In a network communication system passing messages between gateways via a message handling system the gateways are interfaced specifically to their respective network access units and are interfaced generically to the message handling system using routines common to all gateways. Messages are sent in protocol data units including recipient addresses which do not identify recipient gateways as such; the gateways are used transparently. The data format is CCITT 1988 X400 standard with automatic conversion to and from this format at sending and receiving gateways plus automatic document conversion. Message handling involves waiting for many services and events. The invention allows calling routines to avoid pending while waiting for events and services. Service routines, including event watching and timer routines, schedule notifications on to queues and the main processing task runs notifications off the queues by calling a run routine.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a network communication system for use in handling communications between access units which may comprise office automation systems, telex, teletex, facsimile, etc.
Abbreviations and acronyms used herein are listed at the end of the description. References to Data General are to Data General Corporation, the assignees of the present application.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There exist today many proprietary communications systems and various international standards relating to message handling and data transmission. Nevertheless there is no system in existence which will allow all kinds of access units to communicate freely with one another.
It is true that there do exist gateway systems, known commercially as Soft-Switch and Mailbus which are intended to allow interchange of messages between dissimilar systems. However these known systems are essentially suitable for use by private corporate and other large users because they utilize a proprietary message transfer protocol handled via a central processing system which converts from and to the message protocols employed by the various gateways. Moreover they are set up as complete systems in which each gateway has to know what other gateways there are on the system and what are the characteristics of the various gateways.
The known systems are neither intended for nor suitable for public services.
Another problem with which the invention is concerned arises in conjunction with computer operating systems (e.g. MS-DOS and UNIX) which are single threaded, i.e. they can handle only a single processing thread at a time. This leads to the result that routines frequently have to wait if the processing path comes to a halt while waiting for an external event. The routine is said to pend. Although other operating systems can handle multiple threads (e.g. AOS/VS) the system according to the invention is desirably not restricted to a particular operating system and should be capable of operating with single threaded operating systems. Some systems, e.g. UNIX can simulate multitasking by holding a plurality of copies of a program in memory and scheduling the allocation of the CPU to the different processes. However this is wasteful of memory resources. MS-DOS has no built-in facilities for achieving even this level of multi-tasking.
In a network communication system waiting for events occurs all the time, e.g. as transfers are effected across interfaces, and single threaded systems lead to inefficient usage of computer resources, for the reasons explained above.


The present invention provides a rotatable storage device including a rotatable platform configured for storing and allowing ease of access to electronic devices such as, printers, facsimile machines, computers, scanners, and others. The rotatable platform include high and low voltage receptacle for connection to the electronic devices. The high and low voltage receptacles provide power, as well as data and voice communication to the electronic devices. The receptacles are connected to a rotatable connector allowing the rotatable platform and receptacle to be rotated in unison without the twisting or tangling of the power and connecting wires. The rotatable connector can take the form of sliprings, brushes, mercury rotatable connectors, or other known devises.

Technology has provided us with many useful tools for making communication and basic office functions efficient, easy, and of higher quality. Some of these devices include computers, computer monitors, printers, scanners, facsimile machines, copiers, cordless telephones, transponders for wireless connectivity, paper shredders, surge protectors, and others. However, spatially arranging all of these useful devices consumes an inordinate amount of desk-top real-estate, leaving less and less room to actually accomplish the work which the devices are intended to facilitate.
Additionally, each device must be powered, which requires a separate power-carrying cable running from a power source to each device. Furthermore, many of the devices also require interconnectivity to at least one other device, the internet, a phone line, all three, or others. The aggregation of devices on a desk brings with it a multitude of cables strung throughout and consuming further workspace area. The cables are not only unattractive; they also interfere with the workspace and become a nuisance.
Storing the devices on the floor is an alternative to utilizing valuable desk space. However, storing devices on the floor suffers from the disadvantages of making the devices difficult or inconvenient to reach, easy to damage by kicking, stepping on, or otherwise, and also consuming valuable floor space.

Continuously rotatable electronic-device organizer


Unique structured fields for delimiting the beginning and end of a data file sent to a print server in a computer network having a mixture of host processors and microprocessors for generating files to be printed. Each file sent to the print server is preceded by a unique beginning of file structured field and is terminated with a unique ending of file structured field.

The present invention relates to computer networks in general and more particularly to a technique for unambiguously delineating a file or job to a print server device in a local area network to determine when a file or job can be sent to a physical printer.
In a local area network (LAN), the print server is the focal point for printing jobs from large processors or personal computers, all of which are attached to the local area network. The shared (spooled) printers are controlled by the print server function with output not being sent to any of the printers until the entire print file has been received at the server device. The files or jobs may be printed on a first in-first out (FIFO) basis or by some more sophisticated queueing mechanism. However, each file or job must be properly delineated to avoid overlap. The print server can be a specialized personal computer such as the IBM Personal Computer AT.TM..
One of the primary network architectures in use today is the system network architecture (SNA) developed and marketed by IBM Corporation. Information units of different type formats carry messages through a computer network. A problem arises when devices utilizing different architectures are combined into a single network. Attempts to find an "End of File (EOF)" indicator which is consistent across SNA and non-SNA devices have not been successful. For example, the data stream architecture for IBM 3270 type devices does not address EOF in this environment.
There are several techniques in the prior art which are used to delimit jobs, however, none address the problem solved by this invention. In SNA networks, the BIND command is used at the initiation of communication between pairs of logical units to determine the functions that a device supports. A positive response from the receiver indicates that it supports the list of functions that the sender wishes to utilize. After all communication is complete, the sender issues an UNBIND command to end communications.
The BIND process takes a considerable amount of time, therefore once a BIND is established, it is left up for a long period of time. Thus, the BIND and UNBIND commands are not good for delimiting a job as they degrade performance. Furthermore, the concept does not exist in non-SNA devices. In systems which use the 3270 data stream architecture, more than half of the applications still use the binary synchronous communication (BSC) protocol for transmission, compared with the synchronous data link control (SDLC) protocol used by SNA devices.
The concept of brackets are used within the SNA architecture to delineate a transaction, a unit of work or a message. The "begin" bracket is, in effect, a flag or indication that a transaction has begun. The transaction is followed by an "end" bracket, which is, in effect, a flag that the transmission has ended.
An example of bracket usage is a query to another location for the time followed by a query for the date. If brackets were not used, the response to the time might be the date, if the date response program were faster than the time response program.
if a bracket is equated to a "file", this would be sufficient to delineate a file or job. The hazard is that different applications use brackets in various manners. For a print job, one might use a bracket per page, while another application might use a bracket for the entire document. The biggest limitation, however, is that the concept does not exist in non-SNA applications.
Time-outs are used for a variety of purposes in both SNA and non-SNA communications. For purposes of delimiting a job or file, they are to be avoided because they degrade performance. The method employed is to wait a longer than normal time to insure that the transaction is complete. The receiver device typically waits a minute in time duration to insure this.
The use of a unique control code embedded at the end of the job and interpreted as the end of job or end of file indicator also has several problems as regards current IBM implementations. For example, the end of file control code which exists in the ASCII character set, X'1A' has no counterpart in the EBCDIC character code set.
Certain printers support application programs that use the SNA Standard Character String (SCS) data stream while other printers support application programs that use the 3270 data stream. The first class of printers print unrecognized control codes as hyphens and the other class of printers reject unrecognized control codes with a negative response and terminate the printing process. The control code, End Message, used with the 3270 data stream is sent on a buffer basis and is not a reliable indicator of end of file as its name might imply. If an end of job control code were to be created, it would require the retrofit of many thousands of printers which would be prohibitively costly.

Structured fields at a data stream boundary for delimiting files

International Business Machines Corporation


An LED lamp includes a heat sink, a plurality of LED modules mounted on the heat sink, a bracket connecting with the heat sink and a cover covering over the heat sink. The heat sink includes a curved base plate and a plurality of fins extending from an inner surface of the base plate. The LED modules are mounted on an outer surface of the base plate, whereby the LED modules radiate light on different directions. The bracket is located above the fins and includes two connecting bars to respectively connect two ends of the base plate. The cover covers over the outer surface of the base plate to protect the LED modules. Heat generated by the LED modules is absorbed by base plate of the heat sink and dissipated into ambient air via the fins thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wall lamp, and particularly to a wall lamp using light emitting diodes as a light source and having a heat sink on which the light emitting diodes are mounted whereby heat generated by the light emitting diodes can be dissipated by the heat sink.
2. Description of Related Art
Electronic component includes numerous circuits operating at high speed and generating substantive heat. In many applications, it is desirable to employ a heat sink to remove heat from heat-generating electronic components, for example, LED components in an LED lamp, to assure that the components function properly and reliably.
An LED lamp is a type of solid-state lighting device that utilizes light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as a source of illumination. An LED is a device for converting electricity into light by using a theory that, if a current is made to flow in a forward direction through a junction region comprising two different types of semiconductor, electrons and holes are coupled at the junction region to generate a light beam. The LED has an advantage that it is resistant to shock, and has an almost eternal lifetime under a specific condition; thus, the LED lamp is intended to be a cost-effective yet high quality replacement for incandescent and fluorescent lamps.
An LED lamp generally has a limited space therein and requires a plurality of LEDs. Most of the LEDs are driven at the same time, which results in a quick rise in temperature of the LED lamp. Since the limited space in the LED lamp, the heat sink has a restricted heat dissipating area and is unable to remove heat from the LEDs effectively. Operation of the conventional LED lamps thus has a problem of instability because of the rapid buildup of heat.
Besides, since an illuminant angle of the light emitted by the LEDs is generally restricted in a narrow range and the LEDs are mounted on a flattened surface of the heat sink, the light of the conventional LED lamp is of unsatisfactory spatial distribution and cannot meet users' requirement.
What is needed, therefore, is an LED lamp which has a heat sink with a great heat dissipating capability in a limited space. Furthermore, the heat sink applied in the LED lamp has a such design that the LED lamp can provide a wide illumination angle.

Fu Zhun Precision Industry (Shen Zhen) Co., Ltd.


Provided are very highly water soluble, stable, crystalline salts of 2',3'-dideoxy-2',3'-didehydrothymidine ("d4T"), 2',3'-dideoxyinosine ("ddI"), and 2',3'-dideoxy-2'-fluoroinosine ("F-ddI"). Such salts are useful as intermediates or as antiviral agents.

The present invention concerns highly water soluble, stable, crystalline antiviral (including antiretroviral) salts of 2',3'-dideoxyinosine, 2',3'-dideoxy-2',3'-didehydrothymidine and 2',3'-dideoxy-2'-fluoroinosine, particularly sodium or potassium salts thereof.
Infectious viral diseases are recognized as an important medical problem. Progress against infectious viral disease requires the development of drugs with selective antiviral activity, while remaining benign to normal cell lines. A number of antiviral agents currently under study which seem to possess some selectivity are nucleoside analogs. In general, these compounds are structural analogs of the naturally occurring nucleosides. Structural modification in either the purine or pyrimidine base nucleus and/or the saccharide component results in a synthetically modified nucleoside derivative which, when incorporated into a viral nucleic acid forming process, acts to disrupt further synthesis of viral nucleic acid.
Effectiveness of these antiviral agents depends on selective conversion by viral enzymes, but not by host enzymes, to the corresponding nucleotide analog which is then converted to the triphosphate followed by incorporation into viral nucleic acid. A problem with this antiviral strategy has been the emergence of certain viral strains whose enzymes poorly promote phosphorylation of the nucleoside analogs. To circumvent this problem, intact nucleotide analogs appear to be potentially quite useful as antivirals for incorporation into viral nucleic acid.
PCT application WO 87/01284 to Mitsuya and Broder describes the use of 2',3'-dideoxyinosine ("ddI") for use against AIDS.
EP 0 273 277 to Lin and Prusoff discloses the use of 2',3'-dideoxy-2',3'-didehydrothymidine ("d4T") in treating patients infected with a retrovirus.
Erik De Clercq, "Potential Drugs for the Treatment of AIDS", Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, 23, Suppl. A, 35-46, (1989), describes the use of dideoxynucleoside analogues to inhibit the infectivity and cytopathic effect of human immunodeficiency virus ("HIV")
EP 0 287 313 discloses 2',3'-dideoxy-2'-fluoroinosine ("F-ddI") and its activity against HIV.

Antiviral, highly water soluble, stable, crystalline salts of 2', 3'-dideoxyinosine, 2', 3'-dideoxy-2', 3'-didehydrothymidine and 2', 3'-dideoxy-2'-fluoroinosine


The invention relates to an apparatus and process for the direct production of a composite yarn or ribbon of continuous reinforcement fibers and a thermoplastic organic material. The process includes drawing reinforcement fibers from molten glass, driving or extruding a thermoplastic organic material, converging the paths followed by the reinforcement fibers and the organic material toward one another, and joining the organic material and fibers in at least one composite yarn or ribbon. An apparatus for conducting this process is also disclosed.

The association of reinforcement fibers and organic material to achieve a finished composite product can be performed in many ways. This composite product should exhibit in particular the properties required for the contemplated application. Its properties, in particular its mechanical properties, are a function of the quality of the bond that exists between the organic material and the fibers that reinforce it. One of the numerous means contributing to obtaining this result is the prior coating of the fibers with an organic material identical, or at the very least compatible, with that which will form the mass of the finished product. There are numerous methods for coating reinforcement fibers which are used independently of the process of producing said fibers. These coating methods require an additional operation and have, among other drawbacks, that of increasing the production cost of the yarn.
To avoid the drawbacks of the indirect processes, other processes advocate coating the fibers at the time of their production. These direct processes are inspired by the means traditionally used to coat the surface of fibers with a finish. The device for application of this finish is installed in the path traveled by the fibers between their forming zone and the zone where they are collected in one form or another.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,537,610, relating to the production of continuous glass fibers, describes an installation which is exemplary in this regard. A die, heated by Joule effect, is fed molten glass streams which flow through a multiplicity of orifices placed at the base of the die. The streams, after mechanical drawing, give rise to a multiplicity of continuous fibers which are assembled in a single yarn. A coating device is installed between the base of the die and the point of assembling the fibers. This device comprises a tank, fed with a thermoplastic organic mixture in the molten state, and a roller which is partially immersed in the organic material and partially in contact with the advancing fibers. The roller, in rotation around its axis, drives on its surface an organic film picked up by the fibers during their passage. This type of process, although advantageous, still exhibits a certain number of constraints.
It would be advantageous to obtain directly a composite yarn in which the amount of organic material is high relative to the weight of said yarn. According to direct processes known at present, the weight by percent of the organic material retained by the yarn is greater at slower yarn drawing speeds and vice versa.

Process and device for producing a yarn or ribbon formed from reinforcement fibers and a thermoplastic organic material


A method of preventing the growth of microorganisms on the surface of a substrate in contact with the environment, while simultaneously preventing corrosion of these substrates by depositing nickel-63 onto the substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the prevention of microbially induced corrosion, microbial fouling and ordinary electrochemical corrosion by the application of a coating of nickel-63 to the substrate. Specifically, this invention relates to prevention of corrosion of metallic surfaces by microbes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Microbial corrosion, or microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC), may be defined as metal loss caused, or accelerated, by microbial action at one or both of the two sites controlling electrochemical corrosion, namely the anode and the cathode. Microbial corrosion has been noted with cast iron, mild steel, stainless steel, aluminum and its alloys, and copper and its alloys. Concrete, wood and various plastics also undergo microbial degradation (by mechanisms that obviously fall outside the above definition for microbial corrosion). The destruction of metallic and non-metallic materials due to microbial action is a serious and costly problem for industrialized societies.
A number of microbes have been identified with degradative processes, including those listed below:
Cladosporium resinae--a fungus that corrodes aluminum fuel tanks.
Pseudomonas--a type of bacterium capable of reducing ferric iron to ferrous iron.
Thiobacillus ferrooxidans--a type of bacterium that oxidizes ferrous iron to ferric iron.
Thiobaccillus thiooxidans--a type of bacterium that produces sulfuric acid.
Gallionnella--a type of bacterium that can oxidize Fe.sup.+2 to Fe.sup.+3.
Nitrobacter--a type of bacterium which oxidizes NO.sub.2.sup.- to NO.sub.3.sup.-.
Nitrosomas--a type of bacterium which oxidizes NH.sub.3 to NO.sub.2.
Desulfovibrio, Desulfomonas, Desulfotomaculum--types of anaerobic, sulfate-reducing bacteria.
The mechanisms by which these microbes contribute to the corrosion of metals and degradation of non-metals are unique to the specific microbes, and many are not well understood. The most widely studied form of microbial attack involves the anaerobic sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB).
The SRB are found in a variety of natural environments, including many types of soils and sediments, fresh, brackish and salt waters, natural hot springs, oil and gas wells, and sulfur deposits. They tolerate temperatures from <5.degree. to 75.degree. C., a pH range of about 5 to 9.5, and hydrostatic pressures of at least 10.sup.5 kPa. They survive, but do not grow, under aerobic conditions.
Although there is not universal agreement about the mechanism by which SRB cause or accelerate metallic corrosion, it is believed that the bacteria bring about cathodic depolarization of the metal surface by removing hydrogen from cathodic sites in a sulfate-reducing reaction. The equations for this proposed mechanism are as follows:
(1) anodic reaction 4 FE.fwdarw.4 Fe.sup.+2 +8 e.sup.-
(2) electrolytic dissociation of water 8 H.sub.2 O.fwdarw.8 H.sup.+ +8 OH.sup.-
(3) cathodic reaction 8 H.sup.+ +8 e.sup.- .fwdarw.8 H.sub.2 O
(4) cathodic depolarization by SRB 8 H+SO.sub.4.sup.-2 .fwdarw.S.sup.-2 +4 H.sub.2 O
(5) corrosion product Fe.sup.+2 +S.sup.-2 .fwdarw.FeS
(6) corrosion product 3 FE.sup.+2 +6 OH.sup.31 .fwdarw.3 Fe (OH).sub.2
(7) overall reaction 4 Fe+SO.sub.4.sup.-2 +4 H.sub.2 O.fwdarw.3 Fe (OH).sub.2 +FeS+2 OH.sup.-
The prevention of microbially induced corrosion usually involves trying to prevent the occurrence, growth and metabolic activity of the microbes in the vicinity of the metal by the use of chemical reagents (biocides), cathodic protection, or protective coatings (e.g. an epoxy film).
U.S. Pat. No. 3,497,434 teaches a method for preventing fouling of a metal structure immersed in a marine environment by coating this metal structure with a metal toxic to marine organism. The metals toxic to marine organisms which are described in this patent are cadmium, tin, zinc and aluminum.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,123,338 describes a method of preventing fouling coupled with corrosion inhibition in water environments by the application of a coating of technetium 99 to the substrate.

Use of radioactive nickel-63 to inhibit microbially induced corrosion

University of Virginia Alumni Patents Foundation


An air rescue simulator, wherein the simulator comprises a helicopter passenger cabin, which is attached to a crane system.

Simulation is a proven means in many fields, allowing instruction on complicated equipment without having to accept the disadvantages which are typically associated with this. For example, aircraft pilots, high-speed train drivers and ship captains use simulator technology for their training. Financial or safety obstacles, which would otherwise prevent reasonable training, can often be overcome only by the use of simulators. Examples of this are space flight or submarines.
In contrast to standard operations such as the rescue and emergency-doctor service, in which the emergency units need only rarely become involved in life-threatening situations, a rescue in alpine terrain and terrain where there is a risk of falling from flooded areas or burning buildings, using a rescue winch or the rescue rope, is often impossible without a certain risk to the rescuers themselves. Even when all feasible safety measures have been implemented, there is a remaining risk. The aim must therefore be to achieve as high a level of safety as possible by optimum training and equipment of the emergency units.
Since the beginnings of air rescue, emergency units have been trained using the actual aircraft in question. This has the disadvantage that, because of the restricted number of available aircraft, these aircraft are repeatedly called on for emergency operations while being used for training and are then no longer available for a period of hours. Further disadvantages which have impeded previous use for training are adverse weather conditions which do not allow flight operation, as well as the need to refuel the aircraft while the training is being carried out. Furthermore, technical defects and the permissible flying times of the pilots and the flight contingents of the aircraft make it harder to carry out regular, controlled use for training purposes. Furthermore, training using the actual aircraft is associated with considerable costs.
There are admittedly many examples of simulations in the field of aviation, extending from radio and navigation training at a desk, via the known flight simulators, to complete cockpits for pilot training. However, all of these systems are restricted to parts and sub-aspects of an operation in actual conditions and do not address all the senses of those involved in the training. They therefore have no far-reaching training value for experienced emergency units, and are not suitable for comprehensive training and training that meets the demands.
The aim of realistic training is not only to prepare for real operations but to allow the subsequently required procedures to be worked through using all the aids and equipment in such a way that not only is knowledge gained but a routine is established. Only such routine generates the desired level of safety and the required performance margins.


A system on a chip for network devices. In one implementation, the system on a chip may include (integrated onto a single integrated circuit), a processor and one or more I/O devices for networking applications. For example, the I/O devices may include one or more network interface circuits for coupling to a network interface. In one embodiment, coherency may be enforced within the boundaries of the system on a chip but not enforced outside of the boundaries.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related to network devices and, more particularly, to integrated circuits used in network devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Networking of computer systems and other electronic devices has become more and more prevalent, at all levels of the network. Computer systems in offices, and sometimes even homes, are networked in local area networks (LANs). Geographically distant computer systems can be network in wide area networks (WANs). The Internet can be considered an example of a WAN.
Various network devices may be involved in transmitting network data (communications between the networked systems) from one computer system to another. For example, firewalls are typically used between a local area network and a wider area network (e.g. the Internet) to protect the local area network from invasion from the wide area network. Routers receive network data (e.g. packets), analyze the data, and route the data on to another router or the receiving computer system. The routers may include circuitry to examine packets to provide such features as quality of service (QoS), caching of information, etc.
A system on a chip for network devices is described. In one implementation, the system on a chip may include (integrated onto a single integrated circuit), a processor and one or more I/O devices for networking applications. For example, the I/O devices may include one or more network interface circuits for coupling to a network interface. In one embodiment, coherency may be enforced within the boundaries of the system on a chip but not enforced outside of the boundaries.
Broadly speaking, an integrated circuit for a networking device is contemplated. The integrated circuit includes at least one processor and one or more network interface circuits configured to communicate on one or more network interfaces. The processor and the network interfaces are integrated on the integrated circuit.
Additionally, an integrated circuit for a network device is contemplated. The integrated circuit includes at least one processor coupled to an interconnect; a cache coupled to the interconnect; a memory controller coupled to the interconnect; and one or more input/output (I/O) devices for networking applications. The at least one processor, the cache, the memory controller, the interconnect, and the one or more I/O devices are integrated onto the integrated circuit.
Moreover, an integrated circuit for a network device is contemplated, including at least one processor and an input/output (I/O) device capable of caching data. The processor and the I/O device are integrated onto the integrated circuit. Coherency is enforced between the processor and the I/O device.


A channel type switching method for Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Service (MBMS) point-to-point (P-t-P) channel and point-to-multi point (P-t-M) channel is provided. When a user equipment (UE) moves to a cell in a drift radio network controller (DRNC) with an Iur interface, the DRNC decides to switch between a common channel and a dedicated channel and then notifies a serving radio network controller (SRNC) of MBMS channel type and common channel parameters.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multimedia broadcast and multicast services, more particularly to a channel switching methods of Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast P-t-P and P-t-M channel.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Service (MBMS) is a new Point to Multipoint (P-t-M) service in 3rd generation (3G) mobile communication. The type of channel used by MBMS can be a Point to Point (P-t-P) channel or a P-t-M channel according to the number of service users. In current P-t-P service mechanisms, when a user moves to a new cell, a destination cell, a specific channel is used for handovers from the source cell to the destination cell. Existing channel handovers are all based on P-t-P channel and the channel characteristics don't change. In MBMS service, the changing cell may result in changes of channel characteristics.
To better explain the relevant principles, the MBMS system structure is illustrated in FIG. 9.
MBMS network structure adds new network elements based on the core network of General Packet Radio Service (GPRS). Referring to FIG. 9, a broadcast and multicast service center (BM-SC) 01 is the service control center of the MBMS system. A Gateway GPRS Supporting Node (GGSN) 02 and Service GPRS Supporting Node (SGSN) 03 consist of the transmission network of MBMS service and provide a route for data transfer. A Home Location Register (HLR) 06 stores the user-related data and can provide services like user authentication. A UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) 04 provides radio resources for MBMS service in air interface. Uu 07 denotes the radio interface between terminal and radio access network. User Equipment (UE) 05 is the terminal device receiving data. Radio resources used by the MBMS service are not dedicated for one user, but are shared by all users of the service.
In a conventional system, it is up to the Serving Radio Network Controller (SRNC) to decide whether to do the SRNC relocation when the user in the system performs a handover between cells in different RNCs but in the same SGSN. If SRNC relocation is not performed, data and signalling stream are transferred to the Drift Radio Network Controller (DRNC) via Iur interface, and then transferred to the UE from the DRNC. In a handover procedure, different processes are performed according to the different radio connection status of the user.
In Idle mode, CELL_FACH (Cell_Forward Access Channel), CELL_PCH (Cell_Paging Channel) and URA_PCH (UTRAN Registration Area_Paging Channel) statuses, when the UE moves from one cell in the SRNC to a cell in another RNC, this is a drift that is handled by the DRNC. The UE will send a "cell update" message to the DRNC, and the DRNC transfers the message to the SRNC via an Iur interface. The SRNC will communicate with the DRNC to obtain common resource information of the cell in the DRNC to notify the UE. FIG. 7 illustrates the cell update process, which is as follows:    Step 601: After the UE re-selects a cell, it sends a cell update message to the DRNC via common control channel (CCCH) using a radio resource control (RRC) protocol.    Step 602: The DRNC allocates a D-RNTI (DRNC-Radio Network Temporary Identifier) to the UE and then sends an uplink signalling transfer indication message to the SRNC using a radio network subsystem application part (RNSAP).    Step 603: The SRNC decides not to do SRNC relocation and sends a common transport channel resource initialization request message to the DRNC.    Step 604: The DRNC informs the SRNC of the information on a common channel through the message of common transport channel resource initialization response.    Step 605: The SRNC sets up a data bearer on an Iur interface using an access link control application part (ALCAP).    Step 606: The SRNC sends a cell update confirmation message to the UE to inform the UE common channel of information on the new cell and new UE identifier via a dedicated control channel (DCCH) using RRC protocol.    Step 607: The UE responds to the SRNC to complete the cell update process via the DCCH.    Step 608: The SRNC deletes the user's resources on the original cell using RNSAP by sending a common transport channel resources message.
In CELL_DCH (Cell_Dedicated Channel) status, the UE moves to a cell in another RNC. The SRNC decides to handover to another cell according to the measurement reported by the UE and notifies the DRNC of dedicated radio link configurations. After the DRNC completes configuring, the SRNC is informed to notify the UE of the radio link situation after UE handover. FIG. 8 illustrates the cell handover process under this status that occurs as follows:    Step 701: The SRNC decides to set up a new dedicated radio link (RL) for the UE in the new cell of the DRNC. SRNC sends a radio link setup request message to DRNC using RNSAP and informs the DRNC of dedicated channel information.    Steps 702-703: The DRNC sets up a new radio dedicated link with a Node B of the DRNC using a Node B application part (NBAP).    Step 704: The DRNC sends a radio link addition response message to SRNC.    Step 705: The SRNC sets up Iur interface and Iub interface data bearer using ALCAP.    Steps 706-707: Synchronize data frame on downlink and uplink using DCH frame pulse (FP).    Steps 708-709: SRNC notifies the UE to add a new dedicated link via the DCCH by sending an active set update message using the RRC. The UE sends active set update complete message in response to the active set update message.
In conventional systems, the user's signaling and data are all sent to the DRNC via the SRNC, and then the DRNC sends them to the user. MBMS is a new P-t-M service that can use a P-t-P or P-t-M channel for data transfer. The RNC determines channel type according to the number of users applying for the same kind of MBMS service in a cell. When the number of users using the same kind of MBMS service is small, the P-t-P channel is used; when the user number for this service exceeds a certain threshold, the P-t-M channel is used.
Therefore, when the user moves from an SRNC cell to a DRNC cell during cell reselection, the SRNC does not relocate. The DRNC determines the type of MBMS channel, which may result in different MBMS channel types being used before and after handover. So it is necessary to reconfigure MBMS channels used by the user from P-t-P channel to P-t-M channel. Conventional handover technology cannot handle this situation.
After the UE completes the above cell handover process, if the number of MBMS service users change due to the cell users moving in and out of the cell, or other users joining in and leaving the same MBMS service, and the threshold of the number of users is exceeded, the MBMS channel type will change. The current state of the art cannot notify the SRNC of MBMS channel changes and does not allow the SRNC to notify all users in the cell to reconfigure the MBMS channel.
The RNC is responsible for counting the number of users applying for MBMS service. If a handover is made from a cell in the SRNC to a cell in the DRNC during cell handover, SRNC re-positioning is not performed. This presents another problem to be solved since the SRNC needs to notify the DRNC of the MBMS service type applied for by the user to make the DRNC re-count the number of MBMS service users in the cell. Since MBMS is a new service, the conventional handover mechanism is not suitable and sufficient for the MBMS service.


Pleated filter medium and filters having pleated filter medium are provided. In one embodiment, a pleated filter medium is provided having pleats with rectangular sides and a length direction parallel to the fold between the two sides of a pleat. comprising several rows of distance elements extending in a cross direction relative to the folds in the pleated filter medium The rows are distanced from each other along a length direction, whereby each row of distance elements is constituted of a line of glue elements distanced from each other and applied to a side of the filter medium. Rows of glue elements are applied to both the inside and the outside of the filter medium, the rows on the inside being displaced in the length direction in relation to the rows on the outside.

Pleated filter media can be used for producing conical filters by being applied around end pieces having different diameters and by affixing the two free sides of end pleats to each other along the length thereof. When the length of the filter, the length direction being the axial direction of such a conical filter, reaches a certain length the pleats in the filter medium must be stabilised. One way of accomplishing such a stabilising is to glue one or more continuous cords around the periphery of the applied filter medium. The stabilising of the pleats thus requires a separate process step being made after the applying of the filter medium to the end pieces.
The objective of the present invention is a pleated filter medium which can be applied to end pieces to form a conical filter without the need for a separate stabilising step after forming of the conical filter.


An integrated circuit package is disclosed. According to one embodiment of the present invention an integrated circuit is formed in a die having an edge, and a plurality of non-I/O columns are bonded between a substrate and the die a selected distance from the edge of the die.

The present invention relates generally to integrated circuits, and more particularly to an integrated circuit package.
Integrated circuits (IC""s) are made up of devices such as transistors and diodes and elements such as resistors and capacitors linked together by conductive connections to form one or more functional circuits. IC""s are typically formed in a rectangular piece of silicon called a chip or die. Silicon dice can be formed in a wafer of silicon. A wafer is a sheet of silicon with a surface that is subject to a series of fabrication steps to form a pattern of identical IC""s. The IC""s are separated from each other by a repeating rectangular pattern of scribe lines, also called saw lines, in the surface of the wafer that serve as boundaries between the dice. One IC is formed in each die. At a late stage in a fabrication process the dice are diced (cut apart) from the wafer along the scribe lines and each die is bonded to a substrate to form an IC package.
A substrate is a relatively flat and rigid structure that provides mechanical support for the die in the IC package, transmits input/output (I/O) signals to and from the IC in the die, and also transfers heat that is generated during the operation of the IC. The substrate may also be called a carrier. The substrate includes conductive leads connected to respective bonding pads on the die so that the IC may exchange I/O signals with other circuits in the IC package and circuits connected to the IC package. Additional elements such as resistors and capacitors that are not readily included in the IC may be attached to the IC package. The IC package may be applied to a circuit board assembly that comprises systems of interconnected IC packages to form an electronic device such as a computer or a cellular phone.
One method of bonding a die to a substrate in an IC package is called a flip-chip bonding method. One version of the flip-chip bonding method is formally known as the controlled collapse chip connection or C4 method. In the flip-chip bonding method solder bumps are placed on bonding pads on the dice while they are connected together in the wafer. A reflow procedure is carried out to modify the shape of the bumps and then the wafer is diced to separate the dice. Each die is then turned over, or flipped, and aligned with a corresponding pattern of bonding pads or solder bumps on a substrate. A second reflow procedure is carried out to join the bumps to form a series of solder columns between the die and the substrate. The solder columns serve as conductive connections or leads between an IC in the die and the substrate through which I/O signals are transmitted. An epoxy underfill is then added between the die and the substrate, surrounding the solder columns. A fillet is formed of epoxy near the edges of the die and the epoxy is then cured to finish the fabrication of the IC package.
Most IC packages are tested under simulated operating conditions before being shipped to a customer. The test includes a thermal cycling of the IC package; the IC package is put in a furnace and the temperature of the furnace is raised and lowered in a cycle to simulate temperatures that may be encountered by the IC package in its normal operation. Stresses develop in the IC package due to different coefficients of thermal expansion of the substrate, the epoxy, and the die. The thermal cycling causes shear stresses that lead to cracks in a nitride surface layer in the die, and these cracks can propagate to open metal vias and lift metal connections in the die. In addition, the epoxy underfill includes hard particles that cause bullet holes and cracks in the die when subject to compressive stresses during the thermal cycling. Such cracking leads to a reliability failure of the IC package.
There remains a need for an IC package and ways of fabricating the IC package to reduce the above-mentioned problems. For these and other reasons there is a need for the present invention.
According to one embodiment of the present invention an integrated circuit is formed in a die having an edge, and a plurality of non-I/O columns are bonded between a substrate and the die a selected distance from the edge of the die. According to another embodiment of the present invention an integrated circuit is formed in a die having an edge, deformable adhesive bumps are placed on the die in a high strain region of the die and on a surface of a substrate, the deformable adhesive bumps are aligned, and the die is bonded to the substrate by reforming the deformable adhesive bumps into a plurality of columns bonded between the substrate and the die to reduce strain in the die.


A data processing system includes a plurality of processing unit. Each processing unit includes notification storage circuitry configured to store a notification indicator corresponding to each processing unit which indicates whether the processing unit has an outstanding coherent memory request, and multiple request storage circuitry configured to store a multiple request indicator corresponding to each processing unit which indicates whether the processing unit has more than one outstanding request. The data processing system also includes an interconnect network coupled between the processing units and configured to broadcast coherent memory requests from a requesting processing unit of the plurality of processing units to other processing units of the plurality of processing units.

Field
This disclosure relates generally to coherent mesh interconnect networks, and more specifically, to a multiple request notification network for global ordering in a coherent mesh interconnect.
Related Art
Certain computing fabrics may take the form of a plurality of interconnected nodes. A node may include a processor, processing core, memory management unit, peripheral management unit, or some other component that may generate or receive a request for data stored in a memory location. In some configurations, the interconnected nodes may also take advantage of a shared memory (or collection of memories). In order to ensure that the data stored in the shared memory remains coherent, systems and methods may be needed to manage the order by which memory requests are processed by a node.

Multiple request notification network for global ordering in a coherent mesh interconnect


An apparatus for positioning a flexible lance drive device in registry with an opening into a heat exchanger tube sheet includes a flat plate bracket adapted to be bolted parallel to a flange of the heat exchanger. The bracket carries a stub tube fastened to and extending normal to the flat bracket. A rotary drive is removably fastened to the stub tube and has a rotary disc rotatable in a plane parallel to the tube sheet. A slotted box rail has a proximal end clamped to the rotary disc and a linear drive assembly is removably fastened to the slotted box rail. A guide tube collet block assembly clamped to the linear drive assembly removably supports a flexible lance drive and guide tube to guide a flexible lance between the lance drive and a selected one of a plurality of tubes penetrating through the heat exchanger tube sheet.

The present disclosure is directed to high pressure fluid rotary nozzle systems. In particular, embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to an apparatus mounted on a heat exchanger tube sheet for positioning a flexible lance tractor drive device in aligned registry with a selected tube in a heat exchanger.
Conventional lance positioner frames are heavy rigid frame structures that can be assembled adjacent a heat exchanger once the tube sheet flange cover has been removed. U.S. Pat. No. 10,024,613 disclose a lightweight rectilinear frame adapted to be positioned adjacent or fastened to a heat exchanger tube sheet. Another solution is an apparatus attached directly to a heat exchanger tube sheet flange as described in US Patent Publication No. 2017/0108300. Such assemblies require a substantial amount of space adjacent to the tube sheet which may limit the feasibility of using such assemblies in confined spaces. What is needed is a more compact apparatus for precisely positioning one or more cleaning lances in registry with a heat exchanger tube sheet that is portable, simple to erect, remains rigid, and takes up minimal space adjacent the tube sheet.

Flexible lance drive positioner apparatus


It is provided a lamp assembly (10) for an automotive headlamp, comprising at least two lamps (12) each comprising a light source (14) for emitting light rays, wherein the respective light rays (16) of each lamp (12) are bordered in horizontal direction mainly orthogonal to its lighting direction by a guiding element (20), and a single shield (24) comprising a mainly horizontal top surface (22) for bordering the light rays (16) of at least two lamps (12) in one vertical direction, wherein the shield (24) is arranged such that the light rays (16) of two adjacent lamps (12) overlap at the top surface (22) of the shield (24). Since the light rays (16) of two neighboring lamps (12) overlap at the top surface (22) of the shield, it is possible to provide a smooth change of the brightness between an area illuminated by two lamps (12) and an area illuminated by only one lamp (12). Due to the smooth change of the brightness the lamp assembly (10) provides an easily to perceived illuminated area (30).

From US 2005/0018436 A1 a lamp assembly is known, which comprises several lamps arranged side by side. Each lamp comprises a light-emitting diode (LED) and a reflector, which reflects light rays emitted by the LED lamp to a reflective plate, which is arranged inside a lamp housing of the lamp in line to the optical axis of the lamp. Due to the reflective plate a sharp bright/dark-cutoff is provided. The light rays leave the lamp through a lens, by which the lamp housing is closed in lighting direction of the lamp. The several lamps are arranged such that the cones of light of adjacent lamps partially overlap at an area in front of the automobile. This leads to an illuminated area in front of the automobile, which can be very broad, so that even a curve of a road may be illuminated by several lamps of the lamp assembly.
It is a disadvantage of such kind of a lamp assembly that the illuminated area illuminated by the several lamps of the lamp assembly comprises stepwise changes of the brightness. Due to the fact that a part of the illuminated area is significant brighter than another part, which is significant darker, a driver is hampered to perceive the whole illuminated area, since he may be blinded by the one part of the illuminated area, while the other part may be too dark to be perceived.


A gripping tool for adjustable wheel balancing clamping tool includes a gripping body and an adjustable-bolt-pattern-adaptor attachment mechanism. The gripping body that enables the user to grasp the clamping tool includes an outer annular body, an inner annular body, and a connector ring. The inner annular body is concentrically positioned within the outer annular body. The connector ring is perimetrically connected the outer annular body and the inner annular body. The connector ring is terminally positioned to a first outer edge of the outer annular body and a first inner edge of the inner annular body. The adjustable-bolt-pattern-adaptor attachment mechanism is connected to the outer annular body and the inner annular body thus securing the gripping body to the clamping tool.

Existing adjustable wheel balancing clamping tools that can adjust to different bolt patterns require two hands to operate, with one hand holding the tool and the other hand adjusting the bolt pattern of the tool with respect to the wheel. More specifically, the tool is adjusted to fit the specific bolt pattern of the wheel, by rotating one of the gears. Since the adjustable wheel balancing clamping tools require both hands to adjust for a new bolt pattern, the user does not have a free hand to stabilize the tool and/or the wheel, to be balanced, during the mounting process of the wheel to the balancing machine. Therefore, two steps are generally required for balancing a wheel with a new bolt pattern. First, the user must use both hands to hold and adjust the adjustable wheel balancing clamping tool to the correct bolt pattern according to the wheel. Generally, the wheel is flipped and the adjustable wheel balancing clamping tool is positioned against the back of the center bore wheel hub to correctly adjust the adjustable wheel balancing clamping tool according to the bolt pattern of the wheel. Then, the user uses one hand to mount the wheel on a wheel balancing machine, and the other hand to hold the adjustable wheel balancing clamping tool.
Clearly, there is a need for an improvement to adjustable wheel balancing clamping tools that allow individuals to hold and adjust the tool with one hand. Such improvement can combine the aforementioned two-step process into a one-step process thus saving time and money. The present invention addresses this issue by providing a gripping tool for the adjustable wheel balancing clamping tool. The present invention provides additional gripping surface area to the adjustable wheel balancing clamping tool that allows an individual to simultaneously adjust and hold the tool with one hand.

Gripping tool for adjustable wheel balancing clamping tools


A primary low viscosity fuel and a secondary high viscosity fuel are fed to an injection pump including a plunger which reciprocates and rotates within a bore in a pump housing. The upper end of the plunger defines with the upper end of the bore a mixing chamber. The mixing chamber is connected through a check valve with a fuel injector for injecting mixed fuel into the combustion chamber of an engine. The plunger has a helical groove thereon which is in communication with the mixing chamber. Primary fuel is fed directly into the mixing chamber. The secondary fuel is fed into an annular groove which is in communication with the mixing chamber through a passage formed in the plunger. The high viscosity secondary fuel in the annular groove forms a seal between the plunger and the wall of the bore to prevent the low viscosity primary fuel from leaking past the seal.

invention relates to a compression-ignition internal combustion engine which is adapted to operate with a plurality of fuels, and a novel fuel injection pump means is provided which enables the fuels to be selectively mixed with one another during certain periods of operation of the engine.
In view of present environmental concerns, it has been proposed that internal combustion engines of the future should utilize fuels other than fossil fuels in order to reduce pollutants in the air. Furthermore, such engines would also reduce dependence on imported oil. It has been suggested that alcohol would be a good substitute for fossil fuels since the resources for production of alcohol are readily available. However, the use of a fuel such as alcohol presents certain practical problems such as difficulty in starting an engine, and accordingly, compression-ignition engines have been designed for use with different fuels or with a combination of different fuels. Multi-fuel engines have been developed for use by the military which will operate on various high octane fuels. These engines use very high compression ratios in excess of twenty in order to shorten the delay period of combustion of fuels having poor ignition qualities.
Multi-fuel compression-ignition engines have been designed for buses wherein diesel oil is used mainly for starting the engine and during light load operation, while alcohol is used as the primary fuel after a warm up period. The engine employs a first fuel injection system for the diesel oil and a second independent fuel injection system for the alcohol.
A compression-ignition engine has also been developed including a dual fuel injection system wherein a diesel engine was modified so that alcohol is mixed with the diesel fuel, and up to fifty percent of the diesel fuel could be replaced by alcohol. The injection system was designed so that the relatively low viscosity alcohol is mixed with the diesel oil downstream of the fuel injection pump, whereby the alcohol does not flow through the fuel injection pump.
Fuel injection pumps have long employed a conventional construction known as the BOSCH pump which includes a plunger which reciprocates within a bore formed in a housing. The plunger has a very small tolerance with respect to the bore, and this tight fit is employed to form a seal which prevents escape of the fuel past the plunger when the fuel is under high pressure. This arrangement works effectively with a fuel such as diesel oil which has a relatively high viscosity. However, if a fuel of much lower viscosity such as alcohol passes through the pump, leakage of fuel past the plunger becomes a serious problem. The minimal clearance between the plunger and bore is very expensive to manufacture, and an effective seal is not attainable as a practical matter when dealing with very low viscosity fuels.
Prior art compression-ignition engines have required a fuel with a high cetane number. Additives have been blended into fuels to raise the cetane number. Accordingly, it has been expensive to provide fuels with adequately high cetane numbers to effectively operate in compression-ignition engines.
It is accordingly a desirable objective to provide a multi-fuel compression-ignition engine which can be utilized in automotive applications and which efficiently operates on fuels with relatively low cetane numbers.

Multi-fuel compression-ignition engine and fuel injection pump therefor

1105 Marbelle Club, 840 S. Collier Boulevard


A method and apparatus for determining the impedance of the discharge in a plasma reactor system comprising a tuning box having variable capacitors is described. The impedance of the discharge is determined in dependence on a pre-established relationship between the operational positions of the variable capacitors on the one hand and the impedance of the discharge on the other. The ionic current relative to the discharge in the reactor also may be determined by taking into account the high frequency voltage of the reactor.

The invention relates to a process and apparatus for determining the impedance of a discharge in a plasma reactor associated with a tuning box. It applies more particularly to the regulation of the impedance of the discharge or the ionic current in the reactor.
The invention can be used with any engraving or deposit reactor (for example, deposit by pulverization) supplied by a generator of high frequency electromagnetic waves (more simply called a high frequency generator) by means of a tuning box enabling the output impedance of the generator to be adapted to the input impedance of the reactor. The invention applies, for example, to reactors of the reactive ionic engraving type, reactors using a magnetron, those using a triode.
The term high frequency is understood to mean a frequency lower than 10 GHz (radio frequency, hyperfrequency, . . . ).
The impedance of a discharge in an engraving or deposit reactor is a basic characteristic of the reactor. A knowledge of such impedance gives access to the essential characteristics of the reactor in operation, such as the ionic current (or ionic current density) and the energy of the ions. More particularly these characteristics are important when isotropic engravings are performed, which play an essential role in the production of very highly integrated circuits.
The impedance of the discharge is a complex number Z which is equal to the ratio between the sinusoidal electric voltage V existing between the terminals of the reactor during operation and the also sinusoidal intensity I of the electric current then flowing through the reactor.
Three techniques are already known for measuring the impedance of a discharge in a plasma reactor.
A first known technique consists in measuring the voltage V, the intensity I and the phase shift therebetween, while trying to eliminate the numerous harmonic components of V and I. This first known technique requires an appropriate assembly which it is difficult to use with industrial plasma reactors.
A second known technique consists in measuring or calculating the output impedance of the tuning box associated with the reactor.
This second technique is disclosed in the Article b A. J. Van ROOSMALEN entitled: "Plasma parameter estimation from RF impedance", published in Appl. Phys. Lett. 42(5), 1 March 1983, Pp. 416-418, and also in the Article by N. NORSTROM entitled: "Experimental and design information for calculating impedance matching networks for use in RF sputtering and plasma chemistry", published in Pergamon Press Vacuum, Vol. 29, No. 10, 1979, Pp. 341-350.
However, this second known technique has disadvantages: with this technique the impedance of the discharge is not measured on its own, but measurements are also made of the impedance of the link between the reactor and the tuning box and also the off-load impedance of the reactor, so that a precise analysis must be carried out of these impedances, which must be introduced into correctional formulae; moreover, the tuning box is an imperfect impedance adaptor: a proportion of the incident energy therein is lost by Joule effect or by electromagnetic radiation, something in the long run which prevents the evaluation of the stray impedances represented by the impedance of the link between the reactor and the tuning box and the off-load impedance of the reactor.
A third known technique is described in the Article by B. ANDRIES et al., entitled: "Method of electrical characterization of plasma engraving machines with capacitive coupling", published in the reports of the work of the CIPG 87 by Societe Francaise du Vide, Antibes, 1-5 June 1987, Pp. 106-109. This third known technique consists in calculating the impedance of the discharge from measurements of dispersion factors (known as "S parameters") of the tuning box connected to the turned-off pretuned reactor. The reactor is tuned when its input impedance is made equal to the impedance of the reactor supply line, such impedance generally being 50 ohms, so as to cancel out the power reflected towards the generator. These measurements are performed using a vectorial analyzer at the generator frequency, which is usually 13.56 MHz.
This third technique allows the effective calculation of the impedance Z of the discharge, by integrating the effect of all the parasite impedances, and does not necessitate a perfect tuning box--i.e., the absence of energy losses therein. However, this third known technique has disadvantages: it does not enable the impedance of the discharge to be measured in real time--i.e., continuously--when the reactor is operating (for example, during engraving). Moreover, vectorial analyzers are expensive apparatuses, and it is difficult to envisage their being permanently left on industrial reactors.
It is an object of the invention to obviate the aforementioned disadvantages by providing a process and apparatus which enable the impedance of a discharge in a plasma reactor to be determined, can be used with an industrial reactor and enable the impedance of the discharge to be determined by integrating the effect of all the parasite impedances, without assuming the absence of losses of energy in the tuning box, which do not require the immobilization of a vectorial analyzer on the reactor and, more particularly, enable the impedance Z of the discharge to be determined in real time, without disturbing the plasma.
However, it may be useful to permanently know the impedance of the discharge: in the case of the engraving of an integrated circuit, for example, the impedance varies at the end of engraving and its knowledge may enable the end of the attack of the integrated circuit to be detected; it is also known that reactors become contaminated in the course of time and that such contamination is shown by a variation in impedance, whence the advantage of knowing the impedance of the discharge, to detect such contamination; lastly, more particularly in the case of the engraving of a semiconductor wafer, it is known that the impedance of the discharge can be mathematically connected with the ionic current and with the energy of the ions in the reactor, and the permanent knowledge of the impedance of the discharge allows control of any drift in the course of time of the two parameters formed by this current and this energy, parameters which are essential for engraving.

Process and apparatus for determining the impedance of the discharge in a plasma reactor system comprising a tuning box and application to the regulation of the impedance or the ionic current in such reactor


In accordance with a first exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a mounting arrangement for use with an LED power strip module is provided. The mounting arrangement comprises one or more one frames having a first end and a second end, a first holding base configured to mate with the first end and a second holding base configured to mate with the second end, and at least one LED module having a first and second edge and comprising a plurality of LEDs, said LED module being adapted to removably attach to the one or more frames. The first and second holding bases are adapted to secure the one or more frames to an existing raceway structure.

The present exemplary embodiment relates to illumination devices, and particularly to a mounting arrangement for illumination devices including light emitting diodes (LED) and will be described with particular reference thereto. However, it is to be appreciated that the present exemplary embodiment is also amenable to other like applications.
Large cabinet signs, which can also be referred to as box signs, use fluorescent bulbs and a ballast as the lighting system. The cabinet signs comprise a housing with translucent panels that define a hollow enclosure. A fluorescent tube and a ballast mount inside the enclosure. The fluorescent tubes evenly illuminate both the front panel and the rear panel, but fluorescent tube lighting has its drawbacks.
Fluorescent lamps are presently much more efficient than incandescent lamps in using energy to create light. Fluorescent tubes emit light in a 360 degree pattern from a central axis. Light that is emitted from the top and bottom portions of the tube is generally wasted and does not reflect well toward the illuminated panels. This decreases the efficiency of the system. Therefore, recently, there has been a trend toward the use of more efficient lighting, in particular, light emitting diodes (LEDs). LEDs consume much less electrical power, are far more reliable, and exhibit much longer lifetimes than fluorescent lamps. As a result, LED replacement modules are being developed to replace linear fluorescent lamps.
Retrofitting cabinet signs has proven to be somewhat problematic, since there is generally no standard size for such signs or for the fluorescent lamps used in the signs, making it difficult to design a LED retrofit lamp that fits and evenly illuminates the space.
Accordingly a solution is desirable to easily retrofit LED modules in sign and cabinet applications for replacement of fluorescent lamps. A solution is further desired to provide an LED configuration that does not create additional layers that block the light from the LEDs and is a simple structure to support the LED modules, mounted from top to bottom or side to side.

Rail and clip mounting for LED modules for fluorescent application replacement


Methods and apparatus for video object segmentation are provided, suitable for use in a super-resolution system. The method comprises alignment of frames of a video sequence, pixel alignment to generate initial foreground masks using a similarity metric, consensus filtering to generate an intermediate foreground mask, and refinement of the mask using spatio-temporal information from the video sequence. In various embodiments, the similarity metric is computed using a sum of squared differences approach, a correlation, or a modified normalized correlation metric. Soft thresholding of the similarity metric is also used in one embodiment of the present principles. Weighting factors are also applied to certain critical frames in the consensus filtering stage in one embodiment using the present principles.

Segmentation of moving objects in video sequences has many applications such as video surveillance, traffic monitoring, and object-based video coding. In some scenarios, the video background is static making segmentation easier than for those cases with moving backgrounds. Segmentation of objects with globally moving backgrounds poses a more complex problem than the static background case.
Many video segmentation methods attempt to identify foreground objects by subtracting the background in an image. In these cases, an accurate background model is needed to get reliable results. Some models estimate the background through a set of pixel values, using a running average, selective running average, or running Gaussian distribution. Median filtering of spatial pixels is also used to form a background model. Additionally, spatial correlations of pixel values are performed and consensus sample methods are used to generate stable background models. Performance for each of these types of methods varies with the content and becomes less reliable with globally moving backgrounds. Some existing segmentation techniques introduce artifacts and lose background detail.
Some compressed domain techniques are used for object segmentation, although some use just the dc value of a block and suffer from having block resolution. Another problem with compressed domain solutions is the difficulty of integrating their results with spatial domain imaging equipment.

Method and apparatus for video object segmentation


A process of forming a shrink-sleeved bottle with a handle is disclosed. In one embodiment, the process forms a bottle in which the handle is substantially exposed outside the bottle.

The present invention relates to a process for the manufacture of a decorated bottle, the bottle having a handle. In particular it relates to a bottle having a decorated sleeve shrunk around the outside of the bottle.
Bottles are widely used in consumer goods industry for packaging various type of fluid products. Such bottles are normally decorated, often using labels which are stuck onto the bottle. Such labels are typically used not only for decoration but also to display usage instructions or information on the composition of the content for example. However, conventional labelling technology such as wet glue labels, self-adhesive labels, or in mold labels do not allow to decorate the full bottle surface area. The accumulation of such visual signals led the industry to develop new approaches allowing higher decoration coverage of the container""s surface, one of these new approaches being the shrink-sleeving of packages.
Shrink-sleeving is mostly used in the drinks industry, whereby a sleeve of thermoplastic material may be shrunk all around a beverage bottle, thus offering an extended area which may be used for any type of graphics. Typical thermoplastic materials used for shrink sleeving include polyvinylchloride (PVC); low or high density polyethylene (LDPE, HDPE); polyester teraphthalate (PET); polypropylene (PP) and oriented polypropylene (OPP); polystyrene (PS) and oriented polystyrene (OPS); and mixtures thereof.
However, use of shrink-sleeving did not extend to relatively larger containers, particularly because of the need of a side handle when such containers are used. Indeed, the sleeving of a bottle consists in inserting the bottle into a straight sleeve of thermoplastic material, the thermoplastic then being heated to shrink and fit tightly around the container. Clearly, in case of a container or bottle having a side handle, such a process would lead to preventing access to the handle as the sleeve would cover the recess produced by the handle, so that the handle cannot be gripped.
EP-A-0 609 575, published on Aug. 10, 1994, discloses a sleeved bottle having a handle which merges with the side of the bottle at two regions (i.e. top and bottom of the handle). The sleeve is provided with a cut-out substantially corresponding to the position of the gripping handle. However, when a shrink-sleeving process is used, it has been found to be difficult to assemble the sleeve and the bottle in such a way that the size and position of the cut-out is always accurate. The cut-out must be relatively large in order to extend between both of the two merged regions of the handle and bottle, so that the cut-out region encompasses the whole handle. The relatively large cut-out is prone to misalignment and or tearing during the sleeving process. Furthermore the process may leave sharp, exposed edges of the sleeve around the cut-out region which may cause discomfort to the user or, in extreme cases, may cut the finger of the user.
The present invention addresses the problems by providing a bottle having a sleeve around the outside of the bottle, and having a handle, the handle being substantially exposed outside of the sleeve.
The process of the present invention comprises the steps of:
a) forming a bottle with a handle, the handle having opposing ends, wherein one end of the handle merges with the bottle in a merging region, and the other end of the handle is a free end;
b) forming a sleeve essentially in the shape of a tube, the sleeve having at least one cut-out region which is defined on all sides by the sleeve, and wherein the profile of the cut-out region is at least as big as the cross-sectional profile of the free end of the handle;
c) opening the generally tubular sleeve and disposing the open sleeve over the bottle;
d) displacing the sleeve relative to the bottle so that the cut-out region of the sleeve is adjacent to the free end of the handle;
e) deforming the sleeve so that the cut-out region encompasses the free end of the handle;
f) displacing the sleeve relative to the bottle so that the sleeve generally surrounds the bottle, and so that the handle is disposed through the cut-out region of the sleeve; and
g) shrinking the sleeve to the outer surface of the bottle.

Process for the manufacture of a shrink sleeved bottle with a handle


A modular rotating diverter head is disclosed for use on oil, gas or geothermal wells. While providing for sealing with or without rotation of the drill pipe, the head consists of a central housing body which has removable mounted flanges for vertical and horizontal use. The design enables the use of a multitude of different connectors and adapters as well as the replacement of these due to wear and tear without affecting the life and integrity of the central housing.

In drilling a well, a drilling tool or "drill bit" is rotated under an axial load within a bore hole. The drill bit is attached to the bottom of a string of threadably connected tubulars or "drill pipe" located in the bore hole. The drill pipe is rotated at the surface of the well by an applied torque which is transferred by the drill pipe to the drill bit. As the bore hole is drilled, the hole bored by the drill bit is substantially greater than the diameter of the drill pipe. To assist in lubricating the drill bit, drilling fluid or gas is pumped down the drill pipe. The fluid jets out of the drill bit, flowing back up to the surface through the annulus between the wall of the bore hole and the drill pipe.
Conventional oilfield drilling typically uses hydrostatic pressure generated by the density of the drilling fluid or mud in the wellbore in addition to the pressure developed by pumping of the fluid to the borehole. However, some fluid reservoirs are considered economically undrillable with these conventional techniques. New and improved techniques, such as underbalanced drilling and managed pressure drilling, have been used successfully throughout the world. Managed pressure drilling is an adaptive drilling process used to more precisely control the annular pressure profile throughout the wellbore. The annular pressure profile is controlled in such a way that the well is either balanced at all times, or nearly balanced with low change in pressure. Underbalanced drilling is drilling with the hydrostatic head of the drilling fluid intentionally designed to be lower than the pressure of the formations being drilled. The hydrostatic head of the fluid may naturally be less than the formation pressure, or it can be induced.
Rotating diverter heads provide a means of sealing off the annulus around the drill pipe as the drill pipe rotates and translates axially down the well while including a side outlet through which the return drilling fluid is diverted. Such rotating diverter heads may also be referred to as rotating blow out preventers or drilling heads. These units generally comprise a stationary housing or bowl including a side outlet for connection to a fluid return line and an inlet flange for locating the unit on a blowout preventer or other drilling stack at the surface of the well bore. Within the bowl, opposite the inlet flange, is arranged a rotatable assembly such as anti-friction bearings which allow the drill pipe, located through the head, to rotate and slide. The assembly includes a seal onto the drill pipe which is typically made from rubber, polyurethane or other suitable elastomer.
Rotating diverter heads have usually been made from a single piece casting and in some cases with welded construction. This usually includes the side outlet flange as well as the inlet flange on the bottom as an integral part of the assembly. This type of design carries with it some penalties for operability, maintenance and also lifespan of the assembly. In terms of operability the fixed design of the lower inlet flange needs a crossover if the connection on the Annular BOP (Blow out Preventer) is of a different size or pressure rating, which increase the vertical height of the assembly which limits the usability. Prior art rotatable diverter heads such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,286,734 have tried to address this stack-up height issue. There are also issues in terms of horizontal angular orientation with prior art designs which both U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,286,734 and 7,308,954 have addressed with different solutions. Some of the solutions proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,286,734 suggest a non API (American Petroleum Institute) connection to the Annular BOP. Many customers have issues with such non-standard connectors when it is directly interfacing with their equipment.
All prior art designs have the side outlet as a single fixed size and pressure rating design which sometime also require crossovers and these can be problematic in terms of the additional lever arm they produce on the assembly when valves and piping are added to this flange.
In terms of usability, the current design principles result in different housings to accommodate different inlet/outlet sizes and pressure ratings, with sometimes as many as 4 housings required to accommodate the different client requirements. Furthermore when "washout" (erosional damage) occurs on the side outlet, often the whole housing has to be junked.
There exists the need for a single central master housing that can be easily adapted for a range of inlet/outlet sizes and pressure ratings, which can accommodate horizontal angular rotation when required. This central master housing design will also preserve the long term integrity of the newly developed rotating head system as will be described below.


There is provided a request arbitration apparatus for arbitrating a plurality of request holding sections which hold requests having priorities when the requests are output from the plurality of request holding sections to the output device. The request arbitration apparatus includes: a setting section that sets the request holding section, which holds the highest priority request among all the requests held by the plurality of request holding sections, as a highest priority request holding section; and a control section that controls the highest priority request holding section so that the request held first among all the requests held by the highest priority request holding section is output to the output device.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a request arbitration apparatus and a request arbitration method.
2. Related Art
When a plurality of devices such as processors accesses a memory, requests for accessing the memory are output from the plurality of devices. Hence, generally, a technique is known which uses an arbitration circuit (an arbiter) for arbitrating the plurality of requests (for example, refer to FIG. 13 in JP-A-2004-288021). By using an arbiter, it is possible to efficiently access the memory, for example, in a way in which it is decided which request to service first on the basis of the priority of each of the requests even when the plurality of requests are output from a device at approximately the same time.
On the other hand, as a memory capable of efficiently performing access, a multi-bank memory formed of a plurality of banks is known. When the arbitration is performed on the requests for the multi-bank memory, as shown in FIG. 8, the following method can be considered: first, the requests are divided into the banks of an accessed memory 220 and are held in buffers 201 to 204 corresponding to the divided banks, and then an arbiter 210 determines the buffer to output the request held therein to the memory 220, thereby arbitrating the accesses to the memory. In this case, the order of a reading request and a recording request issued to the same address of the same bank may be changed. This causes false reading of data. Hence, it is necessary for the buffers 201 to 204 to hold the request in FIFO (First In First Out). In such a configuration, as shown in FIG. 8, the buffer 201 may hold a request q having a high priority subsequent to a request p having a low priority. In this case, the priority of requests r to t, which are held by the buffers 202 to 204, is medium. Hence, the arbiter 210 outputs the requests r to t to the memory 220, then outputs the request p to the memory 220, and subsequently outputs the request q to the memory 220. Accordingly, even though the request q has a higher priority than the requests r to t, the output of the request q to the memory 220 is delayed. Further, as long as the request, of which the priority is medium, is newly held and remains in the buffers 202 to 204, the request q, of which the priority is high, is not output to the memory 220.

Request arbitration apparatus and request arbitration method


An aqueous electrolyte battery is provided with a positive electrode, a negative electrolyte, an aqueous electrolyte, and a deposition portion that promotes deposition of discharge product and that is provided at a location that contacts the aqueous electrolyte and that is a location other than at a catalyst included in the positive electrode.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an aqueous electrolyte battery and a manufacturing method of an aqueous electrolyte battery.
2. Description of the Related Art
One type of battery that has an aqueous electrolyte is an air battery. An air battery is a battery that uses oxygen as positive-electrode active material, and takes in air from the outside and uses it while discharging. Therefore, the proportion of negative-electrode active material inside the battery case can be larger than it can be with another battery that has positive-electrode active material and negative-electrode active material inside of it. Thus in principle, the dischargeable electrical capacity of the battery is large, while the battery itself is small and lightweight. Also, the oxidation power of the oxygen used as the positive-electrode active material is strong, so the battery electromotive force is relatively high. Furthermore, oxygen is an unlimited resource and is a clean material, so the environmental effects from an air battery are small. In this way, air batteries offer many advantages and are therefore promising for use as batteries for mobile devices, electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles, and fuel cell vehicles and the like.
For example, the Journal of Power Sources 189 (2009) 371-377 describes a Li-air battery that uses a separator made of a lithium ion-conducting ceramic (Li1+x+yAlxTi2−xSiyP3−yO12 (LATP)) and a lithium ion-conducting polymer (Li3−xPO4−yNy (LiPON)), and that uses a LiCl aqueous solution as an electrolyte. This air battery has excellent performance, with an open circuit voltage of 3.64 V at a room temperature of 25° C., and showing no change in the cell constant even if left for one week. Also, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2007-524204 (JP-A-2007-524204) describes an active metal, an electrode structure with an active metal insert, and a battery cell that have an ion-conducting protective structure that has a conductive impermeable layer of active metal (such as lithium) separated from an electrode (i.e., an anode) by a porous separator impregnated with a nonaqueous electrolyte (i.e., anode material). This protective structure protects the cathode side active metal that is arranged on the opposite side of the impermeable layer.
With a metal-air battery that uses an aqueous electrolyte, such as that described in the Journal of Power Sources 189 (2009) 371-377, a gas diffusion electrode that reduces oxygen is used for the positive electrode, metal (such as Li, Zn, or Al) is used for the negative electrode, and an alkaline aqueous solution is used for the electrolyte. In particular, when an aqueous solution Li-air battery discharges, it stores discharge product (Li+ and OH−) in the electrolyte, and when an aqueous solution Li-air battery charges, it consumes the Li+ and the OH− in the electrolyte and produces Li and oxygen. With this type of battery, the discharge product can be accumulated as ions in the solution such that discharge is possible even if the saturated solubility of the ions is exceeded. However, when the saturated solubility is exceeded, the discharge product turns into ion crystals (LiOH) and these are deposited as a solid. Here, when the discharge product is deposited as a solid due to solution equilibrium, crystal nuclei tend to form where the surface energy is high, such as on a solid surface. That is, crystal nuclei preferentially form on the electrode surface and the inside wall of the battery. In particular, if the atmospheric conditions necessary for crystal growth inside the battery are uniform, the formation of crystal nuclei and the deposition of discharge product tend to occur on the surface of the positive electrode (i.e., the air electrode). Also, if the crystallized discharge product covers the electrode surface that serves as the discharge reaction site, the discharge reaction thereafter will be impeded. In particular, with an air battery, if a product solid is deposited in a hole of the positive electrode that serves as a diffusion path, oxygen that is the reactant will no longer be able to be supplied. Also, the battery reaction at the positive electrode takes place at a triphasic interface of gas, liquid, and solid, so once discharge product is deposited on the triphasic interface, the charging reaction may also be impeded. Moreover, this deposition of discharge product may impede electrolyte diffusion within the electrolyte, causing the solution concentration distribution to become disproportionate, such that ion conduction may be impeded. In this way, in a battery in which discharge product can be dissolved in a solvent, and the discharge product is deposited and stored as a solid from solution equilibrium at or above the saturated solubility, it is important to appropriately control the location where discharge product is deposited to prevent deterioration of the battery. This kind of problem is unable to be solved even if the technology described in the Journal of Power Sources 189 (2009) 371-377 is combined with the technology described in JP-A-2007-524204.

Aqueous electrolyte battery and manufacturing method of aqueous electrolyte battery


According to embodiments of the present invention, an adaptable traffic control system, method, article of manufacture, and apparatus receive a user-programmed value representing an amount of target traffic allowed through a connectivity device port and a user-programmed value representing a time interval during which to receive the allowed amount of target traffic. The two values define a percentage of target traffic allowed through the port for a particular port speed. One embodiment determines that port speed changed by a factor of N, scales the time interval by a factor of 1/N, and based on the allowed amount of target traffic and the scaled time interval, drops incoming target traffic when the received percentage of incoming target traffic is equal to (or greater than) the defined percentage of target traffic allowed through the port.

1. Field
Embodiments of the present invention relate to networks and, in particular, to traffic control in networks.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Networks enable computers and other devices to communicate with each other. Devices commonly communicate with each other by passing packets of information among themselves. A packet typically includes a payload and a header. The header usually includes the address of the destination device and the payload includes the information (data, video, audio, etc.) for the device.
When a packet arrives at an input port on a connectivity device, such as a switch, a router, a bridge, etc., the connectivity device looks in one or more look-up tables to determine, based on the address in the packet, the destination device (e.g., printer, computer, application) and which output port the packet should exit to reach the destination device. Sometimes a packet indicates that it is intended for all destinations (e.g., broadcast packet). If the packet is to be broadcast, the connectivity device sends the packet to the all output ports. Sometimes a packet indicates that it is intended for several but not all destinations (e.g., multicast packet). If the packet is to be multicast, the connectivity device sends the packet to the designated output ports. Sometimes a packet arrives at an input port that has an address that is not in the connectivity device's look-up table (e.g., "destination unknown" packet). In this situation, the connectivity device sends the packet to all of its output ports (i.e., broadcasts the packet).
Sometimes there is a sudden increase in the number of packets (i.e., traffic) in a network. Such a sudden increase may be called a "storm," and storm traffic often consists of destination unknown, multicast, and/or broadcast packets. When storms occur, destination unknown, multicast, and/or broadcast packets tend to multiply at each node in the network and their effect on the network can increase exponentially to the point of causing congestion. As a result, overall network performance may be degraded and devices may slow or even stop working altogether. Other useful packets get dropped because the network is not able to handle the congestion. A balance must be struck, therefore, so that a connectivity device can allow some storm traffic but not to the significant detriment of other useful packets.
A common mechanism to resolve a storm is to allow only a percentage of all incoming traffic to be storm traffic based on the port speed. To illustrate, suppose the port speed is 10 Mbps and the user programs an allowed percentage of storm traffic of ten percent. In this instance, storm traffic will be limited to 1 Mbps in each user-specified unit time interval. If the incoming storm traffic exceeds the rate of 1 Mbps within each time interval, the input port refuses to allow any more incoming storm traffic to pass. When the unit time interval has elapsed, the input port resumes allowing storm traffic until the allowed percentage of traffic bandwidth is again exceeded within the unit time interval.
Many connectivity devices can operate at several different speeds and the speed is determined by the speed of the link to which the connectivity device is attached. Thus, when upstream/downstream link speed is 10 Mbps the connectivity device port that is attached to the link operates at 10 Mbps. When the incoming link speed changes to 100 Mbps the connectivity device port speed also changes to 100 Mbps.
In the context of storm control, a uniform port speed is assumed when specifying the percentage of storm traffic that is to be allowed per unit time interval. Therefore, if the input port on the connectivity device changes speed in response to a change in link speed, for example, as is the case with variable speed connectivity devices, the original traffic parameters are no longer accurate. The actual percentage storm traffic allowed through the connectivity device is not the same as the allowed percentage programmed by the user. For example, when the connectivity device port speed changes to 100 Mbps, the connectivity device still allows a traffic rate of only 1 Mbps in each unit time interval, even though the 1 Mbps rate of storm traffic is only one percent of 100 Mbps rather than the ten percent programmed by the user.

Adaptable traffic control for variable port speed connectivity device


Embodiments of this application provide a method, includes: receiving a first data flow that includes a plurality of data units; inputting N1 data units of the plurality of data units and a first source marking unit into the first source queue; inputting M1 data units of the plurality of data units and a first target marking unit into the first target queue, wherein the N1 data units and the M1 data units are different data units; scheduling the N1 data units and the first source marking unit based on the first source marking unit and the first target marking unit; and scheduling the first target marking unit and the M1 data units, wherein the first target marking unit and the M1 data units are scheduled later than the N1 data units and the first source marking unit are scheduled.

A switching device (for example, a switch and a router) may generally include a plurality of queues. In a data flow receiving process, the switching device may switch a queue for receiving the data flow.
For example, the switching device may select, based on a size of a received data flow, a queue that the data flow needs to be input. However, in some cases, when starting to receive a data flow, the switching device may identify the data flow as a mice flow. In this case, the data flow may be input into a queue corresponding to the mice flow. However, as a quantity of bytes of the data flow that are received by the switching device exceeds a preset threshold, the switching device may identify the data flow as an elephant flow. In this case, the switching device may switch the queue for receiving the data flow from a queue corresponding to the mice flow to a queue corresponding to the elephant flow.
For another example, the switching device may select, based on whether a received data flow is a data flow causing congestion, a queue that the data flow needs to be input. However, in some cases, when starting to receive a data flow, the switching device may determine the data flow as a non-congestion data flow. Therefore, the data flow is input into a queue corresponding to the non-congestion data flow. However, when congestion occurs, after the switching device identifies the data flow as a congestion data flow, the switching device may switch a queue for receiving the data flow from a queue corresponding to the non-congestion data flow to a queue corresponding to the congestion data flow.
Although the queue corresponding to the data flow is switched, when the switching device outputs a data unit in the data flow, an output sequence of a data unit that is output from the switching device needs to be consistent with an input sequence of the data unit. For example, when receiving a data flow, the switching device sequentially receives a data unit 1 to a data unit 7. A sequence of outputting data units from the switching device also needs to be: the data unit 1 to the data unit 7.
Currently, to ensure that an output sequence of a data unit is consistent with an input sequence of the data unit, in a feasible technical solution, a data unit that is input into a queue before switching is moved to a switched queue. For example, a data unit 1 to a data unit 6 have been input into a queue (hereinafter referred to as a source queue) before data flow switching. After the data flow is switched from the queue to another queue (hereinafter referred to as a target queue), the data unit 1 to the data unit 6 need to be first moved from the source queue to the target queue, and then the data unit 7 is input into the target queue. In this technical solution, the switching device needs to traverse the access source queue to determine a data unit that needs to be moved. This may cause very large access overheads, thereby seriously affecting normally processing a data flow by the switching device. In addition, to simplify a queue operation, a queue usually supports only a first in first out scheduling manner. However, random access needs to be supported in moving a data packet. This may greatly increase queue management complexity.
Therefore, a simple method for avoiding data flow disorder is required.

Data scheduling method and switching device