An autosampler consists of a needle to draw specimen from a specimen container into a passage therein; a block having a passage that follows the passge in the needle; a suction mechanism for drawing in the specimen by suction through the passages in the needle and the block; a discharge mechanism for discarding the specimen drawn in by the suction mechanism; and a detecting device for detecting air bubble in the specimen, the detecting device being embedded in the block in such a manner as to face the passage in the block. The detecting device detects the air bubbles in the specimen according to changes in physical or chemical properties of the specimen passing through the passage in the block. The discharge mechanism is activated by the detecting device to discharge air-mixed specimen. When even a small amount of air is drawn into the passage from the specimen container, in which only a small amount of specimen is contained, the air specimen can reliably be distinguished from normal specimen by this autosampler. Therefore the reliability of the system using the autosampler can be significantly improved.

This invention relates to an autosampler which detects air bubbles in specimen and, more particularly, to an autosampler used in liquid chromatograph or automatic chemical analyzer to check whether the liquid sample has been drawn from a sample container into the analyzing apparatus without bubbles, being mixed therein.
Conventional autosamplers known which detect by use of a sensor air bubbles mixed in the liquid specimen to be analyzed and then remove the air bubbles from the liquid specimen.
The Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 167470/1987 describes a method of removing the air portion from the specimen by detecting the air portion in the liquid specimen drawn in through a needle from a specimen container and by removing the air bubble from the liquid specimen analyzing passage.
In this method, the specimen taken in from the needle is fed through a long passage to a 6-way valve, and at the inlet thereof the air bubbles are detected. Thus, the air bubbles cannot be detected without taking in a significant amount of specimen from the needle. And when the air portion in the liquid specimen is to be removed from the needle, a large amount of the liquid specimen has to be discarded along with the air bubble.
Furthermore, since the air portion in the liquid specimen is detected in a wide passage at the inlet of the 6-way valve, the fine air bubbles are very difficult to detected. While the detection may be made possible by narrowing the inlet, this will also increase the flow speed of specimen making it difficult to discharge the unwanted air-mixed specimen at an appropriate timing by changing the slow-response 6-way valve. Therefore, the above air detection method is not suitable for the autosampler that makes analysis and measurement of a very small amount of specimen which may easily trap fine bubbles.
The Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 132064/1982 and 275659/1986 describe a method of detecting air bubbles by installing electrodes in a tube connected to a suction nozzle through which the liquid specimen is drawn in and by checking changes in electrostatic capacitance. This method, too, has a long passage from the specimen suction point to the air detecting point and therefore has similar drawbacks to those stated above.
Therefore, in these conventional techniques, it is difficult to detect fine bubbles that were mixed in a very small amount of specimen when the specimen was drawn in by suction. If the bubbles are detected, the conventional techniques have a problem of having to discharge a significant amount of the liquid specimen in order to remove the air portion such as air bubbles.
In the Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 85355/1985, a method is disclosed for checking the specimen optically at a location near the nozzle. This method, however, is to check the concentration of a chemical substance in the specimen and is not used to detect the air bubbles contained in the specimen solution.

Autosampler with a means for detecting air bubble in specimen


Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for handling faults in a distributed key-value storage system. One of the methods includes receiving an indication that a machine storing a primary replica of a first replication chain is inactive, in response to receiving the indication, generating a concatenated replica comprising a first replica of the first replication chain and a second replica of a second replication chain, the second replication chain comprising replicas of a second key segment, the second key segment being adjacent to the first key segment in the multiple key segments of the plurality of keys, and providing, to another machine in the ordered sequence of machines, a notification of availability of the concatenated replica.

This specification relates to distributed systems.
Distributed systems include multiple computers connected together using one or more networks. The separate computers may coordinate actions or tasks by passing messages to other computers in the distributed system. The computers may interact to achieve a common goal, such as the storage or analysis of data for a particular task. Some example applications of distributed systems include distributed databases, network files systems, distributed information processing systems, and distributed computing, e.g., to solve computational and/or scientific problems.

Fault tolerant distributed key-value storage


An active low-pass current filter apparatus and method reduces conducted emissions above a predefined cutoff frequency at high power levels. The apparatus and method use a bidirectional DC-DC converter to minimize current fluctuations on a power lead that may result in conducted emissions above the predefined cutoff frequency. The bidirectional DC-DC converter absorbs current from the power lead and feeds current to the load lead as needed to compensate for the current fluctuations on the power lead. Power to the DC-DC converter is provided by a separate auxiliary power source. A monitoring circuit compares the voltage level of the auxiliary power source to a reference voltage and compensates for variations in the voltage level of the auxiliary power source without interfering with the suppression of the conducted emissions.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates in general to methods and apparatuses for reducing unwanted electromagnetic emissions.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electromagnetic emissions, in general, may result from any change or variation in current or voltage. Thus, virtually all electronic equipment and components may be a source of electromagnetic emissions. Digital integrated circuits, for example, are one source of electromagnetic emissions due to their frequently changing logic levels. Electromagnetic emissions may also arise from steep increases and decreases in power consumption. These fluctuations in power may occur during certain types of power intensive activity, such as a code upload in a microprocessor. As the code is being loaded, power consumption spikes, then quickly returns to normal after loading is completed. The sharp rise and fall in power consumption can cause electromagnetic emissions to radiate from the microprocessor power lead, leading to a type of emission known as "conducted emissions."
Conducted emissions, like other electromagnetic emissions, can disrupt or interfere with proper operation of nearby electronic equipment or components. This interference can be particularly problematic for mission-critical applications, such as military applications, where proper operation of electronic equipment is highly crucial to the success or failure of an endeavor in many cases. As a result, various technical standards have been established to limit the level of electromagnetic emissions from electronic equipment and components used in military applications. For example, MIL-STD-461 contains a test procedure, CE101, that requires power leads carrying a voltage of 28 V (volts) DC or less to limit conducted emissions between 30 Hz (Hertz) and 10 KHz (Kilohertz) to less than 100 dB μA (decibel micro-amps) for certain military naval applications.
A number of solutions exist for reducing or eliminating electromagnetic emissions. These solutions generally involve using one or more passive or active filters, or both, to reduce the electromagnetic emissions. Passive filters are composed generally of components that are non-directional and do not provide gain, such as resistors (R), inductors (L), and capacitors (C). Active filters, on the other hand, can contain a combination of passive components as well as components that are directional and provide gain, including amplifiers, diodes, transistors, transformers, and the like. An example of an active filter is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,319,534 directed to a series-parallel active power line conditioner utilizing reduced-turns-ratio transformer for enhanced peak voltage regulation capability. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,319,535 discloses an active power line conditioner having capability for rejection of common-mode disturbances.
Currently available filters, however, have proved either impractical or ineffective for certain types of high power applications. In power leads carrying 28 V and 25 A (DC), for example, a passive filter capable of reducing conducted emissions over the frequency range specified in MIL-STD-461 (i.e., between 30 Hz and 10 KHz) would require an inductor of such a large size as to be impractical for most high density circuit board applications. And while active filters are available for the specified frequency range (and beyond), no active filters have been found with a sufficiently high rating for the elevated levels of voltage and current mentioned above.
For some applications, an active filter could be constructed using a transistor connected on the main power line between the power source and a load. However, the normal operation of these filters is such that the voltage and/or current delivered to the load would sag, which may adversely affect proper operation of the load. This type of filter has been known to burn off an equivalent amount of energy as the signal to be filtered. Thus, no active or passive filters have been found that are capable of operating effectively, efficiently, and feasibly at high power levels over the frequency range required by MIL-STD-461.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a filter that can overcome the shortcomings of currently available filters as described above. In particular, there is a need for a filter that can reduce conducted emissions on power leads in the 30 Hz to 10 KHz frequency range, and above, at high power levels.


A disc copying or recording device and a disc label printer are mounted in a common assembly, and include a printhead moveable along a guide shaft on a frame. A disc transport carriage is mounted on the same guide shaft as the printhead, can be moved along this guide shaft for picking up discs in a storage area, moving a disc to a tray or support used for recording and then to a disc tray or support for printing, and moving a finished disc to a finished disc storage region. The carriage has an arm with a disc picker that can be moved to hold and release discs in a desired location. The carriage is latched to the printhead and the printhead drive is used for moving the carriage along the guide shaft in the preferred showing.

The present invention relates to a combined disc recorder and label printer for recording digital information on compact discs, including music, video recordings, and any other type of information recorded on plastic discs. Printing label information onto the disc at the time of recording completes the processing of the disc.
Apparatus for printing on plastic discs have been advanced in the art where a recorder for a disc is combined in the same unit as a printer, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,327,230. However, the device shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,327,230 includes a vending sequence, and uses entirely different mechanisms for the printing and the recording. The disc "pick" or holder that transports the disc between various stations is separate from the printer.
The handling of discs that have center openings, including lifting a single disc from a stack of discs or individually from a tray or support is well known. A number of different types of "picks" or grippers have been advanced including a pick or gripper shown in Costas U.S. Pat. No. 5,873,692, as well as other types of grippers such as that shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,111,847 and 5,934,865.
Also, it has been well known to print "label" information directly onto discs. Recording or disc duplication also has been carried out, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,141,298 to Miller, but the combination of an easily used ink jet printer that will reliably print information onto a disc when it is recorded, with a minimum amount of apparatus is desired.


A method of enabling a proxy to participate in a secure communication between a client and a server. The method begins by establishing a first secure session between the client and the proxy. Upon verifying the first secure session, the method continues by establishing a second secure session between the client and the proxy. In the second secure session, the client requests the proxy to act as a conduit to the server. Thereafter, the client and the server negotiate a session master secret. Using the first secure session, this session master secret is then provided by the client to the proxy to enable the proxy to participate in secure communications between the client and the server. After receiving the session master secret, the proxy generates cryptographic information that enables it to provide a given service (e.g., transcoding, monitoring, encryption/decryption, caching, or the like) on the client's behalf and without the server's knowledge or participation. The first secure session is maintained between the client and the proxy during such communications.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to network security protocols and, in particular, to a method of extending to an intermediary the privacy of a secure session between a client and a server.
2. Description of the Related Art
Network security protocols, such as Netscape's Secure Sockets Layer protocol (SSL) and the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Transport Layer Security protocol (TLS), provide privacy and data integrity between communicating applications. These protocols, for example, are commonly used to secure electronic commerce transactions over the Internet.
Recently, the computer industry has sought to add computer processing and communications capabilities to devices other than what would normally be considered a traditional computer. Such devices are quite varied and include, for example, personal digital assistants (PDAs), business organizers (e.g., IBM® WorkPad® and the 3Com® PalmPilot®,), smartphones, cellular phones, other handheld devices, and the like. For convenience, these devices, as a class, are sometimes referred to as "pervasive computing" clients as they are devices that are designed to be connected to servers in a computer network and used for computing purposes regardless of their location.
Pervasive computing clients, however, typically do not support the full function set of an HTML Windows-based client. As a result, transcoding services typically are required to translate information to be rendered on the pervasive client from one source markup language (e.g., HTML) to another (e.g., HDML or handheld device markup language). The provision of transcoding services over a secure network connection, however, is problematic. In particular, there is a fundamental conflict between the security and transcoding services because traditional security protocols such as SSL and TLS are designed precisely to prevent a third party from intervening in the communication between the client and the server.
Restricting third party intervention in a secure session is also problematic in other applications. For example, if a client is located behind a firewall, SSL/TLS communications to servers in the outside network cannot be readily audited or otherwise monitored. Thus, data records or other sensitive information can be transmitted from the client, possibly without administrative authorization. As another example, a client that communicates with a server over a secure connection cannot take advantage of third party caching or pre-fetch mechanisms that would otherwise be useful in reducing network resource demands and enhancing communications between the devices.
It would be desirable to provide a mechanism by which a client could delegate enough security information to a proxy to enable the proxy to perform a given function (e.g., transcoding, auditing, monitoring, caching, pre-fetching, encryption/decryption on behalf of the client, etc.) without diluting the security of the network protocol.
The present invention solves this important problem.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method for client delegation of security to a proxy

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention is a nuclear waste storage apparatus and a method of filling the storage apparatus while the storage apparatus remains substantially sealed. The innermost layer of the apparatus comprises a self-sealing bladder. An injection device pierces the bladder and fills it with radioactive waste in a liquid, slurry or paste form in a substantially sealed process. When the injector is removed, the self-sealing material of the inner bladder substantially closes the pierced portion of the bladder. The bladder is then coated with a protective coating, a radioactive barrier coating, and an outer impact resistant coating to complete the apparatus.

This invention generally relates to a storage apparatus for receiving and storing nuclear waste for safe handling and transportation to a disposal site. More specifically, the present invention relates to a multi-layer nuclear waste storage container including a self-sealing layer of material that can be penetrated for safe and efficient filling of the container during the filling process.
Prior art apparatus and systems for nuclear waste storage typically have a concrete construction. A typical nuclear waste storage container is formed as a pre-cast modular concrete container. Concrete has been found to be a durable material for storage containers containing certain levels of radiation and certain forms of radioactive waste. For further protection against leakage, concrete containers have been provided with various lining materials. For example, granular fill material or grout has been poured into concrete containers to secure waste packages in place and to provide an additional barrier to radiation leakage. This type of lining material has been found to be effective for low level and short-lived radioactive wastes. This type of lining is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,426.
Depending on the half-life of the particular radioactive material being handled, radioactive waste can remain as a hazardous material for 200 years or more. Such instances require a liner that is sufficiently durable over a long period while providing a leak-tight barrier for the radioactive waste. These types of liners are typically installed within a pre-formed concrete container. An impermeable liner disposed within a pre-cast concrete container is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,431,295. The liner is a one-piece plastic molded liner that is inserted into the concrete container mold before the concrete is poured. The liner has ribs that are embedded into the concrete.
The use of concrete as a material for a storage container has some disadvantages. While providing a durable construction, concrete is not highly elastic and may chip or be damaged when subject to high impact, especially during transportation. Furthermore, these concrete containers utilize storage lids that do not provide a closed environment during the container filling process. The container lid must be removed while the container is filled.
Thus, there is a need for a nuclear waste storage container construction that eliminates the use of concrete and that is capable of being filled in a substantially sealed configuration. Furthermore, there is a need for a nuclear waste storage container construction that utilizes an outer material that has sufficient elastic properties while maintaining durability.
The present invention is a nuclear waste storage apparatus and a method of filling the storage apparatus while the storage apparatus remains substantially sealed. The apparatus is a container that can take the form of several different shapes and its construction comprises several layers. The innermost layer of the container comprises a rubber or plastic material that is self-sealing. The inner layer acts as a bladder for the contents of the container. This bladder is covered by a second layer of protective coating material. A radiation barrier layer is disposed over the protective coating layer. An outer layer of an elastic impact resistant material is disposed over the radiation barrier layer to complete the container construction.
Prior to coating the inner bladder with the subsequent layers, the inner bladder is filled with radioactive waste material prepared in slurry form. An injection device pierces the bladder and fills it in a substantially sealed process. When the injector is removed, the self-sealing material of the inner bladder substantially closes the pierced portion of the bladder. The bladder is then coated with the protective coating, the radioactive barrier coating, and the outer impact resistant coating.

Apparatus and method for nuclear waste storage


In one aspect of the invention, a method or apparatus is described for determining concentration(s) of one or more analytes in a sample using plasmonic excitations. In another aspect, a method relates to designing systems for such concentration determination, wherein metallic nanostructures are used in combination with local electrical detection of such plasmon resonances via a semiconducting photodetector. In certain aspects, the method exploits the coupling of said metallic nanostructure(s) to a semiconducting photodetector, said detector being placed in the “metallic structure's” near field. Surface plasmon excitation can be transduced efficiently into an electrical signal through absorption of light that is evanescently coupled or scattered in a semiconductor volume. This local detection technique allows the construction of sensitive nanoscale bioprobes and arrays thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to methods and apparati for determining concentration(s) of one or more analytes in a sample using plasmonic excitations and apparati and methods for designing systems for such concentration determination.
2. Technical Background
Surface Plasmon Polaritons (SPP) are electromagnetic excitations at the surface of metals and in metal nanoparticles.
A number of recent reports [1-6] show that surface plasmon excitations in metal particles or metal films can cause an enhancement of the light absorption efficiency of organic [2,4] and inorganic photodetectors [1, 3, 5-6].
In biosensing, the importance of plasmonics relies in high optical energy confinement and strong local enhancement of electric fields. Biorecognition is achieved in (localized) surface plasmon resonance ((L)SPR) biosensors [Haes, A. J.; Van Duyne, R. P. Anal. Bioanal. Chem. 2004, 379, 920; Frederix, F. et al. s, G. Anal. Chem. 2003, 75, 6894] through the detection of (L)SPR spectral changes caused by adsorbate-induced changes in local dielectric constant. In a very common configuration, the SPR spectrum of a nanoparticle surface or nanostructured surface is studied with an optical detector in the far field at large distance from the metal particle or film [7].

Method for determining an analyte in a sample

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, K.U. Leuven R&D


A string includes a pipe that is connected to an expansion mechanism and a retrieval tool that is connected to the pipe above the expansion mechanism. The retrieval tool includes a carrier that can selectively latch on an expandable liner and one or more actuators. The retrieval tool can ensure latching of the carrier while the expandable liner is above the Blow-out Preventer. The retrieval tool can prevent accidental latching of the carrier on the expandable liner during the expansion of the liner. By manipulating the pipe, the retrieval tool can force the carrier's release from the expandable liner.

The disclosure relates generally to a method of deploying an expandable liner in a well, and a system for deploying an expandable liner in a well. The disclosure relates more particularly to methods and systems in which a liner retrieval tool includes a carrier having latch and release positions for selectively holding the expandable liner on the liner retrieval tool, and one or more actuators, each having armed and disarmed positions for controlling the movement of the carrier.


A stator vane assembly includes a vane having an inner end. In one example, the vane is aluminum. An inner shroud has an aperture receiving the inner end. A flexible material secures the inner end to the inner shroud. The material has an inner surface opposite the vane providing a seal land in one example. The inner shroud provides an arcuate inner shroud segment, which is constructed either cast aluminum or stamped sheet steel. An inner shroud segment has an arcuate wall providing multiple apertures, for example. First and second flanges are integral with and extending radially inwardly from a concave side of the wall.

This disclosure relates to a gas turbine engine, and more particularly, a stator vane assembly and inner shroud.
One type of gas turbine engine includes a core supported by a fan case. The core rotationally drives a fan within the fan case. Multiple circumferentially arranged stator vanes are supported at an inlet. Stator vanes are also used at various stages of a compressor section of the core.
The stator vanes are supported, by an outer case, for example, in a manner to limit displacement of the vanes. The vanes are subjected to vibratory stresses by the supporting structure. That is, loads are transmitted through the outer case or other support structure to the stator vanes. Typically, the stator vanes are constructed from titanium, stainless steel or a high grade aluminum, such as a 2618 alloy, to withstand the stresses to which the stator vanes are subjected. Inner ends of the stator vanes are secured to an inner shroud. The inner shroud is typically forged and then machined, or molded from a composite material. Typically, the inner shroud is a unitary annular structure. The inner ends of the stator vanes may be brazed to the inner shroud, in which case a material such as titanium or stainless steel must be used for the vanes to withstand the vibratory stresses transmitted by the inner shroud to the inner ends of the stator vanes.
One type of front architecture supports the stator vanes relative to inner and outer shrouds using rubber grommets. A fastening strap is wrapped around the circumferential array of stator vanes to provide mechanical retention of the stator vanes with respect to the shrouds. The inner shroud is provided by a unitary annular structure in this configuration.

Gas turbine engine stator vane assembly with inner shroud


A control command indicating the end of a command is set in a remote command in file data to be transmitted, and the remote command is transmitted as packet data having a data length based on the control code to a receiving apparatus. When the receiving apparatus extracts the command from the received packet data, it informs, as a response signal, to the apparatus which transmitted the command that the command was extracted, and the transmitting apparatus restarts command transmission from a portion where the response signal cannot be received.

The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus for transmitting/receiving a remote command and transferring character files and data files.
Conventionally, as an operation other than a normal transmission/reception operation in a facsimile apparatus, for example, when remote commands are transmitted/received, they are transmitted upon being divided in units of fixed packet lengths or in units of packets in correspondence with the remote commands.
However, in such a facsimile apparatus, since remote commands in a file memory are divided in units of fixed lengths regardless of their contents, a response to a specific remote command in a file from a receiving facsimile apparatus cannot be expected. For this reason, when remote commands are terminated as an error during transmission, the remote command transmission must be restarted from the beginning.
A conventional facsimile apparatus discriminates the presence/absence of a transmission original in its communication protocol. When an original is present, a communication control program is started to transmit a original content to an apparatus on the other end of the line. In an apparatus using the ECM procedure of the CCITT recommendation T.30 in its communication protocol, only image information is transmitted as facsimile information.
However, in a facsimile apparatus of this type, a character file cannot be transmitted in a transmission function other than an original transmission function due to a limitation on the communication protocol. When the ECM procedure of the CCITT recommendation T.30 is used, a data file cannot be transmitted.
A conventional facsimile apparatus has many registration items such as abbreviated dial numbers, a user telephone number, a user abbreviation, and the like. For this reason, when the apparatus is installed, a service person must manually perform input operations of these items for a long period of time.
When a trouble of an apparatus occurs, a service person must go to the installation site of the apparatus to make adjustments of the apparatus.
In order to reduce time/economic losses caused when a service person goes to the site of installation, a technique for registering data of a facsimile apparatus or adjusting the apparatus from a remote place by utilizing a communication function of the facsimile apparatus has been proposed.
When data registration is performed from a remote place, it is easiest to perform communications in an HDLC frame format used by the facsimile apparatus in a communication procedure using a 300-bps modem, following the CCITT recommendation V.21, of the facsimile apparatus so as to read/write data from/in an internal memory of the apparatus.
In the CCITT recommendation T.30 which defines the standards of the facsimile apparatus, however, a preamble for a 300-bps binary code signal is defined as a series of flag sequences of 1 second+15% (CCITT T.30 22.214.171.124), and the maximum length of one frame is defined to be 3 seconds +15%. For this reason, an insignificant preamble of 1 second must be added to significant data of 3 seconds, thus providing disadvantages in data communication efficiency.
The above-mentioned standards are determined assuming a frame having a maximum length of about 100 bytes. For this reason, to receive data exceeding 3 seconds without limitations requires a considerable change in software. When reception of infinitely large data is permitted, even when a communication error occurs, an error portion cannot immediately re-sent, and all the data must be re-sent after transmission for a long period of time, thus considerably increasing the communication time.
Furthermore, the above-mentioned time period of 1 second is determined as a countermeasure against a factor such as an echo occurring on a communication line. It is not desirable to merely shorten this time period since a communication error may often occur due to a factor such as an echo in a long-distance communication mode.
In the remote registration operation, a receiver must inform to a transmitter whether or not registration is normally performed after the receiver executes received commands. However, the registration items of the facsimile apparatus are as many as several tens to several hundreds of items. For this reason, if registration is executed for each item, and a response for this registration is sent back, communications require a very long period time.
In order to eliminate the above-mentioned drawback, a method of simultaneously executing registrations after all the commands are received, and then sending back a result indicating whether or not the registrations are normally performed is also known. In this case, however, in order to receive all the commands, a large-capacity memory is required. In addition, when the registrations cannot be performed, and the receiver sends back a negative response, the transmitter cannot identify which of items cannot be registered.
When data registrations are performed from a remote place, a host apparatus for performing the registration operation must recognize the data format in the receiver, and must perform a write access matching with the recognized format. If this is not done, normal registrations cannot be performed in the receiver, thus causing a trouble.
For example, if the user tries to register a 30-digit telephone number to a registration area for abbreviated dial numbers of a facsimile apparatus which can store a maximum 20-digit abbreviated dial number, that is, if the number of digits of the telephone number to be registered exceeds the registration area, dial numbers stored in an area adjacent to the above registration area may be possibly damaged. However, the registration items of the facsimile apparatus are as many as several tens to several hundreds of items. For this reason, if registration is executed for each item, and a response for this registration is sent back, communications require a very long period time.
When remote registrations are to be performed, an operator is encountered to bear this in mind, and is expected to make operations after he or she recognizes the type of receiving apparatus. However, if the operator recognizes a wrong type of receiving apparatus, the content of the RAM may be destroyed.
Furthermore, even in apparatuses of the same type, data attributes and RAM storage addresses may be changed depending on destination places, program versions, and the presence/absence of optional functions. However, since these pieces of information cannot be normally discriminated by a user, a service person must consequently go to the installation site, thus disabling the remote registrations.

Facsimile apparatus for transmitting and receiving data and commands relating to the apparatus


In one aspect of the invention, a driving circuit has a PCB, a transmitter disposed on the PCB for providing an input signal, first and second transmission lines disposed on the PCB and electrically coupled to the transmitter for transmitting the input signal, and a plurality of source drivers formed in a COF architecture disposed between the PCB and the display panel. The input signal is an encoded signal including first and second Gamma reference voltages control signals, and image data. The first and second Gamma reference voltages are transmitted by the PLC technology through the first and second transmission lines, respectively. The driving circuit is implemented with differential transmission of the Gamma voltages, the image data and the control signals.

A common architecture of a source driver for a display device is a chip-on-glass (COG) architecture or a chip-on-film (COF) architecture. The former applies a flip chip bonding technology to directly dispose source driver integrated circuits (IC) onto a glass substrate, while the latter applies the flip chip bonding technology to directly dispose source driver IC and active components onto a flexible printed circuit board/film (PCB), which is in turn connected to a substrate.
Compared to the COF architecture, wires of the COG architecture are disposed on the glass substrate, which reduces the assembly area in the PCB. The COG architecture thus has a cost-effective advantage and is usually implemented in small size display panels. However, signals can easily be reflected in the transmission channels in the COG architecture, thereby causing poor signal quality. In addition, re-working may cause damages to the display panel. Further, the IC may be deformed at a high temperature.
For the COF architecture, signal reflections during the signal transmission are relatively small, and further, the transmitted signals have better quality. In addition, display panel damages due to bonding defects can be avoided. The COF architecture is more suited for large-size, high-resolution displays. However, because a great number of wires needs being laid on the PCB, a relatively large assembly area is required in the PCB. The wires and/or film of the COF architecture may also generate signal noises and causes heating problems.
Therefore, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the art to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.

Driving circuit and display device of using same


A system includes a first shedder that is at least partially disposed in a fluid conduit and that generates vortices within the fluid conduit, a first flow sensor system that is responsive to the vortices generated by the first shedder and a second flow sensor system that is responsive to the vortices generated by the first shedder. The system further includes a second shedder that is at least partially disposed in the fluid conduit, that generates vortices within the fluid conduit, and that is separated from the first shedder by a distance. A third flow sensor system is responsive to the vortices generated by the second shedder.

Flow meters may measure the rate of flow of a fluid in a pipe or other pathway. The fluid may be, for example, a gas or a liquid, and may be compressible or incompressible. One type of flow meter is a vortex flow meter which is based on the principle of vortex shedding. Vortex shedding refers to a natural process in which a fluid passing a bluff body causes a boundary layer of slowly moving fluid to be formed along the surface of the bluff body. A low pressure area is created behind the bluff body and causes the boundary layer to roll up, which generates vortices in succession on opposite sides of the bluff body. The vortices induce pressure variations that may be sensed by a pressure sensor. The vortex-shedding pressure variations have a frequency that is related, to the flow rate. Accordingly, by measuring the frequency of the pressure variations, the flow rate may be determined.

Triple redundancy vortex flowmeter system


Apparatus (10) for the application and even spreading of flowable roofing materials such as bituminous mastics which includes an elongated, hollow delivery bar (14) adapted to be pulled across a roofing surface and having a plurality of material delivery openings (40) along the underside thereof, as well as a material spreader (16) positioned adjacent the bar (14). The spreader (16) includes first and second elongated, generally side-by-side brooms (42, 44) in trailing relationship to the bar (14). The first broom (42) is generally concave, whereas the second broom (42) is substantially rectilinear). A tubular handle (32) is coupled with the bar (14) for delivery of heated material thereto. A temperature gauge (36) is mounted on the handle (32) in close adjacency to the bar (14), allowing the user to closely monitor material temperatures at the point of application. An alternate delivery bar (14a) has individual nipple-valves (82) affording better material flow control.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is broadly concerned with an improved applicator/spreader apparatus useful in roofing operations for the spreading of viscous flowable materials such as asphaltic roofing mastics. More particularly, the invention pertains to applicator/spreader devices which employ a delivery bar with a pair of specially configured trailing brooms serving to spread and evenly apply roofing materials. The devices of the invention further preferably include a temperature gauge located in close adjacency to the delivery bar so as to allow the user to exercise a greater and more accurate degree of control for application and spreading operations.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many industrial-type buildings constructed during the last 30 to 40 years were roofed with metallic decking panels. Such panels were normally secured by screws, bolts, or rivets penetrating the metal decking, these penetrations being sealed. Metal roofs of this type suffer from a number of disadvantages, including a tendency to leak, and poor thermal insulation qualities. Over the years, as these metal roofs have begun to wear out, the building owners are faced with the task of providing a replacement roof. Generally speaking, it is a very expensive proposition to remove the original metal decking, and replace it with new decking. Another alternative is to simply place a new metal deck atop the original deck. This is a problem inasmuch as the new metal roof imposes a significant dead load upon the structure of the building, which is particularly troublesome in the case of older buildings.
It has also been suggested in the past to provide a replacement built-up roof using the worn metal roof as a substrate. In such systems, preformed panels of expanded polystyrene, adapted to be placed over the contour of the original deck are employed. Such panels have rigid boards secured to the upper surfaces thereof, and are generally provided in 4'.times.4' or 4'.times.8' sections. With such built-up roofs, hot asphalt is initially applied to the decking, whereupon the preformed insulation panels are applied. At this point, a roofing membrane may be secured to the upper surface of the foam panels sections, followed by conventional lap joint sealing and finishing. In some of these prior built-up constructions, hot asphalt or existing mastics have been employed which include asphalt, mineral spirits, fibers and fillers. A problem with these roofs is that, in the event of a fire, the polystyrene foam readily melts and becomes flowable, and then drips into the building below with the asphalt. This can cause severe damage to the building and its contents, and indeed the fire insurance rates for a building having a built-up roof of this character are increased because of this hazard if insurable at all.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,358,347 describes a greatly improved built-up roofing system which overcomes many of the problems with prior replacement roofs. As an adjunct to the roofing system, the '347 patent also discloses an improved applicator apparatus for the application and spreading of roof mastics. This applicator employs an elongated, transversely extending delivery bar having a series of valve units along the length thereof, with trailing spreader chains designed to spread and apply mastic delivered from the bar. While applicator devices as shown in the '347 patent represent a distinct improvement in the art, it has been found that the use of trailing spreader chains can sometimes fail to give complete and uniform coverage on a roofing deck.
There is accordingly a need in the art for an improved applicator/spreader device especially designed for roofing operations and which serves to evenly apply and spread viscous roofing materials over a variety of deck surfaces.

Spreader broom unit for application of roofing mastic


A method of making an improved bipolar transistor and the transistor itself having a double-self-aligned device structure are disclosed. The method and the transistor device provide self-alignment of collector-base and base-emitter junctions to each other, in addition to self-alignment of the base and emitter.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a self-aligned process for fabricating improved high performance bipolar transistors.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Numerous integrated circuit devices, structures and techniques of fabricating the same, are known in the art.
The present trend in semiconductor technology is toward large scale integration of devices with very high speed and low power dissipation. To achieve this goal, it is essential that the devices be made as small as possible and that the parasitic capacitance be reduced to a small value. These high performance devices can be made by (a) making the vertical junction structure shallow, (b) reducing the horizontal geometry and (c) achieving complete dielectric isolation.
Shallow-junction device profile can be achieved with ion-implantation of dopant species. Ion-implantation technique permits precise control of the impurity dose and depth of penetration into the semiconductor. Unlike the conventional thermal diffusion process, ion-implantation is not a high temperature process. Thus, by using lithographic resist or metal maskings, multiple impurity introduction operations can be achieved without resort to high temperatures. Exposure to high temperature, as in the diffusion process, disperses the impurities previously introduced. For the implanted device, a designed thermal cycle is used to activate and diffuse the various dopant species to the desired junction depth and profile.
Device horizontal geometry depends to a large extent on the lithographic tools available. Within a given constraint, however, the use of a self-aligned process can greatly reduce the device horizontal dimension. By implementation of the dielectric isolation scheme such as Recessed Oxide Isolation (ROI) or Deep Dielectric Isolation (DDI) the successive fabrication steps can be done in a self-alignment fashion. In addition to reduction of device horizontal geometry, dielectric isolation also eliminates the sidewalls of the device doping regions and thus further reduces the device parasitic capacitances. A problem associated with the ROI is the formation of a "bird's beak" and "bird's head" structure at the lateral edges of the recessed oxide. The "bird's beak" structure prevents the device junction sidewalls to fully butt against the dielectric isolation and thus imposes the need for wider tolerance of device lateral dimension. Deep dielectric isolation DDI, however, avoids the above mentioned ROI problem. Unlike the "bird's beak" structure in ROI, sidewalls of the DDI structure are nearly vertical. Also, the surface of the DDI regions and the silicon where device regions ar to be formed is coplanar. Reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 4,104,086 entitled "Method For Forming Isolated Regions of Silicon Utilizing Reactive Ion Etching" granted Aug. 1, 1978 to J. A. Bondur et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,139,442 entitled "Reactive Ion Etching Method For Producing Deep Dielectric Isolation in Silicon" granted Feb. 13, 1979 to J. A. Bondur et al., respectively of common assignee herewith.
For the very small bipolar transistor, as for example, submicron size transistor, the base area and hence the collector-base junction capacitance is the most significant performance parameter. The active base area in the bipolar transistor is the region below the emitter. The base region which surrounds the emitter is the inactive base. On conventional transistors, the metal to base contact is formed directly above the inactive base region. The transistor base area that is needed to accommodate the emitter and base contacts is considerably larger than the active base region.
To reduce the transistor base area, a process using polysilicon for making contact to the base is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,160,991 entitled "High Performance Bipolar Device and Method for Making Same" granted Jul. 10, 1979 to N. G. Anantha et al. and of common assignee herewith. The Anantha et al patent discloses a method for manufacturing a high performance bipolar device and the resulting structure which has a very small emitter-base spacing. The small emitter-base spacing reduces the base resistance compared to earlier device spacing and thereby improves the performance of the bipolar device. The method involves providing a silicon semiconductor body having regions of monocrystalline silicon isolated from one another by isolation regions and a buried subsollector therein. A base region is formed in the isolated monocrystalline silicon. A mask is formed on the surface of the silicon body covering those regions designated to be the emitter and collector reach-through regions. A doped polycrystalline silicon layer is then formed through the mask covering the base region and making ohmic contact thereto. An insulating layer is formed over the polysilicon layer. The mask is then removed from those regions designated to be the emitter and collector reach-through regions. The emitter junction is then formed in the base region and the collector reach-through formed to contact the buried subcollector. Electrical contacts are made to the emitter and collector. The doped polycrystalline silicon layer is the electrical contact to the base region.
In Anantha et al., the heavily doped polysilicon is used to make contact to the transistor base. The metal to polysilicon contact is formed outside the base region and over the oxide isolation area. The emitter opening process described in Anantha et al., however, is not a self-aligned process. Therefore, transistor base area of the Anantha et al. device must be large enough to allow polysilicon to make low resistance contact to the base and also provide a sufficient leeway for the misregistration of the emitter contact to the doped region. Since the base area and hence the base-collector junction capacitance is a very important parameter in the performance of a very fast device, it is necessary to reduce this area to the minimum possible value.
In the article "A 30-ps Si Bipolar IC Using Super Self-Aligned Process Technology" by Konaka et al. (IEEE Transactions on Electronic Devices, Vol. ED-33, No. 4, April 1986, pages 526-531) a transistor fabrication process is described. In the fabrication of an n-p-n transistor according to Konaka et al., the emitter is self-aligned with respect to the base contact and the base contact is self-aligned with respect to the base, and therefore only one photomasking operation is required in order to form the transistor. In this method, a silicon nitride layer is formed over the region of the substrate in which the transistor is to be formed, and a layer of polysilicon is deposited over the silicon nitride layer. The polysilicon over the area corresponding to the emitter and base of the transistor is removed by a photomasking and etching operation, exposing the silicon nitride layer, and a surface layer of the polysilicon that remains is oxidized. The silicon nitride exposed by removal of polysilicon is removed by etching, and during the etching silicon nitride is removed from under the polysilicon, leaving a cavity. Polysilicon is depositied into the cavity providing a connection between the first deposit of polysilicon and the region that will be the base of the transistor. This method is subject to the disadvantage that it is difficult to control the side etching operation whereby the silicon nitride underneath the polysilicon is removed. Moreover, it is possible that voids will be formed when the polysilicon is deposited into the cavity formed by the side etching operation, so that reliability of connections between the first deposit of polysilicon and the base can not be ensured. In addition, while the fabrication process of Konaka et al. provides a self-aligned process using only one mask, it is further disadvantageous in high volume manufacturing of transistor devices. That is, the extra process steps, including the second polysilicon deposition step, increase manufacturing complexity and cost. In addition, the additional etching steps required by Konaka et al. introduce the increased possibility for defects in the resultant structure.
Another self-alignment technique for fabricating a bipolar transistor is disclosed in the article "Fabrication Process and Device Characteristics of Sidewall Base Contact Structure Transistor Using Two-Step Oxidation of Sidewall Surface" by Washio et al., IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, Vol. 35, No. 10, October 1988, pages 1596-1600. The technique disclosed in Washio et al. includes two-step oxidation of a sidewall surface to achieve a desired SiO.sub.2 sidewall thickness. Optimization of silicon nitride thicknesses is also required. The two-step oxidation process is necessary to prevent extension of a "bird's beak" to the first sidewall SiO.sub.2 so that the sidewall window can be selectively opened and to prevent the generation of defects. In addition, due to the bird's beak of the second oxidation, it is difficult to control the size of the "graft-base" sidewall contact between the poly-crystalline and mono-crystalline silicon base. Such a technique involving repeated or added steps is undesireable and not well suited for a high volume manufacturing environment.
In yet another article, entitled "SDX: A Novel Self-Aligned Technique and Its Application to High-Speed Bipolar LSI's" by Yamamoto et al., IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, Vol. 35, No. 10, October 1988, pages 1601-1608, a self-aligned fabrication process is disclosed. The SDX process comprises four subprocesses which include: boron doping into a substrate, depositing undoped polysilicon on the substrate, thermally diffusing the boron impurity from the substrate into the polysilicon; and selectively etching the polysilicon, whereby the low boron-doped polysilicon is etched but the highly boron-doped polysilicon is not. While the SDX process provides for self-alignment of an isolation and transistor pattern, the process disadvantageously requires numerous steps which add complexity to the transistor fabrication process. In addition, the sloping opening makes it difficult to form the additional base-emitter sidewall. The added complexity is undesireable in a high volume manufacturing environment.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,994,400 entitled "Method of Fabricating a Semiconductor Device Using a Tri-layer Structure and Conductive Sidewalls" granted to Yamaguchi et al. and issued Feb. 19, 1991, a tri-layer structure is disclosed. The tri-layer structure with conductive sidewalls is disadvantageously susceptible to formation of the above-mentioned "bird's beak". That is, formation of the conductive polysilicon sidewalls followed by deposition of the SiO.sub.2 layer make the structure highly susceptible to the formation of "bird's beak" and the disadvantages associated therewith. The procedure requires triple reactive ion etching of the active base, making it susceptible to defects. Also, the sloping nature of the conducting sidewall makes it difficult to form a second insulating sidewall, giving increased possibility of base-emitter short circuits. Furthermore, the method of Yamaguchi et al. involves numerous fabrication steps which add complexity to the manufacturing process. Such complexity is disadvantageous and undesireable in high volume manufacturing of bipolar devices.
It is thus desireable to provide a self-aligned emitter to polysilicon base process which is unsusceptible to disadvantages associated with the formation of "bird's beak". It is further desireable to provide a bipolar transistor fabrication process which is simple to implement and advantageous for use in high volume manufacturing of bipolar transistor devices.

Method of making double-self-aligned bipolar transistor structure

International Business Machines Corporation


A filter element for a motor vehicle for filtering a fluid has engaging and/or receiving elements that are designed to be connected to an adapter ring. The engaging and/or receiving elements have several hooks for engaging recesses of the adapter ring. and are arranged uniformly spaced in a circumferential direction about an central axis of the filter element. A filter set includes the filter element and the adapter ring, wherein the adapter ring deactivates a locking device of a first housing part that receives the filter element.

The invention concerns a filter element, a filter set, and a filter device, in particular for combustion air or compressed air, fuel, in particular diesel fuel or gasoline, motor oil or hydraulic oil.
Filter elements for filtering a fluid as well as filter devices with such filter elements are used, for example, in motor vehicles or industrial motors for filtration of combustion air or compressed air, fuel, in particular diesel fuel or gasoline, motor oil or hydraulic oil. Depending on the filter element, it may be necessary to exchange them after a certain amount of time, for example, because the filter elements have reached the limit of their filtering capacity.
For example, DE 10 2009 048 412 B3 discloses a securing device which prevents closure of a housing for receiving a filter element in case of a missing, non-fitting or wrongly installed filter element. In this way, it is ensured that the filter device cannot be operated with a wrong filter element, i.e., with a filter element of a different type. This prevents malfunctions and damages.

Filter element, a filter set, and a filter device


An apparatus, system, and method are directed towards parsing and selectively encrypting different portions of data in real-time, decrypting the encrypted data in real-time, and passing the data to a media player on a client computer or other network capable device. Data in a network packet may be parsed into payload and non-payload portions. The payload portion of the packet data may then be examined to determine whether a predefined type of the data is recognized. For example, in one embodiment, the predefined data type may be media content. If the payload portion is recognized as a predefined data type, then it may be selectively encrypted. The selectively encrypted payload portion and non-payload portion of the packet may then be combined, such that the non-payload portion may be employed by firewalls, proxies, and/or NATs to route the packet towards the client computer or other network capable device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to transmission of data over a network and, more specifically, to an apparatus, system and method for selectively encrypting and decrypting different portions of data sent over a network.
2. Description of Related Art
Networking, today exemplified by the Internet, began as a way for users to share text-based information and files. The technology has, however, advanced far beyond text. The Internet can be used to conduct videoconferences where the participants in the conference can see each other in real-time on their computer screens or network-connected conferencing device. Internet users can watch live video footage of events as they happen, or view pre-recorded programming "on demand," i.e., whenever they choose rather than on a broadcast schedule.
To understand how video and multimedia content is transmitted over the Internet, first it is necessary to understand the concept of streaming. Streaming solves a long-standing problem inherent in transmitting media information across the Internet: multimedia files are quite large, and most users have relatively low bandwidth network connections. Sending broadcast-quality video or CD-quality audio across the Internet has never been easy or practical. It could take hours to send a single audio or video file across the network to someone's computer. The person at the other end would have to wait until the entire file was downloaded before playback could begin. Playback might last only a few minutes.
It has long been possible to reduce the amount of data required to transmit multimedia material. One way is to reduce the resolution, frame rate or sampling rate of the transmitted data, which has the side effect of reducing the perceived quality of the audio or video content. Another commonly used method is to apply data compression to the data to remove redundancies and retain only the most essential data from a multimedia file. By combining these two techniques, it is possible to produce multimedia files of reasonable quality that can be transmitted over typical Internet connections in time frames similar to the running time of the media content itself, i.e. minutes instead of hours. The actual quality of downloaded multimedia material varies depending on the available network bandwidth and the willingness of the user to wait for it to arrive; it is possible to trade off quality against file size and to prepare higher-quality versions of the content for users with more bandwidth.
When the amount of data per second of multimedia content is equal to or less than the amount of bandwidth available to a network user, streaming can occur. Streaming is essentially "just-in-time" delivery of multimedia data. The user does not need to wait for the entire file to arrive before s/he can begin viewing it, nor does s/he need to dedicate a large piece of his/her computer's storage to the received data. As it arrives at the client computer, the multimedia data is typically stored in a buffer capable of holding several seconds' worth of data, in order to avoid interruptions in playback caused by erratic network connections. When the buffer is initially filled, which happens in seconds rather than minutes or hours, playback begins, and individual frames of video and/or audio segments are retrieved from the buffer, decoded, and displayed on the client's video monitor, played through the client's sound system, or otherwise played back via the client's network connected device. After the data has been played, it is in many cases discarded and must be transmitted again if the user wishes to review a previous portion of the program.
The World Wide Web ("Web") operates on a client/server model; that is, a user (i.e. a client) runs a piece of software on his/her personal computer or other network device (such as a network appliance or Internet capable wireless phone) capable of accessing the resources of a network server. The server can allow many different users to access its resources at the same time and need not be dedicated to providing resources to a single user. In this model, the client software, e.g. a browser or player, runs on the user's computer. When a user requests a video or other multimedia content on the Web, his/her client software contacts the Web server containing the desired information or resources and sends a request message. The Web server locates and sends the requested information to the browser or player, which displays the results by interpreting the received data as appropriate, e.g. displaying it as video on the computer's display.
Information on the Web is addressed by means of Uniform Resource Locators (URLs). A URL specifies the protocol to be used to access the required information (commonly HTTP, the HyperText Transfer Protocol), the address or Internet name of the host containing the information, any authentication information required to gain access to the information (such as a User ID and Password), an optional TCP/IP port number if the resource is not available on the standard port for the specified protocol, and a path to the desired information in a virtual hierarchy designated by the server operators. Additionally, the URL can contain information entered by the user such as query text for a database search. URLs can be specified in many ways, including but not limited to typing them into a Web client, by clicking a "hyperlink" in some other Web document, by choosing a "bookmark" in a Web browser to return to a previously-visited page, or by filling out a Web form and submitting it to the server.
When a request is made for a particular URL, the request is sent to the appropriate server using the protocol indicated in the URL, such as HTTP, and the requested data (or an error message if the request cannot be fulfilled) is returned by the same method. However, HTTP and other Web protocols are built on top of fundamental Internet protocols, such as TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) or UDP (User Datagram Protocol). The protocols used for streaming media are built on top of these fundamental protocols in the same way that other high-level protocols, such as HTTP, are. It is essential to realize that all Internet traffic is carried by a relatively small number of low-level, fundamental protocols such as TCP and UDP, which are used to establish the connection between computers that carry the higher-level protocol. When streaming multimedia content, then, the server may use either TCP or UDP.
RTP (Real-Time Protocol), RTSP (Real-Time Streaming Protocol), RTCP (Real-Time Control Protocol) are three of the many possible streaming media protocols that can be built on top of the Internet's low-level protocols. In fact, RTP, RTSP, and RTCP serve complimentary functions and are most often used together as part of some of the more common streaming implementations. RTSP is used to set up and manage a streaming connection between a server and a client, RTP is used to deliver the actual multimedia data, and RTCP provides timing and other control signals between the client and the streaming server. Often, RTP is sent on top of UDP, a low-overhead protocol that delivers the data as quickly as possible, but does not guarantee that any particular piece of data (a "packet" in network terminology) will actually arrive at its destination. RTCP packets are sent interleaved with the data or in parallel with the RTP media channel via TCP.
One serious drawback of using the Internet for the distribution of streaming media is that the data of necessity often passes through networks and systems that are not controlled by the sender of the data en route to the client. Once the data leaves the sender's protected network, it is vulnerable to interception. This is of particular concern when proprietary data, such as a motion picture, is transmitted across the network, be it the public Internet or a third party private network. The data can potentially be intercepted and copied at any point as it is transmitted across these networks. Without some way to protect data from interception and unauthorized duplication, the Internet will never provide the security necessary to allow copyright owners to safely distribute their works over the network.
Encryption is one way to address this issue. Encryption provides a way to encode information such that only the intended recipient can view it. While anyone can intercept the data, only the legitimate recipient will be able to decrypt it, retrieve the original message or media content, and display it. Many encryption solutions have been created to provide this type of security. For example, software referred to as VPN (Virtual Private Network) allows a group of computers connected to the Internet to behave as if they were connected to a physically secure local network, using encryption to ensure that only computers on the VPN can access the private network resources. Other applications of encryption to allow private communications over the Internet include but are not limited to PGP (Pretty Good Privacy), IPSec (IP Security) and SSL (Secure Sockets Layer).
Organizations, often but not limited to corporations, also protect their proprietary data by use of firewalls. Every time a corporation connects its internal computer network or local area network (LAN) to the Internet, it faces a similar problem of private data being intercepted. Whereas encryption is used to ensure that data sent through the public Internet is usable only by intended recipients, firewalls are aimed at keeping proprietary information secure on a LAN which is connected to the Internet by preventing unauthorized users from accessing information stored on the internal network via the public Internet. Due to the Internet's public nature, every LAN connected to it is vulnerable to attack from the outside. Firewalls allow anyone on the protected LAN to access the Internet in ways allowed by the firewall configuration, while stopping hackers on the Internet from gaining access to the LAN and stealing information and/or deleting or otherwise vandalizing valuable data.
Firewalls are special-purpose devices built on routers, servers, and specialized software. One of the simplest kinds of firewalls uses packet filtering. In packet filtering, a router screens each packet of data traveling between the Internet and the LAN by examining its header. Every TCP/IP packet has a header containing the IP address of the sender and receiver as well as the port number of the connection and other information. By examining the header, and particularly the port number, the router can determine with a fair amount of accuracy the type of Internet service each packet is being used for. Each Internet service, including HTTP (the Web), FTP (File Transfer Protocol), Telnet, rlogin, and many others, has a standard port number that is used by convention for most access to the service. While any port number can be used for any service, it is far more convenient for users to use the standard port numbers, and virtually all Internet services intended for access by the public do so. Once the router knows what client and what service a packet is intended for, it can simply block outside access to hosts and services that public Internet users should not be able to use. System administrators set the rules for determining which packets should be allowed into the network and which should be blocked.
Proxy servers are commonly used in conjunction with firewalls. A proxy server is a software gateway that runs on a computer that is accessible by both the protected LAN and the Internet. All access to the Internet from the LAN must go through the proxy server, as must all access to the LAN from the public Internet. When a computer on the LAN requests an Internet resource such as a Web page, that request is sent to the proxy server. The proxy server then makes the request to the Internet resource and forwards any returned data back to the original requester on the LAN. Since the Internet and the LAN touch only at the single point of the proxy server, which acts as a go-between, protecting the network involves securing only one computer, rather than dozens or hundreds. Proxy servers are frequently used by employers to control and monitor how their employees use the Internet, as well as for preventing intrusion attempts from the Internet.
NAT, the term used for networks that utilize Network Address Translation, complicates delivery of Internet data as well. In a NAT, a privately addressed network is established separated from the Internet by a NAT router. This router in turn has an address on the public Internet. By translating the addresses of the private network into addresses recognizable on the public Internet and vice versa, the NAT router facilitates Internet connectivity for the privately networked machines. NATs are often used where limited numbers of public addresses are available in comparison to the number of users (a user might use a NAT for multiple machines sharing a cable modem connection) or in conjunction with firewalls and/or proxies to provide an extra layer of security to the private network.
Data packets can be typically divided into two parts, the header and the payload parts. The header is the portion of the packet that includes routings or other configuration information. The payload is the portion of the data packet that is just the data of interest, in exemplary case: multimedia content. For example, in a network packet, the header contains data for use by network routers in delivering the packet to its final destination, as well as other data about the packet such as size and formatting information. In an exemplary RTP packet, the header contains channel information as well as other information needed by the player to direct the RTP (media content) payload. Some complex packets may contain multiple headers and diverse nonpayload information and will be referred to herein as the non-payload part.
Many current encryption solutions, such as IPsec, encrypt data far too indiscriminately, encrypting not only the payload but portions of the header or nonpayload part as well. Only the routing information remains unencrypted, thereby rendering information needed for firewalls, proxies and/or NATs to appropriately relay the packets scrambled which will stop the packet before it can transit into a private or protected network. Other solutions provide inadequate encryption to assure integrity of the data across the public network. Some streaming media encryption solutions deal with the problem by placing the encryption system on the server machine in the form of special software that encrypts the streaming media before it is converted to packets for network transmission. While this results in packets that can often successfully pass through proxy servers and firewalls, this strategy is limiting. This is because this solution requires modification of the streaming server and often requires the addition of extra streaming servers or processing capacity to handle the increased workload that encryption adds. Also, the solution must be reengineered for each streaming server platform supported.

Selectively encrypting different portions of data sent over a network


A new and distinct cultivar of hydrangea named `Berlin Rabe`, particularly characterized by the bright pink color of the flowers, early growth, cold storable, particular suitability for growth in pots, vigorous growth and extremely high resistance to mildew.

The present invention comprises a new and distinct cultivar of Hydrangea macrophylla known by the varietal name `Berlin Rabe`.
The new cultivar is the product of a planned breeding program which has the objectives of creating a new hydrangea with attractive colored flowers which survive periods of cool storage and remain on the plant during forcing.
The new cultivar originated from a hybridization by the inventors, Franz-Xaver Rampp and Konrad Rampp, in a controlled breeding program at Rampp Jungpflanzen OHG, Mindelbergstrasse 9, D-87772 Pfaffenhausen, Germany, in 1994. The female parent and the male parent were seedlings originated by Rampp Jungpflanzen OHG, which were proprietary and maintained by Rampp Jungpflanzen OHG for breeding purposes.
Asexual reproduction was accomplished when cuttings were taken from the mother plant and tissue cultured.
The new cultivar has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary with variations in environment such as temperature, light intensity and day length. The following observations, measurements and comparisons describe plants pinched once in autumn and grown in 13 cm pots in Pfaffenhausen under greenhouse conditions which approximate those generally used in commercial practice.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be basic characteristics of the new cultivar which in combination distinguish this hydrangea as a new and distinct cultivar.
1) Bright pink colored flowers.
2) Storable in the cold.
3) Very suitable for growth in pots due to very good bud initiation.
4) More vigorous growth than "Freudenstein" not, patented.
5) Extremely high resistance to mildew.


The invention pertains to methods and apparatus for compensating the rendering of virtual content in an augmented reality scene as a function of the white point, spectral distribution, color or other optical parameter of the real content in the scene.

Augmented reality headsets present the wearer with a substantially unobstructed view of the real world, and also have the potential to overlay synthetic, computer-generated (i.e., virtual) content into the scene via a head-mounted display. Both the real world and synthetic imagery may be viewed in real time, and the synthetic imagery may be dynamically repositioned to account for the wearer's eye, head, and body motion. A forward facing camera may supply the processor with information about the real world as it appears in the wearer's field of view. Scene markers (i.e., pre-known real visual elements in the scene) may be used as references to accurately determine and adjust the position of any synthetic imagery inserted into the scene.

Apparatus and methods for dynamic white point compensation to improve perceived color of synthetic content


An image processing apparatus that corrects gradation of a first image, which is one image from among the image for left eye and the image for right eye, and gradation of a second image, which is the other image from among the image for left eye and the image for right eye, the image processing apparatus comprises: a detection unit that detects parallax between the first image and second image; a correction unit that detects a pixel in the second image corresponding to a pixel in the first image on the basis of the parallax, and corrects a gradation value of the pixel in the first image and a gradation value of the pixel in the second image corresponding to the pixel in the first image by using a single gradation conversion curve.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and a control method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Image display apparatuses in which a stereoscopic video image is obtained by displaying an image for right eye and an image for left eye have become more commonplace in recent years. This has driven the need for video production compatible with stereoscopic video.
In one video production technique, contrast sensation is improved by obtaining a gradation correction curve (γ curve) according to a statistic, such as an image brightness histogram, for each frame, and by correcting pixel value gradation on the basis of the gradation correction curve (γ correction process). In another technique (local γ correction process), the γ curve is different for each pixel in the image (Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-287794).
The technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-287794 realizes local γ correction by dividing an image into a plurality of regions and, for each pixel, combining a reference γ correction parameter, obtained at each region, on the basis of the coordinates of the pixel to be corrected.
However, in techniques such as the one disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-287794, an image is divided into a plurality of regions, and a local γ correction process that employs a γ curve obtained for each region is used, as-is, for an image for left eye and an image for right eye of a stereoscopic video image. Problems may arise thereupon on account of the particular characteristics of the stereoscopic video image. In a stereoscopic video image, specifically, a same object stands at dissimilar positions in an image for left eye and an image for right eye. When dividing an image into a plurality of regions and obtaining a γ curve for each region, specifically, a same object may belong to regions at different positions in the image for left eye and the image for right eye. In such a case, the image data in the divided region is dissimilar for the image for left eye and the image for right eye, and hence the γ curves obtained for each region are likewise dissimilar. As a result, dissimilar γ curves are used, for a same object, in the image for left eye and the image for right eye, whereupon the stereoscopic sensation is lost and flicker occurs.

Image processing apparatus and control method thereof


A display system includes a display panel (200) having a full display screen area (303) upon which images can be generated for viewing. An image control circuit (400, 501) controls the operation of the display panel such that only a partial display field, or area, (305) is controlled to generate images in a first operating mode to conserve power and the full display screen area is controlled to generate images in a second operating mode.

Display systems, such as liquid crystal display (LCD) systems, have been implemented using a central processing unit (CPU), a display image buffer, and a display driver driving a display panel. For large screen LCD displays, the CPU operates to copy data from the display image buffer and apply the data to the display driver in a pixel-by-pixel manner. The driver produces a voltage on the display panel that controls the pixels thereon to have a particular intensity and decay rate. The process of applying a voltage is done repeatedly, at timed intervals, and is known in the art as "refreshing the display."
Display systems for small panels require a proportionally smaller display image buffer than systems for larger display panels. Many systems for small display panels implement the display image buffer in the same integrated circuit (IC) as the logic circuitry for controlling the display panel, such buffer known as an internal buffer. This approach yields a much lower current drain than using an external memory device for the display image buffer. However, the size of the display panel that can be driven by the integrated buffer is limited by the die area available for the display image buffer on the IC. Another drawback with this approach is CPU access to the internal display image buffer is restricted. Because access is restricted, as the display gets bigger the CPU has a more difficult time changing the contents of the internal display image buffer fast enough to avoid flicker and hesitation during scrolling. Consequently, for display systems employing an internal buffer for a large display panel, it is difficult to scroll images on the display panel in a smooth consistent manner.
It is therefor desirable to provide a system for controlling a large display with improved current drain characteristics.


A method and apparatus for detecting a temporal action of a video, an electronic device and a storage medium are disclosed, which relates to the field of video processing technologies. An implementation includes: acquiring an initial temporal feature sequence of a video to be detected; acquiring, by a pre-trained video-temporal-action detecting module, implicit features and explicit features of a plurality of configured temporal anchor boxes based on the initial temporal feature sequence; and acquiring, by the video-temporal-action detecting module, the starting position and the ending position of a video clip containing a specified action, the category of the specified action and the probability that the specified action belongs to the category from the plural temporal anchor boxes according to the explicit features and the implicit features of the plural temporal anchor boxes.

To produce short video content with high quality, a video producer is usually required to manually clip an interesting video clip from original long video material to remove a large amount of useless material, which requires much effort of the video producer. For example, to improve the video clipping efficiency, technical means are usually required to assist the video producer or a video platform in automatically clipping a short video clip of a specified action category from a long video. A related algorithm task in the clipping process is a task for detecting a temporal action of a video and aims at detecting the starting time, the ending time, the confidence score and the action category of a temporal action clip in the unclipped long video. This technology is a key technology for intelligently clipping a wonderful video.
An existing method for detecting a temporal action of a video is similar to a target detection task in a temporal dimension, may usually include temporal proposal generation and temporal proposal classification, and specifically includes: generating a temporal proposal with a sliding-window or temporal-proposal generating algorithm, and then classifying an action of the temporal proposal by a classification network.
However, the above-mentioned existing solution for detecting a temporal action of a video has a complicated implementation process, resulting in low temporal-action detection efficiency.

Method and apparatus for detecting temporal action of video, electronic device and storage medium

BEIJING BAIDU NETCOM SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


An apparatus for mixing material in a container includes a platform mounted for simultaneous movement on at least two axes and for supporting a container containing material to be mixed. A motor can be operatively associated with the platform to move the platform on the two axes. A container holding assembly having a vertical extent can be carried by the platform, and is moveable between a closed position in which the holding assembly is positioned proximate the container to retain the container on the platform during mixing operations, and an open position in which the holding assembly is positioned away from the container so that the container can be removed from the platform without lifting the container over the vertical extent of the holding assembly. The platform can be contained within a housing having a low profile opening such that the container can be removed without elevating the container.

In home centers, paint stores, hardware stores and other paint retailing establishments, various devices are used to dispense and mix custom colors, including mixers such as applicant's TruMixCM™ vibrational mixer and applicant's TruMix™ vortex blenders.
A vortex blender is an apparatus that tips the paint container at an angle from the vertical and rotates the container about a non-vertical rotational axis while simultaneously rotating the container about a vertical axis in an orbital motion. These simultaneous motions effectively blend the colorants into the base paint. Advantages of this method include the relative lack of unbalanced movement, allowing large, heavy containers of paint to be blended without significant vibration, and without causing "walking" of the apparatus along its supporting surface during operation.
However, in present designs a 5-gallon (19 liter) bucket, which may weigh as much as 80 lbs. (36 kg), must be lifted a significant distance off of the floor and the bottom of the bucket tilted approximately 30 degrees in order for the bucket to slide down into the bucket-retaining well of the mixer. This can be difficult to accomplish under some circumstances.
This application discloses ergonomic improvements in a vortex blender to facilitate easier loading of the paint container into the blender and to more efficiently integrate the blender into an automated system including a roll conveyor for transferring paint containers from a blending machine to the vortex mixer.
While the disclosure of this application relates to mixing paint, the features disclosed in this application may have application in other fields of use, such as blending adhesives, mastics, surface finishes, food and beverage products and any other materials where efficient blending is required. Similarly, while this application discloses a vortex mixer utilizing gears and geared belts, the features disclosed have equal application to systems that may use conventional belt and pulley or other drive systems.


A method for treating neoplasia using sulfur-containing derivatives of carboxy-amino-amides, comprising vitaletheine and vitalethine and related compounds, is provided.

This invention was made in the performance of work under a grant from the National Institute of Health #HL 16,796; AN 10,628; and BRSG S07RR-05583-25 and the U.S. Government has certain rights therein.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention provides a novel method using a group of compounds to modulate biological activities comprising sulfur-containing hydrocarbon derivatives of carboxy-amino-amides such as vitaletheine, [N-(2-mercapto-ethane)-3-carboxyamino-propanamide], also designated as N-[3-(2-mercapto-ethanamino)-3-oxo-3,1-propanediyl]-carbamic acid, herein referred to as "vitaletheine modulators". The compounds are characterized by a pronounced biological activity, and are useful, inter alia, for reestablishing the normal phenotypic expression of neoplastic cells in vivo and in vitro, and for stimulating immunological surveillance for neoplastic cells. In particular, the compounds inhibit tumor growth, inhibit metastasis of tumor cells, and regress tumors.
"Phenotypic expression" is defined herein as the manifestation of an "entire range of physical, biochemical and physiological characteristics of an individual as determined both genetically and environmentally," in contrast to "genotypic expression", which in the art solely refers to the expression of the chromosomal sequence. [See, for example, Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary, 26th Edition, 1974, W. B. Saunders, Philadelphia]. Biological activity of the vitaletheine modulators thus includes modulation of the expression of genetic material as influenced by the condition and environment of each cell.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Cancer (neoplasia) is popularly treated with chemotherapeutics, debulking, and/or radiotherapeutics, the efficacy of which is primarily dependent upon differences in growth rates between normal and neoplastic cells. These therapies have proven to be marginally effective. More recent therapies have sought to fortify bodily defenses against developing tumors, for example by enhancing immunological responses of the body postulated to be belligerent to neoplastic cells. Only in part due to the complexity of the immune system, such therapies have not as yet proven their value. There is circumstantial evidence that NK (natural killer) cells may be important effector cells against tumor development in the early stages as described in Immunobiology of Natural Killer Cells, volumes I and II, 1986, CRC Press, Inc., Boca Raton, Fla., U.S.A., incorporated herein by reference. There is also evidence that through adoptive immunotherapy (the removal, in vitro activation, and return of immunologically reactive lymphoid cells to the afficted animal) the regression of established tumors in the animal can be mediated as described in Immune Responses to Metastases, volumes I and II, 1987, Boca Raton, Fla., U.S.A., incorporated herein by reference. It is accordingly desirable to provide a method for normalizing cellular function to interrupt underlying mechanisms of cellular transformation to neoplastic cells, and to identify and enhance, either in vivo or in vitro, those biological responses antagonistic towards neoplastic cells.

Therapeutic use of vitaletheine modulators in neoplasia


An adapter for retrofitting a conventional gooseneck faucet to allow for touch-free activation. The sensor unit of the adapter is attached by simply passing it over the spout of the gooseneck faucet and towards the base of the faucet where it is locked in place by a clamp. Once in place, the sensor unit uses infrared light to sense the proximity of hands under the faucet. When hands are sensed, the control unit mounted under the sink will activate the faucet for as long as hands remain under the faucet.

In environments such as food handling facilities, there is typically a need for touch-free faucets to improve sanitation. Many such facilities contain a large number of hand washing stations outfitted with sinks using conventional faucets that are activated by hand.
Typically, facilities wishing to adopt touch-free faucets must replace all of their conventional sinks with sinks outfitted with touch-free faucets. Therefore, adoption of touch-free faucets typically comes at great expense to those facilities wishing to upgrade, thereby preventing many such facilities from being able to adopt touch-free faucets and preventing these facilities from improving sanitation. Consequently, there is a need for a way to retrofit sinks having conventional faucets with touch-free faucets.

Adapter for touch-free operation of gooseneck faucet


Provided is a recording medium including an ink-receiving layer containing an inorganic pigment and a binder on at least one surface of a substrate. The ink-receiving layer contains a compound including zirconium, silicon, and at least one element selected from Group 2 and Group 3 elements of the periodic table.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recording media are required to have various physical properties such as fixing properties of ink, clearness of images, and ozone resistance. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-254430 proposes a technology relating to a recording medium containing a composite compound prepared by a reaction of a silane coupling agent having an amino group and a zirconium compound and thereby reducing blurring in an image stored under a high temperature and high humidity environment as well as enhancing ozone resistance of the image.


A hydraulic hammer is disclosed having a piston and an accumulator membrane disposed external and co-axial to the piston. Additionally, a sleeve is disposed between the piston and accumulator membrane, wherein the sleeve has a plurality of radial passages formed therein that fluidly connect the accumulator membrane with the piston.

Hydraulic hammers can be attached to various machines such as excavators, backhoes, tool carriers, or other like machines for the purpose of milling stone, concrete, and other construction materials. The hydraulic hammer is mounted to a boom of the machine and connected to a hydraulic system. High pressure fluid is then supplied to the hammer to drive a reciprocating piston and a work tool in contact with the piston.
The piston is usually included within an impact system that is surrounded and protected by an outer housing. A valve controls fluid to and away from the piston, and an accumulator provides a reservoir of the fluid at the valve. One or more passages connect the valve with the accumulator.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,853,036 (the '036 patent) that issued to Eskridge et al. on Dec. 10, 1974, discloses an exemplary hydraulic hammer. The hammer of the '036 patent includes a piston reciprocally located within an outer housing. An intake fluid reservoir and an outlet fluid reservoir are disposed around a valve at an axial end of the piston, wherein the fluid reservoirs form an accumulator. A plurality of long flow passages connects the valve with the fluid reservoirs to displace the piston.
Although perhaps suitable for some applications, the hammer of the '036 patent may have drawbacks. In particular, the long passages of the '036 patent may increase the time for fluid flow within the hydraulic hammer. Such an increased time for fluid transfer may result in delayed responses of the system. For example, a delay may occur between the time the system is activated and the piston is driven forward against the work tool, resulting in reduced efficiency.
The disclosed system is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above and/or other problems of the prior art.

Hydraulic hammer having co-axial accumulator and piston


A method to repair a rotor system having a coupling, a coupling keyway, a shaft, a shaft keyway, and a key. The method may include the steps of machining a shaft relief on the shaft adjacent to the coupling, providing fillet radii to the coupling keyway and the shaft keyway, adding a fretting resistant button to the key, machining a keyway relief on the shaft keyway, and machining a coupling relief on the coupling adjacent to the shaft. The method further may include the step of machining the key, the step of positioning dowels between the coupling and the shaft, and the step of shot-peening the coupling keyway and the shaft keyway.

Generally described, conventional dynamoelectric machines have forged rotors of a magnetic material with radial slots formed therein. The slots are used for the connective turns of a number of field windings. The field windings are interconnected so as to produce a desired magnetic flux pattern.
Rotors generally have a cylindrical rotor body with a shaft extending towards the generator. A locking key or a similar element may be positioned at the turbine/generator coupling. This key resists the excess torque that may be generated during an in service fault condition. In such a condition, excess torque may be generated on the rotor shaft.
As the generators have aged, fretting and cracking have been experienced in the keyway, in the rotor, and in the inside diameter of the coupling. This cracking is initiated by fretting that is caused by a small amount of relative motion. Specifically, the locking key in the keyway may move slightly in relation to the rotor shaft and the coupling.
There is a desire therefore for an improved rotor design that would eliminate the fretting and cracking between the locking key and the coupling and the rotor shaft so as to improve fatigue life. The improved design may be a retrofit to existing equipment or the design may be provided in new equipment.

Systems and methods for repairing a rotor system keyway