Features are disclosed for processing and interpreting natural language, such as interpretations of user utterances, in multi-turn dialog interactions. Context information regarding interpretations of user utterances and system responses to the user utterances can be maintained. Subsequent user utterances can be interpreted using the context information, rather than being interpreted without context. In some cases, interpretations of subsequent user utterances can be merged with interpretations of prior user utterances using a rule-based framework. Rules may be defined to determine which interpretations may be merged and under what circumstances they may be merged.

Speech processing systems include various modules and components for receiving spoken input from a user and determining what the user meant. In some implementations, a speech processing system includes an automatic speech recognition ("ASR") module that receives audio input of a user utterance and generates one or more likely transcriptions of the utterance. ASR modules typically use an acoustic model and a language model. The acoustic model is used to generate hypotheses regarding which words or subword units (e.g., phonemes) correspond to an utterance based on the acoustic features of the utterance. The language model is used to determine which of the hypotheses generated using the acoustic model is the most likely transcription of the utterance based on lexical features of the language in which the utterance is spoken.
Speech processing systems may also include a natural language understanding ("NLU") module that receives textual input, such as a transcription of a user utterance, and determines the meaning of the text in a way that can be acted upon, such as by a computer application. For example, an NLU module may be used to determine the meaning of text generated by an ASR module using a statistical language model. The NLU module can then determine the user's intent from the ASR output and provide the intent to some downstream process that performs some task responsive to the determined intent of the user (e.g., generate a command to initiate the phone call, initiate playback of requested music, provide requested information, etc.).
Some speech processing systems are configured to engage in multi-turn dialog interactions with users. For example, a user may wish to initiate a certain process or task, but may not provide all necessary information. In this case, the speech processing system can prompt the user for the missing necessary information. As another example, user may wish to receive information from the system. The speech processing system can provide the requested information and allow the user to initiate subsequent processes based on the provided information.

Context interpretation in natural language processing using previous dialog acts


This invention relates generally to NMR systems for in vivo detection of analytes. More particularly, in certain embodiments, the invention relates to systems in which superparamagnetic nanoparticles are exposed to a magnetic field and radio frequency (RF) excitation at or near the Larmor frequency, such that the aggregation and/or disaggregation of the nanoparticles caused by the presence and/or concentration of a given analyte in a biological fluid is detected in vivo from a monitored RF echo response.

Biocompatible magnetic nanosensors have been designed to detect molecular interactions in biological media. Upon target binding, these nanosensors cause changes in the spin-spin relaxation times of neighboring solvent molecules of a sample, which can be detected by magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques. Thus, by using these nanosensors in a liquid sample, it is possible to detect the presence of an analyte at very low concentration—for example, small molecules, specific DNA, RNA, proteins, carbohydrates, organisms, and pathogens (e.g. viruses)—with sensitivity in the low femtomole range (from about 0.5 to about 30 fmol).
In general, magnetic nanosensors are derivatized superparamagnetic nanoparticles that form clusters (aggregates) or nanoassemblies as a function of the presence or concentration of their intended molecular target. It is thought that when superparamagnetic nanoparticles assemble into clusters and the effective cross sectional area becomes larger, the nanoassembly becomes more efficient at dephasing the spins of surrounding water (or other solvent) protons, leading to the measurable change of the relaxation rates (1/T2).
Additionally, nanoassembly formation can be designed to be reversible (e.g., by temperature shift, chemical cleavage, pH shift, etc.) so that "forward" or "reverse" assays can be developed for detection of specific analytes. Forward (clustering) and reverse (declustering) types of assays can be used to detect a wide variety of biologically relevant materials. Furthermore, the spin-lattice relaxation time (T1) is considered independent of nanoparticle assembly formation and can be used to measure concentration in both nano-assembled and dispersed states within the same solution.
Examples of magnetic nanosensors are described in Perez et al., "Use of Magnetic Nanoparticles as Nanosensors to Probe for Molecular Interactions," Chem Bio Chem, 2004, 5, 261-264, and in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US2003/0092029 (Josephson et al.), the texts of which are incorporated by reference herein, in their entirety.
Current diagnostic systems involve, for example, microarray technology, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), in situ hybridization, antibody-based immunoassays (e.g. enzyme-linked immunosorbant assays), chemiluminescence, nephelometry, and/or photometry. Generally, these systems cannot perform the diversity of assays at high sensitivity that is possible with an NMR-based nanosensor system.
Various non-NMR-based point of care bio-assays have been developed, such as portable blood glucose meters that operate using test strips impregnated with glucose oxidase. However, these systems generally lack the sensitivity, calibration, and maintenance that a laboratory setting provides. These portable systems also lack the sensitivity that is possible with NMR-based nanosensor systems, and they cannot be easily adapted for multiple analyte detection.
The above-cited Josephson et al. and Perez et al. documents describe applications of NMR relaxation methods with nanosensors using off-the-shelf relaxometers and MRI units. However, these units require large RF coils and magnets and are bulky and expensive.
There is a need for NMR-based analyte detection systems capable of in vivo use.


A station for a disk processing system includes a load lock chamber, a variable conductance valve configured to connect the chamber to a vacuum pump, and valve controller. The valve controller may include a processor that controls an electromechanical actuator to adjust the conductance of the valve during the evacuation of the chamber.

Disk processing systems are commonly used to manufacture magnetic disks for hard disk drives. These systems generally include several process stations that work together to deposit thin layers of material onto a substrate. Each process station comprises a sealed chamber which is maintained at a partial vacuum as a thin film deposition process is carried out. The chambers are coupled together in way that maintains the partial vacuum as the substrates are moved between the stations.
A load lock may be used to interface the vacuum controlled environment within the disk processing system with the external environment. Specifically, the load lock provides a means by which substrates may be loaded into the disk processing system without disturbing the internal vacuum controlled environment. The load lock comprises a load lock chamber and a pumping system. The loading process begins by sealing the load lock chamber and venting it to atmospheric pressure. One or more substrates are then introduced into the load lock chamber through a door or other passageway. The door is then closed to seal the load lock chamber. Once sealed, the load lock chamber is evacuated by a vacuum pump through a roughing valve until a partial vacuum is reached. The substrates are then removed from the load lock chamber through a gate valve which interfaces the chamber to a process station within the disk processing system. The gate valve is then closed and the load lock chamber is vented to atmospheric pressure before introducing more substrates into the chamber. A load lock may also be positioned at the output to the disk processing system to facilitate the removal of finished articles from the system in a similar manner.
The operation of the vacuum pump during the evacuation process tends to cause a turbulent flow of gas in the load lock chamber. As a result, microscopic particles on the inner surfaces of the chamber may become dislodged. These microscopic particles are carried by the flow and distributed throughout the chamber. Many of these particles come into contact with and adhere to the surface of the substrates within the chamber. These particles interfere with the deposition of material during downstream processes in the disk processing system, which results in defects in the finished article.
Accordingly, there is a need to reduce the particulate contamination of substrates in load locks during the evacuation process in disk processing systems and other machines.

Load lock with variable conductance valve


A semiconductor device structure and method for forming the same are provided. The semiconductor device structure includes a first insulating layer formed over a conductive feature and a capacitor structure embedded in the first insulating layer. The semiconductor device also includes a bonding pad formed over the first insulating layer and corresponding to the capacitor structure. The bonding pad has a top surface and a multi-step edge to form at least three corners. In addition, the semiconductor device structure includes a second insulating layer conformally covering the at least three corners formed by the top surface and the multi-step edge of the bonding pad.

With the advancement of electronic technology, electronic equipment has become more complicated and involves a greater amount of integrated circuitry to achieve the desired multi-functionality. Thus, the manufacturing of such electronic equipment includes more and more operations, as well as various kinds of materials, in order to produce semiconductor devices for use in the electronic equipment.
Semiconductor devices may include active and/or passive devices such as transistors and capacitors. These devices are initially isolated from each other, but are later interconnected together. Typical interconnect structures include lateral interconnections, such as metal lines (wirings), and vertical interconnections, such as vias and contacts. On top of the interconnect structures, bonding pads are formed and exposed on the surface of the respective chip. Electrical connections are made through bonding pads to connect the chip to another element.
During the manufacturing operations, the semiconductor device is assembled with a number of components that include various materials. As more components with different materials are involved, and the complexity of the manufacturing operations increases, more challenges arise to modify a structure of the semiconductor device and improve the manufacturing operations.

Semiconductor device structure with bonding pad and method for forming the same

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.


A laser apparatus has a multipath solid-state slab laser rod and an excitation source that excites it, and uses a solid-state slab laser rod that has a trapezoid or parallelogram-shaped cross section along the optical path, that is provided with six or more faces and that has a light amplifying effect or a nonlinear optical effect. The light that is incident to the laser rod is totally reflected at the incident-light end face and exit end face of the laser rod, passes back through the interior of the laser rod a plurality of times, e.g., three times, and then exits. For light amplification, excitation light is irradiated from the side face. In addition, for nonlinear optical effects, the z-axis of a nonlinear optical crystal is disposed so as to be orthogonal to the plane of the optical path, and the temperature of the solid-state slab laser rod is kept at the phase-matching temperature. This laser apparatus of this configuration solves drawbacks of prior-art laser rods so that the high conversion rate from excitation light to laser light is obtained at a high laser gain.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a multipath laser apparatus using a solid-state slab laser rod that is able to implement a solid-state laser apparatus with a high efficiency in the conversion of excitation light to laser light, and can be applied to Nd:YAG laser apparatus, Nd:YLF laser apparatus and Yb:YAG laser apparatus, for example.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The efficiency of conversion of electrical input to laser output in a solid-state laser apparatus is the most important among various factors affecting the performance of a laser. In lamp-excited lasers, the efficiency of the conversion of electricity to light by the lamp itself is poor and its light-emission spectrum is wide, so much of the light cannot be absorbed by the laser rod, so the laser apparatus must have a large power consumption. In laser diode (LD)-excited lasers, the conversion efficiency of the LD itself is high and the spectrum of the emitted light is tuned to the absorption peak of the rod, so a higher conversion efficiency is obtained, but this is still not enough.
The causes of this include the small excitation light absorption cross section of the active ions of the solid-state laser that prevents the laser rod from efficiently absorbing all of the excitation light, and the small induced emission cross section that prevents the energy stored in the rod from being efficiently converted to laser light.
In order to increase the conversion efficiency of a laser apparatus, these properties must be compensated for by some method. Previous known methods of increasing the energy conversion efficiency of a laser apparatus include methods (1) and (2) below.
(1) To Increase the Doping of Laser-Active Ions in the Solid-State Laser Rod.
This is a method of increasing the active ion concentration to increase the excitation light absorption efficiency and laser gain. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,640,887 Latent Reference 1) and U.S. Pat. No. 3,897,358 (Patent Reference 2) recite the characteristics and method of manufacture of a ceramic laser rod containing neodymium (Nd) and other rare-earth ions. With a neodymium YAG (Nd:YAG) laser, the doping of laser-active ions can be increased in the ceramic more than in the single crystal. Moreover, larger-sized laser rods can be easily manufactured. In addition, "Optical properties and laser characteristics of highly Nd3+-doped Y3Al5O12 ceramics," Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 77, No. 7, pp. 939-941 (2000) (Non-Patent Reference 1) and "72W Nd:Y3Al5O12 ceramic laser," Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 78, No. 23, pp. 3586-3588 (2001) (Non-Patent Reference 2) also describe improvement of the oscillation characteristics of Nd:YAG ceramic lasers.
However, if the doping of laser-active ions is increased, disturbances in the refractive index distribution of the laser rod typically become evident. In addition, drops in optical quality such as reduced high-level lifetime in excitation occur more readily. These manifestations of disturbances in the refractive index distribution and drops in optical quality may become the cause of deterioration in the transverse modes of the laser beam thus obtained, and bring about performance drops as a laser medium. There are thus limits how much the doping can be increased.
In addition, in fundamentally transverse mode-oscillating lasers and high-power lasers, if there is heating within the interior of the laser rod, then this generates temperature distributions in the interior, thus giving the laser medium distortion. This distortion gives rise to decreased quality in the laser rod, birefringence and the like, so the transverse modes of oscillation diverge from the fundamental transverse mode. In order to prevent this, it is necessary to decrease the doping of active ions in the laser rod.
In addition, in order to increase the conversion efficiency to laser light, it is possible to use a laser rod with decreased doping to the level that high optical quality is kept, but in order to do this, it is necessary to:
(2) Use a Laser Rod that has a High Absorption of Excitation Light and has a High Laser Gain.
In order to increase the absorption of excitation light, the propagation length of excitation light in the rod must be made sufficiently longer than the absorption length (the length before attenuating to l/e, where e is the base of the natural logarithm). In other words, it is necessary to increase the excitation volume.
On the other hand, in order to increase the laser gain, it is necessary to raise the excitation density of the laser rod and thus increase the laser gain and also decrease the diameter of the oscillation mode and make the fundamental transverse mode more readily selected, or namely reduce the mode volume.
Thus, it is necessary to increase the excitation volume and reduce the mode volume in order to increase the energy conversion efficiency of the laser apparatus. However, these are contradictory conditions so reconciling them is difficult in a typical laser apparatus according to the prior art.
However reconciling these conditions is known to be possible by adopting multiple optical paths within the laser rod. Here, adopting multiple paths means causing the laser light to be reflected back and forth within the laser rod over optical paths that are shifted spatially a little at a time. It is thus possible to increase the excitation volume and increase the excitation light absorbance. Moreover, this causes the refractive index to vary uniformly within the laser rod, so the laser beam cross section is resistant to widening and the mode volume is kept small. In addition, in order to effectively use the energy stored within the laser rod, it becomes necessary to make the laser beam cross section equal over all sections of the laser rod, thus reducing the optical strength for induced emission.
As a result, the optical path length within the laser rod is multiplied by the rod length multiple, so the laser gain can be increased and finally the saturation amplification gain can be obtained in the laser rod used as the laser amplifier. Obtaining the saturation amplification gain in this manner is one indicator that the accumulated energy can be effectively converted to laser light, so many methods of adopting multiple paths have been proposed.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,902,127 (Patent Reference 3) shown in FIG. 1 discloses a triple-path solid-state laser amplifier for eye-safe wavelengths comprising a slab rod and mirror reflectors. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 5,172,263 (Patent Reference 4) discloses a quadruple-path solid-state laser amplifier comprising an orthogonal prism and plane mirrors. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,043 (Patent Reference 5) discloses a confocal resonator that can be adapted to any of a solid-state laser, a liquid laser and a gas laser, along with a multipath laser amplifier that uses white cells. Moreover, U.S. Pat. No. 5,751,472 (Patent Reference 6) discloses multiple optical paths of a parametric oscillator/amplifier based on a 180° return prism and lenses and mirror reflectors. In addition, JP H10-041565 A discloses an octuple-path laser amplifier based on a wavelength plate, optical rotator and hexagonal laser rod.
In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, recently "Diode-pumped High-power CW and Modelocked Nd:YLF Lasers," Advanced Solid-State Lasers, 2000 TOPS Vol. 34, Optical Society of America, Washington D.C. (2000) (Non-Patent Reference 3) describes an Nd:YLF laser wherein an increase in the overall efficiency and oscillation in transverse fundamental modes are obtained by a method wherein plane mirrors are placed at either end of a laser rod, and the light is caused to be reflected back and forth several times within the rod. In each of these methods, the multiple paths are implemented using mirror reflectors, reflector prisms or other reflectors outside the laser rod.
However, the number of optical components required to provide multiple optical paths in these laser apparatus becomes large. Moreover, precise adjustment is required in their placement. They thus have drawbacks in that the structure of the laser apparatus becomes complex and the size of the apparatus itself becomes large.
Moreover, because optical losses are unavoidable in the non-reflective coating at the laser rod ends and in the reflection by reflectors, these losses accumulate each time the laser light travels back and forth between the ends of the laser rod, resulting in the effect of the increased laser gain being reduced. Moreover, with the conventional multipath devices, adjacent optical paths vary in direction by only a very small amount, so they had a drawback in that the path distribution within the rod could not be adequately averaged.
An object of the present invention is to provide a laser rod with multiple paths that overcomes these drawbacks to give a high conversion efficiency and is able to readily generate high-quality laser light with regard to the oscillation mode.
In this manner, multiple optical paths are used in laser apparatus in order to increase the energy conversion efficiency of the laser apparatus, but the number of optical components required to provide multiple optical paths in these laser apparatus becomes large, and moreover precise adjustment is required in their placement, so there are drawbacks in that the structure of the laser apparatus becomes complex and the size of the apparatus itself becomes large. In addition, with nonlinear optical elements, the relationship between the direction of propagation of the excitation light and generated light within crystals is normally determined as a relationship that satisfies the phase matching conditions with respect to the crystal axes. For this reason, with nonlinear optical elements, they are fundamentally manufactured so as to have a straight, one-pass optical path or a single back-and-forth optical path, and thus they do not have multiple optical paths and do not give adequate wavelength conversion efficiency.
With this invention, it is possible to obtain a solid-state laser apparatus with a high efficiency of conversion from excitation light to laser light.

Multipath laser apparatus using a solid-state slab laser rod

National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Incorporated Administrative Agency


An imaging apparatus receives a command including a first coordinate value and a second coordinate value, from a client apparatus. A determination unit determines whether or not a target region exists at or near a boundary of an imaging range corresponding to the first coordinate value and the second coordinate value. In a case in which the determination unit determines that the target region exists at the boundary of the imaging range, a control unit adjusts an imaging range to include the target region. In a case in which the determination unit determines that the target region does not exist at the boundary of the imaging range, the control unit sets an imaging range to be captured, to the imaging range corresponding to the first coordinate value and the second coordinate value.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control method and a control apparatus of an imaging range of an imaging apparatus.
Description of the Related Art
There has been conventionally a system that changes an imaging direction of a monitoring camera according to an instruction received from a user via a network. Such a system also changes an imaging angle of view by controlling zooming such as by setting telephoto/wide-angle imaging. In addition, there has been proposed issuing a change instruction of a zoom magnification, on an image displayed on a monitor of a digital camera or a mobile terminal.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-157869 discloses a technique for displaying, on a screen of a mobile terminal, a region designated by a user, and performing zooming control so that an image of the region is enlarged and displayed in a full-screen manner.
Nevertheless, since a screen of a conventional imaging apparatus such as, for example, a mobile terminal having a camera function is small, a region desired by a user may fail to be designated. In addition, even if a large screen is provided, a similar situation can be caused in a case in which the user is in a hurry to make a selection. There can also be caused a situation in which an object serving as a target region moves after user designation.

Imaging apparatus capable of adjusting imaging range to include target region, control method of imaging apparatus, and storage medium storing program therefor


A reconfiguration system, and associated methods, for remotely reconfiguring a client's date storage system. The system includes a storage management host communicatively linked with a reconfiguration center. The storage management host is installed at a customer's site within a data storage system, which includes at least one data storage subsystem in a first configuration with a one or more master data storage units and hosts. The storage management host may be a terminal server that provides both Ethernet access to a local area network connected to the master storage units and serial communication with the master storage units. The reconfiguration center receives a reconfiguration request for the client data storage system and creates and transmits a logical implementation of a second configuration. The client data storage system operates to process the logical implementation to configure the data storage subsystem in the second configuration.

1. Field of the Invention.
The present invention relates, in general, to remote data storage management, and, more particularly, to a reconfiguration system and method for remotely manipulating and reconfiguring one or more data storage devices to modify data storage availability, expandability, and performance.
2. Relevant Background.
With the growing use of distributed or networked computing, enterprises continually battle the problems associated with storing and sharing information. To control costs and safeguard vital enterprise information, enterprises are moving toward centralized data storage or shared storage, which provides the enterprise with the ability to house data for various disparate hosts within one central storage platform. The central storage devices vary significantly and may include mass storage systems including file servers, disk and tape drives, and redundant arrays of inexpensive disks (RAID) devices. These devices are often scalable to provide more data storage capacity (with or without hardware modifications) and are typically reconfigurable to provide different performance. For example, RAID disk arrays or servers can currently be configured to operate at one of seven levels to control the way data is distributed in available memory and the way redundant capacity is implemented.
Unfortunately, after initial configuration of a data storage system and associated network, changes are often needed to improve performance. The demand for information and information access is exploding, and enterprises typically have rapidly changing data sharing environments due to larger applications, intranets, internet access, and large data transfers. Ideally, frequent reconfigurations would be performed to modify the data storage system to better fit the existing needs of the enterprise, but most enterprises have limited themselves to periodic reconfiguration with many enterprises averaging about one reconfiguration per month.
There are several reasons enterprises have limited the number of reconfigurations performed on their data storage systems. The reconfiguration process generally requires an enterprise to determine with its own personnel that reconfiguration is necessary or would be useful, to then contact one or more companies to arrange for an onsite inspection of the data storage system, and then to schedule a time for reconfiguration. This initial request and scheduling period may take days or weeks. In addition to these burdens on the enterprise, existing reconfiguration processes can be expensive (e.g., ranging from $2500 to $5000 or more per reconfiguration excluding any added hardware) in part because the enterprise has to pay for site trips by reconfiguration company personnel. The enterprise cost and inconvenience is increased by the need to take the system out of service or offline while the reconfiguration is being performed. Further, the enterprise often has to provide support personnel to assist or at least monitor the reconfiguration company personnel during their onsite work.
Hence, there remains a need for an improved method and system for reconfiguring enterprise (i.e., client) data storage systems that better meets the client's needs for periodic reconfigurations to optimize their information storage and sharing capabilities (e.g., meets their goals of data storage performance, availability, and expandability). Preferably, such a reconfiguring method and system would be more cost effective than the existing reconfiguring processes and more timely in implementation while being less disruptive of the client's business (e.g., require less system downtime).


A print relay device acquires printer information which is registered in a print service server and is linked to a user. In order to cause an image forming device to receive a print job from the print service device via the print relay device, the print relay device specifies printer information that is not registered in the print relay device from among the acquired printer information, and additionally registers the specified printer information in the printer information which is registered in the print service server and is linked to the user.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a print relay device, a print system, a print relay device control method, and a storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
A content print system in which a print instruction is transmitted from a client to a server and the server that has received the print instruction converts the content to be printed into print data has been proposed. The cloud computing that has been attracting attention is also one of system architectures for providing a service from a server to a client.
As described above, there has conventionally been known the presence of a form in which a Web server provides a service to a client. A cloud computing that has recently been attracting attention is also a form in which a Web server provides a service to a client. A main feature of the cloud computing is that data conversion and data processing are executed in a distributed manner using many computing resources so as to process requests from many clients in a simultaneous manner. At present, too many vendors provide various types of services by implementing Web services on a cloud computing environment for realizing the cloud computing in a disorderly way.
Among vendors who provide services on a cloud computing environment, Google (registered trademark) is a notable vendor. Google (registered trademark) not only establishes many large-scale data centers but also develops a data communication structure between devices and services so as to provide services in cooperation with devices. For example, Google (registered trademark) has developed a data communication structure for providing services in cooperation with image forming devices and has disclosed an interface for providing data communication between the cloud computing environment prepared by Google (registered trademark) and image forming devices. In this system, the image forming device receives a print request from a service and executes printing.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-196054 discloses a system in which a client that has received a print request transmits client information and a print data generation request to a server and the server acquires print control information corresponding to client information to thereby generate print data.
There might be a case where a print relay device is provided that provides a print relay service between an image print device such as a printer and a print service device that provides a print service on a cloud computing environment. By providing a print relay device serving as a relay server, a vendor device that provides a print service can readily register/manage a printer and provide value-added services such as aggregation.
However, in the Google's (registered trademark) cloud environment, conventional printers, "printers having a dedicated interface implemented", and "printers connected to a proxy PC having a dedicated interface implemented" need to be managed in a different way. The "printers having a dedicated interface implemented" and the "printers connected to a proxy PC having a dedicated interface implemented" can be connected to a print service device without passing through a print relay device. Hence, the print relay device has no means for knowing printer information about the "printers having a dedicated interface implemented" and the "printers connected to a proxy PC having a dedicated interface implemented". When a different print procedure is employed, the print relay device may not be able to gather printer information, the print relay device cannot integrally manage printers based on experience values such as information collection, print suppression, or the like. In other words, all the printers cannot be managed or services cannot be provided to all the printers by simply providing a relay server.

Print relay device, print system, print relay device control method, and storage medium


A method for operating a valve device for supplying compressed air to compressed air consumer includes the steps of: determination of a first fluid pressure in a first section of a fluid passage of a valve assembly, which extends between an inlet port, and a valve element, determination of a second fluid pressure in a second section of the fluid passage of the valve assembly, which extends between the valve element and an outlet port, determination of a flow value for the valve element from the two fluid pressures and of a flow function, relating of the flow value with a presettable volumetric fluid flow rate or mass fluid flow rate for the pressurised fluid, which flow rate is provided for flow through the fluid passage, to a guide value and determination of a required actuating energy for an actuating device, and provision of the actuating energy to the actuating device.

The invention relates to a method for operating a valve device for supplying compressed air to a compressed air consumer. The invention further relates to a valve device for operating a compressed air consumer and to a data storage medium with a computer programme for storage in a processing device of a valve device.
According to prior art known to the applicant but not recorded in a printed publication, it is provided in a method for supplying compressed air to a compressed air consumer that a position of a movable component, e.g. of an operating piston of a pneumatic cylinder, along a movement path is determined with the aid of a position sensing system and that a position signal provided by the position sensing system is made available to a processing device, where the position signal is processed, for example in order to obtain from an absolute value of the position signal and/or from a change of the position signal over time at least one information about a movement of the movable component of the compressed air consumer. This information is then used to control a valve assembly assigned to the processing device in order to influence a fluid flow into an operating chamber or out of an operating chamber of the compressed air consumer in such a way that the movable component of the compressed air consumer can be moved to a preset position along the movement path and/or moved at a preset speed along the movement path. On the basis of the position signal of the position sensing system, a valve position of a valve assembly can therefore be controlled in an open or closed loop. In this process, the change of the valve position results, as a function of the pressure conditions at the compressed air consumer and at a compressed air source, in different volumetric fluid flow rates to the compressed air consumer; these are indirectly detected by the processing device via the position signal of the position sensing system and lead to a further adjustment of the valve position.

Method for operating a valve device, valve device and data storage medium with a computer program


According to the present invention there are provided a system, method and program storage device for establishing a connection for an endpoint to a scheduled audiovisual conference between a plurality of participants, the plurality of participants connecting to the audiovisual conference from a plurality of endpoints, connections for the plurality of endpoints to the audiovisual conference being maintained by a multipoint control unit, comprising: receiving a request at a conference control server from a participant to connect an endpoint associated with the participant to the scheduled audiovisual conference; obtaining an IP address or a telephone number for the endpoint; writing the IP address or the telephone number for the endpoint to the multipoint control unit; and communicating audiovisual conference data from the multipoint control unit to the endpoint via the IP address or the telephone number, thereby enabling the endpoint to be connected to the audiovisual conference.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to audiovisual conferencing. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a system and method for providing a multipoint audiovisual conferencing, which facilitates a dynamically allocated Internet Protocol (i.e., "IP") address, a dynamically provided Integrated Service Digital Network (i.e., "ISDN") telephone number (or portion thereof) and a Public Switched Telephone Network (i.e., PSTN) telephone number (or portion thereof) for at least one of the endpoints in an audiovisual conference.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Audiovisual conferencing is increasingly becoming a burgeoning field of endeavor, not only in the high-technology business environment, but also in the field of education (e.g., distance learning), and is steadily picking up speed as it makes its way into the living rooms of households. While engaging a person via voice communication, allows one to exchange ideas with, compel, persuade, challenge or teach the person, projecting a visual representation allows one to magnify the effectiveness of that voice communication.
FIG. 1 is a logical prior art audiovisual conferencing system 100 that depicts a Multipoint Control Unit (i.e., "MCU") 124 that bridges a plurality of endpoints arriving at the MCU 124 over disparate networks into a multipoint audiovisual conference, which includes two or more endpoints. The H.323 is a standard approved by the International Telecommunication Union (i.e., "ITU"), which defines how audiovisual conference data (i.e., audio, video, data and combination thereof) are transmitted across the disparate networks, including circuit-switched networks and packet-switched networks (e.g., the Internet). Now particularly with reference to FIG. 1, the endpoints 122 represent H.323 terminals that are part of an IP network (e.g., "LAN") 102 that are routed via router 104 to the MCU 124. Other endpoints may include wireless devices, such a laptop computers 126, wireless telephones 128 and personal digital assistants, (i.e., "PDA") 129, which are interconnected via a wireless network 108 and interfaced via gateway 106 to the MCU 124. Still other endpoints may include devices 130, 132 and 134 that are respectively interconnected by integrated services digital network (i.e., "ISDN") 112, public switched telephone network (i.e., "PSTN") 116 and Enterprise Network 120, which are interfaced to the MCU 124 via respective gateways 110, 114 and 118 and routed to the MCU 124 via routers 104. Endpoints 130 (interconnected via ISDN) and 132 (interconnected via PSTN), utilize the following respective ITU standards H.320 and H.324. As particularly illustrated in FIG. 1, the gateways interface a plurality of disparate networks, such as for example circuit switched networks (e.g., ISDN, PSTN) and packet switched networks, such as the Internet. It is noted that the MCU 124 may include one or more multi-network interfaces for communication with some of the disparate networks. For example, the MCU 124 may include an ISDN interface, in which case the router 104 directly routes the endpoint 130 to the MCU 124, thereby not requiring the gateway 110. Additionally, the MCU 124 may include virtual private network (i.e., "VPN"), asynchronous transfer mode (i.e., "ATM") and like interfaces for linking the MCU 124 with the disparate networks.
A limitation of the audiovisual conferencing system depicted in FIG. 1 is that bridging via a bridge or MCU 124 is required to interconnect two or more audiovisual conference endpoints depicted in FIG. 1. Bridging is limited because it requires that IP addresses of the endpoints outside the IP network 102 and ISDN/PSTN telephone numbers for the foregoing devices 128, 130 and 132 be known in advance of the audiovisual conference, thereby effectively limiting the audiovisual conference to static IP addresses and telephone numbers for those endpoints. Accordingly, at the time that an audiovisual conference is scheduled, an operator inputs the IP address and telephone number via an input means into the MCU 124, thereby reserving resources and establishing other criteria for the audiovisual conference. The resources may include designation of ports in the MCU 124 and bandwidth for the endpoints and the other criteria may include designation of continuous presence, trans-coding, and the like. A port is a hardware/software device that accommodates a connection of an endpoint to an audiovisual conference. Once a scheduled audiovisual conference takes place, each endpoint involved in the multipoint audiovisual conference must connect or be contacted via the IP address or telephone number provided during scheduling to join the audiovisual conference. However, the foregoing reservation with static IP addresses and telephone numbers represents a significant drawback, since today IP addresses are usually dynamically allocated each time a user signs onto a network, which may be provided by an Internet Service Provider (i.e., "ISP"), and a telephone number for a user's audiovisual conference device (connecting via ISDN/PSTN) may not be known in advance of the audiovisual conference or may change subsequently to the scheduled audiovisual conference. Consequently, an endpoint may not be able to access the scheduled audiovisual conference.
The prior art audiovisual conferencing system 100 of FIG. 1 may further comprise a gatekeeper (not shown), which may be a part of the MCU 124. The gatekeeper is an optional component, which provides functions that preserve the integrity of the IP network 102 for all registered IP endpoints, gateways and multipoint control units within the IP network 102. The gatekeeper provides address translation from aliases for endpoints 122 on the IP network 102 to IP addresses to route video, audio, data and combination thereof, as defined in the registration, administration and status (i.e., "RAS") specification. The gatekeeper further provides admission control for specifying the endpoints that may establish conferences with other endpoints. Still further, the gatekeeper provides bandwidth management, which is also defined within RAS specification, to manage total bandwidth that is available to the audiovisual conferencing. Finally, the gatekeeper provides zone management for endpoints, gateways and multipoint control units that have registered with the gatekeeper.
A U.S. Pat. No. 6,157,401 to Wiryaman is directed to an endpoint on a common IP network (i.e., Ethernet) initiating a multipoint audiovisual conference by providing aliases for other endpoints to be included in the conference to a gatekeeper located on the Ethernet. It is noted that endpoints that are to be included in the audiovisual conference must beforehand register with the gatekeeper, which manages aliasing for the registered endpoints. It is further noted that the Wiryaman system is a closed system, in which aliases for the endpoints are pre-established and registered with the gatekeeper prior to the conference. Upon connection to the Ethernet, each endpoint's IP address is correlated to the pre-established alias provided to the gatekeeper. However, the Wiryaman system does not address endpoints, which are not registered via the gatekeeper to be able to join in an audiovisual conference. Additionally, if the optional gatekeeper that enables aliasing on an IP network is not provided in the system of FIG. 1, the prior art provides no way for endpoints, whose addresses are dynamically assigned at logon time, to join an audiovisual conference. Consequently, endpoints residing on an Intranet or Internet may not be able to access a scheduled audiovisual conference unless their IP addresses are known in advance of the audiovisual conference.
Therefore there is a need in the art for providing an improved multipoint audiovisual conferencing system and method, which facilitate a dynamically allocated Internet Protocol (i.e., "IP") address, a dynamically provided Integrated Service Digital Network (i.e., "ISDN") telephone number and a Public Switched Telephone Network (i.e., PSTN) telephone number for at least one of the endpoints in an audiovisual conference.

Multipoint audiovisual conferencing system


In one embodiment, a system includes a sensor, the sensor having a free layer, a ferromagnetic spin sink layer spaced from the free layer, the spin sink layer being operative to reduce a spin-induced damping in the free layer during operation of the sensor, and a nonmagnetic spacer layer positioned between the free layer and the spin sink layer, the spacer layer having a long spin-diffusion length.

The heart of a computer is a magnetic hard disk drive (HDD) which typically includes a rotating magnetic disk, a slider that has read and write heads, a suspension arm above the rotating disk and an actuator arm that swings the suspension arm to place the read and/or write heads over selected data tracks on the rotating disk. The suspension arm biases the slider into contact with the surface of the disk when the disk is not rotating but, when the disk rotates, air is swirled by the rotating disk adjacent an air bearing surface (ABS) of the slider causing the slider to ride on an air bearing a slight distance from the surface of the rotating disk. When the slider rides on the air bearing the write and read heads are employed for writing magnetic impressions to and reading magnetic signal fields from the rotating disk. The read and write heads are connected to processing circuitry that operates according to a computer program to implement the writing and reading functions.
The volume of information processing in the information age is increasing rapidly. In particular, it is desired that HDDs be able to store more information in their limited area and volume. A technical approach to meet this desire is to increase the capacity by increasing the recording density of the HDD. To achieve higher recording density, further miniaturization of recording bits is effective, which in turn typically requires the design of smaller and smaller components.
With advances in higher recording density, however, secondary factors such as damping caused by magnetism of the free layer have become important. As areal density increases, magnetic noise caused by the damping coefficient of the free layer becomes a limiting factor to increase the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). It would be desirable, therefore, to develop a system that lowers the damping coefficient, thereby lowering the noise and allowing the highest possible SNR.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) free layer damping reduction


A gene isolated from a microorganism selected from the group consisting of Pantoea bacteria, Erwinia bacteria, and Enterobacter bacteria, and encoding a Rep protein or a homologue thereof is described. A plasmid containing the gene which is autonomously replicable in Enterobacteriaceae bacteria is also described. A Enterobacteriaceae microorganism containing the plasmid is also described.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a novel plasmid which is autonomously replicable in a microorganism from the family Enterobacteriaceae, and methods for utilizing the plasmid and a microorganism containing the plasmid.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
At present, breeding and improving microorganisms from the family Enterobacteriaceae, including Escherichia coli, by DNA recombination techniques are progressing. In order to breed and improve microorganisms by DNA recombination techniques, a plasmid derived from a microorganism of a different genus and a broad host spectrum vector are often used. However, a plasmid from a microorganism which has similar properties is generally used.
Plasmids derived from microorganisms from the family Enterobacteriaceae include small plasmids such as pBR322, RSF1010 (Gene, vol. 75, (2) pp. 271-288, 1989), and pUC (Gene, October 1982, 19(3):259-68) all of which are derived from Escherichia coli, pHCM2 derived from Salmonella bacteria (Plasmid, May 2002, 47(3):159-71), pCD1 (Infect. Immun., March 1986, 51(3):788-94) and pMT1 (J. Bacteriol., July 2000, 182 (14):3924-8) both of which are derived from Yersinia bacteria, and so forth. Although pS is known to be from Pantoea bacteria (WO98/59054), a plasmid which can improve the growth of a microorganism under acidic conditions when transferred into the microorganism has not been previously reported.


An emergency halt method for a vehicle driving at least partially in automated fashion. The method includes receiving an emergency halt signal; providing a blocking signal, a first control unit being blocked, and the control over controlling driving maneuvers of the vehicle being withdrawn from the first control unit; and providing a not-drive signal for starting an emergency halt maneuver of the vehicle.

In larger passenger vehicles, a device is may be included for emergency braking, the so-called emergency stop, which is triggered by the passenger in the event of unforeseen hazards (e.g., fire or medical emergency). The emergency brake in this context fulfills two essential functions: The vehicle is to be brought to a stop as quickly as possible, and the vehicle operator is to be alerted to an emergency situation. Normally, the operation of the emergency brake does not directly result in emergency braking. In trains, for example, the train driver is notified and brings the train to a standstill at the next safe location (e.g., not on bridges or in tunnels). The unjustified operation of the emergency brake is a punishable offense and the course of events of the triggering is investigated following the operation. Such emergency stop systems are normally equipped with locking mechanisms, which permit a renewed operation only after unlocking and/or acknowledgment by technical staff on site. In the operation of at least partially automated vehicles (or autonomous vehicles (AV)), there is no technical staff on the site of the vehicle. The driver is replaced by a drive computer.
Thus, there exists the demand for an extension of the emergency stop function, as well as a corresponding release and acknowledgment for vehicles driving at least partially in automated fashion.

Emergency halt method and device for a vehicle driving at least partially in automated fashion


A memory structure including a semiconductor substrate, an insulator layer formed on the semiconductor substrate and a gate layer formed on the insulator layer is disclosed. The insulator layer includes a first nanocrystal implanted region proximate to the gate layer and a second nanocrystal implanted region proximate to the semiconductor substrate, wherein the first nanocrystal implanted region has an average nanocrystal concentration which is higher than an average nanocrystal concentration of the second nanocrystal implanted region.

Since the invention of one-transistor-one-capacitor (ITIC) DRAM cell in the late 1960s as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,387,286, the technology has been advancing continuously and is now approaching the sub-100 nm generation. To go beyond the sub-100 nm generation, there are many challenges and scaling issues as described in publication "Challenges and future directions for the scaling of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM)", J. A. Mandelman et. al., IBM J. Res. & Dev. Vol 46 No. 2/3 March/May 2002. Some of these challenges and scaling issues include process and capacitance challenges and voltage-scaling and leakage issues.
Publication "International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductor 2004 Update" sets out projected key parameters of different emerging research memory devices with present day memory technologies as benchmarks. In particular, for present day memory technology such as the ITIC DRAM, the programming time has been indicated to be less than 15 ns and the retention time to be approximately 64 ms.
Several new memory structures have been proposed for DRAM applications. A memory structure that utilizes direct tunneling into silicon nanocrystal (nc-Si) for producing bistability in the conduction of a transistor channel and exhibiting quasi-non-volatile characteristics has been proposed in publication "A silicon nanocrystals based memory", Sandip Tiwari et. al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 68 (10), 4 March 1996. The memory structure comprises a thin tunneling oxide of approximately 1.1 to 1.8 nm in thickness which separates the inversion surface of an n-channel silicon field-effect transistor (FET) from a distributed film of nc-Si that covers the entire surface channel region. The memory structure further comprises a thicker tunneling oxide of approximately 4.5 nm or higher which separates the nc-Si from the control gate of the FET. An injection of an electron from the inversion layer into the nc-Si occurs via direct tunneling when the control gate is forward biased with respect to the source and drain. The resulting stored charge screens the gate charge and reduces the conduction in the inversion layer, i.e., it effectively shifts the threshold voltage of the device to be more positive. However, the programming time of the memory structure is approximately 100 ns which is too slow for DRAM applications.
Recently, a new memory structure which has a relatively short programming time of about 3 ns was proposed in publication "A simple 1-transistor capacitor-less memory cell for high performance embedded DRAMs", Pierre C. Fazan et. al., IEEE 2002 Custom Integrated Circuits Conference". However such a memory structure is based on silicon on insulator (SOI) technology which is expensive, and the retention time is less than 10 s.
Therefore, there is still a need for an alternative DRAM structure that has good reliability characteristics, a fast programming time and a long retention time, which could tremendously reduce the power dissipation required for data refreshment.


A method and apparatus for measuring the temperature of a computer system provides a first temperature sensor, positioned around or on a CPU, for sensing the temperature of the CPU or around the CPU. A first A/D converter is used to convert the temperature sensed by the first temperature sensor into a first temperature value. At least one second temperature sensor, positioned inside the housing, senses the temperature around the housing. At least one second A/D converter converts the temperature sensed by die second temperature sensor into a second temperature value. The first temperature value and second temperature value are input to a control circuit, and a suitable value to output a control signal for controlling the speed of the fan is chosen so as to precede the heat dissipating of the computer system.

Generally, a fan has been installed inside the computer housing to exhaust out the heat inside the housing generated by a plurality of elements such as CPU, Hard disk Drive etc. so as to reduce the temperature inside the housing. But when the fan is operating at high speed, noise will be generated. Thus, for controlling the speed of the fan, at least one temperature sensor is generally installed inside the computer housing to sense the temperature, and regulates the speed of the fan according to the temperature detected by the sensor.
Wherein, some computer manufacturers install a sensor near or on the CPU, for example but not limited to under the CPU so as conveniently to measure the temperature of the CPU. However, this way just measures the temperature that CPU is operating, but ignores the temperature raising due to the heat generated by other components for example but not limited to Hard disk Drive, CD-ROM Drive, or other electronic components. Thus, the temperature measuring will lose it's objective. For example, sometimes the temperature detected from the CPU is very high, but the temperature measured inside the housing is not, at this time, if increasing the speed of the fan so as to precede the heat dissipating of the computer system does not efficiently reduce the temperature inside the computer housing, and the noise that is generated with the fan operating at high speed will be greatly increased.
Some computer manufacturers also install a sensor inside the housing, for example but not limited to near the Hard disk Drive so as to conveniently measure the temperature while the computer is operating. However, this way still measures the temperature at a certain position inside the housing that the computer is operating, but ignores the temperature raising due to the heat generated by other components for example but not limited to CPU, CD-ROM Drive, or other electronic components. Thus, the temperature measuring will still lose it's objective. For example, sometimes the temperature detected from a certain position inside the housing is very high, but the temperature measured from the CPU is not, at this time, if increasing the speed of the fan so as to precede the heat dissipating of the computer system does not efficiently reduce the temperature inside the computer housing, and the noise that is generated with the fan operating at high speed will be greatly increased.
Therefore, it needs a method and apparatus for measuring the temperature of a computer system, wherein, a plurality of temperature sensors are respectively placed inside the housing of a computer system to detect the temperature inside and around the housing, and regulate the speed of a fan according to the temperature detected by these sensors so as to precede the heat dissipating of the computer system.

Method and apparatus for measuring the temperature of a computer system and operating the cooling fans


The present invention relates to quinazoline containing zinc-binding moiety based derivatives of formula I that have enhanced and unexpected properties as inhibitors of epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase (EGFR-TK) and their use in the treatment of EGFR-TK related diseases and disorders such as cancer.

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR, Erb-B1) belongs to a family of proteins, involved in the proliferation of normal and malignant cells (Artega, C. L., J. Clin Oncol 19, 2001, 32-40). Overexpression of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) is present in at least 70% of human cancers (Seymour, L. K., Curr Drug Targets 2, 2001, 117-133) such as, non-small cell lung carcinomas (NSCLC), breast cancers, gliomas, squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, and prostate cancer (Raymond et al., Drugs 60 Suppl 1, 2000, discussion 41-2; Salomon et al., Crit. Rev Oncol Hematol 19, 1995, 183-232; Voldborg et al., Ann Oncol 8, 1997, 1197-1206). The EGFR-TK is therefore widely recognized as an attractive target for the design and development of compounds that can specifically bind and inhibit the tyrosine kinase activity and its signal transduction pathway in cancer cells, and thus can serve as either diagnostic or therapeutic agents. For example, the EGFR tyrosine kinase (EGFR-TK) reversible inhibitor, TARCEVA®, is recently approved by the FDA for treatment of NSCLC and advanced pancreatic cancer. Other anti-EGFR targeted molecules have also been approved such as IRESSA®.

Despite the early success of Tarceva, it has become clear that selectively targeting individual kinases can lead to the development of drug resistant tumors. Cells that have developed mutations within the drug/kinase binding pocket display a growth advantage in the presence of drug eventually leading to disease progression. Accordingly, the discovery and development of new molecules to target such kinases may be important to treat patients that have already developed resistance to current therapeutic molecules.


A structure of steam swab comprises a rod assemblage and a base assemblage. The rod assemblage comprises a handle, a first sleeve, a second sleeve, a third sleeve, and a water tank. With a fastener set at the end, the handle and the two ends of each of the first, the second, and the third sleeves can be easily assembled to the rod assemblage. The second sleeve comprises a tank fastener base and a tank fastener ring to fasten the water tank. The base assemblage comprises a triangular lid, a steam chamber body, and a base. The triangular lid comprises a pivot connector, which can pivotally connect to the rod assemblage. An appropriate concave is set in each angle of the triangular lid to fix with a spring and a clamp. The steam chamber body and a power control unit are set in the base, and the triangular lid covers on the base to assemble the base assemblage. The base assemblage connects to the rod assemblage via the pivot connector to assemble the steam swab.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a structure of steam swab, especially to a fast assembly of the swab with a water tank and a triangular lid comprising a steam chamber body. When utilizing, the liquid contained in the water tank flows into the steam chamber body and is boiled to steam. Through the steam hole the cotton covering on the bottom of the base assemblage absorbs the steam to clean via high temperature steam.
2. Description of the Related Art
Swabs are the common tools used to clean the surface. For easier usage, many different designs were created to increase cleaning efficiency. For example, the U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/217,443 "Retaining Device for a Steam Swab" disclosed a structure of steam swab which boils liquid to the cotton to clean. But this prior art is complex and costs high; especially the tank and the steam chamber are set low in the base structure with low liquid pressure. Following, the liquid in the steam chamber is few and soon the swab becomes burned. That will cause a seriously risk to users. Second, the tank is small to fit in the base so it is inconvenient to add water frequently. Otherwise the larger tank increases the size of the base and also the weight.


A system and method for putting a fuel cell vehicle into a performance mode by preloading sub-systems in the fuel cell system so that high power is available from the fuel cell stack quicker than during normal fuel cell system operation. For example, if a driver activates a vehicle performance mode, the fuel cell system can respond by, for example, increasing the compressor speed, increasing anode recirculation, increasing air and cooling fluid flow through the radiator, increasing battery state-of-charge, etc. Thus, when the driver requests the high power after the system is in the performance mode, the system is able to deliver the desired power immediately or at least quicker and for a longer time period.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a method for putting a fuel cell system on a vehicle in a performance mode and, more particularly, to a method for preloading certain vehicle sub-systems in a fuel cell system so as to increase vehicle performance when high power is requested.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Hydrogen is a very attractive fuel because it is clean and can be used to efficiently produce electricity in a fuel cell. A hydrogen fuel cell is an electro-chemical device that includes an anode and a cathode with an electrolyte therebetween. The anode receives hydrogen gas and the cathode receives oxygen or air. The hydrogen gas is dissociated in the anode to generate free protons and electrons. The protons pass through the electrolyte to the cathode. The protons react with the oxygen and the electrons in the cathode to generate water. The electrons from the anode cannot pass through the electrolyte, and thus are directed through a load to perform work before being sent to the cathode.
Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) are a popular fuel cell for vehicles. The PEMFC generally includes a solid polymer electrolyte proton conducting membrane, such as a perfluorosulfonic acid membrane. The anode and cathode typically include finely divided catalytic particles, usually platinum (Pt), supported on carbon particles and mixed with an ionomer. The catalytic mixture is deposited on opposing sides of the membrane. The combination of the anode catalytic mixture, the cathode catalytic mixture and the membrane define a membrane electrode assembly (MEA).
Several fuel cells are typically combined in a fuel cell stack to generate the desired power. The fuel cell stack receives a cathode reactant gas, typically a flow of air forced through the stack by a compressor. Not all of the oxygen is consumed by the stack and some of the air is output as a cathode exhaust gas that may include water as a stack by-product. The fuel cell stack also receives an anode hydrogen reactant gas that flows into the anode side of the stack. The stack also includes flow channels through which a cooling fluid flows.
For certain vehicle operation, it is desirable that the vehicle provide high performance by minimizing the throttle response time, i.e., the time from when the vehicle operator requests power from the fuel cell stack to when the fuel cell stack is able to deliver the power. As is well understood in the art, there is a certain lag between when power is requested from the fuel cell stack in a fuel cell system until when the fuel cell stack is able to deliver the power. For example, the compressor that provides the cathode air to the cathode side of the fuel cell stack is limited in its ability to immediately provide enough air when high power is commanded from the fuel cell stack. Not only is there an inherent lag time while the compressor spools up to the desired speed, the power from the fuel cell stack is also selectively distributed between the traction system of the vehicle and the compressor to provide the cathode air. Therefore, it may be desirable to incorporate techniques for increasing fuel cell vehicle performance in response to a high power request.


An array of corner reflectors is used to provide a retro-reflector for a large range of incident angles. A novel orientation of the individual corner reflectors is used. This allows the interior of a first corner to remain visible while the interior of a second corner becomes visible. This may be done while maintaining a phase coherence between the contributions of the first and second corner reflectors. Phase coherence ensures constructive interference among the returns from the first and second corner reflectors. Coherence is achieved by an arrangement which places the interior vertices of the corner reflectors close to each other. One such arrangement also places the peak return from one corner reflector acting as a dihedral between the locations of the dihedral and trihedral returns of a second corner reflector. This arrangement results in a substantially uniform and strong retro-return. Phase coherence may be maintained over a desired range of elevation angles.

1. Field of the Invention
Retro reflectors for electromagnetic waves, acoustic waves, and other wave phenomena have been known since the Fessenden patent (1,384,014) in 1921. These devices reflect the wave energy preferentially in the direction back toward the source. This creates a much stronger reflection of energy back toward the source than would occur if the reflection were to be equally strong in all directions.
2. Description of the Related Art
A retro reflector is a device which generally produces a strong return in the direction of the source, while the strength of this return may depend on the orientation of the reflector. The Luneberg Lens is completely insensitive to the direction of incidence of the waves. This is often a desirable property. However, the Luneberg Lens is unsuitable for many applications for reasons such as cost and weight. Cost and weight are also a limitation for the Van Atta Array, which generally is sensitive to the direction of incidence.
An alternative which is often cheaper to build and lighter in weight is a corner reflector consisting of two or three substantially perpendicular surfaces, similar to those used in the Fessenden patent. Retro reflectors may also consist of an array of corner reflectors, each oriented differently. These retro reflectors have received much attention. They originally were used primarily for radar and more recently have become especially important also for light such as from lasers. They are also useful for sonar. However, in prior art they generally have had a significant limitation. While they give a strong return towards the source over many or most incident directions of the waves, they generally give a weak return over some ranges of incident directions. This can be a significant limitation. For example, small boats often use radar reflectors so that they can be seen on a large ship""s radar in foggy conditions. This is an aid in preventing collisions. However, if there are certain directions where the backscattered return is weak, then for ships approaching from these directions they might not be seen from a distance and a collision might occur.
The importance of a uniformly strong backscattered return for all (or for a large range of) incidence angles has been widely recognized. Boating magazines and the sales literature for radar reflectors for small boats have often included graphs of this strength for several commercially available radar reflectors from different manufacturers. One set of test results that is often quoted is the Admiralty Surface Weapons Establishment tests from England.
Test results have shown again and again that a corner formed by three mutually perpendicular reflecting surfaces gives an effective retro reflector. It produces a very strong return for all incidence angles which look into the corner and which see a significant area for all three surfaces. However, there are some incidence directions which see the interior of a corner, while this incidence direction is also nearly parallel to one of the three surfaces. That is, for these directions the projected area of that one surface (projected onto a plane perpendicular to the incidence direction) is very small. In this case, when looked at from the source, one of the surfaces of the retro reflector is viewed nearly end on. For these directions, the retro return may not be strong. This results in a serious limitation in prior art.
Often, an array of retro reflectors is formed by three perpendicular (or nearly perpendicular) intersecting reflecting surfaces, where each surface continues past the line of intersection. This produces eight interior corners, each of which functions as a retro reflector for some angles of incidence. We will call this the standard array of corner reflectors. FIG. 1 gives an example of the standard array of corner reflectors. Four of the interior corners are visible in FIG. 1 and there are four more corners which are not visible in this view.
The standard array of corner reflectors has a significant limitation. For waves incident in a direction nearly parallel to any one of its surfaces, the retro return may be small. For some applications using the standard array, the directions of incidence that are important are all substantially horizontal directions. For example, for a boat in conditions of limited visibility it is important to appear on the radar of other boat and ships. When the standard array is used, it may be oriented in different ways. The orientation has a significant affect on the strength of the retro-return. The orientation with one surface horizontal and two surfaces vertical will be called the xe2x80x9cspill waterxe2x80x9d orientation. The orientation with one corner pointed upwards will be called the xe2x80x9chold waterxe2x80x9d position. The hold water orientation is illustrated in FIG. 1. In this orientation, one might think of the upper corner as holding water that is poured into it. This language will be used even though the surfaces of the retro reflector might not contain water. For example, they may have large holes or they may be made from a mesh or a porous material. The hold water orientation is often considered as the preferred orientation. For incidence from substantially horizontal directions, it is less likely that a direction of an incident source will be nearly parallel to one of its surfaces than for the spill water orientation. However, for some horizontal directions this does still occur.
The importance of producing a large retro return in all directions has led to attempts to xe2x80x9cfinessexe2x80x9d the problems that a non omnidirectional retro reflector creates. For example, a retro reflector can be made to spin. Two examples of this are given in the Norwood Patent (#2,746,035) and the Matson patent (#2,702,900).
There have been many attempts at making the return of a retro reflector more even as a function of the incident direction. Taking just one example of many, the Aw Patent (#5,097,265) describes an array of twenty corner reflectors (twenty interior corners). It is possible to arrange an array of reflectors by the xe2x80x9cAwxe2x80x9d method or by many other methods so that for all angles of incidence there is at least one corner reflector such that its interior and all three of its interior surfaces can be seen. However, this is not sufficient to ensure a strong retro return for all angles of incidence. Wave phenomena involve interference effects. The return from two or more corner reflectors may interfere constructively or destructively. Destructive interference can cause two returns to cancel or to nearly cancel each other, resulting in a very weak total return.
One might also attempt to make the return more even as a function of incidence direction by use a large number (in some cases as large a number as twenty or more) of corner reflectors all oriented differently. Certain theorems in statistics, related to the central limit theorem, then suggest the properties that result. It is unlikely that destructive interference would give a very weak return for any angle of incidence. However, this method generally produces a somewhat uniform return for all angles, which is uniformly moderate, not strong and not weak.
The amount of energy returned to the source by a retro reflector depends on many factors, such as the design and orientation of the reflector, the distance to the source, and the strength of the source. In some cases polarization also matters. If all of these factors are kept constant, then the energy returned will increase as a larger retro reflector is used. The amount of energy that a retro reflector intercepts will be proportional to the square of its linear dimension. However, for a well designed retro reflector the amount of energy returned to the source will be approximately proportional to the fourth power of its linear dimension. The reason for this is that larger retro reflectors direct the reflected energy into a narrower beam. This beam is narrower in both directions transverse to the direction of propagation. Thus, for larger retro reflectors more energy is reflected and also a larger fraction of the reflected energy will hit the source.
Three properties can be identified as desirable for a retro reflector made from an array of corner reflectors. First, a few large corner reflectors are better than many small corner reflectors. This follows from the fact that, for one corner and for incidence towards the interior of that corner, the strength of the retro-return is approximately proportional to the fourth power of the linear size of the corner. Second, for all incidence angles that are of interest, at least one (or more) corner should be oriented to produce a large return. Third, if more than one corner reflector produces a large return for some incidence angle, then these returns should be substantially in phase. This will ensure constructive interference.
These properties are not absolute. In part, they are based on xe2x80x9chigh frequencyxe2x80x9d approximations which describe wave phenomena. The term xe2x80x9chigh frequencyxe2x80x9d means that these approximations become more accurate when physical dimensions become much larger than a wavelength. Also, there are other important properties which have not been mentioned. However, the three properties identified above may be a useful aid in understanding some of the important differences between the present invention and prior art.
For scattering of waves such as sound or electromagnetic radiation, including but not limited to radar, light and sonar, the wave has both a magnitude and a phase. For two waves to interfere constructively, their phases need to be substantially equal. If their phases are approximately opposite, then they interfere destructively. To insure a strong return from a retro reflector, it is desirable that when the interiors of two corners are both visible from some direction the returns from these two corners interfere constructively. A sufficient condition to ensure this is that the round trip path lengths for reflection from these two corners do not differ by more than a quarter of a wavelength.
The reflection off each of the three sides of a corner may be described approximately by the condition that the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection. The corner is generally constructed with these three sides approximately perpendicular to each other. A ray incident towards the interior of a corner reflects off all three sides of the corner and then is directed back towards the source of that ray. As an example, one of the corners in FIG. 1 is formed by the three sides 101, 102, and 103. The word xe2x80x9crayxe2x80x9d is related to a high frequency approximation, which is useful for understanding approximations to how a retro reflector behaves. Each of the various possible ray paths results in the same total distance traveled (assuming parallel rays incident from a distant source). For different ray paths the ray bounces off different parts of the sides of the corner and may also reflect off the successive sides in different orders. The distance traveled for any of these rays is the same as for a ray which goes to the interior vertex 104, and then reverses direction. The term interior vertex is defined to be the point where the three sides of a corner meet.
The path length traveled for any of the rays reflected from the three sides of a corner may be described by the location of the corner""s interior vertex. If radiation were incident from a substantially horizontal direction, and two different corners were to have vertices located one above the other, then the total path lengths for both corners would also be approximately the same. This would result in constructive interference.
The standard array in hold water orientation has eight corners. One is on the top, and one is on the bottom. The remaining six are on the sides. In FIG. 1 the corner on the top has the three sides 105, 106, and 107. A limitation of this array is that as one looks at it substantially horizontally from various azimuthal directions, there are six such directions in which there is no corner with its interior visible. These are directions which look along one of the surfaces, and the interior of that surface is not visible. For example, one of these directions would be for a source in the plane containing the surface 102. For many directions near these six directions, the retro return may be small.
This invention consists of more than one corner, in a novel arrangement. This invention can be applied using two or more corners. For example, it may be applied using six corners. However, their orientation and placement will be different than as in the standard array. We define the lower three corners as those corners where two sides meet in a line along their upper portion. The corner formed by sides 101, 102, and 103 is a lower corner. Sides 101 and 102 meet along the line 108. The lower corners have one side along their bottom, such as side 103 which has an edge 105. The three upper corners have two sides meeting along their lower portion, and one side along their upper portion. The corner formed by sides 106, 109, and 101 is an upper corner. Sides 109 and 101 meet along the line 110.
The lower three corners might be rotated so that they face more upwards, while the three upper corners might be rotated so that they face lower, as compared to their orientation in the standard array. As viewed from the side, this results in the corners becoming more xe2x80x9copenxe2x80x9d in the sense that when viewed from the side more interior area may be seen. This rotation will be called an opening rotation. For the lower corner formed by 101, 102, and 103, this rotation is about an axis parallel to the line 105. When viewed from the right end of line 105 (the end that intersects side 102), the opening rotation is a clockwise rotation.
In performing this rotation, the sizes of the faces of the corners may also be modified by xe2x80x9ctrimmingxe2x80x9d so as to make the array fit together better. Also, for example, if a wire mesh is used for the surfaces, then as an option the surfaces of the corners might be permitted to penetrate through each other to some extent. In addition, the corners may be translated (moved without rotation) to help them to fit together.
A smaller number of corners can also be used. For example, two successive corners might be used, with an opening rotation for one or both. The arrangement of corners described here allows the interior of at least one corner to be visible from every incident direction in some range of interest. For example, one corner might be visible from every substantially horizontal incident direction. This is a result of the opening rotation, which is one feature distinguishing this invention from the standard array. This new arrangement also provides that when the interiors of two corners are visible at the same time, the path length for both corners is generally approximately equal. In one embodiment it is approximately equal because the vertices of these two corners are displaced substantially vertically, and the incidence direction is substantially horizontal. In other embodiments there is a horizontal displacement which is small. Also, in some embodiments this arrangement provides that an approximately vertical displacement between interior vertices is small. Since it is small, the difference in the two path lengths traveled is relatively insensitive to small changes in the orientation of the array or small changes from horizontal incidence. This is especially useful when used on a sailboat which may be healing to one side. As the opening rotation is made larger, this difference in path lengths generally grows larger. It is thus desirable minimize the size of the opening rotation. More generally, by minimizing the opening rotation the interior corners of different corners may be kept spatially close to each other which permits a variety of orientations with the path lengths approximately equal.
There are two important results of an opening rotation. Both of these results were discussed above, but it is worth repeating them. First, for many incident directions of interest for a ray, the three sides are presented more evenly to that ray. This generally results in a larger retro return from that one corner. These directions of interest are often have a large horizontal component and a relatively small vertical component. Second, for such directions the range of azimuthal directions that look into the interior of one corner is larger. For example, for horizontal incidence and the standard array in hold water orientation, the interior of one corner may be seen over sixty degrees of azimuth. An opening rotation increases this to greater than sixty degrees.
Using the language of a ray approximation, one mechanism for a corner to give a relatively strong reflection in the retro direction is three reflections, one from each interior face. The term trihedral return is defined to be this relatively strong reflection in the retro direction. This trihedral return is associated with the aspect angles for which this return is relatively strong. For example, using the lower corner in FIG. 1, the trihedral return would involve reflections off of sides 101, 102, and 103 in any order. For an incident ray nearly parallel to one of the three faces, there can also be a relatively strong return after two reflections, one off of each of the other two faces. The term dihedral return is defined to be this relatively strong reflection in the retro direction after two reflections. This dihedral return is associated with the aspect angles for which this return is relatively strong. For example, again using the lower corner of FIG. 1, an incident ray might be approximately in the plane of side 102. A dihedral return would involve that ray bouncing off of sides 101 and 103 in either order.
For an incident ray very nearly in the plane of surface 102, the dihedral return may be strong. However, for small changes in the incident direction the dihedral return may not be strong. For one corner, there generally is a range of incident directions, between those where the trihedral return for a corner is strong and where the dihedral return for that corner is strong. This is an angular region where the retro-return is relatively weak. It is possible to choose an opening rotation such that the dihedral return from one corner is located in the angular region between the trihedral and dihedral returns from another corner. This results in the total return being relatively uniform in angle, since it eliminates the null which would otherwise be present between the trihedral and dihedral returns for that other corner. This is a desirable method since it only requires a relatively small opening rotation. For example, a much larger opening rotation would be required to eliminate the null by making the trihedral return from one corner overlap the trihedral return from another corner.
This invention involves an array of two or more corner reflectors, with opening rotations and with translations of the individual corner reflectors. These are chosen to produce a strong retro-return and/or a substantially uniform retro-return over a desired range of angles.

Arrangement of corner reflectors for a nearly omnidirectional return


A process for applying a release agent and pressure sensitive adhesive to cut sheet media to thereby eliminate a separate release liner. A silicone oil plus additive release layer is applied during fusing on a top surface of cut media and then UV cured. A pressure sensitive adhesive layer is applied next. The cut sheets are then stacked and a compressive force is applied that transfers the pressure sensitive adhesive from one sheet to another and helps hold the stack together.

The present disclosure relates to applying an adhesive to signage for store shelving, and more particularly, to an improved method that applies a release coating to a multi-layered media substrate within a xerographic printing apparatus and applies an adhesive to the multi-layered media substrate after it exits the xerographic printing apparatus.

Controlled silicone release during xerographic printing to create pressure sensitive adhesive release coat


A spine retractor and distractor device comprises spinal process clamps and a retractor assembly, which may be rotatably coupled with the spinal process clamps. The retractor assembly may include a retractor ring, or frame, and a plurality of retractor blades adjustably coupled to the frame, e.g., by clamps. The spinal process clamps can maintain a grip on the spinal processes of the patient, and distraction pliers may be used to impart a distraction force on the spinal process clamps to distract the spinal segments. Additionally, other components, features, or tools, e.g., a light source and/or a camera, can be mounted on the instrument.

Degenerated intervertebral discs are currently treated with fusion cages for arthrodesis, and lower grade degenerated discs are replaced by arthroplasty devices, i.e. total disc replacement (TDR) implants.
Standard surgical procedures for disc replacement with fusion or non fusion devices generally include the following steps, each of which are described in more detail below:                1. Create an approach to the selected disc;        2. Complete or partial removal of the selected disc or disc material (annulus and/or nucleus), e.g., discectomy; and        3. Insert the total disc replacement devices, or intervertebral spacers, or fixation devices such as screws, plates, rod systems, etc.
An approach through the soft tissue (i.e. skin, muscles, faciae) to a selected intervertebral disc(s) is created such that the soft tissue preferably is kept away from the site and the working area, e.g., by retractors or cannula. The purpose of the approach is to provide a suitable surgical approach and exposure to the appropriate degenerative disc level.
After a suitable approach is achieved the surgeon removes the affected disc material, such as for example the annulus, nucleus or both or portions thereof, with, e.g., curettes, or rongeurs or other instruments. The purpose of this step is to provide adequate discectomy and intervertebral endplate preparation.
After discectomy and endplate preparation, the endplates or vertebrae may be distracted to augment the intersection between the endplates and to create sufficient space for the replacement device. One way to perform this step is to use a distraction instrument.
Next, the surgeon inserts the replacement device in the appropriate position. Proper implant placement is beneficial to ensure optimal results, including segmental motion preservation. After the implant is inserted, the distraction instrument may be removed.
The intervertebral space between vertebral bodies may be approached with different techniques. Several techniques have been described in literature, such as anterior transperitoneal, trans-psoas (true lateral) or posterior approach through median incision. Another technique involves an extraforaminal approach for the insertion of spinal disc implants.
In order to accomplish a less invasive insertion of a TDR implant, suitable methods and instruments are needed to provide the respective support to the surgeon, including a distraction instrument and a mechanically stabilized retraction instrument. Two commonly accepted procedures for stabilization are:
1. use of the table in the operating room (OR) as reference; and
2. "binding" the instrument to the patient.
Considering the nerve root which must be controlled during the surgeon's manipulation, the mechanical link between the instrument and the table might have some short comings such as:                the reference could be lost if the patient is moved on the table, whereas the nerve root is "bound" to the table; and        the surgeon must manipulate outside the conventional sterile area, i.e. underneath the sterile covers on the OR table, which might contaminate the sterile incision area.
Discussion or citation of a reference herein will not be construed as an admission that such reference is prior art to the present invention.


Examples of the present invention include metamaterials, including metamaterial lenses, having material properties that approximate the behavior of a material with low (0<n<1) effective index of refraction. Metamaterials may be designed and tuned using dispersion engineering to create a relatively wide-band low-index region. A low-index metamaterial lens created highly collimated beams in the far-field from a low-directivity antenna feed.

The maximum possible gain of a conventional aperture antenna is determined by the size of the aperture. Hence, dish reflectors, horn antennas, array antennas and other electrically large antennas may have large gain due to their large aperture area. However, many applications would benefit from small antenna sizes, and approaches to improving antenna gain without increasing antenna size or weight would be extremely useful for a variety of applications.

Anisotropic metamaterial gain-enhancing lens for antenna applications


A wheel marker including a solar cell and disposed on a wheel cap so as to allow the present rotating state of a wheel of a vehicle to be visually recognized from a remote location includes as essential components a light emitting section radially extending toward the center of the wheel cap, a solar cell electricity generating section circumferentially extending around the central part of the wheel cap, a brightness detecting sensor disposed at the center of the wheel cap on the front side, an inverter disposed on the rear side, and a battery disposed on the rear side of the wheel cap and adapted to be charged by the solar cell. The light emitting section includes a light emitting element which usually comprises an electroluminescence element or a light emitting diode. In response to an output from the brightness detecting photosensor, the inverter is activated to turn on or off the battery. To turn off the battery when there is no need of activating the light emitting section, e.g., in the daytime, a power switch is disposed in position on the front surface of the wheel cap.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a wheel marker for a vehicle including a solar cell and disposed on a wheel cap to be mounted on a wheel of the vehicle. More particularly, the present invention relates to a wheel marker of the foregoing type which assures that the present rotating state of wheels can visually be recognized from a remote location especially in the nighttime.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A wheel cap made of a metallic material or molded of a synthetic resin is hitherto mounted on each wheel of a vehicle in order to improve exterior design of the wheel and reduce air resistance against rotation of wheels.
In the prior art, however, since no illuminating unit is disposed on the wheel, the position of the wheel can not visually be recognized especially in the nighttime. In addition, the present rotating state of the wheel can not be detected or monitored at all in the nighttime.

Wheel marker for vehicle including solar cell