In a system analysis apparatus, a per-SrcIP filter section captures packets in client-Web server segments on a per-SrcIP basis. An ON/OFF filter section allows captured packets to pass through only when its flag is set to “ON”. A request/response analysis section controls a flag of the ON/OFF filter section of the next segment so that the packets of the next segment are captured only when the present segment is in a response waiting statue. A range control section controls a SrcIP range of packets to be captured by the per-SrcIP filter section.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system analysis apparatus and a system analysis method for capturing flowing packets and performing transaction analysis in a multi-tiered server system connected to a high-speed network which exceeds, for instance, 1 Gbps (Giga bit per second). A multi-tiered server system is, for instance, a system in which servers configured in three tiers, namely a Web server, an application server (AP server) and a database server (DB server), perform predetermined processing by distributing the processing among the tiers.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a multi-tiered server system, system performance is analyzed by capturing flowing packets, performing packet analysis or transaction analysis, and either analyzing or visualizing the results thereof.
In packet analysis, captured packets are used for performing message-level analysis of TCP, application protocols (e.g., HTTP) or the like. In transaction analysis, the captured packets are used to analyze a processing time for each server or calling relationships among processing objects (OBJ) within each server on a per-transaction basis, such as operation A or B. In this description, transaction is defined as an association of a series of processing performed in response to a request from a client.
The result of the packet analysis or transaction analysis is either analyzed or visualized. For instance, the processing time of each server or calling relationships among processing objects (OBJ) within each server are visualized as system performance. Bottleneck analyses, tendency predictions and the like also fall into the same category of analysis or visualization processing. Such system analyses may be utilized when proposing countermeasures for systems in relation to determining problematic areas, adding required resources or switching networks.
There are two methods for analyzing systems. The first method involves temporarily storing captured packets into a disk or the like, and subsequently reading out the packets to perform packet analysis, transaction analysis and analysis/visualization. This method is called "cumulative analysis". The second method involves performing packet analysis, transaction analysis, and analysis or visualization of captured packets in real-time and displaying the analysis results. This method is called "real-time analysis".
As a conventional technique for capturing packets and performing transaction analysis, a technique related to a transaction tracing apparatus capable of easily extracting and analyzing an application log for a desired transaction from communication information collected from a transmission circuit, without consideration of protocol or application, has been described (for instance, refer to Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-128342).
An example of system analysis in a multi-tiered server system will now be described in detail.
FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of a system to which a system analysis apparatus may be applied. This system is a multi-tiered server system comprised of a Web server 131, an AP server 132 and a DB server 133. It is assumed that the system is capable of communicating with a client 140 via a network 150. A system analysis apparatus 110 captures packets flowing through a client 140-Web server 131 segment, a Web server 131-AP server 132 segment, and an AP server 132-DB server 133 segment. Transaction analysis is performed on the captured packets to analyze processing time for each server, or calling relationships among processing objects (OBJ) within each server on a per-transaction basis, such as operation A or B. A transaction is defined as an association of a series of processing performed in response to a request from a client 140.
FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a flow of system analysis processing. The system analysis apparatus 110 captures packets flowing through the client 140-Web server 131 segment, the Web server 131-AP server 132 segment, and the AP server 132-DB server 133 segment (P100). Packet analysis is performed on the captured packets (P101). Packet analysis is analysis processing performed at the message levels of TCP, application protocols (e.g., HTTP) or the like. The results of packet analysis are recorded as a protocol log 200. Next, transaction analysis is performed on the captured packets (P102). Transaction analysis is analysis processing performed in order to identify nesting relationships of messages, to extract transactions using matching or the like, and to associate objects. The results of transaction analysis are recorded as protocol correlation log/transaction data 210. Finally, the result of the packet analysis or transaction analysis is either analyzed or visualized (P103). In this example, the processing time of each server or calling relationships among processing objects (OBJ) within each server and the like are visualized as system performance.
FIGS. 17A and 17B are diagrams showing examples of visualization output of analysis results. In FIG. 17A, the total processing time of an operation transaction, respective processing times of the servers, and network time for each segment are visualized as transaction-based information. In FIG. 17B, calling relationships among objects and processing time for each object are visualized as object-based information.
In the system analysis apparatus 110 of FIG. 15, when attempting to capture all flowing packets using software, the system will reach its limit as packet communication speed approaches approximately 1 Gbps. In systems where communication speeds exceed 1 Gbps, it is difficult to directly capture packets using a single system analysis apparatus. In addition, there are no commercially available products for packet capturing processing which have capturing capabilities in excess of 1 Gbps. Therefore, as methods for capturing packets to perform transaction analysis in high-speed network systems with speeds in excess of 1 Gbps, two different methods for different uses may be contemplated, as shown in FIGS. 18A and 18B.
As shown in FIG. 18A, the first method captures all packets and performs analysis by either distributing processing load among a plurality of apparatuses or implementing processing in hardware. While this method results in an increase in processing load, the method is effective if it is desired to perform analysis by reliably capturing all events. As shown in FIG. 18B, the second method samples packets on a per-transaction basis, and performs analysis statistically by reducing processing load required for capturing and analyzing. This method is effective when it is desired to reduce processing load for assessing tendencies based on statistical information such as connection time.
In the first method shown in FIG. 18A, the sorting apparatus 300 of a previous stage sorts packets among the plurality of capture/analysis apparatuses 310 of a subsequent stage. This improves overall processing performance. The processing performed by the sorting apparatus 300 is a determination function in which packets are sorted according to a predefined sorting logic, and has a lighter processing load than the capture/analysis apparatuses 310 which handle processing such as memory copying or writing to disks. While the processing ceiling of the capture/analysis apparatuses 310 are around 1 Gbps, commercially available sorting apparatuses 300 have processing capabilities of around 4 Gbps. In addition, higher processing speeds may by achieved by implementing the sorting apparatus 300 as a hardware using ASIC or the like, and increasing the number of units of the capture/analysis apparatuses 310 of the subsequent stage.
In the second method shown in FIG. 18B, inputted packets are thinned out according to a predetermined rule to reduce overall throughput, and an overall tendency is estimated from a subset of collected inputted packets. Processing capability is enhanced by performing analysis statistically. These are all performable within a single capture/analysis apparatus 320. A sampling section 321 may be considered as being capable of having a similar throughput to the sorting apparatus 300 of a previous stage of FIG. 18A. Thus, a rough indication of its processing capability would be approximately 4 Gbps. Processing at the capture/analysis section 322 after sampling also depends on the sampling rate, and the lower the sampling rate, the lighter the processing load. For instance, inputted packets of 4 Gbps may be brought down to 400 Mbps by sampling at 10 percent. A rough indication of the processing capability in regards to packets after sampling would be approximately 1 Gbps. As in the case of FIG. 18A, higher processing speeds may by achieved by implementing the sampling processing portion as hardware.
The above-described second method will now be further considered. In order to realize the above-described second method in system analysis, it is necessary to perform sampling processing on a per-transaction basis. In other words, when capturing packets, packets are ideally sampled on a per-transaction basis through processing performed as close to real time as possible.
However, this has not been realized due to problems such as (a) to (d) described below.                (a) Examples of sampling techniques include sFlow by IETF. However, sFlow only performs sampling on a per-packet basis, and is incapable of performing sampling on a per-transaction basis, in other words, sampling of groups of packets containing a series of processing flows on a per-group basis.        (b) As an inherent characteristic of transaction analysis, transactions may be determined only after all or a certain amount of packets are captured and transaction analysis is performed collectively on the captured packets.        (c) Since different TCP connections may belong to the same transaction, transactions cannot be defined on a per-TCP connection basis.        (d) Since source IP addresses (hereinafter referred to as SrcIP) and destination IP addresses (hereinafter referred to as DstIP) are respectively the IP addresses of servers and remain constant through all transactions, transactions may not be separated by IP addresses in a Web server-AP server segment and an AP server-DB server segment.


The present invention concerns peptide sequences that specifically recognize cells of human hepatic metastases. The invention comprises also the use of nucleic acids coding for such peptides, as well as conjugates and formulations of such peptides for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.

Tumor and Metastatization
Tumorigenesis is a multi-stage process in which some cells progressively evolve toward malignity. The actual knowledge in the field of neoplasia underlines that cancer is a disease induced by dynamic changes of the genome. Through these variations, tumor cells acquire independence from various mechanisms that control the physiological functions of the organism. As a consequence, they become able of (1) growing continuously, (2) inducing the recruitment of endothelial cells for the formation of new blood vessels and (3) colonizing organs different from that of origin.
The proliferative capability of tumor cells is fundamentally due to two mechanisms. First, while normal cells need mitogenic factors to switch from a quiescent condition to an active, proliferating one, in tumor cells mutations and/or overexpression of growth factor receptors can induce the proliferation cascade independently from the presence of a ligand. Moreover, in many cases, tumor cells acquire the ability to synthesize soluble factors they are sensitive to. So, an autocrine stimulation is set up, which further enhances the tumor growth. The other phenomenon of deregulation of the cell growth in tumors is the resistance to apoptosis (programmed cell death). This mechanism, fundamental in the growth and remodeling of organs during the physiological development, is induced also in the case of non-reversible genome damages, to avoid the expansion of aberrant cell population. Some cells, however, can escape this kind of protection and become independent, thus favoring the propagation of mutations and the consequent neoplastic progression.
A primordial tumor mass is constituted by a small cell number, and could not develop over 2 mm in diameter if not sustained by adequate feed and oxygen support. This is the phase in which angiogenesis, the formation of new blood capillaries from pre-existing blood vessels, is strongly stimulated by tumor cells themselves. The unbalance between positive and negative signals of the angiogenesis regulation leads to the neo-formation of a vascular network that penetrates and feeds the actively proliferating tumor mass. Tumor blood vessels, besides providing the nutrition, have the function of carrying malignant cells toward other body districts.
Tumor progression evolves toward an irreversibility stage, whose characteristic feature is metastatization. In this process, pioneer cells escape from the primary tumor mass. Once entered into the capillaries that fill the tumor, they reach the bloodstream, which carries them in regions distant from the site of derivation, where they will give raise to a secondary tumor.
The development of metastasis represents a complex biological event, related to the interactions between intrinsic factors of the organism (general conditions, integrity of the immune response) and specific features of tumor cells (localization, size and histological patterns). From the microscopic primary site, the diffusion of tumor cells is first local, through a centrifugal spreading. By producing proteases that degrade the intercellular connections and the extracellular matrix, tumor cells invade anatomic structures and tissues that are scarcely resistant (fat tissue, nerve sheaths, bone marrow).
A first obstacle to the metastatic diffusion is offered by the presence of relatively impenetrable structures, such as the organ capsules, cartilage or periostium, the meninx. Due to the difficulty of going beyond these boundaries, metastatization in distant sites must follow steps that can be summarized as follows: (1) entrance into the tumor capillary network by a mechanism called "intravasation", (2) transport through the bloodstream, (3) specific recognition of the destination endothelium, (4) exit from the capillary by a mechanism called "extravasation" and (5) metastasis development, supported by active angiogenesis.
The success of dissemination depends on the anatomical features and on the hemodynamic factors of the host organism, and on the interactions that tumor cells undergo with the endothelium lining the blood vessels. The most common pathways of diffusion are the vessels (lymphatic and blood) and the celomatic cavities. Lymphatic vessels are quite easily penetrated, because of the absence of a basal lamina. So, tumor cells can easily transit into the lymph nodes, before entering the venous system through the lymphatic-venous connections. The transport into the vessels can affect both arterious and venous system, even if the venous invasion is more common, because the venous circulation collects the flux exiting from organs. Typical examples are the systemic vein for the lung or the port vein for the liver. The trans-celomatic dissemination instead concerns the pleural cavity of the chest and the peritoneal spaces of the abdomen and pelvis. The most commonly involved site is peritoneum, where, after pouring liquids due to the obstruction of the hepatic veins, tumor cells are collected in the ascitic fluid. Stomach, colon, pancreas and ovary cancers usually take this system.
Tumor metastatic cells express specific molecular determinants that contribute in various ways to the metastasis itself. The distribution of metastasis is not casual, but each tumor has preferential addresses, this is known as organo-tropism. Liver is a target organ for colorectal tumors; bones for prostate and ovary tumors; lungs for testis, bone and breast tumors. Lungs and liver, due to their filter function and to the presence of a huge number of capillaries, can receive metastases virtually from every organ and also send tumor colonies, mainly toward brain and bones.
The liver is a common site for metastatic lesions. The reason has to be searched in the functional and structural organization of the hepatic district. The port vein, which drains the blood to the abdominal viscera, represents the conduct through which the cells coming from the primary tumors are veiculated to the liver. The adhesion of circulating tumor cells to liver endothelium is a critical step for the beginning of metastatization. Hepatic metastases develop as a consequence of the invasion of the hepatic parenchyma by these cell thrombi.
The high volume of hepatic blood flux (about 25% of the cardiac flux), and the particular microscopic anatomy of the sinusoids are the factors that favor the hepatic dissemination. The primary tumor may be localized in the gastro-intestinal tract, i.e. colon, rectum, stomach, pancreas, biliary tract and bowel. To those, also tumors of the breast and lung may be added.
Colorectal Tumor
Different kinds of classification exist that, in general, divide the progressive evolution of the disease in steps characterized by the degree of body invasion of that tumor. The Dukes and MAC (Modified Astler-Coller) classifications, proposed at the beginning of the clinical studies, are now the less used. Generally, the TNM (Tumor Node Metastasis) classification is preferred, which includes four successive stages:                stage I: tumor limited to the mucosa and the sub-mucosa;        stage II: extension to deeper layers of the intestinal wall;        stage III: invasion of sub-sierosa and lymph nodes;        stage IV: metastasis.
The therapeutic approaches more common by now are surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The kind of clinical strategy is chosen based on the stage in which the pathology is. In general, the following protocols are used:                stage I: surgery (colostomy);        stage II: surgery can be associated to chemotherapy;        stage III: surgery is in any case associated with chemotherapy;        stage IV: palliative treatment with surgery and/or chemotherapy.
Liver is the most frequent site of colonization by primary colorectal cancer. Currently, the only treatment with a curative potential is surgical removal of metastases. However, despite the increasingly effective means of the hepatic surgery, most patients with liver metastases are not amenable for surgery, because of the extension of their tumor mass.
A Different Approach to Cancer Therapy: Attacking Tumor Blood Vessels
The chemotherapic drugs currently used are between the drugs with the most narrow therapeutic window in the whole medical field. As a consequence, the dose of antitumor drugs that can be administered is limited by the toxic effects on normal tissues. This difficulty can be overcome by targeting cytotoxic drugs to the tumor itself. Even if this has been a goal for long time in cancer biology and in oncological medicine, right now only few examples are known in which the target administration of a drug is possible. For example, the use of monoclonal antibodies against tumor antigens had a limited success, since only a few tumor antigens are known and generally antibodies poorly penetrate into tissues. Moreover, since tumor cells are genetically instable and growth-advantageous mutations accumulate, tumor cell-targeted treatments are generally followed by clonal selection of resistant cells.
The targeting of therapy to the tumor vascular network allows to overcome some of the problems related to traditional therapy. Endothelial cells in the tumor vascular system express molecules peculiar of anogiogenic vessels. Vascular targeting offers several advantages. First, endothelial lining is easily accessible. On the contrary, a tumor-targeted drug needs to diffuse on long distances, penetrate into tightly bound tumor cells and in a very dense stroma, and contrast a very high interstitial pressure. Second, since tumor cells depend on blood supply for their growth, a tumor therapy addressed to the vessels does not need to lead to the destruction of all the endothelial cells. Indeed, endothelium-target therapy has an intrinsic amplification mechanism. Finally, since endothelial cells are diploid and not transformed, it is improbable that they loose the expression of a surface receptor or acquire drug resistance through mutations and clonal evolution. Some endothelial markers have been recently identified. Among these molecules there are some integrins, particularly αvβ3 and αvβ5 and endothelial tyrosine kinase receptors with their cognate ligands (VEGF receptors and the various VEGFs, Tie1, Tie2 and angiopietins).
Peptides that Target a Mouse Model of Human Tumor: Discovery of Tumor Endothelial Markers
By phage display studies performed in vivo in different animal models peptide sequences have been identified which are able to selectively target tumor vascularization. These sequences proved to be a valid instrument to characterize tumor endothelium and its specific molecular determinants, and to develop biotechnological applications in tumor therapy.
In this way, recurrent peptide sequences have been identified, such as RGD (Arginin-Glycin-Aspartic acid) and NGR (Asparagin-Glycin-Arginin). The RGD motif is embedded in the sequence of several proteins of the extracellular matrix and represents their interaction site with integrins. A phage that presents the CDRGDCFC (SEQ ID NO: 203) sequence, named RGD-4C, is able to specifically target breast tumors, and to selectively bind the αvβ3 and αvβ5 integrins. In vitro experiments demonstrated that RGD-containing peptides inhibit cell-cell adhesion thus inducing apoptosis. So, it has been thought that the RGD peptide, without further modification, can act as an antiangiogenic drug, leading to cell death after disruption of the cell-matrix interactions. Also the NGR peptide binds integrins, even if with minor affinity compared to RGD. The specific receptor for the NGR sequence has been successively identified in another membrane protein, aminopeptidase N (APN), overexpressed in vascular structures in active angiogenesis and not detectable in quiescent endothelium. It has been demonstrated that APN specific antibodies can inhibit retinal neovascularization induced by hypoxia in the mouse. In the same way, mice treated with anti-APN antibodies have breast tumors strongly regressed compared to the control group.
In another set of studies peptides that specifically bind the NG2 proteoglycan have been identified, a mouse homolog of HMP (human melanoma proteoglycan), also known as Molecular Weight Melanoma-Associated Antigen. This proteoglycan is mainly expressed by glial progenitor cells, skeletal muscle and cartilage. After the differentiation, the NG2 surface expression is lost. In adults, its presence is limited to vessels in active angiogenesis in some tumor kinds, among which glioblastoma, condrosarcoma, melanoma, and some leukemias. In a nude mice bearing a malignant melanoma, an anti-NG2 antibody conjugated with doxorubicin suppresses tumor growth.
Peptides as Antitumor Drugs
Remodeling of the extracellular matrix is common both to endothelial activation and neoplastic invasion, and need the action of particular enzymes called Matrix Metallo-Proteases (MMP). These proteases, overexpressed in the tumor, are almost absent in normal tissues, except in cell migration and tissue remodeling events during morphogenesis. Synthetic inhibitors of two such proteases, MMP-2 (Gelatinase A; 72 Kd) and MMP-9 (Gelatinase B; 92 Kd), which are the more strictly involved proteases in angiogenesis and metastatic potential, have been isolated by phage display. From this study, it has been shown that the most represented clones express the LRSGRG (SEQ ID NO: 204) sequence derived from a CX6C library. Another protein family, identified from a CX9 collection, is the one with the HWGF (SEQ ID NO: 205) motif. Soluble peptides containing the HWGF (SEQ ID NO: 205) motif show in vitro inhibitory activity against MMP-9. These peptides inhibit the migration of tumor cell lines and of endothelial cells derived from human umbilical cord. In vivo, they are efficient in inhibiting tumor growth and in preventing the appearance of metastases.
Use of Peptides in Biotechnologically Innovative Antitumor Therapies
As described previously, peptides specifically associated to tumor endothelial markers or tumor cells have been successfully employed in therapeutic protocols in the mouse. A second approach has been investigated, conjugating RGD-4C and CNGRC (SEQ ID NO: 207) peptides to the chemotherapic drug doxorubicin, and using this compound for the treatment of breast tumors in mice. Animals subjected to this therapy survived up to six months, demonstrating that this compound is able to inhibit both primary tumor and metastasis development with higher efficacy and lower toxicity compared to systemic administration.
In a third set of applications, chimeric peptides have been made, which possess two functional domains. The former can selectively bind to the target cell and be internalized; the latter is pro-apoptotic, non toxic in body fluids but only in the intracellular environment. More than 100 peptides exist that act causing the destruction of mitochondrial membranes and induction of apoptosis. Among these, a 14 aa sequence has been selected, KLAKLAKKLAKLAK (SEQ ID NO: 206), which demonstrated to have a strong antibiotic potential in the form of D-enantiomer. The peptides RGD-4C and CNGRC (SEQ ID NO: 207) have been coupled to this peptide. It has been found that these compounds cause mitochondrial alterations and lead to morphological variations typical of an apoptotic status, such as condensation and fragmentation of the nuclear structures. These results have been confirmed in vivo: mice to which the antitumor agent has been administered show tumors of reduced size and survive for several months.

Metastasis-specific peptides and their diagnostic and therapeutic applications


A method for auctioning an asset, the method including: displaying a description of the asset; receiving a bid from a bidder, each bid having a price the bidder is willing to pay and a number of other bidders with which the bidder is willing to share the asset; solving an optimization problem that maximizes revenue by determining a first set of winning bidders; determining a first sum by summing the prices offered by the bidders in the first set; solving the optimization problem with the winning bidders excluded to determine a second set of winning bidders; determining a second sum by summing the prices offered by the bidders in the second set; allocating the asset to each bidder in the first set; and charging each bidder in the first set a payment derived from at least one of the first sum and the second sum.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to techniques for auctioning assets that can be shared to maximize revenue.
2. Description of the Related Art
Intangible assets such as patents, know-how and intellectual property can be rapidly appreciating assets, but they are highly illiquid. Patent holders are eager for alternative means for monetizing their ideas and intellectual assets. A major hindrance in monetizing intangible intellectual assets is the lack of an outlet to trade such assets. From the buyer side, acquiring patents and attendant know-how can be the key to market leadership in developing new products and services. This problem has been identified as a key challenge by many companies.
For patent and other intellectual property (IP) marketplaces to take off in a significant way, they must (i) differentiate the quality of patents, (ii) ensure market participants act with integrity, (iii) provide flexible market infrastructure supporting different forms of innovation, and lastly but importantly (iv) generate IP value fairly for all participants based on open market dynamics. All of these factors depend on whether or not such markets use mechanisms that are efficient and robust to manipulation.
One feature of flexible IP marketplaces is that they support various forms of ownership. For example, a patent license can either be given exclusively to a single entity, or it can be given non-exclusively to two or more companies (e.g., licenses for using a type cell phone technology). However, if an entity is sharing an IP license, the value the entity can derive from the license is necessarily reduced if the entity shares the license with k (k representing a number) others as opposed to if the entity were to not share the license, or share the license with k−1 other entities. The entity selling the IP license can decide on how many will share the license depending on what number of licensees will maximize the entity's total revenue.
The problem of maximizing the total revenue received from selling non-exclusive licenses is not unique to IP markets. For example, how does a golf club maximize revenue from selling golf club memberships? The value derived depends on exclusivity of the memberships. Of course, the value or utility each member derives depends on whether 100 people share it, or 500 people share it. But how is the golf club to determine how many people to grant membership to maximize its revenue? Another potential market needing to maximize revenue for selling non-exclusive assets is the market for selling rare or limited collector items such as limited edition cars. The car maker needs to determine how many limited edition cars to make.
Therefore, what are needed are techniques that maximize revenue for selling assets that may have non-exclusive use.

Method and system for auction of assets with non-exclusivity of use

International Business Machines Corporation


An acoustic lens for the transformation of a planar wave into a spherical segment-shaped wave, and vice versa, is disclosed. In order to avoid aberrations, the lens is fashioned rotationally symmetrical relative to its center axis and biconcavely, the lens surface adjoining the medium in which the planar wave propagates is produced by the rotation of a section of a straight line, the lens surface adjoining the medium in which the spherical segment-shaped wave propagates is produced by the rotation of a section of an ellipse, and the angle between the straight line and the center axis as well as the angle between the major half-axis of the ellipse and the center axis are selected such that a planar or spherical segment-shaped wave entering into the lens propagates in the lens as a conical wave whose aperture angle is equal to double the angle at which the minor half-axis of the ellipse intersects the center axis.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to an acoustic lens of the type for the transformation of a planar acoustic wave into a spherical segment-shaped acoustic wave and vice versa, for use with media in which the planar or spherical segment-shaped waves propagate having a sound propagation speed therein which is lower than the sound propagation speed in the lens material.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A number of proposals for realizing a lens of the type generally described above are known from the publication "Das elktromagnetische Stosswellensystem von Siemens", by G. Buchholtz et al., Siemens AG, Bereich Medizinische Technik, November 1991, pages 29-33. For example, lenses are known wherein the lens surface adjoining the medium wherein the planar wave propagates is spherically fashioned. In this case, the lens surface that adjoins the medium wherein the spherical segment-shaped wave propagates can be spherically or elliptically fashioned. An elliptical fashioning of both lens surfaces is also known. Further, it is known to fashion the lens surface adjoining the medium wherein the planar wave propagates hyperbolically and to fashion the other lens surface spherically. More or less pronounced aberrations occur in the case of all these lens geometries.
German OS DE 39 24 919 also discloses an acoustic lens having one lens surface formed by two different aspherical surfaces.
Further, U.S. Pat. No. 4,844,198 discloses a focusing arrangement for planar acoustic waves which has two reflector surfaces, one having a parabolic shape and the other having an elliptical shape.
Further, U.S. Pat. No. 4,553,629 discloses an acoustic lens having an elliptical contour with lens surfaces defined by a system of non-linear, partial differential equations.


The present invention features compositions and methods for amplifying a target oligonucleotide in a sample, including detection of the target oligonucleotide in real time.

While methods of nucleic acid amplification are common and well-known, nucleic acid amplification reactions still suffer from unpredictable and/or poor performance due in large part to the difficulties associated with primer design. The unpredictability of nucleic acid amplification reactions is due in large part to a lack of sequence-predictable design parameters for primer and probes that allow a quantitative assessment of target-specific prime and probe hybridization versus off-target binding, self/self and self/non-self dimerization. Indeed, variability in the selection of possible primer sequences and sequence constraints imposed by target nucleic acid sequences, has made it difficult to empirically and systematically interrogate the landscape of primer combinations and their outcomes.
PCR assay-based design parameters have focused on primer and probe melting temperatures, GC (guanine and cytosine) content, primer length, and minimizing interactions of the primer with all but the target nucleic acid (see e.g., premier biosoft primer design website). In particular, use of a primer having intermolecular interactions with itself (e.g., primer-dimers) is highly discouraged, as such primers are believed to undesirably affect the interaction of the primer with the target nucleic acid molecule. Additionally, it is proposed that the optimal length of nucleic acid primers is 18-22 nucleotides, which is considered long enough for adequate specificity and short enough for primers to bind easily to the template at the annealing temperature. Regarding GC content, a GC content of 40-60% is recommended. Erroneously, common assay design practice assumes that when all the above mentioned parameters are designed equally for a forward and reverse primer of an amplification assay the hybridization kinetics of these two primers will turn out similar as well. None of these commonly used design parameters adequately correlate with complex thermodynamics of two stage oligonucleotide hybridization, which involves changes in enthalpy, entropy, solvation, nearest neighbor effects, and hydrogen bonding in the transition from the single stranded from to the double stranded hybrid stage. Moreover, even the use of the two stage model of oligonucleotide hybridization as the foundation of thermodynamic algorithms is overly simplified and does not reflect the real situation accurately. Therefore, the performance of primers meeting all of the recommended criteria remains unpredictable.
Progress in determining the effectiveness of a set of primers to predictably amplify a target nucleic acid under essentially isothermal conditions has the potential to reduce the expenditure of resources, including the effort, time, and expense of synthesizing and empirically testing a large multitude of primer sets (e.g., designing multiple primers and pairwise screening of multiple primer combinations). New parameters and methods are required to enhance and better predict the performance and yield of nucleic acid amplification reactions.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Compositions and methods for enhancing and/or predicting DNA amplification


In a method of encoding a television signal in accordance with a plurality of operations each providing another distribution of temporal and/or spatial distribution, at least one of said operations including estimation of motion vectors for first frames out of pairs of television frames and/or estimation of pointers to motion vectors for second frames out of said pairs of television frames, said method further comprising encoding a digitally assisting signal into binary codewords comprising informations about said motion vectors, said pointers and/or according to which one of said plurality of operations the television signal is encoded, a Hamming-distance between a first codeword indicating an operation providing a maximum spatial resolution, and a second codeword indicating an operation providing a maximum temporal resolution, is at least one half the number of bits of each codeword, so that a fail-safe and efficient method is obtained.

The invention relates to a method of encoding a television signal in accordance with a plurality of operations each providing another distribution of temporal and/or spatial distribution, at least one of said operations including estimation of motion vectors for first frames out of pairs of television frames and/or estimation of pointers to motion vectors for second frames out of said pairs of television frames, said method further comprising encoding a digitally assisting signal into binary codewords comprising informations about said motion vectors, said pointers and/or according to which one of said plurality of operations the television signal is encoded.
The invention also relates to a method of decoding a television signal in accordance with a plurality of operations each providing another distribution of temporal and/or spatial distribution, at least one of said operations including motion compensated interpolation using motion vectors for first frames out of pairs of television frames and/or using pointers to motion vectors for second frames out of said pairs of television frames, said method further comprising decoding a digitally assisting signal having binary codewords comprising informations about said motion vectors, said pointers and/or according to which one of a plurality of encoding operations the television signal is encoded.
The invention further relates to apparatus for encoding a television signal comprising a plurality of means for operations each providing another distribution of temporal and/or spatial distribution, at least one of said means including means for estimating motion vectors for first frames out of pairs of television frames and/or estimating pointers to motion vectors for second frames out of said pairs of television frames, said apparatus further comprising means for encoding a digitally assisting signal into binary codewords comprising informations about said motion vectors, said pointers and/or according to which one of said plurality of operations the television signal is encoded.
The invention still further relates to apparatus for decoding a television signal comprising a plurality of means for operating on said television signal each providing another distribution of temporal and/or spatial distribution, at least one of said operating means including motion compensated interpolation means using motion vectors for first frames out of pairs of television frames and/or using pointers to motion vectors for second frames out of said pairs of television frames, said apparatus further comprising means for decoding a digitally assisting signal having binary codewords comprising informations about said motion vectors, said pointers and/or according to which one of a plurality of encoding operations the television signal is encoded.
The invention finally relates to encoding and decoding means for use with said encoding and decoding apparati.
Such methods and apparati are described in the non-prepublished French patent application no. 88.08301, filed 21.06.88 (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 366,802, filed June 14, 1989). In that application it is not yet described how to encode the digitally assisting signal into the binary codewords.

DATV encoding and decoding method and apparatus


A single glass panel for a fire door and a double glazed glass panel for a fire door that have a fireproofness with which the glass sheet passes an international standard ISO 0834 flame insulating performance test and are as inexpensive as possible. For example, the single glass panel for a fire door is obtained by forming a heat reflecting coating with a low emissivity on at least one surface of a glass sheet that is a heat strengthened glass sheet or is more thermally strengthened than a heat strengthened glass sheet, and the double glazed glass panel for a fire door includes a first glass sheet (2B) obtained by forming a heat reflecting coating (4) with an emissivity of 0.07 or less on at least one surface of a glass sheet that is a heat strengthened glass sheet or is more thermally strengthened than a heat strengthened glass sheet and a second glass sheet (2C) that is a heat strengthened glass sheet or is a glass sheet more thermally strengthened than a heat strengthened glass sheet, the first glass sheet (2B) and the second glass sheet (2C) being arranged to face each other with a gap therebetween such that at least one layer of said heat reflecting coating (4) is placed between the two glass sheets (2B) and (2C).

Patent Document 1, shown below as a prior art document related to this type of a single glass panel for a fire door or a double glazed glass panel for a fire door, proposes, as a glass panel for a fire door, a glass panel obtained by forming a heat reflecting coating (Low-E coating) on at least one surface of a fireproof glass sheet such as a low expansion glass sheet, wired glass sheet and transparent crystallized glass sheet, and a double glazed glass panel obtained by combining this fireproof glass sheet and a standard glass sheet, which is not a fireproof glass sheet. Patent Document 1 states that the heat reflecting coating is used only for the purpose of restricting the conduction of radiant heat given off by a fire and preventing the temperature in rooms where a fire has not broken out from increasing while maintaining the transparency of the glass sheet.
Substantially similarly to Patent Document 1, Patent Document 2, shown below as another prior art document, also proposes, as a glass panel for a fire door, a single fireproof glass sheet in which a heat reflecting coating and an antioxidation coating are formed on at least one surface thereof, and a double glazed glass panel obtained by combining this fireproof glass sheet and another fireproof glass sheet. This document also states that the heat reflecting coating is used only for preventing a fire from spreading to adjacent rooms due to a heat insulating effect while maintaining the transparency of the glass sheet even when the fire breaks out.

Single glass panel for fire door and double glazed glass panel for fire door


Provided are a driving device and driving method for a display panel. The driving method comprises: firstly, acquiring a target voltage of a first voltage module; secondly, comparing the target voltage with a first pre-set voltage so as to obtain a comparison result; then, the first voltage module outputting, based on the comparison result and the first pre-set voltage, a first common voltage, and sending the comparison result to a second voltage module; finally, the second voltage module outputting, according to the comparison result and a second pre-set voltage, a second common voltage.

The description herein provides only background information related to this application, but does not necessarily constitute the existing technology.
With regard to the problem that a viewing angle of a liquid crystal display panel is not wide enough, it is currently popular to divide a pixel into a main pixel and a sub-pixel, and drop out a voltage of the sub-pixel to a lower level to ensure brightness performance for a side viewing angle. A dual common-electrode (CF-VCOM, Array-VCOM) design is recently proposed for discharging sub-pixels. By dropping out a voltage of a sub-pixel of a liquid crystal to an Array-VCOM voltage, a voltage difference between both ends of the liquid crystal of the sub-pixel is a difference between the Array-VCOM and the CF-VCOM.
Currently, the two VCOM voltages are provided by independent power supplies. However, the voltages are not interlinked. Therefore, a fixed voltage difference cannot be achieved.

Driving method and device for display panel


Techniques described and suggested herein include systems and methods for identifying potential sources of infections of devices by unauthorized code. In an embodiment, network traffic is logged. A plurality of computing devices that include unauthorized code is identified. The logged traffic is used to identify information sources accessed by the identified affected devices. The identified information sources may be refined. Refinement of the identified information sources may include excluding information sources that have been accessed by uninfected devices. A user interface that allows a user to further refine the identified information sources may be provided.

Corporations and other organizations often employ computer networks in order to facilitate their operations. Many employees are provided computers that facilitate in the performance of their duties. An employee's computer, for example, may be used to access various systems internal to the organization, including applications and databases to which public access is restricted. While internal computer networks can provide a robust set of tools for an organization, typically access to external computer networks, such as the Internet, is desirable. Many third party services provided to organizations are offered through websites and often employees need access to the Internet for general research, for purchasing goods and/or services for the organization, and for other reasons. As a result, organizations' internal networks often provide access to the Internet in order to provide employees important tools for performing their roles within the organization. The Internet, however, is a vast and dynamically changing resource that presents numerous security challenges for an organization. Accessing certain websites, for instance, may create a risk that the website will cause malicious software to be installed on the computer used to access the website. Such malicious software may be used to cause affected computers to participate in activity harmful to the organization and/or to others, such as denial-of-service attacks, dispatch of unsolicited bulk electronic mail messages (often referred to as "spam"), unauthorized access of the organization's confidential information, and other activities that, at the very least, cause additional load on the organization's resources.
In order to effectively respond to the threat of malicious software, it is often important to identify the source of the malicious software. Identifying the source of malicious software can facilitate various techniques for preventing malicious software's harmful effects. Such techniques may include modification of anti-virus software, blocking communication with identified sources of malicious software, and the like. Because the effects of malicious software can quickly cause significant damage to an organization, quick and effective identification of malicious software sources can enable an organization to maintain functionality of its systems to reduce the risk of significant harm.

Techniques for identifying sources of unauthorized code


A securing structure for motor magnets includes a casing, a rotor, two magnets, a rear cover and a ring sleeve. The casing has two magnet seats bilaterally disposed on the outer wall, wherein the two magnets are fittingly combined in the two magnet seats and thus providing electrical force to the rotor, while the rotor disposed inside the casing. The rear cover and a brush fixing seat coaxially sleeve on one end of the casing. The ring sleeve mounts around the casing to offer an external restraining force to the magnets.

1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to a motor magnetic structure, and more particularly to a securing structure for motor magnets.
2. Description of the Related Art:
The electrical current passing the rotor wire of conventional Motors is provided by an external power, whereby the magnetic field of the wire is generated and interacts with the magnetic field of the stator, in order to enable the rotor to rotate. A motor mainly contains a casing, a rotor, and a plurality of magnets (stators). Two positioning members pre-installed in the casing are respectively applied to secure one end of each magnet, thereby securing a total of two magnets in two opposite positions on the interior wall of the casing, while at least one separating member is disposed between the other ends of the two magnets, in order to make the two magnets completely fixed on the casing. Afterward, the rotor is installed therein. Because the magnet is disposed on the interior wall of the casing, it is named as an "interior magnet". Installing a rotor into a motor with interior magnets may face greater difficulty. As a result of the relative magnetic effect between the rotor and magnets, the rotor is easy to deviate from the central axle and thus be stuck on the casing during the installation into the casing. Therefore repetitive failures must he experienced by users before accurately aligning the rotor with the central axle and successfully installing the rotor. This structure fails to meet current demands of installation, and thus desirable to be improved.


Styrene-based copolymers having acid monomer units, dispersions, preparation method and use thereof are provided. The styrene-based copolymer is prepared by polymerizing styrene, one or more acid monomers, and optionally butadiene at a temperature of 40° C. or greater and then is vulcanized. The obtained styrene-based copolymer is used in asphalt-based systems.

Styrene-butadiene polymer dispersions are useful in the production of several products, including vehicle tires, carpet backing, adhesives, foams, paper coatings and asphalt emulsions. There are two common methods for producing styrene-butadiene copolymer dispersions: a low temperature method (i.e., cold polymerization) and a high temperature method (i.e., hot polymerization). The low temperature method of producing styrene-butadiene copolymer dispersions involves polymerizing styrene and butadiene monomers at temperatures typically between 5° C. and 25° C. in the presence of a surfactant and in the absence of a carboxylated acid comonomer to produce a "cold" styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) copolymer. The low temperature method can be used to make high molecular weight polymers without introducing excess crosslinking. Unlike the low temperature method, the high temperature method for producing styrene-butadiene copolymer dispersions involves polymerizing styrene and butadiene monomers at temperatures in excess of 40° C., and generally in the range of 50-95° C., in the presence of a surfactant and a carboxylated acid monomer.
The low temperature method of producing styrene-butadiene copolymer dispersions has generally been used for producing styrene-butadiene polymer dispersions for many of the above-described uses because it can be agglomerated to produce a high solids content dispersion typically in excess of 65% solids and can be crosslinked (i.e., cured) to increase the tensile strength of the SBR without significantly reducing its elongation. The hot polymerization method, on the other hand, generally is believed to be only useful for producing styrene-butadiene copolymer dispersions having a narrow particle size distribution and a solids content below 55% making the dispersions useful for products such as paper coatings where polymer solids greater than 60% are not required and where the presence of carboxylation provides latex particle stability in the high shear environments encountered in the production of such products. Therefore, the hot polymerization method has generally only been desirable for paper coatings and some low solids pressure sensitive adhesive applications.
One issue with low temperature SBR aqueous dispersions is that they generally cannot be used in hot mix asphalt formulations such as those used in road paving and asphalt shingle applications. Hot mix asphalt formulations for road paving must comply with the requirements set forth in the Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP) including having a desired dynamic shear modulus and stiffness. High molecular weight non-carboxylated SBR aqueous dispersions produce an undesired increase in viscosity of the hot mix asphalt formulation, making it difficult to uniformly apply the formulation to a surface. Low molecular weight non-carboxylated latex polymers can produce lower viscosity hot mix asphalt formulations; however, they do not have the desired SHRP performance properties.

Styrene-based copolymers having acid monomer units and dispersions thereof


In various implementations, improvement of a business intelligence ecosystem may include analyzing component(s) of a business intelligence ecosystem, identifying candidate improvements, applying at least a portion of candidate improvements, and/or verifying effects of the candidate improvements. Candidate improvements for business intelligence artifact(s), underlying data sources, BI environment configurations, metadata models, and/or computing resources may be analyzed and identified.

Business intelligence (BI) systems have gained widespread acceptance across many industries and are intended to support better business decision-making. In modern business, increasing standards, automation, and technologies have led to vast amounts of data becoming available. BI systems make it possible to collect, identify, extract, analyze, and report business data in a User- and business-friendly manner. As a general matter, improvement of the design, configuration, efficiency, maintainability, and/or other aspects of the BI ecosystem may improve the utility of the BI system to the business. Accordingly, systems and methods for computer-assisted improvement of a BI ecosystem may improve the utility of BI systems.

System and method for computer-assisted improvement of business intelligence ecosystem


A software code testing system includes sub-engines and a test case database storing test cases. A test case sub-engine runs each of the test cases on a plurality of software code modules, and a software code coverage determination sub-engine identifies a respective software code coverage for each software code method included in each of the software code modules. A test case/software code coverage mapping sub-engine then maps the respective software code coverage for each of the software code methods included in each of the software code modules with the respective test case that was run on that software code module to provide a test case/software code coverage mapping, which is used by a test suite optimization sub-engine to generate a test suite that includes a subset of the test cases that provide a desired level of software code coverage using a minimum number of test cases.

The present disclosure relates generally to information handling systems, and more particularly to testing software code that is implemented on information handling systems.
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Information handling systems are sometimes utilized to test software code implemented on other information handling systems provided by, for example, server devices and/or other computing devices. For example, it is desirable to periodically test completed software products that are integrated into such computing devices, and the testing of the software code that provides those software products is conducted by performing a series of tests that attempt to "exercise" or run as much of that software code that will be implemented on the computing devices as possible. "Test cases" that operate to run the software code during testing may be built around the specifications, requirements, and design of the different software code modules or functionality performed by the software product based on, for example, external descriptions of the software product. However, the "coverage" of the software code being tested (e.g., the portion of the software code in the software product that is actually tested using the test cases) in such conventional software code testing systems often relies on the experience of the user performing the testing. As such, the actual software code coverage from conventional software code testing of a software product is unknown, and the user performing the tests will often simply just run all available test cases in an attempt to maximize that software code coverage. Furthermore, users performing testing often judge whether software code testing is sufficient for particular software code based on the functionality specification of the software code and the user's experience (and without considering the internal logical structure of the software code), and when software code functionality changes those users often retest the entire software code with all of the test cases, which can cause a relatively high number of invalid test executions and can waste testing resources. As such, software code testing can be inefficient, with multiple test cases exercising or running the same software code in an attempt to maximize software code coverage, or a set of limited test cases failing to exercise or run portions of the software code in exchange for a quicker software code testing process.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a software code testing system that addresses the issues discussed above.


A planar circuit having a conductive film on either main surface of a substrate. The conductive film on one of the main surfaces is patterned with two-dimensionally and repeatedly arranged unit cells, which are basic conductor patterns. Each of the unit cells has a capacitive region at the center thereof. Capacitance is induced between the center area and the conductor film formed on the main surface of the substrate opposite the center area. An area located near the middle of each of sides in the peripheral portion serves as an inductive region. In any two adjacent unit cells, the inductive regions have a multiple spiral-shaped conductor pattern, in which the center ends thereof are connected to each other at a halfway position between the two unit cells, and the outer peripheral ends thereof are connected to the capacitive regions.

A variety of transmission lines are used for transmission lines in microwave bands and millimeter-wave bands. Examples of the transmission lines include a grounded coplanar transmission line including a dielectric plate having a ground electrode on the substantially entire first surface thereof and a coplanar on the second surface thereof, a grounded slot transmission line including a dielectric plate having a ground electrode on the first surface thereof and a slot on the second surface thereof, and a planar dielectric transmission line (PDTL) including a dielectric plate having opposing slots on either surface thereof.
These transmission lines have a structure including two parallel planar conductors. Accordingly, for example, if an electromagnetic field is disturbed at input and output portions or a bent portion of the transmission line, a spurious mode wave, such as a so-called parallel plate mode wave, is induced between the two parallel planar conductors. The spurious mode wave (hereinafter simply referred to as an "unwanted wave") disadvantageously propagate between the two parallel planar conductors. If unwanted waves propagate (leak), the unwanted waves interfere with each other between neighboring transmission lines, and therefore, a problem of signal leakage occurs. In addition, since partial energy of the propagation waves leaks in the form of unwanted waves, the partial energy is not reconstructed as transmitted waves. Consequently, transmission loss occurs.
Non-patent document 1 and Patent document 1 describe transmission lines in which a unit cell pattern including a capacitive region and an inductive region is repeatedly arranged in two-dimensional directions (longitudinal and transverse directions) to prevent such propagation of unwanted waves.
FIG. 1(A) illustrates the pattern of a unit cell formed on a substrate described in Non-Patent Document 1. FIG. 1(B) illustrates an example of a band gap caused by a planar circuit described in Non-Patent Document 1. In the planar circuit according to Non-Patent Document 1, the unit cell illustrated in FIG. 1(A) is arranged on an upper surface of the substrate in two-dimensional directions. A ground electrode is formed on the entire lower surface. Let Γ be the center of the unit cell, X be an end of the unit cell extending from Γ in an X-axis direction, and M be an end of the unit cell extending from X in a Y direction. Then, FIG. 1(B) illustrates the frequencies in each of the modes of the wave number space in a path Γ-X-M-Γ. In this example, a unit cell having sides of about 3 mm is arranged on a surface of a dielectric substrate having a relative permittivity of 10.2 and a thickness of about 0.6 mm. A band gap (a forbidden band or stopband) between about 11 GHz and about 14 GHz appears between a first mode f1 and a second mode f2. A band gap between about 18 GHz and about 22 GHz appears between the second mode f2 and a third mode f3.
A reduced-width crisscross strip portion of the unit cell serves as an inductive region (an inductance component). The combined pattern of rectangular patterns formed at the center and four corners of the unit cell serves as a capacitive region (a capacitance component).
However, to design a planar circuit having such a unit cell in order to obtain a band gap frequency of 10 GHz, the planar circuit needs to have a unit cell having sides as long as about 3 mm. Thus, to lay out the planar circuit together with an interconnection pattern of the circuit, the design flexibility (layout flexibility) is decreased.
In contrast, the layout flexibility of the planar circuit described in Patent Document 1 is increased by decreasing the size of the unit cell. In addition, the loss characteristic does not deteriorate. FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a unit cell described in Patent Document 1. In the planar circuit, a capacitive region C is disposed at the center of the unit cell. An inductive region L having a meandering line shape is disposed around the capacitive region C. In this way, by forming a unit cell having a large capacitance component of the capacitance region C and a large inductance component of the inductive region L, the size of the unit cell can be decreased.
Patent document 2 describes a planar circuit that prevents the propagation of a spurious mode using a conductor transmission line and a plurality of filters connected to the conductor transmission line. FIG. 3 illustrates an example of the planar circuit described in Patent Document 2. The planar circuit includes two parallel conductor transmission lines 7A and 7B. Two spiral transmission lines 8A and 8B extend parallel to each other from the base portion of a resonator disposed in each of the stages. The top ends 8C of the two spiral transmission lines 8A and 8B are connected. The base portions of the resonators are connected to a plurality of portions of the transmission line 7A, which is one of the two parallel conductor transmission lines 7A and 7B.
Non-patent Document 1: T. Itoh, et. al. "Aperture-Coupled Patch Antenna on UC-PBGSubstrate," IEEE Trans. Vol. 47, no. 11, pp. 2123-2130, November 1999.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-101301
Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-258504
However, in the planar circuit including the conductive region of the unit cell having a meandering line shape disclosed in Patent Document 1, the band gap is disadvantageously decreased in a bottleneck shape in accordance with the direction of waves propagating in the substrate as described later.
As shown in FIG. 3, in the planar circuit described in Patent Document 2, filters, each including the conductor transmission lines 7A and 7B and a resonator 8, are basically one-dimensionally disposed. In the structure in which the filters, each including the conductor transmission lines 7A and 7B and the resonator 8, are one-dimensionally disposed, the geometric asymmetry (anisotropic nature) results in differences in the electrical characteristics in accordance with the propagation direction. In addition, since an interconnection line is connected at an angle of 45° for a direct current when a direct current bias voltage is applied, it is difficult to design the planar circuit.

Planar circuit, high-frequency circuit device, and transmission and reception apparatus


A control apparatus includes a converter for converting an AC voltage to a DC voltage, a feed shaft motor inverter for converting the DC voltage to an AC voltage for a feed shaft motor, a main spindle motor inverter for converting the DC voltage to an AC voltage for a main spindle motor, a power outage detection unit for detecting a power outage of the AC power supply, a voltage detection unit for detecting the DC voltage, and a control unit which, upon power outage of the AC power supply side, outputs a feed shaft motor deceleration command to the feed shaft motor inverter and outputs, to the main spindle motor inverter, a main spindle motor acceleration command when a DC voltage is greater than an upper limit and a main spindle motor deceleration command when the DC voltage is less than a lower limit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control apparatus of a machine tool including a feed shaft motor for driving a feed shaft and a main spindle motor for driving a main spindle and in particular relates to the control apparatus of the machine tool in which AC supplied from an AC power supply side is converted to output DC which is again converted to AC for driving the motors, which is supplied to drive the feed shaft motor and the main spindle motor.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a machine tool including a feed shaft motor for driving a feed shaft and a main spindle motor for driving a main spindle, DC power temporarily converted from AC power inputted from an AC input side is again converted to AC power and the AC power is used as driving power for motors mounted on each driving shaft. Such a machine tool comprises: as a main circuit of a motor control apparatus, a converter for outputting a DC voltage by rectifying an AC voltage supplied from an AC power supply side including a three-phase AC input power supply; and an inverter, which is connected to a DC link (direct current link) being a DC side of the converter, for performing a bi-directional power conversion between DC power of the DC link and AC power which is driving power for the motors or regenerative power, and the machine tool controls speed, torque, or a position of a rotor of a main spindle motor and a feed shaft motor connected to an AC output side of the inverter.
The inverter among them is provided for each motor driving each of a plurality of drive shafts.
In recent years, in response to demands for energy conservation, inverters capable of regenerating power are often used for reusing, as driving power of motors, regenerative power generated during deceleration of the motors by storing it in a storage device provided in the DC link and for further restoring the regenerative power to the AC power supply side.
On the other hand, with regard to the converter, one converter corresponding to a plurality of inverters is often provided in order to reduce the cost of and the space occupied by the motor control apparatus in the machine tool. Furthermore, similarly to the aforementioned inverters, there are also cases where converters capable of regenerating power are used in response to demands for energy conservation, the converters being capable of restoring regenerative energy generated during deceleration of motors to the AC power supply side.
When a power outage occurs at the AC power supply side, the aforementioned motor control apparatus becomes unable to continue the normal operation of the feed shaft motor and the main spindle motor. In such a case, it is required to stop the operation of the feed shaft motor driving a feed shaft as soon as possible to prevent a collision of the feed shaft. For this reason, when a power outage occurs at the AC power supply side, it is implemented that a tool connected to the feed shaft motor, a workpiece machined by the tool, and the like are protected by issuing a deceleration command to the feed shaft motor to stop in conjunction with a detection of a power outage. In a case that the power supply of a control apparatus (a computer unit) is backed up by an uninterruptible power supply (UPS), the control apparatus can instruct a feed shaft motor inverter action to be taken in case of emergency even when a power outage occurs at the AC power supply side, and it can be controlled in such a way that the feed shaft motor inverter is operable for a while with charges stored in capacitors provided in a converter (a rectifier) and the feed shaft motor is urgently stopped.
For example, a method in which an early halt of a motor is realized by actively generating reverse torque during deceleration of the motor as described in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. H07-143780 has been proposed as a method of urgently halting the motor upon a power outage at the AC power supply side.
However, if a technique as described in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. H07-143780 and the like, for example, in which an emergency halt is carried out by providing a deceleration command to a feed shaft motor in conjunction with a detection of a power outage at the AC power supply side, was applied to a motor drive apparatus having a function of regenerating to the AC power supply side regenerative power generated during deceleration of the motor, the regenerative power could not be restored to the AC power supply side during a power outage and, hence, a DC voltage at a DC link between a converter and an inverter would increase. In particular, it is significant when the regenerative power of a motor is large. Usually, an inverter issues an "overvoltage alarm" to protect the inverter itself and aborts control when the DC voltage at the DC link being the DC side thereof increases excessively. In this case, an emergency halt such as halting the motor by actively generating reverse torque during deceleration is difficult to be performed, and hence a problem arises that it takes time from an occurrence of a power outage at the AC power supply side till a halt of the motor. If such a problem arose, for example, in the aforementioned case of the feed shaft motor, a collision of a feed shaft could not be prevented.
Depending on characteristics of a feed shaft motor and a situation of frictions received by a feed shaft driven by the feed shaft motor, it may be required to continue supplying drive power from a feed shaft motor inverter to the feed shaft motor even when the feed shaft motor is to be decelerated. In other words, in this case, since regenerative power is not generated in the feed shaft motor even during deceleration of the feed shaft motor, the feed shaft motor inverter does not provide energy to the DC link, but conversely the feed shaft motor inverter converts DC power of the DC link to AC power to supply to the feed shaft motor. In this situation, when a deceleration command is provided for an emergency halt as described above upon an occurrence of a power outage at the AC power supply side, the DC voltage of the DC link drops rapidly. Usually, when the DC voltage at the DC link being the DC side thereof drops excessively, an inverter is difficult to supply driving power, therefore the inverter issues a "low voltage alarm" and aborts control. In this case, an emergency halt such as halting the motor by actively generating reverse torque during deceleration is difficult be performed, and hence a problem arises that it takes time from an occurrence of a power outage at the AC power supply side till a halt of the motor. If such a problem arose, for example, in the aforementioned case of the feed shaft motor, a collision of the feed shaft could not be prevented.

Control apparatus of machine tool including feed shaft motor and main spindle motor


Region data and graphics data for a remoting system are synchronously gathered and sent to a remote display while maintaining synchronicity between the region data and the graphics data. In one implementation, synchronized region data and synchronized graphics data are gathered into one display driver. For the remote display, incoming region data precedes corresponding synchronized graphics data so that the graphics data is displayed according to synchronous region data.

Graphics remoting systems allow computing device network clients to connect to a server and receive a visual representation of at least some of the graphics being displayed at or output by the server. Often the network client can display all the graphical output associated with the session. Likewise, the client may be allowed to interact with the session, injecting user input, generated from devices such as a mouse or keyboard connected to the client, into the server session. Such a server that allows a client to connect in a "logon session" is sometimes referred to as a "remote server" or a "remoting server." Computing device subsystems that execute remote logon sessions and graphics remoting are sometimes called "terminal services subsystems."
A graphics remoting system can control the amount of graphics sent to a client so that the client does not see everything being displayed on (i.e., "output by") a remoting server. Three categories conveniently divide the degree of graphics sharing between server and client. In "desktop remoting," a client sees substantially everything that would be seen on the canvas of a display monitor connected directly to the server. In "window remoting," a client sees only a window or pane (or a set of windows or panes) from the server's desktop, each window usually projected by the server's operating system for the graphical output and/or user interface (UI) corresponding to one application. Hence, at the server a word processor application might own one window and an email application might own another window, but perhaps only the word processor window would be shared with the client. In "region remoting," only a subset of the server's desktop is shared with a client, but the region shared does not necessarily correspond to a window. In fact, the shared region may be arbitrary.
In order to accomplish this graphical remoting "action-at-a-distance" between a remoting server and a logged-on client, a certain amount of telemetry is needed. From the perspective of the client, an instrumentation at the server side records the "graphics data," that is, information that makes up the visual content of the desktop or a region of the desktop, and sends this graphics data back to the client. The graphics data may describe text, image content, and/or UI features, such as scroll bars and clickable buttons being generated by the server. The graphics data alone may be sufficient information for the above-described desktop remoting, but insufficient for window and region types of remoting. In these latter types of remoting, a second instrumentation at the server side must measure the geometry (i.e., the shape) of a region to be shared, and transmit this geometry information back to the client. The second instrumentation or yet another third instrumentation at the server side must also measure the relative placement of the region to be shared with respect to the server's desktop (hereinafter called "position") and transmit this third type of information back to the client. Thus, to accurately display a region from the server's desktop on its own display, the client must be informed of the region's current graphics data, shape, and position (the latter two being "region data.") The client's view of the region data—the shape and position information—allows the client to divide the server desktop into visible and non-visible regions, i.e., region(s) on which to display associated graphics data and region(s) on which to not display associated graphics data. The client then fills the region(s) to display with the graphics data, or at least clips the graphics data with the boundaries of the region(s) not to display.
Conventionally, the above-mentioned graphics data of a region to be shared is sensed, tracked, and/or gathered continuously by a first instrumentation and transmitted to the client independently of the shape and position information. This first instrumentation usually consists of or relies heavily on well-evolved parts of an operating system's kernel graphics processing subsystem, since much of the graphics tracking is the same as might be used if the server were not a remoting server.
The region data are conventionally gathered in an asynchronous manner by a second instrumentation that is on a completely different scheduler than the kernel components that continuously gather the graphics data. For example, region data may be gathered in user mode, by polling mechanisms. Moreover, the region data are sent to the client desynchronized from the graphics data or, in other words, if the graphics data and region data are combined in a single data stream by a remoting protocol, the combination and adherence to remoting protocol rules does not cure the asynchronicity of the region data with respect to the graphics data. (Asynchronous collection of region data means, for one thing, that the region data collection operates independently of the graphics data collection, i.e., without reference to matching a segment of the graphics data with a segment of the region data.)
The received graphics data and region data are fused together by the client to create the final display. Historically, using two instrumentations working more or less independently of each other to asynchronously collect the graphics data and the region data evolved perhaps because mechanisms in operating system kernels for collecting graphics data were already well-evolved when remoting began to be practiced, and collection of the region data was added as a latecomer or an afterthought. Since they are latecomers, methods for asynchronously collecting region data typically avoid disturbing the operating system kernel, which is the realm of the graphics data collection.
Once graphics data and region data are asynchronously collected for region remoting, they are typically packetized according to a protocol, such as MICROSOFT® REMOTE DESKTOP PROTOCOL (RDP) or CITRIX INDEPENDENT COMPUTING ARCHITECTURE (ICA) PROTOCOL, and sent to the client. (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Wash.; Citrix Corporation, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) The RDP protocol, for example, is just one of many graphics remoting protocols, that is, many graphics remoting protocols are extensible enough to add region remoting for sharing a window or a region of a desktop. If RDP is used as a data transmission component of the remote display telemetry, then it should be noted that RDP is based on, and is an extension of, the T.120 protocol family standards. RDP is a multichannel-capable protocol that allows for separate virtual channels to carry device communication and presentation data from the server, as well as encrypted client mouse and keyboard data.
Conventionally, the graphics data and the region data are desynchronized at their inception by asynchronous collection and may become even more desynchronized depending on how the data is handled as it passes through network layers to be transmitted to and received by a client. The RDP protocol does not cure the desynchronization. By analogy, like a bird watcher whose tracking of a quick pheasant with a pair of excellent binoculars does not stay synchronized (despite the excellence of the binoculars), a remoting client that receives desynchronized graphics and region data (despite the excellence of the remoting protocol), not only misses seeing a desired target on the server desktop but may instead actually see things on the server desktop that he is not supposed to see.
FIG. 1 shows parts of a graphics remoting system 100, including a server display 102 and a client display 104. A window 106 to be shared with the client displays on the server display 102 together with "forbidden visual regions" of secret and private information 108 on the server's desktop. If at any point in time, the graphics data describing the content of the window 106 and the region data describing the shape and placement of the window 106 are not synchronized, the client display 104 will show the intended window 106′ incorrectly. For example, if the window 106′ moves or is moved from left to right across the desktop of the server display 102 and the graphics data and region data are not synchronized when collected and/or when transmitted to the client, then the client display 104 may continue to display that region of the server desktop where the window was originally positioned 110, but which is now displaying secret information.
This desynchronization causes two problems: not displaying content that should be presented, and displaying content that should not be presented. First, the client display 104 does not show the subset of the server display 102 that the graphics remoting system 100 intends to show the client. That is, if the window 106 intended to be displayed contains data necessary to make business decisions, then the decisions are stalled until correct data is displayed. Second, the client display 104 may show, albeit fleetingly, unintended secret information 112, i.e., a subset of the server display 102 that the graphics remoting system 100 does not intend to share with the client. Hence, the desynchronization presents a security risk if "top secret" information is revealed to a client without the proper clearance. Unfortunately, synchronization problems between graphics data and region data exist in most known graphics remoting systems, wherein clients often see unintended parts of a server desktop.

Synchronized graphics and region data for graphics remoting systems


A device link profile creation method including: storing a plurality of device link profiles in a storage unit with information about a first device profile which is used to create one of the plurality of device link profiles, for each of the plurality of device link profiles; storing the first device profile in the storage unit; and performing control by a control unit to: when the first device profile is updated to be a second device profile, detect the second device profile; detect a first device link profile which is created by using the first device profile, as a device link profile to be updated; automatically create a second device link profile by using the second device profile; and update the detected device link profile to be updated by replacing the device link profile to be updated with the created second device link profile.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device link profile creation method, a computer-readable medium storing a program, and a device link profile creation apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
Examples of a device which handles image data include a digital camera, a scanner, a monitor (a display device of a computer), and a multi-functional peripheral (MFP). Since each of these devices has its unique color space, the color space of image data needs to be converted when the image data is exchanged among these devices. As a unified system for managing such conversion of the color space, there is a color management system (hereinafter referred to as CMS) described in Japanese Patent Application No. H11-9872, for example.
In general, a CMS means a system for managing color conversion by using a profile in conformity with a rule of International Color Consortium (ICC).
Hereinafter, a CMS which uses a device link profile (hereinafter referred to as a DLP) and a device profile (hereinafter referred to as a DP) is described, in particular, among the profiles in conformity with the rule of the ICC.
When performing color conversion from the color space of inputted data into the color space of outputted data, the CMS which uses a DLP is capable of performing direct color conversion without going through color conversion into profile connection space (PCS). The CMS which uses a DLP is superior to other CMS which does not use a DLP in color retention, and enables high-speed color conversion.
The DLP is created by using a source profile and a destination profile.
The source profile is a profile for performing color conversion from the color space of inputted data into the color space of the PCS. The source profile can be created based on printed material, for example. Some source profiles are offered by ink manufacturers or the like. The destination profile is a profile for performing color conversion from the color space of the PCS into the color space of outputted data. The destination profile is provided individually for an image forming apparatus such as an MFP.
The DP means data including information about a color characteristic of each device including various types of input devices and output devices. As the data included in the DP, there is a source profile and a destination profile. Hereinafter, the term "DP" is used as a general term for the source profile and the destination profile.
In the CMS which uses a DLP, when a DP is updated, the DLP which is created by using the updated DP needs to be updated. Examples of means for helping such a DLP update include a system for notifying a user that a DLP update is necessary when the DLP update is necessary, as described in Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-357932.
A DLP update accompanying a DP update has conventionally been performed in such a way that a user manually specifies a DLP which uses an updated DP. For this reason, a user needs to confirm manually the contents of all the DLPs which are registered in the controller of the CMS, and needs to check whether or not the updated DP is used for each DLP.
In addition, after specifying the DLP which uses the updated DP, a user needs to create a DLP manually for updating the specified DLP by using the updated DP. Still further, a user needs to replace the DLP before the update with the created DLP for updating manually.
These various works required for the DLP update are very troublesome and impose a great burden on a user.
Moreover, the workload required for the DLP update increases as the number of DLPs registered in the controller increases. For this reason, the DLP update in the CMS where a number of DLPs are registered is extremely troublesome, and imposes an enormous burden on a user.

Device link profile creation method, computer-readable medium storing program, and device link profile creation apparatus

Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.


A multi-color transfer printing medium is comprised of at least two different kinds of microcapsules having a porous membrane and disposed on a substrate. Each kind of microcapsules contains a different electron-donating chromogenic material effective to produce a different color tone, and a different light-absorbing material effective to absorb a light of different wavelength. In use, the multi-color transfer printing medium is superposed with a color developing sheet coated with electron-accepting material, and is irradiated with lights of different wavelengths to transfer-print color image on the developing sheet to thereby obtain the multi-color image with a simple process at high speed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording material or printing medium for recording or printing images by utilizing radiation or light energy, and more specifically relates to a multi-color transfer printing medium for printing multi-color images by utilizing a plurality of lights having different wavelengths.
2. Prior Art
Multi-color images have been previously produced by record producing systems such as electron photography, electrostatic record producing, current application record producing, heat-sensitive record producing, and ink jet record producing. The ink jet method involves a problem of clotting and is not sufficiently reliable, while the other record producing methods require many complicated steps for recording or reproducing the three primary colors repeatedly from a CRT.
As described above, the conventional recording methods suffer from clotting and may require the repeated recording of three primary color video signals. Therefore, there are drawbacks such as mis-matching of color tones tends to occur, the recording can not be carried out at high speed, and the recording device requires a complicated mechanism.


Provided are a mobile object control apparatus and a mobile object control method that provide an improved method of presenting a travel route during movement of the mobile object. A degree of relation with an individual in the vicinity of a mobile object is decided, and a travel mode that is associated with a process performed by a driving section that moves the mobile object and a process performed by an output section that outputs a representation for presenting a travel route of the mobile object is set on the basis of the degree of relation.

In recent years, it has been predicted that movement of robots and other mobile objects will become commonplace in human living environments. Under such circumstances, what is currently under study is to alert individuals in the vicinity of a mobile object by properly presenting its travel route during movement of the mobile object.
For example, PTL 1 proposes a mobile apparatus that can recognize a distance to an individual in the vicinity and use a direction instruction section to present a travel route such that the shorter the distance to the individual, the more detailed the presented travel route.

Mobile object control apparatus and mobile object control method


An engine temperature is measured an opening of a door is detected so an electrical conduction is made to a heater for heating a sensor element by setting a target element temperature to a relatively high level if such engine temperature (cooling water temperature Thw) is relatively low or, on the other hand, by setting the target element temperature to a relatively low level if the cooling water temperature is relatively high. Then the element temperature is detected and the heater is turned off when the element temperature has reached the target temperature.

The present invention relates to an air-fuel ratio control system for an internal combustion engine, which detects the oxygen density in the exhaust gas of, for example, an automobile, to control the air-fuel ratio thereof based on the thus obtained oxygen density.
In recent years, feedback control of the air-fuel ratio immediately after starting an engine has been demanded for the purpose of improving the fuel cost of an internal combustion engine (engine) and for the purpose of promoting cleaning of the exhaust gas. Usually, in such feedback control of the air-fuel ratio, the oxygen density in an exhaust gas is detected by using an oxygen sensor and the mixture ratio of fuel to be supplied to the engine is adjusted on the basis of the detected oxygen density.
Usually, an oxygen sensor used in the above feedback control has an output characteristic which largely depends on temperature and a suitable output may be obtained in a specific temperature range where the sensor element is activated. A heater is thus attached to the body of the sensor to quickly activate the sensor element after starting the engine.
Further, a device (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 61-274249) for use in a system having such a sensor has been proposed, in which power to be initially supplied to the heater of the oxygen sensor when starting the engine is determined on the basis of the temperature of the oxygen sensor at the time of starting.
Since, however, these are all constructed so that an electric conduction to the heater begins at the time of or after starting the engine, they are not satisfactory in achieving a sufficient element temperature for starting the feedback control of the air-fuel ratio at the time when the engine is started. Thus there has been a problem in that a favorable air-fuel ratio control cannot be provided at the time when the engine is started.
In addition, a device (SAE No. 900503) has been proposed, in which preheating is performed before starting the engine. In this art, a seat sensor or the like is attached to the seat of an automobile and the temperature of a catalyst with a heater is elevated to its activation temperature when the seat sensor is turned on upon taking of the seat by a driver. By this method, however, the amount of power to be supplied up to the time of starting becomes large, and, if the battery is of a low voltage or of a small capacity, it is not desirable in that the battery may be exhausted.

Air-fuel ratio control system for internal combustion engine


Provided are a head cleaning apparatus, an inkjet printer, and a head cleaning method that allow an ink discharging surface of an inkjet head to be more adequately cleaned than the known art.

Inkjet heads have an ink discharging surface from which inks are discharged. Some of the known head cleaning apparatuses devised to clean the inkjet head are equipped with a cleaning liquid feeder, a removing member, and a wiping member. The cleaning liquid feeder feeds the ink discharging surface with a cleaning liquid. After the cleaning liquid is applied to the ink discharging surface by the cleaning liquid feeder, the removing member rubs off the cleaning liquid between the head modules of the inkjet head. The wiping member wipes the ink discharging surface after the cleaning liquid between the head modules is rubbed off by the removing member (for example, Patent Literature 1).

Head cleaning apparatus, inkjet printer and head cleaning method

Abstract: A head cleaning apparatus has a cleaning liquid reserving tank containing a cleaning liquid for cleaning an ink discharging surface of an inkjet head from which an ink is discharged. The head cleaning apparatus further has a removing unit that removes dirt and/or ink stain from the ink discharging surface while the ink discharging surface is being immersed in the cleaning liquid in the cleaning liquid reserving tank, and a wiper that wipes off the cleaning liquid left on the ink discharging surface after the removal of dirt and/or ink stain by the removing unit. The removing unit and the wiper are both disposed in the cleaning liquid reserving tank.


A pharmaceutical injection device comprises a main body case (2); a pharmaceutical syringe mounting component (3) that is provided inside the main body case (2) and onto which a pharmaceutical syringe (4) is mounted; a piston (5) provided movably with respect to the pharmaceutical syringe (4) mounted onto the pharmaceutical syringe mounting component (3); a drive mechanism (6) for driving the piston (5); a memory (46) that stores a preset pharmaceutical injection schedule; and a controller (7) that resets a current pharmaceutical dose by comparing a planned cumulative pharmaceutical dose, which is a planned cumulative amount of pharmaceutical injected up to the last time on the basis of the pharmaceutical injection schedule stored in the memory, and an actual cumulative pharmaceutical dose, which is a cumulative amount of pharmaceutical actually injected up to the last time.

A conventional pharmaceutical injection device had a configuration comprising a main body case having an injection needle insertion and retraction opening, a pharmaceutical syringe mounting component provided inside this main body case, a piston provided movably with respect to a pharmaceutical syringe that is mounted onto this pharmaceutical syringe mounting component, a drive mechanism that drives this piston, a controller that is electrically connected to this drive mechanism, and a display component that is electrically connected to this controller.
The pharmaceutical injection performed by the above pharmaceutical injection device is carried out on the basis of a pharmaceutical injection schedule produced in writing by a physician (the following Patent Literature 1 is a prior publication related to this, for example).

Pharmaceutical injection device, method for controlling pharmaceutical injection device, and recording medium