A method of constructing a pump island protector to alleviate continuous maintenance required for a deteriorating existing steel pump island base, and a pump island protector constructed by the method. Using an adjustable form system and the combination of stainless steel members and new concrete, the existing pump island is re-wrapped with the stainless steel member and the new concrete.

Disclosed is an automotive road construction machine, particularly a recycler or a cold stripping machine, comprising an engine frame that is supported by a chassis, a working roller which is stationarily or pivotally mounted on the engine frame and is used for machining a ground surface or road surface. The chassis is provided with wheels or tracked running gears which are connected to the engine frame via lifting column and are vertically adjustable relative to the engine frame. Each individually vertically adjustable lifting column is equipped with a device for measuring the actual vertical state of the lifting column.

A tooth cleaning device comprising a handle, and a pad coupled to the handle, wherein the pad has a front face, a back face and a plurality of side walls. There are a plurality of different areas disposed on the front face of the pad comprising a first area comprising a first set of protrusions, in a substantially semi-spherical shape, and a second area comprising a second set of protrusions in a substantially conical shape. There is also a third area of protrusions formed as a substantially conical shape, and a fourth area of protrusions formed as a substantially semi-spherical shape. The device can be formed as a pad which collapses voluntarily under pressure. The pad can be made from any suitable material such as any type of rubber or plastic.

A rotatable brush having a brush head and a handle pivotally connected to the brush head, whereby the handle is rotatable relative to the brush head between an unfolded position lying end-to-end and axially aligned with the brush head and a compact folded position lying below the brush head. The brush head has a locking cavity formed therein and the handle has a locking rib formed thereon. The locking rib is removably received within the locking cavity by which the brush head and the handle are retained one above the other when the handle is rotated to its folded position below the brush head. The handle includes a hollow fluid chamber running therethrough. A spray pump is detachably connected to the handle so that a spray tube communicates with the hollow fluid chamber to enable a fluid to be sprayed therefrom.

A symmetric rigid writing device comprises two arms and a writing utensil. The writing utensil is permanently attached to the arms. The arms and the writing utensil are made of rigid materials. The arms are symmetric and the writing utensil is positioned at the center between the arms. Each of the arms is shaped like a curved pole. At least one end of each arm is attached to the writing utensil. The user may grasp the writing device by the arms with both hands and execute a writing action.

Disclosed herein is a refillable toothbrush with a refillable toothpaste chamber also adapted to contain a toothpaste cartridge. Thus the toothpaste chamber can be filled directly by toothpaste from different types of toothpaste tubes, or the consumer can use a toothpaste cartridge. An essential distinctive feature of the present invention is realization of two functions by means of the protective cap: its direct function—protecting the bristles in stowed position, and an additional function, namely—feeding toothpaste to the bristle section. The toothbrush is made of a small number of simple parts, is easy to manufacture, has the opportunity to be simply assembled-disassembled, and is easily cleaned. To facilitate cleaning of the toothbrush head conduit from the remnants of toothpaste before the next recharge of the toothbrush, it can be complete with a special removable rod having an ability to be let-in the conduit. A distinctive feature of the removable rod is that it fulfills additional useful functions: prevents paste hardening in conduit at long non-use of a brush; can serve as a toothpick; can serve as means for piercing membrane of a cartridge. The toothbrush can also be complete with a special clip for fixing it in the user's pocket. A special design of the clip provides it with an additional function that allows for the user to dose out more precisely supplied toothpaste to the bristles. A new kind of cartridge is also disclosed herein.

A fluid dispensing toothbrush (100). In one aspect, the toothbrush comprises a body (105) having a reservoir (135) containing an oral care fluid (136) therein, the oral care fluid being delivered to an applicator (132) via capillary action. The toothbrush comprises an actuator (130) for moving either the applicator and/or the reservoir between different positions.

A writing instrument includes a body extending between a rear end and a front end of the body which has an opening, the body defining an inner volume; a writing member mounted inside the body and including a tip which protrudes from the front of the body; a protective element including a guide portion sliding along the body and a protective end which extends the guide portion and has an opening to allow the tip to pass through, the protective element being movable between a tip protection position and a retracted position for writing; an elastic return element coupled with the guide portion in order to bias the protective element towards the protection position; and a system for locking the retracted position.

A method and apparatus is provided that launches a selected application on a User Equipment (UE) such that if the launched application requires a mobile data connection and the UE's modem is in a dormant state, then the UE will transition the UE's modem from the dormant state to an active state and/or establish a mobile data connection while or in parallel with the selected application's initialization.

A method is presented that enables an electronic device, having embedded wireless data communication capabilities, to be controlled from a remote terminal via a wireless network. The method includes recognizing the device, associating the device with a user, and accessing an application. The application relates to monitoring or control of the device. The application is processed through an application program interface to configure the application for a user terminal. The configured application is then accessible through a network communication for execution by the user terminal. The server or system offering the configured application may also act as a proxy between the user terminal and the electronic device, for wireless monitoring or control of the electronic device while the user terminal executes the application.

Methods and systems are provided for prioritizing carriers in femtocell frequency-hopping pilot beacons. A femtocell receives registration requests from a number of mobile devices requesting to hand off service from a macro-network carrier to the femtocell. The femtocell identifies the macro-network carrier that each mobile device has handed off from. The femtocell then uses that information to prioritize future broadcasts of its frequency-hopping pilot beacon on those macro-network carriers on which the most mobile devices have handed off from. The prioritization could take the form of broadcasting more often on the higher priority one or more carriers per cycle, or broadcasting for a longer continuous period of time on the higher priority one or more carriers per cycle.

The invention provides storage enclosure, comprising an enclosure housing; one or more drawers slidably arranged within the enclosure housing, wherein each drawer has a pivotably mounted midplane having storage media coupled thereto wherein the storage media are coupled to both sides of the pivotably mounted midplane.

In various embodiments, an illumination apparatus includes an air gap between a sub-assembly and a waveguide attached thereto at a plurality of discrete attachment points, as well as a bare-die light-emitting diode encapsulated by the waveguide.

A bicycle rack for arrangement on the rear end of a motor vehicle in an extendible fashion is provided. The bicycle rack includes a carrying frame, a slide-in element that is displaceably arranged in the carrying frame, and a carrier element that is pivotably arranged on the side-in element.

An ultrasonic surgical instrument comprises a reusable housing including an internal transducer and an internal end effector rotation assembly. An exemplary rotation assembly is a ratchet and pawl assembly, which allows the transducer to rotate in a first direction but not in a second, opposite direction. The end effector, including an integral torque wrench, is attached to the transducer to form a single unit that is rotatable relative to the housing. The transducer attaches to a stationary cable via slip rings. The cable communicates with a generator, which provides electrical power to the transducer. The transducer converts the electrical power into ultrasonic vibrational energy, which is transmitted to the end effector.

Methods and devices for ophthalmic tissue closure and fixation of ophthalmic prostheses are provided. In accordance with some embodiments, devices for both grasping and clipping a plurality of ocular tissue and ocular prostheses are provided. Various device embodiments are provided for both malleable clips and delivery of normally closed clips (i.e. shape memory). The device may accommodate a plurality of clips which include, but are not limited to: malleable metals, absorbable, shape memory, drug-eluting, and adhesive dispensing. The clips may be pigmented to match the colors of associated tissue (cornea, iris, conjunctiva, sclera, retina) to serve to camouflage fixation clips for healing duration or permanently. According to one aspect, shallow angle access to anatomy may be provided by specialized angulation of device shaft and closure jaws that are intended to access the eye through a small self-healing cornea incision and/or any ocular tissue.

A medical device used in a medical robotic system has a conduit and an orientable tip. An optical fiber coupled to a laser source and/or a catheter coupled to one or more biomaterial sources extends through the conduit and tip so that the tip of the medical device may be robotically directed towards a target tissue for laser and/or biomaterial application as part of a medical procedure performed at a surgical site within a patient. A protective sheath covers the fiber as it extends through the conduit and tip. A first coupler adjustably secures at least the sheath to the medical device and a second coupler adjustably secures the fiber to at least the sheath. A similar dual coupler mechanism may be used to secure the sheathed catheter to the medical device.

In one implementation, a method is disclosed in which a lock sensing mode is entered for a robotic surgical instrument. In the lock sensing mode, the degrees of freedom of movement in the robotic surgical instrument are switchably reduced. Further in the lock sensing mode, one or more end effectors of the robotic surgical instrument are switchably clamped together in the robotic surgical instrument. An increased level of torque may also be applied to the end effectors to increase a gripping force applied by the one or more end effectors in response to the reduced degrees of freedom of movement in the robotic surgical instrument.

Data is secured on a device in communication with a remote location using a password and content protection key. The device stores data encrypted using a content protection key, which itself may be stored in encrypted form using the password and a key encryption key. The remote location receives a public key from the device. The remote location uses the public key and a stored private key to generate a further public key. The further public key is sent to the device. The device uses the further public key to generate a key encryption key, which is then used to decrypt the encrypted content protection key. A new content encryption key may then be created.

A method of authenticating a device involves establishing a local connection between a local target device and a local source device; at the source device, obtaining credentials of the target device via the local connection; at the source device, sending the credentials to a cloud authentication server via a secure communication channel; at the cloud authentication server, checking the credentials of the target device against a database of known good devices; at the source device, receiving a message from the cloud authentication server via the secure communication channel, said message indicating that the target device is authenticated; and delivering content from the source device to the target device on the condition that the target device is authenticated. This abstract is not to be considered limiting, since other embodiments may deviate from the features described in this abstract.

The present invention provides a method and system for secured remote provisioning of a universal integrated circuit card of a user equipment. A system includes a user equipment for initiating a request for remote provisioning of an universal integrated circuit card (UICC) in the user equipment, where the request for remote provisioning includes a machine identifier (MID) associated with the user equipment and a public land mobile network (PLMN) identifier (ID) associated with an network operator. The system also includes at least one shared key management server for dynamically generating security keys and an operator shared key using the security keys, the MID. Moreover, the system includes an operator network for generating a subscription key using the operator shared key and an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI), and provisioning the IMSI in a secured manner to the UICC of the user equipment using the security keys.

A system apparatus and method for protecting information are provided. Embodiments of the invention may detect inactivity related to a computing device. Information and encryption key may be removed from a memory. Subsequent activity may be detected. An authentication procedure may be performed, and, contingent on authenticating a relevant entity, a master key may be generated and installed in a memory.

A file system data is divided into two or more data blocks. A unique encryption key is assigned to each data block with the encryption key assigned to each data block being distinct from other encryption keys used to encrypt the other data blocks and each of the data blocks is encrypted using its assigned encryption key. One of the data blocks within the file system is then selected and decrypted using the distinct encryption key assigned to the selected data block and a new encryption key, distinct for the previously assigned encryption key, is assigned to the selected data block and the selected data block is re-encrypted using the new encryption key. This process is then repeated for each data block on a sequential/cyclic and continually rotating basis.

Computationally implemented methods and systems are described herein that are designed to, among other things, receiving a level-one encrypted output of a surveillance device; encrypting at least a part of the level-one encrypted output of the surveillance device with a level-two encryption key whose decryption key is inaccessible by a level-two encryption entity; and transmitting a level-two encrypted output of the surveillance device.

Disclosed is a method for address privacy protection for a first wireless device sharing a privacy key with a second wireless device. In the method, a first resolution tag is generated at the first wireless device using a pseudo-random function with the seed value and the privacy key as input arguments. The privacy key is only known to the first and second wireless devices. A privacy address is generated for the first wireless device based on the seed value and the first resolution tag. A packet is transmitted from the first wireless device to the second wireless device. The packet includes the privacy address and the first resolution tag.

A method for making optical connections with optical waveguides includes mounting the optical waveguides or a device comprising the optical waveguides, on a component carrier. A partial region of the optical waveguides is embedded in a volume of resist material. Positions of the optical waveguides to be connected are detected with reference to a coordinate system using a measuring system. Favorable, three-dimensional geometries are determined for optical waveguide structures for connecting the optical waveguides to each other at predetermined connecting locations and the optical waveguide structure geometries are converted to a machine-readable dataset. The optical waveguide geometries in the volume of the resist material are three-dimensionally structured using a direct-writing lithography device operating on the basis of the machine-readable dataset. The structured resist material is treated using physical or chemical methods to form at least one optical waveguide structure having ends connected to predetermined connecting locations of the optical waveguides.

Motion picture project management system for reviewers, coordinators and artists. Artists utilize image analysis and image enhancement and computer graphics processing for example to convert two-dimensional images into three-dimensional images or otherwise create or alter motion pictures. Enables the efficient management of projects related to motion pictures to enable enterprises to manage assets, control costs, predict budgets and profit margins, reduce archival storage and otherwise provide displays tailored to specific roles to increase worker efficiency.

A rotary cutting tool includes a first end defined by a cutting profile and structured to perform cutting operations on a workpiece. The cutting tool also includes an opposite second end structured to be mounted in a machine tool, a central longitudinal axis extending between the first and second ends, and a generally cylindrical body disposed about the central longitudinal axis between the first end and the opposite second end. The cutting profile includes a first portion adjacent the central longitudinal axis and disposed generally at a first angle relative to the central longitudinal axis; a second portion adjacent the first portion and disposed generally at a second angle relative to the central longitudinal axis; and a third portion adjacent the second portion and disposed generally at a third angle relative to the central longitudinal axis. The second angle is greater than both the first and third angles.

A rotary-driven tool for cutting machining, in particular a drilling tool with a cutting body and a holder with a shaft piece is disclosed, with at least a cutter and a dovetail-shaped region on the cutting body and a matching dovetail recess on the holder. The cutting body can only be inserted in the holder laterally to a longitudinal axis of the holder. In order to fix the cutting body, opposing flank sections of the dovetail recess, between which the dovetail-shaped region fits can be moved over each other by means of a screw connection in the holder and on fixing the cutting body said body is subjected to a force on the axial direction by the screw connection. In one aspect, the cutting body is a cutting head and the axial force is exclusively generated by the dovetail-shaped region in cooperation with the dovetail recess in the holder.

A surface-mountable over-current protection device comprises one PTC material layer, first and second connecting conductors, first and second electrodes and an insulating layer. The PTC material layer has a resistivity less than 0.2 Ω-cm, and comprises crystalline polymer and conductive filler dispersed therein. The first and second connecting conductors are capable of effectively dissipating heat generated from the PTC material layer. The first and second electrodes are electrically connected to first and second surfaces of the PTC material layer through the first and second connecting conductors, respectively. The dissipation factor depending on the ratio of the total area of the electrodes and the conductors to the area of the PTC material layer is greater than 0.6. At 25° C., the value of the hold current of the device divided by the product of the area of the PTC material layer and the number of the PTC material layer is greater than 1A/mm2.

A surface mountable over-current protection device having upper and lower surfaces comprises a PTC device, first and second electrodes, and first and second circuits. The PTC device comprises a PTC material layer and first and second conductive layers. The PTC material layer is disposed between the conductive layers and comprises crystalline polymer and conductive filler dispersed therein. The first electrode comprises a pair of first metal foils, whereas the second electrode comprises a pair of second metal foils. The first circuit connects the first electrode and conductive layer, and has a first planar line extending horizontally. The second circuit connects the second electrode and conductive layer, and has a second planar line extending horizontally. At least one of the planar lines has a thermal resistance sufficient to mitigate heat dissipation by which the over-current protection device undergoes a test at 25° C. and 8 amperes can trip within 60 seconds.

An over-current protection device has a PTC device, first and second electrodes and an insulation layer. The PTC device comprises first and second electrically conductive members and a PTC layer laminated between the first and second electrically conductive members. The first and second electrodes are electrically connected to the first and second electrically conductive members, respectively. The insulation layer is disposed on a surface of the first electrically conductive member. The device is a stack structure extending along a first direction, and comprises at least one hole extending along a second direction substantially perpendicular to the first direction. The value of the covered area of the hole divided by the area of the form factor of the over-current protection device is not less than 2%, and the value of the thickness of the device divided by the number of the PTC devices is less than 0.7 mm.

A controller for a DC motor comprises an output switching element configured to couple to the DC motor; an input switching element coupled to the output switching element; a pulse width modulated (PWM) signal coupled to a control terminal of the input switching element and a supply voltage applied to the output switching element. A resistive-capacitive (RC) network may be coupled to a control terminal of the output switching element, with the RC network being configured to integrate the PWM signal into a DC voltage. A first resistive network may be configured to set a bias for the output switching element when the input switching element is turned off, and a second resistive network may be configured to set the bias for the output switching element when the input switching element is turned on, such that the controller is effective to provide zero-to-full supply voltage control to the DC motor.

A surface-mountable over-current protection device comprises a PTC material layer, first and second conductive layers, first and second electrodes, first and second electrically conductive connecting members. The PTC material layer has a resistivity less than 0.18 Ω-cm. The conductive layers are in contact with opposite surfaces of the PTC material layer. The first electrode comprises pair of first metal foils and is insulated from the second conductive layer. The second electrode comprises a pair of second metal foils and is insulated from the first conductive layer. The first electrically conductive connecting member connects to the first metal foils and conductive layer. The second electrically conductive connecting member connects to the second metal foils and conductive layer. The first electrically conductive connecting member comprises 40%-100% by area of the first lateral surface, and the second electrically conductive connecting member comprises 40%-100% by area of the second lateral surface.

An over-current protection device comprises a PTC material layer, a first electrode layer and a second electrode layer. The PTC material layer has opposite first and second surfaces and opposite first and second lateral surfaces. The first electrode layer is in physical contact with the first surface of the PTC material layer and extends to the first lateral surface. The second electrode layer is in physical contact with the first surface of the PTC material layer and extends to the second lateral surface. The second electrode layer is insulated from the first electrode layer by a first separation. The first electrode layer and the second electrode layer are substantially laterally symmetrical, and serve as interfaces for current flowing in and out of the device when the over-current protection device is in use.

A surface mountable over-current protection device comprises one PTC material layer, first and second conductive layers, first and second electrodes, and an insulating layer. The PTC material layer comprises crystalline polymer and conductive filler dispersed therein. The first and second conductive layers are disposed on first and second planar surfaces of the PTC material layer, respectively. The first and second electrodes are electrically connected to the first and second conductive layers. The insulating layer is disposed between the first and the second electrodes for insulation. At the melting point of the crystalline polymer, the CTE of the crystalline polymer is greater than 100 times the CTE of the first or second conductive layer, and the first and/or second conductive layers has a thickness which is large enough to obtain a resistance jump value R3/Ri less than 1.4.

An articulated work holder for a fractional dimensioned, performance vehicle including a base member and first, second and third, support arms having multiple degrees of rotational movement and a vise member carrying vehicle engagement pads for supporting a fractional dimensioned, performance vehicle between the vise engagement pads.

Disclosed herein is a rotary jig for battery cells to successively manufacture battery cells having different sizes including a main body configured to have a hexahedral structure having a rotary rod mounted at a lower end thereof, the main body being provided at sides thereof with mounting frames having sizes corresponding to sizes of battery cells so that the battery cells can be uprightly mounted in the mounting frames in a state in which electrode terminals of the battery cells are exposed upward, a die disposed at a lower end of the main body, the die connected to the rotary rod so that the die can be rotated manually or by a rotary motor, and support members formed at the die to support the mounting frames of the main body and the battery cells mounted in the mounting frames, wherein the rotary rod is rotated so that resistance welding is performed with respect to a portion of one of battery cells to be welded using a welding rod located above the battery cell in a state in which the battery cells are mounted to the corresponding sides of the main body.

A rotating cylinder includes and a main body, a piston head, a piston rod and a guide assembly. The piston head slidably is received within the main body. The piston rod partially received within the main body, the piston head is fixed to the piston head, the piston rod defines one or more guiding groove adjacent to the piston head, the guiding groove includes a straight portion, a first helix portion and a second helix portion, the straight portion extends axially toward the piston head, the first helix portion curvedly extends away from the straight portion toward the piston head, the second helix portion curvedly extends from an end of the first helix portion toward a direction away from the piston head and the straight portion. The guide assembly is mounted on the main body and includes one or more guiding member slidably engaged with the guiding groove.

This invention relates to a media multi-feed rejection apparatus, comprising: a plurality of feed rollers; a feed roller driving means operatively connected to one of the plurality of feed rollers; a clutch means operatively connected to the other of the plurality of feed rollers; and a single channel encoder means operatively connected to the clutch means to measure a rotation of the other of the plurality of feed rollers.

An image forming device includes a photoreceptor drum including a target surface that is scanned in a main scanning direction and a sub-scanning direction, an exposure head including a plurality of light emitting segments aligned in parallel to the main scanning direction, an exposure driving unit which selectively drives the plural light emitting segments, a storing unit which stores a profile where the respective positions of the plural light emitting segments correspond to a correction amount from the main scanning direction toward the sub-scanning direction at every position, and a correcting unit which smoothes a local change of the correction amount in the profile.

There are provided a substrate for an inkjet head and an inkjet head wherein in a case where a protection layer of heating resistors is energized, an electrical connection with portions around the protection layer is more reliably cut. A first protection layer provided for the substrate for an inkjet head includes individual sections provided at positions corresponding to the plurality of heating resistors and a common section which commonly connects the plurality of individual sections. The individual sections and the common section are connected via connect sections which are eluted and connect in a case where an electrochemical reaction occurs between the connect sections and ink when electricity flow therethrough, so that an electrical connection between the individual sections and the common section is cut.

An RF beam is used to probe the presence or absence of a rotating blade in a known field of view. Timing of appearance or disappearance or “zero-crossing” of a reflected signal is correlated with timing of the blade movement. Blades which are leading or lagging versus other blades will produce different timing signatures representative of alignment of the blades.

A system mounted to an object for detecting repetitive motion of the object. The system includes a GPS receiver for receiving GPS signals while being maneuvered in a repetitive motion by the object, and a processor for detecting repetitive phase shifts in the received GPS signals. In general, the system computes the repetitive motion of the GPS receiver based on the repetitive phase shifts.

Techniques for positioning access points and terminals in WLANs and other wireless networks are described. For access point positioning, measurements are obtained for at least one access point in a WLAN. The measurements may be based on transmission sequences (e.g., beacon frames) transmitted periodically by each access point. The measurements may be made by multiple terminals at different locations or a single mobile terminal at different locations. The location of each access point is determined based on the measurements and known locations of the terminal(s). For terminal positioning, measurements for at least one access point in a WLAN are obtained. The location of the terminal is determined based on the measurements and known location of each access point. The measurements may be round trip time (RTT) measurements, observed time difference (OTD) measurements, time of arrival (TOA) measurements, signal strength measurements, signal quality measurements, etc.

A positive response notification to provide information regarding locate and/or marking operations for underground facilities may include time-stamp information to provide proof of a time at which the locate and/or marking operation was completed by a locate technician, and/or place-stamp information to provide proof of a presence of the locate technician at or near a work site. An electronic manifest image and/or a virtual white line image similarly may be included in a positive response notification. In one example, such images may be bundled together based on respective descriptor files (or descriptor metadata) that associates the corresponding images with a locate request ticket for the operation. In another example, a positive response notification may include environmental information regarding one or more environmental conditions present at or near the work site during the locate and/or marking operation.

An output converter includes a DCDC conversion section, a secondary side voltage/current monitoring section detecting a power from the DCDC conversion section, a maximum operation point control section determining what voltage is to be set by the DCDC conversion section so that the power detected by the secondary side voltage/current monitoring section is maximum, a DCDC short-circuit switch via which a current from a module bypasses the DCDC conversion section to outside, a primary side voltage/current monitoring section measuring the current from the module, a module short-circuit switch switching between a state where a secondary side cathode and a secondary side anode are short-circuited and a state where they are not short-circuited, the maximum operation point control section causing the DCDC short-circuit switch and the module short-circuit switch to switch.

Described herein are improved configurations for a wireless power transfer involving photovoltaic panels. Described are methods and designs that use electric energy from a photovoltaic module to energize at least one wireless energy source to produce an oscillating magnetic field for wireless energy transfer. The source may be configured and tuned to present an impedance to a photovoltaic module wherein said impedance enables substantial extraction of energy from said photovoltaic module.

An electric motor assembly includes a multi-phase electric motor, a battery of accumulators, an inverter configured to convert the direct current of the battery into multi-phase alternating current adapted to supply the motor, and a connection housing. The connection housing includes plugs allowing connection of motor phases, the battery terminals, and at least five connections to the inverter. The housing further includes a group of contacts allowing it to be connected to a single phase mains system, and a group of contacts allowing it to be connected a multi-phase mains system. The housing includes switches according to the position of which the system including the housing, the battery, the inverter, and the motor connected solely by its phases, alternatively allows the motor to be supplied from the battery, the battery to be recharged directly from a single-phase mains system, and the battery to be recharged from multi-phase mains system.

The system includes a first and a second power supply terminal configured to have at least one of a battery and a generator connected thereto, a first external terminal coupled to the first power supply terminal, and a second external terminal coupled to the second power supply terminal, and a protection unit connected between the first external terminal and the first power supply terminal. The protection unit includes a semiconductor switching unit having a load path and a control terminal, the load path connected between the first external terminal and the first power supply terminal, and a control circuit coupled to the control terminal of the semiconductor switching unit and configured to switch the switching unit on and off dependent on at least one electrical parameter in the on-board power supply system.