A method of purifying an organic diphosphite of general formula (I)

The present invention relates to a method of purifying organic diphosphite compounds.
Organic diphosphite compounds have found extremely widespread use, for example as chelating ligands in homogeneous catalysis, and also as flame retardants, UV stabilizers, etc. Particular rhodium complexes with organic diphosphite compounds have been found to be useful as catalysts for the hydroformylation of olefins since they firstly have a high catalytic activity and secondly lead predominantly to linear aldehydes which are preferred for many applications. Organic diphosphite compounds are also suitable as ligands for transition metal complex catalysts for hydrocyanation, hydrogenation, carbonylation, hydroacylation, hydroamidation, hydroesterification, hydrosilylation, hydroboration, alcoholysis, isomerization, allylic alkylation or hydroalkylation.
Such diphosphite compounds, their preparation and their use as ligands in a hydroformylation process are described, for example, in EP 0 214 622 A2, U.S. Pat. No. 4,668,651, U.S. Pat. No. 4,748,261, U.S. Pat. No. 4,769,498, U.S. Pat. No. 4,885,401, U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,113, U.S. Pat. No. 5,391,801, U.S. Pat. No. 5,663,403, U.S. Pat. No. 5,728,861 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,172,267. The use in a hydrocyanation process is also described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,127,567.
Organic diphosphites of the general formula (A) are usually prepared by a process comprising the following steps:                a) reaction of a compound of the formula (A1) (=first aromatic diol) with phosphorus trichloride to give the phosphomonochloridite (A2)
                b) reaction of the phosphomonochloridite (A2) with a compound of the formula (A3) (=second aromatic diol) to give the chelating diphosphite (A)

The groups derived from the first aromatic diol (A1) in the organic diphosphites will hereinafter also be referred to as "side wings".
The preparation of diphosphites in which at least one of the phosphorus atoms is not part of a heterocycle is carried out analogously by, in step a), reacting PCl3 with two molar equivalents of an appropriate monoalcohol instead of one molar equivalent of the first aromatic diol (A1). To prepare diphosphites in which the two phosphorus atoms are bridged by other groups, other diols can be used instead of the backbone diol (A3).
One possible way of removing the hydrogen halides liberated in the condensation reaction is the use of an at least stoichiometric amount of base, with nitrogen bases frequently being used. However, the removal of the resulting acid salts is frequently difficult and the salts can often not be recycled sensibly and have to be disposed of, which is associated with additional costs.
WO 2003/062171 and WO 2003/062251 describe a method of separating acids from reaction mixtures by means of an auxiliary base which with the acid forms a salt which is liquid at temperatures at which the desired product is not significantly decomposed during removal of the liquid salt and the salt of the auxiliary base forms two immiscible liquid phases with the desired product or the solution of the desired product in a suitable solvent. In other words, the acid salts of the auxiliary base behave like ionic liquids which are essentially immiscible with the actual reaction solvent. Preferred auxiliary bases of this type are 1-methylimidazole, 1-n-butylimidazole, 2-methylpyridine and 2-ethylpyridine. The methods described in WO 2003/062171 and WO 2003/062251 are suitable, inter alia, for phosphorylation reactions such as the above-described synthesis of phosphomonochloridites and the reaction thereof with an aromatic diol to give a diphosphite compound.
In general, organic diphosphite compounds have to be subjected after the synthesis to a purification in order to remove interfering impurities before use in a catalysis process.
Potential impurities can be independent of the synthesis process used, e.g. decomposition or other subsequent products typical of this class of material or be formed during the course of the synthesis. Problematical impurities are, firstly, impurities which can form complexes with transition metals such as rhodium, e.g. acetonitrile, and thus have a potential influence on use of the diphosphite compounds as catalysts. These include, for example, secondary organophosphites which will be discussed in more detail below. Also problematical are impurities which make the use of expensive apparatuses necessary, e.g. corrosive halides, especially chloride. Chloride ions are also known catalyst poisons for rhodium complex catalysts.
Adverse effects of impurities in the organic diphosphite compounds can affect the process itself in which they are used as ligands. Thus, impurities which act as catalyst poisons and/or lead to decomposition of the catalyst have an adverse effect on the catalyst operating life, which can over time lead to operational malfunctions. This applies, in particular, to the use of the organic diphosphite compounds in a continuous process in which impurities can accumulate. Adverse effects of these impurities can also affect the desired products produced in the respective process by having adverse effects on product properties, e.g. the storage behavior, the handleability, the odor, the color, the keeping qualities, etc.
The substantially complete removal of impurities is therefore a critical prerequisite for the organic diphosphite compound to be able to be used successfully in an industrial process.
Typical impurities from the synthesis of organic diphosphite compounds are residues of the base (generally an organic nitrogen-comprising compound, e.g. an amine) used for scavenging the hydrogen halide (generally HCl) liberated in the reaction, the acid salts of this base and possibly also residues of the hydrogen halide. Typical impurities from the synthesis also include catalysts which are intended to accelerate the reaction of the phosphorus trihalide with the aromatic alcohols. Even when, as described in WO 2003/062171 and WO 2003/062251, a compound whose acid salts behave like ionic liquids which are essentially immiscible with the solution of the organic diphosphite compound in an appropriate organic solvent, e.g. toluene, and can thus easily be separated off by phase separation is used as base, purification of the crude ligand solution is generally nevertheless absolutely necessary.
DE 103 60 771A1 teaches carrying out the reaction of phosphorus halides with organic compounds which have at least one OH group in the presence of a basic ion-exchange resin.
WO 2009/120210 and the US patent 2009/0247790 of the same priority date describe a process for preparing phosphomonochloridites which can be used as intermediate for introducing the side wings in the preparation of chelating diphosphite compounds. According to these documents, the reaction of PCl3 with an aromatic diol occurs in a solution comprising less than 5 mol % of a nitrogen base, based on mol of aromatic diol, with HCl formed being driven from the reaction solution and the reaction being carried out under essentially isothermal conditions. However, this is associated with the disadvantage that hydrogen chloride gas discharged as offgas stream has to be isolated in a separate scrubber and disposed of. In addition, solvent is generally also discharged with the offgas stream. However, in order to avoid emissions, the solvent entrained in the offgas has to be removed, which can be effected, for example, by incineration and requires an additional outlay.
WO 2010/042313 describes a process for preparing organic diphosphites, in which the reaction of PCl3 with the first aromatic diol forming the side wings is carried out in the presence of the second aromatic diol which bridges the two phosphorus atoms and the reactants are brought into contact with one another as a slurry in an organic solvent and the slurry comprises less than 5 mol % of a nitrogen base, based on mol of first diol, and the organic solvent has only a slight solvent capacity for HCl. This procedure leads to a reduction in the amount of acid salts formed by scavenging of the HCl by means of base in the condensation reaction.
Once again, the hydrogen chloride gas discharged as offgas stream has to be isolated and disposed of.
WO 2010/052090 and WO 2010/052091 describe processes for preparing 6-chlorodibenzo[d,f][1,3,2]dioxaphosphepin, which can be used as intermediate for introduction of the side wings in the preparation of chelating diphosphite compounds. In these processes, 2,2′-dihydroxybiphenyl suspended in an inert solvent is added to an excess of phosphorus trichloride under inert gas in a reactor with stirring and the gases formed are discharged from the reaction mixture. Thus, an addition of base in the reaction can be dispensed with. The hydrogen chloride discharged as offgas stream has to be collected, for which, according to the teachings of this document, a separate scrubber is used. However, to avoid emissions, the solvent entrained in the offgas has to be removed, which can, for example, be carried out by incineration and requires an additional outlay.
Further impurities which can be comprised in the solution of the crude organic diphosphite are the monoxide (B1) and dioxide (B2) thereof or the hemiligand (B3) formed by incomplete reaction of the backbone.

In Chem. Eur. J. 2011, 17, 2120, A. Christiansen et al. describe the formation of heteroatom-substituted secondary phosphine oxides as decomposition products and preligands in rhodium-catalyzed hydroformylation. The corresponding secondary organophosphites (C1) formed in the hydrolysis of tertiary phosphites represent a problematic impurity in the crude chelating diphosphite solution since they act as acid and decompose the acid-labile chelating diphosphites over the course of time. In addition, the compounds (C1) act as catalyst poison by complexing transition metals such as rhodium and when they accumulate in the reactor over prolonged periods of time can lead to deposition of the transition metal from the homogeneous reaction solutions and lead to rhodium losses. Since the transition metal is then no longer available for catalysis, operational malfunctions are the result. Especially in hydroformylation, the compounds (C1) can condense with the aldehydes formed to give •-hydroxyphosphonates (C2). Both the compounds (C1) and the compounds (C2) lead, as a result of their acidity, to hydrolytic decomposition of the chelating phosphite ligands. This process also proceeds autocatalytically since further (C1) is formed in the hydrolysis of the chelating phosphite ligands.

EP 0 285 136 A2 describes a method of purifying tertiary organophosphites by separating off secondary organophosphites, especially secondary organophosphites having a tetracoordinated phosphorus atom as in C1. This document refers to the problem that secondary organophosphites generally cannot be separated off from tertiary organophosphites by simple recrystallization since these compounds frequently cocrystallize. EP 0 285 136 A2 therefore teaches adding water and a Lewis base which selectively converts secondary organophosphites into salts of primary organophosphites to a solution of the secondary and tertiary organophosphites in an organic solvent so that the salts of primary organophosphites can then be separated off from the tertiary organophosphites. Suitable Lewis bases are NaOH and tertiary amines, e.g. triethylamine.
CN 101684130A describes a process for preparing chelating phosphites, in which                a.) the phosphomonochloridite forming the side wings is dissolved in dichloromethane,        b.) the aromatic diol which bridges the two phosphorus atoms is dissolved in triethylamine or a triethylamine/dichloromethane mixture,        c.) the solutions from a.) and b.) are mixed and reacted at from −40° C. to 20° C.,        d.) the resulting solution is stirred at from 20 to 30° C. for from 10 to 20 hours and        e.) deionized water is added to the solution from step d.), the mixture is stirred, the phases are allowed to separate, with the lower organic phase comprising the phosphite product.
The chelating phosphites obtained in this way are characterized, inter alia, by a chloride ion content of less than 0.01% by weight (100 ppm).
US 2003/0100787 describes a process for preparing sterically hindered triaryl monophosphites, but a possible use for preparing diphosphites is not described. According to the preparative examples, the synthesis of these monophosphites is carried out by reaction of substituted phenols with PCl3 in the presence of pyridine and methylene chloride as solvent. After the reaction, the methylene chloride is distilled off and the monophosphite is induced to crystallize by addition of isopropanol.
Studies on the rhodium-catalyzed hydroformylation of 1-octene and styrene using bulky chelating phosphite ligands are described in Organometallics 1996, 15(2), 835-847. In the preparation of ligand (9) (6,6′-[[3,3′,5,5′-tetrakis(1,1-dimethylethyl)-[1,1′-biphenyl]-2,2′-diyl]bis(oxy)]bisdibenzo[d,f][1,3,2]dioxaphosphepin), it is stated that the ligand obtained after taking off the solvent and excess pyridine is firstly induced to crystallize by addition of acetonitrile and is then recrystallized from a toluene/acetonitrile mixture.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,312,996 describes, in column 18, line 60 ff., a ligand synthesis by reaction of 1,1′-biphenyl-3,3′-di-tert-butyl-5,5′-di-tert-butoxy-2,2′-diol with biphenol chloridite in toluene and in the presence of pyridine. The pyridinium chloride formed is filtered off from the reaction product obtained. The resulting solution is evaporated on a rotary evaporator until it has a syrupy consistency and the diphosphite obtained is then precipitated by addition of acetonitrile. The solid obtained is filtered off, washed with acetonitrile and dried.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a simple and effective method of purifying organic diphosphite compounds. The diphosphite compound obtained should have a purity which makes it possible for the diphosphite compound to be used as ligand in a continuous industrial process. Contamination with compounds from the production process, e.g. acetonitrile, which have an adverse effect on use of the organic diphosphites as ligands for catalysts for homogeneous catalysis should be avoided. In particular, the content of secondary organophosphites should also be very low. The organic diphosphite compound obtained should preferably be obtained in a solid form with good use properties. Such forms include, for example, crystals which are large enough for them to be able to be separated off readily by filtration and/or have only a small level of occlusions of solvent (occluded solvent) with impurities comprised therein.
It has now surprisingly been found that a crude organic diphosphite which is at least partly dissolved in an organic solvent can be effectively freed of the abovementioned impurities by precipitation by means of a precipitant (i.e. a solvent in which it is sparingly soluble).

Method of purifying organic diphosphite compounds

Abstract: The method comprises providing a crude organic diphosphite of general formula (I) that is at least partly dissolved in a first solvent (L1), wherein (L1) is selected from the group consisting of alkylbenzenes, aryl alkyl ethers, chlorobenzene, and mixtures thereof, and precipitating by admixing with a second solvent (L2) selected from the group consisting of linear C1-C4-alkanols, ethylene glycol di(C1-C4-alkyl) ethers, and mixtures thereof, and separating off the precipitated organic diphosphite from the solvents.


A method for operating a tissue processor is described. During the operation of a tissue processor a reagent is fed from a container into a retort of the tissue processor, which retort does not contain any tissue samples. Thereafter, the reagent is returned into the container. During feeding, returning and/or in between feeding and returning a measured value is detected by a sensor of the tissue processor. This value is representative of a concentration of the reagent. During this feeding, this returning and/or in between no tissue sample is placed in the retort.

The invention relates to a method for operating a tissue processor, in which a reagent is fed from a container into a retort of the processor.
Tissue processors are used for automatic processing of histological tissue samples. In doing so, the tissue samples are prepared for subsequent section preparation with a microtome, followed by microscopic examination. In several stages, the tissue samples are at first dehydrated, cleared, hardened and subsequently stabilized with a carrier material, for example paraffin. This takes place using different reagents to which the tissue samples are exposed. A tissue processor which allows a largely automatic processing of the samples is illustrated and described in the Leica document "Leica ASP 300", Leica Microsystems Nussloch GmbH, Order-No. 0704-2-0-103, April 2001.
For different process steps, which are executed with the aid of the tissue processor, the reagents are required in different concentrations. Partly the reagents can be bought as finished products with the required concentrations, and partly the required concentrations are self-produced, for example, by diluting the reagents, in particular a stock solution of the reagents.
Therefore, it is the object of the present invention to specify a method for operating a tissue processor, with which it can be easily checked whether a required reagent is suitable for a predetermined process step, or which method contributes to producing the reagent with the suitable concentration in an easy manner.


An apparatus and method for processing lease insurance information, including a memory device for storing information for generating at least one of an insurance premium and an insurance policy for providing insurance for at least one of excess wear and tear for a leased entity and post warranty repairs for a leased entity, a processor for generating information concerning at least one of an insurance premium and an insurance policy for providing an insurance policy or an insurance product, and a device for displaying or outputting information concerning the insurance premium, the insurance policy, or the insurance product. The processor generates a fifth data set containing information regarding at least one of a liability, a potential liability, and a risk of loss, associated with the insurance policy or the insurance product.

The present invention pertains to an apparatus and method for providing insurance products, services and/or coverage for leased entities and, in particular, to an apparatus and method for providing insurance products for leased and/or rented vehicles, personal as well as business articles and entities and residential and commercial premises and properties.
In recent times, a growing number of individuals and business concerns have turned to leasing and/or renting articles such as automobiles, boats, airplanes, office equipment, computers and computer equipment and various other articles. Residential as well as commercial property leases and rentals have also been popular and, in many situations, necessary.
Leasing and renting, however, place responsibility for the care and well-being of the leased and/or rented entity upon the respective lessee or renter. The leased or rented entity or premises must be maintained and delivered back to the lessor or landlord in relatively good condition. In this regard, wear and tear which is in excess of normal wear and tear is typically not acceptable to the lessor or landlord without the lessee or renter being held responsible for this excess wear and tear and/or damage. The lessee or renter is also usually held responsible for post-warranty repairs which are required and which may result from normal wear and tear, the malfunction and/or failure of any components and/or systems of the leased and/or rented entity and/or from any defects in material and/or workmanship in any component and/or system of the leased and/or rented entity. In this regard, the lessee or renter will typically be held financially responsible for this excess wear and tear and/or damage, including post-warranty repairs, to the leased and/or rented entity.
Oftentimes, excess wear and tear of a leased or rented article or premises may be beyond the lessee""s or renter""s control, yet the lessee or renter may still be held financially liable for the resulting repairs and/or repair bills in excess of any previously paid security deposit. This can lead to a financial hardship and an unexpected financial burden to many. In the case of leased motor vehicles, the excess wear and tear charges may be substantial. The same may hold true for leased boats, recreational vehicles, airplanes as well as leased office equipment, computers and computer equipment. Lastly, those who lease or rent residential and/or commercial premises may also find themselves with substantial liability upon termination of their lease and/or rental relationship with the landlord or property owner.
The present invention provides an apparatus and a method for overcoming the shortfalls of the prior art and provides an apparatus and a method for providing insurance products, services and/or coverage which provides insurance coverage for protecting individuals and/or business entities from liability which may arise as the result of excess wear and tear and/or damage which may occur to a leased and/or rented entity during the lease and/or rental term, and further, for protecting individuals and/or business entities from liability for post-warranty repairs.
The apparatus comprises a central processing unit, a read only memory device, a random access memory device, a user input device(s), a display device, an output device and a database. The database contains data and/or information which is relevant to determining insurance policies and premiums related to the leasing and/or rental of vehicles, motor vehicles, boats, recreational vehicles, airplanes, aircraft, motorcycles, office equipment, computers, computer equipment and other articles, personal and/or commercial, which may be the subject of a lease or rental arrangement. The database also includes data and/or information which is relevant in determining insurance policies and premiums for residential and/or commercial properties and/or premises.
Data and/or information, which is related to vehicle leases, includes vehicle year, model, vehicle components and/or systems along with their repair costs, replacement costs, probability of damage, probability of post-warranty repairs necessitated by wear and tear, damage, malfunctioning components and/or systems and defects in materials, parts, components, systems and/or workmanship, average costs for repairs, historical leasing data including costs of typical repairs, average total excess wear and tear costs for the entire vehicle. Vehicle leasing data and/or information also includes locality, regional and geographical data which is correlated with excess wear and tear along with data and/or information which is related to driving habits and/or patterns in a given area or areas. Data and information related to individuals and/or business entities, by region, occupation etc, including driving habits, leasing histories, etc., will also be included in the database.
The database will also include data and/or information for particular individuals and/or business entities which includes personal, individual and/or organizational driving and/or usage patterns and/or driving histories and leasing histories as well as any other information which an insurer may deem necessary and/or desirable in determining whether insurance should be offered to an individual and/or business entity.
Data and/or information related to the leasing and/or rental of any other leasable article and/or entity, such as, for example, personal, residential and/or commercial office equipment, computers, computer equipment, facsimile machines, copy machines, furniture as well as any other article, piece of equipment and/or entity (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cleasable articlexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9carticlexe2x80x9d) are also included in the database. Leasable article data and/or information includes article year, model, article components and/or systems along with their repair costs, replacement costs, probability of damage, probability of post-warranty repairs necessitated by wear and tear, damage, malfunctioning components and/or systems and defects in materials, parts, components, systems and/or workmanship, average costs for repairs, historical leasing data including typical repair costs and average total excess wear and tear costs for the entire article. Article leasing data and/or information also includes locality, regional and geographical data which is correlated with excess wear and tear along with data and/or information which is related to use habits and/or patterns in a given area or areas. Data and information related to individuals and/or business entities, by region, occupation, etc., including use habits, leasing histories, etc., will also be included in the database.
The database will also include data and/or information for particular individuals and/or business entities which includes personal, individual and/or organizational use habits and/or patterns and/or use histories and leasing histories as well as any other information which an insurer may deem necessary and/or desirable in determining whether insurance should be offered to an individual and/or business entity.
Data and/or information related to the lease or rental of residential and/or commercial premises which are included in the database, includes type and age of premises, parts and/or components and/or systems of the premises along with their repair costs, replacement costs, probability of damage, probability of post-warranty repairs necessitated by wear and tear, damage, malfunctioning components and/or systems and defects in materials, parts, components, systems and/or workmanship, average costs for repairs, historical leasing and/or renting data, including typical repair costs and average total excess wear and tear costs for the entire premises. Premises leasing data and/or information also includes locality, regional and geographical data which is correlated with excess wear and tear along with data and/or information which is related to use habits and/or patterns in a given area or areas. Data and information related to individuals and/or business entities, by region, nature of use, including use habits, leasing and/or rental histories, etc., will also be included in the database.
The database also includes data and/or information for particular individuals and/or business entities which includes personal, individual and/or organizational use habits and/or patterns and/or use histories and leasing and/or rental histories as well as any other information which an insurer may deem necessary and/or desirable in determining whether insurance should be offered to an individual and/or business entity.
The database also includes all necessary actuarial, statistical and related data and/or information necessary in performing the calculations and analysis deemed necessary in underwriting and issuing an insurance policy and/or coverage, including premium determination for any of the herein described insurance policies, products, services and/or coverage.
As noted above, the present invention provides an apparatus and a method for providing insurance policies, products, services and/or coverage for protection against liability which may arise as the result of excess wear and tear to a leased and/or rented entity and/or for liability which may arise for post-warranty repairs. In this regard, individuals and/or business entities may obtain insurance so as to protect themselves from liabilities which might arise from the lease and/or rental of an entity which may have experienced excess wear and tear and/or damage during the lease or rental term. Further insurance for post-warranty repairs may also be obtained.
The present invention can also provide insurance policies, products, services and/or coverage for any of the herein-described entities while providing an incentive and/or incentive or incentives, to individuals and/or business entities, for minimizing excess wear and tear and/or damage to the leased and/or rented entity by providing for a commensurate rebate of a portion of the policy premiums or charges, at the end of the lease and/or rental term. In this regard, an individual and/or business entity may choose to elect an insurance policy with an incentive program so that a portion of the policy premium or charges will be refunded to him, her, or it, respectively, when and if the entity is returned with no and/or minimal excess wear and tear and/or with no and/or minimal damage. Such an incentive program would serve to reward individuals and/or business entities who and/or which, respectively, maintain the entity, during the lease and/or rental term, so that the entity is returned with no and/or minimal wear and tear or with no and/or minimal damage.
In another embodiment, the apparatus of the present invention is utilized in a network environment so as to provide insurance policies, products, services and/or coverage in, and over, a network such as on, or over, the Internet, the World Wide Web and/or any other communications network and/or system.
In another embodiment, the apparatus and method of the present invention can be utilized in order to create a credit derivative which is based on any liability or liabilities which can be created by, or which can be potentially created by, any of the lease insurance policies, products, and/or instruments, which can be provided pursuant to, and/or facilitated by, the present invention.
The apparatus of the present invention can identify the lease insurance policy or lease insurance product which is being offered and can ascertain the liability, the potential liability, or the risk of loss, which is or which may be associated with the lease insurance policy or the lease insurance product.
The apparatus of the present invention can also identify a credit derivative which can be created and issued to investors in order to reduce the liability or risk of loss associated with the lease insurance policy or product. The credit derivative can be any one or more of a bond, a note, a securitized bond, a securitized note, a swap, a credit swap, an option, a credit option, a put option, a call option, a credit-linked note, a total return swap, a default swap, an exotic option, an exotic credit option, a swaption or a swap option, a total rate of return swap, a loan swap, a credit swap, or any other instrument which can be utilized as a credit derivative.
The apparatus of the present invention can also determine the price or pricing of the credit derivative, credit derivatives, or credit derivative units, for the identified credit derivative. The apparatus of the present invention can also determine and/or generate the offering terms (i.e. time for holding the credit derivative, time to maturity of the credit derivative instrument, interest rate of the credit derivative, rate of return of the credit derivative, default risk information, issuer default risk, probability of default by the issuer of the credit derivative, probability of non-default by the issuer, and any other terms or information which can be typically provided along with a credit derivative or other investment or financial instrument, etc.).
The apparatus of the present invention can output the information the identified credit derivative and the information regarding the pricing and/or offering terms for the credit derivative, credit derivatives, or credit derivative units. The credit derivative or credit derivatives can then be issued the credit derivatives to investors.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for providing insurance policies, products, services and/or coverage for leased and/or rented entities and/or premises for providing insurance protection against liability which may arise as the result of excess wear and tear and/or damage which may occur to a leased and/or rented entity during the lease and/or rental term.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for providing insurance policies, products, services and/or coverage for leased and/or rented entities and/or premises for providing insurance protection against liability which may arise as the result of post-warranty repairs.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and a method for providing insurance policies, products, services and/or coverage for leased and/or rented entities and/or premises which is implemented using software in conjunction with a computer and/or a processing system.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and a method for providing insurance policies, products, services and/or coverage for leased motor vehicles.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and a method for providing insurance policies, products, services and/or coverage for leased boats and marine vehicles.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and a method for providing insurance policies, products, services and/or coverage for leased airplanes and aircraft.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and a method for providing insurance policies, products, services and/or coverage for leased articles and/or equipment of any variety or type.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and a method for providing insurance policies, products, services and/or coverage for leased and/or rented residential premises and/or commercial premises.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and a method for providing insurance policies, products, services and/or coverage for leased and/or rented entities which provides incentives for maintaining the leased and/or rented entity with no and/or minimum excess wear and tear and/or with no and/or minimal damage during the lease and/or rental term.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and a method for providing insurance policies, products, services and/or coverage for leased and/or rented entities, vehicle, premises, equipment and other appropriate articles on, or over, a communication network such as on, or over, the Internet, the World Wide Web and/or any other communications and/or network environment and/or medium.
It is another object of the present invention to create a credit derivative which is based on any liability or liabilities which can be created by, or which can be potentially created by, any of the lease insurance policies, products, and/or instruments, which can be provided pursuant to, and/or facilitated by, the present invention.
It is still another object of the present invention to create a credit derivative which can be utilized to provide a hedge for, to provide insurance for, or to provide reinsurance for, any liability, potential liability, or risk of loss, associated with any of the lease insurance policies, products, and/or instruments, which can be provided pursuant to, and/or facilitated by, the present invention.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide price information, pricing information, and/or offering terms information, for a credit derivative which can be utilized to provide a hedge for, to provide insurance for, or to provide reinsurance for, any liability, potential liability, or risk of loss, associated with any of the lease insurance policies, products, and/or instruments, which can be provided pursuant to, and/or facilitated by, the present invention.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those individuals skilled in the art upon a review of the Description Of The Preferred Embodiment taken in conjunction with the Drawings which follow.

Apparatus and method for providing insurance products, services and/or coverage for leased entities.


Data register for storage of a data bit with integrated signal level conversion. The data register has an input for application of a data bit input signal which has a first voltage shift between a reference ground potential and a first voltage potential, a controllable switching device for passing on the applied data bit signal, a potential isolating transistor having a control connection at the first voltage potential, a first inverter which emits, in inverted form, the passed-on data bit input signal as a data bit output signal having a second voltage shift between the reference ground potential and a second supply potential, at one output of the data register for further data processing, and a second inverter, which feeds back the data output signal for storage of the data bit.

The invention relates to a data register for storage of a data bit with integrated signal level conversion.
In many applications, it is necessary to store a data bit, which originates from a data source, in a data register or in a buffer store, and to carry out voltage level conversion for further data processing. The reason for this is that, because of the technology, the data source in many cases operates with a different signal level shift than a downstream data processing circuit.
FIG. 1a shows an arrangement according to the prior art. A data source which is supplied with a first supply voltage v1 generates data which is written to a data register. Signal matching is carried out in a downstream level converter circuit by raising or lowering the voltage shift of the signal, and the matched signal is supplied to the data processing unit, which is supplied with a second supply voltage v2.
FIG. 1b shows a further arrangement according to the prior art, in which signal matching is first of all carried out by signal level conversion, and the already matched signal is then buffer-stored in a data register for further data processing.
By way of example, FIG. 2 shows the circuitry design of the arrangement according to the prior art illustrated in FIG. 1a. The data register has a controllable switching device which comprises two complementary field-effect transistors T1, T2, with a control signal S and a control signal {overscore (s)}, which is inverted with respect to the control signal S, driving the gate connections of the two field-effect transistors. In the example illustrated in FIG. 2, an NMOS transistor is driven by a control signal s, and a PMOS transistor, which is complementary to it, receives the inverted control signal {overscore (s)}. If the control signal s is a logic high, the data signal which is applied to the data input E and originates from the data source is passed on to the input of an inverter stage.
The first inverter stage, which comprises the complementary field-effect transistors T5, T6, of the data register couples the applied data bit, in inverted form, to a second inverter stage 0, which, in the example illustrated in FIG. 2, comprises the field-effect transistors T3, T4. The feedback or latching results in the data bit that has been read being held or buffer-stored in the data register. The data register, together with its two inverter stages, is supplied with a first supply voltage v1.
In order to increase the voltage level shift, the data register output side is connected to a signal level converter. The signal level converter contains a potential isolating transistor T7, whose gate is connected to the first supply voltage. Furthermore, the signal level converter contains an inverter stage which comprises two complementary field-effect transistors T9, T10, which feeds back the applied data signal, in the inverted form, via a feedback transistor T8. The feedback transistor T8 is connected to a second supply voltage v2. The first supply voltage v1 is lower than the second supply voltage v2, with, for example, the first supply voltage being 1.8 volts, and the second supply voltage being 3.3 volts. The feedback results in the voltage level being increased, and the data signal D is emitted with an increased voltage shift to the downstream data processing unit for further data processing.
The circuit arrangement according to the prior art has the disadvantage that the circuit arrangement comprises two circuit modules, namely a data register on the one hand and a level converter on the other hand. A relatively large number of transistors T1 to T10 are thus required in order to buffer-store a data bit and to carry out signal level matching. Furthermore, the signal delay times are relatively long, because the data register and the level converter are connected in series.
The object of the present invention is thus to provide a data register which, in addition to buffer storage of the data bit, also carries out signal level conversion, with little circuitry complexity.
The invention provides a data register for storage of a data bit with integrated signal level conversion, having an input for application of a data input signal which has a first signal voltage shift between a reference ground potential and a first voltage potential, a controllable switching device for passing on the applied data bit input signal, a potential isolating transistor whose control connection is at the first voltage potential, a first inverter which emits, in inverted form, the passed-on data input bit signal as a data output signal which has a second voltage shift between the reference ground potential and a second supply potential, at one output of the data register for further data processing, and a second inverter, which feeds back the data output signal for buffer storage of the data bit signal.
One advantage of this data register according to the invention is that the signal delay time between the input of the data register and the output of the data register is short, so that a data bit which originates from a data source is passed with a short delay time and at the necessary voltage level for further data processing to a downstream data processing unit.
In one preferred embodiment of the data register according to the invention, the first voltage potential v1 is lower than the second voltage potential v2.
The second inverter is preferably supplied with the first voltage potential v1, and the data output signal is fed back to a first potential node between the controllable switching device and the potential isolating transistor.
In one preferred embodiment, the first inverter and the second inverter each contain a PMOS and an NMOS field-effect transistor.
The isolating transistor is preferably an NMOS field-effect transistor.
In one preferred embodiment of the data register according to the invention, a feedback transistor is provided, which feeds back the data output signal to the gate connection of the PMOS field-effect transistor in the first inverter. The feedback transistor is preferably a PMOS field-effect transistor.
In a further embodiment of the data register according to the invention, the second inverter is supplied with the second voltage potential, and the data output signal is fed back to a second potential node between the potential isolating transistor and the first inverter.
In one preferred embodiment, the first potential node is connected to the gate connection of the NMOS field-effect transistor in the first inverter.
The controllable switching device for the data register according to the invention has, in one preferred embodiment, a PMOS field-effect transistor and an NMOS field-effect transistor.

Data register with integrated signal level conversion


A submersible pump for attachment to the lower end of a well pipe discharge tube for insertion in liquid includes a stationary collecting tube for collecting the liquid and an upward and downward reciprocating pumping tube within the collecting tube for pushing and lifting the liquid into the discharge tube; source of pressurized gas, a casing assembly including a casing tube and a gas valve, and a piston assembly with the casing tube including a piston tube having a lower end connected to the pumping tube for reciprocating the pumping tube and an upper portion having pistons for moving in chambers with the inside of the casing tube. Preferably the same amount of liquid is pumped during the upward movement of the pumping tube as during the downward movement.

There are two main conventional approaches to pumping liquid from a deep well. One, the pump is placed in the bottom of the well, or, two, the main body of the pump is at the surface and a long shaft drives a pump mechanism at the bottom of the well. Both approaches have shortcomings, especially for very deep wells. The first method is generally restricted to very small pumps that can only pump a very limited height and the second method, such as used in oil wells, involves moving large masses of connecting rods, which requires huge and costly equipment and results in inefficiencies.
Many conventional pumps use a bottom piston located close to the liquid intake. The piston moving up and down affects the liquid level in the well and agitates sand and other abrasive materials that are then more likely to enter and damage the pump.


A method for checking whether a transmission is a multicast transmission or not is disclosed, which includes in an Ethernet passive optical network including an OLT and multiple ONUs connected to the OLT, checking whether a transmission is a multicast transmission or not by generating a multicast LLID that represents multicast information. Subsequently from a multicast MAC address in a MAC layer in the multiple ONUs or the OLT, so that at least one ONU from among the multiple ONUs or the OLT receives the multicast transmission, the method comprising the steps of: (1) modifying the multicast MAC address and mapping the modified address to a LLID field in a RS layer below the MAC layer; and (2) generating mode information, which represents a multicast transmission, being adjacent to the LLID field and locating the mode information, wherein, the RS layer checks whether a transmission transmitted to the ONU or the OLT is a multicast transmission or not.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an Ethernet passive optical network (EPON). More particularly, the present invention relates to a multicast transmission in the Ethernet passive optical network.
2. Description of the Related Art
At present, the goal of standardization of Gigabit Ethernet and MAC technology for an asynchronous transfer mode passive optical network (hereinafter, referred to as ATM-PON) has been already completed, and the contents thereof are described in IEEE 802.3z and ITU-T G.983.1. The first type of PON standardized ATM-PON. In the ATM-PON, upward or downward transmission of frames, each of which consists of a predetermined number of ATM cells, is performed. In a PON having a tree-shaped structure, an Optical Line Termination (hereinafter, referred to as "OLT") properly inserts downward cells in the transmitted frame, and then the downward cells are distributed to each Optical Network Unit (hereinafter, referred to as "ONU").
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a physical network structure of a conventional passive optical network.
As shown in FIG. 1, the passive optical network includes one OLT 100 and more than one ONUs 110-1 to 110-3 connected to the OLT 100. FIG. 1 shows three ONUs 110-1 to 110-3 are connected to one OLT 100. More than one end user 120-1 to 120-3 (users or network equipment) may be respectively connected to the ONUs 110-1 to 110-3, although the diagram only shows one end user per ONU. Data 131 to 133 transmitted by the users 120-1 to 120-3 are transmitted to the OLT 100 via the ONUs 110.
As shown in FIG. 1, in the structure of the Ethernet Passive Optical Network, which transmits 802.3 Ethernet frames via a point to multi-point network, in the case of upward transmission, all the data of the ONUs are accessed by means of a Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) method. An Optical Distribution Network (ODN), which is a passive element, prevents the data from colliding with each other by means of a ranging method. In other words, in the case of upward transmission, each data of the ONUs 110 are multiplexed and then transmitted to the OLT 100. Also, in the case of downward transmission, each of the ONUs 110 (hereinafter, a plurality of ONUs are referred to as 110-n) having received data broadcast by the OLT 100 selectively receives only data, which the ONU must receive, from among the broadcasted data.
For this purpose, each frame in upward or downward transmission has a field arranged in a dedicated ATM cell or a general ATM cell, by which messages can be sent or received at predetermined intervals. With the development of the Internet technology, subscriber-sides have required more and more bandwidths and have been attracted to an end-to-end transmission by means of Gigabit Ethernet which is relatively low-priced and can secure a higher bandwidth, in comparison to the ATM technology, which requires relatively expensive equipment, has limitation in the bandwidth, and must perform segmentation of IP packets. Thus, even in the PON structure of the subscriber network, the Ethernet type is required rather than the ATM.
At present, EPON standardization has been progressing by IEEE802.3ah EFM (Ethernet in the first mile) TF with the aim of September, 2003. An issue of the standardization is the problem of matching, which relates to a layering between an OAM layer and other layer and detail specification works have progressed.
In addition, in the Draft v1.0 of the EPON standardization having been progressing by the IEEE802.3ah, when a communication is performed between an OLT and an ONU, a logical link ID (hereinafter, referred to as LLID) is inserted into a preamble in order to check each packet about whether or not the destination of the packet is the OLT or ONU itself.
FIG. 2 shows a preamble format including a LLID in an EPON and the preamble format has been described in the IEEE 802.3ah baseline. Referring to FIG. 2, 2 bytes are assigned to the LLID in the preamble. A first one byte SOP in the preamble is a start of packet (SOP) byte 10 and represents that a packet has started. The four bytes after the SOP byte 10 are bytes 20 reserved for future purposes. Further, two bytes 30 after the reserved four bytes 20 are assigned to the LLID. A field 40 after the LLID 30 is a CRC which plays a error-checking role, particularly of a checksum of the preamble, which includes meaningful information, in the EPON, in contrast with an existing preamble which is necessary for a reception side to synchronize. The LLID 30 is two bytes in length includes a mode bit 32 having a size of one bit and an ID part 34 having a size of 15 bits. The mode bit 32 represents that a received packet is one of a broadcast packet or a unicast packet. The ID part 34 is used as an identifier of each transmission or reception party. One LLID may be assigned to each ONU, or the LLID subdivides and then other IDs may be assigned according to each service or a user connected to an ONU. However, it is not determined yet which method to employ from among the above two methods.
Hereinafter, an assignation process of the LLID will be described with reference to FIG. 1. A plurality of ONUs 110, which are powered on in an initialization process of an EPON, must pass through an auto-discovery process in which the ONUs 110 are registered to an OLT 100. Herein, the OLT 100 assigns a particular ID to each MAC address by means of MAC addresses of transmission/reception parties, which require registration, and then creates/manages an ID list in a table of the OLT 100. After the registration and assignation of all LLID are performed as described above, the transmission/reception parties of packets transmitted by the ONUs 110 or the OLT 100 in the EPON can be classified according to the LLID in the preamble.
FIG. 3 shows an EPON protocol specification in a draft v1.0. Referring to FIG. 3, an emulation function is integrated into an RS layer (Emulation Function layer) 208. According to the EPON specification, the RS layer 208 checks whether or not a destination of a packet is the RS layer, by means of the LLID. Herein, in general, a MAC layer 204 confirms whether or not a destination of a packet is the MAC layer itself by means of a destination address (DA) of the packet. In contrast, in the EPON, a packet filtering can be performed by a layer below the MAC layer 204.
Referring to FIG. 1, a party represented by the LLID varies according as a transmission direction of a packet is upward (ONU→OLT) or downward (OLT→ONU). In the case of upward transmission, an address represented by the LLID is a party which transmits the packet. In contrast, in the case of downward transmission, the address represented by the LLID is a party which receives the packet. That is, when the OLT 100 receives a packet from the ONUs 110, the OLT 100 compares a LLID in the packet with content of a LLID list registered to the OLT 100 and then determines whether the OLT 100 receives the packet or not. In contrast, when each of the ONUs 110 receives a packet from the OLT 100, each of the ONUs 110 checks whether the content of a LLID in the packet is equal to a LLID assigned to each of the ONUs 110 itself or not, and subsequently determines whether each of the ONUs 110 receives the packet or not.
Herein, when an attribute of a packet is a unicast, an ID value representing a destination is assigned to an ID field. In contrast, when the attribute of the packet is a broadcast, a default LLID for the broadcast is assigned. Accordingly, when each of the ONUs 110 receives a packet and a mode bit of the LLID in the packet represents a broadcast, then each of the ONUs 110 receives all packets. That is, when each of the respective ONUs 110 examines the mode bit of the LLID and the mode bit represents a unicast, each of the ONUs 110 either receives or does not receive a corresponding packet according to an ID. In contrast, when the mode bit of the LLID represents a broadcast, each of the ONUs 110-n receives a corresponding packet regardless of the ID.
However, only unicast and broadcast have been described with respect to the mode bit in the standardization, and a multicast mode, which can transmit data to receivers in a particular group, has not been accurately provided in the present IEEE 802.3ah draft.
Further, for a LLID registration, it is required that a registration process must pass through the present EPON specification. This process is mainly performed as an initialization process and then regularly (or irregularly, as the case may be) provides subsequent registration windows of opportunity to a party that requires to be registered.
However, in the case of a multicast group member, a particular group may be freely registered or terminated by means of a GARP multicast registration protocol (GMRP), which is a multicast group member registration protocol, and the registration or the termination must be performed regardless of a registration window of opportunity provided by an OLT. However, this can't be performed well through the conventional method for registration/termination of a LLID.

Method for checking multicast LLID transmission in ethernet passive optical network


A facility for providing a gift is described. In one embodiment, the facility receives information identifying a first person that will give a gift and a second person that will receive the gift given by the first person. The facility then automatically chooses a gift to be given to the second person by the first person.

The World Wide Web ("the Web") is a system for publishing information, in which users may use a web browser application to retrieve information, such as web pages, from web servers and display it. Search engines, subject indices, and links between web pages and web sites facilitate the exploration of information published on the Web.
The Web has increasingly become a medium used to shop for products. Indeed, thousands and thousands of different products may be purchased on the Web. A user who plans to purchase a product on the Web can visit the Web site of a Web merchant that sells the product. view information about the product, give an instruction to purchase the product, and provide information needed to complete the purchase, such as payment and shipping information.
Some web merchants enable a user to identify a list of items that they are interested in receiving as gifts, called a "wish list." Other users that desire to give a gift to that user can view the user's wish list, and then purchase an item from the wish list for the user. When using such wish lists, the gift recipient is more likely to receive appropriate gifts that they desire, and a gift giver is more likely to be able to provide such gifts to the recipient. By providing such a wish list functionality, a web merchant can also often sale items otherwise would not have, thereby generating additional sales and profits for the web merchant.
While conventional wish lists can produce significant benefits, they also have a substantial shortcoming: it often requires considerable effort for gift givers to review wish lists, particularly long ones, and select appropriate gifts to give to gift recipients.
In view of this disadvantage of conventional gift registries, a more powerful wish list functionality that assisted gift givers in selecting gifts for gift recipients would have significant utility.

Automatically purchasing a gift from a wish list


A picture-in-a-picture television receiver displays a compound image which includes a compressed image derived from an auxiliary signal inset in a full-size image derived from a main signal. The auxiliary composite video signal is sampled synchronous with a system clock signal that is burst locked to the main signal. The sampled data signal is separated into luminance and color information component signals, which are subsampled and stored in a field memory synchronous with the system clock signal. The clock signal phase used for horizontal subsampling is determined at the start of each line to compensate for skew errors in the auxiliary signal. The luminance samples retrieved from the memory are applied to clock transfer circuitry which resynchronizes the samples to a phase shifted version of the system clock signal to compensate for skew errors in the main signal. The phase shifted clock signal is synchronized to the horizontal scanning signals used to display the compound image. The color information component signals are not resynchronized to the phase shifted clock signal. The component signals of the compressed image are combined to form a composite signal having color information that is synchronized to the main signal. The compressed signal is substituted for a portion of the main signal to generate a signal representing the compound image.

This invention relates to apparatus and a method for reducing the visibility of timing errors in for example, the inset image of a picture-in-a-picture (pix-in-pix) television display system.
In a pix-in-pix system, two images from possibly unrelated sources are displayed simultaneously as one image. The compound image includes a full size main image with an inset compressed auxiliary image. The subjective quality of the inset image may be affected by timing errors in either the main signal or the auxiliary signal.
Timing errors relevant to the present invention may occur, for example, when either the main or auxiliary signal is a nonstandard signal. As used herein, the term nonstandard signal means a video signal having a horizontal line period which may vary in length relative to the horizontal line period set by the signal standard to which the video signal nominally conforms (e.g. NTSC, PAL or SECAM). A noisy but otherwise standard signal may appear to be a nonstandard signal if the noise is of sufficient amplitude to mask transitions of the horizontal line synchronization (horizontal sync) signal.
To understand how these timing errors may affect the inset image, it is helpful to know how the auxiliary signal is processed and displayed. In a conventional pix-in-pix display system, the auxiliary signal is sampled at instants determined by a sampling clock signal which, desirably, bears a fixed relationship to the horizontal line scanning frequency of the auxiliary signal. To aid demodulation of the chrominance signal components of color television signals, the sampling clock signal desirably has a frequency that is a multiple of the chrominance subcarrier frequency. If the multiple is an even number, e.g., 4, for standard signals, this is a suitable sampling signal since, under all major video signal standards, it produces an integer number of samples per line interval. Under the NTSC system, this sampling clock signal may be developed, for example, by a phase locked loop which produces a sampling signal having a frequency of 4fc, four times the frequency, fc, of the color subcarrier signal, and which is locked in phase to color reference burst component of the auxiliary composite video signal.
The auxiliary video signal is separated into its component parts, generally a luminance signal and two color difference signals. These component signals are then subsampled both horizontally and vertically to develop signals that represent a compressed image. The lines of samples taken during one field of the auxiliary signal are stored in a memory. These samples are read from the memory for display using a clock signal that is desirably related to the horizontal line scanning frequency of the main video signal.
When the auxiliary signal originates from a noisy source or from a nonstandard source such as a video tape recorder (VTR) or a video game, the frequency of the horizontal sync signal may appear to vary significantly from line to line while the frequency of the color subcarrier signal, and thus of the color reference burst signal, may seem relatively stable. This variation can be caused by pickup head misalignment or by stretched tape in a VTR or by inaccuracies in the frequencies used by video game circuitry. Since, in the example set forth above, the sampling clock signal is locked in phase to the color reference burst signal, corresponding samples on successive lines may be shifted or skewed relative to each other. When these lines of samples are displayed in synchronism with the main signal, the pixels produced by these corresponding samples may not line up vertically. Consequently, any vertical lines in the inset image may appear jagged (if the period of the horizontal sync signal changes randomly) or tilted (if there is a fixed error in the relative frequencies of the horizontal sync and color burst signals). The frequency and phase variations which cause this type of image distortion are known as timing errors or, alternatively, as skew errors.
One type of timing error, which is relevant to the present invention, results from frequency or phase variations between the main horizontal sync signal and a video display clock signal that is phase locked to the color reference burst component of the main signal. Errors of this type may randomly change the distance between the left side edge of the main image (defined by the horizontal sync pulses) and the beginning of lines of the inset image (defined by the display clock signal). Main signal timing errors of integral numbers of sampling clock periods may be compensated for in the phase locked loop circuitry which generates the horizontal sync signal. Skew errors which are a fraction of a sampling clock period may be more difficult to correct.
One method of correcting these types of timing errors is to use interpolation to develop sample values that are matched to the clock signal used to store or display them. Another method is to shift the phase of the clock signal used to display the sample values so that it is properly aligned to the horizontal sync signal. These methods are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,638,360 entitled "Timing Correction for a Picture-In-Picture Television System" which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Skew errors may also be corrected by generating samples that represent component video signals in synchronism with a skew shifted line locked clock signal. These samples are then applied to clock transfer circuitry which aligns the samples with a line-locked clock signal that is not skew shifted. U.S. Pat. No. 4,782,391 entitled "Multiple Input Digital Video Features Processor for TV Signals," which is hereby incorporated by reference, relates to a system of this type.
The first two methods described above use two substantially independent clock signals. Aside from the extra circuitry used to generate an additional clock signal, systems which use multiple clock signals may need to be carefully shielded to prevent radio-frequency interference between the signals.
In the third method described above, the luminance and color difference signal components of the auxiliary signal are separated by analog circuitry and then digitized. A system using this method may be more complex than a system which digitizes the composite video signal and then separates it into its component parts. In addition this second method uses line-locked clock signals, so it may be difficult to encode the color information signals of the compressed video signal so that the two signals may be time-division multiplexed for display.

Method and apparatus for correcting timing errors as for a multi-picture display


An instrument for processing a biological sample includes a chassis. Connected to the chassis is a tape path along which a tape with a matrix of wells can be automatically advanced through the instrument, a dispensing assembly for dispensing the biological sample and a reagent into the matrix of wells of the tape to form a biological sample and reagent mixture, a sealing assembly for sealing the biological sample and reagent mixture in the tape, and an amplification and detection assembly for detecting a signal from the biological sample and reagent mixture in the matrix of wells in the tape.

The present invention relates to an instrument for analyzing biological samples, and in particular, to an all-in-one instrument that is capable of dispensing, amplifying, and analyzing biological samples.
A biological sample and reagent mixture can undergo amplification and analysis to detect the presence of an analyte in the mixture. Historically, biological sample and reagent mixtures were amplified and analyzed for research applications, including DNA sequencing, gene mapping, and DNA cloning, among other things. Biological sample and reagent mixture amplification and analysis is becoming increasingly popular and innovative uses are constantly being discovered, including medical applications, infectious disease applications, and forensic applications. With the increase in popularity of biological sample and reagent mixture amplification and analysis comes a need for more advanced equipment.
Equipment that is currently available to prepare, amplify, and analyze a biological sample and reagent mixture includes laboratory equipment, handheld devices, and lab-on-a-chip devices. Handheld devices and lab-on-a-chip devices are not capable of testing a large number of biological sample and reagent mixtures at the same time, thus making them unsuitable for many applications. To amplify and analyze a large number of biological sample and reagent mixtures, laboratory equipment must be used. Laboratory equipment typically involves many separate pieces of equipment, where each piece of equipment is used for a different purpose. For instance, a first piece of equipment can be used to prepare the biological sample and reagent mixture, a second piece of equipment can be used to amplify the biological sample and reagent mixture, and a third piece of equipment can be used to analyze the biological sample and reagent mixture. The different pieces of equipment take up a lot of space in laboratories and it can be costly to acquire all of the equipment needed to prepare, amplify, and analyze the biological sample and reagent mixture. Further, the amount of biological sample and the amount of reagent needed to analyze the biological sample and reagent mixture using existing laboratory equipment can be expensive due to the cost of acquiring the biological sample and the reagent.

Instrument for analyzing biological samples and reagents


An image forming apparatus includes a lock mechanism, a first determination processing portion, and a regulation processing portion. The lock mechanism is configured to regulate attachment and detachment of the developer storage portion attached to the attachment portion. The first determination processing portion determines whether or not the developer storage portion attached to the attachment portion is a developer storage portion of a predetermined specific type. The regulation processing portion, when the developer storage portion attached to the attachment portion has been determined to be a developer storage portion of the specific type, causes the lock mechanism to regulate attachment and detachment of the developer storage portion.

The present disclosure relates to an image forming apparatus for forming an image by using developer, and a method implemented in an image forming apparatus to regulate attachment/detachment of a developer storage portion.
To an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a developer storage portion storing developer used for printing is attached, wherein the developer storage portion may be a toner container storing toner. In this type of image forming apparatus, the developer storage portion is replaced with a new one at an arbitrary timing by the user. Here, there is known an image forming apparatus that includes a lock mechanism configured to regulate attachment/detachment of the developer storage portion until an out of developer in the developer storage portion is detected so that the remaining amount of developer in the developer storage portion at the time of replacement is reduced.

Image forming apparatus for forming image using developer, method for regulating attachment/detachment of developer storage portion


A suspension board with circuit includes a conductive pattern on a top surface thereof. A folded-back portion that is capable of being folded back toward a back surface side is provided therein. At the circumference edge of the folded-back portion, a part of the circumference edge is continuous to the suspension board with circuit around the folded-back portion via a bent portion and the remaining portion of the circumference edge is disposed apart from the suspension board with circuit around the folded-back portion by a penetrating space that penetrates the suspension board with circuit in a thickness direction. The conductive pattern at least includes a top-surface-side terminal that is disposed on the top surface of the suspension board with circuit and a back-surface-side terminal that is disposed in the folded-back portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a suspension board with circuit, to be specific, to a suspension board with circuit that is used in a hard disk drive.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, a suspension board with circuit is used in a hard disk drive. The suspension board with circuit includes a suspension and a conductive pattern that is formed thereon having a head-side terminal portion for connecting a magnetic head. In the suspension board with circuit, the magnetic head is mounted on the suspension so as to connect the magnetic head to the head-side terminal portion.
In recent years, it has been proposed that various electronic devices such as a light emitting device for improving recording density by an optical assist system, an inspecting device for inspecting a positional accuracy of the magnetic head, and further, a piezoelectric element and a microactuator for finely adjusting a position and an angle of the magnetic head are mounted on the suspension board with circuit.
There has been proposed, for example, as a suspension board with circuit for mounting the electronic device thereon, a suspension board with circuit including a board main body portion where the magnetic head is mounted on a top surface thereof and an auxiliary portion that is formed to be continuous from the board main body portion, provided with a conductive pattern so as to include a first conductive pattern provided with an external-side terminal and a head-side terminal and a second conductive pattern provided with a supply-side terminal and an element-side terminal, and provided so that the external-side terminal, the head-side terminal, and the supply-side terminal are disposed in the board main body portion, and the element-side terminal is disposed in the auxiliary portion, respectively (ref: for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2010-118096).
In the suspension board with circuit described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2010-118096, after the auxiliary portion is folded back with respect to the board main body portion, a metal supporting board in the board main body portion that is adjacent in the thickness direction and that in the auxiliary portion are connected by welding. In the suspension board with circuit, the magnetic head is electrically connected to the head-side terminal on the top surface thereof, and the element-side terminal that is folded back and is disposed on a back surface side is electrically connected to the electronic device, so that wiring density can be reduced and miniaturization of the suspension board with circuit can be achieved, with respect to the case where all the terminals are disposed on the top surface.


This invention relates to an embedding type solder point-free combination structure of LED beads with substrate or lamp body, in which the LED chip is packaged on the embedded heat conductive socket to form embedding type LED beads without soldering for electric conduction, and the embedding type LED beads are fixed in the docking hole of the substrate or the lamp body by a detachable dock-fixing structure. Furthermore, the embedding type LED beads has elastic conductive pieces, while the substrate or lamp body has conductive contacts. The elastic conductive pieces of the embedding type LED beads and the conductive contacts provided on the substrate or lamp body are in close contact to form solder point-free structure when the embedding type LED beads are fixed in the docking hole of the substrate or lamp body by the dock-fixing structure. In this manner, it is convenient to mount or dismount the embedding type LED beads in case of maintenance needed.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an embedding type solder point-free combination structure of LED beads with substrate or lamp body, especially to an embedding type solder point-free combination structure of LED beads with substrate or lamp body in which a dock-fixing structure is provided between the embedding type LED beads and the substrate or lamp body so as to achieve good effectiveness of easy-mount and dismount, no solder point, and good heat dissipation.
2. Brief Description of Prior Art
The application of LED is becoming more and more diversified in view of its merits in long lifespan, low power consumption and high brightness. With respect to the application in a road lamp, a plenty of LEDs is required and the road lamp is usually install at high elevation so that it is not easy to replace the bad LED beads provided on the circuit board. Usually, the whole road lamp needs to be dismantled for repair. Not only the maintenance cost is high but also the maintenance is very inconvenient.
Currently, there are substantially two methods of mounting the LED on the circuit board. Descriptions will be made for these two methods as below.
<Method 1>
Two pins (111) of the LED (11) packaged in the type as shown in FIG. 10 is inserted in the circuit board (12) and then soldering is conducted for fixing the LED. This method consumes a lot of labor-hour, and the LED (11) cannot be applied in lighting industry due to its low lighting power.
<Method 2>
The circular or square shape LED beads (2) packaged in the type as shown in FIG. 11 is fixed on the circuit board (22) by means of screws or thermal grease (21), and the conductive wires (24) of the LED beads (2) is connected to the positive and negative contacts (25) on the circuit board (22) by spot soldering of tin solder (23). However, when the LED beads (2) are used in illumination lamp, usually the lamp uses big quantity of LED beads (2). Similarly, this method also consumes a lot of labor-hour in spot soldering. Especially, when several LED beads (2) on the illumination lamp are out of order and are to be replaced, the LED beads (2) should be removed one by one by spot soldering, either a huge amount of labor-hour is required for this maintenance or the whole circuit board (22) is replaced by a new one. Nevertheless, this will cause surging of maintenance cost.

Embedding type solder point-free combination structure of LED beads with substrate or lamp body


An interrupt timer module comprises a prescale counter (PSC) incremented by a real-time interrupt clock signal (RTICLK), a prescale compare value register (CVR) storing a configurable value (PCV), a comparator comparing the current count of the prescale counter (PSC) with the stored configurable value (PCV), a free running counter (FRC) incremented by a match from the comparator, and a plurality of interrupt generation units (IGU0, IGU1, IGU2) Each interrupt generation unit (IGU0, IGU1, IGU2) comprises a compare value register (CVR0, CVR1, CVR2) storing a compare value and a comparator comparing the compare value from the respective compare value register with the current count of the free running counter providing one or both of an interrupt signal (INT0, INT1, INT2) and a direct memory request signal (DMAREQ0, DMAREQ1, DMAREQ2) upon a match.

In a system equipped with a microcontroller that provides a real-time interrupt (RTI), interrupts can be generated periodically or based on compare values, independently of the software loop or the CPU state. The primary function of the RTI is to provide a programmable clock period, separate from the system clock domain. Thus, the RTI can be used to provide periodic interrupts for an operating system. It can also be used for measuring elapsed time within an application or measuring time intervals for benchmarking code.
In an environment where a communication controller provides a global time to all nodes connected to a bus (e.g. TTCAN, TTP/C, FlexRay), time triggered applications need to be synchronized to this global time. However, in the event that the global time fails due to a problem on the bus, the application should continue without affecting the flow of operation.
In such an environment, operating systems require different time bases with different resolutions, ranging from a few hundred nanoseconds to hours. Conventionally, big counters of greater than 64 bits must be used to cover the entire range with a high frequency clock, which is needed for short timebases. Another requirement for some applications running in such an environment, e.g. safety-relevant automotive control applications, is to know exactly when certain peripheral events occurred.

Real time interrupt module for operating systems and time triggered applications


A pipework has an outer pipe, an inner pipe a position hole, a pressing element and a bolt. The outer pipe has an outer wall. The inner pipe is slidably mounted in the outer pipe. The position hole is formed through the outer wall of the outer pipe and has an inner thread and at least one locating slot. The pressing element is mounted in the position hole and has a mounting recess and at least one locating block formed on and protruding from the pressing element. The blot is connected to the pressing element, is screwed with the position hole and has a body and a mounting head. The body is mounted in the position hole and has a mounting segment and an operating segment. The mounting head is formed on the mounting segment and is mounted rotatably in the mounting recess.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pipework, and more particularly to a pipework with a fastening device to prevent the fastening device from damaging the pipework.
2. Description of Related Art
With reference to FIG. 8, a conventional fastening device (70) for a pipework has an outer pipe (61), an inner pipe (60), a threaded hole (71) and a bolt (72). The inner pipe (60) is slidably mounted in the outer pipe (61). The threaded hole (71) is formed through an outer wall of the outer pipe (71). The bolt (72) is screwed into the threaded hole (71) and has a distal end pressing against an external surface of the inner pipe (60) to hold the inner pipe (60) at a position relative to the outer pipe (61).
However, the pressing force of the bolt (72) may damage the external surface of the inner pipe (60), and the bolt (72) cannot hold the inner pipe (60) firmly with the damaged external surface of the inner pipe (60). Then, to change a new inner pipe (60) is needed, but this will increase the cost of using the pipework.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention tends to provide a pipework to mitigate the aforementioned problems.


Systems and methods for creating a computerized model containing polydisperse spherical particles packed in an arbitrarily-shaped volume are disclosed. To create the computerized model, a plurality of polydisperse spherical particles having statistical properties according the characteristic profile (e.g., minimum and maximum sizes and size distribution) is generated. First portion of the particles is used for forming a border layer within the volume's boundary. Any hole in the border layer is sealed with one or more null-sized particles. Second portion of the particles is used for filling up an interior space in a layer-to-layer scheme from the border layer inwards. The layer-to-layer scheme includes searching a best suitable location from a list of size-ranked candidate locations using power diagrams. Each of the second portion of the particles is allowed to pass through holes in the current layer towards the border layer when possible.

Many modern engineering analyses are performed with the aid of a computer system. One of such computer aided engineering (CAE) analyses is referred to as discrete element method (DEM) or distinct element method, which is generally used for numerically simulating the motion of a large number of particles. With advances in computing power and numerical algorithms for nearest neighbor sorting, it has become possible to numerically simulate millions of particles. Today DEM is becoming widely accepted as an effective method of addressing engineering problems in granular and discontinuous materials, especially in granular flows, powder mechanics, and rock mechanics.
Since DEM requires large number of particles, efficient creation of initial computerized model is critical to the success of a simulation. Otherwise, an infeasible amount of time would be required to generate such model. Prior art approaches for creation such computerized model are based on methods having drawbacks. For example, geometric method lacks of packing density, sedimentation method requires a dropping direction as a Priori (for an arbitrarily-shaped volume, there isn't one) and dynamic method (similar to molecular dynamics) is too slow due extensive computation requirements.
It would therefore be desirable to have methods and systems for efficiently and effectively creating a computerized model containing polydisperse spherical particles packed in an arbitrarily-shaped volume.

Methods and systems for creating a computerized model containing polydisperse spherical particles packed in an arbitrarily-shaped volume


Ceramic SiCO fibers are formed by spinning a mixture of a substantially linear polysiloxane fluid having unsaturated hydrocarbon substituents and a photoinitiator into a fiber, exposing the fiber to radiation, and heating the fiber in an inert environment to a temperature above about 800.degree. C.

The present invention relates to a novel method of preparing SiCO ceramic fibers in which a composition comprising a substantially linear polysiloxane fluid is used as the ceramic fiber precursor.
Small diameter, polymer-derived SiCO ceramic fibers are useful as the reinforcing phase in composite structures. Numerous methods for the preparation of these fibers are known in the art and several are used commercially. The most common approach has been to start with a polycarbosilane polymeric precursor. This precursor, however, presents several difficulties. For instance, the cage-like molecular structure of polycarbosilane makes it difficult to spin. Similarly, the polymer's slow crosslinking and the green fiber's fragility inhibit the use of continuous processing.
The use of polysiloxane resins as precursors to SiCO fibers is also known in the art. For instance, published European Patent Application 435,065 teaches spinning such resins into green fibers, doping the green fibers with boron and pyrolyzing the green fibers to form polycrystalline SiC fibers. These resins, however, are also difficult to spin and the green fibers can be fragile.
The present inventor has now discovered that a composition comprising substantially linear polysiloxanes, as compared to the resins described above, can be easily drawn into fibers. These fibers can be rapidly cured into green fibers which are considerably tougher than those made from resinous precursors and, upon pyrolysis, produce SiCO fibers.

Process for preparing ceramic fibers from polysiloxanes


An illumination apparatus to illuminate a sample surface with excellent illumination efficiency and a reflective characteristics measuring apparatus using the illumination apparatus. The illumination apparatus includes a plane light source positioned on a normal at a center of the sample surface and a mirror having an internal reflective surface positioned between the plane light source and the sample surface. The internal reflective surface has a circular or polygonal shape in a section perpendicular to the normal and the circular or polygonal shape substantially corresponds to an imaginary circle centered on the normal and having a radius equal to half a distance between the plane light source and the sample surface. In place of the mirror, a plurality of reflective faces may be positioned.

In a calibration of printed colors in an inkjet printer, for example, a scanner is used to measure an array of a great number of color samples (several hundred color samples) having different color tones and densities (color patch) printed on a sheet according to prescribed input information. Then the spectral reflection characteristics of the visible spectrum (400-700 nm) are measured and calibration is made to eliminate a difference between these measured reflection characteristics and the ideal reference values. To measure the aforementioned spectral reflection characteristics, an illumination receiving system of so-called 45-degrees: 0-degree geometry is used, wherein a sample surface is illuminated at an angle of incidence of 45 degrees with respect to the normal, and the light reflected from the sample surface is received at an angle of reflection of 0 degree relative to the normal. In case of a reflection characteristics measuring apparatus designed for spot measurement, it takes too much time to measure such an array composed of a great number of color samples. To solve this problem, about 20 through 40 color samples arranged in a one-dimensional array are normally measured by manual or automated scanning. Such a reflection characteristics measurement is disclosed, for example, in the Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-298579 by the inventor of the present invention.
In such measurement, however, illuminance on a sample surface by the illumination light changes according to a fluctuation in a distance between a measuring instrument and the sample surface resulting from scanning operation. Such change in illuminance results in measurement errors. To minimize the change in illuminance caused by the fluctuation in the distance, an illumination system characterized by reduced change in illuminance caused by the fluctuation in the distance is disclosed and proposed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,365,843 and 7,433,041. Such conventional art uses a light source known by the name of cosine emitter or Lambertian emitter. To be more specific, as shown in FIG. 14, the light source S has a spatial distribution of Lambertian characteristics (cosine characteristics), that is, the light source S is a diffusing plane light source. This light source S is arranged in such a way that the center axis X of the spatial distribution will be parallel with the normal N of the sample surface, namely, the light source S and the sample surface will be arranged in parallel with each other, and the distance D1 between the normal N and the center axis X will be equal to the distance D2 between the light source S and the surface including the sample surface. This arrangement ensures that the sample surface is illuminated by the component of light flux from the light source S at an angle of incidence of "a"=45 degrees with respect to the normal N of the sample surface, whereby the aforementioned 45-degrees: 0-degree geometry is implemented.
The following describes the change in illuminance on the sample surface when the distance between the light source S and the surface including the sample surface has changed from D2 to D2+d, the distance L between the light source S and the center O of the measured area on the sample surface has changed to L′, and the angle a has changed to a′. The distance L between the light source S and the center O of the measured area equals to D1/sin (a), and the density of the light flux is inversely proportional to the square of the distance L. Thus the density of the light flux is proportional to sin2 (a). In the meantime, the density of the light flux emitted at an outgoing angle of "a" from the light source S of Lambertian characteristics is proportional to cos (a), and the density of the light flux entering the sample surface at an angle of incidence of "a" is also proportional to cos (a). Thus, the density of the light flux entering the center "O" from the light source S of Lamberitan characteristics is proportional to sin2 (a)·cos2 (a), and hence is proportional to sin2 (2·a). Since the sin2 (2·a) is maximized at "a"=45 degrees where the differential coefficient is 0, the change ratio in illuminance on the sample surface caused by the change in "a" is minimized when "a" is in the vicinity of 45 degrees. This means that the change ratio in illuminance on the sample surface caused by the change in the distance D2 between the light source S and the surface including the sample surface is minimized when "a" is in the vicinity 45 degrees. FIG. 15 is a chart representing a change in illuminance on the sample surface caused by the fluctuation in the distance between the light source S and the surface including the sample surface in the geometry of FIG. 14. The chart shows a change in illuminance caused by a fluctuation in the distance between the light source S and the surface including the sample surface, when the light source S has the spatial distribution of Lambertian characteristics (⋄), and when it has a uniform spatial distribution in the vicinity of 45 degrees independently of angle "a" (□). The "x" axis represents a change ratio in the distance, and the "y" axis indicates a change ratio in illuminance As will be apparent from FIG. 15, in the case of a light source of Lambertian characteristics, a change in illuminance is substantially reduced. For example, when the fluctuation in the distance is 2% (0.16 mm) at D2=D1=8 mm, the illuminance changes 1, and an error of about 1% occurs in the reflection characteristics measurements in case of a light source without Lambertian characteristics. In the case of a light source with Lambertian characteristics, on the other hand, the error is only 0.04%.
As described above, the technique disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,365,843 and 7,433,041 substantially reduces a change in illuminance caused by the fluctuation in a distance between the light source S and the surface including the sample surface, namely, a distance between the illumination apparatus and the sample surface. However, the illumination efficiency is extremely poor, because the sample is illuminated by only the component in the vicinity of one direction of 45 degrees relative to the center axis of the spatial distribution of Lambertian characteristics (cosine characteristics) emitted into the hemisphere by the light source S such as an LED.

Illumination apparatus and reflective characteristics measuring apparatus employing the same


A storage device operable to store a plurality of radio signal emitting tracking collars wherein subsequent the tracking collars being engaged with the storage device the storage device operably engages the magnetic switch of the tracking collars to suspend the radio signal emission from the collar. The storage device further includes a mounting member that is substantially hollow being mounted on a base plate in a generally vertical position. Disposed within the mounting member is a bar magnet that has a vector field having a direction and magnitude that extends to at least the perimeter of the base plate so as to operable engage the magnetic switch of the tracking collar placed on the storage device. The storage device further includes two support rods mounted in a generally vertical manner operable to assist in the maintenance of the correct position of the tracking collars once the tracking collars have been placed on the storage device.

Millions of individuals engage in the sport of hunting. While there are many different types of hunting techniques, one popular technique is to utilize at least one or more trained dogs to assist in the location and/or successful retrieval of the intended prey. For example but not by way of limitation, hunter's will often utilize at least one dog to track an intended target. During tracking of the intended target, the dog typically becomes separated from the hunter and the separation can be a significant distance wherein the hunter can no longer physically see the dog. Under these circumstances the hunter typically utilizes a tracking collar that is releasably secured to the dog to assist in the location of the dog during the hunt.
As is known in the art, tracking collars are releasably secured to a dog that emit a signal, typically a radio signal, that can be received by a hand held receiver utilized by the hunter. The receiver detects the strength of the signal and is usually configured to display to the hunter the general direction of the source of the signal and calculate the distance based on the strength of the signal. Most tracking collars utilize a switch such as but not limited to a reed switch to activate the signal production of the transmitter. Currently, most existing tracking collar transmitters are configured to utilize a separate magnet key to deactivate the switch in order to discontinue signal production from the transmitter. One problem with utilizing a separate magnet key is that the magnet key is often very small and can be easily lost. Another issue with current magnet keys utilized to deactivate the output signal of the transmitter is that they must be affixed to a precise location on the collar in order to function correctly. This usually requires the use of o-rings or similar devices that are often cumbersome to use.
Additionally, current magnet keys for tracking collars can easily become dislodged from their correct location on the transmitter when not in use which results the loss of power of the battery. Most conventional tracking collars require their own magnet key for deactivation which can create a key management issue for hunters that utilize several dogs each having their own tracking collar.
Accordingly, there is a need for a magnetic tracking collar deactivation device that can accommodate a plurality of tracking collars thereon and eliminate the need for a magnet key for each tracking collar.