A method of analyzing data from a mass spectrometer for a data dependent acquisition is described. In an embodiment of this method, mass spectral scans are taken of a sample eluted from a liquid chromatography column. An extracted ion chromatogram (XIC) is then created for each m/z data point of the mass spectral scans and the XIC for each m/z data point are correlated to a model function, such as a monotonically increasing function, or the first half of a gaussian function, to obtain a XIC correlation value. A weighting function is then applied to the XIC correlation value to obtain a current weighted intensity. The current weighted intensity for each m/z point is used to reconstruct a weighted mass spectrum, which is then used to make a real-time decision for the data dependent acquisition. In an embodiment, the data dependent acquisition is the performance of tandem mass spectrometry.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of data dependent acquisition in a mass spectrometer, and more particularly to the field of tandem mass spectrometry.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Mass spectrometers are often coupled with chromatography systems in order to identify and characterize eluting species from a test sample. In such a coupled system, the eluent is ionized and a series of mass spectral scans are obtained at specified time intervals for subsequent data analysis. As the test sample may contain many species or compounds, it is often desirable to be able to automatically determine or identify species or compounds of interest as they elute and perform tandem mass spectrometry analysis to characterize them.
Tandem mass spectrometry is a mode of operation that utilizes multiple stages of mass analysis with a collision or reaction process between each stage of mass analysis. The coupling of multiple stages of mass analysis provides the ability to determine or identify species or compounds of interest by providing additional information on the fragmentation or reaction characteristics of the compound. Tandem mass spectrometry having two stages of mass analysis is typically referred to as mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry (MS/MS). In data dependent mode, the eluting sample is automatically selected for further analysis by MS/MS when the signal intensity of a mass spectral peak is above a user specified intensity. But, direct intensity based triggering is far from ideal, for several reasons. First, high baselines will cause triggering at all masses. Second, tandem mass spectra will be collected as soon as an eluting chromatographic peak exceeds the threshold value, and not at the ideal point, which is at the top of the chromatographic peak where it is at its greatest intensity. Collecting a sample for MS/MS at the beginning of the elution of the chromatographic peak produces a lower quality spectrum, due to a limited number of sample ions being combined with a high percentage of background contaminants. For ion accumulating mass spectrometers, which use automatic gain control, such as quadrupole ion traps and Fourier transform mass spectrometers, performing MS/MS at the beginning of elution also requires the largest amount of time, thus slowing analysis. Third, direct intensity based triggering results in redundant MS/MS acquisition of compounds during the entire elution time.
United States Published Patent Application US 2004/0251409 describes a method of dynamic background signal exclusion in chromatography/mass spectrometry data-dependent data acquisition to detect species eluting at a low level of concentration that elute simultaneously with a number of other major components by identifying ions having a fast rising mass signal. The ions having the fastest rising mass signal may be identified by subtracting a previously acquired mass spectrum, or an average of previously acquired mass spectra, from the current mass spectrum. The disadvantage of taking a sample of the eluted ionized species at the fastest rising mass signal is that MS/MS can often be triggered on noise spikes in the spectrum, caused by either charged droplets from the ion source or electrical noise in the detection system.

Methods for improved data dependent acquisition

Abstract: Embodiments of the invention also describe a sample processing apparatus for the data dependent acquisition and a computer readable medium that provides instructions to the sample processing apparatus to perform the method described above.


A compact, integral forced-ventilation personal respirator device for the breathing space in a gas mask, protective helmet or hood, or the like, comprises a housing including a connector for air-tight connection of the housing to the breathing space to be protected, an electric blower removably attachable to the housing and comprised of an electric motor stationary relative to the housing in the attached state of the blower and a bladed centrifugal-type rotor fixedly mounted on the output shaft of the motor, a compartment inside the housing for accommodating a filter medium, the compartment facilitating access of the output air from the blower to the filter medium, and egress of the filter air from the medium to a space communicating with the connector of the housing, whereby ambient air is drawn into the housing by the blower and forced thereby via the filter medium into the breathing space to be protected.

The present invention relates to a personal respirator device comprising a compact, integral forced-ventilation filtration device for a closed space to be protected, which space can be the breathing space in a gas mask, a protective helmet or hood, or a closed room.
Personal respiratory protection against toxic or otherwise harmful or hazardous aerosols, vapors and gases is based on filtration, by physical and/or chemical filter media, of the breathing air prior to inhalation.
Until recently, the air was drawn through the filter by suction force produced by a person's pulmonary function. However, the need to stay in a contaminated environment for prolonged periods of time, under conditions of elevated temperatures and humidity, the need to protect the elderly and sick, as well as infants and babies, and the necessity to enable personnel to perform complex tasks while using respirator devices, has motivated the development of protective devices that utilize the forced-ventilation concept.
Forced ventilation was achieved by combining filters and blowers, using filters that were designed for non-forced ventilation applications and blowers designed for altogether different purposes, and joining these two components by an adaptor or housing.
The results of this hybridazation, known as filter-blower units, were heavy, bulky and cumbersome, inconvenient to carry and totally unsuitable for babies and small children.


The present disclosure provides a molded article composed of a polymeric composition and processes for producing the same. The polymeric composition includes from about 60 wt % to about 99 wt % of a matrix of a propylene-based polymer. The propylene-based polymer has a refractive index (n1). The polymeric composition also includes from about 40 wt % to about 1 wt % of elongated elastomer particles dispersed in the propylene-based polymer. The elongated elastomer particles have a refractive index (n2). The propylene-based polymer and the elongated elastomer particles exhibit a refractive index mismatch whereby |n1−n2|>0.002. The molded article has a haze value less than about 20% and optionally a viscosity ratio (VR) greater than 0.28.

The blending of immiscible polymeric materials is known. Polymeric blends are utilized to achieve performance criteria not inherent in the individual polymeric components. Such blending, however, has shortcomings. Blending polymeric materials with different refractive indices, for example, causes the final blend composition to be hazy and/or unclear. Such blends are unsuitable for end applications requiring low haze and/or high clarity.
Accordingly, a need exists for polymeric blends with high clarity and/or low haze that do not require a refractive index match between the individual polymeric components.

Molded polymeric article with low haze and high clarity


An apparatus for disrupting cells or viruses comprises a container having a chamber for holding the cells or viruses. The chamber is defined by at least one wall having an external surface for contacting a transducer device. The transducer device has a vibrating surface for contacting the wall and for vibrating at an operating frequency and amplitude sufficient to generate pressure waves or pressure pulses in the chamber. The transducer device is coupled to the wall with a preload force sufficient to create a stress within the wall. The natural frequency of the wall, when the wall is stressed by the preload force, is equal to the operating frequency of the transducer device or differs from the operating frequency by less than 50% of the operating frequency.

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for rapidly disrupting cells or viruses.
The extraction of nucleic acid from cells or viruses is a necessary task for many applications in the fields of molecular biology and biomedical diagnostics. Once released from the cells, the nucleic acid may be used for genetic analysis, e.g., sequencing, pathogen identification and quantification, nucleic acid mutation analysis, genome analysis, gene expression studies, pharmacological monitoring, storing of DNA libraries for drug discovery, etc. The genetic analysis typically involves nucleic acid amplification and detection using known techniques. For example, known polynucleotide amplification reactions include polymerase chain reaction (PCR), ligase chain reaction (LCR), QB replicase amplification (QBR), self-sustained sequence replication (3 SR), strand-displacement amplification (SDA), xe2x80x9cbranched chainxe2x80x9d DNA amplification, ligation activated transcription (LAT), nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (NASBA), rolling circle amplification (RCA), repair chain reaction (RCR), and cycling probe reaction (CPR).
The extraction of nucleic acids from cells or viruses is generally performed by physical or chemical methods. Chemical methods typically employ lysing agents (e.g., detergents, enzymes, or strong organics) to disrupt the cells and release the nucleic acid, followed by treatment of the extract with chaotropic salts to denature any contaminating or potentially interfering proteins. Such chemical methods are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,652,141 to Henco et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,856,174 to Lipshutz et al. One disadvantage to the use of harsh chemicals for disrupting cells is that the chemicals are inhibitory to subsequent amplification of the nucleic acid. In using chemical disruption methods, therefore, it is typically necessary to purify the nucleic acid released from the cells before proceeding with further analysis. Such purification steps are time consuming, expensive, and reduce the amount of nucleic acid recovered for analysis.
Physical methods for disrupting cells often do not require harsh chemicals that are inhibitory to nucleic acid amplification (e.g., PCR). These physical methods, however, also have their disadvantages. For example, one physical method for disrupting cells involves placing the cells in a solution and heating the solution to a boil to break open the cell walls. Unfortunately, the heat will often denature proteins and cause the proteins to stick to the released nucleic acid. The proteins then interfere with subsequent attempts to amplify the nucleic acid. Another physical method is freeze thawing in which the cells are repeatedly frozen and thawed until the cells walls are broken. Unfortunately, freeze thawing often fails to break open many structures, most notably certain spores and viruses that have extremely tough outer layers.
Another physical method for disrupting cells is the use of a pressure instrument. With this method, a solution of mycobacterial microorganisms is passed through a very small diameter hole under high pressure. During passage through the hole, the mycobacteria are broken open by the mechanical forces and their internal contents are spilled into solution. Such a system, however, is large, expensive and requires a cooling system to prevent excessive heat from building up and damaging the contents of the lysed cells. Moreover, the instrument needs to be cleaned and decontaminated between runs and a large containment system is required when infectious material is handled. A further disadvantage to this system is that the solution must contain only particles having substantially the same size, so that it may not be used to process many untreated clinical or biological specimens.
It is also known that cells can be lysed by subjecting the cells to ultrasonic agitation. This method is disclosed by Murphy et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,374,522. According to the method, solutions or suspensions of cells are placed in a container with small beads. The container is then placed in an ultrasound bath until the cells disrupt, releasing their cellular components. This method has several disadvantages. First, the distribution of ultrasonic energy in the bath is not uniform, so that a technician must locate a high energy area within the bath and place the container into that area. The non-uniform distribution of ultrasonic energy also produces inconsistent results. Second, the ultrasound bath does not focus energy into the container so that the disruption of the cells often takes several minutes to complete, a relatively long period of time when compared to the method of the present invention. Third, it is not practical to carry an ultrasound bath into the field for use in biowarfare detection, forensic analysis, or on-site testing of environmental samples.
Another method for ultrasonic lysis of cells is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,983,523 to Li. According to the method, nucleic acids are released from cells, bacteria and viruses by non-invasively sonicating a sample contained within a sample container that is brought into physical contact with the vibrating element of a sonicator tuned to resonate at a frequency of 40 kHz or greater. One major problem with contacting a wall of a sample container with the vibrating element of a sonicator is that the vibration of the sonicator against the wall is very likely to cause severe damage to the wall (generally melting or cracking of the wall) leading to contamination of the work area, a health hazard to the operator, and loss of the sample to be analyzed.
The present invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art by providing an improved apparatus and method for disrupting cells or viruses to release the nucleic acid therefrom. The apparatus and method of the present invention provides for the rapid, non-invasive lysis of cells or viruses held in a container by applying the vibrating surface of a transducer device to a wall of the container without melting, cracking, or otherwise damaging the wall of the container.
In a preferred embodiment, the apparatus comprises a container having a chamber for holding a liquid or gel that contains the cells or viruses to be disrupted. The container includes at least one wall defining the chamber, and the wall has a surface external to the chamber for contacting the vibrating surface of a transducer device. The wall thus provides an interface between the contents of the chamber and the vibrating surface of the transducer device. The apparatus also comprises a transducer device having a vibrating surface for contacting the external surface of the wall and for vibrating at an operating frequency and amplitude sufficient to generate pressure waves or pressure pulses in the chamber. The apparatus further comprises means for coupling the surface of the transducer device to the wall with a preload force sufficient to create a stress within the wall. The natural frequency of the wall, when the wall is stressed by the preload force, is equal to the operating frequency of the transducer device or differs from the operating frequency of the transducer device by less than 50% of the operating frequency of the transducer device, and more preferably by less than 25% of the operating frequency of the transducer device.
According to another aspect, the present invention provides a method for disrupting cells or viruses. The method comprises the step of holding a liquid or gel containing the cells or viruses in the chamber of a container. The container includes at least one wall defining the chamber, and the wall has a surface external to the chamber. A transducer device is coupled to the external surface of the wall with a preload force sufficient to create a stress within the wall. The transducer device is operated at a frequency and amplitude sufficient to generate pressure waves or pressure pulses in the chamber. The natural frequency of the wall, when the wall is stressed by the preload force, is equal to the operating frequency of the transducer device or differs from the operating frequency of the transducer device by less than 50% of the operating frequency of the transducer device, and more preferably by less than 25% of the operating frequency of the transducer device.
Since the natural frequency of the chamber wall, when the wall is stressed by the preload force, is tuned to the operating frequency of the transducer device, the wall efficiently transfers the energy from the vibrating surface of the transducer device to the chamber without substantial heat build up at the interface. This permits the efficient transfer of energy to the chamber and the rapid lysis of cells or viruses in the chamber without melting or cracking the container.

Apparatus and method for rapid disruption of cells or viruses


The invention concerns control of connections in cellular telecommunication systems, particularly setting up and releasing of connections. According to the invention, during setting up of a new MM connection it is checked whether an RRC connection is already active. If an RRC connection is already active, explicit signalling is used. Otherwise, RRC level events can be used to implicity control MM level events. During releasing of MM connections, it is checked if another MM protocol uses RRC connections, and if that is the case, the releasing of MM connections is signalled explicitly.

The invention concerns control of connections in cellular telecommunication systems, particularly setting up and releasing of connections.
For clarification of common terms used in this document, an overview of certain cellular telecommunication system configurations is presented in the following.
Proposals for third-generation systems include UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) and FPLMTS/IMT-2000 (Future Public Land Mobile Telecommunications System/International Mobile Telecommunications at 2000 MHz). In these plans cells are categorised according to their size and characteristics into pico-, nano-, micro- and macrocells, and an example of the service level is the bit rate. The bit rate is the highest in picocells and the lowest in macrocells. The cells may overlap partially or completely and there may be different terminals so that not all terminals necessarily are able to utilise all the service levels offered by the cells.
FIG. 1 shows a version of a future cellular radio system which is not entirely new compared with the known GSM system but which includes both known elements and completely new elements. In current cellular radio systems the bottleneck that prevents more advanced services from being offered to the terminals comprises the radio access network RAN which includes the base stations and base station controllers. The core network of a cellular radio system comprises mobile services switching centres (MSC), other network elements (in GSM, e.g. SGSN and GGSN, i.e. Serving GPRS Support Node and Gateway GPRS Support node, where GPRS stands for General Packet Radio Service) and the related transmission systems. According e.g. to the GSM+ specifications developed from GSM the core network can also provide new services.
In FIG. 1, the core network of a cellular radio system 20 comprises a core network CN 931 which has three parallel radio access networks linked to it. Of those, networks 932 and 933 are UMTS radio access networks and network 934 is a GSM radio access network. The upper UMTS radio access network 932 is e.g. a commercial radio access network, owned by a telecommunications operator offering mobile services, which equally serves all subscribers of said telecommunications operator. The lower UMTS radio access network 933 is e.g. private and owned e.g. by a company in whose premises said radio access network operates. Typically the cells of the private radio access network 933 are nano- and/or picocells in which only terminals of the employees of said company can operate. All three radio access networks may have cells of different sizes offering different types of services. Additionally, cells of all three radio access networks 932, 933 and 934 may overlap either entirely or in part. The bit rate used at a given moment of time depends, among other things, on the radio path conditions, characteristics of the services used, regional overall capacity of the cellular system and the capacity needs of other users. The new types of radio access networks mentioned above are called UMTS terrestrial radio access networks (UTRAN). Such a network can co-operate with different types of fixed core networks CN and especially with the GPRS network of the GSM system. The UMTS terrestrial radio access network (UTRAN) can be defined as a set of base stations (BS) and radio network controllers (RNC) that are capable of communicating with each other using signalling messages.
The terminal 10 shown in FIG. 1 is preferably a so-called dual-mode terminal that can serve either as a second-generation GSM terminal or as a third-generation UMTS terminal according to what kind of services are available at each particular location and what the user""s communication needs are. It may also be a multimode terminal that can function as terminal of several different communications systems according to need and the services available. Radio access networks and services available to the user are specified in a subscriber identity module 936 (SIM) connected to the terminal.
FIG. 1 further shows some details of the structure of a radio access network. A radio access network 932, 934 typically comprises one or more base stations 937 and a controlling unit 42. In UMTS radio access networks 932, 933 the controlling unit is called the radio network controller (RNC), and in GSM networks 934 the controlling unit is called a base station controller (BSC). The radio access networks typically comprise also other network elements such as transcoder units. FIG. 1 further shows a mobile services switching centres (MSC) 43 which basically controls circuit-switched connections of mobile stations 10 and a Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) 41 which basically controls packet switched connections of mobile stations 10.
In cellular telecommunication systems, connections are set up and resources reserved on demand and released when not needed Moving mobile stations place additional requirements for the system, connections need to be transferred from one base station to another, which often requires a substantial change in the routing of the connection through the network. The exchanges of information between various network elements which are necessary for executing such functionality are handled by mobility management (MM protocols and radio resource control (RRC) protocols. Mobility management protocols mainly take care of the mechanisms allowing a mobile station to move within the cellular network and security issues, while RRC protocols mainly take care of controlling the use of radio resources over the air interface, the connection between a mobile station and the BSC/RNC, and handovers. The execution of the RRC protocols is mainly performed by the mobile station and the BSC/RNC. Some parts of the RRC protocol, such as functionality related to inter-MSC handovers, are executed by the MSC. The execution of the MM protocols is mainly performed by the mobile station and the MSC. The protocols used in the GSM system are described further in the book xe2x80x9cThe GSM System for Mobile Communicationsxe2x80x9d by Michel Mouly and Marie-Bernadette Pautet, ISBN 2-9507190-0-7, Palaiseau 1992. Mobility management protocols for third generation cellular networks are discussed, for example, in patent application WO 98/37721, where emphasis is set on minimizing the number of MM messages sent over radio interface in situations, where a radio access network is connected to, for example, many core networks, each having dedicated mobility management.
In principle, the MM and RRC protocols are mainly separate. However, in order to reduce signalling, many MM functions are started or finished as a result of events in the RRC level, without explicit messaging in the MM level. For example, during releasing of a connection in the present GSM system, the MM protocol changes its state from a WAIT FOR NETWORK COMMAND state to the IDLE state as a response to releasing of the radio resources in the RRC level. Therefore, the releasing of radio resources in the RRC level implicitly acts as a control signal for the MM level. However, this approach creates problems in the new cellular systems under development, such as the UMTS system. Some of these problems are described in the following with reference to FIG. 2.
FIG. 2 shows a mobile station 10 and the cellular network 20, various entities taking care of executing the protocols such as the MM protocol entity 11 and the RRC protocol entity 12 of the mobile station. At the network side, corresponding entities are the MM protocol entity 21 in the MSC and the RRC protocol entity 22 in the RNC. The MM and RRC entities are typically realized using software programs executed by a processing unit such as a microprocessor in the control unit of a MS or a network element.
Some services take care of the mobility management of their connections themselves, independently from the MSC. An example of such services is the GPRS service. Their independent mobility management results in the execution of a further MM protocol, which is separate from the MM protocol executed by the MSC. In GPRS, the SGSN executes its own MM protocol. The second MM protocol has corresponding MM protocol entities 13, 23 in the MS and in the SGSN. However, only one RRC protocol is used, since it is advantageous to have the control of all radio resources needed by the mobile station in a single protocol, and in a single controlling entity at each end of the radio connection. For example, it is advantageous to use only one ciphering mode for all transmissions of the mobile station, instead of negotiating and using one ciphering mode for connections via the MSC, and another ciphering mode for packet connections via the SGSN.
Since only one RRC protocol is used, MM level mechanisms based on implicit meanings of events in the RRC level do not work properly, when two MM protocols are used. For example, if packet transmission bearers are released while speech bearers are still active, at least some RRC connections 30 still remain in use. Since the packet connection MM entity 13 of the mobile station expects to observe the releasing of RRC connections as an indication of releasing of the MM connection 32, 34, it remains in the WAIT FOR NETWORK COMMAND state, since the RRC connections are still in use by the connections controlled by the other MM protocol 11,31,33,21.
Problems also arise during establishment of connections. During the setup of a connection, the MM protocol authenticates the terminal and controls the starting of ciphered mode communication over the air interface. For example, if a packet data connection is set up when speech connections are already in use, the communication over the air interface is already ciphered, wherefore no ciphering is started for the new packet connection. However, since the reception of a ciphering mode command by the MS is interpreted as an indication of a succesfully performed set up of a MM level connection, the MM entity 13 in the MS 10 does not receive any indication of the setting up of the MM level connection.
An object of the invention is to realize a method for controlling connections, which avoids the previously mentioned problems of prior art. Another object of the invention is to realize a method for controlling connections, which allows the use of implicit meanings of RRC level events in the control of MM level events.
The objects are reached by realizing a method, in which it is checked, if more than one MM protocols are active. If only one MM protocol is active, RRC level events can be used to control MM level events. If more than one MM protocol is active, explicit signalling is used for those MM level events, which would in the case of a single MM protocol be implicitly controlled by RRC level events.
The method for establishing a connection according to the invention is characterized by that, which is specified in the characterizing part of the independent method claim directed to establishing a connection. The method for releasing a connection according to the invention is characterized by that, which is specified in the characterizing part of the independent method claim directed to releasing a connection. The dependent claims describe further advantageous embodiments of the invention.
According to the invention, during setting up of a new MM connection it is checked whether a RRC connection is already active. If a RRC connection is already active, explicit signalling is used. Otherwise, RRC level events can be used to implicitly control MM level events. During releasing of MM connections, it is checked if another MM protocol uses RRC connections, and if that is the case, the releasing of MM connections is signalled explicitly.


A method, system and apparatus for expanded membership access control in a collaborative environment. A collaborative application which has been configured for expanded membership access control can include a collaborative space configured to host places, and rooms and sub-rooms within the places. The collaborative space further can include a membership management processor coupled to the collaborative space and programmed both to produce access control lists for the rooms and sub-rooms based upon specified roles for members and to assign the roles to members added to the rooms and sub-rooms separately from the access control lists. Notably, a membership directory also can be included which can be configured to store membership information for the members exclusive of the access control lists.

1. Statement of the Technical Field
The present invention relates to collaborative computing, and more particularly to access control for members of a collaborative community.
2. Description of the Related Art
The rapid development of the Internet has led to advanced modes of communication and collaboration. Using the Internet as a backbone, individuals worldwide can converge in cyberspace to share ideas, documents and images in a manner not previously possible through conventional telephony and video conferencing. To facilitate collaboration over the Internet, a substantial collection of technologies and protocols have been assembled to effectively deliver audio, video and data over the single data communications medium of the Internet. These technologies include document libraries, instant messaging, chat rooms, and application sharing.
Conventional collaborative computing includes combinations of collaborative technologies in order to provide a means for members of a collaborative community to pool their strengths and experiences to achieve a common goal. For instance, a common goal can include an educational objective, the completion of a software development project or even the creation and use of a system to manage human resources. A collaborative computing community generally can be defined by (1) a particular context, i.e. the objective of the environment, (2) membership, i.e., the participants in the environment, (3) a set of roles for the members, and (4) resources and tools which can be accessed by the membership in furtherance of the objective of the environment. Roles are names given to the people in the environment which dictate access to the resources and tools within the environment as well as define the behavior of the community members.
In the traditional membership model for a collaborative application, access control lists include the names of members in the collaborative application. In one type of collaborative environment, a collaborative space or "place" can be established to include one or more "rooms". Each room can have an access control list (ACL) which is a subset of a parent rooms ACL which ultimately is a subset of the ACL for the place. Consequently, the ACL can be the same as a list of all members for the place. As such, as the membership list grows, so too will the ACL grow. Yet, in many collaborative computing environments—particularly those environments dependant upon an underlying database management system, the ACL can be space limited to conserve computing resources in the database management system.
By virtue of the tight coupling between the membership list and the ACL, managing the ACL can be complicated, especially where a place is defined by several nested levels of rooms associated with different members having different rights within the rooms. Whenever a user entry is to change in the underlying database management system, the change also must be reflected in each ACL throughout a place. As a result, a simple modification or deletion of a name from a membership directory can have far reaching consequences through the place as each ACL must be programmatically modified to incorporate the change. Of course, the programmatic harmonization of multiple ACLs in a place with a membership directory can be resource consumptive to say the least.

Expanded membership access control in a collaborative environment

International Business Machines Corporation


An OCT-supported surgical system includes an OCT module that includes a surface scanner, the position of which can be sensed by a position sensing unit, and an evaluation and display unit, which is connected to the OCT module and to the position sensing unit in order to be able to correlate a tissue-differentiated tomogram of a specimen sensed by the OCT module with preoperatively produced specimen data.

Not applicable.
Not applicable.
Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a surgical system supported by optical coherence tomography (OCT) and a path length variator for an interferometer, which can be arranged in an OCT-supported surgical system.
An OCT-supported surgical system is known, for example from U.S. Pat. No. 5,795,295.

Surgical system supported by optical coherence tomography


A sensing electrode group formed on a substrate of a touch apparatus includes a plurality of sensing electrode unit pairs arranged along a first direction. Each sensing electrode unit pair includes a first sensing electrode unit and a second sensing electrode unit corresponding to the first sensing electrode unit. The first sensing electrode unit includes at least one first electrode, at least one corresponding second electrode, a first conducting wire and a second conducting wire. The second sensing electrode unit includes at least one third electrode, at least one corresponding fourth electrode, a third conducting wire and a fourth conducting wire. The first and second sensing electrode units are arranged along a second direction, and the third and fourth conducting wires are routed along the second direction next to the first sensing electrode unit.

Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a touch panel, and more particularly, to a sensing electrode group and a sensed capacitance estimation method and apparatus on a touch panel.
Description of the Related Art
Touch panels make a large scale industry. Various electronic products adopt touch panels as critical input/output devices for human-machine interfaces. The performance of touch panels depends on sensing electrodes and logic circuits connected thereto. Thus, the design and quality of the sensing electrodes greatly affect the performance of touch panels.
The sensing electrodes of a touch panel are generally formed on a transparent substrate. Light emitted from a display device penetrates the transparent substrate to reach a user. These sensing electrodes formed on the transparent substrate include multiple electrodes, which are connected to the logic circuits via multiple conducting wires.
With the constant increase resolution demand on display devices, the performance requirements of touch panels also become higher. To provide better performances, including the resolution, precision, sensing speed for fast-moving objects, for touch devices, more electrodes and conducting wires need to be fit into a limited touch area.
Therefore, there is a need for a good sensing electrode design that satisfies requirements for the increasingly higher performance and ever reducing touch panel sizes.

Sensing electrode group and sensed capacitance estimation method and apparatus


An AC-to-AC converter operating as a current-source between an AC input line and an AC output line connected to a load, for instance an AC motor, includes three groups of bilateral switches controlled selectively within each group so as to generate a quasi square-wave current in each output phase while establishing a DC voltage between two of the output phases at a time, the third phase being idle, the magnitude of the output voltage being controlled in relation to the firing angle of the switches and the frequency being established by controlling the duration of each square-wave alternance. The duration of such alternances is set to 120 degrees of the output wave, followed and preceded by a 60 degree zero-current period.

Auto-sequentially commutated current-source inverter (ASC-CSI) is a system known to produce a unidirectional DC current in a link between an AC-DC converter and an inverter. See for instance "Current-Source Converter for AC Motor Drives" by Kenneth P. Phillips in IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. IA-8, pp. 679-683, Nov./Dec. 1972. In this system, control of the inverter with thyristors amounts to steering the direct current of the DC-link through any one of six paths in the machine. Commutation from one path to the next is achieved with the aid of auxiliary commutation capacitors and blocking diodes.
It is also known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,648,022 to use three groups of three bilateral switches controlled between a three-phase AC power supply and the three phases of an AC motor controlled according to a switch polarity pattern exhibiting a "hidden DC-link" so as to supply AC power to an AC motor. The "hidden DC-link" also appears in FIG. 7 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,002,958, where an inverter configuration is achieved with six groups of three unidirectional switches.
It is now proposed to establish a current-source converter for an AC motor drive without using a converterinverter combination like in the Kenneth P. Phillips article, thus, without having a DC-link, but rather to apply directly the AC power supply, through a matrix-type set of a bilateral static-controlled switches, making use of an hidden DC-link like found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,648,022, to the AC motor.

Forced-commutated current-source converter and AC motor drive using the same


The invention provides apoptosis signaling kinase related kinase (ASKRK) nucleic acid and polypeptide sequences and methods of using such sequences to identify modulators of ASKRK. Such modulators can be used for the treatment of diabetes or for delaying the onset of diabetes. The invention also provides methods of diagnosing diabetes or pre-diabetes and methods of making a prognosis based on the detection of ASKRK nucleic acids and proteins.

In Type II diabetes, there is a progressive decline in insulin secretory function in beta cells in the face of ongoing insulin resistance. Currently available therapies are unable to prevent this decline (Diabetes 44:1249-1258, 1995; DeFronzo, Diabetes 37:667-687, 1988). Insulin resistance alone is not sufficient to cause Type II diabetes, and in fact, many individuals maintain insulin resistance for extended periods without becoming diabetic due to effective compensation by increased insulin secretion (Polonsky, Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 24 Suppl 2:S29-31, 200). Insulin-resistant rats and mice display a compensatory increase in beta cell mass (Hribal, et al., Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 282:E977-981, 2002); the same phenomenon appears to occur in insulin resistant, but non-diabetic, (usually obese) humans (Kloppel, et al., Surv Synth Pathol Res 4:110-125, 1985; Butler, et al., Diabetes 52:102-110, 2003). In rodents, beta cell mass appears to be regulated by a changing balance between the positive effects of beta cell replication and neogenesis and the negative effects of beta cell apoptosis (Bonner-Weir, J Mol Endocrinol 24:297-302, 2000; Bonner-Weir, Trends Endocrinol Metab 11:375-378, 2000; Pick, et al., Diabetes 47:358-364, 1998; Finegood, et al., Diabetes 50:1021-1029, 2001). In humans, the onset of Type II diabetes due to insufficient increases (or actual declines) in beta cell mass is apparently due to increased beta cell apoptosis relative to non-diabetic insulin resistant individuals (Butler, et al., Diabetes 52:102-110, 2003). Agents which could specifically prevent this increase in beta cell apoptosis may therefore prevent insulin resistant individuals from developing Type II diabetes.
Beta cell death and apoptosis are also central to the onset of Type I diabetes, although the mechanisms that lead to loss of beta cell mass are primarily T-cell mediated in Type I and this is not the case in the majority of Type II cases (Mathis, et al., Nature 414:792-798, 2001). In Type I diabetes, recruitment and activation of T-cells and macrophages leads to an intra-islet environments rich in cytokines (interleukin (IL) 1-β interferon (IFN)-γ and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α), reactive oxygen species and nitric oxide (NO), each of which can promote beta cell apoptosis in vitro (Eizirik and Darville, Diabetes 50 Suppl 1:S64-69, 2001). Physiological beta cell apoptosis may actually trigger the immune response that results in wholesale islet destruction (Mathis, et al., Nature 414:792-798, 2001).
The mechanisms that lead to increased beta cell apoptosis are multiple and interlacing and they are as yet incompletely understood. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, which interacts with receptors TNF-RI and TNF-RII in both its membrane bound and soluble forms, can contribute to beta cell death in vitro (Kaneto, et al., Diabetes 44:733-738, 1995; Mandrup-Poulsen, et al., J. Immunol 139:4077-4082, 1987). In the NOD mouse model of Type I diabetes, TNF-RI deficiency can prevent the onset of diabetes, presumably through reduction in beta cell death or apoptosis (Kagi, et al., J Immunol 162:4598-4605, 1999). Various modes of stress can also contribute to beta cell apoptosis (Zhou, et al., J Clin Invest 101:1623-1632, 1998).
Although there are likely to be apoptotic modalities that are relatively unique to the beta cell, there are some general mechanisms of programmed cell death that occur in many cell and tissues that form fundamental pathways for cytotoxic response to UV irradiation, X-rays, thermal and osmotic shock, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress as well as the response to proinflammatory cytokines such as IL-1 beta and TNF-alpha. Some of these pathways are composed of cascades of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAP kinases) (Kyriakis and Avruch, Physiol Rev 81:807-869, 2001). Cytotoxic stresses activate MAP kinase kinase kinases (MAPKKKs), which phosphorylate and activate MAP kinase kinases (MAPKKs), which in turn phosphorylate and activate MAP kinases such as ERK, JNK1-3, and p38 (Johnson and Lapadat, Science 298:1911-1912, 2002; Tibbles and Woodgett, Cell Mol Life Sci 55:1230-1254, 1999). JNKs, which phosphorylate and activate the transcription factor c-Jun among other substrates, are critical mediators of apoptosis (Tournier, et al., Science 288:870-874, 2000).
Apoptosis signaling kinase (ASK)-1/MAPKKK5 is a ubiquitously expressed component of the kinase cascade that activates JNK and p38 (Takeda, et al., Cell Struct Funct 28:23-29, 2003). ASK1 directly phosphorylates MKK4 (SEK1)/MKK7 and MKK3/MKK6, which in turn phosphorylate the JNKs and p38 (Ichijo, et al., Science 275:90-94, 1997). A constitutively active form of ASK1 is obtained by truncating an N-terminal regulatory domain; expression of this active kinase leads to apoptosis via mitochondria-dependent capase activation (Hatai, et al., J Biol Chem 275:26576-26581, 2000). Cells from mice that lack ASK1 are resistant to the apoptotic effects of oxidative stress and TNF-α (Tobiume, et al., EMBO Rep 2:222-228, 2001).
The role of ASK1 in oxidative stress-initiated apoptosis may be mediated in part by a direct physical interaction with the redox-regulatory protein thioredoxin (TRX) (Saitoh, et al., Embo J 17:2596-2606, 1998). Trx inhibits ASK1 kinase activity upon binding to the N-terminal domain that is lacking in the constitutively active form of ASK1. The interaction between ASK1 and Trx is dependent on Trx being in the reduced form; this provides a mechanism by which the redox state of the cell can regulate ASK1 kinase activity (Liu and Min, Circ Res 90:1259-1266, 2002). Accordingly, reactive oxygen species such as H2O2 cause dissociation of Trx-ASK1 complexes and lead to ASK1 activation (Gotoh and Cooper, J Biol Chem 273:17477-17482, 1998; Tobiume, et al., J Cell Physiol 191:95-104, 2002).
There is also evidence that ASK1 promotes apoptosis in cells undergoing endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. The ER protein IRE1 forms a complex with ASK1 and a TNF receptor interacting protein TRAF2 in cells undergoing ER stress, and this leads to activation of the ASK1-JNK pathway. The apoptosis initiated by this pathway is reduced in cells that lack ASK1 (Nishitoh, et al., Genes Dev 16:1345-1355, 2002).

Compositions and methods of using apoptosis signaling kinase related kinase (ASKRK)


In the face of ransomware attacks, which can be increasingly difficult to effectively prevent, a solution can be considered to be the minimization of the cost and time taken to recover data and, hence business activities. Embodiments perform a restore operation that include automatically identifying the most recent healthy backup, from which data should be restored, and the prioritizing of the order in which data should be restored.

The increasing prevalence of cyber threats, in particular ransomware attacks, can impose significant overhead costs to businesses offering storage and recovery services. Cyber-threats also pose a serious threat to the businesses themselves or to the owner of the data. As data volumes continue to grow and the rate of growth increases, the cost to recover encrypted, or otherwise obfuscated, data becomes ever greater. Backup and recovery service providers and solution vendors need to minimize the impact to their business operations and that of their customers in the event of a ransomware attack or other cyber-attack. They can face many challenges, including the early detection of an infection on a client's machine or network in order to minimize the damage inflicted on customer data.
An effective solution in the event of a successful attack (e.g., a ransomware infection) is through the maintenance of regular backups and the implementation of a disaster recovery plan. The objective of these measures are to completely restore business operations. However, this solution is not without drawbacks. In spite of these recovery plans, the attack typically subjects the data owner to downtime while waiting for the recovery process to complete. Depending on the scale of the attack and the level of penetration through a filesystem, recovery can range from hours to days. This can be potentially devastating to the operations and reputation of a business servicing customers. In addition, owners are increasingly faced with the possibility that their backups are still infected. This complicates the restore process when considering that the restored data may still be infected or subject to loss or attack. Systems and methods are needed to better protect and restore data, particularly in the event of an attack that results in lost data or in an attack that affects backed up data.

Automation and optimization of data recovery after a ransomware attack


A system and method for facilitating proximity-based communications through dynamic communication device registration is presented. Collections of offered descriptive parameters autonomously selectable by subscribers of uniquely identified communication devices are stored. A presence of a plurality of the communication devices within a localized physical coverage area is registered. Subscriber autonomous selections of the offered descriptive parameters from the communication devices are enrolled on a dynamic basis. A request to communicate with at least one other subscriber from a requesting subscriber having a communication device within the same localized physical coverage area is processed. One or more responding subscribers having communication devices within the localized physical coverage area are continuously identified. Selected sets of the offered descriptive parameters of the requesting subscriber and of the responding subscribers are autonomously compared. The requesting subscriber of at least one matching offered descriptive parameters set is notified.

Communication devices, particularly mobile telephones and related portable devices, such as email communicators and messaging pagers, have become ubiquitous personal accessories for business and personal communications worldwide. Such mobile devices typically interface to conventional public switched telephone networks through radio-based communication that provides standard dialup telephone services.
By design, mobile devices provide communications from virtually anywhere, whether stationary or moving. However, the communications are intended to occur only between specific parties, with the narrow exception of well-known public emergency and information services. Party-to-party communications are initiated by calling telephone numbers for specific parties. Open-ended ad hoc communications using less specific unstructured information is generally not possible. For example, in a social setting, such as a night-club or science fiction convention, a mobile device would be of little use in helping a person to meet other persons or groups sharing a common interest. The person would need to have a directory or other information source that lists the mobile device telephone numbers for other people at the same event. Similarly, in a travel situation, such as when seeking a particular type of food or requiring a taxicab, a concierge or guidebook would be more helpful than a mobile device since finding the telephone number for restaurants and taxicabs requires local knowledge of the area being visited.
Although, mobile devices provide communications in a manner similar to conventional land-based telephones, mobile devices also include tracking features that enable a mobile switching center ("MSC") to locate specific mobile devices. Often during the course of a telephone call, subscribers will move around, such as while driving or walking. Mobile service providers use the tracking features to complete incoming calls. Except in emergency situations, mobile service providers do not use the tracking features to locate subscribers for other purposes. For instance, some subscribers may want to meet other people sharing a common interest who are physically nearby and who could be identified through location information available to the mobile service provider. Due to privacy and liability concerns, subscribers must instead rely on pre-existing information sources or upon mere chance to meet other people or groups who hopefully share that same interest.
Cellular telephones are one popular form of mobile device that include tracking features. Cellular service networks have a hierarchical component structure. At the base of the hierarchy, cellular telephones are used by individual subscribers to access the network. Each cellular telephone is uniquely identified by a mobile identification number ("MIN") and an electronic serial number ("ESN"). In the United States and Canada, the MIN is a ten-digit telephone number that includes an area code and dialing area prefix. The ESN is a thirty two-bit binary number assigned by the manufacturer. An ESN cannot be changed by the subscriber. The MIN and ESN are used to identify cellular telephones to Base Stations at the next level of the hierarchy. Base Stations are radio transceivers. The physical coverage areas of Base Stations, known as "cells," are physically configured into an overlapping grid that each provide cellular service to mobile devices physically located within one or more of the cells. Groups of overlapping cells form clusters that are interconnected to MSCs at the top level of the hierarchy. Multiple Base Stations are interconnected to form the complete cellular network and are also connected to public switched telephone networks. MSCs are often supplemented with Home Location Registries.
Home Location Registries provide centralized databases storing subscriber preferences. The types of preferences offered by a mobile communications service provider are dictated by the type of mobile device used and the calling features offered, such as call forwarding, call waiting, three-way calling, voice mail, and so forth. Preferences independent of the mobile device, such as the subscriber's personal interests and needs, are not tracked by Home Location Registries and are, accordingly, not shared with other subscribers or groups that are physically proximal.
Therefore, there is a need for an approach to allowing communication and, in particular, mobile device subscribers to select personalized preferences to share and with other subscribers that are physically nearby. Preferably, such an approach would allow communications between consenting subscribers, while protecting privacy and against misuses and abuses of the information offered or shared. Such an approach would also preferably allow subscribers to engage in ad hoc communications with individuals, groups, and public, commercial and emergency services.

System and method for facilitating proximity-based communication through dynamic communication device registration


A tiled graphics memory permits z data and stencil data to be stored in different portions of a tile. The tile may be further divided into data sections, each of which may have a byte size corresponding to a memory access size.

Graphics systems sometimes employ tiling to store pixel data in a graphics memory. Tiling is a memory addressing mode in which a square or rectangular pixel area is mapped into consecutive addresses to improve memory access coherence. The number of pixels associated with an individual tile may vary depending upon the design of the graphics system. A tile commonly includes different types of graphical data. In some graphics processing units (GPUs), tiles are used to store combined z data (also known as depth data) and stencil data (also known as "s" data).
A drawback of conventional tiling techniques is that the reading, writing, clearing, and compression of tile data is not as efficient as desired. In some graphics systems, such as graphics systems with 24 bit z data, z data may not pack efficiently into tiles.
Graphics systems increasingly use partitioned graphics memories to provide a larger effective memory bandwidth and memory size than possible with a single memory chip having a single bus. Additionally, a partitioned memory can provide more efficient use of memory bandwidth. In a partitioned graphics memory, several memory chips are coupled to a memory controller. FIG. 1 illustrates a partitioned memory described in more detail in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/687,453, entitled "Controller For A Memory System Having Multiple Partitions," commonly assigned to the assignee of the present invention, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. In the partitioned graphics memory of FIG. 1, the physical memory is a memory array 24 comprising two or more operable partitions 26a, 26b, 26c, and 26d. Each memory partition has its own individual bus 28a, 28b, 28c, and 28d connecting it to a memory controller 30. The memory controller 30 includes queues 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, and 46 and control logic (not shown) to determine routing to the partitions such that the partitioned memory appears as a non-partitioned memory to clients, such as host 12, texture 14, z read/write module 16, color module 18, or display 20.
Tile data may be stored in a partitioned memory system. As with other graphics memories, the efficient use of tile data is of concern in partitioned memory systems.
Therefore, what is desired is an improved system, data format, and method for utilizing tiles in a graphics memory, including partitioned and non-partitioned graphics memories.

System and method for packing data in a tiled graphics memory


The present invention is a training shoe that teaches children how to distinguish their right foot from their wrong foot and also how to tie their shoe.

One of the main problems with young children learning to put on their shoes without adult supervision, typically at the age of 2-4 years old, is getting the correct shoe on the correct foot. Sometimes the right shoe is put on the left foot and sometimes the left shoe is put on the right foot. A number of systems have been suggested and some even patented. Usually the systems are devices for placing markers on or within the shoe to distinguishing the right shoe from the left. None of these devices have gained any popularity. The present invention is specifically directed toward a novel approach to distinguishing the proper shoe for a young child to place on the proper foot.

Device for assisting child shoe application


A method of mitigating tin whisker formation on electronic assemblies includes exposing tin metal in the electronic assembly to a mitigating agent that interacts with the tin metal to produce a product that is resistant to forming tin whiskers.

The present invention relates to the manufacture of electronic assemblies, and more specifically, to the prevention and/or removal of tin whiskers on the electronic assemblies.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, the formation of tin whiskers may be addressed via the conversion of tin metal in the electronic assembly to a material that is resistant to forming whiskers. This conversion may occur via treatment of the electronic assembly with a mitigating agent that interacts with the tin metal present, or via incorporation of an electronic assembly with a mitigating agent that interacts with tin metal.

Mitigation and elimination of tin whiskers

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


Disclosed are methods for producing steviol glycosides, such as rebaudioside D and rebaudioside M, using engineered yeast. The methods include at least two phases: first and second phases where a glucose-containing feed composition is provided to the medium in different modes of feeding in each phase, such as variable feeding and then constant feeding. The two phase feeding can result in a growth rate that is slower in the second phase than in the first phase, and consequently increased steviol glycoside production rates, reduced fermentation times, and reduced biomass concentrations.

Sugars, such as sucrose, fructose and glucose, are utilized to provide a pleasant taste to beverages, foods, pharmaceuticals, and oral hygienic/cosmetic products. Sucrose, in particular, imparts a taste preferred by consumers. Although sucrose provides superior sweetness characteristics, it is caloric. Non-caloric or lower caloric sweeteners have been introduced to satisfy consumer demand, and there is desire for these types of sweeteners that have favorable taste characteristics.
Stevia is a genus of about 240 species of herbs and shrubs in the sunflower family (Asteraceae), native to subtropical and tropical regions from western North America to South America. The species Stevia rebaudiana, commonly known as sweetleaf, sweet leaf, sugarleaf, or simply stevia, is widely grown for its sweet leaves. Stevia-based sweeteners may be obtained by extracting one or more sweet compounds from the leaves. Many of these compounds are steviol glycosides, which are glycosides of steviol, a diterpene compound. These diterpene glycosides are about 150 to 450 times sweeter than sugar. Steviol glycosides differ from each other by sweetness power as well as other sensory features contributing to taste quality such as bitterness, lingering aftertaste and the like. See Kinghorn, A. D., Stevia: The genus Stevia, Taylor & Francis, London (2002).
Examples of steviol glycosides are described in WO 2013/096420 (see, e.g., listing in FIG. 1); and in Ohta et. al., "Characterization of Novel Steviol Glycosides from Leaves of Stevia rebaudiana Morita," J. Appl. Glycosi., 57, 199-209 (2010) (See, e.g., Table 4 at p. 204). Structurally, the diterpene glycosides are characterized by a single core structure, steviol, and differ by the presence of carbohydrate residues at positions C13 and C19, as presented in FIGS. 2a-2k. See also PCT Patent Publication WO 20013/096420.
Typically, on a dry weight basis, the four major steviol glycosides found in the leaves of Stevia are dulcoside A (0.3%), rebaudioside C (0.6-1.0%), rebaudioside A (3.8%) and stevioside (9.1%). Other glycosides identified in Stevia extract include one or more of rebaudioside B, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, steviolbioside and rubusoside.
While the major steviol glycoside Reb A is commonly used as sweetener in beverage applications it has off-taste issues. More recently, there has been focus on certain minor steviol glycosides which have better taste properties. For example, rebaudioside M has higher sweetness intensity and is more potent than other steviol glycosides (e.g., see Prakash, I., et al. (2013) Nat. Prod. Commun., 8: 1523-1526, and WO 2013/096420). Rebaudioside D tastes about 200-220 times sweeter than sucrose and in a sensory evaluation it had a slow onset of sweetness and was very clean, namely sweeter overall than sucrose, less sweet lingering aftertaste compared to sucrose (e.g., see Prakash, I., et al. (2012) Int. J. Mol. Sci., 13:15126-15136).
Molecular techniques have been used to prepare recombinant organisms capable of synthesizing steviol glycosides via fermentation. For example, recombinant strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae having multiple transgenes encoding enzymes involved in steviol glycoside synthesis have been used for the production of rebaudioside M and rebaudioside D (see, for example, WO2014/122227). However, current fermentation methods using recombinant organisms do not adequately provide desirable steviol glycoside production rates, and also are associated with generation of large amounts of biomass and longer fermentation times to achieve desired steviol glycoside titers.

Fermentation methods for producing steviol glycosides with multi-phase feeding


A control system for a converting line has a sensor configured to sense a distance between the sensor and a surface of a roll of web material as the roll of web material is unwound from an unwinder and directed to the converting line. The controller is configured to: (i) determine a diameter measurement of the roll as the roll rotates based upon the sensor signals; (ii) store a plurality of data structures in a memory of a controller of a control system wherein the data structures comprise a plurality of data items associated together as the diameter measurements of the roll of the web material; (iii) process by a statistical regression analysis the data structures associated with the diameter; and (iv) generate signals for controlling the converting line based upon the processed diameter measurements.

Disclosed in more detail below is a control for a converting line. More in particular, the disclosure is directed to aspects of a control for unwinding the parent roll and directing unwound web material to the converting line for additional processing, and aspects of a control for controlling a driven roll in the converting line based upon tension sensed downstream of the driven roll.
In one aspect, the disclosure is directed to a method and apparatus for estimating diameter and caliper of a web formed of one or more plies from an unwinding parent roll. In another aspect, the disclosure is directed to a method and apparatus for web handling and converting line control based upon the estimates of parent roll diameter and unwinding web caliper. In another aspect, the disclosure is directed to a method and apparatus for web handling and converting line control based upon tension sensed downstream of the driven rolls.
As will become evident from the discussion that follows, the systems and methods described herein allow converting machinery to be less complex to operate, reduce new converting line commissioning time, simplify product changeovers, maximize uptime, and reduce cost. The systems and methods described herein seek to limit the effects of variability in substrate as it pertains to downstream processes, thereby allowing for optimizing uptime and minimizing operating intervention while increasing processing speeds.
The systems and methods disclosed herein allow for accurately driving and optimize the timing of events in the unwind cycle that are dictated by unwind diameter or web position in the roll. One direct example of such optimization is a parent roll splice event. In order for the transients caused by such an event to be minimized, one must know the rate of change of diameter as it pertains to web output in order to predict pre-trigger events like line deceleration given variable running speeds. There are also many measurements and events recorded during the roll manufacturing that could be used to optimize the converting process if decoded accurately by diameter.
Conventionally, these variabilities are manually handled by operators of the equipment. Oftentimes, on the fly adjustments are made as the operator observes the process, or pre-programmed adjustments are made based on assumed criteria such as parent roll diameter. Generally, these methods all detract from overall machine efficiency because they either require operator time and interaction, or the adjustments are based on general assumptions, which may be inapplicable for a particular condition.
Using the systems and methods described herein, there may be opportunities to capture data for enhanced converting line performance, production, and/or raw material utilization. Rather than developing new controls and measurement techniques, the disclosure herein describes the use of existing or conventional converting line sensors to provide more accurate feedback and adaptive controls that may reduce operator interactions and other inefficiencies when using preset conditions guided by general assumptions.

Control for parent roll unwinding apparatus and methods


A fastener for attaching a circuit board to a chassis has a head section for engaging the circuit board, a tail section for engaging the chassis, and a spring section to urge the head into engagement with the circuit board.

The present invention relates to computers and computer manufacturing and, more particularly to, an apparatus, method and system to easily attach and electrically ground a circuit board to a computer chassis.
Computer manufacturers rely primarily on large product volume to compete with other manufacturers in their industry. Consequently, manufacturing techniques must use efficiently components and labor to produce a competitive product. Each manufacturing step or component within the computer assembly adds production costs, which might otherwise contribute to profits. Attaching a circuit board to the chassis, for example, requires typically several components and multiple manufacturing steps.
The circuit board is usually attached to the chassis with screws through a standard pattern of screw holes. Each screw must be installed through the circuit board holes and into a threaded metal standoff. The standoff serves to attach and electrically ground the circuit board to the chassis when the screw is tightened. Unfortunately, installing repetitively each standoff and screw consumes valuable manufacturing time and increases the possibility of damage to the circuit board by the screw installation tools.
Screws also have an additional disadvantage when used for computer manufacturing because they are usually small and metallic. Small screws are difficult to capture and place within a computer assembly. Dropped screws may become lodged within circuitry on the circuit board. Because screws are usually metallic, a dropped screw has the potential to short circuit and damage the delicate circuitry on the circuit board.
Additionally, computer consumers often upgrade their own computers by replacing components within their existing chassis. Consumers often lack the proper tools and skill necessary to efficiently service their computer. Removing the old circuit board and replacing it with a new circuit board increases the possibility that the consumer will damage one or both circuit boards during the upgrade process. The possibility for damage may be especially appreciated considering that the circuit board is attached to the chassis with several tiny screws through holes that are located proximate vital computer circuitry. If the consumer""s screwdriver slips, the resulting damage to the circuit board could be substantial.
It would, therefore, be desirable to have a fastener that does not require repetitive manufacturing steps to install the circuit board in the chassis. Additionally, there is a need for a fastening system that does not increase the number of components, such as screws, for example, in the computer assembly. Also, there is a need for fastening system that does not increase the likelihood that a consumer will damage the computer while performing upgrades.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a fastener for attaching a circuit board to a chassis has a head section for engaging the circuit board, a tail section for engaging the chassis, and a spring section to urge the head into engagement with the circuit board is disclosed.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, a method for attaching a circuit board to a chassis includes the step of positioning one or more pivoting fasteners within the chassis is also disclosed. The pivoting fasteners have a head section, a tail section, and a spring section. The tail sections of the pivoting fasteners are connected to the chassis. One or more circuit board mounting holes are engaged with the head sections of the pivoting fasteners. The circuit board is then releasably locked to the chassis.
Another embodiment of the present invention is a system for attaching a circuit board to a chassis that has one or more pivoting fasteners connected to the chassis and a releasable locking circuit board retainer. The pivoting fasteners capture the circuit board through mounting holes in the circuit board. The circuit board retainer holds the circuit board against tension, which results from springs attached to the pivoting fasteners.


An optical network unit (10) comprising a reflective semi-conductor optical amplifier (R-SOA) 12 and a driver 14. The R-SOA has a large optical confinement factor and is arranged to receive a portion of a downstream optical signal having a signal wavelength and a signal power. The driver is arranged to generate a drive signal 16 to drive the R-SOA. The drive signal is arranged to cause the R-SOA to operate in saturation at the signal power. The drive signal is further arranged to cause the R-SOA to apply a return-to-zero line code to said portion of the downstream optical signal to form an upstream optical signal at the signal wavelength. The drive signal is further arranged to cause the R-SOA to apply a phase modulation to the upstream optical signal.

Wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) in passive optical networks (PON) dramatically increases the fibre link capacity compared with other fibre access techniques, especially if the same optical carrier is used for both downstream and the upstream signals propagating in the same fibre. WDM PON systems that reuse the same wavelength for both downlink and uplink transmission allow the system capacity and number of users to be doubled as compared to a WDM PON where a pair of wavelengths are used for each bidirectional channel. However, reusing the same wavelength for upstream transmission requires the downstream data modulation to be removed before applying the upstream data. This leads to an additional power penalty on the upstream signal, caused by residual downstream modulation and optical reflections along the optical link.
One solution uses a reflective semiconductor optical amplifier (RSOA) as a colourless transmitter at the optical network unit (ONU). Part of the downstream signal is tapped and sent to the RSOA input. If the power of the tapped signal is sufficiently high (typically greater than −10 dBm) it saturates the RSOA, cleaning the downstream modulation so that the upstream data can be applied to the RSOA electrical input. This solution faces the problem that the high input optical power needed to saturate the RSOA limits the achievable span budget in practical systems, giving the PON a typical reach of less than 5 km.
In a second solution, the downstream traffic is FSK (Frequency Shift Key) modulated by using a directly modulated laser diode, properly biased in order to have small residual amplitude modulation and a sharp chirp response, to maximize the frequency shift caused by any driving current variation. At the ONU, the received signal is split in two parts: one part is sent to an optical filter in front of the downstream receiver while the other part is used as optical carrier by the upstream data, and is remodulated with upstream data by an RSOA. The function of the filter is to convert the FSK modulation format into an ASK (Amplitude Shift Keying) format. This is achieved by positioning the optical carrier frequency on one of slope edges of the optical filter. A similar scheme exploits DPSK (Differential Phase Shift Keying) modulation instead of FSK: this requires a phase modulator at the downstream transmitter and an interferometer in place of the optical filter for ASK conversion. The cost of the filter or interferometer in these arrangements is a disadvantage, and additional elements are required to provide thermal control of the filter or dedicated circuitry to track any drift of the downstream optical carrier.
A further solution, reported by Presi et al, "A 80 km reach fully passive WDM-PON based on reflective ONUs", Optics Express, vol. 16, no. 23, pp 19043-19048, 10 Nov. 2008, uses RZ (Return to Zero) and IRZ (Inverse Return to Zero) modulation formats for upstream and downstream transmission, respectively. An RSOA at the ONU remodulates and amplifies a seed portion of a received downstream IRZ signal to generate an RZ upstream data signal. The RSOA is operated outside of the saturation regime, which, together with using the IRZ/RZ line coding pair, increases the power budget and thus the maximum achievable reach of the PON.


A film fitting system which fits a tubular film on a fitting target including a fitting device which fits, at a predefined fitting position, the tubular film on the fitting target which is transported; and a transporting device which receives the fitting target at a predefined supplying position, wherein the transporting device includes a mount which is moved in a state where the fitting target is placed thereon; a positioning member which is moved in a linked manner with the mount and which positions the fitting target with respect to the mount by contacting a part of the fitting target; and a moving device which moves the positioning member to a reference position, and a retracted position where the positioning member is separated from the fitting target at least at the fitting position.

Conventionally, a film fitting system which fits a tubular film such as a shrink label on an outer peripheral surface of a body of a fitting target is known (see, for example, Patent Literature 1). Normally, such a film fitting system comprises a fitting device which fits the tubular film on the fitting target, and a transporting device which transports the fitting target to an operation position (fitting position) of the fitting device.
The fitting device opens a tubular film which is folded in an elongated band shape to form a tubular shape, and then lowers the opened tubular film toward the transported fitting target, so that the film is fitted onto the fitting target. In addition, the transporting device comprises a mount on which a plurality of fitting targets are placed, and transports the fitting targets to the fitting position through operations such as rotating the mount.
Here, generally, in the fitting device, the lowering position for the tubular film or the like is determined under the assumption that each fitting target is placed on a placement position which is set on the mount. In other words, if the fitting target is deviated from the predefined placement position, the tubular film which is being lowered and the fitting target would interfere with each other, and a problem results that the fitting target cannot be accurately fitted.
In consideration of this, in the related art, there is proposed a technique in which a positioning recess (pocket) is provided on the mount, to thereby position the fitting target. The pocket is a recess formed on the mount according to the shape of the fitting target, and is set such that the fitting target is placed at an appropriate position by the fitting target contacting a side surface of the pocket. In addition, there is also proposed another technique in which a clamp mechanism which clamps the fitting target at the placement position is provided. With the use of such techniques, the relative positional relationship between the tubular film and the fitting target is accurately maintained, and accurate fitting operation is enabled.


A method and system for prepaying credits to a user account for communications services provided. If a system detects a predefined condition associated with a communications connection, the system deducts the cost of the communications connection from the credit in the user account. The predefined condition includes the origination of the communications connection from one of a plurality of predefined sources. Software for implementing the method may be implemented in a number of environments, including a computer system accessible remotely or a processor located on the user's telephone.

Communications-service providers, such as telephone service providers, employ various methods of charging users for communications usage within a communications network. One method of charging users for communications includes a per-minute rate. For example, if a telephone user makes a long-distance telephone-call, the user is charged a rate per minute multiplied by the number of minutes that the telephone call lasts. One common practice is to change the per-minute rate based on the destination of the telephone call and/or the time of day. For example, telephone calls within a country are typically cheaper per minute than calls from one country to another, and telephone calls during daytime hours, e.g., 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., are typically more expensive than calls during evening hours, e.g., 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 a.m.
Users who pay for communications services with a per-minute method often have difficulty determining how much money they have spent for communications services until they receive a billing statement from the communications company. In order to keep track of communications costs from day-to-day, the user must know how much time is spent using the communications services and the per-minute rate. It is difficult and inconvenient for users to keep track of how much time is spent using a communications network, and the multiple rates charged by the communications provider are also difficult for users to track. While users often know domestic-telephone per-minute rates, they may not know all international rates for which they would like to make telephone calls without contacting the telephone-service provider. If users are surprised by a large billing-statement, they may become dissatisfied with the communications-services provider and hesitant to use the services without being able to track the costs.
Another conventional method for charging users for communications includes allowing the user to pay a periodic fee for a certain amount of communication usage. This method is particularly common in selling cellular-telephone service. When such a method is employed, a user typically pays a monthly fee for a predefined number of "minutes" of telephone use in a predefined geographic area. If the user uses more than the predefined number of minutes or makes calls outside the predefined geographic area, the user is charged a per-minute rate for the telephone calling time in addition to the monthly fee.
Users who pay for communications services with this certain-amount method also have difficulty determining how much money has been spent on telephone calls or other communications services. In addition, such users often pay for more services than they use in a month. In typical certain-amount plans, if minutes are not used during the month, the minutes cannot be used at a later time. Some users would prefer to pay only for the time that they use.
Some users may have bad credit or non-existent credit and, therefore, would be a credit risk to a communications company charging per minute rates that are due after the communications services are used. Telephone companies often "toll block" these users. In other words, users who are deemed a credit risk are not allowed to make long-distance or other calls requiring a toll or fee.
Many users who are "toll blocked" purchase pre-paid calling cards. Pre-paid service often eliminates the need to demonstrate good credit because the services are paid up front. However, such cards are often inconvenient for users for a number of reasons. Pre-paid calling cards require that a user first dial an access code to access the pre-paid account. The user is often required to first dial a "toll free" phone number to enter the code. Because many cards may be offered by the same communications provider, the codes must differentiate between a large number of users and are often long and cumbersome to dial. In addition, such prepaid calling cards are not associated with an individual, and therefore, cannot be used to create a credit history.
One solution to some of these problems involves allowing users to pre-purchase credits that are used only if a call is made from a predefined telephone line. See U.S. Pat. No. 6,195,422. This method includes adding pre-purchased credits to an account that corresponds to a predefined telephone number. If a call is made from the predefined telephone number, the cost of the telephone call is deducted from the account amount. Users have many of the advantages of pre-paid calling cards, including eliminating a need to demonstrate good credit, without needing to enter lengthy codes.
Still another conventional method for charging users for communications includes "unlimited" communications usage in exchange for a periodic fee. This method is common in selling Internet access. A user typically pays a monthly fee in exchange for unlimited access to a communications network, such as the Internet.
While users who pay for communications services with such a method know exactly how much will be due on a periodic billing statement, users often have the perception that they are paying for communications services that they are not using. While this method of payment may be convenient for users who spend many hours per month connected to the Internet, a user who only uses the Internet for an average of a few minutes per month would probably prefer to pay a per minute rate. However, a per minute rate involves the uncertainties of the fees and rates, and a requirement of a good credit rating discussed above.
Another disadvantage of the current methods of payment exists when several people share the same telephone line, but wish to pay for telephone services individually. This situation is common among roommates. Users in this situation must either purchase calling cards or manually split up the billing statement. If the billing statement is split between individuals, there is no way for the communications service provider to know who incurred which bill, and often one or both individuals will be liable for the entire amount.
Still another disadvantage of the current methods of payment exists when one individual is paying for communications services in two or more households. Such an individual receives separate billing statement for each service, and each billing statement has the disadvantages of the payment method used. In addition, the individual paying for the service may be paying for communications services used by other individuals, such as a common situation where a parent pays for communications services for a child who is living at a separate residence. The individual paying for the service often has no way of restricting the services available to the other individuals, which can be especially problematic if a per minute rate is charged after the services have been provided. A common scenario is a parent being surprised by the phone bill that his or her child has incurred.
These and other problems are avoided and numerous advantages are provided by the methods and systems of the present invention.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and system for prepaid communications credit


Techniques for call integration with a television set-top box (STB) are provided. Call logs associated with multiple voice accounts are acquired and integrated as an integrated call log. The integrated call log is presented within a display to a user. The user can take a variety of actions on the integrated call log as a whole or on individual entries within the integrated call log.

Consumers increasingly have a variety of communication and entertainment choices. For example, a typical consumer may have a landline and a mobile phone for voice communications and may have a television and a personal computer (PC) to view entertainment programming.
One problem associated with this is that consumers have become reliant on a plurality of communication and entertainment mechanisms and devices, which means when one is not readily available the consumer may experience frustration. To solve this issue, enterprises are converging voice and entertainment technologies, and making them ever present on a plurality of devices. For example, a cell phone can play streaming video and a PC can make voice calls to land lines or mobile phones, etc.
One area that has not been particularly integrated well is voice technology with television (TV) technology. Furthermore, when consumers are enjoying entertainment programming on TV and a desire for voice communications is needed, their viewing experience becomes disrupted and may never be re-established if the consumer has to track down a particular type of voice communication. It may also be that the particular type of voice communication is not available at all and the consumer is away from home entirely.
Thus, it is advantageous to provide techniques for more efficient voice and television integration.


Volatile and non-volatile solid state molecular switching devices which are electrically addressable and may be used in memory cells, routing circuits, inverters and field programmable devices which may or may not be designed to exhibit diode behavior. The molecular switching devices include certain [2] catenanes as bistable molecules which are sandwiched between two switch terminals. The switches are extremely small and have dimensions which range from several microns down to a few nanometers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electronic devices designed for memory or data storage. It also is related generally to electronic devices designed for the switching and routing of electrical signals. The invention also relates generally to electronic devices whose critical dimensions are measured in nanometers, and, more particularly, to simple devices used as building blocks to form more complicated structures, and to the methods for forming such devices.
2. Field of the Invention
Random access memory (RAM) is becoming an increasingly important component of electronic hardware, with applications ranging from `smart credit cards` to computer storage, to name just two. Dynamic random access memory (DRAM) is based on silicon fabrication technology, and is a volatile memory characterized by a destructive read. This means that it is necessary to supply voltage to the memory bits at all times, or the information will disappear, Furthermore, each memory element has associated with it a transistor. This means that such memory devices will never be manufactured at a density that is greater than that allowable by the current generation of lithographic technology. Finally, reading the state of a DRAM bit will destroy the information in that bit.
More recently, a device called ferromagnetic RAM, or Fe-RAM, has been developed by a number of companies. A Fe-RAM device is a non-volatile memory bit which may be incorporated into something known as a cross-point memory array (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,640,343). The advantage of such an array is that the individual Fe-RAM devices do not require a transistor for every memory bit, but instead require on the order of n.sup.1/2 transistors for n memory bits. Fe-RAM is, however, characterized by a destructive read, similar to DRAM. Fe-RAM devices are based on the principle of using an electric field to change the magnetic moment of a ferromagnet. For certain materials, when this magnetic moment is changed, there is also a small change in the electrical resistance of the ferromagnetic material. For very small domains, this switching behavior no longer works, as ferromagnetic materials do not retain their ferromagnetic character when the size of the material becomes very small (i.e., less than 30 nanometers). Finally, the difference between a `1` and a `0` state in a Fe-RAM memory element is about a 15% change in resistance. This means that only relatively small cross-point memory arrays (less than 1 megabyte) of Fe-RAM can be constructed. It also means that FeRAM devices can only function as memory bits. They cannot function as true switches.
There recently has been developed electronic devices which are made up of two crossed wires between which is sandwiched an electrically addressable molecular species. These devices are simple and inexpensive to make. The devices can also be made to be extremely small with dimensions on the order of several microns down to a few nanometers. These devices can be used to produce crossbar switch arrays, logic devices, memory devices and communication and signal routing devices. Crossed wire or crossbar devices are disclosed in the following published patent applications:
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/292,767 entitled "Chemically Synthesized and Assembled Electronic Devices" [PD-10981971-1]; PA1 U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/280,225 entitled "Molecular Wire Crossbar Interconnects for Signal Routing and Communications" [PD-10981966-1]; PA1 U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/282,045 entitled "Molecular Wire Crossbar Logic" [PD-10981969-1]; PA1 U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/282049 entitled "Demultiplexer for a Molecular Wire Crossbar Network" [PD-10981970-1]; and

Electrically addressable volatile non-volatile molecular-based switching devices

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