An apparatus used to secure a carrier to one or more communication cables coupled to the carrier. The strain relief system and method for securing the cable(s) to the carrier includes a clamping fixture surrounding the interface between the carrier and the cable(s) and a tether comprising a first and second end. The first end of the tether is coupled to the clamping fixture while the second end of the tether is coupled to the source of the cable(s).

In recent years, the increase in the usage of electrical equipment such as audio visual equipment, electronics, power supplies, and computers has increased the number of cables and connectors used to interconnect such equipment. Often these cables are large and bulky, imparting strain on the cables and the connector. Alternatively, the cables and connectors may be small, delicate, and easily susceptible to damage from small forces. In either case, the connectors and cables can be fairly expensive. Damage to either may result in monetary losses, disruption to electronic systems, and electrical hazards.
Various methods and systems have been proposed to securely fasten cables to an interface. One method is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,842,550 issued Jun. 27, 1989, to Fry, et al. Fry, et al. discloses a molded housing with a cover in a base. A tie strap connected to the base ties around the cables and is used as a strain relief.
Another method to securely fasten cables to an interface is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,842,549, issued Jun. 27, 1989, to Asick, et al. Asick, et al., discloses a two-piece housing, dual-diameter strain relief, and a dual-diameter cylindrical channel. Forces on the cables are transferred to the housing through a cable tie that wraps once around the cable and rests in a recess in the bottom housing piece. The cylindrical channel in which the cable resides has a smaller diameter portion and a larger diameter portion. Smaller diameter cables are strain relieved in the smaller portion of the channel, whereas larger diameter cables on strain relieved in the larger portion of the channel.
A third system for securely fastening cables to a connector is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,640,984, issued Feb. 3, 1987, to J. W. Kalbfeld. Kalbfeld discloses a strain relief made of resiliently deformable material consisting of two portions coupled by a strap, the portions surrounding the cable in such a manner to force the cables into a U-shaped bend. The friction of the bend prevents the movement of the cables relative to the strain relief. At least one of the two portions has a means to attach to a two-part connector with a lower and upper body. The lower body can be securely coupled to each other through the use of connectors such as screws.
Each of these prior art patents have strain relief mechanisms that physically contact the cables that are being coupled to the connector. These configurations may subject the cables to physical deformation and strain over time. Physical damage may result in an electrical failure. Also, each of these prior art patents discloses fairly complex molded housings that surround the interface connector. These housings may not be readily adapted to varying sizes of cables and connectors.
Moreover, a need exists for an apparatus that will protect the interface between cables and a connector that is readily adaptable to various interface and cable sizes. Also, it would be advantageous if the strain relief for the interface connector does not present any physical strain on the cable itself.

Strain relief system and method for securing cables to a carrier


A genetically engineered micro-organism having an operative metabolic pathway producing cinnamoyl-CoA and producing pinosylvin therefrom by the action of a stilbene synthase is used for pinosylvin production. Said cinnamic acid may be formed from L-phenylalanine by a L-phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) which is one accepting phenylalanine as a substrate and producing cinammic acid therefrom, preferably such that if the PAL also accepts tyrosine as a substrate and forms coumaric acid therefrom, the ratio Km(phenylalanine)/Km(tyrosine) for said PAL is less than 1:1 and if said micro-organism produces a cinammate-4-hydroxylase enzyme (C4H), the ratio Kcat(PAL)/Kcat(C4H) is at least 2:1.

Production of chemicals from micro-organisms has been an important application of biotechnology. Typically, the steps in developing such a bio-production method may include 1) selection of a proper micro-organism host, 2) elimination of metabolic pathways leading to by-products, 3) deregulation of desired pathways at both enzyme activity level and the transcriptional level, and 4) overexpression of appropriate enzymes in the desired pathways. In preferred aspects, the present invention has employed combinations of the steps above to redirect carbon flow from phenylalanine through enzymes of the plant phenylpropanoid pathway which supplies the necessary precursor for the desired biosynthesis of pinosylvin.
Pinosylvin (or pinosylvine or 3,5-dihydroxy-trans-stilbene) is a phytophenol belonging to the group of stilbene phytoalexins, which are low-molecular-mass secondary metabolites that constitute the active defence mechanism in plants in response to infections or other stress-related events. Stilbene phytoalexins contain the stilbene skeleton (trans-1,2-diphenylethylene) as their common basic structure: that may be supplemented by addition of other groups as well (Hart and Shrimpton, 1979, Hart, 1981). Stilbenes have been found in certain trees (angio-sperms, gymnosperms), but also in some herbaceous plants (in species of the Myrtaceae, Vitaceae and Leguminosae families). Said compounds are toxic to pests, especially to fungi, bacteria and insects. Only few plants have the ability to synthesize stilbenes, or to produce them in an amount that provides them sufficient resistance to pests.
The synthesis of the basic stilbene skeleton is pursued by stilbene syntheses, which comprises a small gene family in most species examined (Kodan et al. 2002). Stilbene syntheses appear to have evolved from chalcone syntheses, and belong to a polyketide synthase (PKS) superfamily that share more than 65% amino acid homology. Unlike the bacterial PKSs, both stilbene- and chalcone syntheses function as unimodular PKSs with a single active site, forming relatively small homodimers (Tropf et al., 1995). Stilbene- and chalcone syntheses use common substrates, three malonyl-CoAs and one cinnamoyl-CoA/p-coumaroyl-CoA, forming their products with similar reaction mechanisms (Kindl, 1985). Stilbene syntheses can be classified into either a 4-coumaroyl-CoA-specific type that has its highest activity with 4-coumaroyl-CoA as substrate, such as resveratrol synthase (EC 18.104.22.168), or a cinnamoyl-CoA-specific type that has its highest activity with cinnamoyl-CoA as substrate, such as pinosylvin synthase (EC 188.8.131.52). Genes encoding resveratrol syntheses have been described earlier for peanut (Arachis hypogaea) (Schöppner and Kindl, 1984; Schröder et al., 1988) and grapevine (Vitis vinifera) (Melchior and Kindl, 1991; Wiese et al., 1994) whereas genes encoding pinosylvin synthase have been mostly described for pine (Pinus sylvestris and -strobus) (Schanz et al., 1992; Raiber et al., 1995; Kodan et al., 2002; Hemingway et al., 1977).
Pinosylvin is present in the wood pulp of eucalyptus-, spruce- and pine trees such as Pinus sylvestris, -densiflora,-taeda and -strobus. In pine species, the constitutive pinosylvin occurs exclusively in the heartwood (Kindl, 1985). However, the compound is induced in the sapwood, phloem, and needles as a response to wounding, fungal attack or environmental stress such as UV-radiation and ozone exposure (Hart, 1981; Kindl, 1985; Richter and Wild, 1992; Lieutier et al., 1996; Rosemann et al., 1991). The compound possesses potent anti-fungal activity against a wide assortment of fungi (Lindberg et al., 2004; Pacher et al., 2002).
Pinosylvin (FIG. 1 trans-form) consists of two closely connected phenol rings and belongs therefore to the polyphenols. Unlike most other hydroxystilbenes, pinosylvin lacks a hydroxyl group in ring B (FIG. 1) and originates by condensation of unsubstituted cinnamoyl-CoA with three molecules of malonyl-CoA. That said, pinosylvin is structurally similar to the tri-hydroxystilbene resveratrol, which is found in red wine (Aggarwal et al., 2004). Much data has been generated demonstrating the health benefits of resveratrol. For instance resveratrol's potent anticancer activity across many cancer cell lines has well been established (Aggarwal et al., 2004). Given the similarity in structure with resveratrol, it is anticipated that pinosylvin possesses potent health benefits as well. Indeed pinosylvin's effect on various cancers, including colorectal- and liver cancers, has been studied, and has indicated it's chemopreventative- and anti-leukemic activity (Skinnider and Stoessl, 1986; Mellanen et al., 1996; Roupe et al., 2005 and 2006). Moreover, pinosylvin has anti-oxidant capacity as well, though to a lesser extent than, for instance, resveratrol (Stojanovic et al., 2001).
Presently, pinosylvin is mostly obtained in a mixture of various flavonoids that is extracted from the bark of pine. Said extraction is a labour intensive process with a low yield. In preferred aspects, the present invention provides novel, more efficient and high-yielding production processes.
In plants, the phenylpropanoid pathway is responsible for the synthesis of a wide variety of secondary metabolic compounds, including lignins, salicylates, coumarins, hydroxycinnamic amides, pigments, flavonoids and phytoalexins. Indeed formation of stilbenes in plants proceeds through the phenylpropanoid pathway. The amino acid L-phenylalanine is converted into trans-cinnamic acid through the non-oxidative deamination by L-phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) (FIG. 2). From trans-cinnamic acid the pathway can branch into a resveratrol-forming route or into a pinosylvin forming route. In the first route trans-cinnamic acid is hydroxylated at the para-position to 4-coumaric acid (4-hydroxycinnamic acid) by cinnamate-4-hydroxylase (C4H), a cytochrome P450 monooxygenase enzyme, in conjunction with NADPH:cytochrome P450 reductase (CPR). Subsequently, 4-coumaric acid, is then activated to 4-coumaroyl-CoA by the action of 4-coumarate-CoA ligase (4CL). A resveratrol synthase (VST1), can then catalyze the condensation of a phenylpropane unit of 4-coumaroyl-CoA with malonyl CoA, resulting in formation of resveratrol. In the latter route trans-cinnamic acid is directly activated to cinnamoyl-CoA by the action of 4CL where a pinosylvin synthase (PST) subsequently catalyzes the condensation of a phenylpropane unit of cinnamoyl-CoA with malonyl CoA, resulting in formation of pinosylvin.
Stilbene synthases are rather promiscuous enzymes that can accept a variety of physiological and non-physiological substrates. For instance, addition of various phenylpropanoid CoA starter esters led to formation of several products in vitro (Ikuro et al., 2004; Morita et al., 2001). Likewise it has been shown that resveratrol synthase from rhubarb (Rheum tartaricum) indeed synthesized a small amount of pinosylvin when cinnamoyl-CoA was used as substrate instead of coumaroyl-CoA (Samappito et al., 2003).
Similarly, coumaroyl-CoA ligase can accept both coumaric acid and cinnamic acid as substrate, albeit with a catalytic efficiency (Km/Kcat) that is 100 times less for cinnamic acid compared to coumaric acid (Allina et al., 1998; Ehlting et al., 1999). We deduced from the above that it would be possible to produce pinsosylvin in a pathway that would consist of a 4CL and a stilbene synthase, even one that is designated as a classical resveratrol synthase.
Recently, a yeast was disclosed that could produce resveratrol from coumaric acid that is found in small quantities in grape must (Becker et al. 2003, ZA200408194). The production of 4-coumaroyl-CoA from exogenous 4-coumaric acid, and concomitant resveratrol, in laboratory strains of S. cerevisiae, was achieved by co-expressing a heterologous coenzyme-A ligase gene, from hybrid poplar, together with the grapevine resveratrol synthase gene (VST1). The other substrate for resveratrol synthase, malonyl-CoA, is already endogenously produced in yeast and is involved in de novo fatty-acid biosynthesis. The study showed that cells of S. cerevisiae could produce minute amounts of resveratrol, either in the free form or in the glucoside-bound form, when cultured in synthetic media that was supplemented with 4-coumaric acid.
Given the promiscuity of the resveratrol synthase, it may be that said yeast could produce pinosylvin as well when fed with substantial amounts of cinnamic acid. However, commercial application of such a yeast would be hampered by the probable low pinosylvin yield, and the need for addition of cinnamic acid, which is not abundantly present in industrial media. Hence, to accelerate and broaden the application of pinosylvin as both a pharmaceutical and neutraceutical, it is highly desirable to provide a yeast or other micro-organism that can produce pinosylvin directly from glucose, without addition of cinnamic acid or any downstream cinnamic acid derivative such as cinnamoyl-CoA.
A recent study (Ro and Douglas, 2004) describes the reconstitution of the entry point of the phenylpropanoid pathway in S. cerevisiae by introducing PAL, C4H and CPR from Poplar. The purpose was to evaluate whether multienzyme complexes (MECs) containing PAL and C4H are functionally important at this entry point into phenylpropanoid metabolism. By feeding the recombinant yeast with [3H]-phenylalanine it was found that the majority of metabolized [3H]-phenylalanine was incorporated into 4-[3H]-coumaric acid, and that phenylalanine metabolism was highly reduced by inhibiting C4H activity. Moreover, PAL-alone expressers metabolized very little phenylalanine into cinnamic acid. When feeding [3H]-phenylalanine and [14C]-trans-cinnamic acid simultaneously to the triple expressers, no evidence was found for channeling of the endogenously synthesized [3H]-trans-cinnamic acid into 4-coumaric acid. Therefore, efficient carbon flux from phenylalanine to 4-coumaric acid via reactions catalyzed by PAL and C4H does not appear to require channeling through a MEC in yeast, and sheer biochemical coupling of PAL and C4H seems to be sufficient to drive carbon flux into the phenylpropanoid pathway. In yet another study (Hwang et al., 2003) production of plant-specific flavanones by Escherichia coli was achieved through expression of an artificial gene cluster that contained three genes of a phenyl propanoid pathway of various heterologous origins; PAL from the yeast Rhodotorula rubra, 4CL from the actinomycete Streptomyces coelicolor, and chalcone synthase (CHS) from the licorice plant Glycyrrhiza echinata. These pathways bypassed C4H, because the bacterial 4CL enzyme ligated coenzyme A to both trans-cinnamic acid and 4-coumaric acid. In addition, the PAL from Rhodotorula rubra uses both phenylalanine and tyrosine as the substrates. Therefore, E. coli cells containing the gene clusters and grown on glucose, produced small amounts of two flavanones, pinocembrin (0.29 g/l) from phenylalanine and naringenin (0.17 g/l) from tyrosine. In addition, large amounts of their precursors, 4-coumaric acid and trans-cinnamic acid (0.47 and 1.23 mg/liter respectively), were accumulated. Moreover, the yields of these compounds could be increased by addition of phenylalanine and tyrosine.
Also described are studies in which the enzyme properties of pinosylvin syntheses are studied by first cloning the genes into Escherichia coli. For instance, Raiber et al., 1995 report on stilbenes from Pinus strobus (Eastern white pine) that were investigated after heterologous expression in Escherichia coli. For this a P. strobus cDNA library was screened with a stilbene synthase (STS) probe from Pinus sylvestris and amongst the isolated cDNAs two closely related STS genes, STS1 and STS2, were found with five amino acid differences in the proteins. The genes were cloned on a plasmid and expressed into E. coli, and cell extracts were subjected to enzyme assays. It appeared that both proteins accepted cinnamoyl-CoA as a substrate and thus were considered as pinosylvin syntheses, however they revealed large differences. STSI had only 3-5% of the activity of STS2, and its pH optimum was shifted to lower values (pH 6), and it synthesized with cinnamoyl-CoA a second unknown product. Site-directed mutagenesis demonstrated that a single Arg-to-His exchange in STS1 was responsible for all of the differences. In another study three STS cDNAs (PDSTS1, PDSTS2, and PDSTS3) from Pinus densiflora were isolated and the cDNAs were heterologously expressed in E. coli to characterize their enzymatic properties (Kodan et al., 2002). PDSTS3 appeared to be an unusual STS isozyme that showed the highest pinosylvin-forming activity among the STSs tested. Furthermore, PDSTS3 was insensitive to product inhibition unlike PDSTS1 and PDSTS2. The unusual characteristics of PDSTS3 could be ascribed to a lack of a C-terminal extension that normally is common to stilbene syntheses, which was caused by a frame-shift mutation. In yet another study a genomic DNA library was screened with pinosylvin synthase cDNA pSP-54 as a probe (Müller et al., 1999). After subcloning, four different members were characterized by sequencing. The amino acid sequences deduced from genes PST-1, PST-2, PST-3 and PST-5 shared an overall identity of more than 95%.
Differences in promoter strength were then analysed by transient expression in tobacco protoplasts. Constructs used contained the bacterial-glucuronidase under the control of the promoters of pine genes PST-1, PST-2 and PST-3. Upon treatment with UV light or fungal elicitor, the promoter of PST-1 showed highest responsiveness and led to tissue-specific expression in vascular bundles. The data suggest that in pine the gene product of PST-1 is responsible for both the stress response in seedlings and pinosylvin formation in the heartwood.
A further study showed that a stilbene synthase cloned from Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) was earlier abortively assigned as a dihydropinosylvin synthase, while it showed to be a pinosylvin synthase. The previous mis-interpretation was caused by the influence of bacterial factors on the substrate preference and the activity of the plant-specific protein that was expressed in E. coli. After improvement of the expression system, the subsequent kinetic analysis revealed that cinnamoyl-CoA rather than phenylpropionyl-CoA was the preferred substrate of the cloned stilbene synthase. Furthermore, extracts from P. sylvestris contained factor(s) that selectively influenced the substrate preference, i.e. the activity was reduced with phenylpropionyl-CoA, but not with cinnamoyl-CoA. This explained the apparent differences between plant extracts and the cloned enzyme expressed in E. coli and cautions that factors in the natural and the new hosts may complicate the functional identification of cloned sequences.
Furthermore, vectors are described with stilbene synthase genes, which can mean resveratrol synthase and pinosylvin synthase, for the transformation of organisms and plants to confer enhanced resistance against pests and wounding (EP0309862 and EP0464461).
Also, further vectors are described that contain DNA sequences that will hybridise to pinosylvin synthase of Pinus sylvestris (U.S. Pat. No. 5,391,724) and said vectors to be used for expression in a plant (U.S. Pat. No. 5,973,230). The incorporation of PAL and 4CL together with a stilbene synthase for the production of pinosylvin in a organism is not however disclosed. Nor are any pinosylvin producing micro-organisms.
Recently, evidence was shown that the filamentous fungi A. oryzae contained the enzyme chalcone synthase (CHS) that is normally involved in the biosynthesis of flavonoids, such as naringenin, in plants (Juvvadi et al., 2005; Seshime et al., 2005). Indeed it was also shown that A. oryzae contained the major set of genes responsible for phenylpropanoid-flavonoid metabolism, i.e PAL, C4H and 4CL. However, there is no evidence that A. oryzae contains a stilbene synthase.
Our co-pending application WO2006/089898 describes resveratrol producing micro-organisms, especially yeasts.

Metabolically engineered cells for the production of pinosylvin


A rubber composition containing (a) a rubber material, (b) carbon black, (c) a vulcanizing agent, and (d) an amine compound represented by the following structural formula: ##STR1## the rubber composition containing 0.5 to 4 parts by weight of the amine compound per 100 parts by weight of the rubber material. The rubber composition is vulcanized to produce a rubber formed article such as a rubber vibration isolator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a rubber composition, and a rubber article, such as a rubber vibration isolator and a rubber tire, formed from the rubber composition. In particular, the present invention is concerned with a rubber composition suitable for producing rubber articles which possess not only high heat-resistance, high durability, but also excellent dynamic-spring characteristic (i.e., sufficiently low dynamic spring constant).
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Rubber articles have been used as a vibration isolator which is interposed between two members in a vibration transmission system so as to connect the two members in a vibration-isolating manner. In an automotive vehicle, for example, a large number of rubber vibration isolators are employed for improving ride comfort characteristic, driving stability, etc.
These rubber vibration isolators are required to possess specific physical and chemical properties according to locations at which the isolators are disposed. In particular, automotive vibration isolators such as an engine mount are required to exhibit a sufficiently low dynamic spring constant, upon application thereto of high-frequency vibrations, so as to achieve their specific purpose of preventing generation of booming noises in the passenger's room. In addition, the automotive vibration isolators must have a satisfactory durability so as to be able to serve for a long period. Furthermore, in recent years, the automotive vibration isolators are required to possess a high heat-resistance because there is the tendency that both the engine room and the exhaust emission system are subject to raised temperatures due to the use of a high-performance and high-power engine and the regulations on exhaust gas, respectively.
Also, rubber tires such as an automotive wheel tire are required to possess the same characteristics as indicated above concerning the rubber vibration isolators.
For producing rubber formed articles, such as a vibration isolator and a wheel tire, which have a sufficiently low dynamic spring constant, it is usually carried out to use sulfur serving as a vulcanizing agent, in an increased amount, or employ butadiene rubber (BR). Alternatively, it has conventionally been carried out to use carbon black serving as a reinforcing agent, in a reduced amount. However, the use of increased amount of sulfur tends to lower heat-resistance of the rubber products, and the use of butadiene rubber or use of reduced amount of carbon black tends to lower durability of the rubber products.
Meanwhile, for improving heat-resistance of rubber articles, it is usually performed to reduce the amount of sulfur used, to the lowest level that permits cross-linking of the rubber material (this method is called the "EV (effective vulcanization)" method), or reduce the sulfur amount to a level between the levels employed in the common, sulfur vulcanization and the EV method (this method is called the "semi-EV (semi-effective vulcanization)" method). Alternatively, a heat-resistant polymer is employed. However, in any case, the produced rubber articles exhibits an excessively high dynamic spring constant, and the use of heat-resistant polymer, in particular, tends to deteriorate durability of the rubber products.
Furthermore, for improving durability of rubber articles, it is generally carried out to use an increased amount of carbon black, or select a specific carbon black which has a higher reinforcing property. In either case, however, the produced rubber articles have an excessively high dynamic spring constant. In particular, in the case of a carbon black, such as HAF (high abrasion furnace black), whose particle size (diameter) is relatively small, the dynamic spring constant of the end products varies depending upon frequencies of the vibrations applied thereto. More specifically described, the dynamic spring constant of the rubber articles produced using such a carbon black, becomes extremely high upon application thereto of high-frequency vibrations (this effect is called the "Payne" effect).
As is apparent from the foregoing, the above-indicated conventional techniques have not been satisfactory to produce rubber articles with not only high heat-resistance, high durability, but also excellent dynamic-spring characteristic or a sufficiently low spring constant. Consequently, desired rubber vibration isolators or desired rubber wheel tires have not been provided yet.

Rubber composition, rubber formed article and rubber vibration isolator


An apparatus for scheduling transmission resources to users served by a base station equipped with a plurality of antennas includes a predictor for predicting rate regions for one or more future time slots based on rate regions for one or more past time slots to obtain one or more predicted rate regions, and a processor for calculating the transmission resources for the users for a current time slot using scheduled transmission resources for the one or more past time slots, a rate region for the current time slot and the one or more predicted rate regions.

The demand for higher data rates in wireless communications is ever increasing. Thus, one has to find ways to use the given resources even more efficiently. Gains can be achieved by exploiting temporal variations in the channels due to fading that is independent among the users, so-called multi-user diversity. Opportunistic resource allocation (scheduling) was introduced in [1]. Well recognized work in this field is [2] and [3]; an overview can be found in [4]. The drawback of these schemes, purely aiming at increasing throughput, is the unfairness and starvation of users. So one seeks a balance between maximizing throughput and having a fair resource allocation among the users.
Proportional fairness offers an attractive trade-off between resource efficiency by opportunistically exploiting time-variant channels and the satisfaction of the users. Proportional fair sharing (PFS) was introduced in [5, 6] for the Qualcomm High Data Rates system.
The PFS is designed for a single channel network with TDMA constraint, that is, only one user is allowed to transmit at the same time. An extension to a system with multiple channels, with equal power per carrier, is introduced in [7]. And a similar but less general approach specifically designed for the 3GPP LTE Uplink is [8]. In the following, systems that allow only a single user per resource block are called orthogonal access systems.
Further increase in spectral efficiency for future generation networks is established by advanced physical layer techniques, for example multi-user MIMO. In multi-user systems with adaptive modulation and coding, the data rates of the users are coupled and in theory infinitely many rate configurations can be provided. These systems are referred to as advanced multi-user systems. The complex interdependence of the user rates is a significant difference and unfortunately there is no straight-forward extension of the PFS rule to advanced multi-user systems. A step to design opportunistic and fair resource allocation for multi-user systems is the formulation as an optimization problem; for proportional fairness this is the maximization of the sum of logarithmic average user rates [9]. For the PFS algorithm the interpretation as utility maximization and proof for asymptotic optimality can be found in [10]. To formulate the utility maximization some assumptions and definitions are introduced to describe the system model.
System Model: Slotted time-varying wireless channels are assumed, where the channel is assumed to be static within one time-slot. The channel state H is a random process and H[T] is the channel state realization at time-slot T. A peak power constraint is assumed, which implies that power budgets cannot be exchanged among the time-slots, as for an average power constraint. Depending on the capabilities of the hardware, the set of achievable data rates for the set of users K, K=|K| at time-slot T are given by the rate region R(H[T])=R[T]. The instantaneous rates established in time-slot T are r[T] ▴ R[T]. The weighted sample mean of the data rates is
            r      _                  [      T      ]        =            ∑              t        =        0            T                          w        t                                    r                                [                          T              -              t                        ]                          .
The weights can be used to establish various definitions of the average throughput, see FIG. 10c. The long-term average rate is
            r      _        =                            lim                      T            ->            ∞                                                        r            _                                          [            T            ]                              =                        lim                      T            ->            ∞                                                        ∑                          t              =              0                        T                                                        w              t                                                  r                                            [                                  T                  -                  t                                ]                                                          ,in case the weights and the stochastic process of the channel states are such that the limit exists. This allows to define a region of long-term average rate regions supported by the physical layer:
      R    _    =            {                                                  r              _                        :                          r              _                                =                                    lim                              T                ->                ∞                                                                                ∑                                  t                  =                  0                                T                                                                            w                  t                                                                  r                                                        [                                          T                      -                      t                                        ]                                                                                ,                              r                                      [              t              ]                                ∈                                    R                                            [                t                ]                                                                ∀              t                                          }        .
With these definitions one can state opportunistic and fair resource allocation as maximizing a utility of the long-term average throughput:
                                          maximize                          r              _                                                      U                                      (                              r                _                            )                                                                                subject                                                                                to                                                                                r                _                                      ∈                          R              _                                ,                                    (        1.1        )            where the utility associated with proportional fairness is U( r)=ΣkεK log( rk).
The optimal long-term average throughput r* is the weighted sample mean of the optimal rate allocations r*[t] ε R[t] in each time-slot. Problem (1.1) is convex in the rate space and can be solved by suitable algorithmic methods. But at time-slot t one has to make a decision for r[t] while the future rate regions R[τ], τ>t are not known and the previously made decisions cannot be altered, i.e., the rate vectors r[τ], τ<t are fixed. Thus, one cannot calculate the optimal average throughput r* to find the optimal rate allocation r*[t] for the current time-slot.
This means: one cannot optimize the average throughput directly. Instead, one decides for a rate allocation r[t] in each time step, which then automatically results in a certain average throughput.
The goal is to find a close to optimal causal scheduling strategy for any time-slot t which only utilizes information about previously made decisions and previous channel state information which defines the rate regions. Under certain conditions the following policies are asymptotically (T→∞) optimal:                Gradient Method [11, 12] The rate configuration for the current time-slot t is based on maximizing a linear approximation of the utility:
                              r                                [            t            ]                          =                  arg                                              max                              r                ∈                                  R                                                        [                    t                    ]                                                                                Δ                                                                                U                                                        (                                                                                r                            _                                                                                [                            t                            ]                                                                          T                                                                  r                                        )                                                  .                                                                        (        1.2        )
For the proportional fairness utility we have
                                          ∇                          U                                            (                                                                            r                      _                                        k                                                                          [                    t                    ]                                                  )                                              =                                                    ∂                                  log                                                        (                                          r                      k                                        )                                                                              ∂                                                                            r                      _                                        k                                                                          [                    t                    ]                                                                        =                          1                                                                    r                    _                                    k                                                                  [                  t                  ]                                                                    ,                            (        1.3        )            which leads to the well known PFS rule [5,6] in case of a TDMA constraint, where a single user needs to be selected. Therefore the gradient method can be considered as a generalization of proportional fair sharing for orthogonal access systems to proportional fair resource allocation for advanced multi-user systems.                Stochastic Subgradient Method Another attempt to solve problem (1.1) causally is the stochastic subgradient method. The rate configuration of the current time-slot is
      r              [      t      ]        =                              argmax                      r            ∈                          R                                            [                t                ]                                                                      [          t          ]                    T            r  where λ[t] are the dual variables updated as follows
                                          a                                      [              t              ]                                =                                                    argmax                a                                                          H                                                  (                  a                  )                                                      -                                                            [                  t                  ]                                T                                          a                                      ,                                                                                [                              t                +                1                            ]                                =                                    [                                                [                  t                  ]                                -                                  α                                                        (                                                                  r                                                                          [                          t                          ]                                                                    -                                              a                                                                          [                          t                          ]                                                                                )                                                              ]                        +                          ,                            (        1.3        )            with a fixed constant α.                Methods from Queuing Theory The task of optimizing a network utility is also considered in the area of queuing networks [13, 14] and virtual queues can be used for allocating resources in a way that leads to an optimal solution with respect to the network utility.
The rate configuration for the current time-slot is
            r                    [        t        ]              =                  argmax                  r          ∈                      R                                      [              t              ]                                                                  u                                [            t            ]                          T                  r        ,where u[t] is the virtual queue updated as follows
                                          a                                      [              t              ]                                =                                                    argmax                a                                          β                                                                                U                                                  (                  a                  )                                                      -                                                            u                                                        [                    t                    ]                                                  T                                          a                                      ,                                                                u                                      [                              t                +                1                            ]                                =                      [                                          u                                                  [                  t                  ]                                            -                              r                                                  [                  t                  ]                                            +                                                a                                                        [                    t                    ]                                                  +                                      ]                          ,                            (        1.4        )
with a fixed constant β.
The work in [15] is mentioned that specifically treats multi-user MIMO, but does consider an average power constraint and can therefore not be applied to the present scenario without major modifications.
The algorithms are memoryless, in the sense that they do not require keeping track of the rate allocations in the past or channel states. Instead, they track a single variable per user, the current average rate, a dual variable, or the queue length, which is cheap to store and simple to update. They assume that the mobile services have a high tolerance for delay and that user positions and activity of users varies only slowly. Establishing long-term fairness by means of the methods described may lead to unacceptable periods without service for some users.
An extreme way to avoid this, is to establish fairness in each of the time-slots, for example for
                                          r                                      [              t              ]                                =                                    argmax                                                r                                                        [                    t                    ]                                                  ∈                                  R                                                        [                    t                    ]                                                                                {                                                ∑                                      k                    ∈                    K                                                                                log                                                        (                                                                  r                        k                                                                                [                        t                        ]                                                              )                                                              }                                      ,                            (        1.5        )            or max-min fairness
                              r                                [            t            ]                          =                              argmax                                          r                                                  [                  t                  ]                                            ∈                              R                                                  [                  t                  ]                                                                                {                                                min                                      k                    ∈                    K                                                                                {                                                            r                      k                                                                                [                      t                      ]                                                        }                                            }                        .                                              (        1.6        )
As the current rate region is known, the maximization can be efficiently solved by suitable methods.
However, establishing a fair resource allocation in each time-slot independently may be too restrictive and lead to a loss in efficiency. Depending on the application, several consequent timeslots without service might be acceptable, but service needs to be provided within a fixed time window. A possible solution is predictive scheduling [16-22].
The idea is that, although they might be erroneous, estimates of future channel states might be beneficial. The resulting schedulers are no more memoryless and in general regard a certain horizon of past rate allocations (look-behind) and predictions of future channel states (look-ahead). For this time frame they maximize a utility or the expectation of the utility over several subsequent (potentially overlapping) time frames. So the gain of predictive scheduling comes at the price of having higher computational complexity.
For orthogonal access systems there is a direct connection between the data rate of the user and the channel state. This is no more true for advanced physical layer techniques, for example MU-MIMO, where by choosing the transmission strategies, for example transmission powers or beamformers, a trade-off between the user rates can be made. State of the art methods for predictive scheduling [16-22] are intended for orthogonal access systems and do not generalize to advanced multi-user systems.
Hence, for complex systems, the well-known methods are either too complex or too computationally expensive or do not result in the optimum solution with respect to a certain utility, such as a fair allocation utility.

Apparatus and method for scheduling transmission resources to users served by a base station using a prediction of rate regions


A semi-submersible floating platform for use in offshore applications having a semi-submersible hull structure including motion damping support columns, a pontoon structure adjoined to the motion damping support columns at a lower end thereof, and a deck structure supported at an upper end of thereof for supporting equipment mounted thereon above the water surface. Each motion damping support column has an inner water trapping damper chamber of closed base or open base construction that allows natural flooding of said inner water trapping damper chamber during installation and before reaching an operating draft of the platform, and which when flooded provides hydrodynamic mass, damping, and in-water weight to said platform during operation. A plurality of smaller columns are disposed on the perimeter of the upper portion of each support column and surround the upper portion of the inner water trapping damper chamber.

Key et al, U.S. Pat. No. 6,701,861 discloses a semi-submersible floating production vessel which has a ring pontoon with three main columns extending upwardly from corners of the pontoon and three secondary, minor columns extending upwardly from centers of the triangular sides. The columns support an open frame deck, on which production modules are positioned. The vessel is adapted for semi-permanent mooring with pre-tensioned mooring lines that are attached to swivel pad eyes secured on the main columns below the water line. Production and export risers are connected to the vessel below the water line. A compressed air ballast system allows selective emptying of ballast compartments located in the ring pontoon and eliminates the need for a conventional pump room.
Huang et al, U.S. Pat. No. 6,503,023 discloses a temporary stability module for marine structures and a method for using the modules during the construction, transportation, installation and/or removal of the structure that permit the structure, including platform, deck and equipment to be constructed in an upright position, towed to an ocean installation site, and installed by ballasting the structure or temporary stability modules and subsequent removal of the modules. The removable temporary stability modules are shown attached to an "extended-base" "tension leg" platform having four uniform rectangular support columns disposed about a central axis of the substructure and horizontal pontoons interconnecting adjacent columns at their lower ends. The substructure also includes leg extensions radiating from the columns and/or the pontoons, which are described more fully in U.S. Pat. No. 6,447,208, discussed below.
Huang et al, U.S. Pat. No. 6,447,208 discloses an "extended-base" "tension leg" substructure, and an offshore platform supported on the substructure and a method for supporting an offshore platform on the substructure. The substructure includes a plurality of support columns disposed about a central axis of the substructure and interconnected by at least one pontoon. Each column comprises an above-water portion and a submerged portion. The substructure also includes a plurality of wings or arms radiating from the columns and/or the pontoons, each wing fixedly or removably securing at least one tendon extending from the wing to an anchor on the seabed. The substructure includes an open, wave transparent, central zone for improved access to well-related equipment, conduits or the like and the wings minimize translational movement and rotational flex in the substructure reducing fatigue in the tendons and their connections.
Frimm et al, U.S. Pat. No. 6,015,245 discloses a ring pontoon semi-submersible offshore vessel wherein the vertical centerline of each of the corner columns is located inward of both the axial centerline of the forward section of the ring pontoon and the axial centerline of the aft section of the ring pontoon. Additionally, the vertical centerlines of the corner columns may be located inward with respect to the axial centerlines of the starboard and port portions of the ring pontoon. The superstructure deck may be supported by radial braces extending from the ring pontoon to locations on the superstructure deck, which are inward of the ring pontoon.
Liden, U.S. Pat. No. 4,498,412 discloses a semi-submersible offshore platform having an operating deck carried by four cylindrical uniform columns supported by a pontoon structure comprising four-sided boxes formed into a square ring. Each pontoon box is subdivided into two compartments by a longitudinal centerline bulkhead, the compartments being further subdivided into tanks by transverse bulkheads. Tanks outside the centerline bulkheads are used for ballast water, and tanks inside the centerline bulkheads are used to store the oil produced.
Ludwigson, U.S. published patent application 20010026733, published Oct. 4, 2001, discloses a semi-submersible vessel adapted to resist heave motion that includes a plurality of support columns with a square-shaped ring pontoon connected to their lower ends. The axial centerline of the square-shaped ring pontoon intersects the axial centerline of the lower ends of the support columns, and the support columns are inclined upwardly and inwardly from the ring pontoon to the deck.
Wybro et al, U.S. Pat. No. 7,140,317 discloses a central ring pontoon semi-submersible floating platform for use in offshore applications having a hull configuration including vertical support columns, a central pontoon structure disposed inboard of the columns at a lower end thereof, and a deck structure supported at an upper end of the columns. The vertical columns and pontoon structure are constructed substantially of flat plate. The vertical columns are adjoined to the outer periphery of the central pontoon and have a transverse cross sectional shape with a major axis oriented radially outward from a center point of the hull, and a central vertical axis disposed a distance outward from the pontoon outer periphery. Risers can be supported on the inboard or outboard side of the pontoon and extended to the deck, and the structure can be anchored by mooring lines extending along the outboard face of the columns extending radially outward and downward from their lower ends.
Horton, U.S. Pat. No. 6,935,810 discloses a semi-submersible, multicolumn deep draft floating offshore oil and gas oil and production platform comprising a floating hull having an adjustably buoyant base, a plurality of columns vertically upstanding from the base and an equipment deck that is supported atop the columns when the platform is operationally deployed. Each of the columns comprises a cellular structure that includes a plurality of elongated tubes having a variety of cross-sectional shapes extending from the base to the top of the column. Each of the tubes defines one or more closed compartments. At least one of the compartments has buoyancy that is adjustable. The buoyancy of the compartments and the base can be controllably adjusted with pressurized air to provide a safer and less costly method for deploying the platform for offshore operations.
Haselton, U.S. Pat. No. 3,986,471 discloses apparatus for damping vertical movement of a semi-submersible vessel having a small water plan area, whose buoyancy is provided substantially completely by submerged pontoon means and which includes at least one submerged damper plate supported deep beneath the vessel by flexible tensioned support elements, such as chains or cables and which has valves or similar flow controllers therein for providing substantially greater resistance to the upward movement of the plate than the downward movement. The area of the damper plate is several times larger than the water plane area of the vessel and provides low resistance to downward movement and higher resistance to upward movement.
Xu et. al, U.S. Pat. No. 6,652,192 discloses an apparatus for a heave suppressed floating offshore drilling and production platform having vertical columns, lateral trusses connecting adjacent columns, a deep submerged horizontal plate supported from the bottom of the columns by vertical truss legs and a topside deck supported by the columns. During the launch of the platform and towing in relatively shallow water the truss legs are stowed in shafts within each column and the plate is carried just below the lower end of the columns. After the platform has been floated to the deepwater site, the truss legs are lowered from the column shafts to lower the plate to deep draft for reducing the effect of wave forces and to provide heave and vertical motion resistance to the platform.
Wetch, U.S. Pat. No. 6,666,624 discloses a floating platform comprising an uppermost buoyant and ballastable hull partially submerged in water without contacting the floor of the body of water and usually without being moored to the floor of the body of water. The bottom of the uppermost hull is attached to the top of a lower buoyant and ballastable hull after the lower hull has been completely submerged and anchored to the floor of the body of water with flexible mooring.
Srinivasan, U.S. Pat. No. 6,761,124 discloses column stabilized floating structures having a deck and a plurality of vertical buoyant caissons bridged together in distantly spaced relation by plurality of open frame horizontal truss pontoon members and a vertical truss column at the lower end. The buoyancy of the caissons is selectively adjusted by means of ballast control. Water is selectively pumped into and out of the keel tanks at the bottom of the truss structure to raise or lower the center of gravity of the entire mass of the floating structure relative to the center of buoyancy to compensate for different operational, environmental and survival conditions.
Mougin, U.S. Pat. No. 4,241,685 discloses a self-stabilizing offshore floating tower comprising two coaxial cylindrical enclosures interconnected by continuous radial bulkheads forming, in the upper portion, a ring of damping chambers and, in the lower portion, a ring of buoyancy tanks around a bell-shaped chamber which is partially filled with air to produce pneumatic damping of vertical movement of the tower. The upper portion of the tower is separated from the lower portion by a horizontal slab, and the upper portion of the internal enclosure is perforated in the vicinity of the horizontal slab.
Horton U.S. Pat. No. 6,817,309 discloses a floating hull for a single-column spar-type offshore oil and gas drilling and production platform which comprises a plurality of parallel tubular cells that are subdivided into compartments having a buoyancy controlled by one or both of fixed and variable ballast. The cells include side wall openings for admitting and discharging seawater and petroleum ballast with pumps. Fixed and/or variable ballast may be disposed on or in the cells to adjust buoyancy, trim, and stability. Lower and upper portions of the cells may extend above or below the others for trim or stability. Longitudinal recesses may be formed in an exterior peripheral surface for routing of mooring lines and piping. Stepped helical strakes can be disposed on an outer peripheral surface of the platform or some of the cells to reduce vortex-induced vibrations of the platform.

Offshore floating platform with motion damper columns


A method of manufacturing membranes consisting essentially of an ion-selective material is disclosed. The method comprises: providing a spreadable base material; dispensing a quantity of the base material onto a top side of a tray, wherein the top side includes a set of coplanar flat surface segments, each having a surface area corresponding to a disc area of one of the membranes to be manufactured, and wherein at least the top side of the tray consists essentially of a non-adhesive material; distributing the dispensed base material across the top side of the tray such that a thickness of the distributed base material covering the coplanar surface segments corresponds to a predetermined thickness; transforming the thus-distributed base material into ion-selective material comprising one or more coplanar sheets covering the coplanar surface segments; and removing individual membranes from the tray, each defining a disc-shaped section of the ion-selective material.

Membranes consisting of ion-selective material, like e.g., ion-selective glass, are commonly used in various types of sensors. Examples are electrochemical sensors, like e.g., potentiometric sensors, applied in laboratories as well as in industrial applications to measure a variable of a medium, like e.g., an activity or a concentration of an analyte included in the medium or a pH-value of the medium.
Potentiometric sensors generally comprise a measuring half-cell and a reference half-cell. The measuring half-cell comprises an electrolyte, an electrode extending into the electrolyte and an ion-selective membrane, having an inside surface exposed to the electrolyte located inside the measuring half-cell and an outer surface exposed to the medium. Due to the ion-selective interaction of the membrane with the medium, an electric measurement potential corresponding to the variable to be measured can be derived via the electrode. Quantitative determination of the variable is, e.g., performed based on the measurement potential, e.g., by determining a difference between the measurement potential and a reference potential, like e.g., a reference potential provided by a reference-half cell.
For changes of the magnitude of the measured variable to have a measurable effect on the measurement potential or the difference between the measurement potential and the reference potential, an electrical impedance of the membrane should not exceed a predetermined limit, e.g., a limit given by a resolution and/or a measurement accuracy of a measurement device, e.g., measurement electronics, determining the measurable effect. Due to the low electrical conductivity of ion-selective materials available on the market, this impedance limit requires that the membranes to be relatively thin. A thickness of the membranes smaller or equal to a few tenths of a millimeter is usually required to limit the electrical impedance to an acceptable magnitude, e.g., a magnitude of less than 5 GΩ.
Ion-selective membranes constitute a key component of these sensors and their properties, and dimensions are relevant factors with respect to the quality, the measurement accuracy and the performance of these sensors.
Manufacturing sufficiently thin membranes with high precision is a very demanding task. Traditionally, glass blowing methods have been applied for this purpose. Examples are methods, as, e.g., described in US 2016/0176745 A1, wherein an open end of a hollow glass tube is dipped into a melt of ion-selective glass and then withdrawn again, thereby extracting a certain amount of glass melt. The thus-extracted melt covering the open end of the tube is then blown into shape by air pressure supplied through an opposite open end of the tube. Once the desired shape and wall thickness is achieved, the tube and the extracted melt are cooled.
Due to the different coefficients of thermal expansion of the glass tube and the ion-sensitive glass of the membrane, there is a risk that the cooling process may cause cracks in the ion-selective glass and/or may induce thermomechanical tensions reducing the mechanical stability of the membrane.
Thus, manual performance of these glass-blowing methods requires highly skilled personnel and is time and cost-intensive. Even though some progress in automating glass-blowing has been achieved, time and cost-effective high precision manufacturing of larger numbers of ion-selective glass membranes remains a highly demanding task.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,883,563 A discloses a different approach, wherein thin disc-shaped ion-selective glass membranes are manufactured by mechanically cutting a glass block into glass sheets having a thickness as near as possible to the thickness of the membranes to be manufactured. These glass sheets are then subjected to an etching process, reducing the thickness and the unevenness of the glass sheets, followed by a high-speed surface heat treatment with previous heating.
Mechanical cutting of a glass block into sufficiently thin sheets is highly demanding. Thus, it is not only time and cost-intensive, but will also produce a fair number of rejects, e.g., due to sheets cracking or breaking under the mechanical force exerted onto them.
As an alternative, thick film printing methods or thin film coating methods can be applied to produce an ion-selective glass layer on a substrate. These methods are however not suitable to produce individual membranes to be used without the substrate on which they were produced.
Accordingly, there remains a need for further contributions in this area of technology.
As an example, there is a need for a method of manufacturing individual membranes having a thickness of a few tenths of a millimeter or less that enables a time and cost-effective, high precision production of ion-selective membranes and/or to minimize mechanical and/or thermomechanical stresses that may cause cracks and/or induce tensions into the membranes.

Method of manufacturing ion-selective membranes


A light emitting module (1) comprises a module substrate (2), a light emitting diode string (31), and a sealing member (48). The light emitting diode string (31) includes light emitting diode elements (32) and bonding wires (37) which connect the light emitting diode elements (32). The light emitting diode element (32) has a pair of element electrodes (33, 34) and has a rectangular shape extending in a direction along which the element electrodes (33, 34) are aligned. The sealing member (48) is laminated on the module substrate (2) to seal the light emitting diode string (31). The light emitting diode elements (32) are arranged at intervals in a direction crossing the direction along which the element electrodes (33, 34) are aligned, and the element electrodes (33, 34) with the same polarity are aligned to be adjacent to each other in an arrangement direction of the light emitting diode elements (32) between the light emitting diode elements (32) adjacent to each other. Each bonding wire (37) is obliquely wired with respect to the arrangement direction of the light emitting diode elements (32) to connect the element electrodes (33, 34) with different polarities of the light emitting diode elements (32) adjacent to each other.

For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an illumination apparatus which is of a chip-on-a-board (COB) type. This kind of illumination apparatus includes a resin substrate having a white surface, a plurality of light emitting diode strings, a reflector, and a sealing member.
The light emitting diode strings linearly extend along the surface of the resin substrate and are arranged parallel to each other at intervals in a direction orthogonal to a direction along which each light emitting diode string extends. The reflector is bonded to the surface of the resin substrate to surround the light emitting diode strings. The sealing member is made of a transparent silicone resin having a fluorescent material mixed therein. A region surrounded by the reflector to seal the light emitting diode strings is filled with the sealing member.
Each of the light emitting diode strings includes a plurality of light emitting diode elements. The light emitting diode elements are aligned at intervals. Each light emitting diode element has a pair of element electrodes and is bonded to the surface of the resin substrate by using a die bond material.
The light emitting diode elements adjacent to each other in the direction along which the light emitting diode string extends are electrically connected through a bonding wire. One end of the bonding wire is connected to the element electrode of one light emitting diode element in the light emitting diode elements adjacent to each other. The other end of the bonding wire is connected to the element electrode of the other light emitting diode element. Therefore, the light emitting diode string has a configuration that the light emitting diode elements are connected in series.
According to a conventional illumination apparatus, the element electrodes of each light emitting diode element are aligned in the direction along which the light emitting diode string extends. Therefore, when the light emitting diode string is seen in a plan view, the bonding wires are wired in a straight line in the direction along which the light emitting diode string extends.
Furthermore, all the light emitting diode strings have the same entire length. When the light emitting diode strings are arranged parallel to each other at intervals, many light emitting diode elements are regularly arranged in a matrix form in the substantially entire region surrounded by the reflector.
According to the thus configured illumination apparatus, relay bonding pads to which the bonding wires are bonded are not required between the light emitting diode elements adjacent to each other in the direction along which the light emitting diode string extends. Therefore, a pitch between the light emitting diode elements adjacent to each other can be reduced, which is suitable for high dense arrangement of many light emitting diode elements. Moreover, if the pitch between the light emitting diode elements adjacent to each other is narrowed, a length of the bonding wire cutting across the light emitting diode elements adjacent to each other can be reduced when the light emitting diode string is seen in a plan view. As a result, deformation of the bonding wire caused because of a weight of the sealing member can be suppressed.

Light emitting module and illumination apparatus

Toshiba Lighting & Technology Corporation


The present invention provides a display device which can suppress mura or irregularities of brightness of a display. To be more specific, in a display device including the plurality of pixels which are arranged in a matrix array and are respectively provided with light emitting layers, a power source is supplied to the respective light emitting layers of the respective pixels which are arranged in parallel in one direction among the respective pixels through a common power source signal line, wherein the respective pixels allow the light emitting layers thereof to have different thicknesses from each other in a state that the thickness of the light emitting layer at an upstream side of a flow of an electric current along the power source signal line is larger than the thickness of the light emitting layer at a downstream side of the flow of the electric current along the power source signal line.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device, and for example, an organic EL display device.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, an active-matrix-type organic EL display device is configured such that pixels each of which is provided with a light emitting layer made of an organic EL layer are arranged in a matrix array.
Further, a row of pixels which are formed of the respective pixels arranged in parallel in the x direction, for example, are formed using a gate signal line in common, and the row of pixels are sequentially selected by sequentially supplying signals (scanning signals) to the respective gate signal lines.
Further, a column of pixels which is formed of pixels arranged in parallel in the y direction is formed using a data signal line and a power source supply line in common, wherein in conformity with the selection timing of the above-mentioned respective pixel rows, data is supplied to the respective pixels of the row of pixels from the data signal line and a power source is supplied to the light emitting layers of the respective pixels through the power source supply lines corresponding to the supply of the data.
The display devices having such a constitution are disclosed in JP-A-2004-102245 (US Family includes US2004-041753A1) (patent document 1), JP-A-2004-102246 (US Family includes US2004-041753A1) (patent document 2), JP-A-2003-330387 (US Family includes US6762564B2) (patent document 3), JP-A-2003-123988 (US Family cannot be identified) (patent document 4), JP-A-2002-32037 (U.S. Pat. No. 6,714,178B2) (patent document 5), JP-A-11-40362 (US Family cannot be identified) (patent document 6), for example.
Further, there have been following descriptions besides the above-mentioned constitution in these respective patent documents.
That is, in the patent document 1 to the patent document 3, there exists the description that a width of wiring is increased. In patent document 4, there exists the description that auxiliary lines are arranged in parallel to each other. In patent document 5, there exists the description that a plurality of power source supply portions is arranged. In patent document 6, there exists the description that a thick film of an organic EL layer which is used as a planar light source is adjusted.


Various embodiments include a control system for the regeneration of a particle filter in an exhaust gas flow of an internal combustion engine of a hybrid vehicle including an electric machine comprising: a particle filter; a temperature sensor measuring an actual temperature of the filter; a first heat source upstream of the filter; and a controller. The controller is programmed to: determine a temperature difference between a setpoint temperature for regeneration of the particle filter and the actual temperature of the particle filter; calculate a power output difference to be applied based at least in part on the temperature difference; and control the first heat source using the power output difference.

A particle filter (Gasoline Particulate Filter, GPF) can be used in a gasoline engine in order to lower the emission values of particles, in particular of pollutant particles, in the exhaust gas of the engine. Particle filters can filter out the number of particles in the raw exhaust gas of the engine, up to a proportion of over 90%. However, when the outside temperature is cold, for example, the number of particles can only partially be reduced to a sufficient extent by internal engine measures.
Furthermore, these particle filters regularly need regeneration in which the filter is burned free again and not clogged. For this process of burning off the so-called filter cake, an increased exhaust gas temperature level is required upstream of the particle filter. The required exhaust gas temperature level is approximately at or above 600° C. In particular when the outside temperature is low, during low-load and short-distance journeys, it is possible that this temperature is not reached; as a result, the particle filter can experience such high loading that the exhaust-gas back pressure increases excessively.
In the worst case, this leads to combustion misfires in the internal combustion engine. It can therefore happen that the regeneration of the particle filter has to be forced so that there is no negative impairment of the gas exchange, the characteristics of the charge and thus the combustion. In particular in the case of a hybrid vehicle, this effect can occur to a greater extent because the internal combustion engine is operated over even shorter periods of time than in conventional vehicles. This increases the probability that the temperature level required for regeneration is not reached in such a system while driving.

Energy-optimized forced regeneration of a particle filter of a hybrid vehicle


A storage device of a data center may protect data stored on a storage medium of the storage device using a data security mechanism. The data security mechanism may include a signal generator configured to generate a proximity signal and one or more storage devices including a storage medium, a proximity detection component and a destruction device. The proximity detection component may be configured to detect the proximity signal and to determine whether the storage device has been removed from an assigned location. The storage destruction mechanism may be configured to destroy at least a portion of the data stored on the storage device in response to the proximity detection component detecting that the storage device has been removed from the assigned location.

Many companies and other organizations operate computer networks that interconnect numerous computing systems to support their operations, such as with the computing systems being co-located (e.g., as part of a local network) or instead located in multiple distinct geographical locations (e.g., connected via one or more private or public intermediate networks). For example, data centers housing significant numbers of interconnected computing systems have become commonplace, such as private data centers that are operated by and on behalf of a single organization, and public data centers that are operated by entities as businesses to provide computing resources to customers or clients. Some public data center operators provide "full service" facilities that include hardware resources made available for use by their clients. However, as the scale and scope of typical data centers has increased, the tasks of provisioning, administering, and managing the physical computing resources have become increasingly complicated.
One concern is the ability of a data center operator to secure data stored at a data center against theft. One way to steal the data is to steal a data storage device on which the data is stored. For example, a data thief may open a network hardware device (e.g., a server) and remove a data storage device that contains client data. The size of data storage devices may make the data storage devices easy to conceal, as compared to concealing a network hardware device, making theft prevention more difficult. For example, a data storage device that stores client information may be small enough to fit in a data thief's pocket.
While embodiments are described herein by way of example for several embodiments and illustrative drawings, those skilled in the art will recognize that embodiments are not limited to the embodiments or drawings described. It should be understood, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit embodiments to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope as defined by the appended claims. The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used throughout this application, the word "may" is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words "include", "including", and "includes" mean including, but not limited to.


A system and method store addresses within a database. An address and an address usage type that define an intended use of the address for an entity are captured. Address elements of the address are determined using an address template based upon the address usage type. If the address is not already stored within the database, an address entry having a new unique address identification number is created within an address table, each of the address elements are stored within an address element table of the database in association with the new unique address identification number, and an association entry is created within an address association table to associate the new unique address identification number with the entity, as well as to store the address usage type. If the address is already stored within the database, an existing unique address identification number for the address within the database is determined and an association entry within the address association table is created to associate the existing unique address identification number with the entity and to store the address usage type.

Location addresses are often stored within a database for retrieval as needed. The format of these location addresses includes many inconsistencies that render the addresses difficult to maintain, organize and locate within the database. The United States Post Office has an address specification standard that lists acceptable formats for written addresses. Typically, in a database, addresses are simply entered as lines of text into designated fields of a database. For example, an address is often stored as three or four lines of text that may be retrieved in association with a key and used without further processing. Alternatively, an address may be broken down into many different elements, where each element is stored in association with a key. Upon retrieval, these elements can be formatted to regenerate the location address. Within the database, each address is typically associated with a person or an organization. For example, each element of the address may be stored as text within individual columns of a table that has an index field associated with the owning entity.
However, an address may be written in many different ways, especially where the address is written by different people. This variable nature of the data makes breaking the address down into individual fields more difficult, particularly where ordering of the individual fields may vary. Also, an address may contain abbreviations that vary depending upon the author of the address. For example, the street address "132 Main Street" may also be written as "132 Main St" or as "132 Main Str." Thus, when searching for an address stored as simple text lines, unless the correct format and abbreviations are used, a match for an existing address may not be found.
Where addresses are stored in a database in association with an entity such as a person or organization, use of these addresses is also often limited by that association, for privacy or other concerns.
Address storage is known to experience many common problems. The various elements of an address may be inconsistently formatted, and word abbreviations may be inconsistent. An address may have invalid formatting that makes it incompatible with and/or incomprehensible to a machine. Such inconsistencies often result in inadvertent storage of duplicate addresses. Furthermore, typical address storage systems and methods have an inability to share a single address among multiple entities, and in contrast, also have difficulty storing multiple addresses for a single entity. Many systems and methods are further unable to handle multiple postal address format standards, which can vary by country. Additionally, there are multiple types of non-postal addresses that experience storage problems similar to those seen with postal addresses, such as voice phone numbers, fax phone numbers and e-mail addresses.

Systems and methods for handling addresses within a database application


An integrated transmission circuit and method for transmitting output data to a chipset via a transmission interface are provided. The integrated transmission circuit includes a first application circuit, a second application circuit, a media access control (MAC) circuit, and a physical layer (PHY) circuit. The first application circuit is used for receiving and processing first data to output first processed data. The second application circuit is used for receiving and processing second data to output second processed data. The MAC circuit is coupled to the first application circuit and the second application circuit, and used for encoding the first processed data and the second processed data so as to output encoded data. The PHY circuit is coupled to the MAC circuit to receive the encoded data so as to output the output data to the transmission interface.

1. Technical Field
The disclosure relates to an integrated transmission circuit and method, and more particularly, to an integrated transmission circuit and method for integrating a plurality of application circuits into a chip.
2. Related Art
A Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCI Express) is a mature high-speed transmission interface, and has the advantages of low power consumption, high transmission performance, and low pin count.
Currently, most commercially available computer systems (for example, notebook computers or desktop computers), support the PCI Express interfaces. A variety of application circuits such as a 10/100 Mbit Ethernet chip and a Gigabit Ethernet chips may be connected to a chipset of a computer system via PCI Express interfaces. However, in the current state of the art, each application circuit is designed with an exclusive PCI Express interface for connection to the chipset, and the chipset accordingly needs to be designed with a plurality of PCI Express interfaces in consideration of the number of application circuits in a product for coupling the chipset to different application circuits. As a result, the design cost of the chipset is increased. Moreover, if the number of PCI Express ports increases, the size of a computer motherboard must be increased, which is in opposition to the industry aim of lightness and thinness.

Integrated transmission circuit and method using a media access control circuit that collectively encodes data from two distinct application circuits


A recoil reducing device for use with firearms including handguns and rifles which includes a core and a sleeve that surrounds the core. The core and the sleeve each have a plurality of radially directed openings along their lengths that are cooperatively aligned with respect to each other. The openings are oriented with respect to a central bore of the core such that combustion gases generated by firing the firearm, noise and any unburnt gunpowder are directed away from a shooter, and recoil and muzzle rise of a firearm are substantially reduced.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a recoil reducing device for use with firearms, and, more particularly, to a recoil reducing device that directs hot combustion gases generated during firing, associated firing noise and unburnt gunpowder in a direction away from the shooter, and substantially reduces recoil and muzzle rise.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
It has been known in the art to attach recoil reducing devices to firearms, including handguns, rifles and shotguns, to reduce the amount of recoil generated when firearms are fired. Such known devices have generally been attached to the muzzle end of the barrels of the firearms. The known devices have defined a longitudinal bore in axial communication with the bore of the firearm barrel, and a plurality of radially directed openings extending from the inner diameters of the devices to their outer surfaces. The radially directed openings have had various orientations relative to the bore axes of these devices. They have been provided to function as alternate flow paths for the hot combustion gases created during firing so that all of the combustion gases are not forced to exit at the discharge end of the device. Some of the combustion gases flow away from the direction of the bore axis, and consequently reduce the amount of recoil in comparison to firearms not having such attached recoil reducing devices.
The known devices have comprised muzzle brakes as exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,930,396 to Johnson, 4,930,397 to Seidler and 5,036,747 to McClain, III; compensators as exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 2,451,514 to Seig; and other similar recoil reducing devices as exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,883,781 to Harvey and 4,459,895 to Mazzanti, Italian Patent No. 578,369 and British Patent No. 445,821.
The known recoil reducing devices have defined bores, and along their lengths radially directed gas flow openings emanating from the bores. These openings have been arranged at varying directions and angles with respect to their bore axes, and, accordingly, the bore axes of the firearms to which they have been attached. The known devices have defined radial openings oriented perpendicular and at oblique angles, both forwardly and rearwardly relative to their bore axes.
For example, Harvey discloses a device that reduces recoil. The device defines perpendicularly oriented radial openings that are undesirable because only a limited amount of the combustion gases traveling through the bore of the device can abruptly change their direction of travel so as to enter the radial openings and be expelled therethrough. Consequently, most of the combustion gases still exit the bore at the discharge end of the device, as would be the case if the firearm did not have the attached device of Harvey. Therefore, recoil is not adequately reduced.
Other recoil reducing devices have been provided that include radially directed openings oriented at oblique angles relative to their bore axes such as disclosed in Johnson, Seidler, McClain III and British Patent No. 445,821. The radial openings in the Johnson and Seidler devices are angled forwardly relative to a perpendicular line extending relative to their bore axes, and direct expelled combustion gases in about the same forward directions. The radial openings include forward walls with which the gases collide during travel through the openings. Such collisions cause some of the momentum of the traveling gases to be transferred to the device as a forward directed force that urges the firearm forwardly away from the shooter, and, consequently, reduces the amount of recoil.
The McClain device also includes forwardly angled radial openings, and associated baffles positioned in surrounding relationship to the radial openings that direct the gases that have passed through the radial openings in a rearward direction toward the shooter. The collision of the expelled gases with the baffles causes some of their momentum to be transferred to the firearm and directed forwardly along the longitudinal length of the device so as to reduce the amount of recoil. The baffles, however, at the same time cause the undesirable and potentially dangerous effect of deflecting the expelled gases and their associated noise, as well as any unburnt gunpowder, toward the shooter.
British Patent No. 445,821 discloses a recoil reducing device which includes radially directed openings, each having an inner portion directed forwardly of a line extending perpendicularly to the bore axis, and an outer portion directed rearwardly of the perpendicular line through the remainder of the thickness of the longitudinal wall of the device. The outer rearwardly angled portions direct the expelled gases toward the shooter. Thus, this device is also inadequate.
Italian Patent No. 578,369 discloses a recoil reducing device including radially directed openings each having an inner portion oriented perpendicularly to the bore axis, and an outer portion directed rearwardly relative to the perpendicular. The inner and outer portions of the openings are in flow communication with each other. The outer portions direct the expelled gases toward the shooter, and thus this device is also inadequate.
Mazzanti discloses a recoil reducing device defining radial openings oriented perpendicular to its bore axis. The openings include beveled portions at their rear walls that direct the combustion gases against the forward walls of the openings. The escaping gases collide with the forward walls and are deflected rearwardly at an oblique angle relative to the bore axis, again toward the shooter.
Finally, the Seig recoil reducing device defines radial openings including inner forwardly angled portions, and outer rearwardly oriented deflecting flanges associated with the inner portions, defining spaces therebetween. Ports are located in flow communication with the openings and spaces through which the combustion gases finally escape from the device after being deflected by the flanges.
In view of the known recoil reducing devices, there has been a need for a recoil reducing device defining radial openings therein such that firearm recoil and muzzle rise are substantially reduced, and expelled combustion gases and associated noise, and unburnt gunpowder, are directed substantially away from the shooter to eliminate these undesirable and potentially hazardous aspects associated with prior art recoil reducing devices.


A gasket seal is disclosed. The gasket seal containing a gasket defining an opening containing a first gasket longitudinal edge, a second gasket longitudinal edge, a gasket transverse edge, wherein the gasket transverse edge forms a 90 degree angle with the first gasket longitudinal edge and the second gasket longitudinal edge, a seal strip containing a first seal longitudinal edge, a second seal longitudinal edge, and a seal transverse edge, wherein the seal transverse edge forms an acute angle with the first seal longitudinal edge wherein the seal transverse edge forms an obtuse angle with the second seal longitudinal edge, wherein the seal strip is removably coupled with the gasket.

One problem with aftermarket laser printer toner cartridges sometimes occurs as the aftermarket cartridge is installed in the printer and made ready for printing by removing a strip seal that retains toner inside of the cartridge hopper during transportation from the manufacturer to the end user. The general problem is that the seal can jam and when it is jammed, it will not pull out of the cartridge. This seal, also known as the hopper gasket pull seal, has as its only purpose the sealing of the opening of the hopper tank for transporting to the end user without leaking toner into the shipping container. Once the seal is pulled out of the cartridge by the end user, the opening at the top of the toner hopper tank is uncovered, thus allowing toner to be transferred to the other components of the laser cartridge for printing.
An original equipment manufactured (OEM) cartridge will typically not have a jamming problem because the pull seal is directly adhered to the toner hopper tank in the OEM manufacturing process. However, in rebuilding or remanufacturing aftermarket toner cartridges, the hopper tank is split into two sections, and then, during the remanufacturing process, the two sections are pressed and held together, typically by welding, or by a manual means, such as by clips, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,577,830 which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. During the remanufacturing process the laser printer toner cartridge is cleaned and re-assembled, with new components and new toner charged into the hopper tank. As is known, the resulting remanufactured cartridge can have slight differences in dimensions as related to OEM specifications, and differences exist in aftermarket toner cartridge hopper tank gasket seals and pull strips. To account for some of these differences and in order to maintain a good seal at the toner cartridge hopper opening, a remanufactured toner cartridge may incorporate a gasket seal, and the hopper tank gasket seal may be made from foam, so that a good seal of the hopper can be formed by the gasket and the pull strip. Once the remanufactured cartridge has been sent to an end user and is installed in the printer, ready for use, the pull strip is pulled off of the gasket and out of the toner cartridge to activate the laser toner cartridge for printing. This pulling of the pull seal is when there is a chance that the hopper pull strip will not always release from the hopper tank gasket seal as planned.
It has been discovered that in many instances the reason the hopper tank gasket pull strip does not release from the gasket and thus causes jamming, is due to mechanical reasons. One of the most common reasons for jamming is that the foam gasket is pulled up along with the pull strip and then the gasket and/or the pull strip jam the pull strip exit slot as the pull strip is being pulled out of the laser printer toner cartridge. Another common reason is that "post test toner" that remains after testing the re-manufactured cartridge upon assembly in the factory, curls up with the pull strip as the pull strip is moving along toward the exit slot, and forms a roll or plug of toner that causes jamming at the pull seal exit slot. As this excess toner curls up it forms into a log shape on the top of the pull strip, and it will then lock up along with the pull seal at the beginning of the pull seal exit slot, thus preventing any further pulling of the pull strip and causing the cartridge to be unusable. This phenomenon is known in the industry as the "cigar effect", due to the fact that the excess toner literally looks like a tiny cigar when is it is curled up and is at the pull seal exit slot. The cigar effect causes jamming due to a lack of clearance through the exit slot. In this situation the diameter of the combined cigar shaped toner plug and the surrounding pull seal strip is greater than the width of the pull seal exit slot. As a result the pull seal strip cannot be pulled through the slot and removed from the cartridge.
In view of this, a need exists for a device and/or method to reduce the jamming of the pull strip.


A computer-implemented method of performing machine vision prediction of digital images using synthetically generated training assets comprises digitally capturing a plurality of assets; configuring each of the assets in the plurality of assets with a plurality of asset attributes; under computer program control, selecting a plurality of different combinations of parameters from among the plurality of asset attributes, and creating a plurality of sets of different synthetic dataset parameters; using computer graphics software, and example parameter values from among the synthetic dataset parameters, creating a synthetic dataset by compiling from a plurality of example images and metadata; configuring a plurality of machine learning trials and executing the trials to train a machine vision model, resulting in creating and storing a trained machine vision model; executing a validation of the trained machine vision model; and inferring a prediction using the trained machine vision model. Trained models are scored against success criteria and re-trained using pseudo-random sampling of different parameters clustered around failure points. As a result, machine vision models may be trained with high accuracy using large datasets of synthesized digital images that are richly parameterized, rather than human captured digital images.

Advancements in deep learning have resulted in significant progress in the field of machine vision. One common challenge in training deep learning networks is the amount of quality training data that is required to train a model. The successful training of a machine vision system is dependent on having sufficient data. Most current methods for gathering training data require capture of real-world images with manual annotation of the visual data.
An alternative to the manual method for training machine vision system is to use computer-generated data, also known as synthetic data. Computer algorithms can be used to simulate real-world images and generate accurate annotations of the visual data. This reduces the dependence on manual methods of data collection and allows for scalable generation of training data. Synthetic data can be used alone or used in conjunction with real-world data to train machine vision systems. In addition, the collection of data is not a straightforward task. There are many challenges in determining what data to collect in terms of subject, quality, and distribution of the collected images. Acquiring appropriate data entails gathering or identifying the data that correlates with the desired outcomes.

System and method for capture and adaptive data generation for training for machine vision