of the wheels, a housing configured to house at least a portion of the transmission, the housing having an air inlet duct through which ambient air enters the housing and an air outlet duct through which the air leaves the housing, the air inlet duct having an inlet opening, the air outlet duct having an outlet opening, and a seat defining a sitting surface on which a driver or passenger of the vehicle sits, the inlet opening being positioned at generally the same elevation as or higher than the sitting surface, the outlet opening being positioned generally close to the elevation of the sitting surface.
23. The off-road vehicle as set forth in claim 23, wherein the sitting surface is positioned higher than the wheels.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. An apparatus, comprising:
a decoder to supply a decoded memory access operation from a memory access instruction;
a converter coupled to said decoder to convert said decoded memory access operation to a prefetch operation;
a multiplexor to receive said decoded memory access operation and said prefetch operation; and
an execution unit to receive a multiplexor output from said multiplexor.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said prefetch operation is switched to said multiplexor output responsively to a prefetch window signal.
3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein said prefetch window signal is active when a thread switch signal is active.
4. The apparatus of claim 3, further comprising a thread switch logic to supply said thread switch signal.
5. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein said decoded memory access operation is supplied when said prefetch window signal is inactive.
6. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein said memory access instruction is in a first thread, wherein control is switched to a second tread responsive to said thread switch signal.
7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said prefetch operation is complementary to said memory access instruction.
8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said prefetch operation is a hardware prefetch operation.
9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein said prefetch operation is entered into a memory pipeline.
10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein said prefetch operation does not update registers.
11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein said prefetch operation does not generate exceptions.
12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said converter includes a lookup table.
13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein said lookup table includes a complementary prefetch operation to a listed decoded memory access operation.
14. A method, comprising:
converting a decoded memory access operation of a first thread into a prefetch operation;
loading said prefetch operation into a memory pipeline when a prefetch window signal is active; and
performing said prefetch operation in said memory pipeline during execution of a second thread.
15. The method of claim 14, further comprising activating said prefetch window signal when a thread switch signal is active.
16. The method of claim 14, wherein said converting includes looking up said prefetch operation in a lookup table.
17. The method of claim 14, wherein said loading includes switching said prefetch operation to an execution unit responsive to said prefetch window signal.
18. The method of claim 14, wherein said converting includes convening a software decoded memory access operation into a hardware prefetch operation.
19. The method of claim 18, wherein said performing includes preventing the updating of registers.
20. The method of claim 18, wherein said performing includes preventing the generation of exceptions.
21. An apparatus, comprising:
means for convening a decoded memory access operation of a first thread into a prefetch operation;
means for loading said prefetch operation into a memory pipeline when a prefetch window signal is active; and
means for performing said prefetch operation in said memory pipeline during execution of a second thread.
22. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising means for activating said prefetch window signal when a thread switch signal is active.
23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein said means for convening includes means for looking up said prefetch operation.
24. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein said means for loading includes means for switching said prefetch operation to an execution unit responsive to said prefetch window signal.
25. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein said means for converting includes means for converting a software decoded memory access operation into a hardware prefetch operation.
26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein said means for performing includes means for preventing the updating of registers.
27. The method of claim 25, wherein said means for performing includes means for preventing the generation of exceptions.
28. A system, comprising:
a decoder to supply a decoded memory access operation from a memory access instruction;
a converter coupled to said decoder to convert said decoded memory access operation to a prefetch operation;
a multiplexor to receive said decoded memory access operation and said prefetch operation;
an execution unit to receive a multiplexor output from said multiplexor; and
a memory to return prefetched data responsive to said prefetch operation.
29. The system of claim 28, wherein said prefetch operation is presented to said memory via a memory pipeline.
30. The system of claim 29, wherein said memory pipeline is a level two cache pipeline.
31. The system of claim 28, wherein said memory returns said prefetched data via a system bus.
32. The system of claim 28, wherein said prefetch operation is a hardware prefetch operation.
33. An apparatus comprising:
a decoder to supply a decoded memory access operation from a memory access instruction;
a converter coupled to said decoder to convert said decoded memory access operation to a prefetch operation;
an execution unit to receive said prefetch operation when a thread switch signal is active; and
wherein said execution unit is to receive said prefetch operation when a prefetch window signal is active.
34. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein said converter includes a lookup table.
35. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein said lookup table includes a complementary prefetch operation to said decoded memory access operation.
36. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein said prefetch window signal switches said prefetch operation to said execution unit.
37. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein said prefetch window signal is coupled to said execution unit to indicate that said prefetch operation is to be executed as a hardware prefetch operation.
38. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein said decoded memory access operation is from a first thread, and said prefetch operation is executed during execution of a second thread.