Determining static timing analysis margin on non-controlling inputs of clock shaping and other digital circuits using reverse merge timing includes: selecting one or more circuits within the logic design having a plurality of inputs and using reverse merge; identifying a controlling input of the selected circuit from among this plurality of inputs; and determining for at least one non-controlling input of the circuit, a timing value that may be used to drive design optimization based on the difference between arrival times of the controlling and non-controlling inputs.

Static timing analysis (STA) has been widely used in the industry to determine the latest and earliest possible switching times of various signals within a digital circuit. STA can generally be performed at the transistor level, using circuit simulation packages such as SPICE, or at the gate level, using pre-characterized library elements, or at higher levels of abstraction, for complex hierarchical chips.
Conventional STA algorithms operate by first levelizing the logic structure, and breaking any loops in order to create a directed acyclic graph (timing graph). Modern designs often include millions of placeable objects, with corresponding timing graphs having millions, if not tens of millions of nodes. For each node, a corresponding arrival time, transition rate (slew), and required arrival time are computed for both rising and falling transitions as well as early and late mode analysis. The arrival time (AT) represents the latest or earliest time at which a signal can transition due to the entire upstream fan-in cone. The slew value is the transition rate associated with a corresponding AT. A required arrival time (RAT) represents the latest or earliest time at which a signal must transition due to timing constraints in the entire downstream fan-out cone.
Referring to FIG. 1, ATs are propagated forward in a levelized manner, starting from the design primary input asserted (i.e., user-specified) arrival times, and ending at either primary output ports or intermediate storage elements. For single fan-in cases,AT sink node=AT source node+delay from source to sink.
Whenever multiple signals merge, each fan-in contributes a potential arrival time computed as:AT sink(potential)=AT source+delay,making it possible for the maximum (late mode) or minimum (early mode) of all potential arrival times to be retained at the sink node. Typically an exact delay value for an edge in a timing graph is not known, but instead only a range of possible delay values can be determined between some minimum delay and maximum delay. In this case, maximum delays are used to compute late mode arrival times and minimum delays are used to compute early mode arrival times.
Still referring to FIG. 1, RATs are computed in a backward levelized manner starting from either asserted required arrival times at the design primary output pins, or from tests (e.g., setup or hold constraints) at internal storage devices. For single fan-out cases,RAT source node=RAT sink node−delay.
When multiple fan-outs merge (or when a test is present), each fan-out (or test) contributes a prospective RAT, enabling the minimum (late mode) or maximum (early mode) required arrival time to be retained at the source node. When only a range of possible delay values are to be determined, maximum delays are used to compute late mode required arrival times and minimum delays are used to compute early mode required arrival times.
The difference between the arrival time and required arrival time at a node is referred to as slack. Early mode and late mode slacks are distinguished from each other and computed seperately. The equations are:Slackearly=ATearly−RATearly  (1)Slacklate=RATlate−ATlate  (2)A positive slack implies that the current arrival time at a given node meets all downstream timing constraints, and a negative slack implies that the arrival time fails at least one such downstream timing constraint. A timing point may include multiple such AT, RAT, and slew values for the purpose of distinguishing information for a specific subset of an entire fan-in cone or fan-out cone.
FIG. 2 illustrates an example of AT propagation for a typical NAND logic gate (200), where for simplicity, a delay of zero is assumed for all transitions. Each of the input signal edges on both inputs A and B (202, 204) create a transition at the output Z (206) of the NAND gate. Due to the bounding approach, earlier arriving signal edges (210, 220) create an early arriving output waveform on Z (250, 260) and a late arriving signal edges (230, 240) creates a late arriving waveform on Z (270, 280). In other words, for early output timing the minimum of the early ATs is propagated. For the late output timing the maximum of late ATs is propagated. This is the standard approach that STA uses for conservatively guard banding timing. Consequently, at output Z the late and early arriving waveforms are clearly distinguishable. The difference of the two waveforms leads to a conservative slack calculation downstream in the timing graph from the NAND gate.
If it is known that the NAND2's input signals on A and B are at logic zero for a portion of each cycle (i.e., each either remains at zero switches to one and back to zero in each cycle), as depicted in the example of FIGS. 2 and 3, the conservatism can be reduced through applying a technique hereinafter referred to as reverse merge timing. FIG. 3 illustrates such instance. For the inputs' rising edges on the NAND2 gate (300), based on its logic function, it is known that when all inputs start at logic zero, only the last input signal to rise (330) can create a falling transition on output (350, 370). Similarly, if all input signals are known to fall, only the first input signal to fall (320) triggers a rising edge at output Z (360, 380). For the early rising input edges this means that the maximum of the early rise ATs is propagated. Similarly, for the late falling input edge the minimum of late falling ATs is propagated to the output rising edge on Z. This mechanism will be referred henceforth as "reverse merge" since it is the opposite of what normal static timing analysis propagation does, as previously described with reference of FIG. 2, i.e., it reverses the roles of the minimum and maximum in early and late timing. Given that early and late arrival times for the inputs signals are the same, as assumed for simplicity, in FIG. 3 it can be seen that early and late output waveforms are identical due to the reverse merge. These result in a reduction of pessimism for downstream timing slacks and, consequently, faster time to market for VLSI designs modeled with that feature.
Referring to FIG. 3, two crossed out input edges at inputs A and B are illustrated (310, 340) which do not contribute in any way to the switching of output Z. Thus, they are referred to "non-controlling" input edges. The input signal edges causing the output to transition are referred to as "controlling" input edges. When all inputs of an AND function (e.g., an AND or NAND gate or an input group of an AND-OR-INVERT gate) are known to reach or remain at a logic zero state in each cycle, the first falling transition among these inputs is controlling, and thus the first falling input transition may be propagated in both early mode (as for normal STA) and late mode (in which propagating it amounts to a reverse merge operation). For the same set of AND function inputs, the last rising input among them is controlling and can be propagated in both late mode (as for normal STA) and early mode (in which propagating it amounts to a reverse merge operation). All other input transitions of the AND function can be considered non-controlling.
A similar analysis can be performed for reverse merge situations on OR gates or more complicated structures such as dynamic circuits encountered in transistor-level custom designs. When all inputs of an OR function (e.g., an OR or NOR gate or an input group of an OR-AND-INVERT gate) are known to reach or remain at a logic one state in each cycle, the first rising transition among these inputs is controlling, and thus the first rising input transition may be propagated in both early mode (as for normal STA) and late mode (in which propagating it amounts to a reverse merge operation). For the same set of OR function inputs, the last falling input among them is controlling and can be propagated in both late mode (as for normal STA) and early mode (in which propagating it amounts to a reverse merge operation). All other input transitions of the OR function can be considered non-controlling. Other circuits exist, including domino circuits that precharge circuit nodes to known values in each cycle, in which signals are known to reach of remain in a particular logic state in each cycle, and to which reverse merge timing may therefore be applied. In domino circuits certain nodes are precharged in each cycle.
Another area that heavily relies on timing analysis is timing optimization. Generally, the goal of optimizing is to improve the slack, power, area or other design metrics for all the circuits in the design such that the optimized parameters reach a designer predetermined target. During optimization, different parameters can be categorized as primary or secondary. Generally, most of the work of the optimization engine is oriented towards improving the primary optimization parameters, followed by any improvements to the secondary optimization parameters that do not cause degradation in the primary parameter optimization results obtained. Currently, state of the art timing optimization engines used in VLSI designs focus on slack improvement as a primary optimization parameter. To avoid design quality degradation, the remaining metrics, such as power and area, can only be optimized if the primary parameter can be measured.
Optimization is generally accomplished with a series of manipulations to restructure the design, reduce the capacitive load on gate outputs, improves signal propagation through the use of larger devices and other similar methods. Any design change made by optimization that does not result in an improvement of the targeted metrics is typically discarded and a different change is attempted following some predetermined heuristics.
In late mode static timing analyses, the designer attempts to ensure that the latest possible arriving signal at the storage element is correctly captured. Therefore, late mode timing optimization techniques aim at speeding up slow timing paths to obtain a desired clock frequency. In an early mode analysis, the designer attempts to guarantee that the traveling signal remains stable long enough to be captured by a timing element, thereby ensuring that the design is operational. For early mode analyses, the goal of the optimization is to slow down paths that are too fast, which could invalidate the signal before it is properly stored.
From the above, it is clear that current state of the art optimization techniques are precluded from processing any timing paths that do not have a defined value for a primary optimization parameter, e.g., slack. This can pose a difficulty in timing closure of designs that use the reverse merge.
Although reverse merge is a useful technique, it creates a dilemma when computing the slack for the non-controlling edges. If the slack to be calculated is the conventional case given by previously described equations (1) and (2), a non-controlling input will appear to be more critical (i.e., smaller signed algebraic slack value) than the actual controlling input. For example, considering the timing diagram in FIG. 2, given that all delays through the exemplary NAND gate are zero, an identical late mode RAT value will be propagated backwards from the downstream common output Z to both inputs A and B. However, since the first late falling transition (320) controls the output rising transition (380), the non-controlling last late falling transition (340) computes a worse slack value [RAT(A)=RAT(B) and late AT(B) non controlling>late AT (A) controlling, therefore SLACK(B)<SLACK(A)]. Such a situation can produce misleading guidance to a designer or optimization program that relies on slack values, since the more critical slack on the non-controlling late input B can provide an incentive to speed up the non-controlling signal, which in turn may end having no effect on the output timing.
To avoid this erroneous situation, prior art methods do not propagate any RAT to the non-controlling input edge of a reverse merge, and consequently no slack can be calculated in such a case. This may introduce at least two undesirable side effects. Firstly, in the absence of any slack, an optimization tool or process cannot attempt to improve non-controlling path which is particularly detrimental if the non-controlling path can easily be improved (FIG. 4). Note that failing to consider the non-controlling path during optimization results in an opportunity loss. Secondly, in cases where arrival times shift against each other in such a way that a new controlling arrival time is selected, a sudden slack discontinuity may occur. Referring back to the example on FIG. 3, let it be assumed that the late falling input signal transitions are involved in a reverse merge. Input A presently propagates a slightly smaller late mode arrival time, and thus represents a controlling arrival time for the output node's rising edge. Now, if either A or B arrival times change slightly, such that signal B arrives earlier than A, then B represents the new controlling arrival time in the reverse merge situation. Consequently, input A will change from having a valid slack to an invalid slack value, and input B will change from an invalid slack to suddenly propagating a valid slack. Such discontinuities (i.e., large changes in measured slack value for small change in arrival time) can make it very difficult for automated optimization algorithms to efficiently close timing on designs containing such reverse merge situations. For the same reason, it is difficult for designers analyzing timing reports to completely understand the relationship between these input signals.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for a system and method for determining static timing analysis margin on non-controlling inputs of clock shaping and other digital circuits using reverse merge timing.

Method for improving static timing analysis and optimizing circuits using reverse merge

International Business Machines Corporation


A valve has a body, a fluid inlet duct and two fluid outlet ducts delimited by the body, an intersection formed at an area where the fluid inlet duct opens into the two fluid outlet ducts, and a butterfly valve disposed in the intersection. The butterfly valve is operable to be actuated between a first extreme position in which the butterfly valve directs the fluid mainly toward the first outlet duct and a second extreme position in which the butterfly valve directs the fluid mainly toward the second outlet duct. In the first extreme position, the butterfly valve has a first portion partially blocking the second outlet duct and, in the second extreme position, the butterfly valve has another portion blocking the first outlet duct.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a valve that can be used for example in a device for recirculating the exhaust gases of a motor vehicle internal combustion engine.
2. Related Art
An Exhaust Gas Recirculation device (or EGR) usually comprises a cooled channel and an uncooled channel connected on the one hand to the inlet circuit of the internal combustion engine and on the other hand to a tapping made in the high pressure zone of the exhaust manifold of the internal combustion engine. The two channels are connected to one another by a valve, called the "by-pass valve", that regulates the flow of the exhaust gases between the cooled channel and the uncooled channel. Such a recirculation device allows a portion of the exhaust gases to be reutilized in the mixture fed into the internal combustion engine.

Valve with operating means between two outlet passages


A method for capturing an item of laundry in a reliable and efficient manner. Washed items of laundry usually leave a washing machine intertwined with one another as a pile of laundry. Before the items of laundry that come out of a washing machine in this way are subjected to further treatment steps, for example mangling or sorting, they have to be separated. In the method, the topography of the item of laundry is ascertained and at least one point of the item of laundry at which the item of laundry is intended to be captured and/or preferably can be captured by a capturing means is determined on the basis of this topography. The item of laundry is captured by the capturing means by specific control of the capturing means at this point.

Technical Field
The invention relates to a method for capturing an item of laundry, wherein a point of the item of laundry is grabbed or drawn by suction by a capturing means and is transported away by the capturing means.
Prior Art
Washed items of laundry usually leave a washing machine intertwined with one another as a pile of laundry. Before the items of laundry which come out of a washing machine in this way are subjected to further treatment steps, for example mangling or sorting, they have to be separated. Particularly because the further treatment steps for the washed items of laundry can vary depending on the type of item of laundry, it is essential for the pile of laundry to first be separated, in order to be able to individually capture and, if necessary, to sort each item of laundry.
In laundries, it may also be necessary for items of laundry which have already been separated to be individually captured or grabbed in order to feed them to a further treatment step. If, for example, the items of laundry are passed to clamps of a transportation conveyor in a next step, it is advantageous when the items of laundry are equally captured such that they can be passed directly to the clamps of the transportation conveyor.
Methods in which individual items of laundry are captured or picked out of a pile of laundry or in which items of laundry which have already been separated have to be captured or grabbed from a pile of laundry are already known. However, it has been found in these known methods that several items of laundry are often picked out at the same time. In addition, in the known methods, it is possible that the item of laundry may not be captured at all on account of a point of the item of laundry which was targeted by the grabbing means being unfavourable. In the cases in which several items of laundry are grabbed or no item of laundry at all is grabbed, the items of laundry incorrectly continue to be treated or movement of the capturing means is carried out without an item of laundry being moved. Reliable and economical separation of the items of laundry cannot be achieved in this way. This results in drops in performance.


In one embodiment, a centralized network management server (NMS) determines a network state of a low power and lossy network (LLN) based on resource utilization due to traffic in the LLN. The NMS also determines an admission state based on the network state, and admission control (network-wide and/or localized control) based on the admission state. As such, the centralized NMS can then administer the admission control for all nodes in the LLN, where network-wide control comprises a single control command to all nodes in the LLN, and the nodes direct admission based on the control command, and where localized control comprises a request-response exchange between the nodes and the centralized NMS, and the NMS directs admission on a per-request basis.

Low power and Lossy Networks (LLNs), e.g., sensor networks, have a myriad of applications, such as Smart Grid and Smart Cities. Various challenges are presented with LLNs, such as lossy links, low bandwidth, battery operation, low memory and/or processing capability, etc. A primary challenge for LLNs is to make effective use of the limited and dynamic network capacity.
Existing and widely deployed approaches to Quality of Service (QoS) and Call Admission Control (CAC) typically used in "classic" IP networks are for the most part ill-suited for LLNs. Heavy signaling can easily overwhelm the limited network capacity and strict resource reservation mechanisms cannot operate effectively when there are not enough resources to allocate (limited memory). In current IP networks, there are two paradigms used to meet SLAs (Service Level Agreement) in networks carrying flows with different characteristics and QoS requirements: 1) Use of QoS: edge traffic marking (IPv6 DS byte), queuing disciplines, Random Early Detection/Discard, etc.; and 2) CAC using signaling (e.g., RSVP) in the network to perform explicit bandwidth reservation.
What QoS provides is the ability to prioritize critical traffic but this implies potential large packet buffering, which may be problematic on nodes with very limited resources. CAC using a protocol such as RSVP allows for explicit bandwidth reservation between the source and destination, however such explicit CAC requires potentially heavy state maintenance.

Efficient admission control for low power and lossy networks


A central equipment is connected by at least two optical fibers to a decentralized optical equipment and the central equipment creates an optical auxiliary signal which is transmitted together with an optical payload signal from the central equipment to the decentralized equipment. The optical auxiliary signal that is received in the decentralized optical equipment is rerouted and transmitted back to the central optical equipment via another optical fiber in addition to a second payload signal, and the reception of the optical auxiliary signal is optically monitored in the central optical equipment to determine if there is a breakage in either one of the fibers extending to the unit.

The present invention is directed to a method for monitoring the operation of optical fibers within a fully optical fiber-bound communication network, in which method at least two optical fibers are provided for the purpose of transmitting optical payload signals between a central optical equipment and an optical equipment at a decentralized location.
In fully optical fiber-bound communication networks of today, in particular in communication networks having a ring topology or a double-star topology, the communication equipment of a network customer, for instance an Internet provider, is connected to the fully optical communication network with the aid of a plurality of optical feed fibers or, respectively, pairs of fibers. Volumes of data in the gigabit range are typically transmitted via such optical feed fibers and the data is transmitted between the central equipment, for example a network node of a fully optical communication network, and a decentralized optical equipment, for instance a network terminal device. When data is transmitted at such high rates, the network customer demands from the network operator a high reliability of the fully optical communication network and of the connection to the fully optical communication network. In order to be able to ensure a perfect functioning of the connection of the communication equipment of the network customer to the fully optical communication network, this connection must be remotely monitored. This means that the information about the operational condition of the optical feed fibers for the respective network connection must be available in the respective network node. If, for example, a malfunction occurs for the connection of a network customer, without a remote monitoring of the connection of the network customer, it is impossible for the network operator to assess whether the malfunction is his own responsibility, for instance because a digging or excavating equipment has damaged one of the optical feed fibers, or if the error is the responsibility of the network customer, for instance because the transmitting laser is defective.
Therefore, it is advantageous to be able to automatically monitor, by means of a remote monitoring process, whether or not malfunctions or, respectively, interruptions in optical feed fibers are the responsibility of the network operator.
A method for xe2x80x9cmonitoring optical single-fiber connection lines up to a passive interfacexe2x80x9d is already known from German 43 28 486 A1, in which method, in order to be able to effectively monitor an optical B-ISDN subscriber terminal, a monitoring signal that is defined by the carrier impulses and is originally electronic is transmitted from an optical fiber cable (LWL) terminal unit, particularly the subscriber""s terminal unit at the network side, to a defined passive optical interface, whereby this monitoring signal is added in the fiber-optic terminal unit to the electrical control signal of the transmitter of this monitoring signal that is provided there. In addition, a small part of the optical signal that is transmitted from the fiber-optic terminal unit to the subscriber terminal (that is both the payload signal and the monitoring signal) is tapped at a passive optical interface and transmitted in the reverse direction to the fiber-optic terminal line, where it is converted into an electrical signal in the provided optical receiver potentially together with the optical signal being received from the subscriber.
In addition, the German Reference explicitly describes the evaluation of this type of back-fed electrical monitoring signal for the purpose of monitoring the subscriber terminal. But, this type of monitoring method is associated with an unfeasibly high technical outlay and, thus, unjustifiable costs. Furthermore, a high technical outlay is required in order to precisely separate the desired reflections at the passive interface from the additional reflections at other locations in order to be able to guarantee a high reliability of the monitoring method.
The object of the present invention is to simplify the monitoring of the operation of optical fibers in a fully optical fiber-bound communication network, particularly the monitoring of a plurality of feed fibers between a central equipment and a decentralized equipment, with respect to the technical outlay needed for the realization. This object is achieved by an improvement in a method for monitoring the operation of optical fibers in a fully optical fiber-bound communication network, wherein at least two optical fibers are provided for transmitting optical payload signals between the central and decentralized optical equipment with the improvements being that a central equipment generates an optical auxiliary signal and transmits this signal from the central optical equipment to the decentralized optical equipment via one of the optical fibers together with the first optical payload signal, the decentralized optical equipment receives this auxiliary optical signal, reroutes the signal and transmits the signal back to the central optical equipment in addition to the second optical payload signal via another optical fibers and that the central optical equipment monitors the reception of the retransmitted optical auxiliary signal.
The essential aspect of the invention is that the optical auxiliary signal that is generated in the central equipment is transmitted from the central optical equipment to the decentralized optical equipment together with a first optical payload signal via one of the optical fibers, and that the optical auxiliary signal that is received in the decentralized optical equipment is rerouted or redirected and transmitted back to the central optical equipment in addition to a second optical payload signal via another optical fiber. In addition, the reception of the retransmitted optical auxiliary signal in the central optical equipment is monitored optically. It is advantageous here that an additional optical auxiliary signal is generated in the network node and is transmitted to the network terminal device in addition to a payload signal via the complete feed fiber, whereby the auxiliary signal does not have to satisfy high quality requirements. Therefore, a cost-effective layer diode, or potentially an LED, respectively, can be used to generate this auxiliary signal. The auxiliary signal is coupled in and out of the central equipment or decentralized equipment, particularly, advantageously, using optical couplers so that an additional conversion of the optical auxiliary signal into an electrical signal is not necessary. The rerouting of the optical auxiliary signal in the decentralized equipment can also be realized by a simple additional optical fiber and, thus, does not require a high technical outlay. In other words, the network terminal device installed at the network customer comprises a simple passive structure and is, thus, extremely reliable. Furthermore, an external power source or supply for the network terminal device is not required locally at the network customer, which fact lends additional flexibility with respect to the selection of the location for operating the network terminal device. It is particulary advantageous that the normal operation of the optical fibers is indicated by the reception of the retransmitted optical auxiliary signal in the central optical equipment.
In addition to the optical auxiliary signal, the second optical payload signal is evaluated in the central optical equipment for the purpose of monitoring the operational condition of the two optical fibers. In this way, a fiber break or, respectively, a transmission failure in the optical fibers, via which the first optical payload signal is transmitted from the central to the decentralized equipment, can be detected particularly advantageously on the basis of an absence of a retransmitted optical auxiliary signal when this signal is not received and the second optical payload signal is received in the central optical equipment.
According to another development of the inventive method, at least a portion of the auxiliary signal received in the decentralized optical equipment is tapped, and the fiber condition information, which is contained in the tapped auxiliary signal, relating to the operational condition of at least one optical fiber is indicated in the decentralized optical equipment. In addition, the frequency of the optical auxiliary signal lies in the optically visible frequency range and comprises an optical power intensity of less than two milliwatts in the generation process in the network node. This is associated with the advantage that a portion of the optical signal can be tapped in the network terminal device and indicated to the network customer at the network terminal device directly, without endangering the eyesight of the maintenance personnel. Thus, the network customer receives information about the operational condition of the feed fibers from the network node to the network terminal device in a particularly simple and efficient manner and, when a failure of the feed fiber is occurring, this customer can report this information to the network operator by telephone.

Method for monitoring the operation of optical fibers


A Point-of-Sale (POS) terminal in a retail environment is communicatively connected to one or more POS peripheral devices. Each POS peripheral device is associated with a configuration file that defines configuration settings for the POS peripheral device and environmental context information for the POS terminal and the POS controller. The configuration files are prioritized according to various criteria, and used to re-configure POS applications executing on the POS to operate optimally with the particular POS peripheral device. Additionally, the prioritized configuration files control the POS applications to update the configuration information.

The retail Point of Sale (POS) terminal has evolved from a mechanical cash register to a sophisticated, networked terminal capable of rapidly identifying selected items for purchase (e.g., via optical scanning or RFID reading), tallying the order, accepting payment in a variety of forms, and generating a customer receipt. Many modern POS terminals also have additional capabilities, such as transmitting or e-mailing an electronic version of the receipt to a customer.
Generally, POS terminals connect to a number of different peripheral devices, such as pinpads, printers, optical scanners, and the like. When performing customer transactions, a POS application executing on the POS terminal communicates data and information with these peripheral devices using a well-known communication protocol (e.g., TCP/IP over USB, RS232, USB, RS232 over USB, etc.).
However, before data and information can be exchanged, the POS application must first be configured to communicate with the peripheral devices. For example, in cases where the RS232 protocol is utilized to connect a POS terminal and a POS peripheral device, certain settings for the POS application such as the baud rate, data bits, parity, handshake, and the like, must first be configured. Additionally, from time-to-time, the peripheral devices may be swapped or replaced with other peripheral devices, or the POS terminal that executes the POS application may be reloaded. When such events such as these occur, it becomes necessary to repeat the configuration process to help ensure that the POS application operates optimally with the peripheral device.

Configuring point-of-sale (POS) applications based on a priority level in order to communicate with peripheral devices in a POS system

Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions Holdings Corporation


Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method, an apparatus and a computer program product for managing an input/output (I/O). The method comprises, in response to receiving a first I/O request of a first type for a storage device, determining whether there exists at least one credit available to the first type of I/O requests. Each of the at least one credit indicates I/O processing capability reserved by the storage device for the first type of I/O requests. The method further comprises allocating a first credit to the first I/O request based on a result of the determining. The method further comprises performing, by using the first credit, an I/O operation requested by the first I/O request on the storage device. Moreover, the method further comprises, in response to completion of the I/O operation, recycling the first credit for use by a subsequent I/O request. Embodiments of the present disclosure can implement dynamic allocation of I/O processing capability for different types of I/Os.

In a storage system, there may be different types of I/Os for a given storage device. For example, important configuration information (such as status information of various components or the like) of the storage system and user data may be stored on the same storage device. An I/O for the important configuration information and an I/O for the user data typically have different priorities. The configuration information of the storage system is of critical importance for the storage system, and data loss in the configuration information may probably result in serious problems. Therefore, an I/O for the important configuration information usually has a higher priority than an I/O for the user data. In other words, the performance of the I/O for the configuration information must be guaranteed, i.e., the I/O must be completed within the required time and the throughput thereof must be guaranteed.

Method, apparatus and computer program product for managing input/output


A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor film, an interlayer insulating film, a source-drain electrode, and a semiconductor auxiliary film. The semiconductor film includes an oxide semiconductor material and has a channel region and a low-resistance region. The low-resistance region has an electric resistance lower than an electric resistance of the channel region. The interlayer insulating film covers the semiconductor film and has a through-hole opposed to the low-resistance region. The source-drain electrode includes a source electrode and a drain electrode and is electrically coupled to the semiconductor film through the through-hole. The semiconductor auxiliary film is in contact with the low-resistance region of the semiconductor film, reduces an electric resistance of the semiconductor film, and has a first opening at least on a part of a portion opposed to the through-hole.

The technology relates to a semiconductor device including an oxide semiconductor material and to a display.
A display including pixels with higher definition has been recently developed. Such a display is driven by a thin-film transistor (TFT). For example, a thin-film transistor including an oxide semiconductor material has been intensively developed. Reference is made to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2015-108731, for example.

Thin-film transistor including source-drain electrodes connected to a semiconducting film and extending through a semiconductor auxiliary film


Keypad keys for handheld mobile communication devices feature flexible key bodies and actuators extending from the key bodies. Switches below the actuators are connected in series circuits. All actuators beneath an intended key must be depressed in order for the circuit to be closed and the key to be recognized as actuated. The flexible nature of the key bodies allows one actuator on a given key to be depressed while other actuators remain non-depressed. This prevents the key from being recognized as actuated when a only a portion of the key is depressed as occurs, for example, due to finger overlap.

A generalized illustration of a wireless handheld mobile communication device is shown in FIG. 1. The device includes a housing, a graphical display screen, and a keyboard section with a plurality of keys thereon. The device further includes a thumbwheel and one or more navigational tools such as an auxiliary input device located between the display screen and the keyboard section. The auxiliary input device may be any of a trackball, cursor keys, a track wheel, a roller barrel, a touch pad, or a joystick.
Such wireless handheld mobile communication devices are becoming smaller and smaller for handheld use. In fact, they may be on the order of between fifty millimeters (approximately two inches) and eighty-nine millimeters (approximately three and one-half inches) in width, to facilitate palm-cradling of the device by a user. To facilitate such smaller device widths, the keys on wireless handheld mobile communication devices are being made smaller and smaller. In fact, on some such devices, the keys may be less than seven millimeters (approximately one quarter of an inch) in width, and as small as three millimeters (approximately one eighth of an inch) in width. As a result, a user's thumb (or other digit) may overlap several keys at the same time when the user is trying to depress an intended key on the keyboard, as illustrated in FIG. 1, which leads to typing errors.

Handheld mobile communication device with flexible keys


A control device for a lock-up mechanism arranged parallel with a hydraulic type torque transmitting mechanism that transmits rotatory power of a pump impeller connected with an output shaft of an engine to a turbine impeller connected with a wheel side element. The lock-up mechanism controls a slip value between the rotational speeds of the pump and turbine impellers in response to supplied hydraulic pressure. The control device calculates a target slip value, detects an actual slip value based on the rotational speed difference of the pump and turbine impellers, sets an intermediate slip value between the actual and target slip values, controls the hydraulic pressure to the lock-up mechanism so that the actual and intermediate slip values coincide, and reduces the intermediate slip value to a renewed value closer to the target slip value than the intermediate slip value when the actual slip value reaches the intermediate slip value.

This invention generally relates to a torque converter associated with a vehicle transmission. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a control device of a lock-up mechanism in a torque converter of a vehicle for controlling the slip value defined as the difference between the rotation speed of a pump impeller connected to the engine and the rotation speed of a turbine impeller connected to a wheel side element.
Generally speaking, a lock-up mechanism used in the torque converter of a vehicle controls the slip value between the rotation speed of the pump impeller and the rotation speed of the turbine impeller by controlling the force applied to a piston while controlling the hydraulic pressure into the torque converter.
A Japanese patent application published as Toku-Kai-Hei 8(1996)-28681 discloses a control device of a lock-up mechanism which controls the slip value of the pump impeller and the turbine impeller. This control device controls the actual slip value so that it coincides with a transient target slip value, so that the actual slip value approaches a target slip value gently. More specifically, the control device calculates the target slip value (fixed value) based on a driving condition of the vehicle and sets an initial value of the transient target value based on the actual slip value immediately before operation of this device is initiated. The transient target slip value is reduced toward the target slip value by a predetermined decrement which decreases gradually as the transient target slip value approached the target slip value as shown in FIG. 14 of the published application. Accordingly, the actual slip value approaches the target slip value gently.
However, situations arise in which the actual slip value overshoots the target slip value because the transient target slip value is uniformly reduced by the predetermined decrement independently of the dispersion of the target slip value calculated based on varied driving condition of the vehicle. This occurrence of the overshoot deteriorates the drivability of the vehicle.
A need thus exists for a vehicle lock-up mechanism control device which is not as susceptible to the same disadvantages and drawbacks as those mentioned above.
To achieve the aforementioned object the following technical means is provided with a control device of a lock-up mechanism includes the lock-up mechanism arranged in parallel with a hydraulic type torque transmitting mechanism transmitting a rotatory power of a pump impeller connected with an output shaft of an engine to a turbine impeller connected with a wheel side element, the lock-up mechanism controlling a slip value between a rotational speed of the pump impeller and a rotational speed of the turbine impeller in response to a hydraulic pressure supplied thereto, a target slip value calculating means for calculating a target slip value based on driving condition of a vehicle, an actual slip value detecting means for detecting an actual slip value from the difference between the rotational speed of the pump impeller and the rotational speed of the turbine impeller, an intermediate slip value setting means for setting an intermediate slip value between the actual slip value and the target slip value, a hydraulic pressure controlling means for controlling the hydraulic pressure supplied to the lock-up mechanism in order for the actual slip value to coincide with the intermediate slip value, and an intermediate slip value renewal means for reducing the intermediate slip value to a renewed value closer to the target slip value than the intermediate slip value when the actual slip value reaches the intermediate slip value.
According to this invention, the intermediate slip value is set between the actual slip value and the target slip value. Namely, the intermediate slip value is certainly set at a slip value larger than the target slip value. It is thus possible to control the actual slip value so as not to overshoot the target slip value.
Another aspect of the invention involves a method for controlling a lock-up mechanism arranged in parallel with a hydraulic type torque transmitting mechanism that transmits rotatory power of a pump impeller connected with an output shaft of an engine to a turbine impeller connected with a wheel side element, with the lock-up mechanism controlling a slip value between a rotational speed of the pump impeller and a rotational speed of the turbine impeller in response to hydraulic pressure supplied to the lock-up mechanism. The method includes calculating a target slip value based on driving conditions of a vehicle, detecting an actual slip value between the rotational speed of the pump impeller and the rotational speed of the turbine impeller based on the difference between the rotational speed of the pump impeller and the rotational speed of the turbine impeller, setting an intermediate slip value between the actual slip value and the target slip value, controlling hydraulic pressure supplied to the lock-up mechanism to cause the actual slip value to approach the intermediate slip value, and reducing the intermediate slip value to a renewed value closer to the target slip value than the intermediate slip value when the actual slip value reaches the intermediate slip value.


A variable-stroke crank mechanism has a crankshaft rotatably supported in a casing for relative rotation about an axis with a crankpin displaced out of alignment with the axis. An eccentric collar is rotatably mounted on the crankpin for revolving around the axis in response to the relative rotation of the crankshaft with respect to the casing to reciprocally move an actuator relative to the casing. A stroke adjusting mechanism for adjusting angular displacement of the eccentric collar on the crankpin comprises an internal ring gear integral with the eccentric collar concentrically with the crankpin, a planetary pinion rotatably mounted on the crankshaft and meshing with the internal ring gear, a sun gear meshing with the planetary pinion, and a stroke adjusting shaft rotatably disposed axially in a portion of the crankshaft and coupled to the sun gear, whereby the stroke adjusting shaft is adjustable in angular displacement to adjust a stroke of reciprocating movement of the actuator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a variable-stroke crank mechanism for use in a radial-plunger variable-displacement fluid device having cylinders and plungers whose axes extend radially around a crankshaft, and more particularly to a variable-stroke crank mechanism suitable for use in a radial-plunger variable-displacement fluid device of the double crankpin type.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Radial-plunger variable-displacement fluid devices in which cylinders and plungers have axes extending radially around a crankshaft are well known in the art of hydraulic pumps, hydraulic motors, and compressors. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,057 discloses a plunger-type hydraulic unit as a radial-plunger variable-displacement fluid device.
In the disclosed plunger-type hydraulic unit, an off-center crankpin is mounted on a rotatable crankshaft, and an eccentric collar is mounted on the crankpin. Plungers are coupled to a connecting ring that is rotatably mounted on the eccentric collar, and slidably inserted in respective cylinders fastened to a casing.
When the crankshaft rotates, the crankpin and the eccentric collar also rotate in unison with the crankshaft. The plungers now reciprocate in the respective cylinders as the connecting ring revolves around the axis of the crankshaft. The plunger-type hydraulic unit includes a mechanism for rotating the eccentric collar in unison with the crankshaft.
Since the reciprocating stroke of the plungers can be varied by adjusting the rotational position of the eccentric collar on the crankpin, the above mechanism is used as a stroke adjusting mechanism for adjusting the rotational position of the eccentric collar.
In the conventional radial-plunger variable-displacement fluid device, the single crankpin is mounted on the crankshaft, and the plungers and cylinders are arrayed radially around the crankpin. The radial-plunger variable-displacement fluid device is often required to have a large displacement. To increase the displacement, however, it is necessary to increase the diameters of the plungers and cylinders or the reciprocating stroke of the plungers.
To increase the diameters of the plungers and cylinders, it is then necessary to prevent adjacent ones of the cylinders from interfering with each other. Accordingly, the plungers and cylinders have to extend radially outwardly for an increased displacement, resulting in an increase in the radial dimension and hence size of the radial-plunger variable-displacement fluid device.
To increase the reciprocating stroke of the plungers, it is necessary to increase the distance by which the crankpin is radially displaced off-center from the axis of the crankshaft. Increasing the off-center distance displaces the plungers and cylinders radially outwardly and increases the length of the cylinders radially outwardly, with the result that the radial-plunger variable-displacement fluid device becomes larger in size.
If two crankpins are mounted on a crankshaft and a radial array of plungers and cylinders is arranged radially of each of the crankpins, then it will be possible to increase the displacement of the device without increasing the size of the device.
However, since two stroke adjusting mechanisms are required in combination with the two respective arrays of plungers and cylinders for adjusting the rotational positions of the eccentric collars on the crankpins to adjust the reciprocating stroke of the plungers, the stroke adjusting mechanisms will be complex in structure and control.
The conventional stroke adjusting mechanism has a drive means extending over the crankshaft to an end thereof for adjusting the rotational position of the eccentric collar. If the same stroke adjusting mechanism design is used for adjusting the stroke of each array of plungers in a double-crankpin radial-plunger variable-displacement fluid device, then the two arrays of plungers and cylinders need to be associated with respective stroke adjusting mechanisms with the drive means extending to the opposite ends of the crankshaft. Therefore, the stroke adjusting mechanisms are rendered complex in structure, and their operation control is also complicated.


The invention features methods of detecting enzymatic activity (e.g., in a magnetic resonance image). In general, the methods include: (1) providing a monomeric substrate (e.g., a substrate that is polymerizable in the presence of an enzyme or as a result of an enzyme-catalyzed reaction), having the generic structure X-Y-Z, where X includes a chelator moiety having a chelated paramagnetic or superparamagnetic metal atom or ion, Y includes a linker moiety (e.g., to provide a covalent or non-covalent chemical bond or bonds between X and Z), and Z includes a polymerizing moiety; (2) contacting the substrate with a target tissue, wherein the substrate undergoes polymerization to form a paramagnetic or superparamagnetic polymer, the polymerization being catalyzed by an enzyme in an extracellular matrix or bound to the surfaces of cells of the target tissue; and (3) detecting an increase in relaxivity for the polymer relative to an equivalent amount of unpolymerized substrate. The invention also features substrate compositions.

This invention relates to biochemistry and magnetic resonance imaging.
Non-invasive imaging of molecular expression in vivo with high resolution and high sensitivity would be a useful tool in clinical diagnostics and in biomedical research. A detectable label, e.g., a radioactive atom, can be linked to a targeting moiety, e.g., an antibody, which binds specifically a molecular target (molecule of interest). Such targeting can be used for imaging cells or tissues that display the molecular target. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) offers certain well-known advantages as a non-invasive imaging technology. For example, MRI can potentially provide exceptionally high anatomic resolution approaching single-cell levels (voxel of 20-40 xcexcm3). Moreover, recent innovations in instrument design and contrast agent development indicate that above level of resolution can be achieved non-invasively in vivo. One of the major future directions of in vivo MRI research includes mapping of specific molecules (e.g. receptors) and detecting patterns of their expression.
However, the inherently low sensitivity of MRI to the presence of magnetic labels, and consequently low signal-to-background ratio, has limited the usefulness of MRI for detection and imaging of low-abundance, molecular targets such as cell surface receptor molecules. MRI of receptor-specific contrast agents has been challenging because of relatively low sensitivity to the presence of paramagnetic metal labels. For example, the detectability limit for paramagnetic gadolinium complexes is estimated to be approximately 100 xcexcmol Gd per gram of tissue. Therefore, a way of amplifying an MRI signal from a targeted, magnetic label is needed.
A number of different amplification schemes have been pursued to increase specific MR signal. Most commonly, amplification is achieved by covalent attachment of several signal-generating paramagnetic cations or a superparamagnetic particle to a targeting molecule (e.g., a receptor ligand). However, affinity molecules that are not bound to the target (circulating in the bloodstream or retained non-specifically) can generate high background signal due to indiscriminate shortening of water proton relaxation times. Nonspecific signal can obscure the target due to the low target/background ratio. This is especially relevant in the case of vascular targeting.
The invention is based on the discovery that enzyme activity can be used to amplify the decrease in local proton relaxation rates produced by chelated gadolinium (Gd) or other metals. This amplification has been demonstrated to result from enzyme-dependent polymerization of a monomeric substrate in which the metal atom or ion is chelated.
Based on this development, the invention features methods of detecting enzymatic activity (e.g., in a magnetic resonance image). In general, the methods include: (1) providing a monomeric substrate (e.g., a substrate that is polymerizable in the presence of an enzyme or as a result of an enzyme-catalyzed reaction), having the generic structure X-Y-Z, where X includes a chelator moiety having a chelated paramagnetic or superparamagnetic metal atom or ion, Y includes a linker moiety (e.g., to provide a covalent or non-covalent chemical bond or bonds between X and Z), and Z includes a polymerizing moiety; (2) contacting the substrate with a target tissue, wherein the substrate undergoes polymerization to form a paramagnetic or superparamagnetic polymer, the polymerization being catalyzed by an enzyme in an extracellular matrix or bound to the surfaces of cells of the target tissue; and (3) detecting an increase in relaxivity for the polymer relative to an equivalent amount of unpolymerized substrate.
As used herein, xe2x80x9can equivalent amount of unpolymerized substratexe2x80x9d means the number of monomeric substrate molecules represented by a polymer having a particular molecular size or mass.
Examples of chelating moieties that can be incorporated into a monomeric substrate for use in the invention include the following: 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-N,Nxe2x80x2,Nxe2x80x3,Nxe2x80x2xe2x80x3-tetraacetic acid (DOTA); 1,4,7,10-tetraaza-cyclododecane-N,Nxe2x80x2,Nxe2x80x3-triacetic acid; 1,4,7-tris(carboxymethyl)-10-(2xe2x80x2-hydroxypropyl)-1,4,7,10-tetraazocyclodecane, 1,4,7-triazacyclonane-N,Nxe2x80x2,Nxe2x80x3-triacetic acid; and 1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetra-decane-N,Nxe2x80x2,Nxe2x80x3,Nxe2x80x2xe2x80x3-tetraacetic acid; diethylenetriamine-pentaacetic acid (DTPA); triethylenetetraamine-hexaacetic acid; ethylenediamine-tetraacetic acid (EDTA); EGTA; 1,2-diaminocyclohexane-N,N,Nxe2x80x2,Nxe2x80x2-tetraacetic acid; N-(hydroxyethyl)ethylenediaminetriacetic acid; nitrilotriacetic acid; and ethylene-bis(oxyethylene-nitrilo)tetraacetic acid.
The paramagnetic or superparamagnetic metal atom or ion can be, for example, a transition metal or lanthanide atom or ion having paramagnetic properties (e.g., Fe3+, Gd3+, Dy3+, Eu3+, Mn2+).
Examples of suitable linker moieties include: amino acids, oligopeptides (e.g., oligopeptides having 2-6 amino acid residues), nucleotides, an oligonucleotides (e.g., oligonucleotides having 2-6 nucleotide residues), C3-C12 alkyl groups, polyethyleneimines, saccharides, oligosaccharides, medium chain fatty acids, polyamidoamines, polyacrylic acids, and polyalcohols. In some embodiments of the invention, the linker moiety can contain an amino acid or oligopeptide containing 2-6 amino acid residues. Thus, in certain embodiment of the invention, the monomeric substrate can have the structure:
where R1 is H, OH, or OCH3.
As used herein, a xe2x80x9cpolymerizing moietyxe2x80x9d can be any chemical group (e.g., a phenolic moiety or a modified nucleotide) that can be chemically modified in the presence of and as a result of the catalytic activity of an enzyme to form a covalent chemical bond between (1) the modified polymerizing moiety and another substrate of the invention or (2) the modified polymerizing moiety and any other macromolecule present during the reaction, including (but not limited to) the enzyme itself. As used herein, xe2x80x9cchemically modifiedxe2x80x9d means subjected to any rearrangement of electron density, including addition or withdrawal of electrons.
Examples of polymerizing moieties that can be incorporated into a monomeric substrate for use in the invention include phenolic moieties and other moieties that can be accommodated by the catalytic center of the enzyme (e.g., a chemical structure having a suitable size, shape, and functional groups such as hydrogen bond donors and/or acceptors, hydrophobic and/or hydrophilic groups, aromatic rings and/or other functional groups as appropriate for creating hydrogen bonding, van der Waals interactions, ionic bonding, and/or pi stacking or other interactions between the substrate and the enzyme; such parameters can be identified using known or future methods including, but not limited to, computer-based molecular modeling and computational methods).
In certain embodiments, for example, the polymerizing moiety can be a phenolic moiety such as the following:
where R1, R2, R3, R4 and R5, independently, can be H; R6, wherein R6 is C1-C6 unsubstituted alkyl; NHC(O)R6; OH; or NR7R8, wherein R7 and R8 are H or R6; provided that at least one of R1, R2, R3, R4 and R5 is OH.
In some embodiments of the invention, R1, R2, R3, R4 or R5 is at an ortho position relative to the OH substituent, and is either OH or OCH3. In other embodiments, R1, R2, R3, R4 or R5 is at a meta position relative to the OH substituent, and is either NHC(O)R6 or NR7R8.
The enzyme employed to catalyze polymerization of the monomeric substrate can be, in some cases, covalently linked to a targeting moiety, and the targeting moiety can in turn bind noncovalently to a target molecule in an intercellular matrix or on the surface of a cell of the target tissue. In some embodiments, the enzyme is an oxidoreductase, e.g., a peroxidase such as lactoperoxidase and horseradish peroxidase, or a laccase. In alternative embodiments, the enzyme is a monophenol oxidase, monophenol monooxygenase, or catechol oxidase. An exemplary monophenol oxidase is tyrosinase.
Examples of useful targeting moieties are a primary antibody, a secondary antibody, a cell adhesion molecule, a cytokine, a cell surface receptor molecule, or a fragment thereof that recognizes a preselected binding partner. A primary antibody and a secondary antibody are preferred targeting moieties.
Compositions that include the compounds X-Y-Z described above, with or without a chelated metal atom or ion, are also considered to be an aspect of the invention.
Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. In case of conflict, the present application, including definitions, will control. All publications, patents and other references mentioned herein are incorporated by reference.
Although methods and materials similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of the present invention, the preferred methods and materials are described below. The materials, methods and examples are illustrative only and not intended to be limiting. Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the detailed description and from the claims.


A drum washing machine including a cylindrical drum, a DC brushless motor directly connected to the drum, a current detector detecting current flowing through the motor, a torque control vector-controlling the motor on the basis of the current detected by the current detector so that motor torque becomes optimum at least in a wash or dehydration operation, and a laundry weight estimator accelerating the motor with a maximum output torque developed when determining that motor speed is between a first speed at which laundry is assumed to start falling from an uppermost part of inner periphery of the drum when motor speed is reduced from a high speed side and a second speed at which laundry is assumed to start sticking to an uppermost part of the inner periphery of the drum, estimating laundry weight according to a q-axis current value in the vector control during an accelerating period.

In conventional drum washing machines, a rotational speed of a drum is increased to a predetermined first value in determination of the weight of laundry in a drum and is further increased from the predetermined value to another second higher speed. The laundry weight is determined on the basis of the length of time length required for the rotational speed to be increased from the first value to the second value. However, when the rotational speed of the drum is in a higher range, windage loss occurs, or friction produced between an access cover of the drum in a stationary state and cloth is increased. As a result, it is difficult to obtain the detection results in proportional to the difference in laundry weight. Thus, the accuracy in the detection is reduced.
Furthermore, JP-6-275-A discloses a vector control controlling an output torque of an electric motor in a top loading type washing machine. A laundry weight is determined on the basis of a q-axis current value in the vector control. More specifically, since the q-axis current in the vector control is proportional to the output torque of the motor, the state of a load driven by the motor can be estimated properly by referring to the q-axis current value. Accordingly, the accuracy in the determination of laundry weight can be improved when the laundry weight is determined on the basis of the q-axis current value.
However, the technique disclosed by JP-6-275-A is applied to a top loading type washing machine in which an agitator mounted on the bottom of a wash tub is rotated. Thus, the disclosed technique cannot directly be applied to a drum washing machine. Furthermore, in order that an accurate laundry weight may be determined, it is ideal that laundry should be distributed uniformly in the drum so as to be well balanced. However, the above-noted publication discloses nothing in this respect, and further, the drum washing machine differs from the top loading type washing machine in the basic structure and accordingly, in the balancing system. As a result, the technique disclosed by JP-6-275-A cannot be applied directly to the drum washing machine.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a drum washing machine in which the laundry weight can be estimated with higher accuracy.


Epoxy compositions include a cucurbituril in complex with a curative, and methods for curing the epoxy composition. The curative is reactive with an epoxy compound, and the curative may be a cure accelerator or a cure hardener. Cured resins are obtained or obtainable from the epoxy compositions. Complexes of a cucurbituril have a curative.

Epoxy resins are widely used as a commercial adhesive where its use can be found in industrial and electrical applications, consumer applications, marine and aerospace applications. The strong bonding property is due to the three-dimensional cross-linked polymeric network formed during curing of the epoxy, usually by reaction between a curing agent and the epoxy groups to obtain a desirable cross-linking density. Curing catalysts can also be added to the mixture to further accelerate the cure (cure accelerator).
Traditionally the epoxy resin and curative are either stored separately until the time of reaction or stored in refrigeration after mixing to prevent undesirable premature curing of the resin. This, however, is inconvenient and energy consuming. It also does not resolve the dilemma of increased cure rate at the expense of storage life.
One solution to this problem is the use of latent, or in-situ generated, curatives. These are chemical species that are stored in a shielded or inert form during storage conditions and that do not initiate or catalyse the epoxy reaction in the composition until some stimulus, typically temperature, is applied to generate the active form. Using this strategy, a one-part, ambient-temperature-stable curable epoxy resin can be achieved with fast curing rate when desired without sacrificing storage life of the epoxy composition.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,395,105 describes a curative encapsulated in a hardened protective colloid such as gelatin and while it is stable for storage at ambient temperature, the curing agent can be released by application of pressure for reaction with the epoxy resin.
EP 1,252,217 describes the use of ambient-temperature-stable, impermeable microcapsules with thermoplastic polymeric capsule walls to encapsulate curatives to generate storage-stable, one-part, curable epoxy resin systems, and the method of curing the adhesive by heating the system at 80° C. or above.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,936 describes the use of a complex formed between a cyclodextrin and a compound that is reactive with an epoxy group as a curing agent for an epoxy resin at room temperature and the method of curing epoxy resin by heating the mixture of the curing agent and the epoxy resin at 90° C. causing the complex to decompose.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,936 does not provide a detailed description of the complex prepared. It is noted that the coating compositions used in the worked examples make use of toluene. This solvent is known to be a guest for a cyclodextrin, and there is the risk that the curative is displaced by toluene prior to the heat treatment.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,936 shows that one example composition may be stored for up 3 days. However, there are no examples of compositions that are stored over a longer, commercially relevant time frame. The worked examples show that temperatures of greater than 100° C. are needed, and with the exception of one worked example, all the example compositions are heated to temperatures of 120° C. or more.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,936 suggests that lower decomplexation temperatures are possible, for example, at around 40° C. However this requires the use of the enzyme amylase to digest the cyclodextrin host, which complicates the curing process.
The present invention provides alternative epoxy compositions for use in the preparation of cured epoxy resins. Such compositions allow for activation of a curing composition at a broad range of temperatures, including moderate temperatures, and without the need for the use of enzymes.


A device and method is provided for eye exercise. The eye exercise device includes a housing with colored light sources of at least two different colors in a substantially linear alignment, including a first color which causes the eye to increase its focusing power to gain a sharp image of the first color, and a second color which causes the eye to decrease the focusing power to gain a sharp image of the second color. A controller may control the display of the light sources to an observer. A method of exercising eyes is provided that includes exposing an observer to red and blue light sources, and activating one or more of the light sources to display the light sources to the observer one-at-a-time.

The present invention relates to devices and methods for exercising eyes.
Vision is the primary navigational system of a human body, providing 80 to 90% of all information received during a person""s lifetime. The proficiency of the vision skills affects every human activity and affects human performance on all levels. However, the human vision system functions in a more and more difficult environment as educational and occupational demands continue to grow exponentially in today""s society.
The United States economy, as well as that of many foreign countries, have moved from an industrial era to a service era and has entered the information age. More and more, a worker""s performance depends on gathering and internalizing a growing body of information in educational, occupational, and even social surroundings.
The computer has become a principal channel for providing services and information. There is an ongoing and dramatic rise in the number of people who use computers at work, at home after work hours, while shopping, reading the newspaper, and the like. The volume of services and information provided via computers also continues to increase. The explosive growth in the use of computers and other vision-related information-gathering activities dramatically increases demands on the vision system.
The visual system and its primary instrument, the eyes, do not respond well to this increased demand. The eyes are meant to respond effortlessly to images of objects that enter awareness and call for attention. However, it is unlikely that the eyes were designed to be used primarily for reading or working on a computer. Yet, as already discussed above, the educational and occupational requirements lead people to do just that.
As a consequence, modern society suffers from a virtual epidemic of vision problems, especially myopia. Such vision problems, including myopia, can be directly related to the amount of time spent reading or working on a computer. The educational system, with its major focus on visual information transmission and communication, is a major contributor to the epidemic.
The eyes are complex neuro-optical systems of the human body. They locate, track, and focus on objects of interest. Before describing the structure and functioning of the eyes, it is useful to describe certain aspects of inanimate optics and related physical phenomena.
A human eye perceives electromagnetic radiation in a certain narrow range of wavelengths (xcx9c400 nm to xcx9c700 nm), which may be referred to as the visible range. For the most part, the light perceived by the eye as images of various objects includes mixtures of light waves with different wavelengths. Thus, white light is a mixture of light waves of essentially all wavelengths in the visible range. The electromagnetic waves with unique wavelengths within the visible range (monochromatic light) are perceived as colors. For example, the monochromatic light with the wavelength of 660 nm is perceived as red and the light with the wavelength of 470 nm as blue. Various combinations of light waves (e.g., additions or subtractions) may also be perceived as colors.
On the basis of human perception of colors, the visible range is often divided into various color sub-ranges. One commonly described classification divides the visible range into violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red color sub-ranges:
Another classification divides the visible range into blue ( less than xcx9c490 nm), green-yellow (xcx9c490-590 nm), and red ( greater than xcx9c590 nm) sub-ranges. It should be noted that the boundaries between the color sub-ranges are approximate and depend on many factors. For additional discussion of human perception of color, see J. Liberman, Light: Medicine of the Future, Bear and Co., 1991.
Light interacts with material substances. Thus, light may change direction when passing through material substances, a phenomenon known as refraction. An index of refraction (n) measures the magnitude of refraction for a given substance. The index of refraction of a substance is the ratio of the velocity of light in a vacuum (C) to the velocity ("ugr"xcexd) of the light wave with a particular wavelength (xcexd) in the substance: n=C/"ugr"xcexd. The velocity of light in a vacuum is constant. However, in material substances, the velocity of light is different for each wavelength xcexd. Therefore, the index of refraction is different at different wavelengths. For this reason, light waves of different wavelengths (colors) are refracted by different amounts through the same optical element. The index of refraction increases as wavelength decreases, and therefore colors of shorter wavelengths exhibit greater change in direction in material substances than colors of longer wavelengths.
The refraction of light is used in various optical systems, such as prisms, lenses, and the like, to manipulate light in a desired manner. A lens is an optical system bounded by two refracting surfaces having a common axis. Lenses refract and focus light emitted by or reflected from various objects. Each lens has a characteristic focus point and focal length, which are commonly used to describe lenses (FIG. 1). The focus point is a point at which the lens focuses light from an object located at an infinite distance from the lens.
Referring to FIG. 1, F1 is the focus point of the lens L1, and F2 is the focus point of the lens L2. The focal length or focal distance (f) is the distance from the center of the lens to its focus point. In the examples of FIG. 1, f1 is the focal length of the lens L1, and f2 is the focal length of the lens L2. The focal length f determines the properties of a lens with respect to focusing of light.
FIG. 2 illustrates how lenses focus light from an object. As seen in FIG. 2, the lens L captures light from an object located at a point Q. The light is focused into an image of the captured object at a point Qxe2x80x2. The point Q is known as the object point and the point Qxe2x80x2 as the image point. S denotes the distance from the object point Q to the lens L, and Sxe2x80x2 denotes the distance from the lens L to the image point Qxe2x80x2.
For an ideal lens, one expression of the relationship between the focal length f and the distances S and Sxe2x80x2 is the thin lens equation: 1/S+1/Sxe2x80x2=1/f. If the object point Q is located at an infinite distance from the lens L (i.e., S is infinity), the term 1/s approaches zero and the image distance Sxe2x80x2 is equal to the focal length of the lens L. If the object distance S is less than infinity, the distance Sxe2x80x2 varies as a function of the distance S. Generally, for a given wavelength, the focal length f is fixed for a given inanimate lens. The term 1/f is also fixed for a given lens. Thus, the term 1/f is a parameter of the functional variation between the terms 1/S and 1/Sxe2x80x2 (and therefore the distances S and Sxe2x80x2). The term 1/f is known as the focusing power of the lens. The focusing power is measured in diopters, which is a metric unit equal to 1 divided by the focal length of the lens, in meters (1 diopter=1 mxe2x88x921). The shorter the focal length f of the lens, the greater the focusing power 1/f.
If the thin lens equation is applied to two different lenses with different focusing powers, the images of objects located at the same distance S are expected to be formed at different image distances Sxe2x80x2. Referring again to FIG. 1, the focal length f2 of the lens L2 is greater than the focal length f1 of the lens L1, and thus the lens L2 has more focusing power than the lens L1. As seen from FIG. 1, the greater the focusing power of the lens, the closer to the lens the captured image is formed.
As explained above, the index of refraction (n) varies with the wavelength, and therefore, for the same lens, the magnitude of refraction is different for light of different wavelengths (colors). Thus, the focal length of the same lens is different for different colors. As a consequence, a single lens forms not one image of an object, but a series of images at varying distances from the lens, one for each color present in the light emitted or reflected by the object. If the lens captures monochromatic light, an observer placed at the focus point of the lens perceives the image as sharp. However, if the captured light is not monochromatic, some of the constituent light waves may remain unfocused. This phenomenon, known as chromatic aberration, is illustrated in FIG. 3.
Referring to FIG. 3, the lens L captures non-monochromatic light from an object AB. Suppose, the light from the object AB includes light waves having wavelengths xcexd1 and xcexd2 (light waves xcexd1 and xcexd2), where xcexd1 less than xcexd2. Since the index of refraction is greater for shorter wavelengths, the lens L changes the direction of the light wave xcexd1 more than the direction of the light wave xcexd2. Therefore, the focal length of the lens L is smaller for the light wave xcexd1 than for the wavelength xcexd2.
The image for the light wave xcexd1, shown as Axe2x80x2Bxe2x80x2, is formed closer to the lens L than the image for the light wave xcexd2, shown as Axe2x80x3Bxe2x80x3. For example, if the wavelength xcexd1 is in the violet color sub-range and the wavelength xcexd2 is in the green color sub-range, the violet image would be formed closer to the lens L than the green image. The variation in the image distance as a function of color is called longitudinal chromatic aberration. The difference in the index of refraction at different wavelengths also affects the size of the image. The variation in the image size as a function of color is known as lateral chromatic aberration. In FIG. 3, the distance a measures the longitudinal chromatic aberration, and the distance b measures the lateral chromatic aberration.
Because of chromatic aberration, the same focus point is not optimal for all colors that comprise the light captured through the lens. Some colors will be perceived as sharp at the focus point of the lens, while others will not. The unfocused colors may form a fuzzy ghost image around the focused image.
As will be explained in more detail in the description of the invention, chromatic aberration may occur in a human eye, which, like inanimate optical systems, includes light-refracting elements. The structure of the eye is schematically illustrated in FIG. 4. Among the major parts of the eye are a cornea 2, an iris 4, a retina 6, an eye crystalline lens 8, a ciliary body 10, and ciliary zonules 12.
The cornea 2 is a transparent membrane that protects the eye from the outside world while allowing light to enter the eye. The iris 4 controls the amount of light that enters the eye by opening or closing a pupil, the variable aperture of the eye. The variations in the size of the pupil allow the eye to function over a wide range of light intensities. Thus, the pupil contracts to limit the amount of light in a bright environment, and fully opens in a dim light. The pupil also contracts for near vision, increasing the depth of field to improve perception of objects located in close proximity to the eyes.
The retina 6 is a thin sheet of interconnected nerve cells, which function as detectors, converting information carried by the light (images) into electrical impulses. The detecting elements of the retina 6 include rods and cones. The cones function primarily in normal lighting condition, while the rods are most effective in dim lighting. The sensitivity of the retina is different for different wavelengths within the visible range. The retina is most sensitive in the middle of the visible range, specifically in the green/yellow color sub-ranges, and least sensitive at both ends of the visible range, namely in the red and blue sub-ranges. The spectral sensitivity is also different for rods and cones. Thus, the peak of spectral sensitivity in normal lighting conditions (cone vision) is approximately 555 nm. In dim lighting (rod vision), the peak of sensitivity is approximately 510 nm. The retina is connected to the optic nerve that carries the information gathered by the eye to the brain. When light enters the eye, the crystalline lens 8 projects an inverted image on the retina 6.
The crystalline lens 8 is a transparent convex-shaped structure that focuses the light entering the eye to form a clear image on the retina 6. If the focus point of the crystalline lens 8 is on the retina 6, the perceived image is sharp. If the focus point is in front of or behind the retina, the sharpness of the image may suffer. The phenomenon of chromatic aberration observed in the inanimate optical systems also occurs in the eye. Nevertheless, in most circumstances, all colors are perceived as sharp to an observer because of various compensating mechanisms of the eye.
The crystalline lens 8 is attached to the ciliary body 10 by way of the ciliary zonules 12. The ciliary body 10 contains a ciliary muscle. The eye crystalline lens 8, the ciliary body 10, and the ciliary zonules 12 work together to keep the images entering the eye in focus.
The ability of the eyes to focus clearly on a target of interest at any distance is called accommodation. It is one of the most important visual skills. Although the thin lens equation (1/S+1/Sxe2x80x2=1/f) applies to ideal inanimate lenses, its general principles are helpful to describe the accommodation function of the eye. With respect to the thin lens equation, the focusing power of the eye is 1/f, the distance to an observed target is S, and the distance from the eye lens to the image of the target is Sxe2x80x2. As described, an image is sharp if it is focused on the retina. The distance between the crystalline lens and the retina is essentially constant. Thus, the distance Sxe2x80x2 between the crystalline lens and the image must also be kept essentially constant regardless of the target distance S, which continuously changes as a function of the environment. Applying the thin lens equation, the term 1/Sxe2x80x2 remains constant, the term 1/S is changing, and therefore, the term 1/f must change with the change in the distance S to maintain the sharpness of the image. The essential mechanism of accommodation therefore involves changing the focusing power of the eye. The smaller the distance to the observed target, the greater the required focusing power of the eye.
A normal eye does not require any increase in the focusing power in order to clearly see a target at 20 feet or beyond. The table below illustrates a useful non-limiting example of the relationship between the distance from an eye to a target of observation and the required focusing power for a normal eye (in diopters):
Referring to FIG. 4, the change in the focusing power of the eye lens 8 is accomplished by changing the shape of the lens 8 with the help of the ciliary body 10 and the ciliary zonules 12. If the observed target moves closer, the ciliary muscle of the ciliary body 10 constricts thereby causing the zonules 12 to slacken and allowing the crystalline lens 8 to bulge. The resulting increase in the convex cross-section of the crystalline lens 8 increases its focusing power. If the observed target moves away from the eye, the ciliary muscle relaxes, tightening the zonules 12, and flattening the lens 8, thereby reducing the focusing power of a normal eye. At the distance of more than 20 feet, the ciliary muscle is usually relaxed.
In addition to accommodation, other essential visual skills include fixation (the ability to accurately aim the eyes at a target of interest), saccadics (the ability of the eyes to move accurately, efficiently, and rapidly from one target of interest to another), and binocular vision (the ability of the eyes to work together as a team). In large part and for a large proportion of people, inefficiency in any of these essential skills results in visual fatigue and stress associated with visually oriented tasks. It may become difficult for the eyes to aim, move and focus while working as a team, causing discomfort, loss of productivity, and less than optimal educational and/or occupational performance in general. Furthermore, the stress created by the inefficient function of these skills may contribute to the development of eyesight related problems (i.e., myopia, astigmatism). Summarizing, inefficiency in any of the essential visual skills may cause discomfort, loss of productivity, and less than optimal educational and/or occupational performance in general.
To optimize visual functioning and hopefully prevent visual deterioration, the visual system (the eyes, eye muscles and brain centers associated with vision) can be trained to work more efficiently. Vision is a skill that can be trained. The benefits of eye training are multidimensional. Among the benefits, training the eyes provides a physiological improvement in the responsiveness of the entire visual system. The eye muscles, for example, like all trainable muscles improve when properly trained. In effect, they benefit from eye training just as different, more visible human muscles benefit from other forms of exercise.
It is known that physical training improves the ability of the muscular and neurological system to respond with greater speed, accuracy, flexibility and fluidity, thereby enhancing overall performance. The same holds true for training the visual skills required for optimal visual performance. Most of the changes that take place as a function of physical training are gradual and occur over an extended period of time. The same holds true for the eyes. They adapt optimally to exercise that moderately exceeds their capacity.
Therefore, there is a continued and important need for new eye exercise devices and methods. Particularly, there is a need for eye exercise devices that are portable; use moderate levels of exercise, and that may be used to train a variety of visual functions simultaneously.
The present invention addresses these needs by providing eye exercise devices and methods that use the eye""s natural response to different colors to train the eye(s). In accordance with one aspect, the invention provides an eye exercise device that includes
a) a housing, including a plurality of colored light sources viewable by an observer and disposed in a substantially linear alignment, the colored light sources being of at least two different colors, including a first color which causes the eye to increase the focusing power of the eye to gain a sharp image of the first color, and a second color which causes the eye to decrease the focusing power of the eye to gain a sharp image of the second color; and
b) a controller for controlling the display of the light sources to an observer.
Preferably, the light sources of the first color are mounted in an alternating arrangement with the light sources of the second color. Preferably, the first color is selected from the group consisting of orange and red, and the second color is selected from the group consisting of violet, indigo, turquoise, and blue. The more preferred first color is red, and the more preferred second color is blue or violet. The preferred light sources are light emitting diodes.
The device may further include eyeglasses having interchangeable red and blue or violet filters for selectively affecting the display of the light sources. The device may also further include a control panel for adjustment of the controller.
In accordance with one embodiment, the housing is a horizontal bar, and the eye exercise device further includes a handle connected between two ends of the horizontal bar, dividing the horizontal bar into two segments, each of the segments extending from one of the ends of the horizontal bar to the location where the handle is connected. The horizontal bar has a top surface and a bottom surface. The top surface houses the light sources. The top surface of the horizontal bar may also include a linear marking extending substantially between the ends of the horizontal bar. The handle is connected to the horizontal bar from the bottom surfaces side. The preferred shape of the handle allows placement of the device in a vertical, oblique, or horizontal position with respect to a horizontal plane without additional structural elements. The preferred shape of the handle is octagonal. Also, preferably, at least one of the ends of the horizontal bar defines an open recess that is used in some of the eye exercises.
In a more preferred embodiment, the horizontal bar is foldable so that the eye exercise device may be placed in an operational position, in which the horizontal bar is substantially perpendicular to the handle, or a storage position in which the horizontal bar is folded and the two segments of the bar are substantially parallel with and laying adjacent to the handle. Preferably, the location where the handle is connected to the horizontal bar is substantially equidistant from both ends of the horizontal bar. Preferably, the light sources are also substantially equidistant from each other.
In accordance with another aspect, the invention provides an eye exercise device that includes
a) one or more first light sources of a first color that causes the eye to increase the focusing power of the eye to gain a sharp image of the first light sources,
b) one or more second light sources of a second color that causes the eye to decrease the focusing power of the eye to gain a sharp image of the second light sources, the second color being different from the first color,
c) a housing to which the first and second light sources are mounted, and
d) a programmable controller to alternate the display of the first and second light sources to exercise one or more eyes of a person by alternately causing an increase and decrease in the focus power of an eye of a human subject observing the light sources.
Preferably, the first color is selected from the group consisting of orange and red, and the second color is selected from the group consisting of violet, indigo, turquoise, and blue. The preferred first color is red, and the second color is blue or violet. In this aspect, the eye exercise device may include any of the specific features previously described above in reference to another device aspect of the invention.
According to another aspect, the invention provides a method of exercising an eye of a person that includes
a) exposing the observer to a predetermined arrangement of (i) one or more first light sources of a first color that causes the eye to increase the focusing power to gain a sharp image of the first light sources, and (ii) one or more second light sources of a second color different than the first color that causes the eye to decrease the focusing power to gain a sharp image of the second light sources; and
b) alternating the display of the first and second light sources to exercise the eye of the observer observing the light sources by alternately causing the focusing power to increase and decrease.
Preferably, the alternating includes alternating the display between the first color being selected from the group consisting of orange and red and the second color being selected from the group consisting of violet, indigo, turquoise, and blue. The preferred first color is red, and the preferred second color is blue or violet. The preferred pre-determined arrangement is a substantially linear alignment of the light sources.
In accordance with this aspect of the invention, the method further includes positioning the observer vertically in front of the substantially linear alignment of the light sources during the exercise. Preferably, the light sources and the eyes of the observer are at approximately the same level. The observer may wear eyeglasses having interchangeable red and blue or violet filters to selectively affect the display of the light sources to the observer.
In one embodiment of this aspect of the invention, the method further includes placing the light sources in such a manner that a vertical plane containing the substantially linear alignment of the light sources and a vertical plane containing an imaginary line drawn through the eyes of the observer are substantially parallel to each other. The substantially linear alignment of the light sources may be placed in a horizontal, oblique, or vertical position with respect to a horizontal plane containing the eyes of the observer. Once the observer and the light sources are situated as desired, the observer is exposed to a discreet exercise sequence. Thereafter, the distance between the observer and the light sources may be changed, and the observer may be exposed to another discreet exercise sequence. During the exercise, the light sources are preferably activated consecutively and one at a time.
In another embodiment of this aspect of the invention, the method further includes placing the light sources in such a manner that a vertical plane containing the substantially linear alignment of the light sources and a vertical plane containing an imaginary line drawn through the eyes of the observer are substantially perpendicular to each other. Preferably, the method further includes activating the light sources consecutively and one at a time.
In accordance with another aspect, the invention provides a method of exercising an eye or eyes of an observer, including
a) exposing the observer to a plurality of red and blue light sources, and
b) activating one or more of the light sources to display the light sources to the observer one-at-a-time.
Preferably, the light sources are in a substantially linear alignment. Also, the red light sources and the blue light sources are preferably mounted in an alternating arrangement with each other. In the preferred embodiment, the light sources are displayed sequentially.
In both method aspects of the invention, it is preferred to use the eye exercise devices described herein. The features, embodiments, or aspects of the eye exercise devices are suitable for use with the methods of the invention.
In accordance with another preferred aspect, the invention provides a kit for exercising eyes including
a) a device that includes a plurality of colored light sources viewable by an observer and disposed in a substantially linear alignment, the colored light sources being of at least two different colors, including a first color which causes the eye to increase its focusing power to gain a sharp image of the first color and a second color which causes the eye to decrease its focusing power to gain a sharp image of the second color; and
b) eyeglasses having interchangeable color filters of the first color and second color for selectively affecting the display of the light sources to the human subject.
Preferably, the light sources of the first color are mounted in an alternating arrangement with the light sources of the second color. Preferably, the first color is selected from the group consisting of orange and red, and the second color is selected from the group consisting of violet, indigo, turquoise, and blue. The more preferred first color is red, and the more preferred second color is blue or violet.


A new and distinct cultivar of Salvia plant named ‘Blue Lips’, characterized by its upright plant habit; freely branching habit; freely flowering habit; and yellow and dark purple-colored flowers.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Salvia, botanically known as Salvia bulleyana and hereinafter referred to by the name 'Blue Lips'.
The new Salvia is a naturally-occurring whole plants mutation of an unnamed selection of Salvia bulleyana, not patented. The new Salvia was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant from within a population of plants of the unnamed selection in a controlled environment in Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands in August, 2004.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by vegetative cuttings in a greenhouse in Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands, since 2005, has shown that the unique features of this new Salvia are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.


A process is provided for preparing optionally substituted arylated benzylamines from the corresponding optionally substituted aryl halides and optionally substituted benzylamines using a specific solvent mixture, a base and a catalyst comprising a palladium compound and a bisaryldialkylphosphine.

Arylated benzylamines find wide use as synthesis units and active substance components; see, for example, WO-A-02/00612.
It is known that arylated benzylamines can be prepared by reacting aniline derivatives with benzyl chlorides (cf. H. G. O. Becker, Organikum, 19th ed., Barth Dt. Verlag der Wiss. 1993, p.451, ISBN 3-335-00343-8). However, a disadvantage of this process is that correspondingly functionalized anilines and benzyl chlorides are in many cases obtainable only with difficulty.
The preparation of arylated benzylamines by means of a palladium-catalysed amination reaction of chloroaromatics is described, for example, in J. Org. Chem. 2002, 67, 5553-5566, or that of bromoaromatics in J. Org. Chem. 2000, 65, 1158-1174. The solvents used here include polar solvents, for example dimethoxyethane, or nonpolar aprotic solvents, for example toluene. However, in-house investigations have found that only incomplete conversion to the desired arylated benzylamine is achieved when some reactants are converted by the process described.
There is accordingly a need to provide a process for preparing arylated benzylamines from the corresponding haloaromatics and benzylamines.

Process for coupling benzylamines with haloaromatics