Method and apparatus for predictive scheduling in a bi-directional communication system are disclosed. In a communication system (100), a control unit (218) has knowledge that a subscriber station (106) will have data to be transmitted at an ascertainable time in the future. The control unit in the communication system utilizes the knowledge to schedule the data transmission without the need for the subscriber station to transmit to request schedule for the transmission.

1. Field
The present invention relates generally to communication systems, and more specifically to a method and an apparatus for predictive scheduling in a bi-directional communication system.
2. Background
Communication systems have been developed to allow transmission of information signals from an origination station to a physically distinct destination station. In transmitting information signal from the origination station over a communication channel, the information signal is first converted into a form suitable for efficient transmission over the communication channel. Conversion, or modulation, of the information signal involves varying a parameter of a carrier wave in accordance with the information signal in such a way that the spectrum of the resulting modulated carrier is confined within the communication channel bandwidth. At the destination station the original information signal is replicated from the modulated carrier wave received over the communication channel. Such a replication is generally achieved by using an inverse of the modulation process employed by the origination station.
Modulation also facilitates multiple-access, i.e., simultaneous transmission and/or reception, of several signals over a common communication channel. Multiple-access communication systems often include a plurality of subscriber subscriber units requiring intermittent service of relatively short duration rather than continuous access to the common communication channel. Several multiple-access techniques are known in the art, such as time division multiple-access (TDMA), frequency division multiple-access (FDMA), and amplitude modulation multiple-access (AM). Another type of a multiple-access technique is a code division multiple-access (CDMA) spread spectrum system that conforms to the "TIA/EIA/IS-95 Mobile Station-Base Station Compatibility Standard for Dual-Mode Wide-Band Spread Spectrum Cellular System," hereinafter referred to as the IS-95 standard. The use of CDMA techniques in a multiple-access communication system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,307, entitled "SPREAD SPECTRUM MULTIPLE-ACCESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM USING SATELLITE OR TERRESTRIAL REPEATERS," and U.S. Pat. No. 5,103,459, entitled "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GENERATING WAVEFORMS IN A CDMA CELLULAR TELEPHONE SYSTEM," both assigned to the assignee of the present invention.
A multiple-access communication system may be a wireless or wire-line and may carry voice and/or data. An example of a communication system carrying both voice and data is a system in accordance with the IS-95 standard, which specifies transmitting voice and data over the communication channel. A method for transmitting data in code channel frames of fixed size is described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,504,773, entitled "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THE FORMATTING OF DATA FOR TRANSMISSION", assigned to the assignee of the present invention. In accordance with the IS-95 standard, the data or voice is partitioned into code channel frames that are 20 milliseconds wide with data rates as high as 14.4 Kbps. Additional examples of a communication systems carrying both voice and data comprise communication systems conforming to the "3rd Generation Partnership Project" (3GPP), embodied in a set of documents including Document Nos. 3G TS 25.211, 3G TS 25.212, 3G TS 25.213, and 3G TS 25.214 (the W-CDMA standard), or "TR-45.5 Physical Layer Standard for cdma2000 Spread Spectrum Systems" (the IS-2000 standard).
An example of a data only communication system is a high data rate (HDR) communication system that conforms to the TIA/EIA/IS-856 industry standard, hereinafter referred to as the IS-856 standard. The HDR system is based on a communication system disclosed in co-pending application Ser. No. 08/963,386, entitled "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR HIGH RATE PACKET DATA TRANSMISSION," filed Nov. 3, 1997, assigned to the assignee of the present invention. The HDR communication system defines a set of data rates, ranging from 38.4 kbps to 2.4 Mbps, at which an access point (AP) may send data to a subscriber station (access terminal, AT). Because the AP is analogous to a base station, the terminology with respect to cells and sectors is the same as with respect to voice systems.
In a multiple-access communication system, communications between users are conducted through one or more base stations. A first user on one subscriber station communicates to a second user on a second subscriber station by transmitting data on a reverse link to a base station. The base station receives the data and can route the data to another base station. The data is transmitted on a forward link of the same base station, or the other base station, to the second subscriber station. The forward link refers to transmission from a base station to a subscriber station and the reverse link refers to transmission from a subscriber station to a base station. Likewise, the communication can be conducted between a first user on one mobile subscriber station and a second user on a landline station. A base station receives the data from the user on a reverse link, and routes the data through a public switched telephone network (PSTN) to the second user. In many communication systems, e.g., IS-95, W-CDMA, IS-2000, the forward link and the reverse link are allocated separate frequencies.
The design of a multiple-access communication system causes each transmitting subscriber station to act as an interference to other subscriber stations in the network. Therefore, the reverse link capacity is limited by the total interference which a subscriber station experiences from other subscriber stations. The amount of interference is affected by the mode of operation of the communication system—speech, data, or speech and data.
The amount of speech activity at any given moment is non-deterministic. In addition, there is typically no correlation in the level of speech activities among users. Therefore, the total power received at the base station from all transmitting subscriber stations varies over time and can be approximated as a Gaussian distribution. During periods of active speech, the subscriber station transmits at higher power and causes more interference to other subscriber stations. More interference increases the probability of frame errors in the voice data received by the base station. Therefore, the capacity, i.e., the number of users able to have access to the communication system is limited so that only a small portion of the transmitted frames is lost through excessive interference. In contrast, data communication is typically characterized by long period of inactivity, or low activity, punctuated by high bursts of data traffic that drastically decrease the communication system capacity.
Because of the variations in the level of voice activities, and the transmission of data traffic concurrently with the voice traffic, the demand for the reverse link continuously changes over time. To avoid degradation in the quality of the voice communication, the utilization of the reverse link should be dynamically adjusted to match the available reverse link capacity of the base station.
One method of minimizing the interference and maximizing the reverse link capacity is to control the transmit power of each subscriber station. For example, the communication system in accordance with the IS-95 standard utilizes two control loops. The first power control loop adjusts the transmit power of the subscriber station such that the signal quality, as measured by the energy-per-bit-to-noise-plus-interference ratio, Eb/(No+Io), of the signal received at the cell is maintained at a constant level. This level is referred to as the Eb/(No+Io) set point. The second power control loop adjusts the set point such that the desired level of performance, as measured by the frame-error-rate (FER), is maintained. The power control mechanism for the reverse link in IS-95 is disclosed in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,109, entitled "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING TRANSMISSION POWER IN A CDMA CELLULAR MOBILE TELEPHONE SYSTEM", assigned to the assignee of the present invention.
In accordance with another method, each subscriber station transmits at a different bit rate depending on the level of speech activity in the conversation of a user on the subscriber station. A variable rate speech vocoder provides speech data at full rate when the user is actively speaking and at low rate during periods of silence, e.g., pauses. The variable rate vocoder is described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,414,796, entitled "VARIABLE RATE VOCODER," assigned to the assignee of the present invention.
In yet another method, differences between voice services and data services are utilized. A significant difference between voice services and data services is the fact that the former imposes stringent and fixed delay requirements. Typically, the overall one-way delay of speech frames must be less than 100 ms. In contrast, the data delay can become a variable parameter used to optimize the efficiency of the data communication system. Consequently, the reverse link can be continuously monitored and the data transmission dynamically scheduled so that the reverse link capacity is not exceeded. Several scheduling methods are known in the art. Examples of scheduling methods are disclosed in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,914,950, entitled "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR REVERSE LINK RATE SCHEDULING", and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,923,650 entitled "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR REVERSE LINK RATE SCHEDULING", both assigned to the assignee of the present invention.
Because scheduling method has a profound effect on the performance of a communication system, there is a need in the art for improving scheduling methods and, consequently, utilization of the reverse link.


Oxygen dispensing apparatus (10) is provided which includes a relatively large, primary oxygen chamber (12) operably coupled to a cup-like passenger mask (14), along with a flexible inflatable apertured indicator element (18) positioned within the confines of the chamber (12) and operably coupled with the oxygen supply conduit (16) for the apparatus (10). In use, oxygen flows through the conduit (36) and inflates the element (18) to give a visual indication of proper oxygen flow to the user; the oxygen then flows from the aperture (42) of the element (18) into the primary chamber (12), where it is available for consumption by the passenger. Placement of the element (18) within the confines of primary chamber (12) assures that oxygen flow is maintained to the passenger, even in the event of failure of the indicator element (18).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is broadly concerned with an improved oxygen dispensing apparatus of the type typically found in aircraft for supplying oxygen to passengers under emergency, reduced atmospheric conditions. More particularly, it is concerned with such apparatus which includes a relatively small, brightly colored flexible inflatable indicator element, preferably positioned within the confines of the primary oxygen supply chamber or bag, so that airline personnel can readily determine whether all passengers are receiving oxygen during an emergency.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A universal feature of passenger aircraft is the provision of stowed, overhead oxygen masks in the passenger compartment which are designed to drop within easy reach of the passengers in the event of a rapid depressurization of the aircraft. The passengers don these masks and are supplied with oxygen for a period permitting repressurization of the aircraft or safe landing.
It has been known in the past to provide various indicator devices associated with passenger oxygen masks, so that aircraft personnel can visually ascertain and confirm that all passengers are receiving oxygen. These devices have included in-line, rigid synthetic resin tubular bodies having an internal, shiftable flow indicator which moves to confirm oxygen flow. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 4,098,271 describes an inflatable flow indicator device formed from peripherally sealed sheets as a subsection of the primary oxygen accumulation bag. The device described in this patent is deficient in that if a tear or aperture is present in the indicator section, oxygen flow to the passenger is lost.
There is accordingly a need in the art for an improved passenger oxygen mask having an inflatable, readily detectable indicator, but which will nevertheless supply oxygen to the user even in the event that the indicator structure becomes torn or otherwise unusable.

Passenger oxygen mask having internal flow confirmation balloon


The disclosure relates to modified apelin polypeptides having increased stability against kallikrein, NEP and ACE2 degradation and/or potency relative to the native apelin-13 and apelin-17 polypeptides. Embodiments also disclose methods of using the polypeptides for treating cardiovascular disorders.

Apelin (APLN), the endogenous mammalian peptide ligand of the apelin receptor has been indicated as a regulator of the cardiovascular system. Human apelin is a pre-proprotein of 77 amino acids
(MNLRLCVQALLLLWLSLTAVCGGSLMPLPDGNGLEDGNVRHLVQPRGSRNGPGPWQGGRRKFRRQRPRLSHKGPMPF (SEQ ID NO: 6)),with a secretory signal sequence in the N-terminal region. After cleavage of the signal peptide at the endoplasmic reticulum, the remaining 55 amino acid residue may undergo further cleavage to several active isoforms including a 36 amino acid peptide corresponding to apelin sequence residues 42-77 (apelin-36, LVQPRGSRNGPGPWQGGRRKFRR-QRPRLSHKGPMPF, (SEQ ID NO:3)) (3), a 17 amino acid peptide corresponding to the apelin sequence residues 61-77 (apelin-17, KFRRQRPRLSHKGPMPF (SEQ ID NO:2)) (2) and a 13 amino acid peptide corresponding to the apelin sequence residues 65-77 (apelin-13, QRPRLSHKGPMPF (SEQ ID NO:7)), which all possess a conserved C-terminal amino acid (FIG. 1). The apelin-13 fragment may also undergo subsequent pyroglutamylation at its N-terminal glutamine residue to provide (pyr1) apelin-13 ((Pyr)RPRLSHKGPMPF (SEQ ID NO:1) (1).
Apelin pathway mediates a positive effect on cardiac contractility and vasodilator activity that counteracts angiotensin-II-induced vasoconstriction. Moreover, apelin administration has been indicated to reduce the progression of cardiac hypertrophy, while apelin knockout mice have been shown to be susceptible to heart failure. Apelin also has a beneficial role in the cardiovascular system, such as initiating vasodilation through a NO-mediated mechanism, positive inotropy, angiogenesis, and the prevention of myocardial ischemic reperfusion injury.
Despite the beneficial physiological effects of the apelinergic system, the lifespan of apelin peptides is heavily regulated and limited via proteolysis. The (pyr1) apelin-13 fragment (SEQ ID NO:1), for example, has been indicated as an endogenous ligand for the apelin receptor with an EC50 about 0.37 nM, while (pyr1) apelin-13 exhibits potent vascular effects in vivo. However, (pyr1) apelin-13 stability is quite low in human plasma, with a t1/2 of about one minute.
Angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is a well-known monocarboxypeptidase that efficiently catalyzes the removal of the conserved C-terminal phenylalanine from apelin isoforms in vitro and in vivo. Des-phenylalanine apelin isoforms behave as biased agonists by retaining native binding and forskolin-induced cAMP inhibition, but abolishing apelin receptor internalization and β-arrestin recruitment. Studies have shown that truncated peptides demonstrate a diminished capacity to lower blood pressure and have no ability to protect against myocardial ischemic reperfusion injury, making the C-terminal Phe residue essential for full agonist activity. Therefore, there exists a need to negate the impact of ACE2 degradation on apelin isoforms, and to improve the overall stability of the apelin isoforms. Given the therapeutic potential of (pyr1) apelin-13 and related apelin peptides, there is a continued interest in stabilizing the peptide structures while preserving their biological profiles.

THE GOVERNERS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA


A system for recording metadata is disclosed. The system includes an acoustic vibration sensing system. The system also includes one or more sensors operable to measure characteristic parameters. The sensors are coupled to the acoustic vibration sensing system and include one or more channels for recording metadata. The system further includes one or more optical modulators. The optical modulators modulate a signal received from the one or more sensors and direct the modulated signal to the acoustic vibration sensing system. The system further includes one or more sources of the metadata coupled to the one or more optical modulators.

As oil well technology becomes increasingly complex, the importance of collecting and analyzing downhole data is increasing. Well logging instruments are often used to probe subsurface wellbores to determine well and formation characteristics. Sonic tools are an example of well logging tools that may be used to provide information regarding subsurface acoustic properties that can be used to analyze the formation, well completion, or well production.
Downhole fiber optic sensing has greatly expanded sensing capabilities in oil wells. Fiber optics technology is revolutionizing the sensing capability of the downhole environment. Instead of placing a traditional sensor downhole and sending the data to the surface, the fiber optic cable itself may act as a sensor. With appropriate electronics on the surface, traditional fiber optic cables deployed in an oil well are used to measure vibrations as well as other parameters such as temperature and strain. Vibrations, or equivalently acoustics, are particularly relevant for measuring downhole conditions and monitoring downhole activities.
Of particular interest is a distributed fiber optic sensing technology known as "distributed acoustic sensing" or "DAS" which allows for acoustic detection at periodic locations on the fiber. The typical minimum spatial resolution of current distributed sensing technology allows for acoustic measurements at about every meter or so along the fiber. The length of a fiber optic cable deployed in an oil well can typically be several kilometers long. This means that a distributed acoustic sensor can simultaneously measure acoustics at thousands of locations. The ability to make distributed measurements of acoustic signals is nearly unique among all sensing technologies. The information obtained by acoustic measurements has a number of applications, including, but not limited to, monitoring drilling operations, wellbore interventions, wellbore wireline activities, well completions, reservoir properties, seismic correlations, petrophysics, rock mechanics, and other areas.
A distributed acoustic sensor is often recording acoustic data at a higher rate than any other oil field instrument. This available bandwidth can be used to record the data from other sensors or systems. Additionally, there are almost always available distributed acoustic sensor channels that can be utilized.
During drilling operations or well completion activities, human personnel are often responsible for taking notes. However, during downhole activities that occur rapidly, such as fracturing, it is often difficult to properly record an operator's observations or notes (e.g., data log) in real-time during the drilling operations. The notes are generally recorded in handwritten or typed form. It is often difficult for the operator to provide this handwritten or typed data log along with the recorded information for processing and analysis at a later time. Such problems include, but are not limited to, irregular, unreliable, and incomplete operator documentation concerning the drilling operation. It is also difficult to consolidate data from other sensors into a single data stream. Moreover, various problems may arise due to the lack of synchrony for clocks between recording systems.
While embodiments of this disclosure have been depicted and described and are defined by reference to exemplary embodiments, such references do not imply a limitation on the disclosure, and no such limitation is to be inferred. The subject matter disclosed is capable of considerable modification, alteration, and equivalents in form and function, as will occur to those skilled in the pertinent art and having the benefit of this disclosure. The depicted and described embodiments of this disclosure are examples only, and are not exhaustive of the scope of the disclosure.

Acoustic sensor metadata dubbing channel


The present disclosure discloses a semiconductor device, which comprises: an embedded gate structure with a bottom embedded in a semiconductor substrate; a channel region formed below the bottom surface of the embedded gate structure; a source region and a drain region formed on the two sides of the embedded gate structure; an embedded epitaxial layer formed in the source region or the drain region, the bottom surface of the embedded gate structure being in flush with the maximum stress position of the embedded epitaxial layer. The present disclosure further discloses a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device. The present disclosure can enable the channel region to be located in the maximum stress region of the embedded epitaxial layer, thereby improving the mobility of channel carriers to the utmost extent and improving the conduction current of the device.

With the development of integrated circuits, the field effect size is getting smaller and smaller. In semiconductor manufacturing, a stress technology is introduced to change the lattice structure in the channel, so as to improve the mobility of carriers in the channel. According to the existing study, applying tensile stress to the channel can improve the mobility of electrons, while applying compressive stress can improve the mobility of holes. Embedded silicon germanium (SiGe) epitaxial layer is widely used to improve the performance of PMOS. The embedded SiGe epitaxial layer can apply compressive stress to the channel region by embedding the SiGe epitaxial layer material in the source region or drain region of PMOS, thereby significantly improving the performance of PMOS. Generally, the higher the stress is, the higher the mobility of channel carriers is. However, in the traditional process, the PMOS channel is not in the maximum stress area of SiGe. Similarly, for NMOS transistors, the mobility of channel carriers can also be improved through the embedded epitaxial layer.

Semiconductor device and method for manufacturing the same

Shanghai Huali Integrated Circuit Corporation


A belt seat swing attachment device and methods for using the device to enable young children to safely utilize a belt seat swing, such as those commonly found at public playgrounds or parks. The device includes a seating portion and an attachment portion. The seating portion includes a torso band that is configured to surround a belt seat and a cradle band that hangs freely from the torso band in a U-shaped configuration. The attachment portion includes attachment straps comprising hook and loop fasteners that are configured to removably attach to a belt seat swing so that the device can be secured to the swing.

Many public parks and playgrounds feature swings whereby a user (e.g., a child) can sit in a seat and swing back and forth for amusement. Many such swings are so-called belt seat swings that comprise a flexible seating surface, usually made of rubber or a similar material, as these swings are durable and have few moving parts that can break or degrade.
However, belt seat swings are not appropriate (e.g., not safe) for smaller children who do not yet have the coordination or physical size to safely balance in the belt seat. It would be beneficial to have a device that could easily attach to a swing, particularly a belt seat swing, to enable smaller children to safely use the swing.

Belt seat swing safety attachment device and method for using same


An approach is provided for device-side probe trajectory anonymization based on negative gapping. The approach involves, for example, collecting a probe trajectory stream from a sensor of a probe device, wherein the probe trajectory stream comprises a time-sequence of location data points representing a sensed movement of the probe device. The approach also involves generating a plurality of subtrajectory streams from the probe trajectory stream. The approach further involves processing the plurality of subtrajectory streams to create a negative gap between the plurality of subtrajectory streams. The approach further involves providing the plurality of subtrajectory streams as an output in place of the probe trajectory.

The field of technology is privacy preserving data publishing. Location-based service providers historically collect location data to be used in their services and applications. Location data generally can be collected as a trajectory representing a sequence of data entries per individual moving entity (e.g., also referred to as a probe device such as a vehicle), where each entry consists of location (latitude, longitude), time stamp, a pseudonym (e.g., a unique probe identifier to indicate which of the entries belong to the same entity), and possibly various additional information about the entity at the time (e.g., vehicle sensor data, speed, heading etc.). However, location data is generally regarded as personal data, so that companies wanting to process personal location data often must employ anonymization of the trajectory data where the data cannot be attributed to an identifiable person or user. Accordingly, service providers face significant technical challenges to data anonymization to preserve privacy while also maintaining the utility of the data for providing services and applications.

Method and apparatus for device-side trajectory anonymization based on negative gapping


Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method, device, and computer readable medium for channel equalization. The method comprises receiving, at a first device, a first signal from a second device via a plurality of subcarriers over a communication channel; sampling the first signal to obtain sampled symbols; and generating a second signal based on the obtained sampled symbols using a direct association between sampled symbols and payloads, the second signal indicating a payload of the first signal carried on an effective subcarrier of the plurality of subcarriers. Through the use of the direct association between sampled symbols and payloads, it is possible to achieve channel equalization in a less complicated, more reliable, and cost-effective manner, so as to extract the payload in the received signal.

In a telecommunication process, a transmitter performs corresponding processing operations (such as modulation and coding) on a signal before transmitting the signal, and transmits the processed signal to a receiver over a communication channel. During the processing at the transmitter and the signal transmission, the signal may undergo various impairments, resulting in the introduction of noise and/or distortion. In order to recover payload data from the received signal, the receiver generally utilizes a corresponding equalization algorithm to reduce or lower those impairments.
In some communication systems, especially in wireless communication systems (with extremely valuable spectrum resources) and backbone transmission systems (such as optical fiber communication systems, which are featured with maintaining reliability and capacity in long-distance transmission), a solution is employed to model the channel and perform compensation based on a result of the modeling. Although some accurate channel models have been developed to describe an entire communication link through which the signal is passed, this solution still has limitations in terms of reliability, computational complexity, and costs. Therefore, it is desirable to provide a solution to implement channel equalization with better reliability and lower computational complexity and costs.

Method and device for channel equalization, and computer-readable medium


An information processor with a delayed interrupt device, comprises: a status register for storing information indicating whether or not a delayed interrupt process is processible; an execution unit for executing a normal instruction, a delayed interrupt request instruction, and a delayed interrupt process according to a delayed interrupt request that is based on the delayed interrupt request instruction; and an interrupt request unit for storing the delayed interrupt request transferred from the execution unit and sending the same to the execution unit. The interrupt request unit comprises a delayed interrupt request storage unit involving a plurality of storage portions for storing a plurality of delayed interrupt requests; a pointer for pointing one of the storage portions such that each delayed interrupt request is stored in the order of occurrence; and a selector for selecting one of the storage portions that is storing the oldest one of the delayed interrupt requests stored in the storage portions. Upon receiving an interrupt request from the interrupt request unit, the execution unit executes, according to the contents of the status register, a delayed interrupt process corresponding to the interrupt request.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an information processor with a delayed interrupt device having a function of delaying the processing of an interrupt request until a predetermined condition is satisfied, if the interrupt request such as a delayed interrupt request to be executed has occurred during the execution of another process, and processing the interrupt request after the completion of another process.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Among processes to be executed in an information processor, there is a process that must be completed with no interruption, once it is started. This kind of process is called an indivisible process and hereinafter referred to as the process P. The process P is, for example, a process that must be completed within a defined time, or a read/write process or an accessing process that handles a certain object R such as a specific region in a memory or a specific I/O device.
There are three types of the interrupt processes, an external interrupt request, a software interrupt request, and a delayed interrupt request.
During the execution of the process P, an external interrupt request of executing another process I may occur. Since it is impossible to execute the process I at once, the request of process I is stored, and after the completion of the process P, the process I is executed. Namely, the interrupt process I is delayed.
To delay the process I, the information processor usually has a delayed interrupt function.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram roughly explaining the delayed interrupt function of the information processor.
In the figure, the information processor 21 has an instruction execution unit 25 for reading programs from a memory 23 and successively processing the read programs. Among processes to be executed by the instruction execution unit 25, there is time indivisible process P.
If the instruction execution unit 25 detects, during the execution of the process P, certain condition to issue a request of executing another process I, the instruction execution unit 25 sends a delayed interrupt request 201 to a delayed interrupt memory circuit 27, instead of executing the process I at once. The delayed interrupt memory circuit 27 stores the request.
A delayed interrupt signal generator 29 generates a delayed interrupt signal 203 according to the data stored in the delayed interrupt memory circuit 27. The signal 203 is transferred to time instruction execution unit 25 through a delayed interrupt inhibition circuit 31.
The delayed interrupt inhibition circuit 31 does not issue an interrupt signal 205 if a status register 33 of the instruction execution unit 25 contains a value D indicating that time process P is being executed, and if the same contains a value E indicating that the process P is not being executed, issues the interrupt signal 205 corresponding to time delayed interrupt signal 203 to the instruction execution unit 25.
The instruction execution unit 25 keeps the value D in the status register 33, while executing the process P. If the status register 33 is holding the value D, therefore, the delayed interrupt inhibition circuit 31 does not provide the interrupt signal 205. After the completion of the process P, the instruction execution unit 25 changes the contents of the status register 33 to the value E indicating that the process P is not being executed. The delayed interrupt inhibition circuit 31 then generates the interrupt signal 205, and upon receiving the interrupt signal 205, the instruction execution unit 25 suspends a presently executing process and starts executing the process I.
A conventional information processor having the delayed interrupt function will be explained with reference to a block diagram of FIG. 2.
In the figure, the information processor, represented with numeral 21, has a 4-bit register 35 called a delayed interrupt (DI), which stores any one of numerals H'0 to H'f. Here, H' means that the following numeral is a hexadecimal numeral.
An instruction execution unit 25 of the information processor 21 has a 4-bit register 37 called IMASK, which stores any one of numerals H'0 to H'f. When the numeral stored in the DI 35 is smaller than the numeral stored in the IMASK 37, a comparator 39 sends the contents of the DI 35 as an interrupt signal 205 to the instruction execution unit 25, and according to the signal 205, the instruction execution unit 25 executes an interrupt process.
Usually, the IMASK 27 and DI 35 store each H'f. A process I is registered in the instruction execution unit 25 as an interrupt process corresponding to an interrupt signal H'e. Before executing the process P, the instruction execution unit 25 sets the IMASK 37 to, for example, H'e that is smaller than H'f. The content of the IMASK 37 is reset again to H'f after the completion of the process P.
If the process I to be executed occurs during the execution of the process P, the instruction execution unit 25 does not execute the process I at once but writes H'e in the DI 35 with a delayed interrupt request 201. At this time, the numeral stored in the DI 35 is not smaller than the numeral stored in the IMASK 37, so that the comparator 39 does not issue the interrupt signal 205.
After completing the process P, the instruction execution unit 25 sets H'f in the IMASK 37. The numeral stored in the DI 35 then becomes smaller than the numeral stored in the IMASK 37, and therefore, the comparator 39 sends the contents H'e of the DI 35 as the interrupt signal 205 to the instruction execution unit 25. Upon receiving the signal 205, the instruction execution unit 25 suspends a presently executing process and executes the interrupt process I corresponding to the interrupt signal H'e.
This conventional information processor 21 does not execute the interrupt process of the process I during the execution of the process P but stores the request of executing the process I as the delayed interrupt request 201 to delay the execution of the process I until the process P is completed.
The information processor 21, however, can store only one delayed interrupt request 201. In the above example, for example, if another interrupt request corresponding to a numeral H'd is to be stored in the DI 35 while the DI 35 is holding the numeral H'e as the delayed interrupt request 201, the previously stored numeral H'e will be abandoned. As a result, the execution request of the process I will be lost. In this way, this information processor 21 cannot store a plurality of delayed interrupt requests.
Another conventional information processor will be explained with reference to FIG. 3.
This information processor, represented with numeral 21, has a register 41, which comprises 15 bits numbered from H'1 to H'f.
An instruction execution unit 25 of the information processor 21 has a 4-bit register 37 (referred to as the IMASK 37), which stores any one of numerals H'0 to H'f.
A priority encoder 43 provides a smallest one of bit numbers of the register 41 where H'1 is stored.
A comparator 39 compares the bit number provided by the priority encoder 43 with a numeral stored in the IMASK 37, and if the former is larger than the latter, provides the former bit number as an interrupt signal 205 to the instruction execution unit 25. Upon receiving the interrupt signal 205, the instruction execution unit 25 executes the interrupt process.
Usually, the IMASK 37 stores H'0, and each bit of the register 41 stores 0. The process I is registered in the instruction execution unit 25 as all interrupt process corresponding to a signal H'8. Before executing the process P, the instruction execution unit 25 sets the IMASK 37 to a value larger than H'8, for example, H'f.
If a request of the process I to be executed occurs during the execution of the process P, the instruction execution unit 25 does not execute the process I at once but writes H'1 in the "H'8"th bit of the register 41. This writing process is carried out with a delayed interrupt request 201. At this time, an output 203 of a priority encoder 43 is H'8, which is not larger than the numeral stored in the IMASK 37, so that the comparator 39 does not generate the interrupt signal 205.
After the completion of the process P, the instruction execution unit 25 sets H'0 in the IMASK 37. At this time, the output of the priority encoder 43 becomes larger than the contents of the IMASK 37, and therefore, the comparator 39 supplies the output H'8 of the priority encoder 43 as the interrupt signal 205 to the instruction execution unit 25. Upon receiving the signal 205, the instruction execution unit 25 executes the interrupt process I corresponding to the interrupt signal H'8.
The information processor 21 stores up to 16 execution requests. In the above example, the "H'8"th bit of the register 41 used for the execution request of the process I. To further store an execution request of another process J, the process J may be registered in advance in the information processor 21 as an interrupt process corresponding to, for example, an interrupt signal H'9. When the delayed interrupt request 201 is issued for the process J, a numeral H'1 will be written in the "H'8"th bit of the register 41. If the numeral stored in the IMASK 37 becomes smaller than H'8, an interrupt request corresponding to the "H'8"th bit of the register 41 is generated to execute the process I, and when the numeral stored in the IMASK 37 becomes smaller than H'9, an interrupt request corresponding to the "H'9"th bit of the register 41 is generated to execute the process J.
According to this information processor 21, the delayed interrupt request 201 is stored in the register 41, then processed in an ascending order of bit numbers, irrespective of the order of generation of each request. Further, each bit of the register 41 stores only one corresponding delayed interrupt request 201. For example, if two requests occur for the process I and if a value H'1 is written two times in the "H'8"th bit of the register 41, this makes no sense.
In this way, the conventional information processor of FIG. 2 stores only a single delayed interrupt request to execute the same after a certain delay time, and cannot store a plurality of delayed interrupt requests. On the other hand, the conventional information processor of FIG. 3 stores a plurality of delayed interrupt requests but cannot store the order of occurrence of the delayed interrupt requests and cannot repeatedly store the same delayed interrupt request.

Information processor with delayed interrupt device


A number of embodiments of a piston may have a shape that provides enhanced piston guidance. In such embodiments, the piston shape may include an axial profile that is configured to provide certain thrust load characteristics.

Various types of engines may use pistons in a cylinder bore. Each piston may reciprocate within its associated bore as a portion of the piston's outer circumferential surface is guided by the cylinder wall. The piston may include a skirt that is shaped to bear against the cylinder wall (with a hydrodynamic layer therebetween to provide lubrication) as the piston is reciprocated in the cylinder bore. In general, the lower portion of the piston within the piston skirt is substantially hollow while the upper portion of the piston near the piston face is solid. Accordingly, the piston may have non-uniform thermal expansion and non-uniform rigidity.
Stress concentrations caused by the piston's thermal expansion, flexing, and rocking in the bore may cause the piston to "polish" or otherwise scuff the surface of the cylinder wall after repeated reciprocating movements. Also, thermal expansion of the piston material may increase the contact force between the piston and bore, causing high friction that may result in loss of efficiency and possible seizure of the piston in the cylinder bore. If the outer radius of the piston is too small, the outer circumferential surface may not sufficiently bear against the cylinder wall—causing the piston to excessively rock on the piston pin axis or vibrate within the cylinder bore.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A belted disposable article includes a chassis including a first covering layer having a first surface intended to face towards the user, the article further comprising a pair of belt portions. The first belt portion has a free end which carries a fastener adapted to be attached to an exterior surface of the other of the belt portions. The first and second belt portions being folded over the first surface to form a folded belt configuration prior to use of said article, whereby the first belt portion is arranged on top of the second belt portion. In addition, a belt-opening trigger zone is disposed on the first belt portion and arranged adjacent the free end of the first belt portion.

Absorbent articles in the form of disposable diapers are generally known in which the diaper is provided with a fastening system including a pair of fastening tabs secured to both sides of one end region of the diaper. The fastening tabs are intended to engage receiving means located on the other end region of the diaper. Such a diaper is generally placed on the wearer when the wearer is lying down. While the above-described fastening arrangement is satisfactory when applying diapers to a young child or baby, problems can arise when trying to fit an incontinence diaper to an adult wearer. This is particularly true for wearers who wish to apply the diaper to themselves, or for caregivers who receive a significant benefit from applying the diaper when the wearer is in a standing position. To address this issue, a belted absorbent article has been developed, which allows a wearer or caregiver to apply the diaper in a standing position.
A belted absorbent article typically has a belt attached integrally with the chassis or the absorbent article. The belt may have two belt portions extending on either side of the rear end of the chassis or the absorbent section. The two belt portions are intended to be fastened around the waist of the wearer, whilst the front end of the absorbent section hangs down between the legs of the wearer. Once the belt portions have been joined together, the wearer can reach between his or her legs to draw up the absorbent section between the legs and to attach the free end of the absorbent section to the belt portion. Similarly, the article can be made so that the belt is fastened to the front portion of the article and is secured around the back of the wearer. In this case, the absorption section will be hanging down in the front and will be secured to the belt in the back. This type of article is particularly useful for caregivers who care for patients that may have dementia or the like.
For persons having weaker eyesight, it may be appropriate to provide each belt portion with means for identification and distinction of the different ends of the belt portions from each other. As an example, US 2002/032425 A1 discloses an absorbent article comprising a pair of belt portions attached to the rear portion, alternatively the front portion of the article, in which the belt portions are provided with at least one means for identification and distinction of the different ends of the belt portions from each other. By distinguishing the different ends of the belt portions from each other, it is believed that the wearer is guided on how to apply the article as soon as the article is unfolded from its folded state and the belt portions are unfolded, i.e. hanging loose from the rear portion.
However, despite the activity in the field, exemplified by the above-cited disclosure, there remains a need for an improved belted absorbent article.

Belted absorbent article with distinguishable belt ends


The clamping shank (1) of a chisel-cutting and/or percussion boring tool bits has stop faces effective in the axial direction and in the circumferential direction. Entrainment faces (2), open towards a free end of the clamping shank (1) are located upstream of these stop faces in the direction of the cutting area of the tool bits. The radial dimension (r) of the essentially radially extending entrainment faces (2) is greater than their axial dimension (a). In cooperation with an appropriately designed tool bit receptacle, the entrainment faces (2) can carry such a large share of the torque, that the stop faces are effectively relieved or unloaded.

Tool bits for insertion into a tool bit receptacle of manually operated tools comprise stop faces for torque transmittal effective in the circumferential direction, as well as stop faces effective in the axial direction, for axial retention of the tool bits in a tool bit receptacle of the manually operated tools. It is common to dispose the stop faces effective in circumferential direction at entrainment grooves which are open towards the free end of the clamping shank.
Tool bit receptacles provided for the above-mentioned tool bits, comprise a receiving area which usually is equipped with entrainment strips so that appropriate faces matching the stop faces on the tool bit are formed. It is common to provide axially closed grooves at the clamping shank of the tool bits with which matching faces in the tool bit receptacle cooperate which are mostly disposed at radially displaceable locking elements of the tool bit receptacle in order to provide axial retention. It is necessary to shift the locking elements radially out of the axially closed grooves of the tool bits for removing the tool bits out of the tool bit receptacle. Tool bits as well as a tool bit receptacle of this type are disclosed, for instance, in DE-PS 2,551,125.
While the stop faces of the tool bit effective in the axial direction need not meet any particularly large requirements, since they are used only for retaining the tool bits in the tool bit receptacle, the stop faces, effective in the circumferential direction, have to meet stringent demands because of high torque transmittal. Because of these high torques to be transmitted, a corresponding large dimensioning of the stop faces, effective in the circumferential direction is required. Since the dimensional sizing of the clamping shank is limited, the dimensioning of the stop face effective in the circumferential direction is also limited, especially if one has to meet dimensional requirements involving cross-sectional weakening of the clamping shank. All these limiting values in dimensioning of the stop faces effective in the circumferential direction lead to considerable wear of the stop faces effective in the circumferential direction, resulting in a premature failure of the tool bits because of the torques which must be transmitted, especially with tool bits functioning with larger diameters of the cutting area.
DE-OS 38 43 465 discloses a tool bit having projections upstream of the stop faces in the direction of the working area which radially exceed the diameter of the clamping shank. These projections form radially extending entrainment faces. The tool bit chuck or tool bit receptacle, also disclosed in this publication, comprises recesses for the projections so that appropriate matching faces are formed for the entrainment faces.
The projections known from the above publications are configured in such a way that the entrainment faces protrude radially directly from the diameter of the clamping shank and have an extraordinary small radial dimension, compared to their longitudinal extent. This dimensioning of the entrainment faces does not permit carriage of larger torques and thus effectively to unload the stop faces.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a tool and tool holder for manually-operated tools in which the dimensioning of the entrainment faces permits the carriage of larger torques.
Another object of the invention is to provide a strong and efficient tool and tool holder for manually operated tools.

Tool and tool holder for manually operated tools


Provides convergent playback of buffered content to real-time content play A content viewing system includes a content player to receive a content stream from a content source, a content viewer to receive the content from the content player, and a buffer into which the content player may store the received content and from which the player may provide the stored content to the content viewer, where the content player is operative to buffer the content stream to the buffer responsive to a request to pause play of the content stream, and retrieve the content from the buffer for playback of the buffered content stream responsive to a request to resume play of the content stream, thereby emptying the buffer, where the buffer is emptied at a faster rate than the rate at which the content stream is buffered, and the rate at which the buffer is emptied varies.

Many Digital Video Recording (DVR) systems allow users to pause the playing of a program during its broadcast. When the user pauses the play, program content is buffered to memory or another storage device. When the user wishes to resume play, the DVR provides playback of the buffered data from the point where program play was paused, typically at a speed that is faster than that of the broadcast program. In this way, once all the buffered data has been played, the user may "catch up" to the broadcast program for continued play at its normal speed and in real time. However, state-of-the-art systems that provide such capabilities transition instantaneously from fast playback of buffered data to real-time play, having a jarring effect on the viewer.

Convergent playback of buffered content to real-time content play

International Business Machines Corporation


A semiconductor device includes an insulating substrate with a conductive pattern including an insulating substrate, a conductive pattern formed on a front surface of the insulating substrate, and a rear heat-sink formed on a back surface of the insulating substrate; a semiconductor chip joined on the conductive pattern through joining material, and leading terminals; and a mold resin exposing a surface of the rear heat-sink and end portions of the leading terminals, and sealing a front surface of the insulating substrate with the conductive pattern, a back surface of the insulating substrate with the conductive pattern, the semiconductor chip, the rear heat-sink excluding the exposed surface thereof, and the leading terminals excluding the end portions thereof. Each of side surfaces of the conductive pattern and the rear heat-sink is formed with a recessed groove, and the recessed grooves are filled with the mold resin.

In recent years, a semiconductor device such as a semiconductor module is widely used for a power conversion apparatus such as an inverter and a converter.
FIGS. 8A and 8B are configuration views illustrating a conventional semiconductor device 700. FIG. 8A is a sectional view of an essential part thereof. FIG. 8B is an enlarged view of the part B illustrated in FIG. 8A. In the semiconductor device 700, the back surface of a semiconductor chip 61 is joined to an insulating substrate 51 with a conductive pattern through joining material 66 such as solder. The front surface of the semiconductor chip 61 is joined to implant-pins 63 of a printed-circuit board 62 with implant-pins through joining material 67 such as solder. Electric wiring connected to the implant-pins 63 is formed onto the printed-circuit board 62 (see Patent Literature 1). In addition, the insulating substrate 51 with the conductive pattern can be called as a DCB (Direct Copper Bonding) substrate. The implant-pins 63, which are inserted to the printed-circuit board 62, also indicate conductive posts (pins) connected to the conductive pattern formed on the printed-circuit board 62.
The semiconductor chip 61 and the insulating substrate 51 with the conductive pattern are sealed by a mold resin 65 in the structure. The insulating substrate 51 with the conductive pattern includes an insulating substrate 52 such as ceramics, a conductive pattern 53 formed on the front surface 52a of the insulating substrate 52, and a rear heat-sink 54 formed on the back surface 52b. The rear heat-sink 54 is exposed from the mold resin 65, and the surface height thereof is the same level as that of the mold resin 65. Further, the conductive pattern 53 is formed by performing diffusion bonding 59 of a thick copper plate 53a with a thin copper film 53b. The thin copper film 53b, which is a thin copper foil on which a circuit pattern is formed, is attached on the front surface 52a of the insulating substrate 52. Furthermore, the rear heat-sink 54 is formed by performing the diffusion bonding 59 of a thick copper plate 54a with a thin copper film 54b. The thin copper film 54b is attached on the back surface 52b of the insulating substrate 52. The thicknesses of the thin copper films 53b and 54b are, for example, several hundred micrometers, and the thicknesses of the thick copper plates 53a and 54a are, for example, about 1 mm. Besides, reference numerals 64 in the figure show leading terminals.
The insulating substrate 52 constituting the insulating substrate 51 with the conductive pattern ensures the insulation between the semiconductor chip 61 and a heat dissipation fin that the rear heat-sink 54 contacts and has a function to transmit the heat generated in the semiconductor chip 61 to the heat dissipation fin. The heat generated in the semiconductor chip 61 will be conducted to the heat dissipation fin through the conductive pattern 53, the insulating substrate 52, the rear heat-sink 54, and a compound (not shown). Thus, this structure allows the heat to be radiated mainly in one direction from the backside of the semiconductor chip 61 and then results in single side cooling. The compound is used to lower the contact thermal resistance between the rear heat-sink 54 and the heat dissipation fin.
In this structure, the thick copper plates 53a and 54a are used for the conductive pattern 53 and the rear heat-sink 54, respectively. The heat diffuses into copper and then passes through ceramics that has lower conductivity. This is effective to reduce thermal resistance and increases thermal capacity. Thus this enables rapid temperature rising to be suppressed during overload operation.
Further, the package employed for the semiconductor device 700 sealed with the mold resin 65 is a full mold package, which has following characteristics in comparison with a gel filling package employed for an ordinary semiconductor module or the like.    (1) The use of high heat-resistant material such as an epoxy resin for the mold resin 65 allows a heat-resistant temperature to rise.    (2) Fixing the semiconductor chip 61 and the wiring with the mold resin 65 results in holding excellent properties against vibration.    (3) Simultaneous achievement of both molding an outer shape and filling the inside lowers cost.
FIG. 9 is a sectional view of an essential part of another conventional semiconductor device 800. The semiconductor device, which is a semiconductor module, includes a radiation base 71, an insulating substrate 72 with a conductive pattern, which is fixed on the radiation base 71, a semiconductor device 74 fixed on the conductive pattern 73 of the insulating substrate 72 with the conductive pattern and an external lead 75, and a mold resin 76 that seals those members. A groove 77 that surrounds the insulating substrate 72 with the conductive pattern is formed on the front surface of the periphery of the radiation base 71. The groove 77 prevents the mold resin 76 from delaminating (see Patent Literature 2).
Patent Literature 3 further provides as follows: A semiconductor device has a chip base, a semiconductor chip, and lead terminals stacked in this order on a heat-sink metal base. A case is attached to this structure, with a mold resin but inside the casing. Formed in the periphery of the chip base is a groove with a visor portion. The mold resin enters the groove to generate an anchoring effect, so that the mold resin is prevented from being delaminated from the chip base due to a heat cycle.
Patent Literature 4 further provides as follows: Related to a resin-mold semiconductor device wherein a semiconductor chip is soldered to a metal base, which is sealed with a mold resin, on the side surface of a metal base, a groove parallel to the surface bonded to an MOSFET chip of the metal provides highly-reliable semiconductor device excellent in environment-resistance, such as high-temperature and high-humidity.


A wind turbine system includes a wind turbine generator having a rotor and a nacelle mounted atop wind tower. The wind tower is mounted on a central caisson. The wind turbine system further includes a plurality of tensioned mooring lines flexibly secured to the central caisson. The mooring lines are further secured to a plurality of anchors fixed on to a sea bed. The anchors are adapted to support lateral loads on the wind turbine system.

The present invention relates generally to wind turbines, and particularly to techniques for installing and anchoring foundations for offshore wind turbine systems. Advantageously, certain embodiments of the present technique may be employed to increase the water depth at which offshore wind turbines may be located.
Wind turbines are generally regarded as an environmentally safe and a desirable source of renewable energy. In summary, a wind turbine harnesses the kinetic energy of wind and transforms this kinetic energy into electrical energy. Thus, electrical power can be generated with virtually zero emissions, unlike existing natural gas-fired or coal-fired power generation technologies. To maximize the efficacy of power generation and to simplify connection to a power grid, several wind turbines are often located in proximity to one another in what are generally referred to in the pertinent art as "wind farms." Advantageously, these wind farms are located in regions having relatively strong winds, such as, for example, at offshore locations.
At offshore locations, in order to better access the prevailing winds around the year and to limit visibility from the shore, it is desirable to install wind farms at increasing distances from the shore, and consequently deeper water depths. Generally, for shallow water depths (for example, less than 20 meters), the typical foundation structure for an offshore wind turbine installation comprises a monopile. A monopile is essentially a long cylindrical caisson, assembled in sections on-shore and driven to the required soil penetration depth at the offshore installation site. However, for increasing water depths, a simple, traditional monopile foundation may prove uneconomical due to the correspondingly larger pile diameters and thicknesses that are required.
The overall structural design of the foundation structure of an offshore wind turbine is determined by the dynamic wind and wave loads under various turbine operational modes and by extreme loads imposed during high wind speed conditions and stormy sea states (during which the turbine is typically not operational). To minimize fatigue loading, the stiffness of the foundation structure should be desirably sized such that the overall natural frequency of the wind turbine/foundation system is outside the frequency range of excitation due to the rotor operation and the hydrodynamic wave loading. A typical industry practice is to size the stiffness of the foundation structure such that the overall system natural frequency is higher than the excitation from the rotor revolution but lower than the excitation from the blade passing the wind turbine tower. With this target natural frequency, the monopile diameters and thicknesses reach their current manufacturing limits for water depths between 20-25 meters (depending on the site conditions). At present, manufacturing capability is limited to fabricating monopiles of approximately 50 millimeters in thickness and 5.5 meters in diameter. Even if larger piles were to become available, the feasibility of such foundations is limited due to the limited availability and increasing expense of larger offshore pile driving hammers.
In the past, installation water depths greater than 20 meters have been contemplated by incorporating a tripod-style foundation structure. A typical tripod-style structure comprises, for example, 3-4 lateral braces that reinforce a central tubular column. These braces typically terminate in grouted sleeves, through which small diameter piles are driven to anchor the foundation and transmit the brace loads to the soil. As the braces of a tripod-style structure are rigidly attached to the central tower section, they have to be carefully designed to limit the stress concentration at these locations. In the past, the fatigue design of tripod joints and other welded connections in such structures have presented difficulty in design. In addition, the varying soil conditions and water depths in an offshore wind farm could result in varying brace diameters and joint geometries. In summary, the optimal tripod foundation structure is site specific and must be redesigned at each implementation. As a result, mass production of such tripod type structures may prove uneconomical.
Therefore, there is a need to design a foundation structure that will provide the necessary stiffness fatigue resistance and ease of geometric scalability at increased water depths. There is also a need for a more robust design of a foundation structure that is less sensitive to changes in water depth and underlying soil conditions.

System and method for installing a wind turbine at an offshore location


A bipolar battery plate is utilized for production of a bipolar battery. The bipolar battery plate includes a frame, a substrate, a conductor, a filler, first and second lead layers, and positive and negative active materials. The substrate is positioned within the frame and includes a plurality of perforations that are sealed by a filler, with the conductor positioned in the perforation and held by the filler. The conductor connects to the plurality of perforations. The first lead layer positioned on one side of the substrate, while the second lead layer positioned on another side of the substrate. The first and second lead layers electrically connected to each other through the filler. The positive active material (PAM) positioned on a surface of the first lead layer, while the negative active material (NAM) positioned on a surface of the second lead layer.

A conventional bipolar battery generally includes electrodes having a metallic conductive substrate on which positive active material forms one surface and negative active material forms the opposite surface. The active materials are retained by various means on the metal conductive substrate which is nonconductive to electrolyte ions. The electrodes are arranged in parallel stacked relation to provide a multi-cell battery with electrolyte and separator plates that provide an interface between adjacent electrodes. Conventional mono-polar electrodes, used at the ends of the stack are electrically connected with the output terminals. Most bipolar batteries developed to date have used metallic substrates. Specifically, bipolar lead-acid systems have utilized lead and alloys of lead for this purpose. The use of lead alloys, such as antimony, gives strength to the substrate but causes increased corrosion and gassing.
In most known plates for bipolar batteries, the positive active material, usually in the form of a paste is applied to the metallic conductive substrate on one side while the negative active material is similarly applied to the opposite side. The plates may be contained by a frame which seals the electrolyte between plates so that it cannot migrate through the plate.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,275,130, a bipolar battery construction 20 is disclosed having a plurality of conductive biplates 21. Each bipolar plate 21 may include a composite, substrate sheet 34 including a continuous phase resin material, which is nonconductive to electrolyte ions. The composite substrate sheet 34 also includes uniformly distributed, randomly dispersed conductive fibers 33 embedded in the material. The binder resin is a synthetic organic resin and may be thermosetting or thermoplastic. The composite substrate sheet 34 has substantially flat opposite side faces 35 which include at their surfaces exposure of portions of the embedded graphite fibers 33. The embedded graphite fibers not only provide electrical conductivity through the substrate sheet 34, but also impart to thermoplastic material a high degree of stiffness, rigidity, strength and stability. Substrate sheet 34 may be made in any suitable mariner such as by thoroughly intermixing the thermoplastic material in particle form with the graphite fibers. The mixture is heated in a mold and then pressure formed into a substrate sheet of selected size and thickness. After the sheet has been cured, the substantially flat side faces 35 may be readily treated or processed, as for example by buffing, to eliminate pinholes or other irregularities in the side faces.
As disclosed, lead stripes are bonded to the composite substrate sheet 34 by known plating processes. On the positive side face 35, the facial areas between lead stripes 38 are covered by a coating of corrosion resistant resin 36 suitably a fluorocarbon resin such as Teflon (polytetrofluoroethylene) which protects against anodic corrosion of the adjacent graphite fibers and polyethylene of the substrate 34. On the negative side face 35, facial areas between lead stripes 37 may be protected by a thin coating of resin impermeable to electrolyte such as a polyethylene coating 36a. In fabrication of the bipolar plate 21 and after the composite substrate sheet 34 has been formed, a thin Teflon sheet may be bonded to the positive side surface 35. Prior to bonding, window like openings corresponding in length and width to the lead stripes are cut. Plating thereafter will bond the lead in stripes 38 to the exposed conductive graphite surfaces on the substrate side face 35. The same fabrication process may be utilized on the negative side face 35 to coat the nonstriped areas with polyethylene or other like material. Plating of the negative stripes may be achieved as with the positive stripes.
A separator plate 23 serves to support the positive active material 24 and the negative active material 25 and may be made of a suitable synthetic organic resin, preferably a thermoplastic material such as microporous polyethylene.
Battery construction 20 includes a plurality of conductive bipolar plates 21, peripheral borders or margins thereof being supported and carried in peripheral insulating casing members 22. Interleaved and arranged between bipolar plates 21 are a plurality of separator plates 23 The separator plates carry positive active material 24 on one side thereof and negative active material 25 on the opposite side thereof. The casing members 22, together with the bipolar plates 21 and separator plates 23, provide chambers 26 for containing electrolyte liquid. At each end of battery construction 20, standard bipolar plates 21 interface with current collecting plates, where 27 is the negative collector plate and 28 is the positive collector plate. Externally of end collectors 27 and 28 are provided pressure members 30 interconnected by rods 31 having threaded portions for drawing the pressure members plates together and applying axial compression to the stacked arrangement of bipolar plates and separator plates.
The bipolar plate 21 is lightweight, rigid, but includes joint lines between the lead stripe edges and protective coatings to resist corrosion and structural deterioration of the substrate. Furthermore, a plating process is required in order to bond the lead stripes 37, 38 to the conductive substrate having graphite fibers. Conductivity is limited by the size and amount type of graphite fibers in the substrate. Additionally, a plurality of bipolar plates 21 and layers are required to sit in separate casing members 22 and an external frame, all of which require further processing steps for more parts. The bipolar battery construction 20 is a complicated design having many layers of materials and substrates assembled in multiple chambers 26 and bodies 43 that are secured together by a complex external frame.


An image processing apparatus causes a composite image to be printed, on a recording sheet, as an entry area to be written in by a user. The composite image is formed by superimposing a fixed image on a reference image. The image processing apparatus extracts an image of an area having luminance lower than a predetermined threshold value from an image corresponding to the entry area contained in an image obtained by reading the recording sheet having the entry area that is written in, and the image processing apparatus uses mask data for extracting an image of an area corresponding to the fixed image to perform image extraction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image processing apparatuses and image processing methods for combining an image input from an image input unit and a handwritten image corresponding to content entered by a user. In particular, the present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and an image processing method for combining a handwritten image and a fixed image, which may be a predetermined digital image data, with a background image.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, with the spread and sophistication of apparatuses such as digital cameras, scanners, and printers, there have been proposed techniques in which a digital photo image is not only printed on a recording sheet but is also used in various ways.
Examples of such techniques include a processing technique for allowing handwritten text and drawings to be written in a photo image, and a combining technique for combining digital image data, such as an illustration image, with a photo image. With these techniques, it is possible, for example, to write a message in a photo image taken by a digital camera and create a postcard combined with a decorative frame.
Several methods have been proposed as techniques for combining handwritten text and drawings with a photo image input from an image input apparatus, such as a digital camera or a scanner.
US Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0213174 describes a technique where a handwriting sheet on which an illustration image which serves as an entry sample is combined with a photo image, and is printed. After the user enters text and drawings in an entry area of the printed handwriting sheet, the handwriting sheet is read, and an image corresponding to the handwritten text and drawings (hereinafter referred to as a "handwritten image") is combined with the photo image.
The above document further describes a method in which the photo image is printed within the entry area of the handwriting sheet, so that the user can see where the entered text and drawings are to be positioned in the photo image. To read the handwriting sheet generated by this method, it may be necessary to distinguish the handwritten image from a printed background image so as to extract the handwritten text and drawings. Therefore, the background image is printed lightly and a threshold value of luminance is set for reading the handwriting sheet. Then, in the read image, a portion having luminance lower than the threshold value is determined to be a portion handwritten by the user.
As a method for combining an illustration image, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-295565 describes a method in which a frame image recorded in a recording medium, such as a memory card, is read out and combined with a photo image to decorate it, which is then printed.
With the known techniques described above, an illustration image may be combined with a photo image to form a composite image, and a handwritten image entered by the user may be combined with the composite image. To allow the user to enter a handwritten image while checking the resulting composite image, it is possible to print, using the above-described method, an illustration image and a lightly-printed background image (hereinafter referred to as a "reference image") in an entry area of a handwriting sheet.
To read this handwriting sheet, an image of an area where the illustration image is printed may need to be extracted separately from the reference image, as in the case of the handwritten image. However, if a portion of the illustration image has a luminance higher than a threshold value, an image of this portion may not be extracted during reading. This may cause a problem in that the resulting printed illustration may be partially missing. Therefore, the illustration image may need to have luminance lower than the set threshold value. This means that high-luminance colors typically cannot be used for illustration images.

Image processing apparatus and image processing method


A telecommunications system and method is disclosed for allowing a mobile station to determine whether or not to place a wireless call through an internet protocol (IP) based local area network (LAN) based upon broadcasted Quality of Service (QOS) information. The gatekeeper within the IP based LAN has access to the QOS information and periodically sends the QOS to the base station controller (BSC) functionality within the access node (AN) of the IP based LAN. The BSC functionality then transmits the QOS parameter on the System Information message via the base transceiver station (BTS) to the mobile stations served by the BTS. The mobile stations receive this QOS information and use this QOS information to decide upon a transport method to complete outgoing wireless calls.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to telecommunications systems and methods for placing wireless calls within a local area network based wireless telecommunications system using internet protocol routing procedures, and specifically to placing wireless calls within a local area network based wireless telecommunications system based upon the quality of service.
2. Background and Objects of the Present Invention
The first, Local Area Networks (LANs) were proprietary and developed to support unintelligent user workstations in which a primary station controlled the operations of the attached devices (secondary stations). The effectiveness of this technology decreased because the master/slave protocol was too slow and cumbersome. Therefore, new types of LANs were developed, such as Ethernet LANs and token-ring LANs. Ethernet LANs and token-ring LANs are designed for data applications and use a shared medium (bus or ring, respectively) designed for 10 Mbit/s speeds and up to Gigabit speeds.
However, during periods of high activity, the shared medium does not respond well to all users, which results in degraded response time and throughput. Therefore, Switched Ethernet LANs were developed to provide more capacity to the end users. Switched Ethernet does not rely on sharing the media. Instead, Switched Ethernet provides point-to-point bandwidth between the user station and a switch. Another type of LAN being developed alongside Switched Ethernet is the Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) based LAN, which utilizes very high-speed ATM switches that support multimedia applications.
On top of these different networking architectures, such as Switched Ethernet or ATM, which define the physical attributes of the communications network, many LANs have begun using Internet Protocol (IP) to route data between hosts on the network. The data is routed in datagrams and is transmitted using connection-less network services. Therefore, IP does not guarantee the reliable delivery of the data or the sequencing of the datagram. Hence, an upper layer, such as Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) or User Datagram Protocol (UDP), must provide this function. TCP connection-oriented services provide reliable delivery of data between the host computers by establishing a connection before the applications send data. Thus, TCP guarantees that the data is error free and in sequence. On the other hand, UDP connection-oriented services are used by various applications to send messages where the integrity of the data is not as important.
Data can be sent across a LAN from an originating host computer to a receiving host computer using the IP routing protocol by encapsulating the data sent by the originating host computer into an IP datagram, which includes an IP header. The IP header identifies the address of the receiving host computer. The IP datagram and header can then be further encapsulated into the specific protocol of the transit network, such as an Ethernet LAN, for delivery of the IP datagram and header to an IP router.
After the transit network has delivered the IP datagram and header to the IP router, the IP router strips away the control information and uses the destination address in the datagram header to determine where to route the traffic. Typically, the IP router then passes the datagram back to the sub-network by invoking a sub-network access protocol, such as Ethernet on the LAN. This protocol is used to encapsulate the datagram header and user data into the headers and trailers that are used by the sub-network to deliver the data to the receiving host computer. It should be understood that routers can also be used to transport data to other LANs.
LANs not only interconnect computers for data communications, but can also interconnect mobile terminals for voice communications. This convergence of voice and data communications has allowed voice traffic to be sent over IP-based networks, which has, in turn, increased the total amount of traffic over these IP-based networks. For example, FIG. 1 depicts the implementation of a mobile communications system into a LAN 100. The mobile communications system includes an Access Node (AN) 130, which combines a Mobile Switching Center (MSC) functionality 134 for controlling calls made to and from Mobile Stations (MSs) 145 within the LAN 100 and a Base Station Controller (BSC) functionality 132 for controlling radio-related functions, such as channel assignment. The mobile communications system also includes at least one Base Transceiver Station (BTS) 140, which operates as a tranceiver for transmitting and receiving voice and control messages to and from the MSs 145, and an associated A-bis Gateway 142, which converts between circuit-switched signaling used by the BTS 140 and packet-switched signaling used by the LAN 100. The AN 130 and A-bis gateway 142 are connected to the LAN 100 through an LAN backbone 110.
The LAN 100 is managed through an LAN management system (LMS) 120 such as Tivoli or other similar system, which monitors the traffic and load on the LAN backbone 110. A gatekeeper 180 allocates bandwidth for all hosts, e.g., computers 125 and BTSs 140, on the LAN backbone 110 using, for example, the H.323 protocol. It should be noted that the LMS 120 can be included within the gatekeeper 180.
Wireless voice communications are transported through the LAN backbone 110 between BTSs 140 or between a BTS 140 and a Public Gateway (PG) 150 via UDP/IP. The PG 150 provides the interconnection between the packet based LAN 100 and the circuit switched public telephone network, e.g., Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and Public Land Telephone Network (PLMN) 160. In many cases, a PLMN cell 192 overlaps the LAN 100. Speech and data are transmitted within the LAN 100 and through the Internet 175 using an IP Router 170.
In the IP based LAN wireless system 100, the BTSs 140 and the Access node 130 communicate with each other through the LAN backbone 110. In addition, the LAN backbone 110 is used by all other hosts 125, e.g., computers, in the network 100 to send and receive data communications between each other and through the Internet 175 via the IP Router 170. Therefore, when the LAN backbone 110 becomes congested, which can occur, for example, when a computer host 125 is downloading a large file, voice packets sent via the unreliable UDP can be lost, resulting in a decline in speech quality, and thus, poor Quality of Service (QOS) to MSs 145 sending and receiving the voice packets.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to broadcast QOS information based upon the congestion within the LAN to mobile stations within the LAN.
It is a further object of the present invention for mobile stations to use the QOS information in deciding whether to place a call on the IP based LAN.
It is still a further object of the present invention to allow mobile stations to complete calls on the traditional PLMN network or on another LAN when the QOS on the IP based LAN serving the mobile stations is poor.
The present invention is directed to telecommunications systems and methods for allowing a mobile station to determine whether or not to place a wireless call through an IP based LAN based upon broadcasted QOS information. The gatekeeper has access to the QOS information from the IP based LAN and periodically sends the QOS to the BSC functionality within the AN through the MSC functionality within the AN. The BSC functionality then transmits the QOS parameter on the System Information message via the BTS to the MSs served by the BTS. The MSs receive this QOS information and use this QOS information to decide upon a transport method to complete outgoing wireless calls, such as through the IP based LAN, through the PLMN or through another IP based LAN. Advantageously, by allowing MSs to decide whether to place calls on the IP based LAN based upon QOS information, the load on the IP based LAN can be reduced and adequate speech quality can be maintained. In addition, the IP based LAN can use this QOS information to differentiate charging for wireless calls.

System and method for placing wireless calls on an internet protocol based local area network based upon quality of service conditions


Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a fingerprint identification device, an array substrate, a display device and a fingerprint identification method. The fingerprint identification device includes: a first gate line, a second gate line, a read signal line and a voltage dividing unit, wherein, a plurality of fingerprint identification units are defined by the second gate line and the read signal line intersecting with each other, and the fingerprint identification unit includes a photosensitive member and a thin film transistor; the first gate line is connected with the voltage dividing unit, the voltage dividing unit includes a pressure sensitive member and an equivalent resistor connected in series, and the second gate line is connected between the pressure sensitive member and the equivalent resistor.

In recent years, with rapid development of technologies, mobile products with biometric identification functions have gradually entered people's lives and work; and a fingerprint technology has attracted much attention because of its unique identity. Pressing and sliding fingerprint identification technologies based on a silicon-based process have been integrated into mobile products, and a core of future attention is a fingerprint identification technology in a display region.
Due to presence of light in environment, when fingerprint identification is performed with an existing optical fingerprint identification device, a lot of interferences and noises of light will be formed, which makes it difficult to extract a weak fingerprint valley-ridge signal from complex ambient light, resulting in increased difficulty in fingerprint identification.

Fingerprint identification device, array substrate, display device and fingerprint identification method


In a method of correcting a desired color of a pixel to be displayed in an optical see-through display, a binned-display profile of prescribed colors arranged to be rendered by the display include background colors added to it so that the desired color can be matched to a closest one of the resulting predicted color profile of colors which are predicted to be perceived by a user. The display is then instructed to display the prescribed color which corresponds with the closest matching predicted color such that an observer substantially perceives the desired color. Typically the desired color is only compared to a subset of the predicted colors for efficiency. Additional corrections may take place to improve contrast of graphical content compared to the background in some instance.

Optical see-through (OST) displays allow users to view digital content and physical objects simultaneously. They come in multiple form factors (e.g. head mounted displays, projection-based and transparent LCD and OLEDs) and are widely used in augmented reality (AR) applications including medical, maintenance, education and training (see [Bimber and Raskar 2005][Carmigniani et al. 2011] for a comprehensive list of applications). OST displays can be additive (have their own light source e.g. projection-based displays or transparent OLED) or subtractive (filter white light from an external source e.g. LCD). With a few consumer electronics starting to adopt them [Lenovo 2013][Epson 2013] and the continuous development of transparent OLED (Futaba Corporation [link], Fujitsu [link], Winstar [link]) and LCD displays (Samsung NL22B [link], Eyevis [link]) we expect they will be widely available.
An important aspect of additive OST displays is that light coming from real-world objects mixes with the light emitted by the display: also known as color blending [Gabbard et al. 2010]. Color blending is an important issue as it affects the legibility and color—encodings of digital information and compromises the general us—ability of such devices. Existing solutions include using a spatial light modulator (SLM) to block background light [Kiyokawa et al. 2002][2003], an approach requiring extra hardware on the display at the cost of non-transparency. Color correction is another solution where the system finds an alternative digital color which, upon blending with the background, comes closest to the desired color [Weilland et al. 2009].
The perception of color as a blend of the display color and the background [4] can be a major usability problem in optical head-mounted displays (OHMD). For example, users perceive red as magenta when the background is blue, and as yellow when the background is green. Color blending has several negative effects on the display content it reduces the readability of text [18], makes augmented reality (AR) objects look translucent and unreal [1], Impairs the interpretation of color-encoded information such as status icons or system alerts, and leads users to confusion [19]. Therefore, addressing color blending is an important issue as it compromises the usability and adoption of OHMDs [10][11].
Existing solutions to color blending include occlusion support and color correction. The occlusion approach uses spatial light modulators such as liquid crystals to block light coming from the background and keep it from blending with the display color [3]. Occlusion support requires additional optical hardware, making the OHMD bulky [3][5] and compromising its transparency [14]. The color correction approach consists on determining an alternative color which, upon blending with the background, results on a color closer to the one originally designed for. Color correction does not require additional optical hardware and therefore does not affect the overall transparency and lightness of the display. However, existing color correction algorithms are not usable. Weiland et al. proposed several correction algorithms which often result on black or depend on arbitrary constants [24].

Color correction method for optical see-through displays


Device for removing a bearing assembly from a shaft including a tapered adapter for securing a bearing assembly to a shaft that includes a radial opening therethrough extending along the length thereof and further defines a groove extending about at least a portion of the circumference of the adapter and being located proximate the large end of the adapter. The device also includes a removal ring with a holding lip for mating with the groove extending about the circumference of the tapered adapter and is provided so as to apply a separating force between the bearing assembly and the removal ring for releasing a bearing assembly from a shaft.

The present invention relates to the use of tapered adapters for fitting bearings, pulleys, sheaves and the like to shafts, and more particularly to an improved method and apparatus for removing a bearing assembly or the like from a shaft secured through a tapered adapter. While other devices are contemplated, a bearing assembly is utilized in the specification for illustrative purposes.
It is well known in the art to employ split tapered adapters to secure bearings, pulleys, sheaves and the like to shafts. Generally, the tapered adapter is received about a shaft and has a tapered outer surface with threads on the smaller end. The bearing assembly has a tapered bore and is forced up the adapter by tightening a locknut a nut that is threaded on the threads of the adapter. This closes the adapter around the shaft and into the bearing bore until there is a metal to metal fit between the shaft, adapter and bearing assembly. Further tightening of the locknut forces the bearing up the adapter taper expanding the inner ring of the bearing to the equivalent of several thousands of an inch press fit. The inner ring thus has a tight fit with the resulting high pressure against the adapter. The result of the high pressure, low angle of taper on the adapter and the coefficient of friction of steel on steel results in high force required to remove the bearing. In addition, fretting corrosion often develops at the bearing bore/adapter interface further increasing the force required to remove the bearing.
Since there is no convenient way to apply force from the shaft to the bearing face, it is frequently necessary to destroy the bearing and damage or risk damage to the shaft during repairs to a system. Since the shafts are not of a single diameter and are of varying lengths, the use of standard removal tools such as gear pullers is not practical. During field service, the use of a cutting torch is commonly used to remove the bearing, thus completely destroying the bearing and possibly the shaft.


This invention relates to peptides involved in the pathogenesis of human immunodeficiency virus ("HIV"). More particularly, this invention relates to peptides from the env region of the HIV genome and the use of such peptides in methods and compositions for preventing, treating, or detecting acquired immune deficiency syndrome ("AIDS") infection.

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome ("AIDS") is a disease characterized by severe or, typically, complete immunosuppression and attendant host susceptibility to a wide range of opportunistic infections and malignancies. AIDS' complete clinical manifestation is usually preceded by AIDS related complex ("ARCS"), a syndrome accompanied by symptoms such as lymphadenopathy, fever and weight loss.
The human immunodeficiency virus ("HIV") retrovirus is thought to be the etiological agent responsible for AIDS infection and the ARCS syndrome [M. G. Sarngadharan et al., "Detection, Isolation, and Continuous Production of Cytopathic Retroviruses (HTLV-III) From Patients With AIDS and Pre-AIDS", Science, 224, pp. 497-508 (1984)].* Between 85 and 100% of the AIDS/ARCS patient population test seropositive for HIV [G. N. Shaw et al., "Molecular Characterization of Human T-Cell Leukemia (Lyphotropic) Virus Type III In The Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome", Science, 226, pp. 1165-70 (1984)]. * In this application, human immunodeficiency virus ("HIV"), the generic term adopted by the human retrovirus subcommittee of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses to refer to independent isolates from AIDS patients, including human T-cell lymphotropic virus type III ("HTLV-III"), lymphadenopathy-associated virus ("LAV") and AIDS-associated retrovirus ("ARV") will be used.
Upon infection of a host, the primary targets of the HIV virus are T-4 lymphocytes, also known as helper or inducer cells. T-4 lymphocytes interact with other specialized cell types of the immune system to confer immunity to or defense against infection. More specifically, T-4 lymphocytes stimulate production of growth factors which are critical to the functioning of the immune system. For example, they act to stimulate B cells, the descendants of hemopoietic stem cells, which promote the production of defensive antibodies. They also activate maerophages ("killer cells") to attack infected or otherwise abnormal host cells, and induce monocytes ("scavenger cells") to encompass and destroy invading microbes. Accordingly, when T-4 lymphocytes are rendered non-functional by HIV infection, this complex immune defense system is destroyed and the host becomes susceptible to a wide range of opportunistic infections. In addition to T-4 lymphocytes, the HIV virus has also been shown to infect central nervous system cells, macrophages and B lymphocytes [J. M. Ismach, "AIDS: Can The Nation Cope", Medical World News (Aug. 25, 1985)].
The genome of retroviruses such as HIV contains three regions encoding structural proteins. The gag region encodes the core proteins of the virion. The pol region encodes the virion RNA-dependent DNA polymerase (reverse transcriptase). The env region encodes the major glycoprotein found in the membrane envelope of the virus and in the cytoplasmic membrane of infected cells. The capacity of the virus to attach to target cell receptors and to cause fusion of cell membranes are two HIV virus properties controlled by the env gene. These properties are believed to play a fundamental role in the pathogenesis of the virus.
HIV env proteins arise from a precursor polypeptide that, in mature form, is cleaved into a large heavily glycosylated exterior membrane protein of about 481 amino acids--gp120 --and a smaller transmembrane protein of about 345 amino acids which may be glycosylated--gp41 [L. Ratner et al., "Complete Nucleotide Sequence Of The Aids Virus, HTLV-III", Nature", 313, pp. 277-84 (1985)].
In the absence to date of effective treatments for AIDS, many efforts have centered on prevention of the disease. Such preventative measures include HIV antibody screening of all blood, organ and semen donors and education of AIDS high-risk groups regarding transmission of the disease.
Experimental or early-stage clinical treatment of AIDS and ARCS conditions have included the administration of antiviral drugs, such as HPA-23, phosphonoformate, suramin and ansamycin, which apparently interfere with replication of the virus by inhibiting its reverse transcriptase. Administration of some of these drugs in effective amounts has, however, been accompanied by undesirable and debilitating side effects. Other proposed methods for treating AIDS have focused the administration of alpha interferon or the application of hybridoma technology. Most of these treatment strategies are expected to require the co-administration of immunomodulators, such as interleukin-2. However, while some of these treatments are promising, none has been shown to be truly effective.
Recent studies have also demonstrated that HIV is experiencing genetic drift in humans. At least two classes of the virus have now been identified in AIDS patients in the United States. Furthermore, patients having high levels of HIV neutralizing antibodies suffer more serious forms of the disease than those patients with poor neutralizing capabilities [Dr. William Haseltine, speech at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, October 9, 1985]. These recent observations suggest serious obstacles to the development of an effective vaccine or monoclonal antibody-directed therapeutic method against HIV AIDS infections.
Accordingly, despite these developments to date, the need exists for the development of effective agents for the prevention, treatment and diagnosis of HIV and AIDS-related infections.

Peptides involved in the pathogenesis of HIV infection