Author: claimsbot

1. A system for use with an excavator of the type having a chassis, bucket support elements including a boom extending from said chassis and a dipper stick pivotally mounted on the end of the boom, and an excavator bucket pivotally mounted on the end of the dipper stick, said system determining the position of the excavator bucket during operation of the excavator at a worksite, comprising:
a plurality of fixed ranging radios positioned at known locations at said worksite,
a pair of ranging radios mounted on the chassis of the excavator,
a third ranging radio mounted on one of said bucket support elements, and
a measurement circuit, responsive to said pair of ranging radios and to said third ranging radio, for determining the position and orientation of said excavator and said bucket support elements with respect to said plurality of fixed ranging radios.
2. The system of claim 1 in which said third ranging radio is mounted on said boom of said excavator.
3. The system of claim 1 in which said third ranging radio is mounted on said dipper stick of said excavator.
4. The system of claim 1 further comprising an angle sensor providing an output indicating the angular orientation between said boom and said dipper stick, said measurement circuit responsive to said angle sensor output.
5. The system of claim 4 further comprising an angle sensor providing an output indicating the angular orientation between said dipper stick and said bucket, said measurement circuit responsive to said angle sensor output.
6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a display on said excavator for providing a display for the operator of the excavator indicating the position and orientation of said excavator chassis and said bucket support elements with respect to said plurality of fixed ranging radios.
7. The system of claim 5, further comprising a display on said excavator for providing a display for the operator of the excavator indicating the position and orientation of said bucket with respect to said plurality of fixed ranging radios.
8. The system of claim 5, further comprising a control responsive to the measured positions and orientations of said bucket with respect to said plurality of fixed ranging radios, for causing the bucket to be moved in sequence to the desired positions.
9. The system of claim 1, further comprising an inclinometer providing an output indicating the inclination of said dipper stick, said measurement circuit responsive to said inclinometer output.
10. The system of claim 1, further comprising an inclinometer providing an output indicating the inclination of said boom, said measurement circuit responsive to said inclinometer output.
11. A bucket sensing system for use with an excavating machine of the type having a chassis, a boom pivotally secured to said chassis at a first pivot joint, a dipper stick pivotally secured to said boom at a second pivot joint, and a bucket pivotally secured to said dipper stick at a third pivot joint, comprising:
a plurality of fixed ranging radios positioned at known locations at a worksite,
a pair of ranging radios mounted on the chassis of the excavating machine,
a third ranging radio, mounted on said dipper stick adjacent said second pivot joint and providing an indication of the relative location of the third ranging radio with respect to said plurality of fixed ranging radios,
an angle sensor for sensing the angle between said boom and said dipper stick, and
a position determining circuit, responsive to said angle sensor, to said pair of ranging radios, and to said third ranging radio, for determining the position of said third pivot joint based on the outputs of said angle sensor and said ranging radios.
12. The bucket sensing system of claim 11, further comprising an angle sensor for sensing the angle between said dipper stick and said bucket, whereby said position determining circuit may determine the position of the bucket teeth based on the outputs of said angle sensors and said ranging radios.
13. The bucket sensing system of claim 12, further comprising a display on said excavating machine for displaying to the machine operator the position of the bucket.
14. A bucket sensing system for use with an excavating machine of the type having a chassis, a boom pivotally secured to said chassis at a first pivot joint, a dipper stick pivotally secured to said boom at a second pivot joint, and a bucket pivotally secured to said dipper stick at a third pivot joint, said bucket having cutting teeth, comprising:
a plurality of fixed ranging radios positioned at known locations at a worksite,
a pair of ranging radios mounted on the chassis of the excavating machine,
a third ranging radio, mounted on said boom adjacent said second pivot joint and providing an indication of the relative location of the third ranging radio with respect to said plurality of fixed ranging radios,
an angle sensor for sensing the angle between said boom and said dipper stick, and
a position determining circuit, responsive to said angle sensor, to said pair of ranging radios, and to said third ranging radio, for determining the position of said third pivot joint based on the outputs of said angle sensor and said ranging radios.
15. The bucket sensing system of claim 14, further comprising an angle sensor for sensing the angle between said dipper stick and said bucket, whereby said position determining circuit may determine the position of the cutting teeth of the bucket based on the outputs of said angle sensors and said ranging radios.
16. The bucket sensing system of claim 15, further comprising a display on said excavating machine for displaying to the machine operator the position of the bucket.

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. A method for protecting silver and silver alloy surfaces against tarnishing, comprising:
initially subjecting a surface to be treated to cleaning pre-treatment in organic solvents;
immersing the cleaned surface in an acid solution able to ensure formation of a thin layer of silver oxide;
immersing the oxidized surface in a liquid solution of at least one thiol of formula
CH3(CH2)nSH
where n is between 10 and 16, to provide a treated surface; and
thereafter, removing the treated surface from the liquid solution, subsequently drying the treated surface, and subsequently subjecting the dried surface to a separate heating treatment by placing said previously oxidized silver surface in an environment containing air at a temperature of at least 50\xb0 C. for at least ten minutes, thereby chemically reacting molecules of said thiol with the previously oxidized silver surface.
2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of initially subjecting a surface to be treated to cleaning pre-treatment comprises cleaning the surface to be treated by immersion in at least one organic solvent.
3. The method as claimed in claim 2, further comprising heating the surface immersed in the at least one organic solvent.
4. The method as claimed in claim 3, further comprising subjecting the surface to thermal agitation during the heating.
5. The method as claimed in wherein the step of immersing the cleaned surface in an acid solution comprises immersing the cleaned surface in a sulphuric acid solution.
6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of immersing the oxidized surface in a solution comprises immersing the oxidized surface in a pentadecanethiol solution.
7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of immersing the oxidized surface in a solution comprises immersing the oxidized surface in a hexadecanethiol solution.
8. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of immersing the oxidized surface in a solution comprises immersing the oxidized surface in an undecanethiol solution.
9. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of immersing the oxidized surface in a solution comprises immersing the oxidized surface in a solution of at least one thiol at a temperature of about 30\xb0 C. for at least two hours.

1. An apparatus for controlling servo signal gains of an optical disc drive, wherein the apparatus adjusts the gains of a plurality of servo signals controlling a servo system of the optical disc drive when the optical disk drive encounters an operating state transition, comprising:
in a first mode, at least one AGC loop, compensating the gains of the servo signals with a selectable bandwidth during a specific period after the operating state transition to accelerate the convergence of the servo signals; and
in a second mode, at least one AGC loop, reloading the previously saved convergence values or pre-determined values as the initial values according to the current operating state immediately after the operating state transition to accelerate the convergence of the servo signals.
2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the operating state transition occurs whenever the operating state of the optical disc drive is changed, and the operating state comprises a write state in which data is being written to the optical disc, a blank state in which a blank zone of the optical disc is being read, and a data state in which a data zone of the optical disc is being read.
3. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the apparatus can save the convergence loop-ratio values of the at least one AGC loop, and then reload the saved convergence loop-ratio values of the at least one AGC loop corresponding to the corresponding operating state as the initial loop-ratio values of the at least one AGC loop after the operating state transition to determine the gains of the servo signals in state-reloading mode.
4. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the servo signals include a tracking error signal controlling a tracking operation of the optical disc drive, a focusing error signal controlling a focusing operation of the optical disc drive, and a main-beam addition signal or a sub-beam addition signal indicating the summation of the intensity of the main-beam or sub-beam.
5. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the apparatus determines an operating state transition according to a write signal and a blank signal, wherein the write signal indicates a switch between a writing operation and a reading operation of the optical disc drive, and the blank signal indicates a switch between a blank zone and a data zone read by the optical disc drive.
6. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the servo signals are digital signals, and the gains of the servo signals are adjusted by the apparatus in a digital domain.
7. An apparatus for controlling servo signal gains of an optical disc drive, comprising:
a first automatic gain control module, adjusting a loop ratio of a main-beam to control the gains of a plurality of servo signals whenever the optical disk drive encounters an operating state transition in which the reflectivity of a read portion of an optical disc or the intensity of the main-beam incident to the optical disc is changed, wherein the servo signals control a servo system of the optical disc drive; and
a second automatic gain control module, adjusting the gains of the sub-beam servo signals according to a main-beam sub-beam ratio whenever the optical disk drive encounters the operating state transition, wherein the main-beam sub-beam ratio is calculated according to both the reflection signals of the main-beam and a sub-beam reflected from an optical disc.
8. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein the servo signals include a tracking error signal controlling a tracking operation of the optical disc drive, a focusing error signal controlling a focusing operation of the optical disc drive, and a main-beam addition signal or a sub-beam addition signal indicating the summation of the intensity of the main-beam or a sub-beam.
9. The apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein the first automatic gain control module comprises:
a loop ratio generation module, calculating the loop ratio according to a desired target intensity and the reflection intensity of the current main-beam; and
a first gain control logic, coupled to the loop ratio generation module, determining the gains of the servo signals according to the loop ratio.
10. The apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein the second automatic gain control module comprises:
a main-beam sub-beam ratio generation module, calculating the main-beam sub-beam ratio according to from the reflection signal of the current main-beam and the reflection signal of the current sub-beam to calculate the main-beam sub-beam ratio; and
a second gain control logic, coupled to the main-beam sub-beam ratio generation module, determining the gains of sub-beam servo signals for synthesizing the servo signals according to the main-beam sub-beam ratio.
11. The apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the first gain control logic comprises:
a first multiplier, multiplying a first tracking error gain by the loop ratio to obtain a second tracking error gain;
a second multiplier, multiplying a first focusing error gain by the loop ratio to obtain a second focusing error gain;
a third multiplier, multiplying a first main-beam addition gain or a sub-beam addition gain by the loop ratio to obtain a second main-beam addition gain or a sub-beam addition gain; and
a first control module, selecting the first or the second tracking error gain as the gain of the tracking error signal, selecting the first or the second focusing error gain as the gain of the focusing error signal, selecting the first or the second main-beam addition gain or a sub-beam addition gain as the gain of the main-beam addition gain or a sub-beam addition signal.
12. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein the second gain control logic comprises:
a fourth multiplier, multiplying a first sub-beam summation gain by the main-beam sub-beam ratio to obtain a second sub-beam summation gain;
a fifth multiplier, multiplying a first sub-beam push-pull gain by the main-beam sub-beam ratio to obtain a second sub-beam push-pull gain;
a sixth multiplier, multiplying a first sub-beam focusing error gain by the main-beam sub-beam ratio to obtain a second sub-beam focusing error gain; and
a second control module, selecting the first or the second sub-beam summation gain as the gain of a sub-beam summation signal, selecting the first or the second sub-beam push-pull gain as the gain of a sub-beam push-pull signal, selecting the first or the second sub-beam focusing error gain as the gain of a sub-beam focusing error signal;
wherein the sub-beam summation signal, the sub-beam push-pull signal, and the sub-beam focusing error signal are generated from the reflection signals of the sub-beam by respectively synthesizing the sub-beam addition signal, the tracking error signal, and the focusing error signal.
13. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein the operating state transition occurs whenever an operating state of the optical disc drive is changed, and the operating state comprises a write state in which data is written to the optical disc, a blank state in which blank zone of the optical disc is read, and a data state in which data zone of the optical disc is read.
14. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein the servo signals are digital signals, and the gains of the servo signals are adjusted by the apparatus in a digital domain.
15. The apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein the first automatic gain control module controls the amplification process of a tracking error signal generation module which generates the tracking error signal according to a main-beam push-pull signal and a sub-beam push-pull signal, a focusing error signal generation module which generates the focusing error signal according to a main-beam focusing error signal and a sub-beam focusing error signal, and a sub-beam addition signal generation module which generates the sub-beam addition signal according to a main-beam summation signal and a sub-beam summation signal; wherein the main-beam push-pull signal, the main-beam focusing error signal, and the main-beam summation signal are generated from the reflection signals of the main-beam, and the sub-beam push-pull signal, the sub-beam focusing error signal, and the sub-beam summation signal are generated from the reflection signals of the sub-beam.
16. The apparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein the second automatic gain control module controls the amplification process of a sub-beam summation module which generates the sub-beam summation signal, a sub-beam push-pull module which generates the sub-beam push-pull signal, and a sub-beam focusing error module which generates the sub-beam focusing error signal.
17. A method for controlling servo signal gains of an optical disc drive, the method comprising:
adjusting a loop ratio of a main-beam to control the gains of a plurality of servo signals whenever the optical disk drive encounters an operating state transition in which the reflectivity of a read portion of an optical disc or the intensity of the main-beam incident to the optical disc is changed, wherein the servo signals control a servo system of the optical disc drive; and
adjusting the gains of the sub-beam servo signals according to a main-beam sub-beam ratio whenever the optical disk drive encounters the operating state transition, wherein the main-beam sub-beam ratio is calculated according to both the reflection signals of the main-beam and the sub-beam reflected from an optical disc.
18. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein adjusting a loop ration of a main-beam further comprises:
calculating the loop ratio according to a desired target intensity and the reflection intensity of the current main-beam; and
determining the gains of the servo signals according to the loop ratio.
19. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein adjusting the gains of the sub-beam servo signals further comprises:
calculating the main-beam sub-beam ratio according to the reflection intensity of the current main-beam and the reflection intensity of the current sub-beam; and
determining the gains of sub-beam servo signals for synthesizing the servo signals according to the main-beam sub-beam ratio.
20. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein the operating state transition occurs whenever an operating state of the optical disc drive is changed, and the operating state comprise a write state in which data is written to the optical disc, a blank state in which blank zone of the optical disc is read, and a data state in which data zone of the optical disc is read.

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 processor operatively connected to a memory, the processor to include a memory controller to control access to the memory; and
a service processor, co-located on a common board and operatively connected to the processor and the memory, the service processor to include an additional memory controller to control access to the memory as part of a checkpoint regime that utilizes the service processor to periodically transmit a first interrupt to the processor, to activate a first node, to transfer checkpoint data to the first node, and to instruct a second node to rollback to a previous checkpoint to ensure the first node and the second node are utilizing a common checkpoint,
wherein the first interrupt includes the processor receiving a checkpoint and the processor communicating the location of the checkpoint to the service processor.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein each of the memory controller and the additional memory controller have common functionality.
3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the common functionality includes at least one of a memory refresh operation, a memory read operation, or a memory write operation.
4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the service processor includes a network interface and power supply that are distinct from that of the common board.
5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the checkpoint regime includes an arbiter to transmit a second interrupt to the apparatus, the second interrupt to prompt the apparatus to send a responsive message to the arbiter.
6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first interrupt prompts the processor to send a responsive message to the service processor.
7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the service processor fetches the checkpoint with the additional memory controller, the checkpoint fetched where a system failure is detected by the service processor.
8. An apparatus comprising:
a processor operatively connected to a memory, the processor to include a memory controller to control access to the memory; and
a service processor, co-located on a common board with the processor and operatively connected to the memory via a bus, the service processor to use the bus to access the memory as part of a checkpoint regime that utilizes the service processor to periodically transmit an interrupt to the processor, to activate a first node, to transfer checkpoint data to the first node, and to instruct a second node to rollback to a previous checkpoint to ensure the first node and the second node are utilizing a common checkpoint,
wherein the interrupt includes the processor receiving a checkpoint and the processor communicating the location of the checkpoint to the service processor.
9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the bus is a split bus that operatively connects the service processor and the memory.
10. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising a service bus that operatively connects the service processor and the memory.
11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the service processor includes a network interface and power supply that are distinct from that of the common board.
12. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising a security module to authenticate the service processor.
13. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising a service bus memory controller that includes some of the functionality of the memory controller to control access to the memory.
14. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the checkpoint regime includes the service processor to copy the checkpoint to an additional apparatus where a system failure is detected.
15. An apparatus comprising:
at least one processor connected to a three dimensional (3D) stacked memory to transfer data via one or more memory controllers; and
a service processor, co-located on a common socket with at least one processor, connected to the 3D stacked memory via Through Silicon Vias (TSVs), the service processor to include a memory controller to control access to the 3D stacked memory as part of a checkpoint regime that utilizes the service processor to: periodically transmit an interrupt to the processor, to activate a first node, to transfer checkpoint data to the first node, and to instruct a second node to rollback to a previous checkpoint to ensure the first node and the second node are utilizing a common checkpoint,
wherein the interrupt includes the processor receiving a checkpoint and the processor communicating the location of the checkpoint to the service processor.
16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the service processor includes a network interface and power supply that are distinct from that of the common socket.
17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the 3D stack memory includes memory cells connected via interconnects and the TSVs.
18. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the service processor:
detects a system failure; and
retrieves the checkpoint from the 3D stacked memory as part of the checkpoint regime.
19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the service processor detects the system failure where the service processor fails to receive a response to the interrupt transmitted to at least one processor.
20. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the at least one processor is connected to the 3D stacked memory by a connection that includes at least one of a bus or the TSVs.