A system and method for communicating information or a cryptographic key therefore between a first party and a second party, comprising the steps of receiving, by an intermediary, an identifier of desired information and accounting information for a transaction involving the information from the first party, transmitting an identifier of the first party to the second party, and negotiating, by the intermediary, a comprehension function for obscuring at least a portion of the information communicated between the first party and the second party. The data transmission may be made secure with respect to the intermediary by providing an asymmetric key or direct key exchange for encryption of the communication between the first and second party. The data transmission may be made secure with respect to the second party by maintaining the information in encrypted format at the second party, with the decryption key held only by the intermediary, and transmitting a secure composite of the decryption key and a new encryption key to the second party for transcoding of the data record, and providing the new decryption key to the first party, so that the information transmitted to the first party can be comprehended by it. According to the present invention, asymmetric key encryption may be employed to provide the establishment of secure communications channels involving an intermediary, without making the intermediary privy to the decryption key or the message.

Computer and information system security is currently an important issue. With the proliferation of computers and computer networks into all aspects of business and daily life—financial, medical, education, government, and communications—the concern over secure file access and communications privacy is growing.
The liability or risks involved in holding or communicating private information can well exceed the value of the storage or communications services. Therefore, even in the case of a trusted party, indemnification or insurance may be inefficient or insufficient means for addressing these risks or liabilities. Rather, where considerable risk or liability arises from unauthorized disclosure of the information, the storage or communication of the information must involve an efficient scheme that will minimize the risk of disclosure. Therefore, an intermediary in a transaction preferably handles only encrypted data, and need not be trusted to maintain the privacy of the underlying message. While two-party encryption is well known, schemes are not well developed for providing third party involvement, wherein the third party plays a requisite role in the transaction but which need not or is not trusted with access to the information or the cryptographic key.
A number of communications systems and methods are known for dealing with three-party communications, for example, where a third party provides ancillary services to support the communications, such as authentication, accounting, and key recovery. Often, the nature of these communications protocols places the third party (or group of third parties) in a position of trust, meaning that the third party or parties, without access to additional information, can gain access to private communications or otherwise undermine transactional security or privacy.
Transactions for which third party support may be appropriate include distribution of private medical records, communication of digital content, and anonymous proxy services.
Another aspect of three party communications is that it becomes possible for two (or more) parties to hold portions of a secret or a key to obtain the secret, without any one party alone being able to access the secret. For example, Silvio Micali has developed a mature Fair Encryption scheme in which a number of trustees collaborate to hold portions of a key used to secure privacy of a communication between two principals, but who must act together to gain access to the secret. In Micali's Fair Encryption scheme, however, cooperation of neither of the principal parties to a communication is required in order to access the secret. The third party trustees, as a group, are trusted with a secret. The basis for this trust is an issue of factual investigation. The Micali Fair Encryption scheme does, however, provide a basis for the generation and use of composite asymmetric encryption keys. See, Eyal Kushilevitz, Silvio Micali & Rafael Ostrovsky, "Reducibility and Completeness in Multi-Party Private Computations", Proc. of 35th FOCS, pp. 478-489, 1994, expressly incorporated herein by reference.
The Micali Fair Encryption scheme does not, however, allow communication of a secret in which only one party gains access to the content, and in which the third party or parties and one principal operate only on encrypted or secret information. This system is discussed in further detail below.
See: S. Micali. Fair Public-Key Cryptosystems. Advances in Cryptology—Proceedings of CRYPTO'92 (E. F. Brickell, ed.) Lecture Notes in Computer Science 740, SpringerVerlag (1993) pages 113-138; S Micali, Fair cryptosystems, MIT Technical Report, MIT/LCS/TR-579, November 1993, MIT Laboratory for Computer Science, November 1993.
See also, N. Gilboa, "Two Party RSA Key Generation", Proc of Crypto '99, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 1666, Springer-Verlag, pp. 116-129, 1999; D. Boneh, J. Horwitz, "Generating a product of three primes with an unknown factorization", Proc. of the third Algorithmic Number Theory Symposium (ANTS), 1998, pp. 237-251; Lin, Cun-Li, Sun, Hung-Min, and Hwang, Tzonelih, "Three Party Key Exchange: Attacks and a Solution".
Electronic Medical Records
In the field of medical care, accuracy of collected data is of significant importance. Erroneous data, whether collected manually or automatically, presents the possibility of an erroneous diagnosis or treatment. Prior accumulated data about the patient may be relevant to future diagnosis and treatment. Therefore, preservation and availability of accurate medical records remains an important part of the modern health care system.
The art of medical record keeping has developed over centuries of medical practice to provide an accurate account of a patient's medical history. Record keeping in medical practice was developed to help physicians, and other healthcare providers, track and link individual "occurrences" between a patient and a healthcare provider. Each physician/patient encounter may result in a record including notes on the purpose of the visit, the results of physician's examination of the patient, and a record of any drugs prescribed by the physician. If, for example, the patient were referred to another clinic for additional testing, such as a blood analysis, this would form a separate medical encounter, which would also generate information for the medical record.
Over the years, paper medical records have evolved from individual practitioners' informal journals to the current multi-author, medical/legal documents. These paper records serve as the information system on which modern medical practice is based. While the paper-based medical record system has functioned well over many decades of use, it has several shortcomings. First, while a paper-based record system can adequately support individual patient-physician encounters, it is cumbersome to use as a source of pooled data for large-scale analysis. While the medical data in the paper-based records is substantial, the ability to adequately index, store and retrieve information from the paper-based mechanisms prevents efficient analysis of the data. Thus, paper medical records could be a rich source of information for generating new knowledge about patient care, if the data could be accessed on a large scale. Second, each portion of the paper-based record is generated and kept at the site of the medical service. Hence, the total record is fragmented among many sites. Consequently, access by off-site physicians is less than optimal. The inability to access a complete medical record in a short period of time presents problems both for individual care and group care of patients. Thus, electronic medical records (EMRs) have been developed to facilitate storage, retrieval, communication and use of the valuable patient medical history information, both for the particular patient and for studies of patient populations.
While there have been attempts to develop computer database architectures capable of storing and retrieving medical record information which reconcile physicians' desires for maintaining a format of unstructured medical information with database requirements for highly structured data storage, these systems provide an inadequate infrastructure for the efficient transmission, use and security protection of the data.
Medical information poses significant challenges to knowledge management systems. Medical information presently includes file types including various media types, including numeric data, text, scanned text images, scanned graphic images, sound (e.g., phonocardiography and dictation), high resolution images (radiology) and video (ultrasonic imaging and fluoroscopy). The medical records for an individual may, over time, grow to multiple megabytes or even gigabytes of data, and advanced medical techniques promise to increase the volume of patient data. These records come from a number of different medical service providers, and may be stored in geographically disparate locations. Often, a new medical service provider will seek to review all appropriate previous medical records for a patient. Further, in third party reimbursement situations, the third party payor will seek to review records in connection with billed services. These various data types and associated information storage systems are not standardized, impeding efficiency of sharing and communicating the data.
Medical records often include data that is intensely personal, such as sexual habits, drug abuse, psychological disorders, family histories, genetics, terminal diseases, injuries, and the like. This personal information is revealed to, or generated by, treating medical professionals in an environment that presumes an absolute privilege held by the patient. The adoption of electronic medical record systems should not impair this presumption. Thus, while there are legitimate reasons for transmitting medical information files, such transmission must be secure, limited to appropriate circumstances and to authorized recipients.
Indeed, while the private medical information technically cannot be disclosed without the consent of the patient, since at least the time of Hippocrates, the medical institutions that hold this information guard it jealously. Thus, privacy considerations may make it difficult to obtain collaboration between medical institutions in the ongoing treatment of a patient. While there are important legitimate uses for medical data, there is also a substantial possibility for abuse of the data and the associated trust relationship between patient and medical care provider represented therein. Presently, laws and regulations have been promulgated (but not yet effective) regulating electronic medical records.
The U.S. Supreme Court has reaffirmed that the expectation of privacy of medical data is necessary in order to ensure that patients are not deterred from seeking needed medical care. Disclosure of medical information to non-medical personnel without patient consent was a primary concern of the Court in Ferguson v. City of Charleston, 532 U.S. 67 (2001).
Typically, in a hospital medical information system, information relating to patients in a database is generated and used by users having a variety of roles, including doctors and medical professionals of various specialties, nurses, therapists of various types, paraprofessionals, social workers, clinical laboratories, and bedside devices (which may automatically generate or receive patient information). In addition, medical information is used, but typically not generated by, pharmacies, administrators, lawyers, insurers or payors, and other parties. Because of the many types of caregivers and other data users, the idea of role-based access is appropriate; basically, medical professionals of different types will require access to various subsets of the medical record. For example, typically the primary care physician and certain consults will require full access, while others may not require full access.
One scheme for increasing the portability of medical records is to provide personal data storage devices, for example in credit card format optical storage medium. These devices, however, present a security risk, since it cannot be presumed that the patient will be able to provide consent to the use of the information when required; thus, access controls should contemplate that scenario. Further, the information carrier can be lost, unavailable or stolen.
Encryption Technologies
Encryption technologies, particularly public key encryption systems, seek to minimize some of these weaknesses by reducing the need to share secrets amongst participants to a secure or private communication. Typical public key encryption technologies, however, presume that a pair of communications partners seek to communicate directly between each other, without the optional or mandatory participation of a third party, and, in fact, are designed specifically to exclude third party monitoring. Third parties, however, may offer valuable services to the participants in a communication, but existing protocols for involvement of more than two parties are either inefficient or insecure.
Traditional encryption algorithm schemes rely on use of one or more finite keys which are provided to an algorithm which generates a data string which is apparently random, called pseudorandom, but which can be predicted based on a knowledge of both the algorithm and the key(s), allowing extraction of a superimposed data message. Optimality of an algorithm for a given set of circumstances is based on a number of factors, and therefore many different cryptographic schemes coexist. Essentially, the key should be sufficiently long and stochastic that an extraordinarily long period of time would be necessary to attempt a brute force attack on the algorithm, while only a reasonable amount of time is required to generate keys, encrypt and decrypt messages. In addition, the key should be sufficiently long that observation of pseudorandom (encrypted) datastreams does not permit one to determine the key to the algorithm.
Public Key Encryption is a concept wherein two keys are provided. The keys form a pair, such that a message encrypted with one key of the pair may be decrypted only by the corresponding key, but knowledge of the public key does not impart effective knowledge of the private key. Typically, one of the keys is made public, while the other remains secret, allowing use for both secure communications and authentication. Communications may include use of multiple key pairs, to provide bilateral security. The public key pair may be self-generated, and therefore a user need not transmit the private key. It must, however, be stored.
The basis for Diffie Hellman and RSA-type public key encryption methods is the large disparity in computational complexity between decrypting the public key created cipher text with the public key encryption private key, which is very rapid and simple to do, and working through the possibilities without the key, which takes a very long time through all known means.
Modern public-key data encryption was originally suggested by Diffie and Hellman, "New Directions In Cryptography," I.E.E.E. Transactions on Information Theory (November 1976) (the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference), and was further developed by Ronald L. Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Leonard M. Adleman: "A Method for Obtaining Digital Signatures and Public-Key Cryptosystems," Communications of the ACM 21(2):120-126 (February 1978) (the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference). See also, U.S. Pat. No. 4,351,982, expressly incorporated herein by reference.
The basic reason for public-key encryption system is to ensure both the security of the information transferred along a data line, and to guarantee the identity of the transmitter and to ensure the inability of a receiver to "forge" a transmission as being one from a subscriber on the data line. Both of these desired results can be accomplished with public-key data encryption without the need to maintain a list of secret keys specific to each subscriber on the data line, and without requiring the periodic physical delivery or the secure electronic transmission of secret keys to the various subscribers on the data line.
According to the Diffie Hellman scheme, two hosts can create and share a secret key without ever communicating the key. Each host receives the "Diffie-Hellman parameters". A prime number, 'p' (larger than 2) and "base", 'g', an integer that is smaller than 'p'. The hosts each secretly generate their own private number, called 'x', which is less than "p−1". The hosts next generate a respective public key, 'y'. They are created with the function: y=gx Mod p. The two hosts now exchange their respective public keys ('y') and the exchanged numbers are converted into a secret key, 'z' by the following function: z=yx Mod p. 'z' can now be used as an encryption key in a symmetric encryption scheme. Mathematically, the two hosts should have generated the same value for 'z', since according to mathematical identity theory,z=(gx Mod p)x′ Mod p=(gx′ Mod p)x Mod p.
A method of public-key encryption developed by Rivest, Shamir & Adelman, and now generally referred to as RSA, is based upon the use of two extremely large prime numbers which fulfill the criteria for the "trap-door, one-way permutation." Such a permutation function enables the sender to encrypt the message using a non-secret encryption key, but does not permit an eavesdropper to decrypt the message by crypto-analytic techniques within an acceptably long period of time. This is due to the fact that for a composite number composed of the product of two very large prime numbers, the computational time necessary to factor this composite number is unacceptably long. A brute force attack requires a sequence of putative keys to be tested to determine which, if any, is appropriate. Therefore a brute force attack requires a very large number of iterations. The number of iterations increases geometrically with the key bit size, while the normal decryption generally suffers only an arithmetic-type increase in computational complexity.
In the RSA encryption algorithm, the message (represented by a number M) is multiplied by itself (e) times (called "raising (M) to the power (e)"), and the product is then divided by a modulus (n), leaving the remainder as a ciphertext (C): C=Me mod n. In the decryption operation, a different exponent, (d) is used to convert the ciphertext back into the plain text: M=Cd mod n. The modulus (n) is a composite number, constructed by multiplying two prime numbers, (p) and (q), together: n=p*q. The encryption and decryption exponents, (d) and (e), are related to each other and the modulus (n) in the following way: d=e−1 mod((p−1)(q−1)), or equivalently, d*e=1 mod((p−1)(q−1)). The RSA ciphertext is thus represented by the expression C=Me mod n. The associated decryption function is M=Cd mod n. Therefore, M=Cd mod n=(Me mod n)d mod n, indicating that the original message, encrypted with one key, is retrieved as plain text using the other key. To calculate the decryption key, one must know the numbers (p) and (q) (called the factors) used to calculate the modulus (n).
The RSA Algorithm may be divided, then, into three steps:
(1) key generation: in which the factors of the modulus (n) (the prime numbers (p) and (q)) are chosen and multiplied together to form (n), an encryption exponent (e) is chosen, and the decryption exponent (d) is calculated using (e), (p), and (q).
(2) encryption: in which the message (M) is raised to the power (e), and then reduced modulo (n).
(3) decryption: in which the ciphertext (C) is raised to the power (d), and then reduced modulo (n).
Micali, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,026,163 and 5,315,658, expressly incorporated herein by reference, teach a number of split key or so-called fair cryptosystems designed to allow a secret key to be distributed to a plurality of trusted entities, such that the encrypted message is protected unless the key portions are divulged by all of the trusted entities. Thus, a secret key may be recovered, through cooperation of a plurality of parties. These methods were applied in three particular fields; law enforcement, business auctions, and financial transactions.
Essentially, the Micali systems provide that the decryption key is split between a number (n) of trusted entities, meeting the following functional criteria: (1) The private key can be reconstructed given knowledge of all n of the pieces held by the plurality of trusted entities; (2) The private key cannot be guessed at all if one only knows less than all (<n−1) of the special pieces; and (3) For i−1, . . . n, the ith special piece can be individually verified to be correct. The special pieces are defined by a simple public algorithm which itself exploits the difficulty in factoring large numbers as a basis for asymmetric security.
Micropayments
Micropayments are often preferred where the amount of the transaction does not justify the costs of complete financial security. In the micropayment scheme, typically a direct communication between creditor and debtor is not required; rather, the transaction produces a result which eventually results in an economic transfer, but which may remain outstanding subsequent to transfer of the underlying goods or services. The theory underlying this micropayment scheme is that the monetary units are small enough such that risks of failure in transaction closure is relatively insignificant for both parties, but that a user gets few chances to default before credit is withdrawn. On the other hand, the transaction costs of non-real time transactions of small monetary units are substantially less than those of secure, unlimited or potentially high value, real time verified transactions, allowing and facilitating such types of commerce. Thus, the rights management system may employ applets local to the client system, which communicate with other applets and/or the server and/or a vendor/rights-holder to validate a transaction, at low transactional costs. Often, a micropayment involves a cryptographic function which provides a portable, self-authenticating cryptographic data structure, and may involve asymmetric cryptography. As will be clear from the discussion below, such characteristics may permit micropayments to be integrated as a component of the present invention, or permit aspects of the invention to operate as micropayments.
The following U.S. Patents, expressly incorporated herein by reference, define aspects of micropayment, digital certificate, and on-line payment systems: U.S. Pat. No. 5,999,919 (Jarecki, et al., Dec. 7, 1999), U.S. Pat. No. 5,930,777 (Barber, Jul. 27, 1999, Method of charging for pay-per-access information over a network); U.S. Pat. No. 5,857,023 (Jan. 5, 1999, Demers et al., Space efficient method of redeeming electronic payments); U.S. Pat. No. 5,815,657 (Sep. 29, 1998, Williams, System, method and article of manufacture for network electronic authorization utilizing an authorization instrument); U.S. Pat. No. 5,793,868 (Aug. 11, 1998, Micali, Certificate revocation system), U.S. Pat. No. 5,717,757 (Feb. 10, 1998, Micali, Certificate issue lists); U.S. Pat. No. 5,666,416 (Sep. 9, 1997, Micali, Certificate revocation system); U.S. Pat. No. 5,677,955 (Doggett et al., Electronic funds transfer instruments); U.S. Pat. No. 5,839,119 (Nov. 17, 1998, Krsul; et al., Method of electronic payments that prevents double-spending); U.S. Pat. No. 5,915,093 (Berlin et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,937,394 (Wong, et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,933,498 (Schneck et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,903,880 (Biffar); U.S. Pat. No. 5,903,651 (Kocher); U.S. Pat. No. 5,884,277 (Khosla); U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,083 (Sep. 28, 1999, Micali, Certificate revocation system); U.S. Pat. No. 5,963,924 (Oct. 5, 1999, Williams et al., System, method and article of manufacture for the use of payment instrument holders and payment instruments in network electronic commerce); U.S. Pat. No. 5,996,076 (Rowney et al., System, method and article of manufacture for secure digital certification of electronic commerce); U.S. Pat. No. 6,016,484 (Jan. 18, 2000, Williams et al., System, method and article of manufacture for network electronic payment instrument and certification of payment and credit collection utilizing a payment); U.S. Pat. No. 6,018,724 (Arent); U.S. Pat. No. 6,021,202 (Anderson et al., Method and system for processing electronic documents); U.S. Pat. No. 6,035,402 (Vaeth et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 6,049,786 (Smorodinsky); U.S. Pat. No. 6,049,787 (Takahashi, et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 6,058,381 (Nelson, Many-to-many payments system for network content materials); U.S. Pat. No. 6,061,448 (Smith, et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,987,132 (Nov. 16, 1999, Rowney, System, method and article of manufacture for conditionally accepting a payment method utilizing an extensible, flexible architecture); U.S. Pat. No. 6,057,872 (Candelore); and U.S. Pat. No. 6,061,665 (May 9, 2000, Bahreman, System, method and article of manufacture for dynamic negotiation of a network payment framework). See also, Rivest and Shamir, "PayWord and MicroMint: Two Simple Micropayment Schemes" (May 7, 1996); Micro PAYMENT transfer Protocol (MPTP) Version 0.1 (22 Nov. 95) et seq., http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/TR/WD-mptp; Common Markup for web Micropayment Systems, http://www.w3.org/TR/WD-Micropayment-Markup (9 Jun. 99); "Distributing Intellectual Property: a Model of Microtransaction Based Upon Metadata and Digital Signatures", Olivia, Maurizio, http://olivia.modlang.denison.edu/˜olivia/RFC/09/, all of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference.
See, also: U.S. Pat. No. 4,977,595 (Dec. 11, 1990, Method and apparatus for implementing electronic cash); U.S. Pat. No. 5,224,162 (Jun. 29, 1993, Electronic cash system); U.S. Pat. No. 5,237,159 (Aug. 17, 1993, Electronic check presentment system); U.S. Pat. No. 5,392,353 (February 1995, Morales, TV Answer, Inc. Interactive satellite broadcast network); U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,121 (Apr. 23, 1996, Efficient electronic money); U.S. Pat. No. 5,621,201 (April 1997, Langhans et al., Visa International Automated purchasing control system); U.S. Pat. No. 5,623,547 (Apr. 22, 1997, Value transfer system); U.S. Pat. No. 5,679,940 (October 1997, Templeton et al., TeleCheck International, Inc. Transaction system with on/off line risk assessment); U.S. Pat. No. 5,696,908 (December 1997, Muehlberger et al., Southeast Phonecard, Inc. Telephone debit card dispenser and method); U.S. Pat. No. 5,754,939 (May 1998, Herz et al., System for generation of user profiles for a system for customized electronic identification of desirable objects); U.S. Pat. No. 5,768,385 (Jun. 16, 1998, Untraceable electronic cash); U.S. Pat. No. 5,799,087 (Aug. 25, 1998, Electronic-monetary system); U.S. Pat. No. 5,812,668 (Sep. 22, 1998, System, method and article of manufacture for verifying the operation of a remote transaction clearance system utilizing a multichannel, extensible, flexible architecture); U.S. Pat. No. 5,828,840 (Oct. 27, 1998, Server for starting client application on client if client is network terminal and initiating client application on server if client is non network terminal); U.S. Pat. No. 5,832,089 (Nov. 3, 1998, Off-line compatible electronic cash method and system); U.S. Pat. No. 5,850,446 (Dec. 15, 1998, System, method and article of manufacture for virtual point of sale processing utilizing an extensible, flexible architecture); U.S. Pat. No. 5,889,862 (Mar. 30, 1999, Method and apparatus for implementing traceable electronic cash); U.S. Pat. No. 5,889,863 (Mar. 30, 1999, System, method and article of manufacture for remote virtual point of sale processing utilizing a multichannel, extensible, flexible architecture); U.S. Pat. No. 5,898,154 (Apr. 27, 1999, System and method for updating security information in a time-based electronic monetary system); U.S. Pat. No. 5,901,229 (May 4, 1999, Electronic cash implementing method using a trustee); U.S. Pat. No. 5,920,629 (Jul. 6, 1999, Electronic-monetary system); U.S. Pat. No. 5,926,548 (Jul. 20, 1999, Method and apparatus for implementing hierarchical electronic cash); U.S. Pat. No. 5,943,424 (Aug. 24, 1999, System, method and article of manufacture for processing a plurality of transactions from a single initiation point on a multichannel, extensible, flexible architecture); U.S. Pat. No. 5,949,045 (Sep. 7, 1999, Micro-dynamic simulation of electronic cash transactions); U.S. Pat. No. 5,952,638 (Sep. 14, 1999, Space efficient method of electronic payments); U.S. Pat. No. 5,963,648 (Oct. 5, 1999, Electronic-monetary system); U.S. Pat. No. 5,978,840 (System, method and article of manufacture for a payment gateway system architecture for processing encrypted payment transactions utilizing a multichannel, extensible, flexible architecture); U.S. Pat. No. 5,983,208 (Nov. 9, 1999, System, method and article of manufacture for handling transaction results in a gateway payment architecture utilizing a multichannel, extensible, flexible architecture); U.S. Pat. No. 5,987,140 (Nov. 16, 1999, System, method and article of manufacture for secure network electronic payment and credit collection); U.S. Pat. No. 6,002,767 (Dec. 14, 1999, System, method and article of manufacture for a modular gateway server architecture); U.S. Pat. No. 6,003,765 (Dec. 21, 1999, Electronic cash implementing method with a surveillance institution, and user apparatus and surveillance institution apparatus for implementing the same); U.S. Pat. No. 6,021,399 (Feb. 1, 2000, Space efficient method of verifying electronic payments); U.S. Pat. No. 6,026,379 (Feb. 15, 2000, System, method and article of manufacture for managing transactions in a high availability system); U.S. Pat. No. 6,029,150 (Feb. 22, 2000, Payment and transactions in electronic commerce system); U.S. Pat. No. 6,029,151 (Feb. 22, 2000, Method and system for performing electronic money transactions); U.S. Pat. No. 6,047,067 (Apr. 4, 2000, Electronic-monetary system); U.S. Pat. No. 6,047,887 (Apr. 11, 2000, System and method for connecting money modules); U.S. Pat. No. 6,055,508 (Apr. 25, 2000, Method for secure accounting and auditing on a communications network); U.S. Pat. No. 6,065,675 (May 23, 2000, Processing system and method for a heterogeneous electronic cash environment); U.S. Pat. No. 6,072,870 (Jun. 6, 2000, System, method and article of manufacture for a gateway payment architecture utilizing a multichannel, extensible, flexible architecture), each of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference.

System and method for secure communications involving an intermediary


A retractable component tray holder includes: an outer tray having first and second outer tray sidewalls, and a bottom; an inner tray configured to retract into and extend from the outer tray, the inner tray having a first inner tray sidewall and a bottom; a fan chassis configured to receive at least one fan, the fan chassis being adjacent a rear of the inner tray; a bottom support assembly comprising a first bottom support slideably mounted on the bottom of the outer tray, a second bottom support slideably mounted on the first bottom support, and the inner tray being slideably mounted on the second bottom support; and a second side support assembly comprising a side support slideably mounted on the second sidewall, a bracket slideably mounted on the side support, and the fan chassis mounted on the bracket.

Hard drives are typically housed in a server chassis and are used for storing information in a server. Conventionally, the hard drives can be housed at the front of the server chassis for access to the hard drives for the purpose of replacement or maintenance. At times, it may be desirable to maximize the storage capacity of the server by housing many hard drives inside the chassis. However, due to space limitations of the server chassis, only a limited amount of hard drives can be housed in the server at once, and, of those hard drives, only a limited number of hard drives can be easily accessible from the front for the purpose of replacement or maintenance.
The hard drives themselves may be stored in retractable trays that extend horizontally from the server chassis. Traditional trays are supported from the sides, and require a certain degree of strength, rigidity and mechanical complexity to support the tray and mounted hard drive. This requires a minimum width in an environment with space limitations. The structure to support the sides is also cumbersome and expensive to manufacture.

Component tray holder with slim side rails


The invention relates to a method for controlling a wind power plant having a rotor (5) driven by wind and rotating about a horizontal or substantially horizontally aligned rotor axis (6). The rotor includes a plurality of rotor blades (1, 2, 3), each extending in the direction of a blade axis (11, 12 13) which is perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to the rotor axis and about which the respective rotor blade (1, 2, 3) is rotated, wherein the rotor (5) is rotated about a vertical or substantially vertically aligned yaw axis (8) having a yaw angle velocity (γ), whereby gyroscopic loads are generated on the rotor blades (1, 2, 3), and wherein the gyroscopic loads on the rotor blades (1, 2, 3) are reduced by rotating the rotor blades (1, 2, 3) about the blade axes (11, 12, 13) thereof depending on the yaw angle velocity (γ) or a guide variable (γc) influencing said velocity.

Modern wind turbines which are capable of delivering a plurality of megawatts of electric power and which are also known as multi-megawatt turbines comprise rotor blades which are rotatably mounted on a rotor so that by changing the blade angle relative to the rotor, the angle of incidence of the wind can be varied for each rotor blade.
According to a first method for operating a wind turbine, a single blade angle error is delivered to all rotor blade control means so that a common change in the angle of all the rotor blades takes place. On the other hand, according to a second method for operating a wind turbine, an individual blade angle control means is used, also known as IPC, so that the blade angles for each rotor blade are adjusted individually. In an ideal case, the use of an IPC can reduce the energy costs, since it is possible to either reduce the initial investment costs as a result of mass reduction of structural elements of the wind turbine or the annual energy production can be increased due to longer rotor blades.
However, the IPC is not a mature technology, but is the subject of ongoing developments. The objective of these developments is to reduce loads, arising temporarily on the rotor blades, due to shear stresses and wind turbulence. Known control strategies which use the IPC to reduce such loads are either based on the evaluation of load, expansion or acceleration signals obtained from one or a plurality of rotor blades or on the evaluation of deformations of the main shaft, supporting the rotor, of the wind turbine.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,361,275 B1 discloses an individual blade angle control means which is based on blade load sensors or on wind speed sensors on the blade surface, to reduce loads caused by local, temporary peaks of the wind speed in parts of the rotor region.
WO 01/33075 A1 describes an individual blade angle control means which is based on mechanical loads on the rotor blades in order to operate the wind turbine closer to its design limits, without exceeding these limits.
According to WO 2004/074681 A1, to improve the stability of the wind turbine, flow characteristics are measured locally in front of each rotor blade (for example by a long arm which extends away forwards from the blade and supports an anemometer), so that fatigue loads and the risk of rotor blade-tower interactions are reduced.
WO 2008/041066 A1 discloses an individual blade angle control means to reduce moments caused by wind shear and maladjustments of the yaw angle, the blade angle being controlled subject to measured moments acting on the rotor blades to reduce the difference of the measured moments from a set value (which is stored in a memory).
WO 2008/087180 A2 describes an individual blade angle control means for reducing asymmetric loads on the rotor, the blade angle being controlled subject to measured deformations of the main shaft (measurement using strain gauges).
U.S. Pat. No. 7,118,339 B2 discloses an individual blade angle control means and a yaw angle control means which are based on rotor blade load measurements and respectively on main shaft displacement measurements, so that the wind turbine is brought into a favourable alignment by yawing, the individual blade angle control means being used to reduce additional asymmetric rotor loads (i.e. fatigue loads). Furthermore, the operation of the wind turbine with a predetermined yaw angle error is disclosed to counteract asymmetric rotor loads.
WO 2008/119351 A2 describes an individual blade angle control means to generate a rotor moment which counteracts the moment of gravity so that the loads on the main shaft bearings are reduced.
The above-mentioned documents attempt to indirectly lower the energy costs by reducing the fatigue loads so that it is possible to reduce the structural loading capacity of the wind turbine (for example by reducing the weight). In order to be able to allow a reduction of the structural loading capacity, other loads such as extreme weather conditions to which the wind turbine is exposed during its service life also have to decrease. Otherwise, the advantages which can be achieved with the IPC are partly or completely lost. For these and other reasons, the IPC is currently not used on a commercial level.
Thus, there is a need for an IPC system which can reduce the energy costs and which can be used with a current wind turbine design with minimum modifications to the construction of the wind turbine.
Another field in connection with the operation of wind turbines but which is not the subject of the above-mentioned documents relates to the effect of yaw angle errors. The yaw angle error is defined as the angle between the wind direction and the rotor axis. However, the vertical component of the wind speed is not considered when determining the yaw angle error because the inclination of the rotor axis cannot be altered during operation of the wind turbine (an upwards incline of the rotor axis of, for example 5° is typical of commercial wind turbines). Therefore, to determine the yaw angle error, only the component, located in the horizontal plane, of the wind speed is considered. Yawing the rotor of the wind turbine can reduce the yaw angle error to zero (with constant wind conditions).
WO 2008/143009 A1 discloses an individual blade angle control means for generating forces which engage on the rotor blades and generate a yaw moment for yawing the wind turbine. It is thus possible to partly or completely dispense with yaw drives, thus making it possible to reduce electrical power losses. However, the availability of forces engaging on the rotor blades for generating the yaw moment is subject to the sporadic and stochastic nature of the wind, including the effect of turbulence, so that precise and timely yaw procedures are impossible. In order to achieve a controllable yaw movement based on these forces, the yaw movement is damped by a braking system during the entire yaw procedure. However, this damping significantly reduces the velocity of the yaw movement so that the friction forces of the braking system have to be overcome by increased, cyclic blade loads, which is detrimental to the service life of the wind turbine and is thus undesirable. Furthermore, the additional electrical power loss which is associated with the increased activity of the blade angle adjusting drive cancels out the advantages which are associated with the lower power loss of the yaw drive. Apart from this, when there is a lull in the wind, the wind turbine must be able to yaw to unravel cables, so that the desire to eliminate the electrical yaw system cannot be realised in practice.
Due to undesirable and damaging gyroscopic rotor blade loads which arise during yawing, the yaw rate of present commercial multi-megawatt wind turbines is below a value of 0.7°/s (in most cases even below 0.5°/s). These gyroscopic loads increase linearly with the yaw rate so that a restriction of the yaw rate also restricts the gyroscopic loads. The yaw rate is also called yaw angular velocity.
Detailed measurements of the yaw angle error on ready-for-use, commercial multi-megawatt wind turbines, as described, for example, in the report Risø-R-1654 (EN) by T. F. Pedersen, N. N Sørensen, L. Vita and P. Enevoldsen (2008) entitled "Optimization of Wind Turbine Operation By Use of Spinner Anemometer" show that the yaw angle error attains instantaneous values of more than 30°, and that deviations of up to 4°/s occur over a significant period of time. This angular velocity is significantly above the limit of 0.4°/s to 0.6°/s of current commercial multi-megawatt wind turbines. Consequently, current wind turbines cannot track the changes in wind direction and are continuously operated under significant yaw angle errors. Typical wind turbine control means allow a yaw angle error of approximately 25° to 30° when the yaw angle error is averaged over a period of 5 to 15 seconds, a yaw angle error of 10° to 15° when the yaw angle error is averaged over one minute and a yaw angle error of 3° to 6° when the yaw angle error is averaged over 10 minutes or more.
Thus, there is a need for a facility to be able to continuously operate modern multi-megawatt wind turbines with reduced or small yaw angle errors. Reducing the yaw angle error permits increased energy consumption if the wind turbine is operated below the nominal speed. Furthermore, a reduction in the yaw angle error reduces flexural loads on the rotor blades which are caused by asymmetric wind conditions over the area covered by the rotor if the wind turbine is operated above the nominal speed.
The prior art solutions which use individual blade angle control means based on blade loads or blade accelerations cannot be used successfully to reduce gyroscopic loads. On the one hand, wind turbulence causes changes in the blade loads and blade accelerations, thereby concealing the onset of gyroscopic loads. On the other hand, the gyroscopic blade loads lag (temporally) behind the blade angle adjustment due to the inertia of the rotor blades. In both cases, this leads to a delayed and ineffective blade angle adjustment with respect to the reduction of gyroscopic loads.
US 2009/0068013 A1 discloses a method for reducing loads which act on a yaw system of a wind turbine due to yaw moments, the yaw moments being introduced into the yaw system by a rotor which comprises a rotor blade with a blade angle adjusting system. The yaw moment introduced into the yaw system by the rotor is determined and, based on the ascertained yaw moment, a blade angle of the rotor blade is adjusted such that the determined yaw moment is reduced.
According to this method, it is not the gyroscopic loads, caused by a yaw procedure, of the individual rotor blades, but the moments which act around the yaw axis and engage on the yaw system which are reduced. In particular, aerodynamic loads of the yaw system are to be reduced as a result of rotating the rotor blades about their blade axes subject to a set value for the yaw moment.


Internally unsaturated near linear oligomers of lower olefins are converted into alpha olefins, or 1-alkenes, of essentially the same degree of linearity. The internally unsaturated olefins are the product of lower alkene oligomerization using a surface deactivated zeloite, such as ZSM-5 or ZSM-23, and contain about 1 to 2 methyl branches per twelve (12) carbon atoms. The feedstock is converted to alpha olefin oligomers which also contain approximately 1 to 2 methyl branches per thirteen (13) carbon atoms. The conversion is achieved by hydroformylation of the near linear internal olefins to provide a novel 1-alkanol oligomer structure without further branching of the carbon oligomeric chain. Acetylation of the 1-alkanol followed by deesterification by pyrolysis provides the sought for near linear 1-alkene. The near-linear oligomers of lower olefins so produced comprise vinyl hydrocarbon monomers that can be further oligomerized by cationic and coordination catalysts.

Recent work in the field of olefin upgrading has resulted in a catalytic process for converting lower olefins to heavier hydrocarbons. Heavy distillate and lubricant range hydrocarbons can be synthesized over ZSM-5 type catalysts at elevated temperature and pressure to provide a product having substantially linear molecular conformations due to the ellipsoidal shape selectivity of certain medium pore catalysts.
Conversion of olefins to gasoline and/or distillate products is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,960,978 and 4,021,502 (Givens, Plank and Rosinski) wherein gaseous olefins in the range of ethylene to pentene, either alone or in admixture with paraffins are converted into an olefinic gasoline blending stock by contacting the olefins with a catalyst bed made up of a ZSM-5 type zeolite. Particular interest is shown in a technique developed by Garwood, et al., as disclosed in European patent application No. 83301391.5, published Sept. 29, 1983. In U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,150,062; 4,211,640 and 4,227,992 Garwood, et al., disclose the operating conditions for the Mobil Olefin to Gasoline/Distillate (MOGD) process for selective conversion of C.sub.3 + olefins to mainly aliphatic hydrocarbons.
In the process for catalytic conversion of olefins to heavier hydrocarbons by catalytic oligomerization using a medium pore, shape selective, acid, crystalline zeolite, such as ZSM-5 type catalyst, process conditions can be varied to favor the formation of hydrocarbons of varying molecular weight. At moderate temperature and relatively high pressure, the conversion conditions favor C.sub.10 + aliphatic product. Lower olefinic feedstocks containing C.sub.2 -C.sub.8 alkenes may be converted; however, the distillate mode conditions do not convert a major fraction of ethylene A typical reactive feedstock consists essentially of C.sub.3 -C.sub.6 mono-olefins, with varying amounts of nonreactive paraffins and the like being acceptable components.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,520,221, 4,568,786 and 4,658,079 to C. S. H. Chen, et al., incorporated herein by reference in their entirety, disclose further advances in zeolite catalyzed olefin oligomerization. These patents disclose processes for the preparation of lubricant range hydrocarbons by oligomerization of light olefins using zeolite catalyst such as ZSM-5. The oligomers so produced are essentially linear in structure and contain 90% internal olefin unsaturation. These unique olefinic oligomers are produced by surface deactivation of the ZSM-5 type catalyst by pretreatment with a surface-neutralizing base. Process conditions can be controlled to favor the recovery of near linear olefin oligomers containing six to twenty carbon atoms. Optionally, lubricant quality oligomers of higher carbon number can also be produced.
It is known that synthetic lubricating fluids of superior quality can be produced by oligomerization of 1-alkenes, particularly 1-decene. Building on that prior art resource, oligomers of 1-alkenes from C.sub.6 to C.sub.20 have been prepared, with commercially useful synthetic lubricants from 1-decene oligomerization yielding a distinctly superior lubricant product via either cationic, Ziegler or chromium catalyst known to be effective in the polymerization of 1-alkenes.
Theoretically, the oligomerization of 1-decene, for example, to lubricant oligomers in the C.sub.30 and C.sub.40 range can result in a very large number of structural isomers. Characterizing those oligomers that produce a preferred and superior synthetic lubricant meeting the specification requirements of wide-temperature fluidity while maintaining low pour point represents a prodigious challenge to the workers in the field. Brennan, Ind. Eng. Chem. Prod. Res. Dev. 1980, 19, 2-6, cites 1-decene trimer as an example of a structure compatible with structures associated with superior low temperature fluidity wherein the concentration of atoms is very close to the center of a chain of carbon atoms.
One characteristic of the molecular structure of 1-alkene oligomers that has been found to correlate very well with improved lubricant properties in commercial synthetic lubricants is the ratio of methyl to methylene groups in the oligomer. The ratio is called the branch ratio and is calculated from infra red data as discussed in "Standard Hydrocarbons of High Molecular Weight", Analytical Chemistry, Vol. 25, no. 10, p. 1466 (1953). Viscosity index has been found to increase with lower branch ratio. Oligomers prepared from 1-decene by cationic polymerization have branch ratios of greater than 0.20. Those prepared by chromium or Ziegler catalyzed oligomerization have lower branch ratios. Whether by rearrangement, isomerization or a yet to be elucidated mechanism, it is clear that in the art of 1-alkene oligomerization to produce synthetic lubricants as practiced to-date branching occurs and constrains the limits of achievable lubricant properties, particularly with respect to viscosity index Obviously, increased branching increases the number of isomers in the oligomer mixture, orienting the composition away from the structure which would be preferred from a consideration of the theoretical concepts accepted in the art.
In view of the foregoing, the practice in the synthetic lubricants field has been to oligomerize linear 1-alkene, more particularly single compounds such as 1-decene, in order to help control branching and the number of oligomeric species in the lubricant fluid. However, 1-decene and similar 1-alkenes are expensive and produce expensive lubricant fluids. Unfortunately, potentially less expensive olefins from the process of Chen, et al., are largely internal olefins and are also sightly branched, where unbranched alpha olefins are preferred. Their internal olefin structure also does not lend itself to oligomerization with either Ziegler-Natta or chromium catalysts used to produce very high quality synthetic lubricants. Cationic catalysts, e.g., BF.sub.3 or AlCl.sub.3 complexes, polymerize internal olefins but result in more branched or lower VI lubes.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a process for the conversion of slightly branched internal olefin oligomers, prepared from lower alkenes using surface deactivated zeolite catalyst, to alpha olefins or 1-alkenes.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a process for converting the aforementioned internal olefins to alpha olefins while retaining the low degree of branching in the internal olefin.
Yet another object of the instant invention is to prepare novel slightly branched 1-alkanol compositions from said internal olefins.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a process for production of less expensive 1-alkenes useful in the preparation of high quality polyalphaolefin (PAO) synthetic lubricant fluids.

Alpha olefins from lower alkene oligomers


A ferroelectric thin film includes: a bismuth oxide polycrystal thin film constituting a buffer layer, and a bismuth-based layered compound thin film represented by the formula: Bi.sub.2 A.sub.m-1 BmO.sub.3m+3 wherein A is an atom selected from the group consisting of Na, K, Pb, Ca, Sr, Ba and Bi; B is an atom selected from the group consisting of Fe, Ti, Nb, Ta, W and Mo; and m is an integer of 1 or more. The bismuth oxide polycrystal thin film and the bismuth-based layered compound thin film are formed into a single-phase.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a ferroelectric thin film, a manufacturing method thereof and a device incorporating the same. More particularly, it relates to a ferroelectric thin film, a manufacturing method thereof and a device incorporating the same which can be applied to a ferroelectric memory element, a pyroelectric sensor, a piezoelectric element and the like.
2. Description of the Related Arts
Having numerous properties such as spontaneous polarization, high dielectric constant, electrooptical effect, piezoelectric effect, pyroelectric effect and the like, a ferroelectric is applied to a wide range of devices such as capacitors, oscillators, optical modulators, infrared sensors and the like.
Recently, by applying the spontaneous polarization property of the ferroelectric to a memory, a ferroelectric non-volatile memory has been realized which shows a great improvement in operation speed and data rewriting time as compared with a conventional non-volatile memory such as an EEPROM or flash memory. Also, by utilizing the high dielectric constant property, the capacitor size is made smaller, whereby high integration of semiconductor elements such as DRAMs is achieved, and a device of giga bit size is fabricated on an experimental basis.
As described above, it is essential to develop a technique for reducing the thickness of a ferroelectric film in conformity with the conventional semiconductor processes in order to apply the ferroelectric to various devices such as semiconductor elements. In other words, it is desired to develop ferroelectric materials which can realize a desired property with a small thickness produced by lowering the film-forming temperature and by making a dense and flat film whereby the ferroelectric thin film is suitable for fine processing and reduction of operation voltage. Also, it is desired to develop a technique for reducing the thickness of ferroelectric films.
Conventionally, lead titanate zirconate (Pb(Zr.sub.1-X Ti.sub.X)O.sub.3 ; PZT) has been widely used as the ferroelectric material. However, PZT accompanies a problem that deterioration of ferroelectric property (film fatigue) generated by repetition of polarization inversion is large.
Among bismuth-based layered compounds represented by the formula: Bi.sub.2 A.sub.m-1 B.sub.m O.sub.3m+3 (wherein A is at least one element selected from the group consisting of Na, K, Pb, Ca, Sr, Ba, and Bi; and B is at least one element selected from the group consisting of Fe, Ti, Nb, Ta, W and Mo), ferroelectric materials such as bismuth titanate (Bi.sub.4 Ti.sub.3 O.sub.12), strontium bismuth tantalate niobate (SrBi.sub.2 (Ta.sub.1-X Nb.sub.X).sub.2 O.sub.9) (0.ltoreq.X.ltoreq.1) and the like are attracting public attention because of their resistance to film fatigue, and has been widely developed in a technique for reducing the film thickness.
Especially among these ferroelectric materials, Bi.sub.4 Ti.sub.3 O.sub.12 (rhombic system, lattice constants: a=5.4100.ANG., b=5.4489.ANG., c=32.815.ANG. (JCPDS data card 35-795)) is a material showing a ferroelectric property with a strong anisotropy. A bulk ferroelectric property of the material shows a spontaneous polarization of 50 .mu.C/cm.sup.2 and a coercive field of 50 kV/cm along the a-axis. The spontaneous polarization of the material is the largest among the above bismuth-based layered compounds. In contrast, the material has a very small coercive field of 4 kV/cm along the c-axis although the spontaneous polarization along the c-axis is as small as 4 .mu.C/cm.sup.2.
A Bi.sub.4 Ti.sub.3 O.sub.12 film is formed with a small thickness by a number of methods such as a MOCVD method, a sol-gel method, a sputtering method and the like.
A lot of reports on the sol-gel method are provided because of its facility in film-forming control. However, the sol-gel method generally involves high temperature thermal treatment of 650.degree. C. or more with the grain size being as large as about 0.5 .mu.m, so that it is difficult to obtain a good property with a film thickness of 200 nm or less and application to fine processing is also difficult.
On the other hand, the MOCVD method is expected for application to a practical device processes because reduction of the film thickness of a large area is generally possible and the step coverage is good. However, reduction of the film thickness of Bi.sub.4 Ti.sub.3 O.sub.12 by a conventional MOCVD method is carried out at a high substrate temperature of 600.degree. C. or more and, moreover, the obtained film is in most cases a c-axis oriented film having large crystal particles. Therefore, it was not possible to obtain a thin film of Bi.sub.4 Ti.sub.3 O.sub.12 having a large polarization component along the a-axis.
Further, a three-step growth method is recently proposed by the inventors of the present invention (See Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. HEI 8(1996)-306231). According to the method, growth of main Bi.sub.4 Ti.sub.3 O.sub.12 thin film to be formed on a buffer layer is achieved at a low substrate temperature of 400.degree. C. by using a double buffer structure in which a very thin titanium oxide buffer layer is formed on a substrate at a substrate temperature of 400.degree. C. and, further, a very thin Bi.sub.4 Ti.sub.3 O.sub.12 film is laminated thereon at a substrate temperature of 400.degree. C. to 650.degree. C. The obtained thin film has superior crystallinity, density and surface flatness and is shown to have, in the case of a film thickness of 200 nm or less, a better ferroelectric property than those previously reported.
However, in addition to good ferroelectric property, simplification of the process is earnestly desired. Further, the thin film of SrBi.sub.2 (Ta.sub.1-X Nb.sub.X).sub.2 O.sub.9 has a property that the film fatigue generated by the polarization inversion is very small although the remaining spontaneous polarization thereof is about 10 .mu.C/cm.sup.2 which is inferior to that of Bi.sub.4 Ti.sub.3 O.sub.12.
Reduction of the thickness of SrBi.sub.2 (Ta.sub.1-X Nb.sub.X).sub.2 O.sub.9 film is carried out mainly by a coating film-forming method such as the sol-gel method or a MOD method.
However, it is believed that a thermal treatment for the method needs a temperature of 800.degree. C. or more, so that it is difficult to apply the method to fabrication of semiconductor devices by itself. Namely, in the coating film-forming method, it is difficult to finely control the film thickness and also, since the method involves a high temperature process, reaction of the film with other materials constituting the device and the like occurs; and further, the grain size is large, so that the method is not suitable for fine processing. Therefore, reduction of the film-forming temperature is desired.
Generally, in order to apply a ferroelectric material to a semiconductor device, it is desired to suppress the reaction of a film with other materials constituting the device including an electrode material by lowering the film-forming temperature and to realize a dense thin film having a flat surface so as to obtain a good ferroelectric property with a small film thickness of 200 nm or less.
However, as described above, technique for obtaining a good ferroelectric property as well as realizing a fine processing and the like has not been achieved and is not fully applied to practical device development.

Ferroelectric thin film, manufacturing method thereof and device incorporating the same


An air conditioner has an air conditioner casing in which air flows, an evaporator arranged in the air conditioner casing to cool air, an evaporator-side connector which protrudes from the evaporator toward an outer side of the air conditioner casing through an opening thereof, a piping-side connector, and a heat-insulating seal member. The piping-side connector and a refrigerant decompression member are respectively arranged at two ends of a piping group. A surrounding wall member surrounding the evaporator-side connector is erected at the air conditioner casing, so that a surrounding-shaped tip portion thereof projects beyond an end surface of a protrusion side of the evaporator-side connector. The heat-insulating seal member covers a whole area between the surrounding wall member and outer peripheral surfaces of the piping group.

Generally, for example, referring to JP-2001-150941A, an air conditioner for a vehicle is provided with an expansion valve, which is arranged outside an air conditioner casing and positioned between an evaporator-side connector and a piping-side connector.
A rib is provided to project from the air conditioner casing to surround a part (part except diaphragm portion) of the expansion valve which is relatively simple in shape. A heat-insulating seal member is mounted directly to a neighborhood of the rib to cover a whole surface of the expansion valve, in order to prevent generation of dew condensation water.
Moreover, it is disclosed that a periphery of the expansion valve can be also surrounded completely by a rib and covered by a heat-insulating seal member.
However, in the case where the rib surrounds only the part of the expansion valve which is relatively simple in shape, the seal member for covering the whole surface of the expansion valve becomes large. Thus, attachment of the seal member becomes troublesome. Furthermore, it is difficult to prevent dew condensation by means of a substantial heat-insulating sealing, because the part covered by the seal member has a complex shape.
In the case where the periphery of the expansion valve is surrounded completely by the rib and covered by the seal member, the rib is to be provided with a greatly strange (complicate) shape, and the space for mounting becomes large. Moreover, the seal member becomes relatively large. Furthermore, when the rib has the complicate shape, a clearance is liable to generate at the attachment of the seal member. Therefore, it is difficult to prevent dew condensation by means of a substantial heat-insulation sealing.
Moreover, in the both cases, the expansion valve is arranged at the connection part between an evaporator-side connector and a piping-side connector, so that the connection part is large-sized. Therefore, when other equipment (e.g., servomotor and linkages for driving door means in casing) is mounted around the connection part outside the air conditioner casing, the space for mounting the seal member is difficultly provided and the mounting performance is worsened.


A barbell system is provided with a pair of plunger pieces each having a shaft and an end plate and an elongated, cylindrical, hollow handle with a releasable coupling located on either end thereof to releasable grip the shaft of each of the plunger pieces after they are inserted into the handle so as to retain at least one weight between the handle and the end plate of each plunger piece.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to barbells for use in weight-lifting, and, more particularly, to a new and improved method and apparatus for locking weights onto a supporting bar.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Barbell systems commonly include an elongated, cylindrical bar or handle onto which matching disc-shaped weights are placed at either end and releasably or permanently attached to the bar. There are elongated barbells which are designed for two-handed lifting and considerably shorter barbells which are designed for one-handed lifting, also known as dumbbells. In this application, the term barbell shall be used broadly to refer to both the one- and two-handed devices.
While solid, one-piece barbells are the most convenient, they are very expensive because, in order to have a variety of weights, it is necessary to have a large number of separate barbells. For this reason, barbell systems which allow a variety of separate weights to be attached to a single bar are very popular.
A variety of methods and apparatuses have been employed to releasably or removably attach weights to the handles of barbells. A typical apparatus includes an elongated, cylindrical bar, a hollow cylindrical handle placed over the bar and a pair of ring-shaped retaining members placed over the bar. A weight is slidably placed on each end of the bar between the handle and a retaining member. The retaining members each have a single bolt extending radially therethrough. The bolt has suitable surfaces on the head thereof to enable the user to hand turn the bolt. As the bolt is screwed or turned into the retaining member, the tip of the bolt extends inwardly from an inner surface of the ring-shaped retaining member and comes into contact with the bar. As the bolt is further tightened, the retaining member is held securely against the bar. The weight is thus held securely on the bar between the immediately adjacent handle and retaining member.
A second common system includes an elongated bar with a central handle portion and with an externally-threaded portion at either end of the bar. The handle portion has a greater diameter than the threaded portion. Loose weights are placed onto either end of the bar and large nuts with internal threading are screwed onto the bar to retain the weights between the nuts and the handle portion of the bar.
A third system for attaching disc-shaped weights to a barbell is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,672,944. This system includes a hollow, internally-threaded bar and a pair of screws with enlarged heads which may be inserted through the holes in the disc-shaped weights and screwed into the bar to secure the weights to the bar.
Another system, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,579,337, includes a bar with a series of circumferential grooves on each end thereof and a fixed, raised protuberance or lip on the bar adjacent to each of the innermost grooves. This system also includes a pair of locking members to be placed on the bar, with each member containing a pair of cylindrical members which are believed to be rotated relative to each other to allow or restrict steel balls to move freely within the locking member or to be restrained to be in engagement with one of the aforementioned grooves. As can be appreciated, this barbell system includes a fixed length bar which is much longer than necessary in addition to requiring a slow and cumbersome method of attaching the locking members to the bar.
Another system for affixing weights to a barbell is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,638,994. This technique includes a hollow, internally-threaded bar and a pair of locking pins having a head which engages with a flat locking collar designed to hold a ring-shaped weight against the hollow bar. The locking pin also includes a shaft having a spring-biased tooth which is yieldingly urged radially outwardly from the shaft to engage with the threads of the hollow handle. Thus, the pin can be quickly inserted into the hollow handle but must be screwed out of the handle to remove the pin.
It is believed that none of the prior art systems include the ability to quickly and securely connect weights to the bar and quickly disconnect weights from the bar nor do these systems have these features with the added convenience of a barbell system which does not extend longitudinally outside of the weights. It is against this background and to overcome the shortcomings of the prior art that the present invention has resulted.

Barbell system with improved locking feature


To appropriately communicate a control channel even when communication is performed by applying a configuration of the control channel different from those of legacy LTE systems, a user terminal according to the present invention includes: a reception section that receives a downlink control channel transmitted by each of a plurality of control resource sets; and a control section that controls monitoring of a downlink control channel candidate, and the control section controls allocation of a number of downlink control channel candidates to each of the control resource sets assuming that the number of downlink control channel candidates configured to a combination of the control resource sets in a given time unit does not exceed terminal capability.

In Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) networks, for the purpose of higher data rates and lower latency, Long Term Evolution (LTE) has been specified (Non-Patent Literature 1). Furthermore, for the purpose of wider bands and a higher speed than those of LTE (also referred to as LTE Rel. 8 or 9), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A that is also referred to as LTE Rel. 10, 11 or 12) has been specified, and LTE successor systems (also referred to as, for example, Future Radio Access (FRA), the 5th generation mobile communication system (5G), 5G+ (plus), New Radio (NR), New radio access (NX), Future generation radio access (FX) or LTE Rel. 13, 14, 15 or subsequent releases) have been also studied.
Legacy LTE systems (e.g., LTE Rel. 8 to 13) perform communication on Downlink (DL) and/or Uplink (UL) by using a subframe (also referred to as a TTI: Transmission Time Interval) of 1 ms. This subframe is a transmission time unit of 1 channel-coded data packet, and is a processing unit of scheduling, link adaptation or retransmission control (HARQ: Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest).
A radio base station controls data allocation (scheduling) for a user terminal, and notifies the user terminal of data scheduling by using DL control information (DCI: Downlink Control Information). The user terminal monitors and performs reception processing (demodulation and decoding processing) on a downlink control channel (PDCCH) on which the downlink control information is transmitted, and controls reception of DL data and/or transmission of uplink data based on the received downlink control information.
Transmission of a downlink control channel (PDCCH/EPDCCH) is controlled by using an aggregation of 1 or a plurality of Control Channel Elements (CCEs/Enhanced Control Channel Elements (ECCEs)). Furthermore, each control channel element includes a plurality of Resource Element Groups (REGs/Enhanced Resource Element Groups (EREGs)). The resource element groups are used, too, when a control channel is mapped on a Resource Element (RE).

User terminal, base station apparatus, and radio communication method


A fuel solution introducing method introduces a fuel solution into a tire. The tire includes a transmitter configured to transmit data that includes a detection result detected by a sensor to a receiver. The transmitter is operated with, as a power source, an organic power generation element configured to generate power through a chemical reaction with organic matter contained in the fuel solution. The fuel solution introducing method includes introducing the fuel solution and gas into the tire from a tire valve arranged on a wheel to which the tire is attached.

To monitor the condition of a tire, a vehicle includes a tire condition monitoring apparatus. The tire condition monitoring apparatus includes transmitters, which are respectively attached to the wheel assemblies, and a receiver. The transmitter includes a pressure sensor, which detects the pressure of the tire, and a transmitting section. The transmitting section transmits the detection result of the pressure sensor to the receiver. This allows the receiver to monitor the pressure of the tire.
Patent Document 1 describes an example in which a power generation element is used as the power source of a transmitter. The transmitter of Patent Document 1 includes a power generation device using a magnetostrictor as a power generation element. The magnetostrictor generates power by utilizing an inverse magnetostrictive effect in which a magnetic field is changed by changing the outer form of the magnetostrictor with impact. The power generation device includes a collision member that applies impact to the magnetostrictor.

Fuel solution introducing method and lubricant


A power tool having a body, a tool bit holder protruding from the tool body for holding and rotating a tool bit about an axis of rotation, and an operator for operating the bit holder. The operator includes an annular member rotationally engageable with the bit holder for manual turning to tighten and/or release the bit holder, and a mount mounting the annular member to the tool body for movement between a non-operative position, rotationally disengaged from the bit holder, and an operative position, rotationally engaged with the bit holder.

Most power tools incorporate a tool bit holder, such as a chuck or collet, which can be loosened (and re-tightened) for replacing or changing a tool bit. This often requires the use of an operator such as a key or spanner-like device, but invariably it comes as an accessory item that is prone to loss or at least must first be fetched and then carefully mounted for use.
The invention seeks to mitigate or to at least alleviate such a shortcoming by providing a power tool incorporating an improved tool bit holder operating device.

Power tool with tool bit holder operator

Choon Nang Electrical Appliance Mfy., Ltd.


A method of cosmetic care comprising activating capsase-14 expression in skin deficient in caspase-14 expression by applying, on at least one skin zone in need thereof, an effective amount of a plant extract selected from the group consisting of litchi, glasswort, peach, soja seed, sweet basil, cucumber, chanterelle, leek, kiwi fruit, rhubarb, grapefruit, wheat, raspberry, plum, and mixtures thereof, to activate caspase-14 expression in said skin.

Skin is subject to deterioration through the passage of time (chronological aging, dermatological disorders, hormonal changes, environmental abuse (wind, air conditioning, heat, pollution, etc.) all of which may be accelerated by exposure of skin to radiation from the sun (photoaging). Consumers are increasingly seeking "anti-aging" cosmetic products which treat, or delay, the visible signs of chronological aging and photo-aging skin such as wrinkles, lines, sagging, hyperpigmentation and age spots. Cellulite also manifests itself as a result of increased adipogenicity and reduced connective tissue matrix.
Caspase-14 is a unique protease which controls maturation of the epidermis. This control results from proteolytic processing of filaggrin, a protein that is recognized as being involved in late stages of skin cell differentiation. The products of the action of caspase-14 on filaggrin prevent UVB photo damage, as well as water loss. While many cosmetic composition currently marketed are designed to treat signs of aging, none of the products and methods of treatment are directed to improved caspase-14 expression.
Accordingly, there is an ongoing need for a cosmetic composition for topical application to skin for treating deficiency and degradation of caspase-14 expression in human skin to prevent visible signs of aging such as wrinkles, lines, sagging, hyperpigmentation, and age spots.

Method for cosmetically treating caspase-14 deficiency


A wireless device (120) and a method for initiating a procedure for re-establishing a capability of communication in a wireless communications network (100). The wireless device (120) and a radio network node (110) operate in the wireless communications network (100). The wireless device (120) receives, from the radio network node (110), a first signal that is specific for the wireless device (120). In response to that a certain time has elapsed since a latest receipt of the first signal, the wireless device (120) initiates a procedure for re-establishing a capability of communication between the wireless device (120) and the radio network node (110) using a beam pair.

Communication devices such as wireless communication devices, that simply may be named wireless devices, may also be known as e.g. User Equipments (UEs), mobile terminals, wireless terminals and/or Mobile Stations (MS). A wireless device is enabled to communicate wirelessly in a wireless communication network, e.g. a cellular communications network, which may also be referred to as a wireless communication system, or radio communication system, sometimes also referred to as a cellular radio system, cellular network or cellular communication system. A wireless communication network may sometimes simply be referred to as a network and abbreviated NW. The communication may be performed e.g. between two wireless devices, between a wireless device and a regular telephone and/or between a wireless device and a server via a Radio Access Network (RAN) and possibly one or more Core Networks (CN), comprised within the wireless communication network. The wireless device may further be referred to as a mobile telephone, cellular telephone, laptop, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), tablet computer, just to mention some further examples. Wireless devices may be so called Machine to Machine (M2M) devices or Machine Type Communication (MTC) devices, i.e. a device that is not necessarily associated with a conventional user, such as a human, directly using the device. MTC devices may be as defined by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).
The wireless device may be, for example, portable, pocket-storable, hand-held, computer-comprised, or vehicle-mounted mobile device, enabled to communicate voice and/or data, via the RAN, with another entity, such as another wireless device or a server.
The wireless communication network covers a geographical area which conventionally is divided into cell areas, wherein each cell area is served by at least one base station, or Base Station (BS), e.g. a Radio Base Station (RBS), which sometimes may be referred to as e.g. "eNB", "eNodeB", "NodeB", "B node", or BTS (Base Transceiver Station), depending on the technology and terminology used. The base stations may be of different classes such as e.g. macro eNodeB, home eNodeB or pico base station, based on transmission power and thereby e.g. also on cell size. A cell is typically identified by one or more cell identities. The base station at a base station site provides radio coverage associated with one or more cells and/or beams. Beams are further discussed below. A cell and beam may thus be associated with geographical areas, respectively, where radio coverage for the cell and beam, respectively, is provided by a base station at a base station site. Cells and/or beams may overlap so that several cells and/or beams cover the same geographical area. By a base station providing or serving a cell and/or beam is meant that the base station provides radio coverage such that one or more wireless devices located in the geographical area where the radio coverage is provided may be served by the base station in said cell and/or beam. When a wireless device is said to be served in or by a cell and/or beam this implies that the wireless device is served by the base station providing radio coverage for the cell and/or beam. One base station may serve one or several cells and/or beams. Further, each base station may support one or several communication technologies. The base stations communicate over the air interface operating on radio frequencies with the wireless device within range of the base stations.
The expression downlink, which may be abbreviated DL, is used for the transmission path from the wireless communication network, e.g. a base station thereof, to the wireless device. The expression uplink, which may be abbreviated UL, is used for the transmission path in the opposite direction i.e. from the wireless device to the wireless communication network, e.g. base station thereof.
In some RANs, several base stations may be connected, e.g. by landlines or microwave, to a radio network controller, e.g. a Radio Network Controller (RNC) in Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS), and/or to each other. The radio network controller, also sometimes termed a Base Station Controller (BSC) e.g. in GSM, may supervise and coordinate various activities of the plural base stations connected thereto. GSM is an abbreviation for Global System for Mobile Communication (originally: Groupe Special Mobile).
In 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE), base stations, which may be referred to as eNodeBs or eNBs, may be directly connected to other base stations and may be directly connected to one or more core networks.
UMTS is a third generation mobile communication system, which may be referred to as 3rd generation or 3G, and which evolved from the GSM, and provides improved mobile communication services based on Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) access technology. UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) is essentially a radio access network using wideband code division multiple access for wireless devices.
General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a packet oriented mobile data service on the 2G cellular communication system's global system for mobile communications (GSM).
Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) also known as Enhanced GPRS (EGPRS), or IMT Single Carrier (IMT-SC), or Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution is a digital mobile phone technology that allows improved data transmission rates as a backward-compatible extension of GSM.
High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) is an amalgamation of two mobile telephony protocols, High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), defined by 3GPP, that extends and improves the performance of existing 3rd generation mobile telecommunication networks utilizing the WCDMA. Such networks may be named WCDMA/HSPA.
The 3GPP has undertaken to evolve further the UTRAN and GSM based radio access network technologies, for example into evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN) used in LTE.
Work is ongoing with developing a next generation wide area networks, which may be referred to as NeXt generation (NX), New Radio (NR), or fifth generation (5G). A design principle under consideration for 5G wireless communication networks is to base it on an ultra-lean design. This implies that "always on signals", such as reference signals in LTE, shall be avoided in the network as much as possible. Expected benefits from this design principle include e.g. significantly lower network energy consumption, better scalability, higher degree of forward compatibility, lower interference from system overhead signals and consequently higher throughput in low load scenario, and also improved support for wireless device, or so called user, centric beam-forming.
Advanced Antenna Systems (AAS) is an area where technology has advanced significantly in recent years and where we also foresee a rapid technology development in the years to come. Advanced antenna systems in general and massive Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) transmission and reception will likely be used in future wireless communication network and in 5G wireless communication networks.
A beam, such as mentioned above, is traditionally associated with transmission using so called beamforming, typically by means of a phase-adjustable, or phased, antenna array, the same underlying technique is equally applicable to reception. Beamforming, or spatial filtering, may be described as a signal processing technique for directional signal transmission and/or reception. This is typically achieved by combining elements in the phased antenna array, often referred to simply as a phased array, in such a way that signals at particular angles experience constructive interference while others experience destructive interference. Beamforming can be used at both the transmitting and receiving ends in order to achieve spatial selectivity. Thereby, thanks to directivity, improvements are possible to achieve compared with omnidirectional reception/transmission. For example, a transmitter may perform transmit beamforming by transmitting the same signal on all elements of a phased array, except for a per-element weight comprising a phase shift and an amplitude factor. Similarly, a receiver with an phased array, that may be the same and/or configured in the same way as of the transmitter, may perform receive beamforming by applying per-element weights and adding the resulting signals before further processing. The selectivity and directivity may thus be the same in transmission and reception. For transmission, it means that the signal will be stronger in some direction or directions and weaker in others. For reception, it means that signals from some direction or directions are amplified and those from other directions are attenuated, relative to each other. The same antenna may be used, i.e. operated, for transmission and reception although typically not at the same time.
Beams and beamforming may be applied in the uplink and/or downlink, and at both communication ends or only at one communication end. For example, in the downlink regarding communication between a wireless communication network and a communication device, the wireless communication network may uses transmit beamforming and/or the communication device may use receive beamforming. Correspondingly, in the uplink regarding communication between a wireless communication network and a communication device, the wireless communication network may use receive beamforming and/or the communication device may use transmit beamforming. Synonymous naming for transmit beamforming may be transmission beamforming or transmitting beamforming and synonymous naming for receive beamforming may be reception beamforming or receiving beamforming. Conventionally when referring to a beam, a transmit beam is meant, i.e. a radio beam formed and/or generated by transmit beamforming. However, as can be realized from above, it can as well make sense to refer to receive beams, i.e. beams associated with receive beamforming. Herein, "beam" typically refers to a transmit beam if nothing else is indicated, as should be recognized by the skilled person.
A beam provided by a network node is typically for communication with, e.g. for serving, one or a few (compared to a cell) communication devices at the same time, and may be specifically set up for communication with these. The beam may be changed dynamically by beamforming to provide desirable coverage for the one or few communication devices communicating using, e.g. being served by, the beam. A beam provided by a communication device is typically for communication with the wireless communication network, particularly one or a few radio network nodes thereof, typically one, or at least one, that is a main target for the beam.
A transmit beam may be associated with one or more identifiers and/or identities, which may by fix and/or dynamically assigned. There may be identifiers and/or identities that are the same for a set or group of beams, i.e. multiple beams, e.g. corresponding to a cell identity that is the same for all of said multiple beams, e.g. those within a cell, and/or there may be others that identify an individual beam, e.g. an individual beam within a cell or group of beams. A beam identifier and/or beam identity may directly identify the beam, and may e.g. be transmitted in the beam, and/or may indirectly identify the beam, e.g. by referring to the time and/or frequency of a received reference signal transmitted using that beam.
Beamforming improves performance both by increasing the received signal strength, thereby improving the coverage, and by reducing unwanted interference, thereby improving the capacity. Beamforming can be applied both in a transmitter and a receiver of a radio network node and/or wireless device. In a transmitter, beamforming may amount to configuring the transmitter to transmit the signal in a specific direction, or a few directions, and not in other directions. In a receiver, beamforming may amount to configuring the receiver to only receive signals from a certain direction, or a few directions, and not from other directions. When beamforming is applied in both the transmitter and the receiver for a given communication link, the beam pair may be referred to as the beams selected in the both ends. Generally, the beamforming gains are related to the widths of the used beams, where a relatively narrow beam provides more gain than a wider beam.
Beamforming requires some form of beam management, such as beam search, beam refinement, and/or beam tracking, to determine what transmit and receive beams, and e.g. directions thereof, to use for communication between two units, typically between a wireless device and a radio network node, such as a base station. Beam search may involve the transmitter sweeping a signal across several beams, to allow a receiver in an unknown direction to receive the signal. Beam search may also involve the receiver scanning across several receive beams, thereby being able to receive a signal from an initially unknown direction. Beam search typically also involves the receiver sending a message to a transmitter to indicate which transmit beam, or beams, are best suited for transmission to that receiver. Beam refinement and/or tracking is applied when a working beam or beam pair is already selected. Beam refinement is to improve the selected beams, for instance finding a narrower beam that provides a better gain. Beam tracking is to update the selected beam or beams when the conditions change, e.g. due to mobility. Beam refinement and tracking are typically performed by temporarily evaluating a different beam than the one that is currently used for communication, and switching to that beam if it is deemed better than the current.
Beam search may take considerable time, if there are many beams to search on both the transmitter and receiver side, and during this time communication is typically not possible. Beam refinement and tracking are usually ongoing activities that cause little or no disturbance to ongoing communication.
Networks will typically transmit periodic or continuous reference signals to support beam management, e.g. by sweeping across several transmit beams as describe above. Such transmissions are here referred to as Beam Reference Signals (BRS) or simply RS. Some aspects of beam management may then be performed by a wireless device with little or no explicit involvement from the network, since the wireless device may assume that the network is transmitting the BRS periodically or continuously. For instance, wireless device typically perform beam search as part of the system-acquisition procedure, resulting in a selection of a suitable network beam and wireless device beam. Then the terminal performs a random-access transmission using its selected wireless device beam using a transmission resource, associated with certain time and/or frequency, where it is expected that the network is able to receive random-access transmissions using the selected network beam. Wireless devices typically continue to receive BRS even when communication is ongoing, to search for new communication paths and to perform refinement and tracking of currently used beams.
Many wireless communication networks include some kind of radio-link supervision, where the quality of communication is regularly checked, and some action is taken in case the quality is unacceptable or the communication is lost. Radio-link supervision often involves a receiver, e.g. a wireless device or network node, checking the presence and/or quality of a sync signal or a reference signal. It may also involve monitoring a number of retransmissions in a retransmission protocol, and monitoring the time to receive a response to an earlier transmitted request message. In case any of these checks indicate a severe problem, the receiver, e.g. the wireless device or network node, often declares a radio-link failure and initiates some action. In case of a network node having lost communication with a wireless device, the action may involve releasing some or all network resources related to that wireless device. In case of a wireless device having lost communication with a network, the action may involve searching for synchronization and reference signals from the network and, in case such signals are found, attempting to access the network again. In case of a beamforming system, such actions typically involve beam search.

Methods and arrangements for supporting beam management in a wireless communication network


Systems, mechanisms, apparatuses, and methods are disclosed for dynamically tagging VLANs. For example, in one embodiment such means include: means for receiving a packet having identified therein a source Media Access Control (MAC) address and a Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) Identifier, wherein the VLAN identifier corresponds to a VLAN which is non-existent on a network switch; means for modifying the packet received to include two VLAN tags, a first VLAN tag corresponding to the VLAN identifier identified within the packet received and a second VLAN tag, distinct from the first; means for determining no forwarding database entry exists for the modified packet; and means for creating the VLAN on the network switch to handle received packets tagged with the VLAN identifier.

The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also correspond to claimed embodiments.
A virtual local area network ("virtual LAN" or "VLAN," is a group of hosts with a common set of requirements, which communicate as if they were attached to the same broadcast domain, regardless of their physical location. A VLAN has the same attributes as a physical local area network (LAN), but it allows for end stations to be grouped together even when not on the same network switch.
Physically replicating the functions of a VLAN would ordinarily require separate and parallel collections of network cables and equipment separate from the primary network, a prospect which is costly and complex. Unlike a physically separate network, VLANs share bandwidth as payload traverses the same underlying physical connections. For example, two separate one-gigabit VLANs that share a single one-gigabit interconnection will encounter reduced throughput and increased contention and network congestion due to such a sharing arrangement, with the benefit of not having to physically reproduce network infrastructure.
Common network behaviors such as configuring switch ports, tagging frames when entering VLAN, looking up MAC tables to switch/flood frames to trunk links, and untagging when exit from VLAN are virtualized by VLAN compatible components.
Conventional VLANs are configured and established in advance, for example, by a network administrator, using VLAN compatible components.
A dynamic VLAN is a VLAN which is automatically created by a network switch and provisioned upon receipt and processing of a packet from a network interface. Unlike conventional VLANs, dynamic VLANs do not enjoy a well supported standard and, to date, multiple vendors have attempted to solve the problem of supporting dynamic VLANs through a variety of applications, with varying degrees of functionality and compatibility.
While work has advanced to some degree in the area of dynamic VLANs, current implementations are limited to supporting only untagged dynamic VLANs. Conventional solutions use a dummy or catcher VLAN for a specified port and upon encountering an untagged packet, a VLAN assignment will be established. However, this results in an untagged packet being assigned to a VLAN before it is actually a member of the VLAN. Conversely, tagged VLANs need to be pre-configured before the initial packet processing can occur, which defeats the purpose of the dynamic VLAN feature, and renders support for dynamic VLANs useless when packets associated with tagged VLANs are encountered.
The present state of the art may therefore benefit from the methods, systems, and apparatuses for dynamically tagging VLANs as is described herein.

Methods systems and apparatuses for dynamically tagging VLANs


Apparatus for boresighting a firearm which utilizes a source of light such as a laser transmitter. A light-receiving and directing device carried on the bore directs a light ray along the axis of the bore of the firearm to a target. An optical sight carried on the firearm is adjusted in azimuth and elevation to be in alignment with the light ray as it reaches the target. The source of light is remotely located from the bore of the firearm.

The prior art includes numerous types of devices for aligning a gun sight in accurate relation with the gun bore. Light-emitting devices have been used which direct a beam of light through the bore of the firearm onto a target so that the bore can be aligned with the target. One such light-emitting alignment device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,530,162, issued July 23, 1985 to Forrest et al., wherein a light-generating device is rigidly secured to the chamber end of a rifle, and a muzzle assembly is mounted in the muzzle end of the barrel. The light is directed through a first tubular extension where it is reflected by a 45-degree mirror which is mounted in a chamber elbow into a second tubular extension which is mounted in the gun barrel. The chamber elbow must be precision machined to be snugly fitted into the chamber and both of the extensions must have accurately machined bores therethrough for alignment with perpendicular bores in the chamber elbow. It is also apparent that attachment means must be provided for securing the assembly in the receiver.
Another type of boresighting method that uses light-emitting devices is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,782,832, issued Jan. 1, 1974, to Hacskaylo. In this patent, an aiming light is mounted in a boresight mechanism which is mounted to the weapon. A light source is secured in a canister, and the canister is mounted in the breech of the firearm. The operator aligns and positions the aiming light with respect to the boresight light beam. A head-worn viewing scope is used by the operator to observe the positions of the boresight light and the aiming light that is reflected off a target.