Disclosed are processes for preparing cocrystals, including processes for scaling up of cocrystal formation, as well as scalable processes for preparing cocrystals. Also disclosed are processes for scaled-up preparation of pterostilbene, progesterone, p-coumaric, and minoxidil cocrystals. Minoxidil cocrystals, such as minoxidil:benzoic acid 1:1 monohydrate cocrystals are also disclosed herein.

Cocrystals are crystals that contain two or more non-identical molecules. Examples of cocrystals may be found in the Cambridge Structural Database. Examples of cocrystals may also be found at Etter, Margaret C., and Daniel A. Adsmond (1990) "The use of cocrystallization as a method of studying hydrogen bond preferences of 2-aminopyridine" J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun. 1990 589-591, Etter, Margaret C., John C. MacDonald, and Joel Bernstein (1990) "Graph-set analysis of hydrogen-bond patterns in organic crystals" Acta Crystallogr., Sect. B, Struct. Sci. B46 256-262, Etter, Margaret C., Zofia Urba czyk-Lipkowska, Mohammad Zia-Ebrahimi, and Thomas W. Panunto (1990b) "Hydrogen bond directed cocrystallization and molecular recognition properties of diarylureas" J. Am. Chem. Soc. 112 8415-8426, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
The following articles are also incorporated herein by reference in their entireties: Carl Henrik Gorbotz and Hans-Petter Hersleth, 2000, "On the inclusion of solvent molecules in the crystal structures of organic compounds"; Acta Cryst. (2000), B56, 625-534; and V. S. Senthil Kumar, Ashwini Nangia, Amy K. Katz and H. L. Carrell, 2002, "Molecular Complexes of Some Mono- and Dicarboxylic Acids with trans-1,4,-Dithiane-1,4-dioxide" American Chemical Society, Crystal Growth & Design, Vol. 2, No. 4, 2002.
By cocrystallizing a compound with another compound, referred to as a "coformer", one creates a new solid form which has unique properties compared with existing solid forms of that compound. For example, a cocrystal may have different dissolution and solubility properties than the compound itself or as a salt. In the pharmaceutical field, the compound is often known as an active pharmaceutical ingredient ("API"), and the other component of the cocrystal (the coformer) is often a pharmaceutically acceptable compound (which could also be an API). Cocrystals containing APIs can be used to deliver APIs therapeutically. New drug formulations comprising cocrystals of APIs with pharmaceutically acceptable coformers may have superior properties over existing drug formulations. Compounds and coformers may also include, by way of example only, nutraceuticals, agricultural chemicals, pigments, dyes, explosives, polymer additives, lubricant additives, photographic chemicals, and structural and electronic materials.
When the compound, such as an API, is a hydrochloride (HCl) salt, for example, one can cocrystallize the HCl salt with a neutral coformer molecule. By doing this, one can create a cocrystal with specific properties. For instance one can make a cocrystal comprising an active pharmaceutical ingredient having greater or lesser intrinsic solubility and/or a faster or slower dissolution rate, depending on the coformer compound that is chosen.
By "coformer" what is meant is the component of the cocrystal that is not the compound of the cocrystal. The coformer is present in order to form the cocrystal with the compound. Thus, the coformer is part of the crystal lattice. It is contemplated that one or more coformers may be employed in a cocrystal, according to any of the techniques of the disclosure. Accordingly, the coformer is not required to have an activity of its own, although it may have some activity. In some situations, the coformer may have the same activity as or an activity complementary to that of the compound.
For example, some coformers may facilitate the therapeutic effect of an active pharmaceutical ingredient. For pharmaceutical formulations, the coformer may be any pharmaceutically acceptable molecule that forms a cocrystal with the API or its salt. The Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances (RTECS) database is a useful source for toxicology information, and the GRAS list contains about 2500 relevant compounds. Both sources may be used to help identify suitable coformers.
The coformer may be non-ionized, such as, for example, benzoic acid, succinic acid, and caffeine, or zwitterionic, such as, for example, L-lysine, L-arginine, or L-proline, or may be a salt, such as, for example, sodium benzoate or sodium succinate. Coformers may include, but are not limited to, organic bases, organic salts, alcohols, aldehydes, amino acids, sugars, ionic inorganics, carboxylic acids, amines, flavoring agents, sweeteners, nutraceuticals, aliphatic esters, aliphatic ketones, organic acids, aromatic esters, alkaloids, and aromatic ketones. In at least certain embodiments, the coformer may be a carboxylic acid or an alkaloid. Typically, coformers will have the ability to form complementary non-covalent interactions with the compound or its salt, including APIs and salts thereof, for example the ability to form hydrogen bonds with the compound or its salt.
Properties of compounds or their salts, such as APIs or salts thereof, may be modified by forming a cocrystal. Such properties include, for example, melting point, density, hygroscopicity, crystal morphology, loading volume, compressibility, and shelf life. Furthermore, other properties such as bioavailability, dissolution, solubility, toxicity, taste, physical stability, chemical stability, production costs, and manufacturing method may be modified by using a cocrystal, rather than the API alone or as a salt.
A compound, such as an API, can be screened for possible cocrystals, for example where polymorphic forms, hydrates, or solvates do not readily form from the compound. For example, a neutral compound that can only be isolated as amorphous material could be cocrystallized. Forming a cocrystal may improve the performance of a drug formulation of an API, for example by changing one or more properties identified earlier. A cocrystal may also optionally be used to isolate or purify a compound during manufacturing. If it is desirable to identify all of the solid state phases of an active pharmaceutical ingredient, then cocrystallization may be particularly desirable.
While much interest has been paid to preparing cocrystals of APIs and other compounds such as nutraceuticals, a recurring challenge has been the ability to prepare cocrystals in sufficient quantity or scale for commercialization. When cocrystals are prepared in a laboratory, techniques, such as with seeds or non-solvent approaches used to screen for the cocrystals, are typically not scalable and yields are in the milligram scale. Further, reports by others have shown thermodynamic and kinetic limitations for using solvent-based approaches. In particular, the inability to obtain congruent dissolution with compounds and coformers in a solvent has been a barrier to successful and reproducible scaled-up manufacture of cocrystals (Chiarella). Such dissolution problems are especially acute when the solubilities of the compound and the coformer differ substantially in the solvent selected. Thus, there is a need to develop a process whereby cocrystals can be scaled-up to at least gram-scale quantities.
By way of example only, both resveratrol and pterostilbene have been reported to exhibit a range of biological activities including anti-cancer, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and other potential health benefits. Pterostilbene is found in nature in a variety of grapes and berries as well as plants commonly used in traditional folk medicine. Significant interest in pterostilbene has been generated in recent years due to its perceived health benefits, leading to increased consumption of foods that contain the compound such as grapes and berries.
Pterostilbene has, however, been noted to have poor solubility in water, making it difficult to incorporate in food extracts or supplements ("nutraceuticals") (López-Nicolás, J. M.; Rodriguez-Bonilla, P.; Méndez-Cazorla, L.; Garcia-Carmona, F., Physicochemical Study of the Complexation of Pterostilbene by Natural and Modified Cyclodextrins. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 2009, 57, (12), 5294-5300.). In addition, pterostilbene exhibits poor bioavailability and is easily oxidized by various enzymes (Pezet, R., Purification and characterization of a 32-kDa laccase-like stilbene oxidase produced by Botrytis cinerea. FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 1998, 167, 203-208 and Breuil, A. C.; Jeandet, P.; Adrian, M.; Chopin, F.; Pirio, N.; Meunier, P.; Bessis, R., Characterization of a pterostilbene dehydrodimer produced by laccase of Botrytis cinerea. Phytopathology 1999, 89, (298-302).). The melting point has been reported as 82° C. (Mallavadhani, U. V.; Sahu, G., Pterostilbene: A Highly Reliable Quality-Control Marker for the Ayurvedic Antidiabetic Plant 'Bijasar'. Chromatographia 2003, 58, 307-312.). Efforts to improve the solubility of pterostilbene have focused on formulation approaches, such as by using cyclodextrins (LoI 2009).
Recently, cocrystals and polymorphs of pterostilbene have been reported in WO/2011/09372, which is herein incorporated by reference.


In an image pickup apparatus capable of picking up an image as a moving image, the image pickup apparatus is able to record at least one of a still image and a sound and is able to change at least one of a focal length of an image forming optical system and an illuminating angle of a flash device, and the image pickup apparatus, when recording the at least one of the still image and the sound, is prevented from changing the at least one of the focal length of the image forming optical system and the illuminating angle of the flash device. Further, there are provided a control method for the image pickup apparatus and a computer program product for controlling the image pickup apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus capable of picking up an image as a moving image and also capable of recording at least one of a still image and a sound.
2. Description of Related Art
Use of a flash device is necessary in taking a picture (in picking up an image) of a low luminance object of shooting even for image pickup apparatuses, such as electronic cameras and the like, of these days. The guide numbers of flash devices are arranged to be controllable by varying their illuminating angles. The guide number is a value indicative of the amount of light emission by a flash device.
The amount of light emission by a flash device can be controlled according to a magnification by interlocking the control of the guide number with the control of a variator lens. Such a control arrangement permits taking a shot of an object with an adequate amount of exposure.
In carrying out control over the guide number of a flash device according to a magnification by interlocking the control of the guide number with the control of a variator lens as mentioned above, however, there arises the following problem. In a case where the flash device is of the kind capable of controlling the amount of light emission, when the variator lens is controlled for an arbitrary magnification at the timing of picking up a still image while using flash emission, the guide number of the flash device is caused to vary accordingly. Then, in such a case, it is hardly possible to make an apposite exposure for obtaining an adequate result of shooting.
Further, in the case of a video camera which is arranged to record a sound simultaneously with a still image in recording the still image, there is such a disadvantage that any operating sound generated from the variator lens or the flash device at the time of varying the magnification would be recorded in picking up the still image.

Image pickup apparatus with combined flash angle and focused motor control


A drive belt (10; 20; 60) for a people conveyor comprises: a load bearing portion (12; 22; 62) extending in a longitudinal direction and having a length extending in the longitudinal direction and a width extending in a width direction; and a plurality of rollers (17; 27; 67) accommodated within the width of the load bearing portion (12; 22; 62). At least a part of the load bearing portion (12; 22; 62) is provided with a drive belt engagement structure (13; 23; 63). The drive belt engagement structure (13; 23; 63) in particular includes teeth (14, 25; 24), grooves (16; 26), and/or openings.

The application relates to a drive belt for people conveyors and to a people conveyor comprising such a drive belt.
People conveyors such as escalators and moving walkways usually comprise a conveyance band, which is configured for conveying passengers. The conveyance band extends and moves between two opposing landing zones, and it is driven by at least one drive chain extending parallel to the conveyance band. A conventional drive chain has a considerable weight, needs regular maintenance and lubrication, and generates undesirable vibrations and noise when operated.
It therefore would be beneficial to provide an alternative driving means for driving the conveyance band which allows reducing or even avoiding the disadvantages associated with a conventional drive chain.


Methods, systems and apparatuses for processor selection in multi-processor systems are disclosed. An example method includes, for each of a plurality of processors, retrieving a list of interrupt instances for a plurality of interrupt types; calculating an interrupt instance count value for each of the plurality of interrupt types; multiplying a corresponding weighting factor by the interrupt instance count value for each one of the plurality of interrupt types to generate a plurality of weighted interrupt values; calculating an overall weighted vector value based on the sum of the plurality of weighted interrupt values; and designating one of the plurality of processors as a selected processor based on the lowest overall weighted vector value.

Some computing platforms have multiple cores and/or processors than can each execute operations in parallel. Machine level execution of applications on such computing platforms can be improved by assigning different execution threads to different cores/processors to better utilize resources of the computing platform and reduce competition between execution threads for the resources of computing platform.


A digital camera includes a LCD that has a back light whose intensity level is set at a point midway between a maximum intensity setting and a minimum intensity setting. The back light level is then adjusted automatically from this default setting to a brightness level that corresponds to a measured scene level. The back light intensity level and contrast level of the LCD then change automatically thereafter to correspond to the measured scene level whereby the LCD controls are adjusted according to the lighting environment.

In modern day digital cameras, the viewing of the scene that will be captured is accomplished with either an optical viewfinder or a liquid crystal display (LCD) unit either alone or in combination with an optical viewfinder. In most, if not in all digital cameras, the intensity level or brightness level of the LCD is manually adjustable to accomodate for standard photographic lighting conditions. That is a middle of the road approach is taken to accomodate for both indoor and outdoor lighting conditions.
Besides the viewing of a scene with the LCD, the LCD also accomplishes two other primary purposes by displaying menu selections for enabling the user to control or set up camera operating conditions, and to display camera status information whenever a user is ready to capture an object image or has in fact captured an object image. While the LCD is able to perform these various function in general lighting conditions, all too often due to overly bright or dim ambient light conditions, the image displayed on the LCD is either too bright or too dim thereby greatly hindering a user in properly operarting the camera.
One attempt at solving this problem has been to provide an over-riding manual adjustment to control the backlighting of the LCD. While this approach is satisfactory in some lighting conditions, the solution has not been entirely satisfactory. In this regard, the control selection for over-riding the default backlighting condition is generally found in a buried camera menu item that must be display on the LCD. Since the menu selection item must be displayed to be selected, often times it is difficult or entirely impossible to display the menu item so that it may be clearly viewed by a user due to the ambient lighting conditions.
Therefore it would be highly desirable to have a new and improved digital camera that includes an LCD that operates in a variety of photographic lighting conditions ranging from poorly illuminated indoor settings to brightly illuminated outdoor settings.

Digital camera that automatically adjusts LCD brightness according to ambient light

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A guy/guide wire anchor protector is provided to protect personnel and equipment in the oil and gas field. The anchor protector has a substantially truncated pyramid shape with an opening extending between a top face and a bottom face.

Guy/guide wire tie offs (dead man anchors) are widely used in the oil and gas industry to do maintenance to oil wells and are used to anchor work over rigs and other maintenance equipment. Typically the anchors are installed into the ground at a predetermined depth. They are pull tested and left for future maintenance operations. This has been standard practice in the oil and gas industry.
The anchor protrudes out of the ground approximately 4″ to 6″ inches. This causes a potential trip hazard to personnel on the site. It also causes the potential of a drive over hazard costing lost time and damage to motor vehicles and equipment.


A method (400) and a controller (210) for providing a location-based game associated with a plurality of mobile stations (170) are described herein. The controller (210) may determine a plurality of game parameters based on user input from one of a plurality of players. The plurality of game parameters may include, but is not limited to, a game area (500) having a plurality of activation locations (505). The controller (210) may determine location associated with at least one of the plurality of mobile stations (164). In response to one of the plurality of mobile stations (164) being within a proximity threshold (535) associated with one of the plurality of activation locations (530), the controller (210) may activate a game feature within one of the plurality of mobile stations (164). Accordingly, the controller (210) may provide a point value to one of the plurality of players in response to a trigger event associated with the game feature.

The present disclosure relates to wireless communication systems, and more particularly, to a method and a controller for providing a location-based game associated with a plurality of mobile stations.
Wireless communication service providers offer many location-based services such as emergency services, mobile yellow pages, and navigation assistance to subscribers. In fact, some providers may provide entertainment services such as games based on location of subscribers. Typically, a provider may automatically provide a location-based game without allowing the subscribers to alter the game rules and parameters. That is, current location-based games do not permit subscribers to alter the game by defining a desired area of play nor do they activate game features without direct communication between the subscriber and the provider. For example, a subscriber may be physically at a particular location but the subscriber may need to call in to the provider to activate a game feature associated with the location-based game. As a result, subscribers may be forced to use premium airtime to participate in the game.
Further, one aspect of designing a wireless communication system is to optimize the resources available to subscribers. In particular, one method of improving the availability of resources within the wireless communication system is to reduce traffic to and from mobile stations. Therefore, a need exists for a player-defined location-based game and an effective means to provide that game.

Method and controller for providing a location-based game associated with a plurality of mobile stations


A pump enabling a fluid substance to be manually dispensed through a hollow stem projecting from a hole in a ring cap sealedly applied to one end of a pump.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved manually operable pump for dispensing quantities of a fluid substance in the form of liquids, creamy substances or the like through the hollow operating stem of the pump. The pump enables the substance to be dispensed when in any position while preventing, under normal conditions of use, the passage of fluids (air, gas or liquid) between the outer surface of the stem and the adjacent surface of the hole in the pump ring cap through which said stem extends and is translatable.
2. Discussion of the Background
Many types of manually operable pumps are known for externally dispensing, through the cavity of a stem during its operation, quantities of fluid substances (liquid or creamy) drawn from a container on which the pump is mounted; the hollow stem extends to the outside of the pump body by passing through a hole provided in a ring cap forming part of the pump and defining one end of said pump. The term "ring cap" means any body or element for closing the pump body at one end and for enabling the stem to pass. Known pumps are mounted on containers in which the pressure under rest conditions is substantially equal to atmospheric pressure.
Examples of known types of pumps are those described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 3,583,605A, U.S. Pat. No. 4,960,230A, EP-B-0301615 and EP-A-1334774, the teachings of which are incorporated herein for reference. DE 1728199A also describes a pump very similar to those illustrated in the four aforesaid patents.
To prevent a vacuum forming in the container when fluid is withdrawn therefrom and dispensed by the pump, a passageway or aperture must be provided in the pump to enable atmospheric air to penetrate into the container in order to maintain the pressure substantially constant therein equal to the atmospheric pressure. In the known art, air passes through a passageway provided in the pump body or between the pump and the ring cap on which the pump is mounted, the air always passing between the outer surface of the hollow stem and the opposing surface of the hole provided in the pump ring cap through which the stem passes.
This is clearly specified in all the aforesaid prior patents, for example in lines 62-67 of column 2 of U.S. Pat. No. 3,583,605A, in lines 2-5 of column 4 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,960,230A, in the last three lines of column 4 and the first two lines of column 5 of EP-B-0301615, in lines 14-22 of column 1 of EP-A-1334774, and in the first paragraph of page 8 of DE 1728199A. The passageway existing between the outer surface of the pump hollow stem and the surface of the hole in the ring cap through which the stem passes presents problems, one of which is that the external air which penetrates into the container can deteriorate the characteristics of the fluid substance contained therein, another being the fact that the fluid can seep or leak to the outside of the container through the said passageway when the container and pump lie in a horizontal position or with the pump facing downwards from the container.
These problems cannot be prevented with known pumps because atmospheric air must be able to enter the container to prevent the pump blocking (and hence no longer usable) if a vacuum forms within the container on dispensing a portion of the fluid contained therein.
In a different embodiment, the fluid substances to be dispensed by dispensers for their use must be contained in containers in which a pressurized gas is also present to normally expel the substances under pressure through dispensing devices acting as manually operable aerosol valves, the opening or closure of which results in dispensing or prevents dispensing of the substance respectively.
However, pumps are also known for dispensing a fluid substance and a pressurizing gas from a container containing the substance and the pressurizing gas hermetically sealed therein. Such pumps have structures which seem similar to those of the pumps commonly used on containers which are not internally pressurized, but which are clearly distinct from them.
Some of these pumps are described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 3,211,346A, U.S. Pat. No. 4,511,069A and GB 1537436A, the teachings of which are incorporated herein for reference.
All these pumps present problems which have made them difficult to use, and in fact have prevented their practical utilization. In this respect, such pumps have substantially a form similar to that of a traditional pump but differ therefrom by comprising a cup-shaped body, the cavity of which is sealed by a ring cap sealedly applied to the mouth of a container in which a fluid substance and a pressurized gas are contained. The cup-shaped body presents a chamber with a hole through which the fluid substance rises into the chamber by the effect of the pressure present in the container. This chamber is bounded by a piston sealedly translatable along the inner surface of the cup-shaped body: a hollow stem connected to the piston emerges from and is sealedly translatable through a hole provided in the pump ring cap. Under rest conditions in which the piston is urged by a compressed spring reacting against the cup-shaped body, the cavity in the pump stem is closed by a unidirectional valve.
When the pump is at rest, the pressurized fluid substance present in the pump interior acts on the piston in the sense of maintaining the pump closed, no hole or aperture or passageway being provided in the pump body which would enable the fluid substance or pressurized gas to come into contact with that upper piston surface distant from that facing the interior of the pump cup-shaped body. The consequence of this is that when such pump is operated to dispense a substance, a pressure must be exerted on the pump stem which is greater than that required to operate the common pumps used to dispense substances not under pressure, in order to overcome the thrust of the spring acting on the piston and to overcome the thrust exerted on the same piston by the pressurized fluid substance present within the pump cavity. Pump operation is hence more difficult the higher the internal pressure in the container on which the pump is mounted, and the smaller the size of the dispensing button mounted on the free end of the hollow stem.

Pump for manually dispensing a fluid substance sealed in a container

Abstract: The stem can sealedly translate within said hole in the ring cap, which in its turn can be sealedly mounted on the mouth of a container containing the fluid substance to be dispensed.


The present invention relates to a method for homogenizing measurement units used for displaying communication messages containing numerical data notably messages exchanged by an aircraft with the air traffic control authority. The choice of the working units of the flight management computer are recovered in the configuration database. The measurement unit of the numerical data item of the displayed message is determined. When the measurement unit of the numerical data item of the message does not form part of the system of measurement units, the numerical data item is connected into a unit forming part of the system of units. The display of the communication message on the onboard screen is formatted.

To cope with the growth in air traffic and improve the safety thereof, the aeronautical authorities represented by the ICAO (acronym standing for International Civil Aeronautical Organization) have defined precise recommendations relating to improvements in communication services within the framework of the future ATN (Aeronautical Telecommunication Network) civil aeronautical communication network and the implementation of future air traffic management or ATC (Air Traffic Control) applications. ATC communication systems are based on onboard/ground information exchanges, the aim of which is to ensure a secure and effective link between pilots and air traffic controllers.
Among the various applications specified by the ICAO (International Civil Aeronautical Organization) on the ATN network, one of them, the CPDLC (Controller Pilot Data Link Communication) allows the exchange of digital traffic control messages between the pilot and the air traffic control authority.
Moreover the large majority of aircraft are provided with a flight management computer (also called Flight Management or FM) whose job is to calculate the position and the attitude of the craft as well as to calculate and optimize the trajectory of the aircraft so as to follow the envisaged flight plan. This computer is parameterized according to the options chosen by each airline, notably as regards the measurement units to be used for the altitude and speed data.
The phraseology of the CPDLC messages exchanged with an air traffic control authority is standardized. For example, when the air traffic controller requests a change of altitude from the pilot, he does it with a CPDLC message of the type "CLIMB at LEVEL XXX" where XXX is a numerical data item which represents the desired altitude. This numerical data item can equally well be expressed by the controller in feet or in meters. The same holds for the data exchanges relating to a speed (expressed in kilometers per hour or in knots), a pressure (expressed in hectopascals or in inches of Mercury) or else a distance (expressed in nautical miles or in kilometers). The unit of the numerical data item is mentioned in the CPDLC message and is displayed on a screen of the flight deck. Nevertheless, the fact that it can differ from that parameterized in the flight management computer compels the pilot to verify the measurement unit of a numerical setpoint of a CPDLC message before being taken into account by the flight management system. Nevertheless, the communication of a numerical data item expressed in a unit which differs from those used by the flight management computer complicates the work of the pilot when the data item is transmitted to the computer. In some circumstance, this complication may give rise to errors in the value of the numerical data transmitted to the flight management computer and may entail extremely serious consequences for the life of the occupants of the aircraft.

Method for homogenizing measurement units used for displaying communication messages


A holding device for a sensor signal comprises a signal input receiving a sensor signal, a signal output and a storage device coupled to the signal input and output. The storage device is designed to store a signal value in a first state and to update it based on the sensor signal in a second state. The storage device stores the signal value for a time period which is greater than a first predetermined time duration, independently of a supply voltage of the storage device. The holding device outputs the signal value present in the storage device. The holding device furthermore comprises a monitoring device, which is effectively coupled to the storage device and determines whether the sensor signal present at the signal input is valid. The monitoring device ensures that the storage device is in the second state only when the monitoring device identifies that the sensor signal is valid.

The present invention is concerned with the reliable detection of measurement quantities from a given process and the forwarding thereof to a superordinate system for an arbitrary application. FIG. 10 shows a schematic diagram of a data acquisition system in accordance with the prior art, which may also be referred to as a sensor. The data acquisition system is designated in its entirety by 1000. In this case, the data acquisition system 1000 comprises a process 1010 to be monitored. A sensor element 1020 detects a measurement quantity 1024 of the process 1010 to be monitored. The sensor element 1020 furthermore forwards one or more electrical quantities 1028 to a data conditioning 1030. The data conditioning 1030 generates measurement data 1034 based on the at least one electrical quantity 1028 and forwards said measurement data to an interface 1040. The interface 1040 conditions the measurement data 1034 for further processing by a superordinate arrangement (not shown here). The forwarding of the data from the interface 1040 to the superordinate arrangement is indicated by an arrow 1050.
It should be pointed out in this case that different types of sensors are used in practice. Thus, there are sensors with an external sensor element, in the case of which the sensor element 1020 is separate from the data conditioning 1030 and the interface 1040. By way of example, the sensor element 1020 may be arranged spatially separate from the data conditioning 1030 and the interface 1040. On the other hand, sensors with an integrated sensor element are also customary, sensor element, data conditioning and interface being regarded as one unit (as the sensor). By way of example, it is possible for the sensor element 1020, the data conditioning 1030 and the interface 1040 to be monolithically integrated.
In the system under consideration (the data acquisition system 1000), the sensor element 1020 can detect an arbitrary measurement quantity 1024 from the given process 1010—directly or indirectly, actively or passively. It is pointed out, moreover, that the sensor element 1020 can of course also detect a plurality of arbitrary measurement quantities 1024. In general, the resulting quantities are available as electrical signals or electrical quantities 1028 for further processing in the data conditioning 1030.
In integrated sensor systems, but perfectly well in discretely constructed systems, too, the three function blocks sensor element 1020, data conditioning 1030 and interface 1040 may be regarded as a common unit—the "sensor".
However, systems also exist which have jointly operated data conditioning 1030 and interface 1040, which acquire electrical quantities 1028 from an external sensor element 1020 and thus form a sensor-data conditioning system.
Irrespective of whether the sensor element is fixedly connected to the data conditioning 1030 and the interface 1040, the expression "sensor" is used in this case for all the possibilities described in the rest of the description. In other words, the expression "sensor" designates for example the combination of a sensor element 1020 with a data conditioning 1030 and an interface 1040. Equally, the expression "sensor" designates the combination of a data conditioning 1030 for a sensor element in conjunction with a suitable interface 1040 even when the sensor element 1020 is indeed not coupled to the data conditioning 1030, or obtains the electrical quantities or measurement data in turn from an upstream data processing unit.
It may thus be emphasized that hereinafter systems which have jointly operated data conditioning and interface which acquire electrical quantities from an external sensor element (for instance in the form of a sensor-data conditioning system) are also designated as sensor. In other words, generally referring to the possibility described here, the expression "sensor" is quite generally used hereinafter.
The behaviour of a sensor taking account of interference influences is of crucial importance in application technology. Ideally, even given the presence of an external disturbance which may be caused for example by an electromagnetic coupling, a problem of electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) or by a supply voltage dip, a sensor should forward correct measurement data to the superordinate system without any impairment.
It is advantageous if a sensor can at least identify a disturbance. Thus, sensors are often equipped with monitoring circuits in order to indicate a possible error behaviour to a superordinate system to which the respective sensor is coupled. By way of example, a sensor may concomitantly measure its own supply voltage and forward a signal in the event of limit values being exceeded or undershot. This functionality is often referred to as "overvoltage/undervoltage detect".
The problem in conventional sensor systems is that a disturbance can influence the evaluation circuit (data conditioning 1030) and the interface circuit (interface 1040) insofar as a reinitialization or a time-intensive normalization of the sensor data are required. During the reinitialization or the time-intensive normalization, the sensor data or output data supplied to the superordinate system are no longer valid and therefore also unusable for a specific time. By way of example, the output data, on account of an internal low-pass filter behaviour after a disturbance or a reinitialization or normalization of the sensor data, must first return to an initial situation again. In other words, the sensor must first settle again after a disturbance.
FIG. 11 shows a schematic illustration of a simple sensor system having three terminals. The sensor system shown in FIG. 11 is designated in its entirety by 1100. The heart of the sensor system 1100 is a sensor 1110. The sensor 1110 is designed to detect a measurement quantity 1120. Furthermore, the sensor 1110 is coupled to a reference potential GND and a supply potential 1130 for voltage supply purposes. Output data 1144 are present at an output 1140 of the sensor 1110. The output data 1144 are based on the measurement quantity 1120 and are furthermore dependent on the voltage supply of the sensor 1110, that is to say a voltage between the supply potential 1130 and the reference potential GND.
FIG. 12 shows a graphical illustration of the output data of exemplary sensor systems in accordance with the prior art as a response to a disturbance of the voltage supply. The graphical illustration of FIG. 12 is designated in its entirety by 1200. A first temporal illustration 1210 describes the supply voltage that supplies the sensor 1110, as a function of time. Consequently, the time is plotted on an abscissa 1212. An ordinate 1214 shows the supply voltage of the sensor 1110, that is to say the difference between the supply potential 1130 and the reference potential GND. A first curve 1216 describes a temporal profile of the supply voltage. The first temporal illustration 1212 furthermore shows a dip 1218 in the supply voltage, which represents a disturbance of the voltage supply.
A second temporal illustration 1230 describes the output data 1144 of an exemplary sensor 1110 as a function of time. The second temporal illustration 1230 consequently shows a first possible reaction of an exemplary sensor 1110. An abscissa 1232 of the second temporal illustration 1230 once again describes the time. An ordinate 1234 furthermore describes the output data 1144 of an exemplary sensor 1110. A second curve 1236 describes a temporal profile of the output data 1144 at the output 1140 of the exemplary sensor 1110. Reference is made here to the fact that the output data 1144 may be present as an analogue signal or as a digital signal. The second temporal illustration 1230 shows the magnitude of such an output signal. It can be discerned from the second temporal illustration 1230 that the output data shown by the second curve 1236 have a dip 1238 that is effected approximately at the same time as the dip 1218 in the supply voltage as shown in the first temporal illustration. Furthermore, the second temporal illustration 1230 shows a start-up 1240 of the output data 1144 of the exemplary sensor 1110. In other words, after the dip 1238 in the output data 1144, the output data assume a high value again, which is approximately equal to the value of the output data prior to the dip 1238, only for a short time before thereupon returning to zero. During the start-up 1240, the output data 1144 then slowly move back to an original value that was present prior to the dip 1238.
A third temporal illustration 1250 shows a further exemplary profile of the output data 1144 of an exemplary sensor 1110. In other words, the third temporal illustration 1250 describes a second possible reaction of an exemplary sensor 1110 to a dip 1218 in the voltage supply. An abscissa 1252 of the third temporal illustration 1250 again describes the time. By contrast, an ordinate 1254 of the third temporal illustration 1250 shows the output data 1144 of the exemplary sensor 1110. A third curve 1256 describes the temporal profile of the output data.
The third curve 1256 shows a dip 1258 in the output data which takes place approximately at the same time as the dip 1218 in the supply voltage. Shortly after the dip 1258 in the output data 1144, the output data again assume the value prior to the dip 1258. However, an attenuated-oscillating start-up 1260 follows, during which the output data 1144 oscillate about the final value. A constant final value is then assumed again after a specific time duration.
In other words, the graphical illustration 1200 shows two possible behaviours of sensors with an output voltage that is ratiometric with respect to the supply on account of a supply voltage dip 1218.
In both cases shown in the second temporal illustration 1230 and the third temporal illustration 1250, the output data (or the output) firstly follow the dip 1218 in the supply voltage. This is to be expected since a ratiometric sensor is assumed here, in the case of which the output voltage for a fixed value of the measurement quantity 1120 is proportional to the supply voltage. In both cases shown, internal function blocks of the sensor have to be reinitialized as a safety feature since the dip 1218 in the supply voltage is so great that this could lead to functional inconsistencies. Especially if a sensor or sensor system may only be equipped with few control lines, it may be problematic to forward this state (that is to say the reinitialization of the function blocks) towards the outside.
In the case of the first reaction shown in the second temporal illustration 1230, a restart (or a reinitialization of the function blocks of the sensor) is followed by a visible start-up 1240 of the output voltage that is illustrated by the second curve 1236. It should be noted here that the output voltage essentially corresponds to the output data. As shown in the third temporal illustration 1250, an attenuated-oscillating start-up 1260 may also follow in the case of a second possible reaction of the output data (output voltage) as a reaction to a disturbance (dip) of the voltage supply in the case of a restart (reinitialization of the function blocks of the sensor). The type of behaviour after the restart or the reinitialization of the function blocks of the sensor generally depends on the underlying function and conception of the sensor system. Consequently, the behaviours described are also to be regarded only by way of example; arbitrary other signal shapes between the disturbance and the recovered state are also conceivable on account of the diverse possibilities of the detailed construction of a sensor system.
Furthermore, it should be noted that the frequency of digital signal evaluation is increasing precisely in modern sensor systems. This is because a digital signal evaluation affords at least two important advantages. Thus, a digital signal evaluation enables a deterministic processing of implemented algorithms and methods. Furthermore, a digital signal evaluation opens up an efficient and simple possibility for testing the corresponding function blocks at the end of a production line.
However, digital circuits are difficult to assess in terms of their interference behaviour with regard to diverse disturbances. Equally, measures for eliminating the problems described can be assessed only with difficulty in the case of digital circuits.
Known measures for improving the behaviour of sensors given the presence of external disturbances are described briefly below. The most important and best means for minimizing the problem of interference influencing has hitherto been to make a sensor system itself robust by providing a stable voltage supply and through suitable measures for interference filtering in order to keep the thresholds for the identification and triggering of a reaction to a disturbance, that is to say e.g. a start-up or reinitialization of function blocks of the sensor, as low as possible.
Furthermore, it is possible to make the start-up as short as possible by means of suitable techniques. In analogue circuit technology, attempts may also be made to buffer voltages (and if appropriate currents) to an extent such that a completely new start-up is prevented.
However, it should be pointed out that especially when using digital evaluation methods, digital filters and similar digital circuits, a sufficiently disturbance-immune design has not been possible hitherto, which makes a complete start-up essential in the case of disturbance. This is because a voltage dip during a clock edge of a digital system may lead to unforeseeable reaction. By way of example, counters may miscount. Moreover, data may be stored incompletely in the event of a disturbance of a digital circuit.
The abovementioned measures for improving the interference immunity of sensors therefore do not permit a complete suppression of disturbances to be realized. Rather, in conventional sensors there are a multiplicity of cases of interference which do not satisfy the desire for total suppression of interference events.

Holding device for a sensor signal, method for forwarding a sensor signal and computer program


A method, apparatus, and computer program product are disclosed in a data processing system for synchronizing the triggering of multiple hardware trace facilities using an existing bus. The multiple hardware trace facilities include a first hardware trace facility and a second hardware trace facility. The data processing system includes a first processor that includes the first hardware trace facility and first processing units that are coupled together utilizing the system bus, and a second processor that includes the second hardware trace facility and second processing units that are coupled together utilizing the system bus. Information is transmitted among the first and second processing units utilizing the system bus when the processors are in a normal, non-tracing mode, where the information is formatted according to a standard system bus protocol. Trigger events are transmitted to the hardware trace facilities utilizing the same standard system bus, where the trigger events are also formatted according to the standard system bus protocol.

1. Technical Field
The present invention is directed to data processing systems. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a method, apparatus, and computer program product for synchronizing the triggering of multiple hardware trace facilities using an existing system bus.
2. Description of Related Art
Making tradeoffs in the design of commercial server systems has never been simple. For large commercial systems, it may take years to grow the initial system architecture draft into the system that is ultimately shipped to the customer. During the design process, hardware technology improves, software technology evolves, and customer workloads mutate. Decisions need to be constantly evaluated and reevaluated. Solid decisions need solid base data. Servers in general and commercial servers in particular place a large demand on system and operator resources, so the opportunities to collect characterization data from them are limited.
Much of performance analysis is based on hardware-collected traces. Typically, traces provide data used to simulate system performance, to make hardware design tradeoffs, to tune software, and to characterize workloads. Hardware traces are almost operating system, application, and workload independent. This attribute makes these traces especialy well suited for characterizing the On-Demand and Virtual-Server-Hosting environments now supported on the new servers.
A symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) data processing server has multiple processors with multiple cores that are symmetric such that each processor has the same processing speed and latency. An SMP system could have multiple operating systems running on different processors, which are a logically partitioned system, or multiple operating systems running on the same processors one at a time, which is a virtual server hosting environment. Operating systems divide the work into tasks that are distributed evenly among the various cores by dispatching one or more software threads of work to each processor at a time.
A single-thread (ST) data processing system includes multiple cores that can execute only one thread at a time.
A simultaneous multi-threading (SMT) data processing system includes multiple cores that can each concurrently execute more than one thread at a time per processor. An SMT system has the ability to favor one thread over another when both threads are running on the same processor.
As computer systems migrate towards the use of sophisticated multi-stage pipelines and large SMP with SMT based systems, the ability to debug, analyze, and verify the actual hardware becomes increasingly more difficult, during development, test, and during normal operations. A hardware trace facility may be used which captures various hardware signatures within a processor as trace data for analysis. This trace data may be collected from events occurring on processor cores, busses (also called the fabric), caches, or other processing units included within the processor. The purpose of the hardware trace facility is to collect hardware traces from a trace source within the processor and then store the traces in a predefined memory location.
As used herein, the term "processor" means a central processing unit (CPU) on a single chip, e.g. a chip formed using a single piece of silicon. A processor includes one or more processor cores and other processing units such as a memory controller, cache controller, and the system memory that is coupled to the memory controller.
This captured trace data may be recorded in the hardware trace facility and/or within another memory. The term "in-memory tracing" means storing the trace data in part of the system memory that is included in the processor that is being traced.
There is need to have a global triggering mechanism that can be used to synchronize simultaneous collection of different traces. Simultaneous collection of different traces is sometimes important in tuning software, and/or characterizing workloads. For example, the developers are faced with the vexing problem of determining the origin of some rather long lock acquisition sequences in a multiprocessor system.
Moreover there is a need to have more than one trace facility simultaneously collecting different parts from the bus trace to reduce the chance of losing trace record because one trace facility alone can not handle the bus trace bandwidth. Therefore, a global triggering mechanism is needed that can control all trace facilities with the same triggers.
In the prior art, the multiple hardware trace facilities did not receive triggers utilizing an existing, standard bus and its standard bus protocols. A special purpose trigger bus existed that coupled existing hardware trace facilities together. This special purpose bus was dedicated to sending only triggers to the hardware trace facilities using a special trace bus protocol. Triggers were transmitted to the hardware trace facilities using only the special purpose dedicated bus.
In the prior art, only one hardware trace facility could be assigned to be the master. Thus, only the one hardware trace facility could send out triggers. All other hardware trace facilities had to be configured to receive triggers from this master.
Therefore, a need exists for a method, apparatus, and computer program product for synchronizing the triggering of multiple hardware trace facilities using an existing system bus.

Synchronizing triggering of multiple hardware trace facilities using an existing system bus

International Business Machines Corporation


A body structure for railroad cars and enclosed-type overhead bridges, which have a small number of components that are easy to manufacture and assemble, and which can secure a necessary strength with a reduced weight, is divided into an appropriate number of sections, i.e., a wainscot framework, a door pocket framework, a window framework, and a door lintel framework. These sections or frameworks are formed of a corrugated plate material. Post members are erected in each section in a direction perpendicular to the ribs. Each post member is formed with recesses to avoid interference with the ribs. The sections thus formed are joined together and outside plates are attached to the surface of the assembled sections to complete a body structure. The body structure thus formed has uniform strength over the entire area and therefore can prevent local out-of-plane deformations.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a construction of a body structure used in railroad cars or enclosed-type overhead bridges and more particularly to a construction of a body structure that is formed by using frameworks made by press working.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Enclosed body structures include railroad cars shown in FIGS. 6a-6b and 7a-7c as well as overhead bridges and boarding bridges. This specification takes a side structure that makes up the railroad car as an example in the following description.
As shown in these drawings, conventional body structures comprise: a rocker base 1 laid horizontally, which is used as a reference; various kinds of posts such as side door posts 2, slide door end posts 3 and wainscot panel side posts 4, all erected vertically on the rocker
base 1; members such as a belt rail 5, a door pocket belt rail 6, a window header 7 and a door lintel 8, all mounted horizontally to these posts; and a slide door pocket post 9 and a frieze board side post 10, erected vertically with the horizontal members taken as references. These constitutional members are all welded together to form a framework of the body structure. Most of the planes of the framework of the body structure thus formed are lined with a wainscot panel 13, a door pocket plate 14 and a frieze board 15, all welded with reinforcement members 11, 12, to form a body structure having a window 16 and a side entrance 17.
Other conventional examples include a railway car body structure disclosed in Japanese Patent Preliminary Publication No. Showa 61-220962. This structure is comprised of a flat side outside plate and a corrugated compensation plate bound together. The compensation plate is formed with lateral projecting beads, which are triangular in cross section, and with vertical projected strips, which are U-shaped in cross section. Or rectangular corrugations are formed in the compensation plate, and core members are filled between the compensation plate and the side outside plate.
Another conventional example is the Japanese Patent Preliminary Publication No. Showa 61-220963. In this structure, a bead is formed in the direction of shearing force in a drift portion enclosed by the side post and the crosspiece.
These conventional body structures, however, have many drawbacks. The side structure is made of many kinds of and therefore a large number of members, which in turn increases the number of processes in working the members. In addition, the machining itself is complex. At the assembly phase, positioning of components is complex and requires many jigs. Since there are many welding portions, there are greater chances of strain, degrading the dimensional precision.
Furthermore, since the body structures of the Japanese Patent Preliminary Publication No. Showa 61-220962 and 61-220963 employ beads in forming corrugations, the corrugations formed are relatively small and thus their reinforcement effects are necessarily small.


An image projection table including: a projector which projects an image; a housing in which the projector is housed; and a top plate on which the image projected from the projector is projected, wherein the top plate includes an operational part for operating the projector, and a top plate driving part which moves the top plate so that the operational part is located on the operator side.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an image projection table which projects an image on a table.
2. Related Art
As the image projection table, as disclosed in JP-A-2000-284851, a table type information terminal device has been known. The table type information terminal device comprises a projection type display unit housed in a housing, a transparent glass plate which constitutes a table arranged at the upper portion of the housing, and a coordinate position input unit which inputs a coordinate position of an image by the projection type display unit. Herein, a projection screen surface is formed on the transparent glass plate surface corresponding to the coordinate position input unit thereby to make possible the input of high accuracy without receiving an influence of visual difference. A coordinate position detecting device, which detects the input in the case that the coordinate position is input in the coordinate position input unit, is composed of an electrostatic capacity type or an electromagnetic induction type unit. The coordinate position input work is performed by touching an image surface displayed by the projection type display unit on a screen surface formed on the transparent glass plate surface with a user's finger or an electromagnetic pen having a lead wire.
The input method by touching the displayed image surface with the finger or the electromagnetic pen having the lead wire is suited to interactive input. However, in the case that the input operation is performed by projecting a display screen of a personal computer, there is a problem that this input method is unsuited on operativeness such as speed of an input operation and a recognition rate. Further, there is a problem that contents which a user that is an operator desires cannot be freely input.


A locking-stressing-mechanism with spring-actuated output drive and a counter with which an apparatus of this kind is fitted, accommodated in a two part housing the two parts of which are mounted to be rotatable relative to each other, can be blocked by means of a pre-stressed leaf spring. The leaf spring is initially accommodated in a recess in the wall of one housing part. As soon as the permitted number of actuations has been reached a push rod pushes the leaf spring out of its resting position. The leaf spring then jumps into a recess in the wall of the other housing part and the two housing parts can no longer be rotated relative to each other. The push rod may be mounted on the pointer of the counter. This blocking device can only be overcome by the application of a force which is sufficient to destroy the device. The device is suitable for blocking a high pressure atomiser or a needleless injector with which a fluid is atomised to form an aerosol or a fluid is injected into a biological tissue.

The aim of the invention is to reliably limit the period of use of such a device and meet safety requirements. The reasons for the limitation may be based on hygiene, medical or technical considerations.
The locking-stressing-mechanism, which is to be blocked after the permitted period of use has elapsed preferably comprises a helical thrust gear accommodated in a manually operated device, by means of which a rotary movement is converted into a linear movement and an operating spring is put under tension. The operating spring acts on a spring component of the locking-stressing-mechanism the movement of which is initially blocked as soon as the operating spring has reached the tensioned state. Secured in the spring component there may be a piston movably mounted in a cylinder. Inside the cylinder, in front of the piston, is a liquid which is expelled out through a nozzle as the locking mechanism of the locking-stressing mechanism is actuated by the piston driven by the operating spring. The number of actuations of the locking-stressing-mechanism and hence of the device can be counted by a mechanical counter.
WO-93/21980 describes a metered-dose inhaler. The dose of a substance to be inhaled is introduced, by means of a hand-operated device, from a supply of the substance contained in the inhaler, into a chamber from which the dose is expelled with the current of air which the user sucks in through the inhaler as they breathe in. The metered-dose inhaler is fitted with a counter which comprises a rotatable screw spindle and a rod, one end of which engages in the form of a nose in the thread of the screw spindle. The rod moves parallel to the screw spindle as the rotation of the spindle increases. The counter indicates, by means of the position of the nose-like end of the rod, the number of doses which have already been taken out of the supply of substance, or those which can still be taken out. The other end of the rod is movably held in a guide shaft into which the rod extends more deeply as the rotation of the screw spindle increases. As soon as the supply of substance in the inhaler is coming to an end, the nose-like end of the rod engaging in the screw spindle reaches that part of the spindle which has a number of courses of thread having a greater pitch than the rest of the screw spindle. As a result, on each rotation of the screw spindle, the rod moves along faster than before. The other end of the rod meanwhile bears on a flexible lever, and further actuation of the metered-dose inhaler is prevented.
WO-97/20590 describes a locking stressing mechanism for a spring-actuated output drive. WO-97/24586 describes a mechanical counter for a metering device. WO-97/12687 describes a device for generating high pressure in a fluid in a miniature arrangement provided with a locking stressing mechanism and a counter. The apparatus is used to atomise a fluid to produce an inhalable aerosol. WO-01/64268 describes a needleless injector which contains a locking stressing mechanism.
The pieces of equipment mentioned above by way of example are intended for repeated use, e.g. for repeated atomisation of a given amount of liquid to produce an aerosol for inhalation into the lungs, or for needleless injection of a given quantity of liquid underneath the skin of humans or animals. The quantity of liquid atomised or injected may contain a therapeutically active substance.
An object of the present invention is to provide a device for an apparatus which will reliably, effectively and finally prevent further use of the apparatus after a given number of actuations if there is a compelling reason for this. The apparatus comprises a locking-stressing-mechanism with an operating spring and a spring transfer member in which is accommodated a piston which is mounted to be movable in a cylinder. The components are housed in a two-part housing which comprises an upper housing part and a lower housing part. The two housing parts are mounted to be rotatable relative to each other. The operating spring is tensioned by means of a screw thrust gear by manually rotating the two housing parts relative to each other. At the same time as the housing parts are rotated relative to each other, a mechanical counter is actuated which comprises a threaded spindle and a slider. The threaded spindle is mounted in the wall of the lower housing part. The slider is moved up or down the spindle by an amount which depends on the number of rotations of the two housing parts relative to each other.
This problem is solved according to the invention by a device having the following characterising features:                A recess is provided in the outer wall of the lower housing part and in the inner wall of the upper housing part. The two recesses are opposite each other when the two housing parts are in a given rotary position.        In the recess in the lower housing part there is a movable blocking element which is located only in this recess before the blocking device is activated and allows the two housing parts to rotate relative to each other. After the activation of the blocking device the blocking element is located in both recesses and prevents the two housing parts from rotating relative to each other.        By means of a push-rod which co-operates with the slider on the spindle of the counter, the blocking element is moved out of its resting position into the position which it occupies after activation of the blocking device.
On the one hand, the push-rod may be mounted on the slider to the side of the spindle of the counter. In this embodiment of the blocking device, during normal use of the device, the slider moves towards the upper spindle mounting and towards the upper housing part. The recess in the wall of the lower housing part is mounted next to the axis of the counter spindle. Before the slider makes contact with the upper spindle mounting, the push-rod moves the blocking element located in the recess in the wall of the lower housing part out of its resting position and thereby activates the blocking device.
The push-rod can also be constructed as an extension of the blocking element. In this embodiment, the end of the push-rod projects into the path travelled by the slider during normal use of the device before the slider comes to abut on the upper mounting of the counter spindle. This embodiment works in exactly the same way as the embodiment described above.
In another embodiment of the blocking device the push rod may be constructed as an extension of the counter spindle and may project beyond the upper spindle mounting. In this case the counter spindle is mounted to be axially moveable. The recess in the wall of the lower housing part is preferably provided on the axis of the counter spindle. Before the blocking device is activated the counter spindle is pressed against the lower spindle mounting by a spring, e.g. a helical spring. In this embodiment of the blocking device the slider moves towards the lower spindle mounting during normal use of the device. As soon as the slider comes to abut on the lower spindle mounting, the counter spindle moves axially towards the upper housing part as it continues to rotate. The extension of the counter spindle in the form of a push rod moves the blocking element located in the recess in the wall of the lower housing part out of its resting position, thereby activating the blocking device.
In a reversal of the embodiments described, the blocking element may be pulled out of its resting position by the slider.
The blocking element located in the wall of the lower housing part may be axially or radially moveable. The blocking element may be a leaf spring, preferably a pre-stressed leaf spring with two legs preferably made of metal.
The blocking device according to the invention has the following advantages:                It is suitable for miniaturised equipment.        It is arranged between the housing parts which overlap one another and in its position of use in a device it is inaccessible to the user.        It is easy to assemble.        A blocking element in the form of a pre-stressed leaf spring with two legs is secured against movement in its resting position without any additional effort.        A pre-stressed leaf spring can be pushed into or pulled out of its resting position with relatively little force.        A pre-stressed leaf spring with two legs jumps abruptly from its resting position into the position it occupies when the blocking device is activated, as soon as it has been moved a certain distance by means of a push rod. Thus the response point of the blocking device is precisely fixed.        The rotation of the two housing parts relative to one another is blocked directly as soon as the blocking element, which was originally located in the recess in the wall of the lower housing part, is situated in both recesses at the same time.        The activated blocking device which contains a pre-stressed metal leaf spring can only be overcome by a force moment amounting to several Newton metres, which will destroy the blocked device.
The blocking device according to the invention is used for example in a high pressure atomiser or in a needleless injector. A medical liquid administered using such a device may contain a drug dissolved in a solvent. Suitable solvents include, for example, water, ethanol or mixture thereof. The drugs in question may be, for example, Berotec (fenoterol hydrobromide; 1-(3,5-dihydroxy-phenyl)-2-[[1-(4-hydroxy-benzyl)-ethyl]-amino]-ethanol-hydrobromide), Atrovent (ipratropium bromide), Berodual (combination of fenoterol hydrobromide and ipratropium bromide), salbutamol (or albuterol), Combivent, Oxivent (oxitropium bromide), Ba 679 (tiotropium bromide), BEA 2108 (tropenol di-(2-thienyl glycolate), flunisolide, budesonide and others.

Blocking device for a locking stressing mechanism having a spring-actuated output drive device


A high speed transmission connector includes a base board side connector and a cable side connector to be connected with each other and a metal shell which covers a housing and contacts arranged in the housing. By inserting the metal shell of the cable side connector into the metal shell of the base board side connector, the contacts and the metal shells are respectively connected electrically. The metal shell of the base board connector includes a recess portion for adjusting a space between the metal shell and the contact in the base board side connector. With this invention, the characteristic impedance can be adjusted with an easy method and can sufficiently cope with the miniaturization of the connector and with a higher density.

For a high speed transmission connector, particularly for a connector or a cable located on a transmission path of a differential signal, a characteristic impedance matching is required, in addition to the requirement for a simple and easy inter-connection of the existing apparatus.
For example, in a connector for communication in an audio/visual apparatus, reduction of the number of connectors to be connected and miniaturization of the connector per se have been continuously required, and in addition, the following problem has arisen as a new requirement for the connector in line with the new high speed digital transmission. That is, when there is an impedance mismatch in the connector portion, a signal of an image or sound is deformed or reflection occurs, and, as a result, the image or sound cannot be properly reproduced. Therefore, in such a connector to be inserted into a high frequency signal transmission path, the matching performance of the impedance is also one of the important requirements.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 7-106027 discloses a technology considering characteristic impedance of a connector. In this technology, a high frequency signal transmission path is realized by a contact having a non-coaxial structure and constructing a control signal transfer path by also the same contact parts whereby the low cost and the miniaturization may be attained.
In a recent signal transmission connector, the outside of a housing where contacts are arranged is covered with the metal shell. This is because, by covering the housing with the metal shell, the noise or loss due to the generation of an electromagnetic wave radiation may be effectively prevented.
In the case where this kind of connectors is a pair of connectors (composed of a male connector and a female connector) to be coupled with each other, metal shells are provided, as an electromagnetic shield, for the respective connectors. At the time of coupling, generally, the metal shell on one connector is inserted into the metal shell on the other connector so that the metal shells are electrically connected to each other, thereby to place it in a mode where these potentials are maintained at an equal level and the grounding is to be made.
The metal shells of the two connectors are formed into a sleeve-shape having an engaging portion for coupling with each other. Therefore, since the metal shell of one connector is inserted into the metal shell of the other connector, the metal shell and the connector placed therein are inevitably most closed to each other. As a result, there arises a problem of mismatch in impedance at the engaging portion.
In this respect, some conventional connectors adopted a method of adjusting the characteristic impedance on the basis of a pitch of the contacts, the width dimension of the contacts, or on the basis of an induction rate of an insulator (housing) for holding the contacts.
However, with these methods, there are various drawbacks in designing and manufacturing the connectors, in that, for adjusting the characteristic impedance, the connector itself or its pitch is widened, thereby sacrificing the miniaturization and high density aspects of the connector. In addition, for the contacts to be made of a plate material, it must be selected from materials having a thickness which is not generally available on the market.


A method for bending a sheet metal comprises: a hardness adjustment process wherein a blank (10), including a high-hardness region (11) and a low-hardness region (12) having a lower hardness than the high hardness region (11), is formed by changing the hardness of at least a part of a sheet metal; and a bending process wherein a product (20) is formed by bending low-hardness region (12) of blank (10).

In the prior art, by bending sheet metal, constituted from iron, aluminum or alloy thereof, in a predetermined shape, various products have been manufactured for use in a vehicle such as a motorcar, components, building materials, or furniture. As the bending method, for example, a roll forming method for continuously deforming an object, or press working by means of a press brake, may be possible.
As a method for bending a sheet metal, PLT 1 discloses a continuous manufacturing method, wherein a bent portion of a sheet material is locally heated and softened while the sheet material is moved, and then the sheet material is transmitted through rolls or a forming device.

Method for bending sheet metal and product of sheet metal

Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation


An image forming apparatus is provided with a storage device having storage areas divided corresponding to a characteristic value allocated for each print requesting person. Upon receiving print data and a characteristic value from an external device, the image forming apparatus stores the print data into a storage area which has been allocated the same characteristic value as the received characteristic value. The image forming apparatus subjects print data stored in the storage areas in the storage device to image formation processing on a storage area basis.

The present invention relates to an image forming system having an image forming apparatus, such as a digital multiuse machine, that has various functions, such as scanner, printer, copy, fax, and network communications functions, etc.
Conventionally, image forming apparatuses, such as digital multiuse machines, have a function of printing print data from external devices connected by a network. Some of such digital multiuse machines have private printing and scheduled printing functions. With private printing, print data transmitted from the PC side is preserved in a storage device in the digital multiuse machine. After that, the print data stored in the storage device is printed in response to a user's print command on the digital multiuse machine. In scheduled printing, the printing start time specified from the PC side is stored in the storage device in the digital multiuse machine together with print data. The digital multiuse machine then prints the print data on the basis of the printing start time stored in the storage device.
However, in order to cause the digital multiuse machine to carry out print processing, private printing requires each of the print requesting users to operate the operating panel of the digital multiuse machine directly. In scheduled printing, in order to cause printing to be done at the specified time, it is required to set the printing start time each time a print request is made. When two or more users specify the same time, the digital multiuse machine carries out print processing in the order in which print data was accepted. For this reason, printouts for two or more users can be mixed up.

Image forming apparatus with controller for storing print data according to characteristic value


A communication system (100) provides inbound communications from messaging units (120) to a controller (105) and outbound communications from the controller (105) to the messaging units (120). The inbound communications include scheduled packets and unscheduled packets that are transmitted over a reverse channel signal 250 divided into time slots. The controller (105) receives the scheduled and unscheduled packets and provides boundary information to the messaging units (120) to allocate the time slots between the scheduled packets and the unscheduled packets. The boundary information is computed based on previous boundary information for a time period and an average throughput of the unscheduled packets for the time period.

A conventional two-way radio communication system, such as a paging system, typically has an infrastructure including a plurality of outbound transmitters coupled to a radio frequency controller for encoding, batching, and scheduling the transmission of messages to be sent over the air to portable messaging units (PMUs) via an outbound, or forward, communication channel. The PMUs transmit inbound messages over an inbound, or reverse, communication channel. The inbound messages, often referred to as packets, are received by at least one of a plurality of base receivers that are also part of the infrastructure and that are coupled to the controller.
According to some two-way protocols, such as Motorola's ReFLEX.TM. and InFLEXion.TM. protocols, some inbound communications, e.g., message acknowledgments, can be scheduled by the controller. Other inbound communications, e.g., PMU registration in a new area, are unscheduled. The unscheduled, or slotted, inbound communications are referred to as ALOHAs and generally comprise transmissions initiated by the PMUs. The reverse channel is divided into time slots allocated between scheduled communications and ALOHAs. The boundary between the scheduled communications and the ALOHAs can be difficult to estimate, however, because ALOHA throughput is very sensitive to parameters such as the number of base receivers, the distribution of base receivers, the traffic load, and the distribution of PMUs.
Thus, what is needed is a method and apparatus for better managing traffic on an inbound communication channel in a two-way radio communication system.

Method and apparatus for traffic management of inbound communications in a radio communication system


A surge arrester includes an active part, two electrodes resting against the active part and a connecting element. The active part and the electrodes are arranged in the connecting element. The connecting element is produced in an injection molding method or die-casting method, in which the connecting element shrinks during its production. As a result, the electrodes are firmly pressed against the active part.

Surge arresters are known in the most varied embodiments. For example, EP-A-0 642 141 discloses a surge arrester. This known surge arrester has an active part for diverting overvoltage which, in particular, consists of varistor blocks. The active part or the varistor blocks, respectively, are inserted into a prefabricated frame of fiber-glass reinforced polyamide. The known frame has on its sides frame openings through which the diverting elements are inserted into the frame. After the insertion of the electrodes and of the varistor blocks into the frame, the varistor blocks and the electrodes are clamped firmly inside the frame by means of an electrically highly conductive clamping device by which means, on the one hand, the varistor blocks or the active part, respectively, is held firmly in the frame and, on the other hand, a contact pressure for contacting the varistor blocks with one another and/or for contacting the varistor block by means of one of the electrodes is built up. In EP-A-0 642 141, the clamping device, which can have a threaded pin guided in a screw, at the same time forms in each case a connecting electrode or a connecting fixture, respectively, or parts thereof for the surge arrester. In other words, the electrode is displaceable with respect to the frame for the purpose of contacting the varistor block, in such a manner that, by rotating the threaded pin, the electrode initially spaced apart from the varistor block is brought to rest against the varistor block and can be loaded with pressure. The frame with the varistor blocks inserted therein is completely sheathed by a jacket with shields. The jacket with the shields is also called a weather protection housing.
However, in this known surge arrester, a gap is formed between the frame and the varistor block. In the ideal case, this gap is filled by a silicone compound of the weather protection housing. Due to the thermal loading during the operation of the surge arrester and the permeability of silicone for water vapor, water can accumulate especially in this gap. Such accumulations of water can contribute to the failure of the surge arrester.
A further surge arrester is known from EP-A-0 614 198. In this surge arrester, the diverting elements are arranged between connecting fixtures which, in turn, are connected by means of loops. A contact electrode for contacting the varistor block and the varistor blocks are clamped to one another by means of a rotatable pressure screw held in one of the connecting fixtures. By this means, the contact pressure between the varistor blocks to one another and between the contact electrodes and the varistor blocks resting against them is also built up. Each of the loops is produced of wound, fiber-glass reinforced tapes which are embedded in a plastic matrix. The diverting elements and the loops are enclosed completely, and the connecting fixtures are enclosed at least partially, by a cast housing of insulating material provided with shields, which forms a weather protection housing.
A further surge arrester is known from EP-A-0 847 062. In this surge arrester, the clamping device is constructed by a tube of insulating material into which one of the fixtures is screwed at the end. Between the fixtures, a diverting element is again arranged. By screwing the fixture into the tube of insulating material, the fixtures, the tube of insulating material and the diverting element are firmly clamped to one another. Furthermore, this printed document shows that the tube of insulating material may be manufactured of a thermoplastic polymer and a filling material embedded therein such as, for example, glass fibers.
In a further embodiment disclosed in EP-A-0 847 062, of the surge arrester, the tube of insulating material is closed at its ends with lids of insulating material after the assembly of the diverting element and of the fixtures in the tube of insulating material. The same insulating material may be used for the lids and the closing may be performed by means of ultrasonics.
From EP-A-0 372 106, a surge arrester is known in which the diverting elements, heat absorption elements and connecting fixtures are inserted into a prefabricated tube of polyethylene. After the insertion of the diverting elements, heat absorption elements and connecting fixtures, the tube is shrunk by heating in such a manner that the diverting elements, heat absorption elements and connecting fixtures are firmly pressed against one another.
From EP-A-0 393 854, a surge arrester is known which has gas outlet openings in order to prevent any bursting apart in the case of a fault.
Further surge arresters are known from WO 97/32382. A first surge arrester known from WO 97/32382 has reinforcing strips which are embedded in a plastic matrix for reinforcement in the axial direction of the surge arrester.
Another surge arrester also disclosed in WO 97/32382 has a connecting element made of an insulating material which holds together electrodes and varistor blocks. The connecting element has a basic layer of a resin material. Furthermore, the connecting element has one or more outer layers which are also of resin material. Relatively short fiber bundles are mixed into the resin material of the outer layers.
Surge arresters which may be used in medium- and high-voltage grids are intended to meet the specifications of, among other things, the IEC 60099 standard. However, known surge arresters are susceptible to gas formation inside the active part under overload of the diverting element, that is to say if the active part with the varistor has absorbed too much energy due to too high a temporary overvoltage or too high a line discharge. If the gas cannot escape from the surge arrester, this leads to an explosion of the surge arrester. This represents a danger for the plant itself in which the surge arrester is arranged and for persons who are occupied in the immediate vicinity of the surge arrester.


The present invention relates to the technical field of protein engineering, and, in particular, to a xylanase mutant with improved heat tolerance. The present invention artificially introduces two or three unnatural disulfide bridges into xylanase by site-directed mutagenesis and obtains the mutants XynA1 and XynA2 with improved heat tolerance, especially the mutant XynA2 into which three disulfide bridges are introduced, achieving residual enzyme activity of 75% after treatment at 80° C. for 5 min, 72% higher than the residual enzyme activity of the mutant XynA1. The present invention further obtains, by screening, three mutation sites Q51N, H143K, and Q161F that can significantly increase the heat tolerance of mutants, and introduction of the mutation sites into the XynA1 and XynA2 xylanases, whether at a single point or a combination of two points or a combination of three points, can effectively improve the heat tolerance of the mutants.

Xylan is a major component of hemicellulose in plant and is widely found in agricultural residue such as corn cob, bagasse, wheat bran and straw. Xylanase can degrade xylan into xylooligosaccharide and xylose of various lengths, which has important economic value. More and more researches are focused on xylanase, through which these available resources can be fully utilized to maximize its potential application value.
Xylanase is a type of glycosyl hydrolases which is able to hydrolyse β-1, 4-linked xylopyranoside chains. Xylanase has been found in at least one hundred different organisms and can be produced economically on an industrial scale. Xylanase and other glycosyl hydrolases form a superfamily which includes more than 40 different enzyme families. Trichoderma reesei can produce three different xylanases of which xylanases I and II (XynI and XynII) are with the best characteristics. The molecular weight of XynI is 19 kDa, and the isoelectric point and pH optimum of XynI (pI 5.5, pH 3-4) are all lower than XynII, of which the molecular weight is 20 kDa, the isoelectric point is 9.0, and the pH optimum is 5.0-5.5.
Xylanase has been widely used in pulp bleaching, modification of textile fibres, and the production of animal feed and human foods. The main problems restricting the application of xylanase are the extreme conditions. High temperature and the pH in industrial application which is different from the optimal pH of xylanase will decrease the effective utility of xylanase.
In the process of pulp bleaching, the materials after alkaline wash are in high temperature (>80° C.) and pH (>10). Most of the xylanases will be inactivated in these conditions. So the pulp must be cooled and neutralized before adding xylanase which will increase the cost.
In the process of feed production, there is a short period with high temperature (e.g. 2-5 min at 90° C.). However, xylanase has catalytic activity at lower temperature (e.g. 37° C.). Therefore, xylanase will be inactivated irreversibly at high temperature.
Although the stability of xylanase has been improved in a lot of research, it still cannot meet the requirements. Therefore, it is of great importance to provide a thermostable xylanase suitable for industrial applications.


A method of transferring organic material from a donor element onto a substrate of an OLED device, includes providing a linear laser light beam which is moved relative to the donor element and substrate and which has a predetermined number of laser modulatable channels, each of which when activated causes laser light to illuminate the donor element which heats to a sufficient level to vaporize organic material and transfer such material onto a substrate; and selecting the pattern of activated laser modulatable channels such that only a portion of the OLED device receives organic material during a single relative motion pass of the linear laser light beam to the donor element and substrate.

In color or full-color organic electroluminescent (EL) displays (also known as organic light-emitting diode devices, or OLED devices) having an array of colored pixels such as red, green, and blue color pixels (commonly referred to as RGB pixels), precision patterning of the color-producing organic EL media are required to produce the RGB pixels. The basic OLED device has in common an anode, a cathode, and an organic EL medium sandwiched between the anode and the cathode. The organic EL medium can consist of one or more layers of organic thin films, where one of the layers is primarily responsible for light generation or electroluminescence. This particular layer is generally referred to as the emissive layer or light-emitting layer of the organic EL medium. Other organic layers present in the organic EL medium can provide electronic transport functions primarily and are referred to as either the hole-transporting layer (for hole transport) or electron-transporting layer (for electron transport). In forming the RGB pixels in a full-color OLED display panel, it is necessary to devise a method to precisely pattern the emissive layer of the organic EL medium or the entire organic EL medium.
In commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,937,272, Tang has taught a method of patterning multicolor pixels (e.g. red, green, blue subpixels) onto a thin-film-transistor (TFT) array substrate by vapor deposition of an EL material. Such EL material is deposited on a substrate in a selected pattern via the use of a donor coating on a support and an aperture mask.
Using an unpatterned donor sheet and a precision light source, such as a laser, is another method of radiation transfer. Such a method is disclosed by Littman in U.S. Pat. No. 5,688,551, and in a series of patents by Wolk et al. (U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,114,088; 6,140,009; 6,214,520; and 6,221,553). Kay et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 6,582,875, have described the use of a multichannel laser for the light source to accelerate the radiation thermal transfer process.
While this is a useful technique for manufacturing, EL devices that include emissive layers prepared this way often suffer from decreased stability relative to El devices with emissive layers prepared in other ways, e.g. vapor deposition. There is a need to improve the stability of electroluminescent devices prepared using a radiation thermal transfer process.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Depositing an organic layer for use in OLEDs


Identifying shared events across spiking-neural-network data streams with significant stochastic content. The data streams are first subject to cross correlation. If two data streams are completely uncorrelated, the rate of occurrence, of cross-stream spike pairs, is an approximately uniform “r_ind” across all Time Between Events (TBE's). Any shared events create a gradient, where r_ind increases to a rate “r_shr,” for any TBE's≤a Time Of Discernment (TOD). A search for the actual TOD (TOD_a) can be accomplished with a conjectured TOD (TOD_c). TOD_c is tested against an exponential decay with its rate set to a conjectured r_ind (r_ind_c). When r_ind_c=actual r_ind, equal ranges (or regions) of values, of exponential decay, represent equal probabilities. Values of TOD_c and r_ind_c are generated (at respective learning rates), until a combination is found where probabilistically equal regions receive statistically equal numbers of cross-stream events. It is then known TOD_a≤TOD_c.

The importance of achieving synchronization (or cross-correlation), between signal (or data) streams, is well understood in many areas of technology, including (but not limited to) signal processing, and computer networking. For example, in signal processing, cross-correlation is often used to find the relative delay between signal streams in a variety of applications. After two signal streams have been subjected to cross correlation, it can be useful to have a metric of the extent of their synchronization.
Accordingly, there exists a need for better metrics of correlation between signal streams.

Method and apparatus for shared cross-stream event detection


A method for recovering elastomeric material such as rubber from tires comprising the steps of soaking the tires in a mixture of liquids in tanks which soften the rubber, subjecting the softened tires to shear conditions in the rubber, and recovering the rubber and drying it in a drier. In this method grinding of the tire is not required. The recovered dried rubber can be carbonized in a microwave chamber to form a substitute for products such as carbon black formed by burning fossil fuels. A screw conveyor provides the preferred means to remove the softened rubber by a shearing action.

Recovery of elastomeric material such as rubber from articles containing such material is increasingly popular due to the increasing costs of manufacture of the raw elastomeric material.
Used articles containing elastomeric material such as vehicle tires are currently not recycled but instead are discarded or dumped.
Such dumping poses a severe environmental problem and also results in the loss of a large amount of recoverable elastomeric material.
A significant source of recoverable elastomeric material comes from used vehicle tires, rubber conveyor belts or other such rubber containing products. Vehicle tires are normally discarded after a predetermined wear on the tread on the vehicle tire or upon damage of the vehicle tire however such used tires still contain a large amount of recoverable rubber.
Recovering elastomeric material from articles which consist entirely of such material can be carried out by cutting, shredding or grinding of the elastomeric material followed by recycling.
However, most articles containing elastomeric material also contain non-elastomeric material such as reinforcement and hitherto it has been difficult to recover the elastomeric material from the remaining portion of the article. For instance, vehicle tires are generally reinforced with textile chord and steel belts and hitherto it has been difficult to separate the desirable rubber from the reinforcement.
Earlier attempts to reclaim rubber from vehicle tires comprised the steps of grinding the vehicle tire to a small particle size followed by magnetic separation of the metallic reinforcement and screen separation of the non-metallic reinforcement (i.e. textile chord reinforcement). This process is cumbersome and expensive and results inefficient separation of the various components. Separation could be facilitated by softening the rubber before grinding by contacting the rubber with one or more solvents.
It has now been found that rubber and other elastomeric material can be more conveniently removed from articles by initially softening the rubber or elastomeric material on the article and then subjecting the article to shear conditions to remove the rubber of elastomeric material from the article. In this manner, grinding, magnetic separation and screen separation is not required.
It has further been found that the recovered elastomeric material can be carbonized by further radiation steps preferably using microwave radiation.

Method and apparatus for recovering elastomeric material