The present invention is to obtain novel anti-inflammatory agents having decreased antibacterial activity and increased anti-inflammatory action, and is psedoerythromycin derivatives represented by the following general formula [I],

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to novel pseudoerythromycin derivatives or salt thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
Erythromycin (hereinafter sometimes designates as EM) has been used for long time as 14-membered macrolide antibiotic for treatment of infectious disease caused by Gram-positive bacteria. During past ten and several years, erythromycin has known to improve long-term chronic inflammatory diseases such as diffuse panbronchiolitis and bronchial asthma, except for therapeutic action to bacterial infectious diseases. (Kudo, Shojli et al., Studies of clinical results on long term small administration of erythromycin for diffuse panbronchiolitis-Treatment results for 4 years, J. Japan. Thorac. Dis. Assoc., 25: 632-642, 1987).
Erythromycin is an antibiotic and has antibacterial action which is not always required for treatment of inflammatory diseases. Consequently, resistant bacteria are generated in patients who are administered antibiotics, as a result, it causes deterioration for treatment of infectious disease in the other occasion.
As described above, Kudo, Shoji et al. demonstrated that diffuse panbronchiolitis could be improved by long term small administration of erythromycin (Kudo, Shoji et al., Studies of clinical results on long term small administration of erythromycin for diffuse panbronchiolitis-Treatment results for 4 years, J. Japan. Thorac. Dis. Assoc., 25: 632-642, 1987).
Recently, actions other than antibiotic activity of erythromycin is noted, as a result, usefulness other than pulmonary region, for example not limited in diffuse panbronchiolitis but for chronic sinusitis and Crohn""s disease are reported. The mechanism of action of erythromycin for chronic disease such as diffuse panbronchiolitis is thought to be the result of original antibacterial action. Research studies are now ongoing, and indicate the antiinflammatory action mediated by immune inflammatory cells in the penumbral chronic respiratory tract inflammation.
For example, the studies indicate the regulation for migration of neutrophils to infectious region by direct action, and the regulation for migration of neutrophils or for release of active oxygen from neutrophils by indirect action through mediators or cytokines. Further, erythromycin has an action to lymphocytes, macrophages and mast cells to regulate their proliferation or cytokine production, or to induce differentiation. (Kudo, Shoji Ed., Supervisors: Shimizu, Kihachiro and Omura Satoshi xe2x80x9cInflammation, Immunity and Macrolides Up to Datexe2x80x9d, Iyaku Journal Inc., Osaka, 1996)
As explained above, 14-membered macrolides are thought to cure chronic respiratory diseases as a result of exhibiting immune regulation and antiinflammatory action.
We have aimed at the promoting action of erythromycin for differentiation-induction frommonocyte to macrophage (N. Keicho, S. Kudoh, H. Yotsumoto, K. Akagawa, xe2x80x9cErythromycin promotes monocyte to macrophage differentiationxe2x80x9d, J. Antibiotics, 47, 80-89, 1994), and tried to synthesize erythromycin derivatives for the purpose of creating the derivatives having disappeared antibacterial action and enhanced promoting action for differentiation-induction.
The present invention relates to a novel pseudoerythromycin derivative represented by the general formula [I],
wherein R1 and R2 are same or different and each represents H, alkyl, alkynyl, acyl, or sulfonyl, in which these groups may optionally have substituents, and Me indicates methyl.
Further, the present invention relates to a novel pseudoerythromycin derivative represented by the general formula [II],
wherein R is heterocyclic containing N which may optionally have substituents, and Me indicates methyl.
The present invention further relates to a novel pseudo erythromycin derivative represented by the general formula [III],
wherein R3 is O or NOH, and Me indicates methyl.
The invention further relates to a novel pseudoerythromycin derivative represented by the general formula [IV],
wherein R1 and R2 are same or different and each represents H or methyl, R3and R4represent H, hydroxyl or amino, and Me indicates methyl.
The present invention further relates to a novel pseudo erythromycin derivative represented by the general formula [V],
wherein R1 and R2 are same or different and each represents H or methyl, and Me indicates methyl.
Synthetic methods of various erythromycin derivatives are, for example, illustrated in the synthetic scheme as shown in FIG. 1. Namely, erythromycin A is treated with ice-cold acetic acid according to the references: (a) I. O. Kibwage, R. Busson, G. Janssen, J. Hoogmartens, H. Vanderhaeghe, Translactonization of Erythromycins, J. Org. Chem., 52, 990-996, 1987, (b) H. A. Kirst, J. A. Wind, J. W. Paschal, Synthesis of Ring-Constracted Derivatives of Erythromycin, J. Org. Chem., 52, 4359-4362, 1987, introducing to erythromycin A enol ether (EM 201), subsequently refluxing in methanol with heating in the presence of potassium carbonate to introduce pseudoerythromycin A enol ether (EM701) (known compound).
The product was treated with iodine and sodium acetate according to the reference (L. A. Friberg, U.S. Pat. No. 3,725,385) to obtain de-N-methyl-pseudoerythromycin A enol ether (EM703) (known compound). The compound was further treated with iodine and sodium methoxide to obtain bis(de-N-methyl)-pseudo erythromycin A enol ether (EM721) (novel compound). Alkylation, acylation and sulfonylation using EM703 and EM721 resulted to synthesize various derivatives through bis-de(3xe2x80x2-N-methyl)-3xe2x80x2-N-ethyl-8,9-anhydro-pseudoerythromycin A 6,9-hemiketal (EM722).
The synthetic scheme of compounds of the present invention is illustrated in FIG. 1. Namely, the compounds can be obtained by the synthetic route of: erythromycin A (EMA)xe2x86x92erythromycin A enol ether (EM201)xe2x86x92pseudoerythromycin A enol ether (EM701)xe2x86x92de-N-methyl-pseudoerythromycin A enol ether (EM703)xe2x86x92bis (de-N-methyl)-pseudoerythromycin A enol ether (EM721).
In order to confirm enhancing effect for differentiation-induction of the compounds of the present invention, the enhancing effect for differentiation-induction from human monocyte to macrophage was assayed. Method is performed as follows.
THP-1 cells were collected from cultured liquid by centrifugation, adjusted the concentration to 2xc3x97105 cells/ml using medium (RPMI 1640) and distributed into the 48-well plate at 500 xcexcl/well. PMA solution 10 xcexcl and sample solution 5 xcexcl were added in each well, stirred with mild shaking and incubated at 37xc2x0 C. for 72-96 hours under 5% CO2. Further MTT 0.5 mg/ml solution was added at 300 xcexcl/well, and incubated at 37xc2x0 C. for 3 hours under 5% CO2. Supernatant solution was suctioned using the injection tube, added DMSO 500 xcexcl using automatic continuous injector to dissolve formazan completely and transferred each 100 xcexcl to the 96-well plate. The optical absorption was measured using the plate-reader.
Results of the enhancing effect for differentiation-induction from human monocyte to macrophage measured by the above assay method are shown in Table 1.
In Table 1: Me: methyl; Pr: propyl; Et: ethyl; Ac: acetyl; and Ms: methanesulfonyl. *ED50: Drug concentration (xcexcM) required for 50% differentiation-induction of THP in Mxcfx86.
In Table 1, indicated activity is represented in comparison with enhancing action for differentiation-induction of EM 100 xcexcM and symbols are: ++: enhanced 100% or more; +: enhanced 50-100%; xc2x1: enhanced 25-50%; xe2x88x92: no activity; /: expressed cytoxicity; and NT: not tested or under assessment.
As shown in Table 1, since the smaller the value of ED50 (xcexcM), (minimum drug concentration required for 50% differentiation-induction from THP-1 to Mxcfx86), the stronger the differentiation-induction activity, it was found that the compounds of the present invention have enhancing action for diffferentiation-induction from THP-1 to Mxcfx86.
Next, the suppressive effect of the compound of the present invention (EM703) against bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis was examined (hereinafter sometimes designates bleomycin as BLM).
A sample suspended in 5% gum arabic was orally administered, 50 mg/kg/day for 17 days (from day-3 to day-13), and bleomycin, 100 mg/kg, was administered from tail vein in day-0. On day-28, animals were sacrificed under anesthesia and fibrosis of the lungs was compared with non-administered mice. Suppressive effects are shown in Table 2.
Azuma A., Furuta T., Enomoto T., Hashimoto Y., Uematsu K., Nukariya N., Murata A., Kudoh S., Preventive effect of erythromycin on experimental bleomycin-induced acute lung injury in rats Thorax 53, 186-189, 1998
As indicated above, hydroxyproline is an index of lung fibrosis and higher value indicates hyperfibrosis. Hydroxyproline level, an index for lung injury, in BLM administered group was reduced in a group of BLM+EM703.
Next, the suppressive effect of the compound EM703 against pneumonia caused by influenza viral infection was examined.
Sample was dissolved in physiological saline containing 1% DMSO and amount corresponding to oral dosage of the small administration for long-term therapy was administered from day-1 to day-6 of the infection to mice influenza pneumonia model (0.3 mg and 0.03 mg/mice), once a day, intraperitoneally. Results were compared with control group which was given only solvent.
Sato K., Suga M., Akaike T. et al., Therapeutic effect of erythromycin on influenza virus-induced lung injury in mice. Am. J. Respir Crit. Care Med. 157, 853-859, 1998.
Results are shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3. In this system, mice developed pneumonia and almost died about 20 days after infection. Contrary to that, as shown in FIG. 2, administration of EM703, 0.3 mg/mice, cured pneumonia and 40% of mice were survived. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, mice without administration of drugs (control) indicated significant decrease of body weight due to pneumonia, but administration of EM703 indicated to increase body weight from day-10. This indicates suppressive effect against pneumonia and result to cure pneumonia.
As described above, the compound of the present invention shows suppressive effect against influenza virus-induced pneumonia.

Abstract: wherein R1 and R2 are same or different and each represents H, alkyl, alkynyl, acyl or sulfonyl, in which these groups may optionally have substituents, and Me indicates methyl.


The effect of ambient light on a measurement taken by an imaging pixel may be reduced by employing two optical filters. The two filters may have narrow passbands that are close to each other but do not overlap. The first filter may allow ambient and active light to pass. The second filter may allow ambient light to pass but may block active light. The ambient and active light that passes through the first filter may cause electrical charge to be generated in a photodiode of the pixel. The ambient light that passes through the second filter and strikes another pixel element may control the amperage of an electrical current that depletes charge from the photodiode. For instance, the other element may be a photoresistor, the light-dependent resistance of which controls the amperage, or may be a second photodiode that generates charge that controls a transistor that controls the amperage.

Many conventional imaging systems include an active light source, such as a laser or light-emitting diode (LED), which actively illuminates a scene. These conventional systems may control parameters (e.g., power, color, illumination pattern, and polarization) of the active illumination. Calibration is performed to determine these parameters of the active illumination. This calibration in turn facilitates computer vision.
Unfortunately, it is difficult to control these parameters for ambient light. For purposes of image processing, ambient light is typically noise. Therefore, in many situations, it is desirable to minimize the effect of ambient light on the image being captured.
In some conventional imaging systems, ambient light is digitally suppressed during imaging processing. This digital suppression is achieved, in these conventional systems, by: (a) using an imaging sensor to capture a first image of a scene that is illuminated by both active light and ambient light (Image A); (b) using the same sensor to capture a second image of the scene that is illuminated by only the ambient light (Image B), and (c) subtracting the second image from the first image to produce an image (Image C) in which ambient light has been digitally suppressed (Image A−Image B=Image C). This digital image subtraction is typically performed in a pixelwise manner.
In some conventional imaging systems, ambient light is physically suppressed by a physical, narrow-band filter. For instance, if the active light source emits narrowband illumination centered at X nm, the imaging sensor may be covered with an optical filter with a narrow bandwidth of 2 nm and with cutoff frequencies at X+1 nm and X−1 nm. The sun radiates at all visible wavelengths with a large power (e.g., an irradiance of 1000 W/m2). The narrow optical filter may allow only a small percentage of the ambient solar radiation to pass, but may allow almost all of the active illumination to pass.
However, these conventional methods of suppressing ambient light have three problems.
First, in both of these conventional methods (digital suppression and physical suppression), if the ambient light is too strong, then the full-well capacity of the photodiodes is saturated.
Second, in both of these conventional methods (digital suppression and physical suppression), if the ambient light is too strong, then the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) may be too low. This may occur, for instance, where there is a practical upper limit on the power of the active illumination. For instance, the power of the active illumination may be limited by safety concerns, power constraints or other hardware constraints.
Third, in the conventional digital suppression method described above, if the scene is not completely static, then the scene changes between Image A and Image B. This in turn may cause artifacts (e.g., "ghosts") to appear in Image C, which is calculated by subtracting Image B from Image A.

Methods and apparatus for ambient light suppression with subtractive image sensor


A sense operation with respect to simultaneously-accessed two memory cells is performed by time division by using two sense amplifiers, and thereafter restore operations are performed simultaneously. With this arrangement, it is not necessary to provide switches in the middle of global bit lines, and no problem occurs when performing the restore operation by time division. Further, because a parasitic CR model of a first sense amplifier and that of a second sense amplifier become mutually the same, high sensitivity can be maintained.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, and more particularly relates to a semiconductor device in which bit lines have a hierarchical structure.
2. Description of Related Art
Among semiconductor devices represented by DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory), there are devices in which bit lines thereof are hierarchized into local bit lines and global bit lines (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Nos. 2000-114491, H11-163292, and H8-87880). The local bit lines are low-order bit lines and are connected to memory cells. Meanwhile, the global bit lines are high-order bit lines and are connected to sense amplifiers. When bit lines are hierarchized, the number of memory cells allocated to one sense amplifier can be increased while shortening a wiring length of local bit lines having a relatively high electric resistance.
FIG. 4 in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-114491 shows a semiconductor device in which sense amplifiers are respectively provided at both ends of a pair of global bit lines, and accessed two memory cells are connected to mutually different sense amplifiers by ON/OFF controlling switches provided in the middle of global bit lines. With this arrangement, data of the two memory cells are simultaneously amplified by the mutually different sense amplifiers, and are simultaneously restored.
FIG. 18 in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H11-163292 shows a semiconductor device, in which bit lines thereof are not hierarchized, but has sense amplifiers respectively provided at both ends of a first bit line that is disconnected in the middle and a second bit line that can be short-circuited via switches. Accessed two memory cells are connected to mutually different sense amplifiers by ON/OFF controlling switches provided in the middle of the second bit line. With this arrangement, data of the two memory cells are simultaneously amplified by the mutually different sense amplifiers, and are sequentially restored.
FIG. 1 in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H8-87880 shows a semiconductor device having a sense amplifier provided at one end of a pair of global bit lines, and accessed two memory cells are amplified by time division. With this arrangement, data of the two memory cells are amplified by the same sense amplifier by time division, and are restored by time division.
However, according to the semiconductor device described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-114491, because switches are provided in the middle of global bit lines, a parasitic capacitance of the global bit lines increase due to an ON resistance of the switches. Further, because positions of the switches which are turned ON change depending on positions of memory cells to be accessed, a parasitic capacitance connected to one sense amplifier and a parasitic capacitance connected to the other sense amplifier do not necessarily match at a time of a sense operation, and also change at each access. Therefore, an operation margin of the sense amplifier decreases.
According to the semiconductor device described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H11-163292, because switches are provided in the middle of bit lines, a parasitic capacitance of the bit lines also increases due to an ON resistance of the switches. Further, among the accessed two memory cells, a sense operation and a restore operation are performed simultaneously in one memory cell, but these operations are performed at different timings in the other memory cell. Therefore, a timing margin of control is small.
According to the semiconductor device described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H8-87880, among the accessed two memory cells, a parasitic capacitance of a global bit line at the time of reading data from one memory cell is different from that of a global bit line at the time of reading data from the other memory cell. Therefore, an operation margin of the sense amplifier decreases. Further, because a restore operation is performed by time division, a potential of a bit line connected to a memory cell to be restored next changes and a restore voltage changes, due to a variation of a potential of a bit line at the time of performing a first restore operation. Furthermore, because restore timings of the two memory cells are different, an apparent information-holding capacity of the memory cell previously restored decreases.

Semiconductor device having hierarchical structured bit line


Disclosed are compounds of formula I, compositions containing them, and methods of use for the compounds and compositions in the treatment of conditions in which modulation of the JAK pathway or inhibition of JAK kinases, particularly JAK 2 and JAK3, are therapeutically useful. Also disclosed are methods of making the compounds.

JAnus Kinases (or JAK) are a family of cytoplasmic protein tyrosine kinases including JAK1, JAK2, JAK3 and TYK2. Each of the JAK kinases is selective for the receptors of certain cytokines, though multiple JAK kinases can be affected by particular cytokine or signaling pathways. Studies suggest that JAK3 associates with the common gamma chain (γv) of the various cytokine receptors. In particular, JAK3 selectively binds to receptors and is part of the cytokine signaling pathway for IL-2, IL-4, IL-7, IL-9, IL-15 and IL-21. The kinase JAK1 interacts with, among others, the receptors for cytokines IL-2, IL-4, IL-7, IL-9 and IL-21, while JAK2 interacts with, among others, the receptors for IL-9 and TNF-α. Upon the binding of certain cytokines to their receptors (for example, IL-2, IL-4, IL-7, IL-9, IL-15 and IL-21), receptor oligomerization occurs, resulting in the cytoplasmic tails of associated JAK kinases being brought into proximity and facilitating the trans-phosphorylation of tyrosine residues on the JAK kinase. This trans-phosphorylation results in the activation of the JAK kinase.
Phosphorylated JAK kinases bind various Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription (STAT) proteins. These STAT proteins, which are DNA binding proteins activated by phosphorylation of tyrosine residues, function both as signaling molecules and transcription factors and ultimately bind to specific DNA sequences present in the promoters of cytokine-responsive genes (Leonard et al., (2000), J. Allergy Clin. Immunol. 105:877-888). Signaling of JAK/STAT has been implicated in the mediation of many abnormal immune responses such as allergies, asthma, autoimmune diseases such as transplant (allograft) rejection, rheumatoid arthritis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and multiple sclerosis, as well as in solid and hematologic malignancies such as leukemia and lymphomas. For a review of the pharmaceutical intervention of the JAK/STAT pathway see Frank, (1999), Mol. Med. 5:432:456 and Seidel et al., (2000), Oncogene 19:2645-2656.
In particular, JAK3 has been implicated in a variety of biological processes. For example, the proliferation and survival of murine mast cells induced by IL-4 and IL-9 have been shown to be dependent on JAK3- and gamma chain-signaling (Suzuki et al., (2000), Blood 96:2172-2180). Having a crucial role in IgE receptor-mediated mast cell degranulation responses (Malaviya et al., (1999), Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 257:807-813), inhibition of JAK3 kinase has been shown to prevent type I hypersensitivity reactions, including anaphylaxis (Malaviya et al., (1999), J. Biol. Chem. 274:27028-27038). JAK3 inhibition has also been shown to result in immune suppression for allograft rejection (Kirken, (2001), Transpl. Proc. 33:3268-3270). Kinases, particularly JAK3 kinases, have also been implicated in the mechanism involved in early and late stages of rheumatoid arthritis (Muller-Ladner et al., (2000), J. Immunol. 164:3894-3901); familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Trieu et al., (2000), Biochem Biophys. Res. Commun. 267:22-25); leukemia (Sudbeck et al., (1999), Clin. Cancer Res. 5:1569-1582); mycosis fungoides, a form of T-cell lymphoma (Nielsen et al., (1997), Prac. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 94:6764-6769); and abnormal cell growth (Yu et al., (1997), J. Immunol. 159:5206-5210; Catlett-Falcone et al., (1999), Immunity 10:105-115).
The JAK kinases, including JAK3, are abundantly expressed in primary leukemic cells from children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common form of childhood cancer, and studies have correlated STAT activation in certain cells with signals regulating apoptosis (Demoulin et al., (1996), Mol. Cell. Biol. 16:4710-6; Jurlander et al., (1997), Blood. 89:4146-52; Kaneko et al., (1997), Clin. Exp. Immun. 109:185-193; and Nakamura et al., (1996), J. Biol. Chem. 271:19483-8). They are also known to be important to lymphocyte differentiation, function and survival. In particular, JAK3 plays an essential role in the function of lymphocytes, macrophages, and mast cells. Given the importance of JAK kinases, particularly JAK3, compounds which modulate the JAK pathway, including those selective for JAK3, can be useful for treating diseases or conditions where the function of lymphocytes, macrophages, or mast cells is involved (Kudlacz et al., (2004) Am. J. Transplant 4:51-57; Changelian (2003) Science 302:875-878). Conditions in which targeting of the JAK pathway or modulation of the JAK kinases, particularly JAK3, are contemplated to be therapeutically useful include, leukemia, lymphoma, transplant rejection (for example, pancreas islet transplant rejection, bone marrow transplant applications (for example, graft-versus-host disease), autoimmune diseases (for example, diabetes), and inflammation (for example, asthma, allergic reactions). Conditions which can benefit for inhibition of JAK3 are discussed in greater detail below.
In view of the numerous conditions that are contemplated to benefit by treatment involving modulation of the JAK pathway it is immediately apparent that new compounds that modulate JAK pathways and methods of using these compounds should provide substantial therapeutic benefits to a wide variety of patients. Provided herein are novel 2,4-pyrimidinediamine compounds for use in the treatment of conditions in which targeting of the JAK pathway or inhibition of JAK kinases, particularly JAK3, are therapeutically useful.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Compositions and methods for inhibition of the JAK pathway


Disclosed is a multi-compartment container including a tearable inner packet, as well as methods for its use and manufacture.

Various devices and methods are known for the dispersion of one material into another at the time of use within a self-contained container (e.g., cold compress packs). Multi-part containers of this type are useful for the separate storage of ingredients or materials for a variety of products, where at least two ingredients can be stored separately for reasonably long periods of time, and when admixed will produce a desired mixture. The materials must generally be maintained separately until shortly before use to avoid a propensity to degrade in quality over a relatively short period of time.
Where such mixtures are consumables, they are generally stored and sold in an isolated format and the components of the mixture remain segregated during storage and then are mixed just before use. Mixture at the time of use is beneficial because the combined solution fails to retain its initially mixed qualities over time. Such products usually, but not necessarily, comprise at least one liquid ingredient and at least one additional ingredient which may be in the form of a liquid, dry granules or powder.
One such product is a protein-based beverage, where the protein-containing component is produced and stored separate from a liquid component and the two are mixed just prior to the time consumption. Given the desirability of mixing beverage components just prior to use the disclosed embodiment provides a package for separately storing components in a single package, where the components may be stored in an integrated compartment(s) or packet(s), one of which may be torn or otherwise ruptured to permit the components therein to mix before use. This is advantageous since it facilitates the shipment, storage and sale of such products as discrete ingredients, extending shelf life, as well as effectiveness by avoiding premature mixing. Moreover, having the components in separate compartments of a single flexible pouch permits the pouch to serve as both a mixing and dispensing container, thereby assuring admixture of the materials in the proper proportions while eliminating the potential of unintended mixing or spoilage. It is further contemplated that tearing of the inner packet, and intermixing of the two components, may be initiated by applying force(s) with the hands to different portions of the exterior of the container.
Multi-compartment containers or packs are known for use with instant hot/cold packets, preparation of amalgams in dentistry, reconstituting infusion medicine and chemiluminescent devices. Notably there are few, if any, offerings of multi-compartment packages within the food and beverage or consumable market, presumably due to the inability to economically construct and fill packaging that would satisfy the criteria for mixing components only at or just prior to the time of use. The apparent difficulty centers around the requirement to maintain an impervious separation of the components until a time when the consumer wishes to combine the components in a mixture. In order to overcome this limitation the disclosed embodiments provide a package that includes a tearable inner compartment or packet, thereby releasing the contents of the packet for mixture with the surrounding liquid contained within the pouch.
As described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,057,047 for a thermal pack, a rupturable heat seal may be arranged to allow an interior pouch to burst in response to a manual force squeezing the contents of the interior pouch. However this also has the potential of rupturing the outer pouch and thereby allowing the contents to leak out. Thus, the very nature of the squeezing-dependant rupture concept, when applied to a pouch that also has a peripheral heat seal that forms the container, must be controlled in order to have a tearable or rupturable inner pouch along with a burst resistant outer pouch.
Provided in accordance with the disclosed embodiments is a packet enclosed within a pouch, each constructed of a flexible wall such as a film (single and/or multi-layer), possibly having several panels joined along a perimeter to form a pouch-like container. When the contents of the container are to be consumed, the inner pouch is torn or ruptured, possibly along a weakened region or stress concentration region (collectively referred to as a stress riser), thereby permitting mixture between the materials in the packet and the surrounding outer pouch.
One of the multi-compartment liquid containers disclosed includes an outer pouch formed from a flexible, liquid-impervious material and having an expansion region (e.g., a pleated bottom on the pouch). An inner packet, including a stress riser and force (e.g., tension) transmission link or member, is enclosed within the outer pouch, where the packet contains a substance for mixing with a liquid in the pouch to form a freshly prepared solution. The force transmission link is attached to and between the packet, at a position adjacent to a stress riser, and an anchor point on the outer wall of the pouch. The application of a force at a position on or near the anchor point causes the transfer of a tensile force, via the aforementioned connection link, to the packet. Upon exceeding the tear strength of the inner packet, perhaps due to a stress riser, the inner packet ruptures to permit mixing of the material in the packet with a liquid in the surrounding flexible pouch. The force may be applied in a number of methods including: (i) a user holding the container at the top and pulling on the anchor point for the link (possibly a tab associated therewith), and (ii) an external squeezing force applied to the pouch to put the inner packet in tension. The thoroughly mixed liquid is then made available through a spout or similar fitment, a straw or by cutting a corner of the pouch to permit pouring.
It is further contemplated that the package include means to ascertain if the contents of the packet remains intact and has not been accidentally mixed in order to provide to the retailer and/or consumer a confirmation that the package is intact. This could prove to be critical when the shelf life of the solution is dramatically influenced by a premature combination of the materials. Indicia may be used to indicate an accidental packet rupture as explained in more detail below.
The disclosed embodiments provide a tearable packet that facilitates the immediate and thorough dispensing of a material in the packet into a liquid surrounding the packet.
The embodiments disclosed further provide a beverage pouch that internally stores and then mixes an additive, such as a flavoring agent, seasoning, alcohol, medication or some other beverage enhancing ingredient into an associated liquid.
Another object is to provide a beverage container in the form of a pouch having an internal packet therein which is designed to disperse a quantity of material such as an additive to a liquid in the pouch to produce a beverage by manual action of the user.
It is a further object of the disclosed embodiments to provide a means to extend the shelf life of materials that do not retain their stability, strength or effectiveness once they have been mixed into a solution.
Another object is to provide a region on the surface of the frangible packet that is predisposed to rupture to enable the concentration of stress and thereby failure of the packet in a specific area.
Lastly, an additional object is to provide an indicia to indicate if mixture has occurred prior to purchase or use using either a colorant or other or similar means.
Accordingly, it is an object of the disclosed embodiments to provide a pouch filled with a liquid and a frangible or rupturable internal packet, filled with a substance to be mixed with the liquid, whereby the application of an external force is conveyed from outside the pouch to the packet via a link, tab or similar member to rupture the inner packet.
Disclosed in the embodiments described below is a multi-compartment container, comprising: an outer flexible pouch formed from a flexible, liquid-impervious material; and an inner packet, substantially enclosed within said outer flexible pouch, wherein said inner packet contains a substance for mixing with a material contained within the outer flexible pouch; said inner packet being operatively connected to an anchor point on said outer flexible pouch, wherein a force applied to said anchor point causes the tearing of the inner packet and thereby permits mixing of the substance in the inner packet with the material in the outer flexible pouch without direct access to the inner packet.
Also disclosed in embodiments described below is a method of preparing a multi-compartment container, comprising: preparing an outer flexible pouch for the receipt of a first material therein; preparing an inner packet impervious to the first material in the outer pouch, said inner packet including a second material therein and said inner packet being located within said outer flexible pouch; providing a link between a surface of the inner packet and a surface of the outer pouch; and sealing the inner packet and the outer pouch and the respective materials therein to create a flexible, multi-compartment container.
Also disclosed herein is a method for use of a multi-compartment container, said container comprising an outer flexible pouch having a first material therein along with an inner packet having a second material stored within said packet, and a link between a surface of said inner packet and a surface of said outer pouch, said method including: applying a force to a surface of the outer pouch to create a tensile force along at least a portion of the surface of the inner packet, said tensile force of sufficient magnitude to cause the tearing of the surface of the inner packet and release of the second material to combine with the first material of the outer pouch.
Other and further objects, features and advantages of the disclosed containers and methods will be evident from a reading of the following specification and by reference to the accompanying drawings forming a part thereof, wherein the examples of the presently preferred embodiments are given for the purposes of disclosure.
The various embodiments described herein are not intended to limit the disclosure to those embodiments described. On the contrary, the intent is to cover all alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the disclosure.
For a general understanding, reference is made to the drawings. In the drawings like references have been used throughout to designate identical or equivalent elements. It is also noted that the drawings may not have been drawn to scale and that certain regions may have been purposely drawn disproportionately so that the features and concepts could be properly illustrated.

Container having a tearable packet therein


A method comprising: independently compiling a plurality of modules of source code to generate a plurality of respective object modules comprising a plurality of respective parallel threads explicitly designated by a user to be executed in parallel on a target platform; in each of the object modules, inserting at least one symbol indicative of a usage of a resource of the target platform associated with the respective thread; executing a linker to perform a linking process for linking the object modules, wherein the linking process comprises assessing the symbols in conjunction with one another, and based on the assessment generating an indication relating to a usage of the resource required for execution of the threads in parallel.

To generate a program, a software developer uses a tool-chain comprising a computer program or set of programs, which typically include at least a compiler for compiling object modules from source code and a linker for linking together a plurality of object modules to generate a resulting computer program, usually an executable file. However, a programmer must take careful steps when writing the source code regarding the use of resources by the resulting program.

Link-time resource allocation for a multi-threaded processor architecture


A management apparatus includes: a data holding part that holds a function management table for storing information associating apparatus identification information identifying an expansion apparatus and function identification information for identifying a function that is set in the expansion unit; a function management part that specifies an expansion apparatus in response to an instruction to start up a virtual machine, that sets, in the expansion unit, function identification information corresponding to a function satisfying a functional requirement of the virtual machine, that sets the function satisfying the functional requirement as an internal function in the expansion unit, and that stores function identification information in the function management table; and a function setting part that determines driver software necessary for an internal function of the expansion apparatus based on function identification information set in the expansion unit.

A system that carried out information processing is expected to promptly start up and make operate an information processing apparatus that conforms with requirements. With the progress of virtualization technology, in a system that executes information processing by a general purpose server, rapid activation and flexible operation of the system have become possible by replacing a virtual machine and software in the virtual machine in accordance with processing requirements.
This virtualization in a general purpose server is becoming widely used in various fields such as the fields of networks, business, CAD (Computer Aided Design) usage, image processing, and the like. For example, virtualization in a general purpose server is used in network fields, and is widely used as Network Function Virtualization (NFV).
In NFV, functions of network equipment such as routers, gateways, firewalls, load balancers and the like, are implemented as application software operating on a general purpose Operating System (OS). By the general purpose operating system (OS) executing functions of network equipment on a virtualized server, the virtualized server substitutes for the function of dedicated network equipment (router, gateway, firewall, load balancer and the like).
Here, the general purpose server used in the abovementioned respective fields may have different processing requirements, in accordance with application purpose. For example, in the network equipment, necessary functions, such as control functions of input output speed, processing functions for passing packets, and the like, differ for each device. Therefore, even in a case where it is desired to change the application purpose of a general purpose server, in a case where the general purpose server does not satisfy necessary processing requirements, it is not possible to change the application purpose of the general purpose server.
Accordingly, an administrator or the like of a general purpose server may connect an add-in card using a PCIe (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express) standard interface, and perform function expansion of the general purpose server. In this case, by connecting an add-in card provided with a function suitable for an application purpose, the administrator of the general purpose server can use the general purpose server for the desired application purpose.
Patent Literature 1 (PTL 1) describes technology in which a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) switch connects a PCI device and a management server in an exclusive possession state or a shared state, based on an instruction of the management server. In the technology described in Patent Literature 1, the management server obtains information related to type, performance, and functions necessary for performing management of the PCI device, from the PCI device connected via a PCI switch. As a result, the technology described in Patent Literature 1 facilitates the manager of the management server searching for a PCI device assigned to the management server.

Management apparatus, management system, method for controlling management apparatus, and program


A window is configured to bring nature into the interior of a building in a true physical sense. The window includes a frame configured to be permanently mounted to a perimeter of an opening in the wall of the building, an at least partially open exterior surface, an interior surface that is positioned inwardly of the interior surface of the wall, and a base and a top, each of which extends from the frame to the interior surface of the window. The interior surface of the window is formed from a plurality of interconnected sashes, at least some of which may be operable to provide access to the inwardly projecting alcove of the window from within the building. The inwardly projecting alcove of the window may contain accessories that may be mounted on the window using a convenient bracket that facilitates positioning of the accessories in the window and removal of the accessories for cleaning or maintenance.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to windows and, more particularly, relates to a window that is configured for permanent mounting in an opening in an exterior wall of a dwelling or other building and that projects inwardly into the interior of the building so as to bring the outdoors into the building in a true physical sense.
2. Background of the Invention
Building designers frequently incorporate structures in both commercial and residential buildings to bring elements of the outdoors into working or living spaces. For instance, skylights, sunrooms, atriums, etc., are being used with increasing frequency and in a variety of settings. Large picture windows, bay windows, and bow windows are also increasingly commonplace. All of these structures are designed to permit natural light to enter the building. Many are also designed to permit occupants of the building to view flora and fauna located outside of the building. This latter goal is especially important in applications in which occupants of the building do not have ready access to natural outdoor attractions, either because the occupants cannot readily leave the building and/or because natural attractions are not readily accessible from the building due to its location. These applications include nursing homes, elderly care facilities, schools, libraries, buildings located in cold climates, high rise buildings, and even low rise buildings in urban settings.
A serious drawback of virtually all structures of the type described above is that they do not bring nature indoors in a true physical sense. They instead present a glass or other transparent partition that isolates the exterior of the building from nature. In the case of atriums, skylights, traditional windows, etc., this partition is at least generally coplanar with the exterior surface of the building. In the case of bow windows and bay windows, the partition is disposed outwardly of the outer surface of the building. Hence, birds, plants, small animals, and other natural attractions are not allowed to venture into the confines of the outer shell of the building. Occupants of the building therefore can view these attractions from only a relatively long distance. In most cases, the occupant also cannot access the interior of the structures from within the building in order to replenish food, water plants, clean or refill accessories, etc. They instead must venture outside of the buildingxe2x80x94an impossibility for infirm persons and/or for high rise occupants and other persons for whom the outside of the structure is simply inaccessible.
Attempts have been made to alleviate at least some of the problems addressed above. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 6,062,167 to Soley discloses a bird feeder kit configured for mounting within a window so as to attract birds to a location that is easily viewed from within a building and so as to permit the feeder to be filled, cleaned, etc. from within the building. The bird feeder includes a frame and a viewing enclosure that is mounted in the frame. The frame is configured to be removably mounted in an existing window opening. The viewing enclosure has a transparent window portion that supports a bird feeder within it and that is pivotally mounted on the frame so that an occupant of the building can selectively pivot the bird feeder into the building for refilling or cleaning purposes.
While the bird feeder disclosed in the Solely patent has advantages over standard windows and the like, it does not solve all of the problems of those earlier structures and presents additional problems of its own. For instance, because it is configured to be supplied as a kit that is mountable in an existing window opening in a retrofit structure, it is necessarily relatively small in length, height, and depth. The size constraints, and particularly the depth constraints, considerably reduce the ability of occupants of a building to view feeding birds. In fact, any occupant other than one sitting directly in front of the viewing enclosure is unlikely to be able to view feeding birds. It is also relatively flimsy, easy to inadvertently displace, and poorly insulated. Moreover, the entire arrangement is configured solely for use as a bird feeder and, accordingly, cannot bring plants, animals, or other aspects of nature indoors. It also is not well-suited for cooperation with other internal building structures such as cabinets, etc.
The need therefore has arisen to provide a permanent, sturdy structure that is configured to be mountable in an opening of a building so as to bring nature into the building in a true physical sense.
In accordance with a first aspect of the invention, a window is configured to bring nature into the interior of a building in a true physical sense. A preferred window includes a frame configured to be permanently mounted to a perimeter of an opening in an exterior wall of the building, an at least partially open exterior surface that is configured to be located outwardly of the interior surface of the wall and to face the outdoors, an interior surface that is positioned inwardly of the interior surface of the wall to form an inwardly projecting alcove between the interior and exterior surfaces of the window, and a base and a top, each of which extends from the opening to the interior surface. The interior surface is preferably formed from a plurality of interconnected sashes, at least some of which may be operable to provide access to the interior of the window from within the building. The interior of the window may contain accessories that may be mounted on the window using a convenient universal bracket that facilitates positioning of the accessories in the window and removal of the accessories for cleaning or maintenance.
Preferably, the window includes a sill, a head jam, and/or other components formed from a relatively smooth, wipeable material. The window may additionally be supported on the building by at least one of a) a stand located adjacent the interior surface of the wall and attached to the base and b) a strut attached to the interior surface of the building and to one of the base and the top. If the base is supported on a stand, the stand may also perform a secondary function such as to serve as a cabinet.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a bracket usable with a window of the type described or other structures includes a base configured for attachment to the window and a support arm having i) a first end portion that is attachable to the base, ii) a second end portion that is configured to support an accessory, and iii) a body portion that leads from the first end portion to the second end portion. The body portion preferably is bent through an angle of approximately 90xc2x0. In order to facilitate orientation or reorientation of the bracket and the mounted accessory, the first end portion of the arm may be is pivotally mountable on the base.
The bracket preferably additionally includes an accessory mount on which the accessory can be mounted and which is slidably mountable onto the second end portion of the arm.


An automated testing system is provided that includes a computer system, a handset, script and scripting interface, a test module, and a data comparison component. The handset has at least one application resident thereon to be tested. The handset is coupled to communicate with the computer system. The script executes on the computer system and is operable to generate an input to the application on the handset to test the application. The test module is embedded in a source code of the application. The test module is operable to monitor a response by the application to the input by the script. The data comparison component compares the response by the application monitored by the test module to an expected response.

Mobile telecommunications devices, such as digital cellular phones or personal digital assistants, that can be used by a subscriber to a mobile telephony service to place and receive calls via the mobile telephony service can be referred to as handsets. Handsets typically feature a set of applications that can provide various functions such as web browsing, video conferencing, gaming, instant messaging, and others. It is typically desirable to test the applications before offering the handsets for sale to ensure that the applications function properly.


A method for providing direct control of the ink supply for printing presses based on an output of a multispectral measurement device includes: obtaining an output of the multispectral measurement from a plurality of printed items which are printed while varying the amount of ink dispensed, utilizing percentage dot area information in print editing from a printing plate for the printed item; determining a transfer function to calculate the amount of ink dispensed corresponding to the amount of change in the multispectral; and computing the amount of ink dispensed to be changed, by using the output deviation in the multispectral measurement output from the target colors for a commercially printed item, and the percentage dot area information related to the target colors of the commercially printed item to control the amount of ink dispensed by the foregoing ink dispensing apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a color tone control method that adjusts the amount of ink dispensed to a printing press that is controlled by the results of multispectral measurements on printed articles, in particular, it relates to determining a transfer function to calculate the amount of ink dispensed based upon multispectral measurements, wherein the deviation from the target color is taken as the deviation in the multispectral output, and then the aforementioned calculation with the transfer function is used to calculate a corrected amount of ink to dispense as a means to control the color tone for printing press.
2. Description of the Related Art
Since the color reproducibility of printing presses varies according to a number of factors, in order to achieve the desired color tone in a print, it is imperative to use a color tone measuring apparatus to measure a color print and then adjust the color tone by adjusting the ink key, which controls the amount of ink dispensed by the printing press.
For example, in color management systems, in order to match the color reproducibility in individual devices such as printing presses and plate makers, one must determine the percentage dot area for the printing press and the color, for example, something corresponding to the color model as defined by the Commission Internationale de l""Eclairage (CIE L*a*b*) such as the color data called the xe2x80x9cprofilexe2x80x9d by the International Color Consortium (ICC) (hereinafter referred to as the xe2x80x9cprofilexe2x80x9d). Then based upon these elements, digital data must be converted on the upstream side in order to achieve a printed article with measured values that approximate the desired colors to thereby achieve a match to obtain the color reproducibility in a number of devices.
However, even if prints are made using this profile, in order to obtain the color tones exactly as desired, it is necessary to maintain the exact conditions during actual printing that were in place when the printing press""s profile was prepared. But sometimes conditions of color reproducibility changes for a printing press, and sometimes conditions under which characteristic data was obtained change during actual printing.
In other words, color reproducibility is affected by small changes in the swing roller pass that evenly applies ink to the ink roller, the movement of the water roller, the printing pressure applied by the rubber roller body, etc. Further there can be variations in the materials used in the inks and printing paper, differences among printing presses, differences in humidity, temperature and in the start time for the printing which can all affect reproducibility, and even if printed at standard concentrations, there are cases where halftones are incompatible.
Accordingly, even when a color management system such as described above is used to prepare printing plates appropriate to a printing profile, for example, as indicated in Japanese laid-open patent application 2001-47605, spectral reflection measurements are made on the color coordinate values (L*a*b*) on actually printed articles (for commercial printed articles), and the concentrations of the inks are calculated in order to control the dispensing of ink. The case is the same when color management systems are not used. Proof prints and test prints (OK sheets) are measured using spectro-reflectometers for commercially printed items and then computations of the ink density are used to control the amount of ink dispensed.
When the amount of ink dispensed is controlled using spectral reflections, and when the spectral reflections are made to a high degree of precision, it is possible to determine correspondingly accurate color coordinates. However, as the resolution becomes finer in order to obtain high precision measurements, it is necessary to increase the number of channels, and so doing causes each signal to be smaller, which intensifies the influence of noise. In addition, the multichannel processing requires a great deal of time, so much as to be difficult to implement on a commercial basis.
At this point, attention was focused upon the redundancy of the spectral reflection wave forms, and an approach involving the learning of these spectral wave forms and then predicting the wave form by using just a few measurements. To wit, the spectral reflection wave forms change smoothly, and by keeping the materials such as ink and printing paper constant, it is possible to learn the characteristics of the spectral reflections in advance, and then, using just a few channels, predict the wave forms and reproduce them to a high degree of precision. Examples of the use of such technology include U.S. Pat. No. 5,319,472, and Japanese laid-open patent application 1997-43058, 2000-333186, 2001-99710, etc.
To wit, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,319,472 discloses a correction method in which 4 or more narrow band filters are interchanged as a picture image signal is obtained by light receptor elements, and then with a black filter (light blocking filter) that is substituted for the foregoing narrow band filter, and using a white sheet in place of the image, the image signals read by each of the narrow band filters are corrected by the signals obtained using the black filter and white sheet, and then, a coefficient is applied to that output in order to obtain the original spectral reflection of the image.
Also, disclosed in Japanese laid-open patent application 1997-43058 is the use of a plurality of band pass filters when scanning original, with the resulting signal being analyzed by statistical methods to compute a classification spectrum for the colors used as a means of determining the classification of the original article.
The method disclosed in Japanese laid-open patent application 2000-333186, illuminates the article to be photographed (the original) with a specific light source, and then using a plurality of filters that transmit different wavelengths, produces output into a plurality of channels of differing spectral sensitivity, and then either a photograph is taken with black and white film, which has an approximately uniform spectral sensitivity in the visible light wavelength range, and the image is scanned, or an image signal is obtained for each filter using a CCD sensor at the imaging position to obtain a wavelength range signal. Then, from that information, a multichannel camera can be used to regenerate the spectral reflectance of the article that was photographed, which provides spectral wave forms for each pixel of the photographed image that can be converted into a control signal for various image reproduction methods.
Japanese laid-open patent application 2001-99710 discloses the photographing of a multi-band image using a variable wavelength filter, which is then used to estimate the spectral reflectance of the article that was photographed. Since the estimated spectral information takes place over a short period of time, the precision of the estimate is not degraded, and the reflectance for each channel of the multi-band image is converted in a pre-prepared table for the corresponding reflectance for brightness values obtained by photographing a known chart. Then the table is used to estimate, in a short period of time, the spectral reflectance of the object photographed based upon the brightness values.
However, with regard to U.S. Pat. No. 5,319,472, as well as with Japanese laid-open patent application 1997-43058, 2000-333186, and 2001-99710, the first, U.S. Pat. No. 5,319,472 relates to a correction method for the spectral reflectance, Japanese laid-open patent application 1997-43058 makes a color classification determination on the article being reproduced, Japanese laid-open patent application 2000-333186 photographs an image with a multichannel camera and then produces spectral wave forms for each pixel that can be converted into control signals for various image reproduction methods, and Japanese laid-open patent application 2001-99710, quickly estimates the spectral reflectance of an item, and without losing precision, produces estimated spectral information in a short period of time. However, none of these methods relate to printing presses.
Also, when spectral reflectance was used in the prior art for color tone control, as described above, color coordinate values (L*a*b*) and ink concentrations were computed based upon spectral reflectance, and the results were used to control the ink supply, but it required a great deal of time to compute the color coordinate values (L*a*b*) or the concentrations for each of the inks, and the method was further plagued by degraded precision due to the necessity of making the conversions from color coordinate values to ink concentrations multiple times.
Accordingly, the object of this invention is to provide a method for providing direct control of the ink supply for printing presses from multichannel measurement results.
To wit, the present invention comprises A Color tone control method for a printing press which incorporates an ink dispensing apparatus that can either electronically or mechanically vary the amount of ink dispensed, and which controls the color tone based on a printed item measured by a multispectral measurement means to control said ink dispensing apparatus, said method comprising steps of: obtaining an output of said multispectral measurement means from a plurality of said printed item which are printed while varying the amount of ink dispensed, by utilizing percentage dot area information in print editing or utilizing percentage dot area information measured from a printing plate for said printed item; determining a transfer function to calculate the amount of ink dispensed corresponding to the amount of change in the multispectral output by said output; and computing the amount of ink dispensed to be changed, based on the output deviation in said multispectral measurement means"" output from the target colors for a commercially printed item, and said percentage dot area information related to the target colors of the commercially printed item by using said transfer function in order to control the amount of ink dispensed by the foregoing ink dispensing apparatus.
To wit, as described above, since the spectral reflectance wave form changes smoothly, as long as the materials conditions, the inks, paper, etc., remain constant, pre-learning the spectral reflectance makes it possible to closely estimate the original wave forms using just a few channels, and to reproduce a printed item with a high degree of precision. However being able to reproduce the original wave form with a high degree of precision does not mean computing the amount of change required in the ink supply after computing the color coordinate values or ink concentrations from the spectral reflections, rather, it is possible to directly compute the ink dispensation amount from the measurement results. Thus, by precedently determining a transfer function, which is computed based upon the multispectral output changes that corresponded to the amount of change in ink dispensation, it is possible, by just inputting deviation in the output of the multispectral measurement means for the target colors and the percentage dot area information for the commercially printed item, to compute the changes in ink dispensation that are required without computing the changes in the color coordinate values or ink concentration, and to thereby accurately control the color tone without losing precision due to multiple conversions.
Also, according to the present invention, the transfer function is characterized by the configuration wherein the transfer function is determined for the information of each set of printing materials.
Thus, by obtaining the transfer function for each set of materials, printing inks and printing paper, it is possible to use any type of printing materials, and then quickly and accurately control color tones using just a small number of channels for measurement results.
Further, the transfer function is characterized by the configuration wherein the contribution rate is added to determine said transfer function, and said contribution rate includes the amount of the surrounding effects caused by the swing roller movement and amount of ink transfer by using the percentage dot area information in the surrounding area.
Thus, by adding to the transfer function, the contribution rate of effects from the surrounding area, which are caused by movement of the swing roller and the amount of ink transfer from the ink dispensing apparatus, etc., it is possible not only to incorporate the amount of ink dispensation into the transfer function, but also the aforementioned transfer elements of the ink to the printing plate to thereby allow the accurate computation of the amount of ink dispensation to achieve an even more precise control of the color tone.
Further, the number of channels for said multichannel measurement means is determined according to the number of colors to be used by the printing press, and the number of two-color chromatic color combinations.
Since color mixture in offset printing are accomplished by dot overlay rather than by blending inks to create mixed colors, a magnified view of color blended areas on the print will reveal places where there is only one ink present, places where both inks are present, and places where there is no ink at all (the color of the printing paper). As a result, estimating the spectral wave form in the blend areas from the spectral wave forms of the individual blended inks is a complex matter. Accordingly, the number of channels required is determined according to the number of colors used by the printing press, and by the number of two-color chromatic color combinations from those colors. For example, in the case where the four colors of yellow, magenta, cyan and black are used, eliminating the black (an achromatic color) from the 4 colors, there are the following two-color combinations of the remaining 3 colors: yellow-magenta, magenta-cyan, cyan-yellow, thus, a total of 7 channels would be required when the three combinations are added to the four ink colors. As an example of two-color printing, if only two colors such as red and black were used, only two channels would be required since only the red is a chromatic color. Determining the number of channels in this manner eliminates making superfluous measurements and allows the measurements to be performed at a high speed.
Also, the invention is characterized by the configuration wherein said transfer function to calculate the spectral reflectance or color coordinates is determined by said multispectral measurement means.
As described above, characteristic of the present invention is the ability to calculate the amount of ink to be dispensed without calculating the spectral reflectance or color coordinates, however, transfer functions for the spectral reflectance or color coordinates also may be determined exactly as described above. There are times when the spectral reflectance or color coordinates are used for evaluation purposes, and it is therefore desirable to additionally prepare transfer functions for finding these values.

Color tone control method for printing press


A hand tool suitable for cutting the insulation jacket on "Romex"-type cables. The tool is adapted to cut the insulation jacket crosswise and lengthwise so that the cable sheath may be removed with a slight pull. The tool includes a pair of handles which are hinged at one end. The opposite end of one of the handles includes a pair of blades which are spaced apart and which "slice" across the cable sheath and then pass clear the cable when the handles are squeezed together. A pair of slitting blades located within the handles engage the insulation on the remaining opposite sides of the cable. The tool is then drawn down the length of the cable away from the original cut to complete the operation.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to hand tools and, in particular, to a new and novel cable stripping tool.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
It is the general practice in the construction industry to strip insulation from electrical cables and wires by cutting or scraping usually with a pocket knife. However, in cables having an outer plastic sheath and two or more insulated, stranded or solid wires, there is a danger of knicking or otherwise damaging the insulation on the inner wires. This method is slow and time-consuming, requires a certain degree of skill before becoming proficient, and often results in irritating cuts to the user's fingers. In addition, this method is even more difficult when there is a need to strip a cable inside of confined spaces, such as light switch and receptacle boxes.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,054,973 to Ferguson discloses a tool for stripping insulation from electrical wires. The Ferguson tool is a plier-like tool which allows an increase in the mechanical advantage over a simple handle-type. A first cut is made in the insulation surrounding the stranded or solid wire with the semi-circular cutting edges of a pair of opposed circular cutters. The cutters then stay in contact with the insulation as the tool is drawn away from the cut to strip the insulation from the wire. This has a tendency to "bunch up" the insulation, thereby increasing the amount of force necessary to remove the insulation. This can result in damage to the stranded or solid wire. In the preferred embodiment, the Ferguson tool includes a pair of side-slitting blades which have a tapered lead-in for slitting the sides of the insulation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,594,921 to Ishmael discloses a coaxial cable stripping tool in which a pair of blade-shaped heating elements are clamped against opposite sides of the cable and the cable rotated to form a circumferential cut in the insulation. The cable is then placed in another jig with a V-shaped groove therein and a second blade-shaped heating element at the bottom of the groove. A second similar heating element is arranged above the groove in the cable. The two heating elements then produce diametrically opposed longitudinal cuts in the insulation, after which the two pieces of cable insulation can be removed. The circumferential cut requires that the cable and tool be rotated with respect to one another. In addition, the cable must be physically removed from the jig before the blades are free of the conductors.
The Kaufman patent (U.S. Pat. No. 3,881,248), Bradley patent (U.S. Pat. No. 3,180,184), and Sibley patent (U.S. Pat. No. 698,567) are all examples of other cross-cutter type stripping tools. However, like the above patents, all these patents teach a "chopping-cutting" arrangement in which, after cutting opposite sides of the conductor, the blades remain in contact with the insulation while the insulation is removed. Furthermore, this cutting arrangement requires a different opening size for each size cable in order to prevent damage to the wires inside the cable.
It has thus become desirable to develop a cable stripping tool that will easily remove the outer plastic sheath of the cable in a confined space such as a light switch box while, at the same time, prevent damage to insulation on the inner stranded or solid wire by either bunching up the insulation or otherwise stressing the inner stranded or solid wires such as by conventional "chopping" type strippers. Furthermore, the tool should be able to cut more than one side of cable without damaging the wires inside the cable.


An Ink-based digital printing system comprises an external fluid applicator for applying multi-component, multi-functional fountain solution to a surface of an imaging plate. The plate is image wise exposed using a high power laser to remove primary components of the fountain solution from select regions of the plate according to digital image data, leaving a layer of the secondary components at said select regions. The plate is then inked with ink useful in printing. The ink adheres to the select regions from which the primary components have been removed to form an ink image. The ink image is transferred at an image transfer step wherein the secondary components enable efficient transfer of the ink to a medium with reduced image quality defects. The multi-component fountain solution comprises primary components that reject or repel ink, and secondary components that function as a release agent.

A digital ink-based printing system may be used for printing with typical printing inks. Digital ink-based printing processes may include applying fountain solution to a surface of an imaging plate. The imaging plate may be arranged on an outer portion of an imaging cylinder. The imaging cylinder may rotatable for bringing regions of the imaging plate surface to pass adjacent subsystems, including: a dampener for applying fountain solution; a laser for imaging or image-wise vaporization of fountain solution from select regions of the imaging plate; an inker for applying ink to the imaging plate surface; a transfer station from which an ink image is transferred to a printable medium; and a cleaner for removing residue from a surface of the image plate and preparing the surface to begin the process anew. After applying the fountain solution, a high power laser may be used to image-wise vaporize fountain solution from select regions of the surface. The laser may be used to for vaporizing the fountain solution at select surface regions in accordance with digital image data. Ink may be applied by the inker, and may be deposited on regions where fountain solution has been vaporized from the imaging plate. Conversely, ink may be rejected by regions of the imaging plate surface where fountain solution remains. A resulting image is transferred at the transfer station to paper or other suitable media by way of pressure.
The efficiency of ink release from a surface of the imaging plate for transfer to a printable medium such as paper is dependent on presence of an ink release agent on, or in a surface of the imaging plate. For example, the bulk of a silicone imaging plate may include free silicone oil which acts as an ink release agent during the ink transfer step. Because there is a finite amount of free silicone oil in the imaging plate's bulk, ink transfer efficiency will degrade as the silicone oil reserves are depleted. Free silicone oil can be replenished via an external Release Oil Management system. However, a release oil management system adds additional cost and complexity along with potential failure modes associated with release agent layer uniformity.

Methods and systems for ink-based digital printing with multi-component, multi-functional fountain solution


The present invention provides an optical switching apparatus and method of an eNB. The above apparatus includes: a fiber transceiver module (102), configured to receive an optical signal which carries transmission address information from the source input end (101) and transmit the optical signal; a transmission address module (103), configured to receive the above optical signal, query routing, and manage and maintain transmission address(s); a switching control module (104), configured to obtain the transmission address information of the optical signal, analyze and select an optical switching mode, and transmit a routing control signal which carries the transmission address information and the optical switching mode; and an optical switching and routing module (105), configured to receive the above optical signal and transmit the same to a destination output end (106) by the fiber transceiver module (102), receive the routing control signal of the switching control module (104), select a routing and transmit the optical signal to the destination output end (106). According to the present invention, the RRU and the BBU of the eNB can communicate with devices of the BBU and the RRU of the different manufacturers, can be applied to the multi-mode base station, and can adapt to the different mode; therefore the transmission distance is enlarged.

The optical communication connection mode between a BBU (Base Band Unit) and a RRU (Remote Radio Unit) of a current eNB is mainly a direct connection mode, whose connection number mainly depends on the optical interfaces provided by the RRU and the BBU. With the development and application of optical technology and optical switching network, the diversification of communication modes between the BBU and the RRU of the eNB is being realized instead of the single direct connection mode, i.e., the BBU and the RRU of the eNB use an optical network for communication, which is one of relatively popular hot topics in the communication field. The optical communication connection mode between the BBU and the RRU of the eNB is the direct connection mode, which has the following shortcomings:
1. The communication connection mode lacks diversification, and networking is single. Since the optical communication connection mode between the BBU and the RRU of the current eNB is mainly the direct connection mode, the networking thereof is limited especially in a region whose physical terrain is complicated, which further affects the application thereof.
2. The optical communication links between the BBU and the RRU of the eNB are limited. The optical communication links between the BBU and the RRU of the current eNB are mainly based on the optical interfaces provided by the RRU and the BBU, and therefore the connection number is limited.
3. Transmission distance is limited. The transmission distance between the BBU and the RRU of the eNB in the direct connection mode is merely M km (wherein M>0), and can not be enlarged to a distance such as [M, 2M] or even longer.

Optical switching apparatus and method for an eNB


A process for fabricating thin film transistors is disclosed, which comprises a two-step laser annealing process as follows:

The present invention relates to a method for fabricating thin-film transistors (referred to hereinafter as TFT) comprising a thin film of a non-single crystal semiconductor, which are highly reliable and suitable for practical applications such as liquid crystal displays and image sensors.
Thin-film transistors (TFTs) made with non-single crystal semiconductor produced by chemical vapor deposition (referred to hereinafter as CVD) processes or the like have become of great interest recently.
Since those TFTs are deposited on an insulating substrate by a CVD process or the like, the process can be advantageously carried out in a temperature as low as about 500xc2x0 C. or even lower. Thus, the process becomes economical, since it allows the use of low-cost soda-lime glass, borosilicate glass, and the like as the substrate.
The TFTs are typically field effect transistors which function in a manner similar to that of the so-called MOSFETs (Metal Oxide Silicon Field-Effect Transistors). As mentioned earlier, the TFTs can be deposited at a low temperature, and moreover, the maximum area thereof is limited only by the dimension of the deposition apparatus. Thus, the TFTs can be freely and easily scaled up with respect to their area, and this is a great advantage. Those TFTs are, therefore, promising as switching devices for active matrix-structured liquid crystal displays consisting of a large number of pixels (picture elements), as well as those for one- or two-dimension image sensors and the like.
The TFTs may be subjected to fine machining (patterning) using the well-established technology of photolithography, and thus they may be integrated in the same manner as, for example, the ICs.
A typical structure of the conventional TFTs is schematically shown in FIG. 2.
As shown in FIG. 2, a typical transistor comprises an insulating glass substrate 20, a thin film semiconductor 21 consisting of a non-single crystal semiconductor, a source 22, a drain 23, a source contact 24, a drain contact 25, a gate insulating film 26, and a gate contact 27.
In such TFTs, the current between the source 22 and the drain 23 (the source-to-drain current) can be controlled by applying a voltage to the gate contact 27.
The speed of response of the TFT can be given by the following equation:
S=xcexcxc2x7V/L2
where, L represents the channel length; xcexc, the carrier mobility; and V, the gate voltage.
The non-single crystal semiconductor layer to be used in the TFTs comprises numerous grain boundaries and the like, and these have greatly reduced the carrier mobility as compared with that of the single crystal semiconductors. The long delay in response ascribed to the low carrier mobility has been a great problem in the non-single crystal semiconductor TFTs. The TFTs using amorphous silicon (referred to hereinafter as a-Si) semiconductors, in particular, were not practically feasible, since the mobility thereof was so low as in the range of about 0.1 to 1 cm2xc2x7Vxe2x88x921xc2x7secxe2x88x921.
In order to overcome such a problem, it is evident from the equation mentioned earlier that there is required to shorten the channel length or to increase the carrier mobility. There have been made, accordingly, many modifications based on such principle.
Shorter channel length, L, is particularly effective for the purpose, since the speed of response increases proportional to the reciprocal of the square of the L.
In the case of fabricating the TFT on a substrate of large area, however, it is obviously difficult with the present photolithographic technology in view of the precision in processing, product yield, production cost, and the like, to reduce the distance between the drain and the source (which corresponds approximately to the channel length) to 10 xcexcm or less. In short, no effective means to reduce the channel length of the TFT is established yet.
With respect to the measures of increasing the mobility, xcexc, of the semiconductor layer itself, there have been taken such a measure as incorporating a polycrystalline semiconductor in the active layer of the TFT. This measure requires a relatively high temperature.
It is also to be noted that in TFTs, the electric current at the channel portion is subject to the materials which the source and the drain assemblies are made of. Thus, the source and the drain assemblies are often made polycrystalline, or some treatment is applied thereto to assure good electric contact with the channel portion.
More specifically, a thin film of polycrystalline silicon may be deposited by CVD at the source and the drain areas, but the CVD process requires the process to be carried out at a temperature of 500xc2x0 C. or higher. As an alternative process, a treatment may be carried out to assure good contact between the channel portion with the source and the drain. The treatment comprises, after forming semiconductor layers as the drain and the source, incorporating thereto an n-type or a p-type impurity by ion-implantation, and then heat-treating the drain and the source at a temperature in the range of from 500 to 800xc2x0 C.
Both of the processes above require a relatively high temperature to obtain a favorable TFT; no TFTs produced thoroughly in a low temperature process are yet available.
Ion implantation is used for obtaining good electric contacts between the channel potions and the drain and source portions. However, it is extremely difficult to carry out uniform doping of impurities over a large area by ion implantation. This remains as a great hindrance in the future development of large-area liquid-crystal displays and the like.
The present invention provides, with view to overcome the problems mentioned earlier, a process for fabricating TFTs at a low temperature.
The present invention provides, accordingly, a process for fabricating thin film transistors, which comprises:
crystallizing the channel portion by subjecting the channel portion to an excimer laser beam irradiation; and
modifying the electric properties of the source and the drain by subjecting the source and the drain to excimer laser irradiation in a step independent to the first step of crystallizing the channel portion.
The two-step laser annealing process for TFTs according to the present invention is carried out at a low temperature.

Method for fabricating thin-film transistor

Abstract: crystallizing the channel portion by irradiating the channel portion with an irradiation beam; and

Abstract: modifying the electric properties of the source and the drain by irradiating the source and the drain with an irradiation beam in a step independent to the first step of crystallizing the channel portion.

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


Thrust force generated by a hydraulic actuator is absorbed in a attachment device for a four speed automatic transmission mechanism. When hydraulic pressure is applied to the hydraulic actuator to engage a third and a fourth clutches, pressing force from a piston works on a strut member situated between the third and fourth clutches as a compression force, while a force working on a drum member as a tension force, so that these forces are counterbalanced and absorbed in the attachment device. Consequently, one directional move of the attachment device is supported by a little force such as contacting a snap ring and a thrust washer to a clutch drum, on the other hand, another move of the attachment device is supported by a little force such as connecting the drum member and a big ring gear by a snap ring.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic transmission to be mounted on an automobile especially to an automatic transmission having a forward four speed automatic transmission mechanism, in detail, relates to an axial positioning device for a hydraulic actuator and clutches, which are additionally installed in a four speed automatic transmission mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, the applicant of the present invention has proposed an automatic transmission, as shown in the Japanese Laid Open Patent No. Sho-62-93545, which is made up by the combination of a single planetary gear and a dual planetary gear.
The automatic transmission has a common sun gear and a common carrier which is an output member: a forward first speed is obtained when transmission power is transferred from an input shaft to a ring gear of the single planetary gear (hereinafter called a small ring gear), and a ring gear of the dual planetary gear (hereinafter called a big ring gear) is stopped; a forward second speed is obtained when the sun gear is stopped under the condition that transmission power is still input to the small ring gear; a forward third speed is obtained by rotating whole gear unit together.
Furthermore, a third clutch which connects/disconnects the input shaft and the big ring gear is installed so that a forward fourth speed is obtained by transmitting the rotation of the input shaft to the big ring, and by stopping the sun gear. Then, the forward four speed automatic transmission mechanism is constituted.
The above automatic transmission mechanism is able to cope with a wide variation of the car types with the production lines for the forward three and four speed transmission mechanism commonly used and without accompanying large cost increase.
The applicant of the present invention has proposed an automatic transmission mechanism 1', as shown in FIG. 8, in which a frictional engaging clutch C3 is operationally arranged with a one-way clutch operating at forward third and fourth speed mode so that a mechanical locking at reverse running is prevented, and the clutch C3 is operated by a hydraulic actuator 2 to operate the third clutch C0. (refer the Japanese Patent Application No. Sho-62-094868, unpublished)
However, in the above transmission mechanism 1', a drum member 4 is fixed on a clutch drum 3, and the third clutch C0 and the fourth clutch C3 are installed on the drum member 4, and a hydraulic actuator 2 is constituted outside the clutch drum 3. As a result, the structure has to be largely modified between the three and four speed automatic transmission mechanism. Then, the common usage of the production line and the parts may be hampered.
On this automatic transmission mechanism 1', the drum member 4 is fixed on the clutch drum 3 to position the hydraulic actuator 2 and the clutches C0, C3, so that assembly work is complicated and laborious. Further, in the case that the hydraulic actuator is set separately from the clutch drum 3, a cylinder section of the actuator, in general, is positioned through a thrust bearing, so that assembly work is complicated and laborious, and such structure may cause an increase of axial length.

Floating structure for interconnecting three clutches with a single actuator in an automatic transmission


A method and apparatus is disclosed for determining an objective measure of performance of an extended finite state machine. Many modern complex systems, for example, computer communications protocols and computer or machine user interfaces, can be represented as extended finite state machines. A formal description of the extended finite state machine is employed to obtain a canonical form description. The canomical form description, combined with a service description, is used to generate a list of canocial state transitions transited by the extended finite state machine to perform the service. From this list, an objective measurement of performance, e.g., the time required to perform a particular service, is obtained. This objective measurement may then be used as desired, for example, to select an optimum extended finite state machine from a plurality of extended finite state machines.

Many modern complex systems can be represented as extended finite state machines. Computer communications protocols, computer or machine user interfaces and microprocessors are some commonly found examples of systems represented as extended finite state machines. Prior techniques for measuring extended finite state machine performance, e.g., the time it takes the machine to perform a particular service or task, have used either approximate mathematical models as the basis for performing simulations of the extended finite state machine or actual implementations of the extended finite state machine and after the fact measurements of performance. Problems with the first technique are that the results are only approximations and there are difficulties interpreting them. When comparing the performance of two different extended finite state machines that provide the same service it has been found that there generally is difficulty in normalizing the models of each machine to obtain a fair comparison. A problem with using an actual implementation is the expense in terms of time and money required before any results can be obtained. If a comparison is desired to choose the best from among several contending extended finite state machines, the cost increases since an actual implementation of each of the several extended finite state machines is required. An additional drawback with using actual implementations is that any change made to the extended finite state machines requires redoing the implementations. Another problem with using actual implementations is that the measurements that are made for use in a comparison are dependent on the details of each specific implementation, which may not yield an equitable comparison.

Measurement of performance of an extended finite state machine


A motor-vehicle structure, in particular for a commercial vehicle, van, or the like, comprises a metal frame including a pair of longitudinal members connected by cross members, and a metal cab body mounted on the frame, including a pair of longitudinal sub-cab members supported on the longitudinal members of the frame by means of elastic supports that enable relative movements in a vertical direction of the body with respect to the frame. A front cross member for absorption of impact is fixed to the front end of the two longitudinal frame members. A main front plate is connected to the front end of each longitudinal frame member and faces a respective auxiliary front plate connected to the front end of the respective longitudinal sub-cab member to enable distribution of the applied forces of the aforesaid front cross member between the longitudinal members of the frame and the longitudinal sub-cab members. The structure comprises a front subassembly or module, made up of elements made of plastic and/or composite material, fixed to the cab body and defining the front part of the bodywork of the motor vehicle.

The present invention relates to motor-vehicle structures, for example for commercial vehicles, vans, buses or the like, of the type comprising a metal frame including a pair of longitudinal members connected by cross members and a metal cab body mounted on the frame and including a pair of longitudinal sub-cab members supported on the longitudinal members of the frame by means of elastic supports that enable relative movements in a vertical direction of the body with respect to the frame.
The object of the present invention is to provide a motor-vehicle structure of the type referred to above provided with a front module constituted by elements made of plastic and/or composite material, which will have a reduced number of components, will be particularly light, and will guarantee good characteristics both from the standpoint of resistance to impact and from the standpoint of ease and rapidity of assembly.
With a view to achieving the above purpose, the subject of the invention is a motor-vehicle structure having the characteristics described below, including a motor-vehicle structure comprising:                a metal frame, including a pair of longitudinal members connected by cross members;        a metal cab body mounted on the frame, including a pair of longitudinal sub-cab members supported on the longitudinal members of the frame by means of elastic supports that enable relative movements in a vertical direction of the body with respect to the frame;                    a front metal cross member for absorption of impact, fixed to the front ends of the two longitudinal members of the frame;            a main front metal plate connected to the front end of each longitudinal frame member, facing a respective auxiliary front metal plate connected to the front end of a respective longitudinal sub-cab member, to distribute the forces applied by the front cross member between the longitudinal members of the frame and the longitudinal sub-cab members; and                        a front subassembly or module made up of elements made of plastic, composite material, or both plastic and composite material, fixed to the cab body and defining the front part of a bodywork of the motor vehicle.
The subject of the invention is also a method for assembly of a motor-vehicle structure of the type specified above and described below, including a method for assembly of a motor-vehicle structure as mentioned directly above, wherein the cab body is subjected to painting, after which the front subassembly or module is assembled thereon by means of successive assembly of the components made of plastic and/or composite material that constitute it, the cab body being coupled to the frame of the motor vehicle in an intermediate step of the operations of assembly of the various components constituting the front subassembly or module.

Motor-vehicle structure having a front module constituted by elements made of plastic and/or composite material


A damping valve includes a damping valve body having at least one throughflow orifice which is at least partially covered by at least one valve disk by the action of a closing force. At least one spring body exerts an opening force on the valve disk that is less than the closing force. The at least one spring body is constructed as an elastomeric body separately from the control edge.

A generic damping valve for a vibration damper is known from DE 10 2010 062 324 A1.
A generic damping valve for a vibration damper generally comprises a damping valve body having at least one throughflow orifice for the damping medium and at least one valve disk adapted to the damping valve body. The valve disk at least partially closes the throughflow orifices in the damping valve body by the action of a closing force.
A damping medium flows through the damping valve. The damping medium flows through the throughflow orifices in the damping valve body and presses in opening direction against the valve disk adapted to the damping valve body. If the pressing force of the damping medium exceeds the closing force of the valve disk, the valve disk lifts up from the damping valve body and releases the flow of damping medium through the damping valve.
With a decrease in the pressure of the damping medium, the valve disk which is acted upon by the closing force immediately closes again and at least partially covers the throughflow orifices in the damping valve body.
The immediate closing of the valve disk causes knocking noises which are objectionable. A spring body acting in opening direction, e.g., a star spring, arranged between the valve disk and the damping valve body may be used, for example, to prevent a sudden closing.
The additional star-shaped spring element or spring body complicates the arrangement of flow paths because the ends of the spring connect radially to a central ring.
A damping valve known from DE 10 2006 031 179 B3 has control edges on which the valve disks rest, these control edges being made from an elastomeric material. The control edges are deformed when the damping valve is closed and spring back into their original shape again when the damping valve opens.
The advantage of this solution consists in that the flow paths can run in the same way as in a conventional damping valve. However, a serious disadvantage consists in that leakiness occurs when the control edges become worn, which can cause massive changes in the damping force characteristic and result in total failure of the vibration damper. Further, the spring rate depends on the control edge geometry.
It is thus an object of this invention to provide a damping valve in which at least a reduction in knocking noises is achieved while avoiding the disadvantages known from the prior art.

Damping valve, in particular for a vibration damper