In a computer system having a memory, a processor, and a network interface, a method for dynamically launching a conferencing application upon the receipt of an incoming call having the steps of: receiving an incoming call signal on the network interface; processing the incoming call signal to detect an intended recipient application; and launching the intended recipient application.. An apparatus for dynamically launching a conferencing application upon the receipt of an incoming call having a call directing module; a process manager coupled to the call directing module; and, a conferencing component coupled to the network interface; and the call directing module; the conferencing component containing a circuit for notifying the call directing module upon receipt of an incoming call and causing the call director to signal the process manager to activate a conferencing application.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of use of teleconferencing systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to the dynamic launching of teleconferencing applications upon receipt of a call.
2. Description of Related Art
Teleconferencing is increasingly becoming a popular application in personal computer systems. Such applications typically allow the transfer of audio and video data between users so that they can speak and otherwise communicate with one another. Such applications sometimes also include data sharing wherein various types of data such as documents, spreadsheets, graphic data, or other types of data, can be shared and manipulated by all participants in the teleconference. Different teleconference applications perhaps residing on different hardware platforms have different capabilities. Moreover, a wide variety of features has been implemented in different teleconference applications, and the proliferation of different types of computer systems with different capacities, and different networking media has created challenges for teleconferencing.
For example, most systems which are used for teleconferencing applications are also used to run such programs for performing word processing, spreadsheet applications, database applications, and a variety of other applications. Thus, the resources contained in the computer system are shared between these multiple applications. Often, most computer systems are limited in the amount of random access memory they contain and also the amount of processing power available for performing operations. In order for a user to receive calls, the user must keep the conferencing application open. Otherwise, if the called party does not have the conferencing application open, the calling party would receive a notice that the called party is not present to answer the call.
So, in order to receive a call, a user currently needs to keep any conferencing application open. However, keeping the conferencing application open is a waste of resources. Memory which is allocated to the conferencing application could be used for other applications. Also, processing resources are consumed in launching and maintaining the conferencing application. These resources are unnecessarily preoccupied for the times when there are no teleconferencing sessions in occurrence. A user can wait until he wishes to initiate a teleconferencing session before launching the teleconferencing application, but this means that there is no call notification unless the user receives a "regular" phone call, which does not allow for on-demand conferencing.
Thus, a solution needs to be provided that will allow a system to dynamically load the conferencing application only when necessary to answer a call, but not require the conferencing application to be loaded and executing to receive notice of an incoming call.

Method and apparatus for dynamic launching of a teleconferencing application upon receipt of a call


A solventless thermosettable composition comprising a dialkenylbenzene and an effective amount of an alkylbenzenesul fonic acid curina aqent exhibits reduced tendency to gel during cure with the addition of a polyarylamine. The cured material, which is particularly useful in electrical/electronic applications, exhibits low dielectric constant and good fracture toughness.

This invention relates to the catalytic cure of dialkenylbenzene monomers. In a specific aspect, the invention relates to the preparation of low dielectric constant thermosets for electrical laminating applications.
For electrical lamination, in which a glass substrate is impregnated with a thermosettable resin for ultimate use as a printed circuit board, low dielectric constant thermoset materials are desirable. Pure hydrocarbon materials give promise for achieving the desired low dielectric constant, since polar groups tend to raise the dielectric constant of the polymer. Liquid butadiene oligomers cured with peroxides have been used as an all-hydrocarbon laminating material, but cure is slow and large quantities of peroxides are required. Divinylbenzene and divinylbenzene/styrene mixtures cured with free radical initiators provide another all-hydrocarbon system, but these monomers are undesirably volatile and tend to gel at a low conversion level, leading to shrinkage and cracking in the cured material.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a curable composition which cures to a low dielectric constant thermoset material. In one embodiment, it is an object of the invention to provide a process for preparing a low dielectric constant thermoset material which addresses the problem of premature gelation of the uncured system.

Process for preparing a prepeg comprising a resin derived from dialkenylbenzene and polyarylamine reactants


In a coal liquefaction process an aqueous slurry of coal is prepared containing a dissolved liquefaction catalyst. A small quantity of oil is added to the slurry and then coal-oil agglomerates are prepared by agitation of the slurry at atmospheric pressure. The resulting mixture is drained of excess water and dried at atmospheric pressure leaving catalyst deposited on the agglomerates. The agglomerates then are fed to an extrusion device where they are formed into a continuous ribbon of extrudate and fed into a hydrogenation reactor at elevated pressure and temperature. The catalytic hydrogenation converts the extrudate primarily to liquid hydrocarbons in the reactor. The liquid drained in recovering the agglomerates is recycled.

The present invention relates generally to a method for the hydrogenation or liquefaction of coal, and more particularly to a method of continuously converting coal particulates to liquid hydrocarbon products.
In continuous direct coal liquefaction processes, pulverized coal is fed as a slurry including a portion of the coal liquefaction product. The coal slurry is usually pressurized by a pump, passed through a preheater and then into a reactor where the coal is converted to liquid and gaseous products under the influence of elevated temperature and hydrogen pressure. The maximum solids content of the feed slurry in such previous processes is limited to slightly more than 40 weight percent since with greater solids content the slurry becomes so viscous as to be unpumpable. The use of such relatively large concentrations of solvent with the feed coal is disadvantageous in that it is wasteful of energy since the solvent must be heated to reaction temperature along with the coal and is also wasteful of the interior volume of process equipment in that only about 50 percent or less by volume of the feed slurry consists of coal. Thus, it is desirable to have an alternative method to the conventional coal/solvent slurry for feeding coal to a liquefaction process.
It is also known within the art that an efficient method for introducing catalysts into a coal liquefaction system is through impregnation from solution. The catalysts are often salts of transition metals such as iron, molybdenum, nickel or tin. If water-soluble salts are used, the catalysts may be impregnated from an aqueous solution. Compared to other methods of catalyst addition, impregnated catalysts are efficacious at small concentrations, which is thought to be due to the highly dispersed nature of the catalysts within the coal particles and the proximity of catalysts to reactive sites in the coal.
The direct liquefaction of coal in the presence of large amounts of water is also known in the art. Batchwise reactions have been carried out using ratios of coal-to-water that could be obtained from a pumpable slurry of coal and water. A major disadvantage to carrying out liquefaction in the presence of large quantities of water is the contribution of the vapor pressure of water to the total system pressure. Typically such liquefaction is carries out at a total pressure in the vicinity of 4,000 psig or higher which is not economically attractive.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,735,706 to the inventor, Ruether, coal-oil agglomerates are prepared in an aqueous slurry and the resulting mixture pumped to reaction pressure where excess water and unagglomerated solids are removed. Sufficient catalyst, previously dissolved in the aqueous solution, remains deposited on the agglomerates entering the liquefaction reactor. Although this process is effective and useful it has the disadvantage of requiring dewatering and drying at elevated pressures which can substantially increase process equipment cost. This prior patent is incorporated by reference herein for describing the background of the present invention, the preparation of coal-oil agglomerates and for other purposes as will be seen below.

Process and apparatus for coal hydrogenation

The United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy


Use of high resolution environmental scanning electron microscopy to capture images of contact lens coating layers, enabling measurement of the coating thickness and structures of the coating layer to be precisely characterized. The coating layer can be directly visualized and quantitatively measured. Furthermore, controlled environments of varying temperatures and varying levels of relative humidity can be established in environmental scanning electron microscopy, such that the dynamic changes of the coating in such conditions can be imaged and measured. The controlled environments can be set up to mimic either the manufacturing process conditions, or be set up to simulate lens-on-eye conditions.

Contact lenses are widely used for correcting many different types of vision deficiencies. They may be made of a hydrated, crosslinked polymeric material such as a silicone hydrogel material (SiHy) that contains silicone and a certain amount of water within the lens polymer matrix at equilibrium. For SiHy contact lenses, high oxygen permeability, which is required for a contact lens to have minimal adverse effects upon corneal health, is achieved by incorporating silicone in the crosslinked polymeric material due to silicone having a high affinity for and ability to transport oxygen.
Incorporation of silicone in a contact lens material may have undesirable effects on the biocompatibility of the contact lens, because silicone is hydrophobic and has a tendency to migrate onto the lens surface being exposed to air. As a result, a SiHy contact lens will generally require a surface modification process to eliminate or minimize the exposure of silicone of the contact lens and to maintain a hydrophilic surface. Such treatments known include, for example, various plasma treatments (e.g., Air Optix® lenses from Alcon Laboratories, Inc. or PureVision® from Bausch & Lomb); internal wetting agents physically and/or chemically embedded in the SiHy polymer matrix (e.g., Acuvue® Oasys® and Acuvue® Advance® from Johnson & Johnson; Biofinity® and Avaira® from CooperVision).
More recent advances in contact lenses include SiHy lenses having a relatively thick, lubricious coating which exhibits a gradient in water content ("water gradient") with the coating's water content being lowest at the lens surface and highest at the outermost edge of the coating (e.g., DAILIES® TOTAL1® from Alcon Laboratories, Inc.). Because the outermost edge of the coating layer can have as much as 80% water to 100% water, characterizing the thickness and other features of the lens coating may present challenges. One method of characterizing such a coating's water content, thickness, compression modulus and compression modulus gradient is by the use of atomic force microscopy such as is described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,480,227. However, there is still a need for additional characterization methods.

Environmental scanning electron microscopy analysis for contact lens coating selection and manufacturing


A transferring speed-change device is provided between an upstream-side stage and a downstream-side stage which are different from each other in conveying speed and conveying pitch. A speed change pinion is meshed with a transferring rack at the same speed as that of an upstream-side pinion; is maintained at the same speed as that of the upstream-side pinion until a main rack is disengaged from the upstream-side pinion; and is used to drive the carrier after the main rack is disengaged from the upstream-side pinion. The speed change pinion is caused to have the same speed as that of a downstream-side pinion immediately before the main rack meshes with the downstream-side pinion; and is maintained at the same speed as that of the downstream-side pinion until the transferring rack is disengaged from the speed change pinion.

In some production lines in which an object to be conveyed is worked on and processed while a carrier that supports the object to be conveyed is conveyed, a conveying speed and a conveying pitch (inter-carrier pitch) are differentiated in each of the stages in the production line, depending on the circumstances on a working stage and a processing stage.
Conveyance apparatuses for use in such a production line need to be configured to enable smooth transfer between the stages.
Examples of the conveyance apparatus configured so that a conveying speed for each carrier varies among conveyance areas are described below (e.g., see Patent Literatures 1 to 3).
A conveyance apparatus of Patent Literature 1 is used in a roller conveyor on which an object to be conveyed is conveyed without any carrier. The conveyance apparatus includes: a speed increasing conveyance device that gradually increases the conveying speed and is disposed between roller conveyors; and a speed reducing conveyance device that gradually reduces the conveying speed and is disposed between the roller conveyors. The speed increasing conveyance device is provided at a position where a carrier is transferred from a low-speed roller conveyor to a high-speed roller conveyor, whereas the speed reducing conveyance device is provided at a position where the carrier is transferred from the high-speed roller conveyor to the low-speed roller conveyor, (FIG. 2).
A conveyance apparatus of Patent Literature 2 is provided with a speed adjustment device for increasing or reducing, or adjusting the conveying speed (travelling speed) of a carrier (travelling carriage) moving along a track. In the speed adjustment device, a plurality of speed adjustment units are arranged at a predetermined pitch along a conveyance path, each speed adjustment unit is provided with a speed adjustment pinion to be meshed with a rack of the carrier, and interlocking shafts for interlocking and connecting the plurality of speed adjustment units are provided. In addition, a speed-adjustment rotational drive device which rotationally drives the speed adjustment pinions of the respective speed adjustment units via the interlocking shafts is provided, and a mechanical-type speed change mechanism is interposed at a portion, of each speed adjustment unit, that is located between the interlocking shaft and the speed adjustment pinion.
The speeds of the speed adjustment pinions are different from one another, and the carrier needs to transfer between the speed adjustment pinions having different speeds. In view of the situation, a meshing-adjustment mechanism is provided for accepting rotational deviation of the speed adjustment pinion meshed with the rack of the carrier. The mesh-adjustment mechanism supports the speed adjustment pinion so as to be rotatable by at least one or more pitch angles (FIGS. 3 and 4).
A conveyance apparatus of Patent Literature 3 has a configuration in which pinions arranged at predetermined intervals along a conveyance path are engaged with a rack provided to a carrier (conveyance carriage), and the carrier is moved by rotation of the pinions. In this configuration, the rack is composed of: a body portion having a center portion at which a plurality of fixing rack teeth are provided; and movable portions which are provided at front and rear sides of the body portion and include movable rack teeth. Each movable portion is supported so as to be rotatable around a support shaft portion provided frontward, in the movement direction, of a position at which the movable rack teeth of the movable portion are present (FIGS. 4 to 6).


A ball screw drive (10) including a threaded spindle (12) and a spindle nut (14) which at least partially coaxially encloses the threaded spindle (12) and has a stop at an axial end face (18). A multiplicity of balls can circulate in the space (16) between the threaded spindle (12) and the spindle nut (14). A radial stop element (22) is connected to the threaded spindle (12) in a force-fitting manner and adapted to interact with the complementary axial end face (18) of the spindle nut (14). A bearing element is provided for receiving a first longitudinal end of the spindle nut (12). The radial stop element (22) and the bearing element are designed in combination as an integral bearing/stop element (24) which has two anti-rotation features (26, 28).

A ball screw or ball screw drive (BSD) is usually referred to as a roller screw drive with balls as rolling elements. The main components of a BSD include a threaded spindle and a spindle nut surrounding this spindle. During operation, balls circulate between these two components, wherein the thread grooves of both the threaded spindle and the spindle nut are complementary and matched to one another in such a manner that they act as ball guides. Unlike a screw-nut connection, in which the thread flanks slide flatly against each other, in case of the BSD, the rotating balls in the thread designed as a ball channel take over the load transfer between nut and spindle. The flat sliding movement is thus replaced by a rolling movement, which is accompanied by reduced friction.
In order to obtain a closed circulation path for the balls, one or more ball deflectors are used in a spindle nut. The deflector has the task of lifting the balls out of the ball guide at a first point between the spindle nut and the threaded spindle and returning them at a second point. The ball return is therefore a bypass that bridges one or more thread grooves of the nut-spindle system.
From a technical point of view, a BSD functions as a worm gear capable of converting a rotary motion into a longitudinal motion, whereby the reduction or transmission ratio is determined by the dimensioning of the threaded spindle, or more precisely by the pitch of the thread.
Ball screws are used in many technical applications, especially in mechanical engineering and preferably in machine tools. BSDs are also increasingly being used as longitudinal drives in fields where hydraulic or pneumatic systems were previously used, e.g. in presses, injection molding machines and power steering systems. BSDs are also playing an increasingly important role in electromechanical and electro-hydraulic braking systems, where BSDs are used as a replacement for hydraulic brake cylinders or parallel to well-known braking systems in brake assist systems.
It is apparent that during operation the travel of the spindle nut is limited to the length of the spindle nut, because when the spindle and nut are separated, the balls would lose their guidance. The simplest solution to this problem is to provide a flange at the longitudinal end of the spindle which acts as a limit stop for the spindle nut.


An integrated circuit includes a die that includes a circuit configured to generate a PWM signal in response to a first clock signal, and a first set of pads configured to provide amplified PWM signals to external filters. An amplifier stage is configured to provide the amplified PWM signals. The die includes two pads configured to be coupled to an external inductor, and a second set of pads configured to provide regulated voltages. An electronic converter circuit is configured to generate the regulated voltages to supply the amplifier stage. The electronic converter circuit includes a control circuit configured to drive electronic switches in response to a second clock signal to regulate the regulated voltages to a respective target value. The die includes a control block to synchronize the switching activity of the electronic switches with the switching activity of the amplifier stage.

FIG. 1 shows a typical audio system. In the example considered, the system comprises an audio signal generator 10, such as a radio, CD or MP3 player, generating an analog audio signal AS to be sent to at least one speaker SPK.
In the example considered, an audio amplifier 20 is connected between the audio signal generator 10 and the speaker SPK, which is configured to generate an amplified audio signal AAS by amplifying the analog audio signal AS provided by the audio signal generator 10.
For example, FIG. 2 shows a possible implementation of a so-called class-D audio amplifier 20. Specifically, in the example considered, the audio amplifier 20 comprises a waveform generator 202 generating a periodic triangular waveform signal TS, having typically a frequency between 250 kHz and 2.5 MHz. The triangular waveform signal TS is sent together with the audio signal AS to a comparator 204, which compares the audio signal AS with the triangular waveform signal TS thereby generating a square wave signal DS, whose duty-cycle varies as a function of the amplitude of the audio signal AS. The square wave signal DS is then amplified by an amplifier stage 206, thereby generating an amplified square wave signal ADS.
For example, FIG. 3 shows an example of the amplifier stage 206, which comprises a half-bridge comprising two electronic switches SW1 and SW2, such as (n-channel) Field Effect Transistors (FET), connected in series between two terminals 210 and 212 adapted to receive a DC supply voltage Vbat, such as a voltage provided by a battery. Usually, the (negative) terminal 212 represent a ground GND. In the example considered, the control terminals of the switches SW1 and SW2 (e.g., the gate terminals of respective transistors) are driven as a function of the digital signal DS. For example, in the example considered are shown two driver circuits 2062 and 2064 for the electronic switches SW1 and SW2, and a control circuit 2060 configured to generate the control signals for the driver circuits 2062 and 2064 as a function of the digital signal DS. Substantially, the amplifier 206 is configured to convert the amplitude of the digital signal DS to the value of the voltage received at the terminals 210 and 212, which generally is greater than the voltage of the digital signal DS. For example, the level of the signal DS may be 3 VDC and the voltage Vbat may be 12 VDC. Accordingly, the square wave signal ADS at the intermediate point between the two switches SW1 and SW2 corresponds to an amplified version of the signal DS.
Finally, the amplified square wave signal ADS is sent to a low-pass or bandpass filter 208, which removes at least the high-frequency spectrum from the amplified signal square wave signal ADS, thereby generating an amplified audio signal AAS, which is proportional to the original audio signal AS.
For example, FIG. 4 shows an example a LC filter 208. Generally, the filter stage 208 comprises two input terminals for receiving the signal ADS provided by the amplifier stage 206, e.g., the input terminals are connected the intermediate point of the half-bridge and the ground GND shown in FIG. 3. Moreover, the filter stage 208 comprises two output terminals for connection to the speaker SPK. Specifically, in the example considered, the first input terminal is connected to the first output terminal via an inductor L, and the second input terminal and the second output terminal are short circuited to ground GND. Finally, a capacitance C is connected in parallel with the output, i.e., between the output terminals. Substantially similar (active or passive) low-pass or bandpass filters 208 are provided in most audio amplifier circuits and/or may be integrated also within the speaker SPK.
Accordingly, a class-D amplifier is based on the fact that the switching frequency of the amplifier 20 is significantly higher than the usual audio band (between 20 Hz and 20 kHz) and accordingly the high switching frequency may be filtered with the filter stage 208, thereby reconstructing the profile of the original audio signal AS.
In the context of digital audio data, the signal generator 10 may comprise an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) for generating the signal AS or the signal generator 10 may provide directly the digital signal DS. Accordingly, the blocks 202 and 204 are purely optional.
Generally, the audio system may also use a plurality of speakers SPK, such as two or four, with respective audio amplifiers 20 using different signals AS/DS.
Those of skill in the art will appreciate that the audio system usually comprises also one or more electronic converters 30 configured to generate the regulated supply voltages for the various blocks of the audio system, such as the supply voltage for the audio signal generator 10 and possibly the blocks 202 and 204 in order to generate the digital/binary signal DS, the supply signals for the control circuit 2060 and the driver circuits 2062 and 2064, etc.
For example, usually the converter 30 comprises a DC/DC converter, such as a converter configured to convert the voltage Vbat into a lower supply voltage, such as a voltage between 1.5 and 3.3 VDC, e.g., 1.8 VDC, used by the digital circuits of the audio system and/or the low power analog processing circuits. Similarly, additional regulated voltages may be generated for the driver circuits 2062 and 2064, such as 4.5 VDC for the driver circuit 2064.
In case of a car radio, the design of the various components of the audio system may be challenging, because of the large variations of voltage Vbat of the automotive battery. For example, during crank and dump, a typical battery voltage of 14.4V may sharply (in less than 2 ms) drop down to 4-5V or rise up to 40V. For a proper operation, the electronic converter 30 should thus be able to control the supply voltages of the audio system for all battery conditions.

Integrated circuit and related audio amplifier


A pipe connector for connecting a first pipe and a second pipe includes a socket attached to an end of the first pipe and a plug attached to an end of the second pipe, wherein the plug is inserted into the socket. An inner periphery of the socket is provided with a seal ring for sealing an interval between the inner periphery of the socket and an outer periphery of the plug in an airtight manner and a hold ring for restricting movement of the seal ring in an axial direction. The hold ring includes a groove in a ring-like shape for constituting a burr storing space at an outer periphery thereof and is welded to the inner periphery of the socket by ultrasonic welding.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a piping connector preferably used in a fluid pipe in, for example, a cooling system or an intake system of an engine of an automobile.
2. Description of the Related Art
In connecting to, for example, a radiator hose or the like of an automobile, there is widely utilized a piping connector (pipe joint) made to be connected in one touch motion by only inserting a plug attached to an end portion of other pipe into a socket attached to an end portion of one pipe.
For example, in JP-A-10-9470, there is disclosed such a piping connector in which an outer peripheral groove is provided at an outer periphery of a female pipe (socket), the outer peripheral grove is provided with notched grooves penetrating inner and outer diameters and opposed to each other by a necessary angle, a stop piece arm (stopper) is engaged with a valley peripheral diameter portion of an unnotched groove portion, respective locking arms extended from the stop piece arm are made to span the respective notched grooves to lock, and portions of the respective locking arms are projected into the female pipe and fit to a groove at an outer periphery of a male pipe (plug).
Such a piping connector is arranged with a seal ring between an inner periphery of the socket and an outer periphery of the plug in order to seal in airtight such that a fluid flowing at inside of a pipe does not leak in a state of connecting the connector.
The seal ring is mounted to a ring-like groove portion constituted by a ring-like stepped portion provided on a depth side of the socket and a hold ring provided on a side of an opening portion at a predetermined interval from the stepped portion. The hold ring is fixedly attached to the inner periphery of the socket by a method of fitting, press-fit or the like.
However, according to the method of fixedly attaching the hold ring to the inner periphery of the socket by fitting or press-fit, when a fluid at high temperature and high pressure is made to flow to inside of the connected pipe, there is a concern that the hold ring is detached by loosening fitting or press-fit.
Further, although it is also considerable to weld the hold ring to the inner periphery of the socket, particularly in the case of ultrasonic welding, a molten resin is extruded from a weld face to produce burrs and therefore, there is a concern that the burrs are brought into contact with the seal ring to damage the seal ring.

Piping connector and method of fabricating the same


A gas turbine engine combustor liner with improved high temperature capability is achieved by embedding ceramic tiles into a fiber reinforced glass ceramic matrix composite substrate, so as to incorporate a space between the tiles and the substrate, the space serving to eliminate a direct heat conductive path between the tile and the substrate. The space is created by inserting a fugitive layer between the tiles and the substrate prior to compaction of the substrate, followed by removal of the fugitive layer. A fugitive material sprayed on the supportive region of the tiles prior to liner fabrication prevents the substrate material from bonding to the tiles, and prevents cracking of the tiles during temperature cycling.

The combustor of a gas turbine engine is exposed to local gas temperatures which commonly approach 3,500.degree. F. Rapid and wide ranging thermal excursions during heat up and cool down of the engine result in the cyclic exposure of combustor components to thermal shock and to high thermal stresses. At operating temperature, the combustor liner must support a steep thermal gradient across the liner from the hot inner surface to the cooler outer surface. Although the combustor does not experience a high mechanical load, the large thermal distortion of the components under operating conditions requires that the combustor exhibit elevated temperature load-carrying ability. In addition, the combustor is subjected to hot corrosive gases which chemically attack and mechanically erode the combustor wall.
The continually higher temperatures experienced in advanced gas turbine engines have carried combustor material requirements to the point at which even new and exotic metal alloys cannot effectively and economically provide the performance requirements and lifetimes required. The highest performance combustor liners are limited to a surface temperature of about 2,200.degree. F., so that the metal alloy combustor liners must be cooled by passing large quantities of cooling air over the inner and outer surfaces of the liners to ensure that the combustor wall temperature does not exceed the capabilities of the metal alloy. To operate at higher temperatures would require more cooling air to be diverted from the engine airflow, with a consequent degradation in engine performance, turbine durability, and increased engine emissions.
Ceramic materials are attractive materials for high temperature applications due to their characteristic high thermal stability. In the co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/136,307, of common assignee herewith (currently under a U.S.P.T.O. Secrecy Order), ceramic tiles mounted to a fiber-reinforced substrate are used as panels to line the inside wall of the combustor. The ceramic tiles are embedded in the substrate support panel prior to firing the substrate, with the tiles and the substrate being in intimate contact with each other during the fabrication and firing processes. While this provides an improved combustor with significantly increased operating temperature capability, the contact between the tiles and the substrate provides a direct path for heat transfer from the tiles to the substrate.
What is needed is a combustor liner fabricated so as to minimize the direct contact between the tiles and the substrate so that the direct conduction of heat from the tiles to the substrate is reduced. This would permit the combustor to operate at higher temperatures without increasing the cooling air requirements, thus improving the performance of the engine.

Gas turbine engine combustor fiber reinforced glass ceramic matrix liner with embedded refractory ceramic tiles


Systems and methods for field data gathering and which provide flexible configuration options for a central office. The system, run from, mobile computing devices, provides a free-flowing data gathering experience while only requiring what the central office needs from the field. The central office can configure the system to accept different types of data by way of different data input means available to the mobile computing device. Only the data needed by the central office need be collected by the mobile device operator. The data format is defined by the central office and is uploaded to each of the relevant mobile computing devices for use by the operators. Once each data set has been collected by an operator, the data package with the data set is scheduled for transmission to the central office once a connection with the central office can be made.

Data gathering in the field is something that has been occurring for centuries. Scientists, technologists and other research personnel gather environmental data, scientific data, and other data points for their research. Workers gather data that is used by their head offices to generate orders, gather billing data, and other business related activities. While field data gathering is widespread, in quite a few cases, it can be quite tedious and, depending on the circumstances, confusing.
As an example, sales people who take down orders while out in the field may need to take multiple points of data, some of which may be required for the head office to process the order.
Taking down the relevant data on paper may require repeat visits to the customer, especially if all of the required information has not been obtained. Paper based order sheets, with specific areas requiring information, may be used but such measures are not environmentally friendly. As well, there is still no guarantee that the person in the field will gather the correct data even if using such order sheets.
Similar to the above, researchers out in the field usually need to gather multiple data points. As an example, a researcher may need to gather the ambient air temperature, the moisture content of the air, along with other data points. However, if the researcher is not fully briefed on a project, he or she may not gather data points that might, in the end, prove to be the most important data.
The boom in smart mobile devices may alleviate the pain of data gathering by providing the data gatherers in the field with applications that require the data gatherers to obtain specific data points. However, if the data requirements change, these applications generally need to be rewritten and retooled before they can be redeployed in the field. The time lag caused by the reprogramming and/or retooling may mean lost productivity or, at the very least, less than optimal productivity.
Based on the above, there is a need for systems and methods that alleviate, if not overcome the shortcomings of the prior art.

Data gathering using a mobile computing device


The present invention proposes a demodulator device, a receiver and a demodulation method for M-ary amplitude shift keying systems (MASK) that requires partial knowledge of the CSI, namely, the channel attenuation coefficient. Therefore, the new demodulator, receiver and demodulation method do not require the knowledge of the channel phase shift. Consequently, no complicated channel estimation techniques are required, and the system will be very robust to the system impairments such as phase noise, I-Q imbalance, etc. In this sense, the new technique is denoted as semi-coherent demodulation (SCD). To reduce the complexity of the new SCD, a suboptimal demodulator is derived which has much lower complexity than the optimal while providing almost the same error probability.

In the literature, there are three types of demodulation techniques that are currently used in various wired and wireless communications techniques [1], namely, coherent, non-coherent and differentially coherent, which are denoted as CD, NCD and DCD, respectively. Each of the mentioned demodulation techniques is used for particular applications based on the channel and system resources and requirements. Moreover, selecting a particular modulation/demodulation method enables to trade-off the error performance, complexity and spectral efficiency. For example, CD provides low error probability given that the channel state information (CSI) is known accurately at the receiver side. However, accurate knowledge of the CSI requires invoking channel estimation techniques, which might require high complexity signal processing techniques and might affect the system spectral efficiency as well. On the contrary, NCD does not require any information about the CSI hence its a low complexity demodulator, however the error probability is generally very high [2]. DCD is different from CD and NCD because it requires the transmitter to introduce memory in the transmitted sequence. The information symbols extraction does not require the knowledge of the CSI at the received side, however, it requires the CSI to be almost fixed over two consecutive symbols. The probability of error and complexity for the DCD is generally in between CD and NCD. The main disadvantage of DCD is that it requires differential encoding at the transmitter side, and the receiver should know the phase of the first symbol in the received sequence [3], hence it requires some sort of pilot symbols which degrades the spectral efficiency. Moreover, it is very sensitive to phase noise and I-Q imbalance impairments [4]. Therefore, DCD is not suitable for applications where the received signal suffers from phase noise, large phase variations, or time-varying I-Q imbalance.

Digital communication receiver using partial knowledge of the channel state information

Khalifa University of Science and Technology


A method and a device for configuring an alerts management system for an aircraft comprises: generating a list of a plurality of alerts and of resolution procedures for an aircraft; for each alert, defining: distinctive characteristics of the alert; logic for detecting the alert; at least one procedure for resolving the alert; and, for each alert, defining recording in a dedicated alerts file the set of information defined for said alert, the alerts file having a structure and a format of data that are predefined for the alerts and the procedures; determining existing links between the dedicated alerts files; and in response to the determining step, updating the content of the dedicated alerts files according to the links identified.

The alert system of an aircraft or "Flight Warning System" (FWS) is a system at the core of the aircraft. It generally comprises a system for managing procedures and an alarms facility.
It indicates to the pilot the procedures to be followed for managing the airplane, be it in nominal mode or in degraded mode. Quantitatively, an FWS manages of the order of 5000 signals, 1000 alerts and 1000 procedures.
This alert system is connected to most of the airplane's electronic equipment, such as for example to the fuel management system, to the electrical or hydraulic system, to mention just a few.
The various electronic systems evolve in the course of the development of the airplane, be it in their interface or in the dynamic behaviors of the signals generated, so that the fine tuning of an FWS is done throughout the development cycle and up to the last flights preceding the certification flights.
Thus, the FWS alert system is, through its central position, modified and updated continually during the development of the airplane but essentially in the home straight just before certification.
Hence the design of an FWS may not leave room for inaccuracies and gaps. And an airplane rigger must ensure that all the alert requirements have been captured as a function of the feared events and of the operations of the airplane's various sub-systems.
The capture of the alert requirement is commonly carried out in a documentary manner solely by using documentary models which list predefined situations. Moreover, verification of the completeness of this requirement is done through a process of documentary review.
Thus, the expression of the alert requirement has to date been done in natural language and its accuracy remains interpretable. This may give rise to inaccuracies and technical incompatibilities.
The requirement thus exists for a solution which makes it possible to group the alert requirements together in a complete manner and makes it possible to circumvent errors of interpretation.

Method and device for configuring an alerts management system for an aircraft


In general, the present disclosure is directed to compositions and processes to increase pulp yield, reduce extractives, and reduce scaling in a chemical pulping process. In one particular embodiment, for instance, the present disclosure is directed to a composition comprising a surface active agent, an alkaline mixture, at least one polymer, the polymer having a linear backbone segment having two ends, at least one phosphorus component, the phosphorus component chemically linked along the linear backbone segment of the polymer, and at least one end component, the end component chemically linked to one or both ends of the linear backbone segment of the polymer.

The majority of corrugated boxes, paper grocery bags, fine papers, and market pulps are produced by a sulfate pulping process known as "Kraft" pulping. The process is characterized by the fact that sodium sulfide is added to the medium that is used to cook the wood chips and produce pulp. When this technique was introduced over a century ago, the addition of sodium sulfide produced a dramatic improvement in pulp strength, pulp yield, and durability of the paper made therefrom.
In the typical Kraft digestion process, wood chips are added to an aqueous medium consisting mostly of white liquor which will be transformed into black liquor during the cook. In general, the liquor in which the wood chips are cooked, or cooking liquor, comprises a mixture of black and white liquor, the black liquor being liquor added back to the cooking vessel, or digester, from a prior batch of wood chips and the white liquor being a freshly prepared alkaline solution as described below. Black liquor varies considerably among different mills depending on the white liquor used, the wood employed, and the method of cooking. Typical white liquor is a solution of sodium hydroxide, sodium carbonate, sodium sulfate, sodium sulfide and various inorganic materials. White liquor solubilizes the pulp and removes the lignin from the wood fibers as described below.
The largest part of the organic matter removed from the wood during cooking is combined chemically with sodium hydroxide in the form of sodium salts. Some of these compounds are resin soaps which account for the intense foaming properties of black liquor. In addition, organic sulfur compounds and mercaptans, which give the characteristic odor to the sulfate-containing black liquor, and small amounts of sodium sulfate, silica and other impurities such as lime, oxide, alumina, potash, and sodium chloride are present in the black liquor.
In the pulping process, pre-sized wood chips are subjected to the alkaline reagents at elevated temperatures and pressures in a digester vessel. Generally, temperatures range from about 250° F. to about 350° F., and pressures range from about 60 psi/g to about 130 psi/g. Digestion time may range from 30 minutes to 10 hours, depending on the process conditions and the desired pulp/paper characteristics.
Competing reactions are also in play. Calcium in the cooking liquor and in the wood (normally bound to the cellulose, but released upon contact with the alkali) form sticky precipitates with fatty and resin acids, swelling to block flow channels. Excess calcium can form precipitates with lignin, and hemicellulose among others. Such precipitates can present many difficulties in later stages. In high heat transfer areas, calcium cations form tenacious scales, reducing flow and heat transfer. In addition to calcium, certain other metals can catalyze the hydrolysis of wood sugars, hemicellulose, and cellulose, and can interfere in certain oxidation/reduction reactions. Moreover, aluminum, calcium, magnesium, and transition metals (especially manganese, copper, and iron) can interfere with bleaching as well as other processes.
The reaction conditions present during the cook, or digestion, cause lignin, the amorphous polymeric binder found in wood fibers, to be hydrolyzed. Ideally, wood chips are digested only long enough to dissolve sufficient lignin to free the cellulosic wood fibers but maintain sufficient lignin intact to provide added strength to the paper. The pulping process attempts to maximize pulp yield, which is defined as the dry weight of pulp produced per unit dry weight of wood consumed.
After sufficient lignin has been dissolved to free the cellulosic wood fibers, the digester charge is blown into a receiving vessel, or blow tank. The sudden drop in pressure from the digester to the blow tank causes additional mechanical breakup of the wood fibers. In some papermaking applications, the residual lignin is removed to produce papers without the characteristic brown color of Kraft paper. In producing linerboard or Kraft paper, however, the lignin residue remains in the papermaking pulp so that the highest possible strength of wood pulp is achieved.
Ideally, each of the wood chips blown from the digester into the blow tank is broken down into separate wood fibers. In practice, however, some of the wood chips fail to completely separate due, in part, to the undissolved lignin remaining in the pulp. These unseparated particles are removed from the wood pulp by passing the pulp through a screen having openings of a predetermined size. In the pulping industry, the standard test screen employed is flat with 0.001 inch slots therethrough.
The materials that are recovered by this screening process are known as "rejects". The rejects include wood fibers that could be used to produce paper. Accordingly, it is highly desirable to decrease the amount of rejects. One method of lowering the amount of rejects is by increasing the digestion time or by creating more severe hydrolysis conditions. Such conditions, however, increase the costs involved and cause some of the cellulose in the wood chips to be hydrolyzed and rendered unusable.
After contact with liquor in the digester, inorganics, any unused surfactants that may have been added and solubilized lignin and resins are removed from the pulp in one or more washing steps. Temperatures in the digestion and washing stages typically vary from about 250° F. to 340° F. and 100° F. to 200° F., respectively. After washing, the pulp may be subjected to further bleaching or purification treatments as desired before being sheeted and dried, or prepared for sale, or further utilized in making paper.
A Kappa number corresponds directly to the amount of lignin remaining in the pulp. Generally, the higher the Kappa number, the more lignin present in the pulp and, therefore, the higher the pulp yield. The Kappa number generally decreases as the digestion time is increased or the alkalinity of the cooking liquor is increased. The goal in such Kraft papermaking processes is to retain as much lignin as possible in order to enhance strength and to reduce the cost, while maintaining the uniformity of the cook. More uniform cooks result in a decreased percentage of rejects and, thereby, reduce costs for running paper mills.
Cooking, or digestion, of the pulp may be terminated when the amount of rejects in the pulp is reduced to an acceptable level. Substantial yield and quality advantages are achieved if the wood chips are cooked to a higher lignin content. As a result, an increase in a Kappa number target by the use of thinner chips can result in a substantial cost savings. However, the thickness of chips obtainable on a commercial scale is always variable. A major portion of the total rejects frequently originate from a relatively small fraction of the chips having the greatest thickness. The objective in every pulping process is to achieve a lower percentage of rejects.
In recent years, various surfactants have been added to the pulp cooking medium to increase deresination of the wood pulp. Deresination removes various resins found in wood, including lignin, tannins, and organic solvent-extractable materials, such as fats, fatty acids, resin acids, sterols and hydrocarbons. U.S. Pat. No. 4,426,254 to Wood et al. describes a C.12-alpha olefin sulfonate or C21-dicarboxylic acid as a solubilizing agent in combination with a deresination agent consisting of sodium hydroxide and an ethylene oxide condensation product. The composition removes resins so that fouling of process equipment and foaming in process streams are reduced. Moreover, deresination provides for production of high grade cellulose which may be used in various manufactured cellulose-containing products. Another deresination agent is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,999,045 to Mitchell et al. as a block copolymer of polyethylene oxide and polypropylene oxide. Such block copolymers as described therein are "reverse" Pluronics, and are manufactured and sold under the names PLURONIC LR-44, PLURONIC R-62, PLURONIC LR-64 and PLURONIC F-68.
A process for enhancing the cooking of wood chips for producing pulp is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,906,331 to Blackstone et al. As described therein, a block copolymer of polyethylene oxide and polypropylene oxide having a molecular weight of from 500 to 30,000 is added to the pulp cooking liquor to form a Kraft pulp. The polyethylene oxide portion of the block polymer described therein is present in the reagent in an amount of from about 20% to about 80%. Such surfactants are sold by BASF Wyandotte Corporation (hereinafter "BASF") under various tradenames including PLURONIC L-62, PLURONIC L-92 and PLURONIC F-108.
The particular block copolymer surfactants described in the '331 patent have been found to be only partially soluble in both highly alkaline solutions such as white liquor and in low alkaline solutions such as weak black liquor having alkali concentrations as low as 5 grams per liter. Lab work has also shown that a waxy precipitate often forms on the surface of hot white liquor when the surfactant described by the '331 patent is employed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,952,277 to Chen et al, describes a process for making paper and linerboard employing a phenoxy ethyleneoxy alcohol surface active agent. The particular agent described therein is sold under various names such as IGEPAL® RC-520, TRITON® X-100, and SURFONIC® N-95 sold by GAF Corp., Rohm and Haas Co. and Texaco Chemical Co., respectively. The patent discloses that the surface active agent may be used in combination with the ethylene/propylene block copolymer described in the '331 patent.
Anthraquinone is another reducing agent that has been used as an alternate to sodium sulfide in the Kraft pulping process. The expense of anthraquinone limits its use by most paper mills. Also, scaling and/or fouling of evaporators downstream as well as fouling of tall oil distillation towers has been reported. Some of the previously mentioned surfactants, including the block copolymers, have, however, produced a synergistic effect when employed in combination with anthraquinone.
Blackstone, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,298,120, describes the use of a fatty acid ester of the block copolymers such as PLURONIC L-62 and F-127 as a means of providing a stable surfactants in a hot, alkaline medium, thereby providing reduced rejects, lower kappa numbers, higher intrinsic viscosity and higher yield. This has provided a commercial success, with over 5 million tons of pulp treated in North America.
Blackstone continues, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,501,769, describing the use of a fatty acid ester of polyoxyalkene polymers chosen from a polyoxyethylene and polyoxypropylene polymers. These materials are stable in hot, alkaline medium, and provide reduced rejects, lower kappa numbers, higher intrinsic viscosity, and higher yield.
Other references describe the use of a silicone based wetting agent. Some references describe the use of castor oil ethoxylates in conjunction with anthraquinone to increase yield and reduce alkaline liquor requirements.
Although various agents and processes have been employed to enhance the cooking of wood pulp as well as to cause deresination, reduced rejects, and increased yield, the particular features of the present invention have not heretofore been known. Whereas all of the earlier patents describe a mechanism of chip penetration, and solution of resin acid precipitates, and the later Blackstone patents describe reduction in repreciptitation of the dissolved lignin byproducts, the present invention overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art in that the composition and process disclosed herein result in lower processing costs, easier operational procedures, and increased yield of pulp recovered from various wood sources. Specifically, it provides an increased yield by addressing an entirely different mechanism than the surfactant chemistries discussed above. In using this chemistry, calcium is bound, and is prevented from causing repreciptitation of lignin and extractives in chip flow channels, or onto the fiber. As digestion proceeds, this calcium is prevented from adhering to process equipment as scales. Also, other metals are controlled, preventing them from interfering with oxidation/reduction reactions of the sulfide ions and from catalyzing the hydrolysis of sugars, hemicelluloses, and cellulose. Metals are all found in the ash of wood chips in sufficient quantity to cause the abovementioned interferences. Laboratory testing and actual production evaluations confirm that this new mechanism is additive to the actions of the surfactant chemistries of the prior art. The conventional treatments for calcium control heretofore have been:
Homopolymers of acrylic acid;
Homopolymers of maleic acid;
Copolymers of acrylic and maleic acid;
Terpolymers of maleic anhydride, ethyl acrylate, and vinyl acetate.
It has been found that by using a new and unique blend of polymeric dispersants (these include homopolymers, copolymers, and terpolymers with various functionalities including but not limited to the functionalities mentioned above, but most significantly contains one or more polymers with phosphonate or phosphinate components along the backbone of the carbon chain), that scale and corrosion encountered in the digesting equipment, pulp washers, and evaporators can be controlled while increasing the quality and yield of pulp. The presence of nitrogen and/or sulfur functionalities has been found to be helpful as well.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Compositions and processes to increase pulp yield, reduce extractives, and reduce scaling in a chemical pulping process


Plasma-enhanced magnetron-sputtered deposition (PMD) of materials is employed for low-temperature deposition of hard, wear-resistant thin films, such as metal nitrides, metal carbides, and metal carbo-nitrides, onto large, three-dimensional, irregularly shaped objects (20) without the requirement for substrate manipulation. The deposition is done by using metal sputter targets (18) as the source of the metal and immersing the metal sputter targets in a plasma (16) that is random in direction and fills the deposition chamber (12) by diffusion. The plasma is generated from at least two gases, the first gas comprising an inert gas, such as argon, and the second gas comprising a nitrogen source, such a nitrogen, and/or a carbon source, such as methane. Simultaneous with the deposition, the substrate is bombarded with ions from the plasma by biasing the substrate negative with respect to the plasma to maintain the substrate temperature and control the film microstructure. The substrate, metal targets, and plasma are all electrically decoupled from each other and from walls (14) of the deposition chamber (12), so as to provide independent electrical control of each component. The PMD process is applicable not only to the deposition of hard coatings, but also can be applied to any thin film process such as for electrically and thermally conductive coatings and optical coatings, requiring simultaneous, high-flux, ion-bombardment to control film properties.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the deposition of hard coatings onto large-area substrates by ion-assisted sputter deposition, and, more particularly, to improved method and apparatus related to magnetron sputtering deposition with simultaneous high flux ion bombardment of the substrate. Also more particularly, the present invention is directed to the low-temperature (.ltoreq.450.degree. C.), plasma-ion-assisted, high-rate deposition of hard thin films onto large-area, three-dimensional, irregularly shaped objects without the requirement of substrate manipulation.
2. Description of Related Art
To form hard coatings at low substrate temperature, i.e., equal to or less than about 450.degree. C., a thin film method must satisfy several requirements simultaneously. For example, the case of depositing a hard coating of titanium nitride onto a substrate is now considered. The first requirement is that energetic (several eV) atoms, such as titanium, must be delivered to a substrate surface uniformly. The use of an energetic atom aids in improving tile atom mobility on the substrate to nucleate and grow the deposited film at low temperature. Additional requirements are that the substrate surface must be heated uniformly and that the deposited film must be simultaneously subjected to a high-flux (>1 mA/cm.sup.2) of energetic (>50 eV) ion (e.g., argon ion) bombardment sufficient to influence the film microstructure to form a hard coating.
With ion bombardment (>1 mA/cm.sup.2, >50 eV), the hardness of the coating can be increased by a factor of 3 times or more, compared to the hardness of a coating without ion bombardment. For titanium nitride, this corresponds to an increase in the Vickers hardness from 500 Kg/mm.sup.2 to 1,500 Kg/mm.sup.2 in the presence of ion bombardment.
Sputtering is a technique known to produce energetic (about 5 eV) titanium atoms for deposition of thin films onto surfaces. Thermally evaporated titanium has an energy of about 0.1 to 0.2 eV, which is generally not enough to provide sufficient energy for low temperature film growth. Ionized titanium has an energy of about 50 to 100 eV, which is higher than sputtering. However, for depositing thin films uniformly onto sharp corners, ionized atoms deposit non-uniformly because of the non-uniform electric fields, whereas energetic atoms do not respond to electric fields. Therefore, energetic sputtered atoms are more suitable for uniform deposition at edges, corners, and flat surfaces and at lower temperatures.
For heating of the substrate, electron bombardment or ion bombardment are techniques known to be applicable prior to thin-film deposition. Also, ion beams or plasmas are techniques known to provide fluxes of ions for bombarding substrates during thin-film deposition and which are sufficient for influencing the film microstructure.
A variety of techniques are used to deposit thin films, such as titanium nitride. These include reactive evaporation, arc evaporation, sputter-CVD (chemical vapor deposition), reactive magnetron sputtering, unbalanced magnetron sputtering, and hollow cathode magnetron sputtering.
The leading process using reactive evaporation (RE) is disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,197,175, "Method and Apparatus for Evaporating Materials in a Vacuum Coating Plant" (called the RE process herein). In this process, electrons are extracted from a separate arc discharge chamber into the process chamber. The electrons are used to ionize the Ar and N.sub.2 gas atoms in the process chamber as well as to evaporate titanium metal from a crucible and subsequently ionize the evaporated titanium atoms. The substrate samples are first biased positively to attract electrons from the arc discharge chamber for heating to the substrate. The samples are then biased negatively to attract Ar.sup.+ ions which first sputter-clean the substrate surface and then bombard the film during deposition to influence the film microstructure as well as maintain the substrate temperature during the deposition.
There are a number of disadvantages of the foregoing process. The evaporation of titanium and the ion bombardment of the sample cannot be independently controlled since the electron beam is used both for Ar.sup.+ and N.sub.2.sup.+ plasma production, and for evaporation of titanium atoms from crucible and their subsequent ionization. The titanium is evaporated practically from a point source, which limits the large-scale capability of the process. Complicated sample fixturing and sample manipulation involving rotation of the sample is required. Even with a high degree of ionization of titanium from the evaporator, a high percentage of the titanium deposited onto the surface of the substrate is comprised of neutral titanium atoms. These atoms have the characteristic energy of thermally evaporated atoms: about 0.1 to 0.2 eV. Because of this low energy, a high substrate temperature, about 500.degree.0 C., is required to deposit hard titanium nitride films.
To summarize, in the RE process, film growth is conducted by argon-ion bombardment of the substrate surface simultaneously with the film deposition, sufficient to influence the film microstructure. However, a high percentage (>30%) of the deposited titanium is in the form of non-energetic (0.1 to 0.2 eV) titanium atoms requiring high (500.degree. C.) substrate temperature for hard, thin-film growth. Also, the argon-ion plasma-production process is coupled to the titanium-atom evaporation and ionization process, which does not allow independent control of each process. Furthermore, since titanium atoms are supplied by a point evaporation source, complicated sample manipulation is required and the capability of processing large samples is very limited.
In sputter-CVD, such as disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,992,153, "Sputter-CVD Process for at Least Partially Coating a Workpiece", a magnetic field-assisted sputtering device is used to generate sputtered atoms which then deposit onto a substrate to grow a hard film in the presence of a separate plasma, which may be argon. The substrate is rotated and the sputter target is held fixed in position. While sputtering is suitable for large-scale deposition, there are several limitations of the sputter-CVD process. Principal among them is the fact that the substrate either electrically floats or is biased positive with respect to the plasma.
When the substrate is allowed to electrically float, ion bombardment from the plasma is insufficient to influence the film microstructure. Any ion bombardment that does occur cannot be controlled without changing the plasma conditions.
When the substrate is biased positive with respect to the plasma, electrons from the plasma bombard the substrate instead of ions. Therefore, in this operating mode, ions do not influence the film microstructure. Instead, electron heating is relied upon for accomplishing this.
Other limitations of the sputter-CVD process include the use of only one sputter target which severely restricts the large-scale processing capability. To process large-scale, three-dimensional, irregularly-shaped substrates, substrate manipulation is required which is cumbersome.
To summarize, in the sputter-CVD process, film growth occurs via energetic (several eV) sputtered titanium atoms; however, there is no simultaneous ion-bombardment of the substrate that is sufficient to influence the film microstructure which is crucial to growing hard, thin films at low substrate temperature. Instead, electron bombardment heating is relied upon to accomplish this. The sputter-CVD process is also restrictive in its capability to process large-scale, three-dimensional objects.
Magnetron sputtering is a process that is well-developed for large-scale deposition of thin films and is described by P. Martin and R. Netterfield, "Ion Assisted Di-electric and Optical Coatings", in Handbook of Ion Beam Processing Technology: Principles, Deposition, Film Modification and Synthesis, edited by J. Cuomo et al, Noyes Publications, New Jersey (1989). The sputtered atoms reach the substrate surface with a typical energy of a few eV (.apprxeq.5 eV), which makes the deposition temperature of the film between 50.degree. to 100.degree. C. lower compared with the reactive evaporation technique described earlier. However, it is well-known that for low temperature (less than about 450.degree. C.) growth of thin films, high-flux (>1 mA/cm.sup.2), energetic (>50 eV) ion-bombardment is necessary for forming hard, wear-resistant TiN films. Furthermore, in the conventional magnetron sputtering system, the plasma is confined very near the sputtering target. Biasing of the substrate surface does not allow enough ions to be collected from the magnetron plasma to form high quality, hard thin films.
To circumvent this limitation, two techniques have been developed: the unbalanced magnetron, described by B. Window and N. Sawides, "Unbalanced DC Magnetrons as Sources of High Ion Fluxes", Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology A, Vol. 4, No. 3, pp. 453-457 (May-June 1986); and the hollow cathode magnetron target, described by J. J. Cuomo and S. M. Rossnagel, "Hollow-Cathode-Enhanced Magnetron Sputtering", Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology A, Vol. 4, No. 3, pp. 393-396 (May-June 1986).
In the unbalanced magnetron, the magnetic field at the magnetron target is adjusted and controlled so that the magnetic field lines extend to the substrate surface. This increases the plasma density near the substrate surface to improve the flux rate of ions bombarding the surface. However, use of this process has limitations.
First, the only source of plasma is from the magnetron source itself. Therefore, argon-ion bombardment is coupled to the operation of the magnetron, even though the magnetic field can be varied independently to influence the plasma density. More importantly, the magnetic field configuration of the unbalanced magnetron does not allow for efficient and uniform processing of large-scale substrates that are three-dimensional in shape, or that are magnetic. For example, to treat a cast iron (magnetic material) substrate that is 3-ft.times.3-ft in size, an extremely strong magnetic field must be generated at the magnetron in order for it to extend over a large distance from the magnetron and envelop the large size of the object. The operation of the unbalanced magnetron is therefore dependent upon the size and shape of the substrate and must be tailored differently for each substrate. Furthermore, since cast iron is magnetic, this will non-uniformly terminate the magnetic field lines, extending from the magnetron, resulting in a non-uniform plasma and subsequent treatment of the substrate by plasma-ion bombardment. In this case, the substrate size, shape, and type (magnetic vs. non-magnetic) will couple to the plasma production process downstream of the magnetron. Finally, electron heating and argon-ion sputter cleaning of the substrate surface cannot be performed because the only source of plasma is from the magnetron, which necessarily produces titanium atoms once a plasma is established.
To summarize, in the unbalanced magnetron process, film growth occurs via energetic (few eV) sputtered titanium atoms and simultaneously with high-flux, energetic ion bombardment from a plasma to influence the film microstructure. However, the plasma production is coupled to the magnetic field extending from the magnetron, not allowing independent control of each parameter. In addition, the process is ill-suited for treatment of large-scale, three-dimensional objects, and for magnetic materials, as well.
In the hollow cathode magnetron technique, some of these limitations are alleviated. The technique is based on the use of a triode discharge in which an auxiliary source of electrons is coupled to the magnetron cathode. The hollow cathode is inserted into the fringe field of a planar magnetron, near the front cathode surface. The hollow cathode is started and biased sufficiently below the plasma potential of the magnetron so that several amperes of electron current can be emitted into the magnetron plasma. These electrons cause additional ionization of the magnetron plasma and allow the operating pressure of the magnetron to be lowered to the high 10.sup.-5 Torr range.
In this pressure range, the magnetron is compatible with the use of a separate broad-beam ion gun of the Kaufman type, which requires operation at relatively low pressures. However, the limitation of this version of the hollow cathode magnetron technique is that three-dimensional, irregularly shaped objects cannot be processed because of the line-of-sight directionality of the ion gun ion beam. In addition, ion current densities in excess of several mA/cm.sup.2 required to influence the film microstructure are limited using un-neutralized ion beams because of space-charge effects. Finally, it is important to realize that the hollow cathode enhances only the efficiency of the magnetron. It does not enhance the plasma density near the substrate to aid in ion bombardment of the film during deposition.
To summarize, in the hollow cathode magnetron technique, film growth occurs via energetic (few eV) sputtered titanium atoms and with simultaneous argon-ion bombardment from a separate ion-beam source to influence the film microstructure. However, the technique is ill-suited to processing of large-scale objects because of the line-of-sight restriction of the ion beam and the limitation to obtain ion current densities of several mA/cm.sup.2 over large areas.
In arc evaporation, described by D. Sanders, "Vacuum Arc-Based Processing", in Handbook of Plasma Processing Technology: Fundamentals, Etching, Deposition, and Surface Interactions, S. M. Rossnagel et al, eds., Noyes Publications, New Jersey (1990), use is made of a Ti plate that is operated at cathode potential. No external plasma is required to produce Ti atoms. Instead, a vacuum cathodic-arc is created between the Ti plate and an anode surface that forms an arc spot on the cathode. The arc spot produces an intense Ti plasma. This arc spot moves around on the Ti plate. Ti atoms, ions, and Ti clusters consisting of macroparticles of Ti atoms are evaporated from the arc spots. When deposited onto the substrate surface, the clusters can make the surface rough and leave weak spots in the coating. In the arc evaporation process, an additional restriction is that high deposition rates are limited. The reason for this is that when the arc-evaporation power increases, the titanium cluster evaporation rate increases, which severely degrades the film quality. This is in contrast to sputtering of titanium, where an increase in sputter power continuously increases the sputter rate of titanium.
Arc evaporation has a high degree of ionization of Ti. However, like the reactive evaporation process, the residual neutral Ti atoms produced during arc-evaporation dominate the film quality, requiring a high substrate temperature compared to magnetron sputtering. For high deposition rates, a low substrate temperature is difficult to maintain because of the additional substrate heating that is generated when energetic (50 to 100 eV) titanium ions deposit onto a substrate.
In arc evaporation, electron heating and Ar.sup.+ -ion sputter cleaning are not possible because there is no Ar.sup.+ ion plasma produced. In addition, sputter cleaning of the substrate surface prior to deposition of the film is not possible because the production of the vacuum arc is coupled to the production of titanium. Once an arc is struck, titanium is produced from the arc and deposited onto the substrate. No argon plasma is produced separately from this arc process.
To summarize, in the arc evaporation technique, film growth is dominated by non-energetic (0.2 eV) thermal titanium atoms despite the production of energetic (ionized) titanium ions from the arc evaporation process. Simultaneous argon-ion bombardment of the substrate to influence film microstructure is absent.
Thus, there remains a need for apparatus and a method for depositing hard, thin films at relatively low temperature and high rate onto large-scale, three-dimensional, irregularly shaped objects without the need for substrate manipulation.

Plasma-enhanced magnetron-sputtered deposition of materials


Biodegradable composite films comprising a starch containing blended polymeric film and a barrier material coated or laminated to the blended film. The use of such composite films in ostomy pouches and other medical products is described. Also described is an ostomy pouch construction in which an adhesive label is affixed to the pouch so as to reduce the escape of odor from the stomal aperture.

At the present time home use medical products such as ostomy pouches are disposed of by placing the soiled article in a garbage receptacle where it is collected on a daily, bi-weekly, or other regular basis. This method of disposal would be enhanced if the pouch or other device were formed of degradable materials. A further benefit would be obtained if the pouch or other device were sufficiently flexible so that it could be disposed of by flushing in a conventional toilet. Of course, the user must be confident that the device will be flushed and pass through the plumbing system.
Keyes et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,762,738 disclose a flushable ostomy pouch made from a laminate of hot water soluble polyvinyl alcohol and water resistant tissue paper. Flushability is increased by incorporating a surfactant within the laminate or adding a surfactant to the toilet water before flushing. Flushability is also increased by wrapping the ostomy pouch in a film or placing the ostomy pouch within a bag or sleeve of polyvinyl alcohol, polyethylene oxide, polypropylene oxide, etc.
Holmes in U.S. Pat. No. 4,620,999 discloses disposable ostomy bags formed from 3-hydroxybutyrate polymers or laminates of polyvinyl alcohol or polyethylene oxide film and 3-hydroxybutyrate. The user must raise the pH of the bag contents to at least 12 prior to disposal.
Martini et al. in European Patent Application 226,439 disclose biodegradable films suitable for use in ostomy pouches consisting of copolymers of beta hydroxy butyric acid and beta hydroxy valeric acid as melt extruded films. This film may be laminated with other films to increase strength or impermeability.
Martini et al. in European Patent Application 273,611 disclose a laminate suitable for a flushable ostomy pouch comprising a laminate of polyvinyl alcohol or polyethylene oxide with a thin coextruded film comprising a melt-bondable layer such as an ethylene vinyl acetate and an impermeable layer such as polyvinylidene chloride.
Brooks et al. in U.K. Patent Application 2,185,404A and U.S. Pat. No. 4,772,279 disclose a flush disposable ostomy pouch having a double sided adhesive faceplate for attachment to the body. The pouch is formed of a laminate of cold water soluble polyvinyl alcohol and polyvinylidene chloride.
Cross et al. in U.K. Patent Application 2,195,919A disclose a laminate which is unaffected by contact with water of neutral pH but is degraded on contact with an alkali added to the toilet bowl. The laminate has a central layer of polyvinyl alcohol, an inner layer made up of at least two coats of a blend of polyvinylidene chloride acrylonitrile copolymer with carboxylated acrylic copolymer and an outer layer of at least two coatings of carboxylated acrylic acid.
Cross et al. in U.K. Patent Application 2,201,372A disclose a flush disposable ostomy bag formed from an inner layer of polyethylene and an outer layer of polyvinyl alcohol. Two flexible layers of aluminium are located between the inner and outer layers to reduce odor transmission.
Kiefer in European Patent No. 10,171B discloses a flushable, disintegratable ostomy pouch made from a multi-layer foil. The inner layer which contacts the body waste is a water-insoluble film-forming material such as polyethylene. The middle layer is of a water soluble material such as polyvinyl alcohol or partially saponified polyvinyl acetate. The outer layer may have water-repellent characteristics and be a material which disintegrates in water when additionally subjected to mechanical means such as kraft paper.
Samways et al. in British Patent No. 2,083,762B disclose a disposable ostomy pouch formed of a composite sheet material comprising an outwardly-presented mechanically strong, backing layer which has good tensile strength and cohesion when dry but which is dissolved or dispersed when immersed in mildly turbulent water and an inwardly-presented mechanically weak but water-impermeable layer. The outer layer can be low wet strength paper or preferably a plastic film such as polyethylene oxide or polyvinyl alcohol. The polyvinyl alcohol may be plasticized and may be a hot-water soluble grade. Materials suitable for forming the water-impermeable layer include polyvinylidene chloride, Saran, nitrocellulose, waxes, pressure sensitive adhesive for example a solution of rubber latex in an organic solvent, etc.
Samways in U.K. Patent Application 2,193,925A discloses a flush disposable sheet material suitable for use as an ostomy bag comprising a 30 to 40 micron water-soluble polyvinyl alcohol film laminated to a 12 to 22 micron water-insoluble polyethylene or polyvinyl chloride film.
Potts in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,372,311 and 4,503,098 disclose disposable articles made from water soluble polymers coated with a degradable water-insoluble polymer suitable for use in diapers, catamenial devices, sanitary napkins, bandages, etc. The water soluble polymer is selected from poly(alkylene oxide), hydroxyethyl cellulose, hydroxypropyl cellulose, polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinyl pyrrolidone, etc. The degradable water-insoluble polymer is selected from a cyclic ester polymer, a poly (.beta.-hydroxy butyrate), dialkanoyl polymers, and ethylene polymers.
Griffin in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,016,117, 4,021,388, 4,125,495, 4,218,350, 4,324,709, and 4,420,576 discloses biodegradable compositions including a synthetic resin and a granular filler such as natural starch.


Collision occurring on a network is reduced in a multi-point image display system for transmitting and receiving images among multiple points and receiving and displaying the image transmitted from one point at a remote point. An image communication terminal used for the multi-point image display system includes a system for issuing an image transmission request to request the transmission of the image to a plurality of image communication terminals disposed at the multiple points, a system for detecting whether the transmission of predetermined image units in the transmission of the image conducted in response to the image transmission request has been completed or not, and a system for notifying the image transmission request to the image transmission terminals when the completion of the transmission of the predetermined image units is detected and controlling the terminals to which the image transmission request is notified in a predetermined order to allow the ordered transmission of the image packets from the image transmission terminals.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image communication apparatus and an image communication method.
2. Related Background Art
FIG. 10 shows a conceptual view of a prior art computer based multi-point image display system. In the multi-point image display system shown in FIG. 10, image communication terminals 1202, 1203, 1204, 1205 and 1206 are connected to a network 1120 to form a multi-point image display system which allows mutual communication of images, voices and data among image communication terminals. In FIG. 10, numeral 1201 denotes a communication terminal housing.
The network 1120 is a bus type network such as Ethernet (trademark). In the present example, the image communication terminals 1203, 1204, 1205 and 1206 are image transmission terminals.
In the above prior art apparatus, when a plurality of image transmission terminals 1203-1206 simultaneously transmit images, collisions (a plurality of communication terminals transmit packets simultaneously and the packets are broken) occur on the network 1120 and image packets may be lost. As a result, the images cannot be successfully reproduced.
It is an object of the present invention to solve the above problem.
It is another object of the present invention to reduce the collision occurring on the network.
It is other object of the present invention to permit immediate operation for displaying the images after a plurality of image packets have been received.
The present invention is featured by forming the image by an image forming request noticed by request notifying means and notifying the image forming request before an image transmission request.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an image communication apparatus and an image communication method which have a novel function.

Image communication apparatus and image communication method


An abstraction module that facilitates security configuration amongst a number of initiators in a manner that there are no conflicts in the security information across all initiators. The abstraction module exposes a common interface that may be used to configure any of the initiators, receives through this common interface an indication that a selected one of the initiators is to be configured to communicate with a selected target device, and retrieves security information from a common database, the database including information that is relevant to configuring security for any of the plurality of initiators. The abstraction module identifies a security configuration for the selected initiator using the retrieved security information and, if the settings would not cause a conflict with any of the other of the initiators, uses the identified security configuration to configure the selected initiator.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to network communication technology. More specifically, the present invention relates to mechanisms in which the security configuration for initiators responsible for communicating with networked target devices is closely coordinated so as to avoid security conflicts.
2. Background and Related Art
Computing technology has transformed the way we work and play. In a typical configuration, a computing system is coupled through a local bus to a variety of hardware devices for optimal operation. Such devices may include, for example, magnetic and/or optical disk drives, printers, fax machines, scanners, cameras, or the like. The computing system communicates with each of the connected hardware devices using a standard communication protocol that is recognized by the hardware device.
One commonly used communication protocol for communication between a computing system and its various connected hardware devices is a parallel interface standard called "Small Computer System Interface" ("SCSI" for short). SCSI allows for effective block transfer of data between a computing system and its various peripheral devices. However, SCSI does have certain limitations. In particular, data transfer using SCSI is relatively slow compared to other data transfer mechanisms. Furthermore, the cable length of the SCSI is relatively short compared to expansive networks. Accordingly, the hardware devices typically have to be close to the computing system if SCSI is employed in its purest form.
One improvement to SCSI is called "Internet SCSI" ("iSCSI" for short). iSCSI is a standard which allows standard SCSI commands and responses to be communicated over any IP-based network such as Ethernets and the Internet. The computing system includes an "initiator" (which may be hardware or software) which initiates communication with the target device using the iSCSI standard. Specifically, the SCSI message is fragmented if needed and then encapsulated with Internet Protocol (IP) headers, whereupon the properly fragmented and encapsulated SCSI message is sent over the IP network. The target device then extracts and executes the SCSI command, and then returns the response, if any, using the iSCSI standard over the IP-based network.
The iSCSI standard allows SCSI commands to be delivered over great lengths. Accordingly, target devices may be remotely located from its associated computing system or systems. Accordingly, target devices may be more easily shared, and need not clutter the local space occupied by the associated computing system. In addition, many typical IP-networks operate at high frequencies. iSCSI may even support Ethernets that operate in the Gigabit per second range. Accordingly, iSCSI allows more rapid data transfer even over greater distances than the simple use of SCSI typically allows.
However, transferring iSCSI commands over an IP-based network introduces greater security threats than does the simple use of SCSI over a local bus. For instance. The iSCSI communications may be intercepted, eavesdropped, or highjacked. Accordingly, for sensitive iSCSI communications, a security standard compatible with IP called IPSec is often used for authentication and/or encryption of the message.
However, IPSec has a number of security configuration options. For example, IPSec supports a variety of encryption algorithms, includes options regarding what part of the message is to be encrypted, and what type of authentication is to be employed. The initiator responsible for communicating with a target device must be properly configured with the appropriate IPSec security information in order for the communication to be secured as desired and interpretable by the target device. In computing systems that have multiple initiators, the initiators are typically configured without regarding for the security configuration of the other initiators in the computing system. Accordingly, sometimes conflicts arise between the security configurations of the initiators. These conflicts may prevent the initiators from functioning as intended, or even functioning at all. The risk of such conflicts may be especially great when the initiators are supplied by different venders.
Accordingly, what would be advantageous are mechanisms in which multiple initiators on a computing system may be properly configured with security information in a manner that the security information of one initiator does not conflict with the security information of any other initiator.

Coordinated network initiator management that avoids security conflicts


An adhesive composition that includes the reaction product of (a) a polyester-based polyurethane; (b) an epoxy resin; (c) an epoxy-functional silane; and (d) an isocyanate-functional compound, and multilayer laminates in which this adhesive composition is used to bond two polymeric substrates together where at least one of the substrates has an ink-bearing surface.

This invention relates to adhesives for use in multilayer laminates in which at least one of the layers includes an ink-bearing surface.
There has been an interest in printing images such as photographic images onto plastic substrates. It would be particularly desirable to use liquid toner-based electrophotographic printing for this purpose because this printing technique produces high quality images.
Once the image has been printed onto the surface of the plastic substrate, it is necessary to apply a protective film over the printed ink-bearing surface. The bond strength between the protective film and the printed surface must be sufficient to resist delamination under typical use conditions.

Adhesives for preparing a multilayer laminate featuring an ink-bearing surface bonded to a second surface