Apparatus is disclosed in which a transparent or translucent plastic template of a specific size bears a combination of inscribed marks and apertures adapted to cooperate with each other so as to enable a user to readily align, make page size and margin determinations, and draw marks on materials to be cropped and/or hole-punched in a manner that is quick, easy, and makes optimum use of both the user's time and the cropped material.

1. Field of the Invention:
This invention relates to templates used in the process of marking items for being cropped, or cut, to a predetermined size and desired alignment.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art:
Templates for use in drawing figures are commonly available for many drafting applications. Examples are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. Des. 284,089, Des. 288,538, and Des. 322,039. Many devices are available to form circles, while others bear complicated apertures for creating linear geometric forms. Finally, some combine both functions into a single device, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,736,526 and 5,058,285. All function adequately for their intended purpose of aiding the drafting process. Such templates are normally in the form of a thin plastic panel having differently shaped and sized holes defined therein. When a certain figure is to be drawn using a template, the edge of a corresponding hole of the template is followed with a pencil, a pen, or the like which is being pressed against a drawing sheet. Such templates are useful in drawing various exactly alike figures such as computer program flowchart symbols, circles, ellipses, triangles, squares, and other shapes, without making actual dimensional measurements.
Although the drafting templates identified in the prior art are useful when applied to their intended purpose, none of the templates perform the functions of the present invention in a manner that would be readily appreciated by a person either skilled or unskilled in drafting template usage. Whereas some of the prior art templates do contain straight peripheral and/or internal edges by which lines could be drawn, as well as circular apertures, or holes, that could be used to draw circles, none of the prior art templates have been configured in a manner whereby all of the following features are aligned to coincide with the most commonly found loose leaf page sizes used in multi-ring receptacles such as day-planner type personal organization binders, to wit: the length of the external peripheral edges; the lines inscribed within the template; and the plurality and sizes of holes. None of the prior art templates incorporate lines or other markings simulating customary boundaries for a printed page, whereby the user quickly can visualize and align the template for the optimum alignment of the material being cropped. None of the prior art templates incorporate holes specifically sized to coincide with the customary hole sizes for the most commonly found loose-leaf page sizes used in said multi-ring receptacles. None of the prior art templates incorporate narrow rectilinear holes or slots for marking in a configuration that permits the embodiment of multiple template sizes into one template panel.
The use of any of the prior art examples as a cropping template would entail a considerable amount of time on the part of the user to determine and mark both the appropriate peripheral size of the desired page as well as the proper location and alignment of the holes to be punched for use with a multi-ring, loose-leaf binder, or similar receptacle. Even persons skilled in the use of draining templates would normally require a considerable number of trial and error attempts prior to their being able to use one of the prior art templates in a manner that would accomplish results similar to that which a person, who is both unskilled in the use of draining templates and a new user of the present invention, can accomplish on the first try and within seconds of beginning the cropping procedure.
It is the primary object of the present invention, therefore, to provide a template which allows persons who have never used any type of drafting template quickly and easily to align and mark paper or other material for cropping to a predetermined size, and, if desired, mark the material for hole-punching for inclusion in an appropriate receptacle such as a multi-ringed, loose-leaf binder (e.g., personal organization day-planner binder, etc.).


A method of enabling a communication channel between a first communication circuit and a second communication circuit is described. The method comprises establishing a communication link according to a communication protocol between the first communication circuit and the second communication circuit, wherein the communication protocol enables the transmission of data between the first communication circuit and the second communication circuit at a standardized data rate; determining a standardized data rate for which the communication link between the first communication circuit and the second communication circuit fails to meet a predetermined quality threshold; and establishing a communication link according to the communication protocol at a non-standardized data rate below the determined standardized data rate.

Data transmission is an important aspect of computer networks and many other electronic devices such as integrated circuits. One important property of data transmission is the speed of data transmission. It is generally beneficial to transmit data at the fastest rate possible while still maintaining an acceptable data transmission error rate. Data is often transmitted according to various protocols. These protocols may be defined by specific standards established by various standards bodies, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), for example, or other standards bodies. Standards are generally beneficial because they ensure that any element of the data transmission network will be able to successfully transmit transit data to or received dated from another element of the data transmission network.
However, standards often restrict the options of a user of the data transmission network. For example, a given standard may have a limited number of data transmission rates at which to transmit the data according to the standard. Such a limited number of data transmission rates may cause the data to be transmitted at a lower rate than would otherwise be possible. That is, while data transmitted at a certain rate may lead to too many errors, data transmitted at the next lower rate available according to the data protocol may be slower than otherwise possible while meeting an acceptable data transmission error rate.
Accordingly, circuits and methods that enable transmitting data at a rate not available according to a standard are desired.

Method of and circuit for enabling a communication channel


In a spark plug insulator having a sintered ceramic body, the ceramic body has silicon nitride (Si.sub.3 N.sub.4), aluminum nitride (AlN) and alumina (Al.sub.2 O.sub.3), the weight ratio of aluminum nitride (AlN) and alumina (Al.sub.2 O.sub.3) to silicon nitride (Si.sub.3 N.sub.4) being in the range of 0.093 to 1.439; and at least one sintering additive is among the group consisting of yttrium oxide (Y.sub.2).sub.3), calcium oxide (CaO), lanthanum oxide (La.sub.2 O.sub.3), magnesia (MgO), cerium oxide (CeO.sub.2), scandium oxide (Sc.sub.2 O.sub.3), strontium oxide (SrO), barium oxide (BaO) and neodymium (Nd.sub.2 O.sub.3). The weight percentage of the sintering additive ranges from 0.3% to 15.0% of the total weight of the silicon nitride (Si.sub.3 N.sub.4), aluminum nitride (AlN) and alumina (Al.sub.2 O.sub.3).

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a sintered ceramic body well-suited for a spark plug insulator which needs an elevated insulation property at high ambient temperature with good thermal conductivity.
2. Description of Prior Art
In a spark plug insulator for an internal combustion engine, a oxinite sintered ceramic body has been employed since the sintered ceramic body has good thermal conductivity.
The oxinite sintered ceramic body, however, comes to decrease its electrical insulation when exposed to high ambient temperature, and grows crystals treeing over the surface of the sintered ceramic body when high voltage is applied.
Therefore, it is an object of the invention to provide a sintered ceramic body and spark plug insulator which are capable of maintaining an elevated insulation property at high ambient temperature with good thermal conductivity.

Sintered ceramic body for a spark plug insulator and method of sintering the same


A method is provided for alerting a user of scheduled tasks prior to falling asleep. The method includes associating an alarm device with a user's body by securing a wearable device to the user's wrist, placing the device in a pocket, integrating the device into the user's clothing such as a belt, or otherwise placing the device in contact with or adjacent to the user. The device includes one or more sensors for detecting physiological and/or environmental parameters such as heart, respiration, or pulse rate, body movements, eye movements, ambient light, and the like. Upon detecting a pre-sleep state, the device gathers information about tasks which the user desires to perform or attend to prior to going to sleep, and alerts the user before falling asleep.

Modern electronic devices include increasing functionality as technologies converge on single platforms. For example, computers, mobile phones, personal digital assistants, music players, video players, televisions, and network technology are being encompassed on a single device. These devices are being built smaller and smaller, and they may incorporate multiple input mechanisms such as one or more keys and a touch-screen as well as proximity and image-based input components. Such devices may include portable computers, cellular telephones and smart phones and perform a number of functions, including receiving emails and other messages, playing audio and video content, and signaling an audible or haptic alarm.

Smart adaptive device for alerting user of scheduled tasks prior to falling asleep


Food flavor enhancer composition which may be comprised of a variety or any one of edible salts including sodium chloride, potassium chloride, monosodium glutamate, flavor potentiators and at least one variety of soluble dietary fibers which is preferably decomplexed is specified.. Improved potassium chloride, either alone or in combination with other edible salts together with soluble dietary fibers blended in accordance with the foregoing Examples, produces a composition which is much more similar to sodium chloride than heretofore known and/or possible.. In a preferred form, hypocholesteremic soluble dietary fibers and salt compositions are also specified.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to edible food products and methods of manufacture thereof; and, more particularly, to compositions, and methods of manufacture, for enhancing the flavors of foodstuffs to which they are applied while, at the same time, serving to neutralize excess cholesterol in foods consumed as well as serum cholesteol.
The notion that cholesterol intake results in serious specific physiological consequences is currently emerging as popular dogma among the population at large. Seldom has nutritional science seen adoption across such a wide consumer segment of an ever increasing, health conscious public.
The perceived necessity to control or eliminate cholesterol intake is so strong and urgent that long established cultural eating habits are changing abruptly.
Unfortunately, many well established food and agricultural industries are, perhaps unwisely, being radically impacted economically as buying habits of the consumer shift toward implementing food choices which reduce or eliminate cholesterol. Little or no thought has been given to what the consequences of such a radical and sharp change in eating habits might prove to be. The consumers know what they are running away from; but, they apparently do not know what they might be running into. Current medical advice to patients exhibiting numerous medical conditions believed to be influenced by cholesterol to minimize and/or discontinue cholesterol intake and/or medicate with available anticholesteremic agents has authenticated and reinforced this trend.
Highly charged, media-inspired awareness levels have spawned numerous marketing ploys by food producers. These are aimed at capitalizing on some pre-existing absence of cholesterol, or some cholesterol influencing property in old products, primarily via restructured advertising or labeling claims such as ". . . contains NO cholesterol . . . " or ". . . high in fiber . . . ".
Nutritional science has established that some types of dietary fiber, such as hydrocolloids, mucilages, gums and pectins, for example, can not only complex cholesterol contained in foods and thereby reduce its uptake, but even reduce serum cholesterol if taken over a period of time. In addition, it has been known that triglycerides can be reduced by the consumption of gum arabic on a regular basis.
As the following Table I shows, gums do not contain soluble dietary fiber (SDF); but, are essentially soluble dietary fibers themselves. The gums listed in Table I are classed by the FDA as ingredients that may be safely used in foods. For example, pectin is included in the list of permitted additives in standardized foods when a technological need can be proven. In unstandardized foods, the use of pectin is only limited by "good manufacturing practice." See, Pectin Product Bulletin, p. 3, published by A/S KOBENHAVNSPEKTINFABRIK, Copenhagen, Denmark.
TABLE I ______________________________________ GUM SOLUBLE FIBERS ______________________________________ Pectin 100% Arabic 94% Locust bean 92% Tragacanth 90% Cellulose 88% Agar 85% Xanthan 85% Alginate 80% Carrageenan 78% ______________________________________
In an opinion paper in response to the increasing interest in fiber levels in foods, the FDA has stated that 30 grams of fiber should be consumed per day (See, Product Data Bulletin entitled "Formulating With Nutriloid Soluble Dietary Fibers", A.01.07, TIC GUMS, p. 1).
Cholesterol is a naturally occurring sterol found in all animal fat. Human metabolism can synthesize cholesterol from almost any food material. The synthesis takes place in most, if not all, cells involved in animal metabolism. The degree of individual synthesis seems to be genetically related since, given the same basic diet, different persons will generate wide variations of serum cholesterol. Clearly, dietary control aimed at reducing intake in itself cannot, in many cases, be expected to be an entirely successful strategy for reduction of hypercholesteremia.
Currently, consumers can take fiber supplements by pill or capsule, obtain a prescription for hypocholesteremic adjuvants (HCA), avoid or restrict foods known to contain cholesterol and consume more high fiber containing foods.
A common guar gum capsule supplement available from health food stores, for example, costs approximately $0.088 per gram of dietary fiber as contrasted with: guar gum at $0.003 per gram; karaya at $0.007 per gram; tragacanth at $0.026 per gram; locust bean at $0.007 per gram; carrageenan at $0.01 per gram; xanthan at $0.002 per gram; arabic at $0.002 per gram; and, CMC at $0.008 per gram.
Many consumers are dissatisfied with new cholesterol reduced diets since many important foods of long standing importance to them--for example dairy products, pork and pork based products, eggs, etc.--are either not available on such diets or available only in limited quantities; and, even then, such products must be prepared in ways not desired by the consumer such as "well done" beef for the devotee of "rare beef". Basic industries, such as the beef industry, cannot change the basic nature of beef or free it of cholesterol.
There have been attempts to interest the poultry industry in new poultry diets which can result in cholesterol reduced poultry and poultry products. The magnitude of these reductions--approximately 40% to 50% reductions in eggs, for example--cannot, at the present time, justify the additional expense for such products. Consequently, the poultry industry continues to face serious declines in sales at various levels.
Food flavor enhancement has been the object of serious study by food specialists since discovery of flavor enhancement properties and the isolation of monosodium glutamate (MSG, C.sub.5 H.sub.8 NaO.sub.4) in 1908. MSG intensifies and enhances flavor while, in quantities normally used, it does not add any flavor of its own. It is this point which differentiates "flavor enhancers" from "seasonings" or "flavor integers" which do serve to add flavors of their own. Salt is a "seasoning", while sugar and common food acids, such as citric acid (C.sub.6 H.sub.8 O) and adipic acid (C.sub.6 H.sub.10 O.sub.4), are considered "flavor integers".
There are several theories about how flavor enhancers, integers and potentiators work. Thus, flavor potentiators are believed by some to increase the sensitivity of taste buds. Flavor integers, on the other hand, are synergistic reactants contained in more or less all food, to some degree. Flavor enhancers act as solvents or detergents, freeing more flavors from foods, thus making more flavor available for tasting and assisting flavors in penetrating taste buds more readily. MSG is effective in enhancing flavors of foods in parts per thousand, while other potentiators are capable of enhancing flavor only in parts per billion, or even less.
Moreover, ingestion of food containing MSG has been found to cause headaches and nausea in persons sensitive to it. This reaction, which may be a mild form of allergic anaphylaxsis, has been referred to as "Chinese restaurant syndrome." Flavor potentiators and enhancers improve or amplify flavor beneficially. As far as is known, they are otherwise not very beneficial, or are entirely nonbeneficial, and may, such as with MSG, prove eventually to result in disturbing side effects after consumption.
Prior to the advent of the present invention, flavor enhancer compositions exhibiting additional major nutritional benefits have simply been unknown. However, salt replacers or reducers have been in use for some time. They have not become popular products due to bitter, soapy or chemical tastes perceived by most consumers. Some products have been produced which are combinations of other ingredients, including sodium chloride, in order to minimize this problem. To date, they have met with only moderate success.
2. Background Art
The fields related to food technogy--and, particularly those related to cholesterol, flavor enhancement and the effects of consumption of soluble dietary fibers--are highly crowded and well-developed. Those interested in a typical, but far from exhaustive, bibliography relating thereto are referred, merely by way of example, to the following publications:
1. Martin Glicksman, Gum Technology In The Food Industry, Academic Press, Inc., San Diego, pp. 94-505 (1969). PA0 2. A. A. Lawrence, Edible Gums and Related Substances, Noyes Data Corporation, Park Ridge, NJ (1973). PA0 3. R. A. A. Muzzarelli, Natural Chelating Polymers: Alginic Acid, Chitin and Chitosan, Pergamon Press, Oxford, pp. 23-247 (1973). PA0 4. Roy L. Whistler, Industrial Gums: Polysaccharides and their Derivatives, Academic Press, New York, pp. 29-513 (1973). PA0 5. David Kritchevsky, Hypolipidemic Agents, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, pp. 29-90, 109-140, 151-182, 216-223, 349-395, 409-414 (1975). PA0 6. Andrew A. Lawrence, Natural Gums for Edible Purposes, Noyes Data Corporation, Park Ridge, NJ (1976). PA0 7. Gene A. Spiller and Ronald J. Amen, Fiber in Human Nutrition, Plenum Press, New York, pp. 2-6, 9-18, 171-182, 185-267 (1976). PA0 8. Gene A. Spiller and Ronald J. Amen, Topics in Dietary Fiber Research, Plenum Press, New York, pp. 105-125 (1978). PA0 9. K. W. Heaton, Dietary Fibre: Current Developments of Importance to Health, Technomic Publishing Company, Inc., Westport, CT, pp. 9, 45-75, 97-151 (1979). PA0 10. Heinz A. Hoppe, et al, Marine Algae in Pharmaceutical Science, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, pp. 24, 139, 165, 203, 237, 243, 293, 303, 525, 693, 711 (1979). PA0 11. Roy L. Whistler and Theodore Hymowitz, Guar: Agronomy, Production, Industrial Use and Nutrition, Purdue University Press, West Lafayette, IN, pp. 114-117 (1979). PA0 12. Gene A. Spiller and Ruth McPherson Kay, Medical Aspects of Dietary Fiber, Plenum Medical Book Company, New York, p. 43-256 (1980). PA0 13. V. J. Chapman and D. J. Chapman, Seaweeds and their Uses, Chapman and Hall, London, pp. 62-97 (1980). PA0 14. Robert L. Davidson,Handbook of Water-Soluble Gums and Resins, McGraw Hill Book Co., New York, pp. 2-1 -24-1 (1980). PA0 15. Royal College of Physicians of London, Medical Aspects of Dietary Fibre, Pitman Medical, Kent, Great Britain, pp. 1-8, 63-159 (1980). PA0 16. U. P. T. James and Olof Theander, Analysis of Dietary Fiber in Food, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York (1981). PA0 17. Martin Glicksman, Food Hydrocolloids, Volume I, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, pp. 101-124, 127-167 (1982). PA0 18. Glyn O. Phillips, et al, Gums and Stabilisers for the Food Industry, Pergamon Press, Oxford, pp. 351-370 (1982). PA0 19. Ivan Furda, Unconventional Sources of Dietary Fiber, ACS Symposium Series 214, American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, pp. 1-32, 49-60, 71-104 (1983). PA0 20. Martin Glicksman, Food Hydrocolloids, Volume II, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, p. 7-190 (1983). PA0 21. Audry Eytons, The F-Plan Diet, Bantam Books, NY (1984). PA0 22. Barbara Huff, Physicians Desk Reference for Non-Prescription Drugs, Barnhart, Oradell, NJ, pp. 506, 418, 622 (1985). PA0 23. Yeshajahu Pomeranz, Functional Properties of Food Components, Academic Press, Orlando, FL, pp. 91-118, 469-471 (1985). PA0 24. Martin Glicksman, Food Hydrocolloids, Volume III, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, pp. 9-232 (1986). PA0 25. George E. Inglett and S. Ingemar Falkenhag, Dietary Fibers: Chemistry and Nutrition, Academic Press, New York, pp. 31, 49, 117, 173, 251. PA0 26. Martin S. Peterson and Lionel H. Johnson, Encyclopedia of Food Science, AVI, Westport, CT, pp. 279-287.
Fiber supplements--particularly refined, soluble dietary fibers (SDF) such as pectin (mixture of esterified galacturonan, galactan and araban), sodium alginate (C.sub.6 H.sub.7 NaO.sub.6), karaya gum and guar gum--are expensive and relatively difficult to handle. They are not available in any convenient form for the consumer to use as part of day to day dietary habits; and, even if they were, a particular problem still faced by the consumer would be in judging how much and how to add them to the diet in order to compensate for high cholesterol-bearing foods.
Moreover, SDF's are soluble only in extreme dilution; and, even then will form thick, mucilaginous gels which could result in food sprinkled with gelatinous coated, gritty bits of fiber rendering the food virtually inedible.
Alternatively, if SDF granules were first solubilized for use on food by the addition of water, they would form highly dilute, viscous, slimy coatings similar to thick mucilage, perhaps edible but flavor diluted, and otherwise texturally and hedonically altogether repugnant.
TABLE II ______________________________________ COMPARATIVE VISCOSITY OF SOME DIETARY FIBERS.sup.1 GUM cP ______________________________________ Gum arabic (20% by weight) 50 Locust bean gum 100 Methylcellulose 150 Gum tragacanth 200 Carrageenan 300 High viscosity sodium carboxymethylcellulose 1,200 Gum karaya 1,500 Sodium alginate 2,000 Guar gum 4,200 ______________________________________ .sup.1 Industrial Gums, Roy L. Whistler, Ed., Academic Press, New York, 1973, p. 316.
An advantage to persons suffering from fluctuations in blood sugar, such as persons prone to hypoglycemia and particularly diabetics who are also concerned with hyperglycemia and hypercholesteremia, is inherent in hypocholesteremic adjuvants of SDF. For example, among other remarkable health giving benefits claimed, guar gum and locust bean gum have been proven to stabilize blood glucose/insulin, referred to as glucose insulin flattening response (GIR).
Though some confusion seems to exist about the benefits of soluble or non-soluble dietary fibers, including a concise definition, global health records clearly demonstrate that in cultures where adequate dietary fiber is consumed, there is an absence, for all practical purposes, of what have come to be known as "rich country" ailments and diseases. The fact that dietary fiber and SDF, in particular, are of major importance not only in maintaining good health but in preventing and even reversing many important serious diseases and health conditions has been known for many years by many in the particular art.
Notwithstanding the need for a convenient food adjunct which can be used routinely by the consumer, no convenient flavor enhancer and dose-related SDF food additive product is at present known to exist. In technologically advanced societies, it is not easy to obtain adequate dietary fiber without major changes in long held cultural eating habits. Supplements of SDF are both expensive and inconvenient to use. No product is known to exist in which the character of soluble fibers is altered so that they are immediately soluble and not mucilaginous, gummy or gritty when applied like table salt directly to food before consumption. Indeed, much of the value associated with SDF products is in their gummy, mucilaginous characteristics.
Scientific research has proven, and continues to prove, the efficacy of hypocholesteremic adjuvant, soluble dietary fibers in altering the progress of many disease states, including diverticulitis, some cancers, cardiovascular disease, arteriosclerotic conditions, and many others, merely by increasing dietary intake above minimum critical limits of many of a wide variety of SDF's. U.S. Pat. No. 3,148,114 entitled: "Method of Reducing Cholesterol Levels", issued to Fahrenbach and Riccardi, discloses, for example, the discovery that thirteen (13) mucilaginous substances exert a powerful hypocholesteremic adjuvant action when consumed in tests by poultry.
Soluble dietary fibers are those substantially polysaccharide or carbohydrate portions of food products, derived essentially from cell wall or biochemical property related constituents of plants, microorganisms and a few animals, which are edible, water soluble and gel forming materials substantially resistant to digestion by enzymes of man; and, are collectively referred to when food is analyzed as dietary fibers. Soluble dietary fibers have essentially no caloric value.
Pectins, agar, guar gum, gum arabic (acacia), bengal, tragacanth, agar, dextran, curdlan, locust bean, tamarind, arabinogalactan (larch gum), shiraz, karaya, tara, ghatti gum and carrageenan, psyllium husks and seed, alginic acids (C.sub.6 H.sub.8 O.sub.6) and many of its salts, xanthan and cellulose (C.sub.6 H.sub.10 O.sub.5) derivatives such as carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), methylcellulose, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose are among those SDF's which have proven to be more or less HCA effective.
Included in the definition of SDF's are water soluble mucilages, pectic substances and plant gums, some storage polysaccharides, cellulose derivatives, synthetic gums, and polydextrose. Pectins such as high methoxyl and low methoxyl; gums such as oat, guar, bengal, locust bean, karaya, tara, ghatti, tragacanth, arabic (acacia), quince, sapote, furcelleran, watsonia, tamarind, psyllium, sodium alginate, carrageenan, agar, b-glucans; cellulose such as methylcellulose, carboxymethylcellulose and hemicellulose; microbial gums such as xanthan; mucopolysaccharides; chondroitin sulfate; amino polysaccharides, such as chitin (C.sub.8 H.sub.13 NO.sub.5) and chitosan; xylan; propol; polygalturonic acid; and, arabinogalactans are specific, but not exhaustive, examples of a soluble dietary fiber of SDF.
Many soluble dietary fibers have flavor characteristics few of which are pleasant or strong. Their primary applications in foods depend on characteristic functional properties such as emulsification or thickening. They are used almost exclusively in food processing and not by the consumer or directly onto food prior to consumption.
Hydrocolloids are preeminent bearers of SDF's and, in general, are molecularly structured in four configurations:
Linear (Characteristics: usually not more than two copolymerized sugar units; high viscosity; unstable solutions; difficult to dissolve; risk of precipitation after dissolution--gelation. Examples are: cellulose, amylose, pectin, carrageenan, agar, alginate). PA1 Single Branch (Characteristics: sugar units condensed with carbon groups other than C-1 or C-4. Example is: dextran). PA1 Substituted Linear (Characteristics: numerous short branches often consisting of only one sugar unit in length. Examples are: locust bean gum, guar gum). PA1 Branch on Branch (Characteristics: side chains on side chains; more stable and less viscous than linear. Typically, two or more types of sugar make up the polysaccharide. Excellent adhesive properties. Examples are: amylopectin, gum arabic).
TABLE III ______________________________________ Linear ______________________________________
TABLE IV ______________________________________ Single Branch ##STR1## ______________________________________
TABLE V ______________________________________ Substituted Linear ##STR2## ______________________________________
TABLE V ______________________________________ Branch on Branch ##STR3## ______________________________________
There does not seem to be any relationship between the configuration of the particular soluble dietary fiber and its flavor amplification capabilities.

Synergistic flavor enhancement nutritional compositions and methods


An axial agricultural combine having independently driven threshing and separating sections. A midpoint support bearing is located between the threshing and separating sections of the rotor. The midpoint support bearing is provided with a saddle mounted to the sidesheets of the combine and extending across the bottom portion of the rotor housing. A sealing disc is mounted to the saddle and has a sealing ring that covers the threshing section/separating section interface and a web that is provided with a bearing assembly. The drive shaft for driving the threshing section passes through this bearing.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to an axial agricultural combine having a rotor with a feeding and threshing section, and a separating section that can be driven independently of one another.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Case IH of Racine, Wisconsin, and New Holland, of New Holland, Pa., currently market axial flow combines. The Case IH combine is fitted with a single longitudinally arranged rotor located between the sidesheets of the combine. This rotor together with its housing threshes and separates the harvested crop material. The New Holland combine uses two side-by-side rotors also longitudinally arranged between the sidesheets of the combine. These rotors together with their housings also thresh and separate the harvested crop material.
The rotors of both of these combines are single units that are driven by a gearbox located at the rear of the rotor housing. The same rotational speed used in the threshing operation is also used in the separating operation. As such the operational rotational speed of the rotor is a compromise between optimal speed for threshing and optimal speed for separating. One attempt to optimize these operations is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,112,279 which discloses a hybrid combine having a transverse independently controlled threshing cylinder and an axial separating rotor.
The axial separator unit disclosed in the above-identified patent comprises a cylindrical rotor housing having a bottom portion provided with a grate and a top portion provided with helical vanes for indexing the crop material to the rear of the housing; and a rotor having crop engaging assemblies that engage the crop located in the bottom portion of the housing and throw it upwards against the helical vanes. The central longitudinal axis of the rotor is located below the central longitudinal axis of the housing making the rotor non-concentric with the housing.
A combine having an axial rotor with independently driven threshing and separating sections has been proposed. The proposed rotor was concentrically arranged in a rotor housing with bearing supports at each end of the housing.

Axial rotor having an independently driven threshing section and separating section


A disclosed method may include (1) identifying a memory buffer that is allocated to a packet on a computing device, (2) identifying one or more characteristics of the memory buffer allocated to the packet on the computing device, (3) determining, based at least in part on the characteristics of the memory buffer, that the memory buffer allocated to the packet has leaked, and then in response to determining that the memory buffer has leaked, (4) performing at least one action to remedy the leak of the memory buffer. Various other apparatuses, systems, and methods are also disclosed.

Network devices (such as routers and switches) are often used to forward traffic within a network and/or across networks. These network devices may represent and/or form the infrastructure of such networks. In some examples, an operating system running on a network device may allocate memory buffers to packets handled by the network device. If the operating system fails to free and/or release those memory buffers due to a programming error, those memory buffers may constitute and/or represent leaks in the network device.
Unfortunately, such leaks may ultimately lead to memory buffer exhaustion—a situation in which no memory buffers are available for allocation to incoming packets that arrive at the network device. As a result of this memory buffer exhaustion, the network device may effectively become unusable and/or unable to continue handling or forwarding packets. Accordingly, this memory buffer exhaustion may obstruct and/or impede the flow of traffic through the network device.
The instant disclosure, therefore, identifies and addresses a need for additional and improved apparatuses, systems, and methods for detecting and remedying memory buffer leaks in network devices.

Apparatus, system, and method for detecting and remedying memory buffer leaks in network devices


A voltage-mode digital-to-analog converter (DAC) includes input circuitry and an array of output impedance units disposed in parallel. The input circuitry receives a digital word of N bits. A selectable number of the output impedance units are activated to produce a desired aggregate output impedance. The selectable number is free to be a number different than N.

Digital-to-analog converters (DACs) play a critical role in transforming information from a digital domain into an analog domain. DACs generally convert an abstract finite precision number (such as a fixed-point binary number) into a physical quantity (such as a voltage or current). The number of output levels for a given DAC generally corresponds to its resolution, which is based on the number of "bits" of a given digital code that defines each output level. A variety of DAC architectures exist, including voltage-mode schemes and current steering schemes.
FIG. 1 illustrates a voltage-mode DAC, generally designated 100. The DAC includes a data input 102 that receives a data word of multiple bits during a bit time and a clock input 104 that receives a clock. Respective supply (VDD) and ground (VSS) reference voltages are provided to the DAC. Switch circuitry (not shown) responds to the clock to generate corresponding outputs that are weighted and summed to create an overall output voltage level corresponding to the input word code, but in the analog domain. An important consideration in achieving successful operation of the DAC involves maintaining an aggregate matching characteristic impedance for the output of the DAC, such as, for example 50 ohms.
FIG. 2 illustrates one conventional approach in tuning a DAC output impedance to exhibit an aggregate output impedance of 50 ohms for a DAC. The DAC includes respective DAC drivers 2000-200n-1 for processing each "bit" b0-bn-1 of the input N-bit word. Each driver, or bit slice, includes an output impedance unit 202 that exhibits an output resistance ROUT. Switch circuitry 204 selectively couples the impedance to the output "output" based on the value of the received input bit. Since multiple drivers are employed, sample-to-sample variations may cause the actual resistance of each output impedance unit to vary.
One solution to providing a post-silicon tuning method, illustrated in FIG. 3, involves configuring each output impedance unit as multiple separately selectable impedance units in series, such as shown in 302. A large impedance of, for example, 14 kohms, may be activated by switch 304, and tuned by selectively switching in one or more smaller impedance units of, for example, 1 kohms each to approach 16 kohms per slice. Aggregating the output impedances from the other bit-slices in parallel results in an aggregate output impedance value close to the desired 50 ohms. While this may appear to address the problem of inaccurate output impedance, it may introduce additional capacitance to the output node which may alter the termination impedance at higher frequencies.
What is needed is an accurate and power-efficient method and apparatus to support output impedance tuning operations for a voltage-mode DAC driver.

Voltage-mode DAC driver with parallel output resistance tuning


The present invention provides a DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) capable of generating a transfer function having a notch for reducing an error signal level in a desired frequency band.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) for converting a digital signal into an analog signal, and more particularly, relates to a DAC for generating a transfer function having a desired notch while reducing quantization noise.
2. Description of the Background Art
In a conventional DAC, particularly, for example, in an RF DAC (Radio Frequency Digital to Analog Converter) used to be applied to a radio transmitter, quantization noise is removed by using a noise shaping technology with a delta sigma modulator, and a transfer function having a notch for reducing a signal level in a desired frequency band is generated.
For example, in Non-Patent Literature 1 ("Mismatch Shaping for a Current-Mode Multibit Delta-Sigma DAC", T. Shui et al, IEEE JOURNAL OF SOLID-STATE CIRCUITS, VOL. 34, NO. 3, MARCH 1999), a transfer function having a notch for reducing a signal level in a desired frequency band is generated by using a mismatch shaping technology.
However, Non-Patent Literature 1 discloses an algorithm for controlling a unit-element array on the basis of input information (amplitude information, scalar) that is information two items before in a temporal axis, as shown in FIG. 24.
In the algorithm of the conventional mismatch shaping, when a phase error occurs, a transfer function having a notch for reducing an error signal level in a desired frequency band cannot be obtained, and thus noise characteristics deteriorate.

Abstract: The DAC of the present invention includes a switch bank to which at least two reference signals are inputted and which selects any of these signals and outputs the selected signal through a plurality of paths, and an amplitude-phase control section which controls a reference signal selection operation of the switch bank on the basis of an input signal.


This invention relates to a method and apparatus for forming a glass container by a press-and-blow system wherein the glass container is provided with a reinforced inner surface. According to the inventive method, fuel gas or a gaseous boron or silicon compound is burnt or otherwise reacted inside a parison after the parison molded in the blank mold is transferred to the finish mold. The burning or other reaction of the fuel gas or gaseous boron or silicon compounds can be carried out just prior to the final blow-molding step in which the parison is blow molded into its final shape, simultaneous with the final blow-molding step, or just after the final blow-molding step. The apparatus of the present invention includes a finish mold provided with a blow head which includes a low selector valve. The low selector valve is open during combustion or other reaction within the parison and is automatically closed during the final blow-molding step by the pressure of the compressed air used in the final blow-molding.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for forming glass containers having reinforced inner surfaces when the glass containers are produced by a press-and-blow system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Prior art methods for shaping glass containers include a blow-and-blow system and a press-and-blow system.
FIGS. 1a-1f are schematic views showing a glass gob and molds at various stages in the shaping process of a glass container shaped by the press-and-blow system. The production process proceeds from the first to the sixth stages depicted successively in FIGS. 1a-1f. In the first stage, a glass gob 2 is charged into a blank mold 1 through a funnel 4, and a plunger 3 is situated in a stand-by position below the gob 2. In the second stage, the gob 2 is disposed inside the blank mold 1 and a baffle 6 is fitted thereover. In the third stage (or pressing stage), the plunger 3 is extended into the gob 2 to form the gob generally into .the shape of a container, such container-shaped mass being called a parison. In the fourth stage, this parison 7 is transferred by a neck ring mold 5 to a finish mold 8 which has a bottom plate 9. In the fifth stage, the neck ring mold 5 is removed and the parison 7 is disposed in the finish mold 8. In the sixth stage (or final blowing stage), a blow head 10 is fitted to the finish mold 8, and compressed air a is blown into the parison 7 through the blow head 10 to form a glass container having the desired final shape.
The press-and-blow system has, to date, been the preferred system for shaping lightweight containers because it is capable of easily providing a uniform thickness distribution for the containers. However, in the press-and-blow system the parison is produced by pressing the plunger into the gob in the blank mold. Accordingly, the inner surface of the parison tends to have many fine scratches due to contact with the plunger and also its temperature tends to drop.
FIG. 6 shows exemplary values of the inner surface temperature of the parison in the press-and-blow system in comparison with those in the blow-and-blow system. It can be understood from this diagram that a remarkable temperature drop occurs during pressing of the plunger into the gob in the press-and-blow system.
Traces of the fine scratches on the inner surface of the parison remain even after the final blowing stage has been completed. The presence of these fine scratches tends to reduce the inner surface strength of the containers produced. Furthermore, the drop in the inner surface temperature of the parison exerts adverse influence on the reheating time and the molding of the parison.
The blow-and-blow system does not have a pressing step. Therefore, the containers produced thereby have a high inner surface strength. However, such containers do not have a uniform thickness distribution, thereby making it difficult to reduce the weight of the containers.
Accordingly, the press-and-blow system has generally been adopted in order to reduce the weight of the containers. In addition, in order to improve the outer surface strength of the containers, so-called hot-end coating or cold-end coating has been employed. However, there has heretofore been no particular method of retaining or increasing the inner surface strength of the containers.
Thus, in the press-and-blow system, fine scratches on the inner surface of the parison caused by contact between the gob and the plunger and the drop of the inner surface temperature of the parison have remarkably lowered the strength of the inner surfaces of the glass containers produced. Accordingly, a method and apparatus for preventing such troubles have long been anticipated.

Method and apparatus for forming glass containers with reinforced inner surfaces


In a first aspect, an automatic door opener is provided that includes (1) a platform adapted to support a substrate carrier; (2) a door opening mechanism adapted to open a door of the substrate carrier while the substrate carrier is supported by the platform; and (3) a tunnel. The tunnel is adapted to extend from an opening in a clean room wall toward the platform and at least partially surround the platform. The tunnel is further adapted to direct a flow of air from the clean room wall toward the platform and out of the tunnel. Numerous other aspects are provided.

Semiconductor devices are formed on substrates, such as silicon substrates, glass plates or the like, often termed wafers, for use in computers, monitors, etc. These devices are formed by a sequence of fabrication steps, such as thin film deposition, oxidation, etching, polishing and thermal and lithographic processing. Although multiple fabrication steps often may be performed in a single processing apparatus, substrates typically must be transported between different processing tools for at least some of the fabrication steps required for device fabrication.
Substrates generally are stored in carriers for transfer between processing tools and other locations. In many cases substrate carriers completely enclose the substrate or substrates contained therein in a stationary volume of air or other gas, to reduce the risk of particulate contamination of the substrates. A conventional substrate carrier generally has a door that must be opened and/or removed to permit a substrate to be extracted from the substrate carrier when the substrate carrier is interfaced to a processing tool.
It may be desirable to provide a latching mechanism for a substrate carrier, to assure that the door of the carrier remains closed at times when the door is intended to be closed (e.g., during transport). It also may be desirable to provide a clamping mechanism in a substrate carrier to assure that each substrate remains stationary within the carrier housing while the carrier is being transported to or from a processing tool. Such latching and clamping mechanisms typically require numerous actuators and the use of specially designed keys which increase the cost and complexity of substrate carriers. A more simplified, cost effective substrate carrier would be advantageous.

Substrate carrier having door latching and substrate clamping mechanisms


A method for detection of beta-D-glucuronidase activity in a sample that comprises the steps of (i) providing a glucuronic acid ester compound of the general formula (I) wherein R1 is a C1-4 alkyl group, OR2 is a dye moiety, which is liberated after cleavage of the glycosidic bond; (ii) contacting said glucuronic acid ester compound with a material of said sample exhibiting hydrolytic activity towards glucuronic acid esters, thereby removing R1 and thus forming a sample containing an indicator compound suitable for the detection and/or measurement of beta-D-glucuronidase activity, and (iii) using said indicator to perform an assay requiring detection or measurement of beta-D-glucuronidase activity.

The enzyme beta-D-glucuronidase catalyzes the hydrolysis of the O-glycosyl bond in beta-D-glucuronosides with the release of D-glucuronic acid. The enzyme is found in most vertebrates and many molluscs, but generally absent in higher plants, mosses, algae, ferns, fungi, as well as in most bacteria (U.S. Pat. No. 5,268,463).
The beta-D-glucuronidase is often used as a reporter for monitoring promoter activity (GUS reporter system) (U.S. Pat. No. 5,268,463). Indicators for detection of beta-D-glucuronidase consist of a dye molecule conjugated to glucuronic acid through a glycosidic bond, which can be cleaved by beta-D-glucuronidase. Cleavage liberates the dye which then unfolds its characteristic optical properties detectable by eye or suitable equipment. Common indicators in GUS reporter assays are X-beta-D-glucuronic acid, p-nitrophenyl-beta-D-glucuronic acid (PNPGluc) and 4-methylumbelliferyl-beta-D-glucuronide (MUG). However, the spectral properties of these indicators are not ideal. The yellow colour of p-nitrophenol, the cleavage product of PNPGluc, can be difficult to detect in a background with similar coloration, especially in plant tissues. Also, the blue fluorescence of 4-methylumbelliferone, the cleavage product of MUG, is often difficult to distinguish from natural matrix fluorescence (U.S. Pat. No. 5,268,463; U.S. Pat. No. 5,599,670).
Most importantly, beta-D-glucuronidase is a reliable marker for the presence and viability of Escherichia coli bacteria, therefore, providing the basis for common E. coli testing. Such test is typically conducted by contacting a suitable indicator substance sensitive to glucuronidase with a sample and observing the emergence of a signal associated with activity of glucuronidase. A popular fluorogenic indicator (an indicator producing fluorescence upon enzymatic transformation) for such use is MUG. Glucuronidase accepts this substance as a substrate and cleaves it hydrolytically—a process which is evident by the appearance of blue fluorescence.
In bacterial cultures the blue fluorescence of 4-methylumbelliferone is sometimes difficult to distinguish from natural matrix fluorescence or fluorescence from certain Pseudomonas strains (Manafi et al. (1991), Microbiol. Rev. vol. 55, pp. 335-348)). Superior both fluorogenic (e.g. fluorescein-, Resorufin-beta-D-glucuronic acid) and chromogenic (e.g. phenolphthalein-, sulfophenolphthalein-, Resorufin-beta-D-glucuronic acid) indicators are well known in the art but not commonly used due to their prohibitively high cost of manufacturing (U.S. Pat. No. 5,268,463; U.S. Pat. No. 5,599,670; U.S. Pat. No. 6,534,637).
Considering the relative simplicity of such molecules (beta-D-glucuronic acid glycosides) and the rapid advancement of synthetic organic chemistry over the past decades it is surprising that this problem has not yet been resolved. The key of the synthetic challenge is not associated with the formation of the glycosidic linkage between the dye and glucuronic acid as one might expect. It is the subsequent deprotection step of the glucuronic acid moiety of the indicator which causes the problem: For the course of synthesis the non-anomeric hydroxyl groups of glucuronic acid are chemically deactivated by acetylation and the carboxyl group is masked as an ester group. While the former can be removed with ease after glycosidation, cleavage of the glucuronic acid ester often leads to decomposition, rearrangement or lactonization of the indicator molecule. Until today, the lack of much needed sensitive and efficient indicators for glucuronidase is due to this one simple synthetic chemistry problem. Here we do not disclose the long-sought chemical solution to the problem but we describe our discovery that no such solution is needed.

Method for detection of beta-D-glucuronidase activity in a sample


In one embodiment, a computer-program product embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium that is programmed for performing an automatic speaker setup is provided. The computer-program product includes instructions for wirelessly receiving, via Near Field Communication (NFC), speaker information for at least one speaker in a speaker system. The computer-program product further includes instructions wirelessly transmitting the speaker information to an audio control unit that transmits audio data to the at least one speaker based on the speaker information.

The task of setting up a speaker, signal processing system and amplification system is presently a manual and potentially error-prone process. Generally, the user is required to manually enter a physical location for the speaker. This is a non-issue for wired speaker systems so long as the wiring is correct. However, this is not so clear for wireless speaker systems. Additionally, for professional systems, specific speaker parameters are loaded manually to ensure correct settings from transducer alignment delay, parametric equalizers, and gain matching. Moreover, current home systems that support automated room correction rely solely on measurements that are made during a calibration process which require the user to accurately place a microphone.

Harman International Industries, Incorporated


Provided is a solid-state illumination system for use in a microscopy system utilizing a light sensor of a mobile phone camera module. The system includes a bright-field illumination source with an array of light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The array of LEDs is configured to produce transmission light within a range of view of the light sensor of the mobile phone camera module. The system also includes a dark-field illumination source including a ring of LEDs. The ring of LEDs is configured to produce light outside of the range of collection of the camera module lens. The system also includes a diffuser configured to diffuse the transmission light and a diffusive black material coupled to the diffuser. The diffusive black material is configured to pass through at least some of the transmission light while blocking reflections of the scattering light.

Microscopy is a robust way to diagnose various diseases. However, the traditional microscopy techniques are expensive both on the image collection side and the image interpretation side. Other issues include size, weight, and difficulty of use of devices used with traditional microscopy techniques.
Recent advances in microscopy have leveraged modern mass-produced mobile phones, which include high-quality light sensors and lenses. Through coupling of a mobile phone with an auxiliary lens system, a reversed-lens imager can be provided that provides for non-telecentric imaging in an inexpensive and robust format. Such devices are quite useful in environments in which access to laboratory-grade microscopy devices is limited or non-existent, e.g., in the wilderness or in remote communities. Moreover, such devices may be relatively compact, e.g., the approximate size of a smart phone but on the order of two inches thick instead of the typical 0.5 inches or less thickness of a smart phone, e.g., on the order of 4″ by 2″ by 8″.
However, in order to effectively use most microscopy systems, the sample being imaged must typically be illuminated. Microscopy systems typically use one or both of two types of illumination—bright-field illumination and dark-field illumination. In bright-field illumination, light typically passes through the sample being imaged and into the imaging optics. In dark-field illumination, light from an illumination source is directed at the sample at an oblique angle such that the light that reaches the imaging optics is light that was reflected or scattered off of specimens in the sample, whereas light from the illumination source that is not reflected or scattered off of the specimens does not pass through the imaging optics. However, these techniques may be difficult to implement in microscopy systems utilizing mobile phone lenses due to the size limitations and the non-telecentric nature of mobile phone lenses.

Solid-state illumination system for compact microscopy


A lens-frame moving mechanism includes a lens frame guided to move between a ready-to-photograph position and a retracted position, the lens frame being biased forwardly by a biaser; an intermediate linearly movable member, wherein the lens frame contacts the intermediate linearly movable member; a leading screw formed on the drive shaft of a motor; a nut member screw-engaged onto the leading screw, wherein the nut member does not rotate relative to the lens frame and moves the intermediate linearly movable member in the optical axis direction; and a rearwardly-movable member which rearwardly moves the lens frame against the biasing force such that the lens frame moves away from the intermediate linearly movable member in the optical axis direction while the lens frame is moved from the ready-to-photograph position to the retracted position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lens-frame moving mechanism which forwardly or rearwardly moves a lens group in the ready-to-photograph position by a motor-driven leading screw, and which moves the lens group between the ready-to-photograph position and the retracted position.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a known type of a mechanism for moving a focusing lens group in the optical axis direction, a focusing lens group frame is movably biased toward an object to be photographed (hereinafter, the object side), and a nut member is screw-engaged with a leading screw, which is rotatably driven by a motor, so that the nut member does not rotate relative to the focusing lens group frame and presses against the focusing lens group to move the focusing lens group against the biasing force. This known structure is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2009-134249.
According to Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2009-134249, the rotation of the motor is transmitted via a gear train to a leading screw, enabling the length (thickness) of a lens-frame moving mechanism along an optical axis to be reduced.
However, in a lens-frame moving mechanism using a gear train, noise caused by the rotation of the gear train is inevitable. In particular, in a camera provided with a motion-picture function, this noise is undesirably recorded during the recording of a movie. In order to reduce such noise, it is preferable that a motor driving shaft be a leading screw, and a nut member be directly screw-engaged with the leading screw, without using the gear train.
On the other hand, the above-described mechanism (motor shaft leading-screw mechanism) in which a focusing lens group (frame) is moved by the nut member that is screw-engaged with a motor shaft leading screw (i.e., the leading screw is formed on the shaft of the motor), faces the following problems. Namely, in a miniaturized camera, it is general design practice to position a focusing lens group at a position closest to the image-side of the photographing lens system, and it is desirable for the focusing lens group to be moved along the optical axis toward the image side to attain the retracted position of the photographing lens system. Secondly, in the photographing lens system having a longer backfocus, the traveling distance of the focusing lens group from the retracted position to the ready-to-photograph position (the short focal-length extremity or the long focal-length extremity) inevitably becomes longer (i.e., the traveling distance of the focusing lens group toward the image side from the ready-to-photograph position to the retracted position becomes longer).
In the above-explained conventional lens-frame moving mechanism, the longer the traveling distance of the focusing lens group from the ready-to-photograph state to the retracted state, the longer the length of the leading screw. Consequently, miniaturization of the lens-frame moving mechanism in the optical axis direction becomes difficult.


In a robot having at least one rotating joint (which may have at least two degrees of freedom), in order to perform a high-speed switching operation between a closed link mode and an open link mode with the outside world or a working object, each limb is provided with minimum-required, passive degrees-of-freedom (such as a backlash of a reducer) for removing a dynamic closing error and also the movable range of the limb is properly controlled. Even when an actuator for driving the corresponding joint has no means for obtaining a torque signal, a high-speed switching operation between the closed link mode and the open link mode can be stably achieved.

A mechanical apparatus performing a motion that imitates a human motion by using an electric or magnetic effect is called a ROBOT. The etymology of ROBOT is said to be originated in Slavic "ROBOTA (a slave machine)". Although robots have been widely used in Japan since the end of the 1960s, most robots are industrial robots such as manipulators and transport robots used for automated production and non-man production at factories.
Stationary robots such as arm robots installed fixedly at specific sites perform operations such as a parts-assembling operation and a parts-sorting operation only in a fixed and local working space. On the other hand, mobile robots perform operations in an unlimited working space such as acting for a prescribed or unprescribed human operation by moving flexibly along a predetermined route or without a route, and offer a variety of services that substitute for a human, a dog and other animate things. Among others, legged walking robots have advantages in moving up and down stairs and a ladder, walking over an obstacle, and a flexible walk and a walking motion regardless of leveled and unleveled terrain, although these robots are more unstable and more difficult in controlling an attitude and a walk than crawler-type robots and tired mobile robots.
Recently, research and development of legged walking robots such as human-shaped robots, i.e., humanoid robots designed by modeling after a body mechanism and a motion of biped walking animals such as a human have advanced, and thus expectations for practical use have been increasingly built up. For example, a biped-walking, humanoid robot "SDR-3X" was disclosed by Sony Corporation on Nov. 25, 2000.
The following two are exemplary viewpoints from which the importance of research and development of a biped walking robot called a human-shaped robot, i.e., a humanoid robot is understood.
One is a viewpoint from human science. More particularly, fabricating a robot having a structure imitating human lower limbs and/or upper limbs and devising the control method therefor lead to technologically solving a mechanism of natural human motions including walking through a simulation process of the human motions. Such study is expected to significantly contribute to promoting a variety of other research fields for human athletic mechanisms such as ergonomics, rehabilitation technology, and sports science.
The other is a viewpoint from the development of practical robots for supporting living activities as a partner of man, that is, for supporting human activities in various daily environments including a living environment. Such kinds of robots are required to learn the way of adapting to people, each having different personalities, or to different environments while being taught by the people, and to further develop the functions thereof in various aspects of human living environments. A human-shaped robot or a robot having the same shape or the same structure with man is expected to function effectively for smooth communication with man.
For example, when teaching a robot the way of passing through a room on site while avoiding an obstacle on which the robot must not step, an operator expects to more easily teach the above-mentioned way to a biped walking robot having a similar shape with that of the operator than to a crawler-type robot or a quadruped robot having a structure totally different from that of the operator. Also, it must be the easy way for the robot to be taught (for example, refer to Takanishi: Control of Biped walking robot, Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan, Kanto Charter, <KOSO> No. 25, Apr. 1996).
Most of a human working and living spaces are formed in accordance with a body mechanism and patterns of behavior of a human who walks erect with two legs. In other words, so many obstacles exist against a current mechanical system having wheels and a driving unit as moving means to move in the human living space. In order for the mechanical system, i.e., the robot, to offer services that support or substitute a variety of human operations and to be thus deeply involved in the human living space, it is preferable that the robot have a movable range substantially the same as that of a human. This is the reason why the legged walking robot is greatly expected to come into practical use. It can be said that the robot must have a human structure so as to improve affinity to the human living environment.
A large number of attitude controls and stable walk technologies about biped walking robots have been proposed. The stable walk as mentioned above is defined as a legged locomotion without falling down.
An attitude stabilization control of a robot is extremely important for preventing the robot from falling down, because falling-down leads to suspending the performing operation of the robot and also requires a considerable amount of energy and time for standing up and restarting the operation from falling down. Most importantly, falling-down of the robot causes a risk of a fatal damage to the robot itself or to an opposing obstacle colliding with the falling robot. Accordingly, the attitude stabilization control for walking and other leg-moving operations is the most important technical matter in designing and developing a legged walking robot.
While walking, a gravitational force, an inertia force, and a moment due to these forces from a walking system act on a road surface because of a gravity and an acceleration caused by a walking motion. According to a so-called D'Alambert principle, these forces and the moment balance a floor reaction force and moment as a reaction from the road surface to a walking system. As a result of the dynamic deduction, a supporting polygon formed by the grounding points of foot bottoms and the road surface has a point at which pitch-axis and roll-axis moments are zero, in other words, a zero moment point (ZMP) on the sides of or inside the supporting polygon.
Most proposals about the attitude stabilization controls and falling prevention of legged walking robots use this ZMP as a criterion for determining walking stability. Generation of a biped walking pattern based on the ZMP criterion has advantages in easily considering a toe condition of kinematical constraints in accordance with a road surface profile and the like since the grounding point of the foot bottom can be preset. Using ZMP as a criterion for determining stability means that a trajectory instead of a force is used as a target value for a motion control, thereby increasing the technical feasibility of the robot.
A general idea of ZMP and an application of ZMP to a criterion for determining stability of a walking robot are described in "LEGGED LOCOMOTION ROBOTS" written by Miomir Vukobratovic ("Walking Robot and Artificial Leg" written by Ichiro Kato, et al., The Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun Ltd.).
In general, a biped walking robot such as a humanoid robot has a center of gravity at a higher position and a narrower ZMP region for stable walking than a quadruped walking robot. Therefore, such an issue of an attitude variation depending on a road surface profile is especially important to the biped walking robot.
However, the legged walking robot has just taken a first step from a development stage to a practical application stage and a large number of technological problems still remain unsolved.
The legged walking robot expected to take an active role in the human living environment basically has a plurality of "limbs" formed of rotating joints and is required to perform a high-speed switching operation between a closed link mode and an open link mode with the outside world or a working object so as to achieve stable biped walking, a stable two-arms operation, or the like.
For example, the legged walking robot performs a variety of leg-moving operations such as walking by usually standing alternately with a single or both of right and left movable legs. When the legged walking robot changes its link mechanism with a floor, a wall, or the like from an open link mechanism to a closed link mechanism, for example, when it switches its standing mode from a single-leg standing mode to a both-legs standing mode, it often has a difference between an expected value from its control system and an actual value, for example, at its grounding toe.
Such a difference between the expected value and the actual value causes "detachment" which means that the toe has not yet grounded at the time when it is expected to ground or "crash" which means that the toe has grounded earlier than expected. These detachment and crash have a great effect on an attitude stabilization control of the body of the legged walking robot.
Heretofore, there have been attempts for achieving a high-speed switching operation from the open link mode to the closed link mode with a feedback control by using software on the basis of a force signal from a force sensor disposed at the top of a limb or a torque signal from an actuator for driving a joint. However, achieving a stable motion with this method is very difficult from a technical viewpoint since a short feedback cycle, a high resolution, a high speed, and a large acceleration for driving the joint are required to an unrealistic degree.

Legged walking robot and motion control method therefor


Decreasing disk costs make it possible to take frequent snapshots of past storage system states and retain them for a long duration. Existing snapshot approaches offer no satisfactory solution to long-lived snapshots. Split snapshots are an approach that is promising because it does not disrupt the current state storage system in either the short or the long run. An unsolved problem has been how to maintain an efficient access method for long-lived split snapshots without imposing undesirable overhead on the storage system. Skippy is a new approach that inexpensively indexes long-lived snapshots in parallel with snapshot creation. An embodiment of Skippy uses append-only index data structures to optimize writes while simultaneously providing low-latency snapshot lookup. Performance evaluations of Skippy indicate that this new approach is effective and efficient. It provides close-to-optimal access to long-lived snapshots while incurring a minimal impact on the current-state storage system.

Decreasing disk costs make it possible to take frequent snapshots of past storage system states and retain them on-line for a long duration. A new generation of snapshot-based applications that use the past to infer about the current state and to predict the future is rushing to the market. Snapshot systems are attracting the attention of storage systems practitioners and researchers alike, and snapshots are becoming a "must have" for a modern storage system. Existing snapshot approaches, however, offer no satisfactory solution to long-lived snapshots. Yet, long-lived snapshots are important because, if the past is any predictor of the future, a longer-time prediction needs a longer-lived past.
Existing access techniques to versioned past data in databases and file systems rely on a "no-overwrite" update approach. In this approach, the past state remains in-place and the new state is copied, so the mappings for the past state take over the mappings of the current state all at once, rather than gradually. For example, consider a storage system which has only five pages P1, P2, P3, P4, and P5. The database maintains the current state of P1-P5. If after a snapshot is declared page P3 is modified to page P3′, page P3 is left in place and page P3′ is copied to a later point in the database. Thus, the database may contain pages P1, P2, P3, P4, P5, and P3′. Although the past state is maintained "as is", the current state becomes increasingly fragmented as page changes occur.
Split snapshot systems are a recent approach that is promising because, unlike other approaches, it does not disrupt the current state storage system in either short or long run, and because it allows garbage collecting of selected unneeded snapshots at no-cost, which is a useful feature for long-lived snapshots. An unsolved problem has been how to maintain an efficient access method for long-lived split snapshots without imposing undesirable overhead on the current storage system.
The problem arises because, to avoid disrupting the current state, the split snapshot system separates the past state from the current state, storing them separately. The current state is maintained in the database. Once a snapshot is declared, it is necessary to ensure that the declared snapshot accurately reflects the current state at declaration. In a split snapshot system, when pages are modified after a snapshot declaration, the unmodified page is copied to a separate storage system prior to modification and then the page in the database is modified "in place". For example, consider a storage system which has only five pages P1, P2, P3, P4, and P5. The database maintains the current state of P1-P5. If after a snapshot is declared page P3 is modified to page P3′, page P3 is first copied to the separate storage system. Then the database is updated to reflect this change and now contains pages P1, P2, P3′, P4, and P5.
This greatly simplifies and speeds up access to the current state since the current state is maintained "as is". However, access to past states is complicated by the fact that a snapshot's pages may be located in both the database and the separate storage system due to the fact that pages are only copied to the separate storage when they are modified. In the example above, the page table for the declared snapshot would need to indicate that pages P1, P2, P4, and P5 are in the database (since they haven't yet changed since the snapshot's declaration) while page P3 is in the separate storage (since it has changed after the snapshot's declaration). Since the snapshot page table is as large as the database page table (since they contain the same number of pages), when snapshots are frequent, managing such mutable snapshot page tables can be costly.
A "page" is defined as a virtual data block. A "mapping" is a data structure that provides a linkage from the logical/virtual address space of a page to the physical address space of a storage medium such as a hard disk drive or the like. A "snapshot mapping" is a mapping between a snapshot page and a snapshot storage. A "database mapping" is a mapping between a database page and a database storage. A "page table" is a data structure which contains mappings. Snapshot Page Tables (SPT) is a type of page table that can be created at low-cost by first writing the mappings of the snapshot pages into a sequential log as snapshot pages are copied to the snapshot store. The snapshot page table may then be constructed by scanning the log to find all the mappings for the snapshot pages. This can be costly if some pages are modified infrequently, since the scan has to pass over many repeated mappings of the frequently modified pages before finding the infrequent mappings.
Skewed update workloads are common in databases and file systems. The application requesting to run on a snapshot has to wait for the construction of the snapshot page table to complete. It is important, therefore, to reduce the time of the construction scan. Although in-memory techniques exist for split snapshot system to accelerate the construction scan, this approach supports only short-lived snapshots. Thus, an access method is needed for split snapshot systems that also supports long-lived snapshots.

Device and method for enabling long-lived snapshots


Disclosed is a method and system for managing execution of processes on a cluster of processing devices by a supervising device. The method comprises receiving memory consumption information from each of a processing devices executing a plurality of processes. The method further comprises receiving information related to swapping of a new process from at least one processing device of the processing devices while memory available on the at least one processing device is insufficient to execute the new process. The method further comprises terminating either the new process being swapped or a process executing on the at least one processing device. The method further comprises instructing another processing device having sufficient memory available for execution of the new process being swapped or the process executing on the at least one processing device, whichever is terminated on the at least one processing device.

Random Access Memory (RAM) is a primary memory used by a processing device such as a server to process installed applications. The number of applications and memory consumption by the applications, generally present in the memory of the processing devices, have been identified to be increasing over the time. Such increase in memory consumption is caused due to several technical and non-technical reasons such as data flows and memory leaks.
Memory fragmentation is another challenge that every processing device eventually faces, irrespective of the size of RAM available with the processing device. Memory fragmentation issues arise whenever a process demands a memory block whose size is bigger than a maximum contiguous free block available. To tackle the problem of memory fragmentation, memory virtualization is a technique implemented by operating systems. By memory virtualization, a designated zone of Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) called "swap" is used as an extension of the primary memory i.e. the RAM. There also remains a problem associated with the technique of memory virtualization, and that includes operational speed of the HDDs. Operation on the HDDs are extremely slower compared to RAM, and this significantly degrades overall performance of the processing device.
Current attempts to overcome such problems have been made at Operating System (OS) levels only. The OS is designed to effectively utilize the memory of a processing device. Despite making the changes at the OS level, physical memory management poses a challenge. Therefore, there remains a need to manage the requirement of physical memories i.e. RAMS required for executing applications on processing devices, and to overcome the problem of memory fragmentation.

System and method for managing execution of processes on a cluster of processing devices


A sensor system can comprise a light source generating a light pulse that is collimated, and a plurality of optical elements. Each of the plurality of optical elements is configured to rotate independently about an axis that is substantially common, and the plurality of optical elements operate to collectively direct the light pulse to one or more objects in an angle of view of the sensor system. Furthermore, the sensor system can comprise a detector configured to receive, via the plurality of optical elements, at least a portion of photon energy of the light pulse that is reflected back from the one or more objects in the angle of view of the sensor system, and convert the received photon energy into at least one electrical signal.

Sensors are important for performing various types of operations, e.g. by movable or stationary objects. Especially, movable objects, such as robots, manned vehicles and unmanned vehicles, can take advantage of different sensors for navigating in a complex environment. For example, movable objects need to be aware of surrounding condition in order for performing path planning and obstacle detection and avoidance in an unknown environment. This is the general area that embodiments of the invention are intended to address.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

LIDAR sensor system with small form factor


A trail analysis method of movable object includes acquiring first stay event data indicating a first location, a first arrival time of a first movable object to the first location and a first staying time, and second stay event data indicating a second location, a second arrival time of a second movable object to the second location and a second staying time, evaluating coincidence between the first and second locations based on the first and second stay event data, evaluating whether a first time zone specified by the first arrival time and the first staying time and a second time zone specified by the second arrival time and the second staying time overlap, from the first and second stay event data, and evaluating contact between the first and second movable objects using location and staying time evaluation results.

The present invention relates to a trail analysis of a movable object such as a human or other, particularly to a method of analyzing a contact status between movable objects and a system therefore.
In related art, there has been developed a system for monitoring position of a walker moving in a facility such as a shopping center by installing a plurality of receivers in the facility and carrying the walker with a transmitter. Such a system allows providing information depended upon the attribute and current position of the walker to the walker.
Use of the above system allows extracting features common to a plurality of walkers or all walkers in the facility by acquiring and analyzing a moving history of a walker. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-266010 discloses to apply such a system to a retail store to analyze migration condition of a customer in a shop and staying time thereof at a sales floor. The system can monitor movement of each walker but cannot monitor contact situation of the walker with the other person so that the walker talks with the other person. Accordingly, the system cannot perform analysis on service of an employee in a retail store and the like.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-263641 discloses an apparatus for analyzing behavior of a customer by means of an video camera arranged in a shop. This describes attendance-on-customer detection, but does not describe a concrete detection method. This method is thought to be poor in utility because detection is difficult due to position of a video camera, or the detection of the customer movement using the video camera is difficult in terms of privacy.
The present invention is directed to provide a trail analysis method capable of detecting effectively contact between moving objects without visual inspection and a system therefore.


A negative pressure device for applying to skin is configured to define a sealed enclosed three-dimensional space when at least a portion of the device is sealed against the skin. The device includes a body including at least one expandable segment that is configured to expand after the device has been sealed against the skin.

Negative pressure is a term used to describe a pressure that is below normal atmospheric pressure. Known topical negative pressure devices range from cumbersome wrinkle reducing suction apparatuses to wound therapies that include fluid-permeable wound cavity filling elements, covering dressings, reasonably air-tight means for sealing against the skin, and drainage tubes connecting the wound site and cavity filling element to the vacuum source via a fluid collection canister.
To enable a more prolonged application of topical negative pressure, powered systems, which include a vacuum generation source such as a pump, have been developed and many examples of such systems are used today for skin treatments and restorative purposes like the temporary removal of wrinkles. Many of these systems, however, are not convenient for users. Such known systems can be large, heavy, noisy, uncomfortable, and not simple for users to apply and initiate a controlled pressure condition. Such known systems also rely on an outside power or vacuum source to create topical negative pressure conditions.
Such tissue treatment, surgery, and other advanced technical interventions are becoming more common given the occurrence of both the aging population, as well as increasingly compromised patient populations. This trend looks set to continue. In wound care, for example, healthcare professionals are now more likely to encounter wounds with complex healing problems that are difficult to manage. Attempts have been made to produce more simple mechanical devices able to apply topical and negative pressure to a tissue site. It will be appreciated that such a medical device, due to its relative simplicity of design, would be expected to reduce material costs and assembly costs. For example, attempts have been made to use a hand-pump system for the application of topical negative pressure at a tissue site. However, such a system fails to enable easier application by the user, discreet use, and prolonged convenient application of topical negative pressure, and, in fact, re-evacuation is often necessary. These can be serious deficiencies, particularly as many such systems are ideally useable for prolonged periods, such as overnight.

Negative pressure device including expandable segment


A lens unit includes a lens barrel, an imaging system arranged therein; a movable part having a movable lens, moved in an optical axis with respect to the lens barrel; a linear actuator for moving the movable part in the optical axis direction; and a biasing plate spring having a holding section that holds the movable part, spring sections that can be resiliently deformed and bias the movable part in the optical axis direction, and attached sections that are attached to the lens barrel, the thickness direction of the plate spring coinciding with the optical axis, wherein the holding section of the biasing plate spring is formed into a circular arc; and at least a portion of the spring sections of the plate spring are formed into a shape extending in a direction substantially along the holding section on the outer peripheral side of the holding section.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lens unit and an imaging apparatus. More particularly, this invention relates to a lens unit and an imaging apparatus which realize downsizing by holding a movable part by biasing plate springs and devising shapes of the biasing plate springs.
2. Related Art
A lens unit in which an imaging optical system such as movable lenses is arranged in a lens barrel is incorporated into various types of imaging apparatuses such as a video camera, a still camera and a cellular phone, and there is an imaging apparatus provided with a movable part having movable lenses for zoom or for focus, which can be moved in an optical axis direction by a linear actuator. See Japanese Patent No. 3387173 and Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H8-15593, for example.
In the above-described imaging apparatus, the movable part is supported movably in the optical axis direction by a pair of guide shafts, and is moved in a direction according to an energization direction to a driving coil by energizing the driving coil of the linear actuator.


A method of manufacturing a unit assembly of filter membranes obtained by precipitating a polymer solution, comprises the following steps: a plurality of elongate porous elements are placed in an outer shell having a closed end and an open end, the elongate elements passing through said closed end and having longitudinal axes which are parallel to one another and to the direction extending between the two ends; injecting the polymer solution around the porous elements; injecting a fluid into one end of the elements, the fluid diffusing through the elements towards the polymer; and removing the polymer solvent which diffuses in the opposite direction from the other ends of the elements, thereby causing the polymer to precipitate and form a porous polymer structure around the porous elements and between them, with the porous structure having in contact with the porous elements a skin of adjustable porosity then removing the porous elements in order to unmold a porous polymer block pierced by channels whose longitudinal axes are parallel to one another. The invention also provides the resulting unit filter assembly, and mold for use in manufacturing it.

Conventional filter membranes (for ultrafiltration, microfiltration, . . . ) are tubular membranes having porous walls, with an inside or an outside skin or with two skins (where the term "skin" designates a thin surface coating which is less porous than the remainder of the wall). These membranes are obtained by extruding a polymer solution in the form of a hollow fiber, and by precipitating the polymer (e.g. polysulfone). The resulting continuous hollow fiber is wound into a skein which may optionally be placed in a perforated sleeve, and the ends of the skein are potted in plates of resin used for mounting in a housing, with the end portions of the skein then being cut off in order to transform the remainder into a bundle of fibers which are open at both ends. The assembly is then mounted in a housing having inlet and outlet orifices in order to constitute a filter module.
The manufacture of such modules is thus lengthly and requires a plurality of steps including, inter alia, handling the fiber as it is formed, thereby running the risk of breaking it.

Method of manufacturing a unit assembly of filter membranes, a mold used in the method, and a product obtained from the method


The present application describes a work management/tracking framework that allows users to organize work around goals that may utilize several applications. Goals may encompass smaller individual tasks that span more than one application. An action object is used to represent a goal and can have one or more task items associated with it. The task items associated with an action object represent tasks that are included in the events and processes necessary to accomplish the goal. As a user works, the tasks that the user works on are tracked. If the user has requested to maintain the tasks in an action object, the tasks are associated with an action object. The user is assisted in pulling in possible task items that the user may wish to associate with an action object by being provided with a list of selectable task items that may be related to the action object.

The number of jobs that require management of a large amount of information have increased significantly over the last few years. In addition, such jobs have seen an exponential rise in the amount and types of information that is required to be managed. Managing such information is more difficult, not only because of the increase in volume but because of the complex, ambiguous and changing nature of information.
Rapid growth in information sources and communication drive volume; new business models/techniques drive complexity; virtual teaming, matrix management and partnership relationships increase ambiguity. Information technologies that were non-existent a mere ten or fifteen years ago are common in a typical workplace today (e.g. email, Internet, instant messaging, etc.).
As the volume and complexity of information has increased, so has the difficulty of managing information. Information workers are finding it harder and harder to efficiently manage the information they use in performing routine tasks to accomplish larger goals.
Typically, users utilize several applications to perform tasks associated with a work goal. For example, a worker who is responsible for creating and presenting a financial presentation must not only utilize an electronic slide presentation application, but he may also need to access email messages, word processing documents, electronic spreadsheets, etc. in the course of preparing the presentation. It can become burdensome for the worker to open several applications and search for relevant files that the worker needs to perform the goal of creating the financial presentation.


A high-voltage insulation device (300) for use in a charged-particle optical apparatus comprises a plurality of rigid pillars (320) made of electrically insulating material. These pillars (320) are arranged around a central passage (310) which traverses the insulating device along its longitudinal axis (L), and the two ends of each pillar are configured to be respectively fixed to two separate electrostatic housings (221, 231) of the charged-particle optical apparatus by means of two respective end plates (311, 312), with the pillars (320) being oriented at an angle so as to be inclined with regard to said longitudinal axis (L). Advantageously, the pillars are mechanically adjustable with regard to their effective length, and each pillar (320) is arranged outside the central passage with its two ends at either of the first and second end plates (311, 312), preferably in a zig-zag arrangement.

In a charged-particle optical apparatus of the mentioned kind charged particles such as electrons or ions are brought to high kinetic energies, by means of an electro-optical column employing electrostatic high voltages in the range of several kilovolts (kV), and projected onto a target in order to perform certain structuring processes such as CVD processes, electron-based structuring of the target surface and exposure of a resist-layer in order to form a mask for subsequent etching processes. The high voltages used in these apparatuses have to be safely confined so as to avoid electric hazards to the operating personnel as well as surrounding devices. At the same time, it is required to keep the components of the electro-optical column, which includes parts operated at high and low voltages, stably at their respective positions with small tolerances of mutual alignment.
A conventional approach is to keep the entire electro-optical column within one electrostatic housing kept a ground potential (or zero potential, 0 V). For such a setup, it is necessary to provide for high-voltage feedthroughs for the high-voltage supply lines that are used to for high-voltage components, which are bulky and expensive.
Another approach is to employ a high-voltage housing which encases the high-voltage section of the electro-optical column. Then, the insulation between the high-voltage housing and the rest of the electro-optical column at low voltages has to be realized as a rigid device in order to provide for both electric insulation and rigid mechanical connection. However, conventional insulating devices envisaged a massive insulating ring, which involves high mass and costs, has high risk of breakage and is difficult to adjust with regard to the position of high-voltage and low-voltage sections.

High-voltage insulation device for charged-particle optical apparatus


A system may include a node historical state data store having historical node state data, including a metric that represents a health status or an attribute of a node during a period of time prior to a node failure. A node failure prediction algorithm creation platform may generate a machine learning trained node failure prediction algorithm. An active node data store may contain information about computing nodes in a cloud computing environment, including, for each node, a metric that represents a health status or an attribute of that node over time. A virtual machine assignment platform may then execute the node failure prediction algorithm to calculate a node failure probability score for each computing node based on the information in the active node data store. As a result, a virtual machine may be assigned to a selected computing node based at least in part on node failure probability scores.

Could-based data centers may be employed by an enterprise in a variety of settings for running service applications and maintaining data for business and operational functions. For example, a data center within a networked system may support operation of a variety of differing service applications (e.g., web applications, email services, and search engine services). These networked systems typically include a large number of nodes distributed throughout one or more data centers, in which each node is associated with a physical machine. For example, FIG. 1 illustrates a system 100 having a number of computing nodes 110 (nodes 1 through N). Each computing node 110 may execute one or more Virtual Machines ("VM"), such as virtual machines A through D illustrated in FIG. 1. A virtual machine assignment platform 150 may assign new virtual machines 160 to be executed by a particular computing node 160 (e.g., virtual machine X might be assigned to be executed by computing node 1). Due partly to the substantial number of computing nodes 110 that may be included within a large-scale system, detecting anomalies within various nodes 110 can be a time-consuming and costly process.
For example, the computing nodes 110 in the system 100 may be susceptible to hardware errors, software failures, misconfigurations, or bugs affecting the software installed on the nodes 110. Therefore, it may be necessary to inspect the software and/or hardware to fix errors (e.g., a disk failure) within the nodes 110. Generally, undetected software and/or hardware errors, or other anomalies, within the nodes 110 may adversely affect the functionality offered to component programs (e.g., tenants) of a customer's service application residing on the nodes 110.
At the present time, data-center administrators are limited to an individualized process that employs manual efforts directed toward reviewing hardware and software issues individually on each node 110 in a piecemeal fashion. Moreover, the system 100 may represent a dynamic platform that is constantly evolving as it operates. For example, there may be large number of nodes 110 running various combinations of component programs. As such, the configuration of these nodes can vary for each component-program combination. Further, the configurations may be progressively updated as new services and/or features are added to virtual machines and/or node hardware is replaced.
Conventional techniques that attempt to detect misconfigurations are reactionary in nature. For example, conventional techniques are typically invoked only upon a failure issue being detected. At that point, an administrator within the hosting service might be tasked with manually diagnosing the issue and ascertaining a solution. This can make it difficult for a data center to achieve reliability beyond the "four nines" (that is, 99.99% reliability).
What is needed is a system to accurately and efficiently improve data center reliability.

Computing node failure and health prediction for cloud-based data center